The Band From Another World by Kevin Garone

September 8, 2026 By Leave a Comment


The Band From Another World by Kevin Garone
(Alien Survival Guide Book 3)
Publisher: Temor Press
Genre: Middle Grade (8 – 12 y.o.), Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Paranormal, Contemporary
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

When Marv traces a mysterious transmission to an abandoned house, he’s ready to finally uncover proof of an otherworldly invasion. But when he and his friends sneak inside, they don’t find aliens.

Instead, they find a dusty basement full of musical instruments.

To Marv’s friends, this means one thing: instant rock band. But Marv was right to be suspicious. Strange shadows reach from the walls. Faces flicker in the dark. Worst of all, his friends start acting off. Like they’re not entirely themselves anymore.

And it’s happening to Marv, too.

Suddenly, he can play guitar like a total legend-no practice, no lessons, no explanation. But every note pulls him in deeper. The thoughts in his head aren’t all his. And the music doesn’t want to stop.

Can Marv uncover the truth behind the transmission before he loses himself completely?

Because something else is listening to the broadcast. And it’s not here for the music.

Not every wish should come true.

The paranormal subplot was a surprising and welcomed addition to this universe. While I can’t go into much detail about it without accidentally sharing spoilers, what I can say is that it added another layer of depth to what I already knew about this universe and could be a fantastic springboard for future adventures if the author is planning to write more about these characters. I don’t know if that will happen, of course, but he left plenty of space here for further explorations of the world Marv and his friends live in which, if nothing else, provides a lot of fodder for the imagination in the meantime.

I mentioned wanting more character development in my review of book one, I Know What UFO Did Last Summer. This was once again something that came to mind while I was reading, but this time it involved the secondary characters instead of the protagonist. As much as I enjoyed the plot and world building, I was hoping to get to know Marv’s friends better by this point. Although I could easily describe his personality and habits, it’s something I’d struggle with a bit if someone asked about what Jace, Kenji, Nora, or Liv were like. If as much attention had been paid to this as was given to describing their interest in aliens, I would have happily gone for a full five-star rating.

This is the third instalment of a series, but it works perfectly well as a standalone story, too. With that being said, there were some wonderful references and callbacks to the first two stories included here. One of them involved a fun plot twist related to previously-introduced characters that I didn’t see coming in advance, so do keep an eye out for it if you’re already familiar with these characters. Balancing the expectations of new and returning readers isn’t always easy, and I must tip my cap at Mr. Garone for making things accessible and amusing for everyone.

The Band From Another World (Alien Survival Guide Book 3) was a wild ride that still has me wondering what might happen next.

Filed Under: Reviews, Science Fiction/Fantasy, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Our Ghost Harry by Peter De Geesewell

August 31, 2026 By Leave a Comment


Our Ghost Harry by Peter De Geesewell
Publisher: Rowanvale Books
Genre: Middle Grade (8 – 12 y.o.), Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Paranormal, Horror, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, Contemporary, Historical
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

How would you react if one day you found a genuine ghost sitting in your living room – declaring that from now on he’s your new housemate?

Meet Sir Henry, the bitter, mischievous ghost of Urquhart Castle in Scotland. Cursed by his own son to haunt his castle until he saves a girl’s life, he finally decides to leave his dilapidated, abandoned home and ‘emigrate’ to Switzerland, where he transforms himself into the genial and funny guardian spirit of his newly adopted family.

Our Ghost Harry is a charming ghost story that is equal parts spooky, hilarious and moving, perfect for readers aged 10 to 100. Ideal for reading aloud or enjoying on your own, it will terrify and delight audiences of all ages.

Regret is good, but fixing things is even better.

Sir Henry was a funny, cranky ghost whose past contained a few dark secrets he’d been wrestling with for over seven hundred years. Sometimes I loved him for his sense of humor and dramatic habits, but in other scenes I was exasperated by how unsympathetic and stubborn he could be. There’s something to be said for a character whose flaws are deeply woven into their personality and who was as well-rounded and interesting as he was.

