Mr. McElwain sent this to me to give him my opinion, both as a teacher of young kids and as an avid reader myself who loves fantasy. Here are my thoughts both as a personal reader and as a teacher.
Personal Opinion:
I really liked this series on a personal level as it kept me engaged and was a fun, quick read despite the book being over 200 pages. There were parts that I thought could use a little more development and detail but I also understand that this book was written for middle school kids, not adults. It most areas of the story, I enjoyed seeing what the characters would do and react as children. One of the issues I did have with the book was the fact that James trusted people right away, even without knowing them. It was like he already knew who was good and bad yet how he knew they were good or bad was never explained. Another thing as an adult reader that I would have liked to see is the pace of the story slow down a bit and add more detail and development. The story was pushed from one action to the next with little development or transition. But as I said before, this book was written for kids and not adults and this writing style is good for young readers. Overall though, I really enjoyed the story and would love to read a sequel if it becomes available as the story is perfectly set up for a sequel. Despite being a story for middle schoolers, I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and would love to know what happens next.
Teacher Opinion:
As a teacher, this is definitely a book I would recommend to students as it is fast paced and engaging enough to keep their interest. Chapters are short which make it easy for students to put down the book and pick it back up again easily. There is a lot of action and adventure in the story, which can keep kids interested whereas a lot of extra details or development that adults enjoy would slow down the book and make it more boring to the age group this story is written for. The children in the story are very realistic in most ways which will help young readers relate to them, even though the story is a fantasy. The only parts that I thought were not very realistic was the quick way James took the appropriate action in certain situations where I believe a real kid would falter a bit. Though even then, James does not always make the correct choices and it gets him in trouble quite a bit. At the same time, I recognize that the author used these as a way to drive the plot forward and lead to the next actions. Overall, I would say that middle school kids (and really all ages who are at least at this reading level) could enjoy this story and like me will probably hope to see a sequel come out in the future.
I really enjoyed reading this book and was happy that the author gave me the change to share my opinion on it.
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