Cauldron Cooker's Night

This is a fun series for kids (and older kids). There's plenty of action and adventure, both male and female heroes, and a twist at the end. There's lots of magic to keep Harry Potter-type fans interested, and the authors even provide a pronunciation guide for some less-common character names. Highly recommended.

Keeping up with what my grandchildren do is nearly impossible. Finding things for them to do -- things that might be more worthwhile than video games and television -- can be a full-time job. Reading...adventuring with books, learning some life lessons the easy way, feeding creative imaginations...has always been one of my favorite suggestions. The right books for the 9-12 year old group aren't always easy to find. If a book sends the right message, it often isn't fun for them to read, thereby setting up defeat on all sides. Those books that may be fun to read frequently contain messages that are far afield from the ideas I'd like to plant in their young minds. Now I'm excited about my discovery of Knightscares. Cauldron Cooker's Night, the first of what I hope is a long list of similar books from these authors, more than satisfies my requirements and stirs the right attitudes and understandings that my grandkids squeeze from this fantasy setting. Vocabulary, social graces, morality, a carefully constructed world that doesn't lead young minds to the wrong places -- if all this and more is a first effort from Anthony and David, five stars is only the beginning.

My son and I ejoyed this book very much. It was fast paced with good descriptions and humorous characters. We found ourselves reading "just one more chapter" repeatedly while the bedtime hour slipped past. The author's did a great job with suspense from one chapter to the next.