Skip to main content

Deadly Flowers

Image
By


Deadly Flowers
Sarah L. Thomson
2016, Boyds Mills Press, an Imprint of Highlights, 270 p.

Orphan Kata lives at a training school in ancient Japan—a training school for female ninjas called “Deadly Flowers.” At the school she is one of the best (and the oldest) students still there. She is taught to be stealthy and have a high pain tolerance. When she is finally asked to complete her first mission, Kata is excited. This is what she has always dreamed of. Only, she didn’t realize that it would be to kill a 10-year-old boy. When her mission goes awry (in part due to the fact that it turns out that she does not have thirst for murder), she must take the boy she couldn’t kill and his sister on a journey to escape both the ones who hired her to kill and the mistress of the training school.

However, like all good adventure stories (and this is an adventure because—well, ninjas!) there is more to the adventure than just running away from people trying to kill them. The group also has a magical pearl that controls demons. And other demons want the pearl just as much as the people running after them. This is a great fantasy/historical/adventure mashup of a book. And I love that it is a female protagonist that has to think, act, and save the day. Seriously, this is one great adventure story. Just watch out for all those pesky (and sometimes evil) demons.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: Faker

By
Faker By Gordon Korman New York: Scholastic Press, 2024. Fiction. 214 pages. 12-year-old Trey is used to starting over at a new school -- he has the routine perfectly memorized: make new friends, introduce his dad to the wealthy parents of his new friends, and "Houdini" themselves out of there before they get caught running their latest scam. Trey's dad is a master con artist, and Trey has just been promoted to full-partner. Their new scheme for the next big score brings them to the affluent suburb of Boxelder, TN where Trey's dad has cooked up a fake electric car company for investors to buy into. The only problem is that Trey is starting to grow tired of moving around and never putting down roots, especially after forming a fast friendship with Logan and developing a crush on Kaylee, a socially conscious girl in his class. As Trey longs for a normal life, is there any way he can convince his dad to get out of the family business? Gordon Korman is a perennial favorit
Post a Comment
Read more

Review: The Frindle Files

By
  Frindle Files  By Andrew Clements  New York: Random House, 2024. Fiction. 198 pages.  In 1996 Andrew Clements wrote a story about a kid who invented the word “frindle” (another word for “pen.”)  The Frindle Files is the sequel that takes place many years later.  Josh is a student in Mr. N’s class. He and his friends can’t stand the fact that Mr. N makes them all write their homework down on paper with a “blue or black pen” and “neatness counts.” Josh is a computer geek and loves to do all his homework on the computer. In the midst of trying to find a way to make Mr. N accept the students' desire to do homework online, Josh comes across some information about Mr. N that links him to the word “frindle.” Now Josh and his best friend must decide what to do with the information and if they are willing to stand up to Mr. N’s antiquated way of doing homework.  Kids who love the original book will highly enjoy this new edition. It is a continuation to the story in that it shows what ha
Post a Comment
Read more

Review: Life After Whale

By
  Life After Whale Written by Lynn Brunelle Illustrated by Jason Chin New York: Holiday House, 2024. Informational.  Have you ever wondered what happens after a whale dies? In this beautiful book, you'll discover what happens for years after a whale's death. The book begins by introducing the blue whale and talking a little about its life. It moves quickly on to a whale's death, where his body first falls to the very bottom of the ocean floor. You'll meet the scavengers, first big then smaller as the years progress that eat the whale's decomposing body until finally it is used as a food source for krill which are then eaten by blue whales.  In addition to being an excellent resource to discussing the animal circle of life, this book is a work of art. Jason Chin's watercolor and gauche illustrations will have readers dissecting every detail and flipping through for a further look. Kids who love animal facts will be absolutely enthralled by this tale.   
Post a Comment
Read more