The other characters in this book, especially the older members of Henry’s chosen family, were not given this same chance to shine. While I wouldn’t expect the exact same amount of time to be spent on describing what their personalities were like, the fact that I would struggle to describe how they behaved or what their biggest weaknesses were was why I ended up choosing a four-star rating. As much as I enjoyed the main character and the plot, I simply had too many questions about what the people around Henry were like to pick a rating higher than that.

This included a wonderful mixture of genres that I don’t get to see used together as often as I’d like to, especially when it came to combining comedy with horror. Some of my favorite scenes were the ones that explored the cultural differences between life today and what Henry experienced in the 1300s. His expectations of how things should proceed, especially when it came to who should decide how what was now a historical site should be used, were obviously wildly out of touch with what someone born several decades ago has grown up knowing as the proper way to do things. I know this is a little vague, but there are later plot points related to how the law and social norms have changed over the centuries that fans of history or adult readers might especially like.

Our Ghost Harry made me wish for a sequel. This was such an exciting romp through both modern-day and medieval life.

Filed Under: Horror, Mystery/Suspense, Reviews, Science Fiction/Fantasy, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

TV Review: Little House on the Prairie

August 17, 2026 By Leave a Comment


Little House on the Prairie (2026), screenplay by Rebecca Sonnenshine and based on the books by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Showrunner: Rebecca Sonnenshine
Starring: Luke Bracey, Crosby Fitzgerald, Alice Halsey, and Skywalker Hughes
Publisher: Netflix
Genre: Middle Grade (8 – 12 y.o.), Young Adult (14 – 18 y.o.), Romance, Holiday, Historical
Rating: 4 Stars (8 on IMDB)
Reviewed by Astilbe

The Ingalls family lives and works on a farm in Midwestern America during the late 19th century.

Anything is possible on the open prairie.

So many iconic moments from the book were explored here. I’d say my favorite one involved what happened when the Ingalls family was snowed in over Christmas and had to become creative when planning how to celebrate that special day. Another notable moment involved a natural disaster that the characters had no advance warning of but had to react to quickly in order to prevent something catastrophic from happening. These were moments I imagined over and over again while I read the Little House books growing up, and it was fun to see a modern reimagining of them.

I was surprised by how many changes this adaptation made to the original material which had already softened many of the more difficult moments of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s life. Some of the changes made sense for a 2026 interpretation of this classic as western society has changed quite a bit in the last hundred and fifty years or so, but I would have loved to see Laura and Mary played by actors who were closer to the original ages of these girls when the book was written. Some of their scenes simply fit better for younger children and felt a little unusual for a preteen and a young teenager to still be interested in. For example, most older kids have a very different experience of Santa than what was portrayed here.

With that being said, this first season did a great job of setting up what happens to these characters as they grow older. There was some wholesome foreshadowing for the Ingalls children in particular that Little House fans might find amusing, and I liked the way so many of the important people in their lives were either introduced early on or included in conversations that will hopefully be revisited in the future.

Little House on the Prairie was a heartwarming introduction to what will hopefully be a long-running series.

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Musings, Movie Review, Television Show Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

So You Want To Be An Astronaut by Linda Soules

August 10, 2026 By Leave a Comment


So You Want To Be An Astronaut by Linda Soules
Publisher: So You Want To Be…Books
Genre: Middle Grade (8 – 12 y.o.), Non-Fiction, Contemporary
Rating: 5 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

What does it really take to become an astronaut — not in a movie, but in the actual universe where rockets shake your bones and silence stretches forever outside the hull?

So You Want To Be An Astronaut is the honest, illustrated guide that curious kids have been waiting for. It takes young readers ages 10 to 14 deep inside the science, the training, and the daily reality of one of the most extraordinary careers a person can pursue. No sugarcoating. No skipping the hard parts. Just the real story of what happens between the dream and the launch.

You will follow the full path: years of preparation before a single mission, from underwater spacewalk simulations to wilderness survival training. You will learn the science of space exploration — orbital mechanics, life-support systems, and what happens to a human body living in microgravity far from Earth. You will discover how a small crew depends on each other across distances no rescue team can cross, and what happens when the mission does not go exactly as planned.

