KARITO KIDS: Zoe

Zoe! Okay, so I've honestly only read this series of books once before and that was in summer 2008. I thought I'd reread them since, but I really don't think I ever did.

In summer 2008, I lived in New York City, as I mentioned in my post about Gia.

Zoe lives in New York City.

However, it's only now, upon rereading this book ten years later, that I've realized Zoe lived in the part of New York City that I would be moving to shortly after reading her book.

If I put the two together back then, I've since forgotten, but I honestly don't think I ever realized until now.

Not too long after I got into Karitos, I had to rush-move from Brooklyn to the West Village. I was caught up in a new job and a new internship and then in the fall, my classes started up again. So yeah, I was insanely busy and I honestly don't think I thought back to this book and went, "Hey, I live here now."

But rereading it now was an amazing experience, because Zoe went to so many places that I know. Every street she listed off is one I've walked down loads of times.

One flaw of Ling's book that I forgot to mention is that the mystery becomes bigger than the location. Gia's books did a good job of balancing mystery and learning about Italy. Ling's did not teach that much about China.

Zoe's book is definitely centered on the mystery, but it's still filled with a strong essence of New York. The details seem less important than Gia's Italy or Ling's China, because they seem less different than what a typical American is used to, but there is a difference. New York is like nowhere else I've ever lived and this book captures a lot of it, though people who have never lived there might miss out on that.

Zoe herself is a fun character, but not that unique. Her problem is that the writer (or Karito character designer) tried too hard to make her the quirky girl. She's a singer/songwriter/guitarist who's known for making up her own words and collecting hats. In trying so hard to be quirky, she becomes not unique but instead like every other quirky female character that's been written.

She's still really likeable and fun though. I enjoyed the book a lot and part of it was definitely her character. I shouldn't fault her for not being able to compete with the actual main character of the book: New York City.

No one can compete with New York.

KARITO KIDS: Ling

The second Karito Kids doll I bought was Ling! She's one of the loveliest Asian dolls in my collection.

Ling lives in Shanghai, China, which she hates. She's from Sichuan. So when her family has to move to Shanghai because her dad took a job with the zoo, she's not happy. The kids at her school all make fun of her because of her accent and her clothes. She relates it to being from Georgia or North Carolina and moving to New York City. Although people in NYC are a lot nicer than any of her classmates. NYC people are used to diversity. They're not gonna mock an accent. So not the best comparison, but you get the drift. Country mouse moves to the city.

Ling's mystery is some pretty hardcore adult stuff. Her father is a panda expert and the Shanghai zoo hired him from the panda reserve he used to work at, because they're setting up a new panda exhibit. A developer bought a couple pandas from the reserve and so Ling, who is already obsessed with pandas, has known these two as they grew up.

There's a problem though. Something is making the pandas sick. Ling gets herself in huge trouble at the beginning of the book and struggles throughout to help her panda friends despite basically constantly risking being in huge trouble.

She befriends a homeless boy, who helps her a couple times, including saving her life. Twice. There's also a mean girl and some red herrings before the villain is revealed.

The book is pretty solid, but also a bit over the top, so the believability is less than Gia's was. Although I think the writing is better in Ling's. Gia's second book had a point where the characters acted out of character and weren't believable in order to get the story where it needed to be. Ling's book doesn't have that problem, but to have an 11-year-old be almost killed twice in her mystery book is a little too much for me.

Ling is a really likeable character. She's got her own funky style and doesn't try to change herself to fit in at school. The bullying is ridiculous, considering even the teacher participates in it, but I do give the author points for not making the mean girl change her ways. She and Ling still hate each other at the end of the book.

Like Gia, Ling's book got a new cover design when the dolls got new outfits. I actually prefer the new cover because her hair matches the doll's, whereas the first cover did not. The doll did come with white stockings, too, like in the art, but I removed them when I got her.

KARITO KIDS: Gia

I knew about Karito Kids in 2007, but didn't fall for them until summer of 2008. I was living in New York City then, attending NYU, and had just moved into a teeny tiny single room ("apartment") in their newly-acquired Brooklyn dorm. I'd been living in that building for the entire 2007-2008 school year, but I'd used a combo of luck and connections to keep my super spacious double apartment all to myself, but that came to an end when summer semester began. I wasn't taking classes, but I was working for the school at the time, with plans to relocate to a different dorm in the West Village for fall semester.

