What Treasures Await Over Sea, Under Stone?

Simon, Jane, and Barney Drew, along with their parents, are on holiday at the home of a family friend, or “Great-Uncle Merriman (or Merry), as they call him. Merry is renting an old house by the sea, and the Drew parents have let the children know not to touch anything they shouldn’t. The attic proves to hold lots of interesting knickknacks for the children. When they accidentally stumble upon a manuscript, they are intrigued by a map inside it. The map looks just like the coastline where they’re staying. And the mystery begins! After looking at the drawing and trying to figure it out the children realize it relates back to King Arthur and his knights. They decide this is information not to share with the adults. When her brothers are out boating for the day Jane does some more exploring and locates an old guide book with a similar map inside. This leads her to look for the town vicar, the man who wrote the book. Venturing out on her own Jane is not able to locate the vicar. Instead, the man as his house answers no questions but seems very intrigued by what Jane has found. When the house Merry is renting is burglarized the children decide they must tell their uncle what is going on. And what he tells them is very shocking. Now they are on a quest to find a hidden treasure. The clues will lead them to rock formations and they’ll have adventures in caves. But will they find what they’re looking for? Is there really a treasure? Was King Arthur real or is it all just stories? Who can the children trust? You’ll have to read this fast paced book to find out!

I always love a good mystery and fantasy is another favorite of mine, so when a friend told me about Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper I decided to give it a try. What an exciting read! An old house? A spooky attic? Old books and maps? Ancient mystery? Yes, please! I was biting my nails as the children had the bad guys hot on their heels at so many moments during the book. As they tried to figure out who to trust I felt worried for them. It was fun trying to piece together the clues to see if I could figure out where the Drew children needed to go. The most nerve-racking for me was when they were at the cave and the water was going up! Yikes! Caves are amazing, but the thought of getting trapped in one of them or possibly getting hurt by waves crashing me into rocks, makes me scared. I recommend this book to kids or adults in fourth grade and up who love suspense, a thrilling adventure, and anything that ties into King Arthur. I can’t wait to read the rest of the series!

Has anyone else read oversee Over Sea, Under Stone?  Or have you read another book by Susan Cooper? We’d love to hear your thoughts!

Happy Reading!

~L

P.S. I missed Marvelous Middle Grade Monday this week, as we were spotlighting Elaine Kay and her book, Bad Fairy. Be sure to check out all the MMGM reviews at Always in the Middle!

Special Guest Post: Bad Fairies & Cabbage Patch Stew

Title: Bad Fairy

Series: A Bad Fairy Adventure (Book One)

Author: Elaine Kaye

Publisher: The Wild Rose Press

Genre: Fantasy Middle Grade

Length: 66 pages

Age Range: 8-12

Thistle Greenbud is not a bad fairy. She simply doesn't like rules, and it's just her luck that her homework is to create a new rule for the fairy handbook. But first, she has more important things to do. Like figure out how to get back at Dusty and Moss for playing tricks on her.

Before she can carry out her plan, though, disaster strikes and she finds herself working alongside the very fairies she wanted revenge on. Can they work together and trust each other, or will things go from bad to worse?

Recipe for "Cabbage Patch Stew" from Bad Fairy

Cabbage Patch Stew is Thistle’s favorite meal in Bad Fairy.

In real life, I made Cabbage Patch Stew for my kids from an old recipe I’ve had for as long as I can remember. I still make cabbage patch stew a couple of times a year.

When I had to write about Thistle and her family eating dinner together, I immediately thought of cabbage patch stew, because with words like “cabbage” and “patch” it just sounds like something fairies would eat.

Ingredients:

One medium-sized onion, chopped

One large green bell pepper, chopped

Three stalks of celery, chopped

2 cups of chopped cabbage

One 28-oz can crushed tomatoes

Two 15-oz cans stewed tomatoes

Two 15-oz cans red kidney beans, rinsed and drained

½ teaspoon garlic powder (more to taste)

11/2 teaspoon chili powder (more to taste)

1 Tablespoon brown sugar

Instructions:

- Chop celery, onion, and green pepper. Sauté with oil until almost done.

- Mix chopped vegetables, and chopped cabbage in a pot.

- Add the can of crushed tomatoes, can of kidney beans, and both cans of stewed tomatoes.

- Add garlic powder, chili powder, and brown sugar, to taste.

- Cook until cabbage is tender.

- If you desire more broth, add water.

*Feel free to add more or less cabbage or other vegetables. 

OKUM SOKUM!