The book is rich with space facts that go far beyond the basics. It explores our solar system and the science careers that make every mission possible — engineers, flight surgeons, mission controllers, and the astronauts themselves. It covers the history of space exploration and the pioneering figures who proved that human beings could survive and work in outer space. And it asks the question young readers care about most: what can I start doing right now?

Every page is designed to pull you in. Colorful images and short, focused sections make even complex science accessible and fun to explore. Glossaries break down key terms without slowing the pace. This is nonfiction built like a reference and an adventure at once — the kind of illustrated companion a child first loves for its photographs at eight, then returns to at twelve or fourteen discovering new depth every time.

Younger readers thrive with a parent or teacher alongside them, turning pages into rich conversations about science, ambition, and what is possible. Independent readers in the middle grades will dive in headfirst, absorbing details and beginning to picture themselves in the role. Older readers and adults will find surprising layers — fascinating history, memorable insights, and a voice that never talks down to anyone.

For every young person who looks up at the night sky and feels something stir, this book is the real answer they deserve.

Everyone needs a goal in life.

The descriptions of what it feels like to orbit Earth were marvelous. I almost felt as if I were right there watching the continents and oceans pass by peacefully below me. It was a calm and joyful moment that helped me to understand why someone would be willing to train for so many years for the chance to experience it.

Speaking of training, I loved the section that gave a practical list of things to start doing now for kids who want to become astronauts. This was such a good way to draw readers in and encourage them to follow their dreams no matter how many years away they are from adulthood.

What catapulted this into a five-star read for me was how honest the narrator was about both the negative and positive aspects of being an astronaut. Anyone who wants to be part of this profession should have the whole truth instead of a sugarcoated version of what it’s actually like. I especially liked the descriptions of the many years of training it takes in many different subjects before someone qualifies to live on the ISS (International Space Station), including the requirement to learn Russian.

I was pleasantly surprised by a page on in this picture book that talked about what astronauts do after they have completed their missions. While I don’t want to give away any spoilers for it, it wrapped up everything beautifully and taught me a few things about them that I didn’t know before.

So You Want To Be An Astronaut was inspiring and made me want to learn more about the brave men and women who have done this work.

Filed Under: Non-Fiction, Reviews, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Tawny by Chas Carner

July 15, 2026 By Leave a Comment


Tawny by Chas Carner
Publisher: Scholastic and Macmillan
Genre: Middle Grade (8 – 12 y.o.), Historical
Rating: 5 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Trey and Troy Landry are 12-year-old twin brothers growing up on a New Hampshire farm. Even though Troy is the impulsive trouble maker, and Trey the more dutiful and introverted one, they share an incredibly close bond.

One day Troy is accidentally killed by hunters poaching deer on the farm. Trey is devastated and channels his grief into caring for an injured deer, which he names “Tawny.”

As their friendship deepens, however, Trey finds it harder and harder to release Tawny back into the wild.

What he learns in the process of letting go—about loss, love, and the healing power of nature has even more relevance for youth today than when this critically acclaimed novel was first published.

Grief has many faces.

Mr. Carter had a smooth and descriptive writing style that was a joy to read. I especially liked the passages in this novella that talked about the rhythms of life on a farm and how one season of the year would gradually give way to the next. As someone who had spent his entire life on that same property, Trey was so accustomed to what every month felt like that he didn’t quite seem to realize how special they were, but his descriptions of his childhood were still beautiful and showed me so much about his personality and the empathic and patient man he would become in a few short years as a result of his rural childhood.

It was the passages dealing with Trey’s grief over the death of his twin brother that ultimately convinced me to choose a five-star rating. Many stories that deal with death and loss focus on how it feels immediately or, at most, several months later, but healing can require a much longer period of time than that and sometimes involves old pain returning in quiet moments when the outside world might assume someone is doing much better now than they actually are. I loved the scenes later on that explored how Trey dealt with these feelings while also going about his usual routine of school, chores, and looking after Tawny as she healed from her injury.