So you know, it was the perfect time to start collecting a 22" doll line!

I decided to start by getting the set of five books, one mystery for each character, and using them to choose which doll to buy first.

I ended up with Gia from Italy, the fashionista of the bunch, which seems a bit of an unusual choice for me, but her doll is still one of my favorite larger-scale dolls of all time.

You might be able to see why from the picture below. She's just stunningly gorgeous.

Each book is a mystery set in each character's country. Gia is from Florence (Firenze), Italy.

Florence Fiasco is about how Gia's family runs a small pensione (hotel). She hates her job and the drab uniform she has to wear, because she has dreams of becoming big in the fashion world.

When an older designer decides to stay in their hotel while preparing for his big comeback at Fashion Week, a pair of expensive diamond-decorated shoes go missing. The blame falls on Gia, so she takes it upon herself to solve the mystery. The designer ends up believing her and even prepares a dress for her to wear to his show. Gia gets help from a brash American rich girl and the two try to solve the mystery.

However, Gia's hypotheses are way off until she realizes, while at the fashion show, who the culprit is and races back to the hotel to get the shoes and save the day.

These books were originally released as hardcovers with names based on the locations. When the dolls got a revamp with new clothing, the books became softcovers with new titles that included the girls' names. These are the same books though! They are not new ones.

Each Karito Kid got a single book...except Gia.

Gia's second book takes place after the first, when she wins a design contest in a kids' fashion magazine. She gets to see her designs made real and even gets to model in the photo shoot. Gia insists that the skinny models from a certain agency that the magazine wants to use don't represent her vision. She manages to get the lady in charge to agree with her and replaces the scrawny models with two friends that she met at the hotel and one of her Italian friends.

However, someone's got it out for Gia and her friends. They keep receiving threats, having near-misses with a crazy lady on a motorbike, and one girl's hair even gets temporarily dyed green.

Gia struggles with asking adults for help, because she doesn't want anything to stop the photo shoot, but also whenever she tries to tell someone, no one believes her. So of course things escalate and come to a head with no one seeing the truth until Gia outs the culprit at the end.

My only real complaint about the book is that some of the minor characters seem off. Her mother was the one who supported her dream in the first book, only to be the stubborn one in this second book. Her older sister has a sudden interest in cooking that I don't think was mentioned in the first book at all. And the entire sequence where they go out of town wasn't very well-written or believable.

Still, I liked both of Gia's books a lot. They're a fun ride and while she's obsessed with fashion, Gia also sees a lot of beauty everywhere around her. She gets inspiration from art and anyone who loves museums is excellent in my book.

I just wish they'd made the outfit on the cover of her second book! Her updated doll outfit was nowhere near that pretty and not as good as her original outfit either.

S.A.S.S. 10 & 11

I got the urge to finally finish the S.A.S.S. series!

I left off with book #10, which is about a skier in Finland. I got a few chapters in and was so bored, I didn't finish it...for several months.

Seriously, my review for book #9 was in April.

This one was just plain disappointing. The main character isn't that interesting. She's from a family of competitive skiers and suffers from the need to not be compared to them all the time. When she struggles with her jumps in Finland, she gets help from a guy and that blossoms into romance, but is then complicated by the bitchy daughter of her host family.

This is another of those books that pretty much focuses on one thing, the skiing, and forgets the most important things to S.A.S.S.: the scholarship and the culture.

The daughter's actions also go mostly unresolved. She was a bitch because she wanted to get her family's attention, but this isn't dealt with at all. She makes things right with the main character, but nothing happens with her family.

There's also a dull side plot with the main's friend liking a male friend and that just wasn't handled well either.

Definitely one of the worst of the series.

Thankfully, it's followed by one of the best of the series.

Delk is a Tennessee society girl off to Ireland to escape her father and his child bride pregnant new wife and her "presentation" into Nashville society. Delk's big issue is that her mom died two years ago and she doesn't want to talk about it or how she's still not over it or how her stepmother changing everything in their house is hurting her.

So she heads to Ireland for a semester to escape.

