Amelia Fang and the Barbaric Ball by Laura Ellen Anderson
Review by Lauren
source: copy from publisher; all opinions are my own
Official Summary (add to Goodreads): Amelia Fang would much rather hang out with her pet pumpkin Squashy and her friends Florence the yeti (DON’T CALL HER BEAST!) and Grimaldi the reaper than dance at her parents’ annual Barbaric Ball.
Then the King’s spoiled son Tangine captures Squashy, Amelia and her friends must escape the party to plan a daring rescue!
In their race against time, they begin to realize things in Nocturnia may not be quite what they seem…
Review: Amelia Fang is such a cute middle grade series! If you know someone who is a fan of the TV show Vampirina, I think they would equally love Amelia and friends. Amelia is a vampire who lives in Nocturnia with her parents, ghost butler, and pet pumpkin. Her two best friends are Florence (a yeti) and Grimaldi (a grim reaper – but he only handles dead toads as he’s still a kid!). Everything is right in Amelia’s world…until the King decides to come back to public life, toting along his very spoiled son, Tangine.
Amelia Fang and the Barbaric Ball is a fun introduction to Amelia and her world. Readers will want to shake Tangine throughout most of the book though, as he doesn’t come across as a nice kid! The book is full of black and white illustrations which were really fun and definitely added to the story. It was nice being able to “see” all the characters. This was a fun start to a new series!
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Amelia Fang and the Unicorns of Glitteropolis by Laura Ellen Anderson
Review by Lauren
source: copy from publisher; all opinions are my own
Official Summary on Goodreads, so I don’t spoil anything!
Review: I don’t want to spoil anything from the first book, so I’ll just say that in Unicorns of Glitteropololis, readers are introduced to a bunch of new, fascinating characters/creatures. The illustrations are just as fun in this book, though some of them would have been cool to see in color. I know that would be difficult to do, and it works just fine in black and white.
While I definitely enjoyed the first book, I think I liked the second one just a bit more. Things are more established and the readers know all the main characters so new ones can be added in. It ends really nicely, but it’s obvious more books are to come, which is exciting!
These are definitely books I plan to share with my oldest niece. I think she’ll love them!
This looks like an amazing MG series! I love those titles, especially the Unicorn one 🙂
This looks like such a sweet series and the book covers are so cool.
I want this! Thank you for bringing it to my attention!
Ummm, these sound ADORABLE! I love this! Halloween is my favorite so a spooky little girl character sounds absolutely amazing. I don’t know if it’s weird or not, but I’m totally adding these to an Amazon wishlist or registry! 😉
Not weird at all! I love kid’s books! 🙂
Oh I love the art style on the cover might need to check it out
I bet my fifth-grade niece would love these.
This looks like such a fun series! I just love the cover art. 🙂
That sounds really cute. I don’t have any grandkids that age yet. My grandson is 6 so maybe some day I’ll be able to get books that he’ll be able to read when I see them.
Omg, these books look so cute! Bryan’s niece is at an age where I think these books would be perfect for her, so I’ll have to share with her. Thanks so much for the review (and I love the name of the series!)
The covers alone are adorable!! I think I would have loved to read this series when I was younger, I used to love the cutesy “dark” things. I am trying to get more into middle grade, though! I think it would be a nice break from YA and the typical things I tend to find in the stories. So maybe I will bookmark these ones in case I want to give them a go in the future. I’m glad you liked them, Lauren! And I hope your niece enjoys them too ^.^
I haven’t read these but I love the title and the covers and the blurbs so many I should give them a try!
I’ve been a fiend for middle grade read this year and I need this series in my life Lauren. Monsters and quickly girls on their own adventures, yes please! It sounds like the illustrations add to the overall narrative and couldn’t agree more, it’s great to see the characters in their elements throughout the storyline. I’ll need to pick these up and soon. Brilliant reviews Lauren, so glad you enjoyed them!
This sounds like a super cute series and the covers are adorable! Great reviews!
This sounds like a cute read! I want to read it now 🙂
I am so grabbing this for my daughter. It is crazy how fast she goes through books and series! Thanks for the review.
These both sound super cute!
Aww! So much fun!! I love those covers and I bet the illustrations inside are just as whimsical. 🙂
This does sound like such a cute series! I think I’ll keep it in mind for Christmas for the littles I babysit.
Great reviews!
This series looks so cute! My daughter is learning to read chapter books and into the spooky cute aesthetic, I’ll definitely need to pick these books up for us to read. Thanks for sharing your review!
This is ad-or-able! And the artwork is so eye-catching!
I thought these were so adorable, as you know. I’m a sucker for a book with awesome illustrations!