The many cultural difference between the 1950s and modern times also piqued my interest. For example, Trey and Troy were taught how to drive at age eight and, a few years later, were doing potentially dangerous chores on the farm like helping cows to deliver their calves or shooting guns. Many children in the Western Hemisphere today would not allowed to participate in these activities, so it was fascinating to see how much more freedom and autonomy people that age had a few generations ago.

Tawny was heartfelt and bittersweet. It made me want to read more from this author!

Filed Under: Reviews, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: , , , , , ,

The Junkyard by Bryan Reilly

July 14, 2026 By Leave a Comment


The Junkyard by Bryan Reilly
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Middle Grade (8 – 12 y.o.), Action/Adventure, Contemporary
Rating: 5 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Ninja is a pit bull who would rather die than hurt another dog. When she purposefully loses in the fighting ring of a cruel junkyard owner, Mr. Fergusen, she is punished and left for dead at the edge of a nearby forest. A tribe of stray junkyard dogs finds her and gives her a new name, Maytag. They nurse her back to health and welcome her into their secret home inside the northern junkyard’s mountains of wrecked cars, appliances, tires, and trains. For the first time, Maytag feels love and is incredibly relieved to be free of Mr. Fergusen’s fighting ring.

But her relief is short-lived.

Saab, the aggressive Rottweiler of the southern junkyard, plans to conquer the north with the help of Canis, a vengeful forest wolf. If the junkyard becomes a warzone, Mr. Fergusen will surely take Dodge’s strays to the put-down place. When Saab’s plan is set in motion, Maytag must decide if her new friends are worth fighting for.

A better life is possible.

What a creative and unique tale! I’ve never seen middle grade fiction cover this topic, and I enjoyed exploring Mr. Reilly’s take on what it might be like to not only be a dog in general but to be a dog who has recently escaped the fighting ring in particular. His explanations of the suffering these animals went through were vivid, but he made sure to include some happier moments as well to balance things out.

The world building was well done, especially the descriptions of the hiding places in the junkyard that the owner of this place was unaware of. In the first scene, I wondered how any animal could survive in such a violent and hostile place and why the strays decided to stick so close by to the barn where fighting dogs tried to survive in-between matches. Other readers should discover the answers to these questions for themselves, but they certainly added a lot of tension to the plot until the main character began to discover the answers.

Honestly, it was the ending that convinced me to give this one a full five-star rating. It wrapped everything up beautifully while still remaining true to the sometimes harsh world these characters lived in. There were messages included throughout this novella, but especially in the last few scenes, about compassion, hope, loyalty, and surviving difficult times that were never preachy but instead invited the audience to think critically as the characters faced situations where the odds were heavily stacked against them.

The Junkyard was heartwarming and original.

Filed Under: Reviews, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: , , , , ,

Movie Review: Dragon Striker

July 6, 2026 By Leave a Comment


Dragon Striker
Writer: Paul McKeown
Directed by: Charles Lefebvre
Starring: Akshay Kumar, Rebecca LaChance, Waylon Jacobs, Evanna Lynch
Distributed by: Disney
Genre: Action/Adventure, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Children’s (0 – 6 y.o.), Middle Grade (8 – 12 y.o.)
Rating: 3 Stars (6 stars on IMDB)
Reviewed by Dicentra

Follows Key, a twelve-year-old farm boy who discovers he may be the legendary “Dragon Striker” and joins a team of underdogs to take on the school champions, while fighting to prevent an ancient evil from resurfacing.

Disney’s Dragon Striker was such a fun release, coinciding with the start of the World Cup in North America this year and combining fantasy and sports into one cartoon. The show did a great job highlighting the sport of Gorotama and the powers of the different players, but suffered from plot holes and the length of the show not allowing enough time to go in depth.

Gorotama is such a cool sport, very reminiscent of a more fantastical version of Shaolin Soccer. I loved the different powers that the players had, and I think the writers did an excellent job providing unique ways for some of them to ‘level up’ over the course of the show. It was also cool to see how some of the powers, or Tamas, were able to make use of the arenas to their advantage (i.e. twins with magnetic tamas being able to run on the ceiling). It was unclear how Key’s powers were so unique when it seemed like Ragno had very similar ones, but that leads more into some of the plot holes issues the show faced.

