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Grammar Snufus by Karla Stover

Okay, here's the deal. When did people become "that" instead of "who?" I hear this on the radio on the TV ( and shouldn't news reporters know better )? and unless my memory is wrong, have even read it in places. Why? How hard is it to remember that people require a "who"? And here's another--myself instead of me. My boss did this all this time and it drove me crazy. Are we so afraid to  be in the spotlight that we have to say, "So-and-so and myself did such-and-so?"

The Secret

House of Secrets by Christopher Columbus and Ned Vizzini Review

House of Secrets (House of Secrets #1) 
by Chris Columbus and Ned Vizzini
Available Now
Balzer and Bray
Hardback 490 pages
To Buy Links-
Amazon/ Kindle/ Audible/B and N/ Book Depository/ Indiebound/ Kobo

GoodreadsThe Walker kids had it all: loving parents, a big house in San Francisco, all the latest video games . . . but everything changed when their father lost his job as a result of an inexplicable transgression. Now the family is moving into Kristoff House, a mysterious place built nearly a century earlier by Denver Kristoff, a troubled writer with a penchant for the occult. Suddenly the siblings find themselves launched on an epic journey into a mash-up world born of Kristoff’s dangerous imagination, to retrieve a dark book of untold power, uncover the Walker family’s secret history and save their parents . . . and maybe even the world.


This is what I call an EPIC adventure. Almost 500 pages of nonstop action  shared by the ever resourceful Walker kids and some characters from fiction who seem to serve their purpose outside the pages of their books. Let's see if I can make some sense out of it for you.

This is a hard book to review. So much happens and so many characters go in and out of the book that it's hard to tell you about it. The main characters are the Walker children, 15 year old Cordelia, 12 year old Brendan and 8 year old Eleanor. They find themselves battling the Wind Witch an evil woman that has a wish that only one of the Walker children can fulfill for her. She sends the house hurtling through Denver Kristoff's novels where the Walker children meet characters, good and bad, that lead or chase them through their adventure.

There are giant cyclops, savage Viking like warriors that serve a Queen who eats little children's fingers. An ocean filled with carnivorous sharks and blood thirsty pirates, the captain of which performs horrifying experiments on his captives. Bones come to life becoming full skeletons, fighting against the Walkers.  A WWI pilot crash lands scaring savages away. Grenades, Sopwith Camels, Walther PPK's, a boy wanting to be a man.  A girl with a crush.  A boy forced to be a man before his time. Chivalry, sibling rivalry, family bonds.  It' all in there. So much more. As I read this book, and I read it over several months, I found I could put it down and pick it back up with no problem even after a week or more. I could pick right up where I'd left off and not forget what had happened before. I think it' a great read aloud book. One chapter a night, it would be a great one to share with your kids. 

Now you might wonder why I took so long to read it, I had to stick other books in between as this was my own book I was trying to read for pleasure. Things got in the way of it, but I was really happy I never forgot what was going on. It is full of adventure and mystery, characters from books coming into existence. It's just a really full book. I can see a movie as I read the book, see it happening as I read it. It's really creative and though this story is wrapped up, the overall story arc is far from over.

I'm interested to see how this continues with Ned Vizzini's passing. This is a series and I wonder if Christopher Columbus will continue to write this series on his own or find another writer to co-author with. Or maybe several of the books have already been written. Whatever the case may be, I do hope that the series continues. 

Have fun with the pirates!! And watch out for the Book of Doom and Desire.






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Grammar Snufus by Karla Stover

Okay, here's the deal. When did people become "that" instead of "who?" I hear this on the radio on the TV ( and shouldn't news reporters know better )? and unless my memory is wrong, have even read it in places. Why? How hard is it to remember that people require a "who"? And here's another--myself instead of me. My boss did this all this time and it drove me crazy. Are we so afraid to  be in the spotlight that we have to say, "So-and-so and myself did such-and-so?"

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