My Little Pony: The Movie (Dive into Adventure)

My Little Pony: The Movie: Dive into Adventure) by Rachael Upton

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


This is part of the story from the new My Little Pony: The Movie. My daughter loves the TV series and enjoyed the movie. The sea ponies were a special highlight, so finding a book at the school book fair that focused on them and came with a Pinkie Pie sea pony figurine was an immediate win in her book. Large artwork consistent with the movie make this an attractive library addition for any young MLP fan.

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Pete the Cat Saves Christmas

Pete the Cat Saves Christmas by Eric Litwin

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This was one of my daughter's picks for book club this month. We got some of the holiday books this month so we'd have them in time for Christmas as otherwise they likely wouldn't arrive until after winter break. Pete the Cat was one of the main characters the school used to introduce new kindergartner's to reading and their new school routine. As such, my daughter has a new love for this furry creature that results in her being thrilled with new books from the series. The story itself was cute, though the repeated song was a little strange. Good theme, but still strange. Overall though, it's easy to see why kids like this series.

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Wonder Woman Classic: I Am Wonder Woman

Wonder Woman Classic: I Am Wonder Woman by Erin Stein

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This was my daughter's first library book from her new kindergarten. Not sure she really recognized the character, though she saw some promotional stuff about her when the movie came out and it's been a popular Halloween costume this year. The book itself is very simple, with very brief descriptions to tell the story. Typical of many books in the I Can Read lineup. Good for small children, not so exciting for adults. Still fun to see her excited for library days.

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My Little Pony: The Movie

My Little Pony: The Movie (2017)

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


While the big changes in the pony artwork annoyed me at first, the overall story was adorable and the music was fantastic, making for a thoroughly enjoyable experience. Nana and I took my daughter for a special girl's night out, and all of us were happy we went. This is one that will definitely be joining both our soundtrack and movie collections for the kids. The new characters, while mostly not ponies, are interesting and provide a mix into the series that it otherwise doesn't have much of with the more limited normal cast of characters from the TV series (though that has branched out more recently with the buffalo, dragons, and yaks).

Inuyasha: Seek the Jade

Inuyasha: Seek the Jade (Android)

My rating: 1 of 5 stars


Had to try this given Inuyasha was the first anime series I really got involved and interest with. There are just too many little idiosyncrasies that bug me to stick with it though. For one, the title "Seek the Jade" should actually be "Seek the Jewel." Glaring error right there. Reading the text going through just the first 3 maps, there are many other errors in names and titles that, having watched the anime and read the manga, are glaring. Add on top of it that this is a very cut and paste game. You tap where it says to tap. It auto fights, and the only thing you can really add in is tapping for special attacks when the button appears for it. Then there are other details like Inuyasha already having Tessaiga and knowing the Backlash Wave when they fight Mistress Centipede as well as Kagome already knowing how to shoot her spiritual arrows despite the fact that neither of them learn these things until later in the story. The story panels look to be cut straight out of the original story, which means aside from errors and a playable character that doesn't exist in the series, there is nothing really new or unexpected in the game. Not worth the aggravation of the errors to use up the limited storage space I have on my phone.

Pony Scouts 2: Really Riding!

Pony Scouts 2: Really Riding! by Catherine Hapka

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This has been a cute series. Happened to find one we didn't have while we were at the bookstore, so of course the kids grabbed it. This one features the girl's first riding lesson and a surprise new foal. As with the other books, there's an abbreviated glossary in the back that ties in to the story and horse information that is good to know if you are working with horses in any form. Cute way to teach kids about horses, riding, and proper barn and show etiquette.

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Disney Princess: Ariel's Dolphin Adventure/Snow White's New Friend

Disney Princess: Ariel's Dolphin Adventure/Snow White's New Friend by Andrea Posner-Sanchez

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


Ariel's Dolphin Adventure
Prince Eric seals off the lagoon to give Ariel and her friends a safe place to visit. This backfires when a baby dolphin gets stuck inside and a storm hits. King Triton seems to let it go because Eric is "just human," but really more likely because he had built the wall with good intentions for Ariel. This could, however, lead to more questions about the wall in The Little Mermaid II, which was another form of safety that also goes wrong.

Snow White's New Friend
The title is a little bit of a misnomer. The new friend is really Dopey's. Snow White's involvement only seems to be in feeding the dwarfs and teaching Dopey about types of friendship, specifically where you don't see your friend all the time.

Overall, these two short stories make for a cute Disney Princess book. Doesn't hurt that it also includes some sticker pages. What little kid doesn't like stickers?

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Cars Toon: Mater to the Rescue!

Cars Toon: Mater to the Rescue! by Frank Berrios

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


My son loves Cars and has been hooked on Mater's Tall Tales lately, which includes this story. Mater claims to have been both a fire truck and a doctor, once having saved Lightning's life. As with all of Mater's tales, Lightning disagrees that they happened, and then something lends credence to the idea they did. Still rather far fetched, but amusing and my son loves it. This book also features large lift flaps, giving it an interactive touch for kids.

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Cars 3: Old Racers, New Racers

Cars 3: Old Racers, New Racers by Mary Tillworth

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


This is a very simplified opposites book using the Cars 3 story line. Honestly think my sin mostly likes this one because he loves Lightning McQueen and it has stickers in the back. Don't really see it being a long term addition to the library as the reading level will be outgrown and there are plenty of other stories with these characters that aren't do simplified.

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Sword Art Online: Memory Defrag

Sword Art Online: Memory Defrag (Android)

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I'm not very far on this one yet. It looks interesting and appears to follow the general idea of the original anime so far. From what I've seen of game play, other characters from ALO and GGO will also be available to play in later chapters. The fighting itself seems a little confusing to me, but I'm not the best at fight games anyways, let alone on a smartphone. Still, I loved this series and was disappointed there wasn't more to the story at the time. I'll play for awhile longer before I decide if it's worth keeping the memory space or not, but it's more of a fun past time than a burning desire to see more.

Guild Hunter 10: Archangel's Viper

Guild Hunter 10: Archangel's Viper by Nalini Singh

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I was pleasantly surprised by this book. While Venom has always been interesting, I wasn't as interested in Holly as a main character. With this book largely being from her point of view, I was a little more hesitant than with some of the other characters we've met so far. Dmitri perhaps has the most interesting interactions with Holly besides Venom of her main circle that is highlighted here. Raphael appears to be more interested in her after the events in this book, and really likely would be by default of her now being attached to Venom, which could make things interesting. Glad that the Uram situation seems to have been permanently resolved now. Michaela was also a welcome surprise. She's one character I have never liked and had appeared to be getting progressively more vicious. With the question of if Uram would come back or not, we perhaps see her at her most sedate and agreeable state when she finally acknowledges the truth and works with Raphael to stop this "ghost" power. A nice change of pace from her usual machinations. Elena is mentioned several times in the book, but unlike Raphael, doesn't even get a brief actual appearance. If nothing else, this group seems to be changing dynamics and becoming increasingly stronger. Perhaps the most probable stories to have the largest changes yet are Aodhan and Illium, especially "Bluebell." It will be a major shift in the Seven when he does reach that foreseen archangelic level, even more so if Aodhan does go with him as Venom suspects in this book. On the plus side, it is unlikely they would ever become enemies Raphael and his territory would have to worry about. On the contrary, they would likely remain good friends and allies at the very least. At least that's certainly what I hope for.

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