Book Review for Writing Enrichment:
The Menagerie Series. By Sonora Shishim
Unicorns, golden geese, mermaids and griffins - this book exemplifies it all. The details that Tui. T Sutherland and her sister had put into the pages of the book are amazing, and catches your attention and leaves you wanting to read more.
The descriptions of the creatures are wonderful and even without illustrations I can imagine what they look like. The setting of the book series included the Menagerie, a place where mythical creatures are kept and cared for.
The illustrations on the cover of the book really made me want to read it and the colors were amazing. I can tell that the authors have put lots of work into each page. They introduced the series with the big feathers that Logan, one of the characters, noticed as soon as he woke up. Subtle details grabbed my attention.
The mysteries that the book included are very catching, even though they are underneath the surface at first. It can make me really hungry or happy or sad.
The books sucked me in and I couldn’t stop reading. In the start, Blue, a kid in Logan’s class, is helping Zoey find a dog called Six. Later he finds that Zoey was actually looking for six griffin cubs. It had great visual writing. In the book at one point they were making hamburgers to help lure one of the escaped griffin cubs back to the Menagerie.
I would recommend the series. Throughout each and every book it had a gripping story line and suspense. The plot always made sense and it went smoothly, connecting like a river.
The character’s personality and appearance were well described. I could picture each character very well. Their surroundings were equally as detailed. The map and the cover were very captivating.
I only didn’t understand what happened in the storyline once when they were underwater, but the rest of the book flowed nicely with the plot.
It was one of those books that you want to keep reading, but at the same time savor. I finished it in about a day and a half because of my slow reading pace, but if I were faster I would have finished it sooner.
The names are hilarious and adorable. They suit the characters’ personality very well and exemplified the story. Each chapter ended either beautifully or on a cliffhanger. The end of all of the books were good, yet the end of the first book was my favorite.
The book shows it from two of the characters' points of view.
In the first book it was only Logan’s point of view, but in the second and third you know what Zoey was thinking as well. Blue wasn’t as important as the other two, even though he had a cool role. Sadly, you didn’t get to see it from his own perspective.
Flurp and Sage were my favorite characters.They were two of the six griffin cubs that went missing in the first book. Sage liked to read and Flurp was hilarious. They are some of the most adorable mythical animals. I loved it and I thought it was perfect for kids the age of eight up to eleven. I think you would like it if you like Tui T. Sutherland’s Wings of Fire or Erin Hunter's Warriors.
Overall I think this book and its series were great and I would continue reading more if anything more was available.