Dragon Striker was composed of multiple episodes that were about 20 minutes in length, but there was defniitely potential for them to go much longer. For example, Kal Asterock is supposed to be an academy of sorts but we never really see any of the students in classes (it is unclear if all they do is learn to control their Tamas for the sake of playing Gorotama). It is also a little weird that for a school that big, there seems to be only four professors (or Goyen) that ever make an appearance. I was kind of hoping that with the start of the team of Underdogs (the Knights), there would be some kooky professor coming out of nowhere to be their coach but it never happened. There’s also a scene towards the end of the show where one of the players on another team gets attacked, but they never really go deeper into what attacked him (it’s limited to three out of four of the Goyen complaining that Key coming to the school is bad news, as though he’s somehow related to the issue). I recognize though that I’m likely older than the target audience for this show, and expecting more complex shows as a result might be related to most of my complaints.

Overall, this was an entertaining cartoon and I’m glad I took the time to watch it. The show has a lot of potential, especially if they go into more of the history of the school and what happened with Key’s mom (we really only get told that she was a former Dragon Striker, and bits and pieces of what happened when she died). I really hope Disney gives this show another season, as there’s so much more to explore (and many more games of Gorotama to be played).

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Musings, Movie Review, Television Show Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Bot Camp by Paul Clarke

June 29, 2026 By Leave a Comment


Bot Camp by Paul Clarke
The Bot Books #1
Publisher: Green Hill Publishing
Genre: Middle Grade (8 – 12 y.o.), Action/Adventure, Contemporary
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Twelve-year-old Daniel is obsessed with combat robotics — because duh, who isn’t? So when his plucky lifter-bot snags him a spot at Bernard Barker’s legendary Bot Camp, Daniel short-circuits with excitement. Meeting his tech-innovator hero will be a dream come true!

His mom says he should try to make friends, but Daniel won’t have time for that. Bot Camp is a high-voltage competition and only one kid will win the ultimate prize: becoming Bernard’s apprentice.

Unfortunately, from the moment Daniel steps into the fully automated, AI-powered training complex, nothing goes to plan. The other participants are brilliant, but Daniel’s teammates are totally useless. He’ll never impress Bernard at this rate.

So while the others relax for the night, Daniel convinces his team to sneak into the workshop to fix their bot. But when the labyrinth-like facility mysteriously goes into lockdown, Daniel finds himself in real danger and only his teammates can help.

Summer camp is a rite of passage for many kids and, in this case, maybe a few robots as well.

The plot was fast-paced and exciting. There was never a time when it felt easy to set this down and stop reading for a while because every chapter was filled with adventure and twelve-year-olds aren’t always known for thinking about the consequences of their actions ahead of time. This is something I’d especially recommend to reluctant readers or kids who need a lot of action in their stories.

I would have liked to see more character development. Despite spending over two hundred pages with the characters, particularly Daniel, I’d struggle to describe his or their personalities or interests other than their love of combat robotics. Yes, this was a plot-centered book, so I wasn’t expecting pages of development for every single character or anything, but that was something that felt missing from the storyline.

Combat robotics was a topic I knew little about when I began reading chapter one, so I appreciated the detailed descriptions of how these battles work and what sorts of techniques players use to create robots that are good at both defending themselves and causing damage to their competitors. While I’ll leave it up to other readers who know more about this type of competition to share their thoughts on how well it represented what actually occurs in those battles, I certainly thought this made it sound exciting and educational.

Bot Camp kept me on my toes from the first paragraph to the last on.

