Bella Sara #3: Jewel's Magic

I loved Bella Sara as a kid, but I never even heard about the books! Reading these with my girls has been awesome and so nostalgic for me; for a moment it feels like I’m eight years old again and fighting dial-up to take care of my horses. If I’m to criticize anything about it, I’d say the writing is a little clunky, but that’s about it. It’s aimed at pre-teen girls so it’s not particularly deep or thought provoking, but I really enjoy the lack of romance; it’s a natural part of life, but not something girls that young need to worry about. Basically, if you don’t have any connection to Bella Sara, these are good, simple books to help your girl become a better reader. If you did grow up on Bella Sara, though, these are awesome!!

I bought this book for my daughter's 6th birthday, and she really likes it. It is a chapter book, and well over her reading level, but we read a chapter a night together (which I loved). She looked forward to it so much that I didn't even have to ask her twice to put her PJ's on! The book, which is written well enough that I don't mind reading it, follows a brave girl's quest to save her mother and help her family. My 6-yr-old doesn't really lack girl-power attitude, but I think this kind of reinforcement partially explains why. The only unpleasant elements were a bullying boy and some marginally scary magical "creatures." My daughter tends to scare VERY easily, so she found some "rock creatures" in one chapter disturbing, but she forgot about them by the next day. The themes are more mature than our toddler-type books (a parent's death, poverty, bullying, etc.), but provide for a lot of discussion. Some of it went over her head, but she kept up. Each chapter has one drawing, which she looked forward to. My newly four year old daughter, on the other hand, got very bored and generally played while we read this book. She loves to read, but she needs pictures to keep her attention. Overall, this is a terrific fantasy for any horse-loving girl ready to move up from picture books. FYI--The bonus code in the book (for use on the Bella Sara website, which my daughter also loves) unlocks a poster of the horse in the book, not the horse itself. My daughter was a little disappointed, but she got over it when she got Jewel in a pack of cards someone else got her for her birthday.

Our twin great granddaughters have begged their parents to read them over and over again...