Tuesday, July 21, 2009

THE CANDY SHOP WAR by Brandon Mull


One way I judge a great book is how involved I become with the characters. This summer I read City of Thieves by David Benioff. I wanted the book to end so I could find out what happened to the characters, but when I finished the book I was sad that I was done. I wanted to spend more time with the characters and I felt like two friends had moved away.

Another book I have the same relationship with is The Candy Shop War by Brandon Mull. I loved this book. The friendship between the Nate, Summer, Pigeon, and Trevor is real and interesting. Brandon Mull captures the scary way adults can manipulate kids. It was exciting to read about the risks these four were willing to take to save the world from evil. (I don’t want to spoil the book!) While I was reading the book, I thought this would be a great Guys Read book because of the adventures and the importance of a female character; but I am doing it for my first read aloud. Nate, Summer, Pigeon and Nate work well together to confront the bullies that torment them, (small spoiler alert!) but at the end they save them. I feel that it is important to share books with strong characters that have to deal with bullies.

The Candy Shop War by Brandon Mull Shadow Mountain.

2 comments:

Tamara said...

Thanks for the read-aloud suggestions! School starts Monday for me and I'm still wavering on my first read aloud! Will it be The Magic Thief (great text features) or perhaps The Thing About Georgie (community building & dynamic character growth)?

After your post I immediately requested The Candy Shop War from my local public library, but I'm 4th (!) on the waiting list. I have a feeling I'll end up at Tattered Cover again this week. I love the possibilities of this time of year!

Carol said...

I'm still trying to decide on my first read aloud also. Think I have to go check this out this afternoon at TC!