Filed Under: Reviews, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Movie Review: A Gorilla Story – Told by David Attenborough

May 25, 2026 By Leave a Comment

Title: A Gorilla Story – Told by David Attenborough
Director: James Reed and Callum Webster
Starring: David Attenborough
Producers: Jennifer Davisson, Leonardo DiCaprio, Alastair Fothergill, and Phillip Watson
Publisher: Netflix
Genre: Middle Grade (8 – 12 y.o.), Young Adult (14 – 18 y.o.), Non-Fiction, Contemporary, Historical
Rating: 4 Stars (8 stars on IMDB)
Reviewed by Astilbe

David Attenborough tells the remarkable story of his first encounter with the baby gorilla Pablo, how that gorilla grew up to be a top Silverback and how Pablo’s direct descendants are doing today.

Good news, especially about a critically endangered species, can be hard to find but so worthwhile when it happens.

I loved learning about David’s decades-long relationship with Pablo, a gorilla who was orphaned as a baby in the 1970s, adopted by the dominate male in his group, and who later became the leader of that same group as an adult. It was incredible to me that we could know so much about Pablo’s life over the years as well as the lives of his descendants. The flashbacks to the past, including how a few brave humans worked to keep this population alive at a time when their survival was in question, helped to provide some context for their group dynamics today, especially as they related to how newcomers were treated and what happened to young male gorillas as they grew up.

One of the topics I wish had been explored in greater depth was related to the resounding success of the conservation efforts of the 1970s that turned the Virunga Mountains into a sanctuary for this species. There were some brief references to the gorilla population slowly growing too large for this area, and I would have loved to hear what modern day scientists are hoping to do to solve this new problem. For example, would they relocate some of these animals or maybe try to expand their territory?

This film did an excellent job of appealing to viewers from a wide range of ages. While I wouldn’t recommend it to children under the age of eight due to a few brief scenes of violence between some gorillas, older kids and adults had plenty of content to work with here. David’s narration helped to explain what was happening both inside of this particular group of animals as well as in the outside world. There were multiple scenes showing the tender care mother gorillas gave to their babies as slightly older youngsters played boisterous games nearby that would work especially well for kids, teens, and adults simultaneously.

A Gorilla Story – Told by David Attenborough was heartwarming, hopeful, and educational.

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Musings, Movie Review Tagged With: , , ,

TV Show Review: Percy Jackson and the Olympians (Season 2)

February 2, 2026 By Leave a Comment


Percy Jackson and the Olympians (Season 2)
Distributed by: Disney+
Writers: Rick Riordan and Jonathan E. Steinberg
Starring: Walker Scobell, Leah Sava Jeffries, Aryan Simhadri
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Middle Grade (8 – 12 y.o.), Young Adult (14 – 18 y.o.)
Rating: 5 stars (10 stars on IMBDB)
Reviewed by Dicentra

Demigod Percy Jackson leads a quest across America to prevent a war among the Olympian gods.

I just finished the second season of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians tv show on Disney+, and this is the adaptation that my forever Percy Jackson fan heart has been waiting years for.

It is obvious how much the showrunners and writers put into this book, especially with the easter eggs they dropped for die hard fans. Clarisse’s (Dior Goodjohn) storyline this season was also particularly impactful compared to the books, as you actually got to see some of the scenes that were only hinted at, such as when Ares (Adam Copeland) gives her the ship that they head to the Sea of Monsters on. I connected more to her portrayal of Clarisse emotionally than I did to the Clarisse from the books. Daniel Diemer’s portrayal of Tyson this season was excellent, and I really loved his brotherly relationship with Percy (Walker Scobell). It was a really impactful choice from the production team to never show Tyson with two eyes, as in the words of producer Dan Shotz everyone in the audience is a demigod now.

While I’m sad that some monsters from the book didn’t make the cut (the Hydra in particular would have been a CGI budget black hole), all of the changes they made from the book made sense. I especially appreciated more appearances from Sally Jackson (Virgina Kull).The contents of the last episode are almost entirely different from the book, but I think it worked out well and I’m excited to see how they take the adjusted storyline into future seasons (with season 3 set to premiere before the end of 2026). The show will resonate the most with fans of the book, but I highly recommend it to viewers of all ages who enjoy adventure, friendship, and Greek mythology.

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Musings, Movie Review, Television Show Tagged With: , , , , , , ,
Next Page »