EXCERPT FROM THE BOOK:

As I fly through the front door, I smell my favorite dinner—cabbage patch stew. I stand next to Mom, who is still at the stove, stirring the pot. I give her a big hug.

She turns and smiles at me. “What’s that for? Did you get into trouble again?”

I roll my eyes. “No, Mom. I didn’t get into trouble. I just love cabbage patch stew, that’s all.” Shrugging my shoulders, I grab plates for the table.

The table is ready when she calls me over to the counter. “We still have enough time to make dill weed biscuits. You can start on that since you know how. I’ll help you as soon as I finish this salad.” She’s chopping up dandelion greens and other delicious weeds. I get right to work on the biscuits. Maybe I am a “good” fairy after all.

BUY THE BOOK!

Amazon / Barnes & Noble

BOOK GIVEAWAY

Eligibility: International

Number of Winners: One

Giveaway Ends: July 1, 2020 12:00am Eastern Standard Time

ENTER THE BOOK GIVEAWAY

Elaine Kaye is the author of A Gregory Green Adventure series. She first created Gregory Green after her son, who loved her homemade pea soup, thus inspiring the story Pea Soup Disaster. Bad Fairy is her middle grade debut and the first of A Bad Fairy Adventure series.

Kaye has worked as a library assistant and teacher’s assistant in elementary schools in the Sunshine State. 

She currently lives in Florida, but she has called Michigan; Honolulu, Hawaii; and Okinawa, Japan home. She is a grandmother of three boys.

Amazon / Goodreads / BookBub / Instagram / Facebook/ Twitter / Blog

Answer to Fairday's Riddle: Spelunking Spell...

Excellent guessing, Riddlers! We'll be on an adventure into a cave. We have a special guest post on Monday; tune in Wednesday to find out how the answer ties into the story. See you all around the book block. ~ F

A secret place found inside— clever spot to stay and hide. A chasm forged by passing time tells its lore in ancient rhyme. Here in lies a sleepy wake with sulfur breath and bones that quake.  

What am I referring to? Answer: Cave!

Fairday's Riddles: Volume I 

Make time to riddle and rhyme!
62 original riddles and illustrations

Fairday's Riddle: Inner Dwelling...

Hello, Riddlers! Can you guess our theme? They are exciting to explore! ~ F

A secret place found inside— clever spot to stay and hide. A chasm forged by passing time tells its lore in ancient rhyme. Here in lies a sleepy wake with sulfur breath and bones that quake.  

What am I referring to? Stop by Friday for the answer. 

The picture is the clue!

Margo's Musings: Can an Egg be Too Good?

We are still getting curbside pickup at our local library. This week we asked our favorite librarian to surprise us with a few books she thought we'd like. It's exciting to have a bag of books that you might not have found on your own. My little sister, Margo, and I couldn't wait to dig in and start reading.

We were thrilled to discover The Good Egg written by Jory John and illustrated by Pete Oswald.  We've read a lot of books by Jory John, so we knew we were in for a treat. When we looked at the cover Margo was obsessed with the eyeglasses.  She kept saying, "Glasses. Oh- big glasses." I have to admit the egg on the cover does look pretty cute with those spectacles on.

In the story there is an egg. He's a very good egg. It seems crazy to him that the other eggs are so reckless and misbehave all the time. No matter how much he tries to get his friends to behave, they will not listen. This causes him a ton of stress, and he starts to crack. The good egg realizes he needs to go away and be by himself. While he is gone he starts to take care of himself; even pampers himself. Being away, he misses his friends and starts to learn that he can't be responsible for their behavior. Trying to control them wasn't making anyone happy. When he rejoins his friends in the carton, he has a new attitude. Of course, he still wants to be good—but he realizes it's possible to be too good and not enjoy life.

The book has some really great messages. Sometimes we need reminders that we can't control other people and what they do. We can only control ourselves. I also think it's important to take care of our health, so that was a point that hit home with me.  The illustrations are awesome. The facial expressions on some of the eggs is priceless.  Of course, the main character wormed his way into our hearts with those big blue eyes and enormous glasses. I would recommend this book to anyone that enjoys a good picture book. I can see it being used in school to help students learn lessons about behavior, self-care, and finding the balance in life.

The Good Egg is part of a series of books with similar titles (The Bad Seed, The Cool Bean, etc.). We look forward to checking those out as well.

Has anyone else read The Good Egg? Or have you read another book written by Jory John or illustrated by Pete Oswald? We'd love to hear your thoughts!

Happy Reading!
~F