Dragon Rider - Cornelia Funke

This book is a bit odd. It begins,not with the main character, but with a character that has little to do with the story. It begins with a rat. From then we meet Sorrel, a short tempered young brownie girl. A brownie is a sort of cross between a cat and.....well,something else. Sorrel's best friend is a dragon named Firedrake, and the two of them have some problem solving to do. Here is their to do list.

1. Somehow get to a nearby city, the home of rat's uncle, a famous map maker. Why? So that they can find the fabled "Rim of Heaven" which can provide shelter from the humans invading their valley.

2. Find a home for Ben, a homeless child they've picked up along the way.

3. Dispense of Twigleg by throwing him into the ocean, or at least feeding him to something really big and vicious (Don't ask, it was entirely Sorrel's idea, it had nothing to do with me) .

Those are basically the things that Firedrake and Sorrel plan on doing. But little do they know they know they will have much more problems as time goes on. Cornelia Funke is a really good artist/author, the kind that uses words for her paints. So far, I've got a pretty good idea of her writing style. Keep on the lookout for more books by this author!

Note: OOHHH looky! I am writing in color! I am really starting to get the hang of this!

Secret of the Old Garage - Page McBrier

Summer vacation has finally arrived and everyone, with the exception of Oliver Moffit, has something to. He runs a pet care business, and it hasn't been going well. Then he has an idea. Why not take care of the school gerbils? Oliver argues with his mom about it, and after a long,hard argument, Mrs. Moffit gives in. But she has always had one strict rule about his pet care business: ONLY ONE CUSTOMER AT A TIME. So for a little while,Oliver is happy taking care of the gerbils, even if he has to babysit Andrew, his annoying four year old neighbor. Sounds like fun, right? Well it is, for a while. Then a friend from school shows up with his fish tank, hoping Oliver will take care of them for the summer. If he doesn't than he'll have to give them away.
Oliver remembered his mother's rule,but says yes anyway. He has decided to get his mother a birthday present,because her birthday is at the end of the summer. But it is very expensive, and he can use the money. And anyway, fish aren't going to be much trouble at all. And then he finds the guinea pigs on the front doorstep......
Let's say you really like stories with morals, but you don't like Aesop's (pronounced EESOP) fables and want something a bit longer to read. Look no further! This book is the one for you.
This story is a bit short,but there is an important lesson you should learn from it. The lesson is very simple: Follow the rules. As a conclusion,I would say that this is overall a good read.