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Apr 23, 2013

Tween Tuesday: The Menagerie by Tui Sutherland & Kari Sutherland

4 chewy and fudgy double chocolate chip cookies.

Cover Love:
Yes!  It looks magical and mysterious.  Perfect for middle graders.

Why I Wanted to Read This:
The synopsis!  It reminded me of Fablehaven, which I loved.  Here it is from GoodReads:
Logan Wilde is accidentally drawn into the mysterious, dangerous world of the Menagerie when he discovers a griffin hiding under his bed . . . and it leads him straight to the weirdest girl in seventh grade, Zoe Kahn.

Zoe is panicking. Her family has been guarding the Menagerie for centuries. If they don't get the cubs back fast, the whole place will be shut down. To save the griffins' lives, she's willing to break all the rules, even if it means letting an outsider like Logan help. But the real mystery remains: Is someone trying to sabotage the Menagerie?

Who let the griffins out...and why?
Romance?: Nope, but some talk of crushes and a romance that went astray.

My Thoughts:
Here the mark of a good middle grade read.  The set up is short and the action comes quick.  We didn't have to read pages of why Logan was in Wyoming or mysteries about the Menagerie.  He becomes part of the solution and involved in Zoe's world pretty early on in the book.  I was caught up in the story quickly and the authors held my attention.

When they were describing Logan's first impressions of the Menagerie I was hearing Jurrassic Park music in my head, you know the scene where Dr. Grant first looks around and sees all the dinosaurs?  I could just imagine Logan experiencing the wonders of this place!

It is much less dangerous and dark than Fablehaven, but I enjoyed it just as much.  The animals can be dangerous, the kelpie, but it is way more like a zoo.  They have rules to follow and their own enclosures.  It is not a separate world like Fablehaven's forest.

It ends on a cliffhanger!!  I loved it.

There is so much more then authors can explore with this world, and I have a hunch, with the way the story was moving along that they will be traveling to other Menageries.  And hopefully Logan's dad will become involved with the Kahns soon too.

I would also love for there to be a way to fix Zoe and Jasmin's friendship.

To Sum Up:  I will be buying a couple copies for my library and shoving them into many a readers' hands!

Book checked out from public library.
Tween Tuesday is hosted by Sarah, the GreenBeanTeenQueen.  Check her out!

3 comments:

  1. I saw this described on a listserv as literary catnip and it sounds so fun! I love that the action starts right off-that makes me want to read it right now! :) I've read some the authors YA books and really enjoyed them.

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    1. It did make me want to read Fablehaven again so I might do a book club with my son with that one!

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