This one ticks all the right boxes. Delk has family drama and it pervades the book, but it's done well and indicates how she heals and comes to terms with her problems over the course of the semester.

The supporting cast is good: a sporty girl, a sophisticated wannabe model who's obsessed with Paris, a scholarly girl and her wild brothers who have ADHD.

The romance is also good, because they actually delve into it pretty quickly and the pair are quite suited to each other. They're cute.

And we actually get to learn a lot about Ireland, visit several places and watch Delk do hard work for her classes.

The next one heads back to France to check in with Nicole again, then the final regular book is the first one I reviewed about China. The last book in the series is a super special. So only two more reviews to go and this series is done!

BSC Graphic Novels: Kristy's Big Day

I don't think I've done reviews of any of the BSC graphic novels, but trust me, they're great. I recently got the first four in color (I had bought the original black and whites) not long after the fifth one came out. Well, now the sixth one is here!

I grew up on the BSC. I'm a huge fan. Big-time nostalgia. I loved the first four graphic novels and I was thrilled when they decided to continue the series.

Now the comics have hopped around a bit. The first one matched the first BSC book, but then they skipped book #2 and book #3 became the second graphic novel. Book #4 was the third and then it jumped all the way to book #7 for the fourth. They wanted one with Claudia as the lead and they decided not to make it book #2. When it came time for graphic novel #5, they went back to book #5, while also adding Mallory to the cast, borrowing events from book #14, which is set after Stacey moves back to New York City. So now we've come to graphic novel #6 and it matches up with book #6, except they added Mallory into the cast, which is fine with me. Book #6 happens to be one of my favorites of the early BSC books, so I was really excited for this.

I was surprised at how many times I burst out laughing while reading this. They really went all out with the funny situations and expressions on the characters. So instead of me doing a normal review, I'm going to share the funniest parts of the book!

Forgive my photos. I was too lazy to scan these, so I just used my camera. And then was too lazy to crop them better.

Here's Kristy's mom freaking out when she realizes they have to plan a wedding and plan a move in very minimal time.

In this scene, Kristy has just told the BSC about her idea: the six of them watching the 14 kids that will be around during the wedding planning. It sounds like a load of work, but the bonus is that they're being paid double their usual rate from 9-5 for multiple days.

This is Claudia's reaction to that amount of money.

And here she is trying the tactic on Mary Anne.

Mallory is stinkin' adorable. I love her. And their faces in the last panel while they're trying to get Mary Anne on board with this plan.

EVERY BIT OF THIS IS GOLD.

And it continues.

Kristy's pep talk to herself had me dying.

And this. OMG. Her face. That is kind of a duh, Watson.

Exhausted after Day One. I love how Stacey's got her likely sweaty bare feet all over Claudia. Kristy's just faceplanted.

Dawn is 100% over Karen.

Kristy threatening the boys to behave during the barbershop scene.

And the not often seen rage of Mary Anne on the previous page.

I just love all this. I laughed so many times! Get these. Read them all. Join me in laughing. And then cross your fingers that we get to go to Sea City soon!

EMMA CARROLL 2

Yeah, it's just one book. I haven't bought any others yet. But I will.

I wanted to say a quick few words about this before I forgot. It's already been a few days since I finished this.

In Darkling Wood is an interesting yet highly frustrating book. It's one of those where it has to be illogical to make sense. The main plot is even illogical. Alice has been helping take care of her sick younger brother for ages, after her father abandoned the family, yet she's shipped off to live with her bizarro paternal grandmother while her brother gets a heart transplant. Sending her away during the school year just makes no sense to me. There's really no reason that something else could not have been worked out. The adults also spend far too much time hiding things from Alice and treating her like she hasn't been instrumental in helping her little brother.

Then the grandmother is a useless trip who neither wants to nor properly knows how to care for a child. There's not even enough food in the house and she continually shuts Alice out when poor Alice needs a stable environment the most. I really disliked the grandmother. I still do, even after the book's ending, because her actions were explained, but that doesn't make her behavior any less shitty.

The people in town are all pissy because Alice's grandmother is trying to tear down the old woods around her house and they take it out on Alice.

I honestly think Alice acts like more of an adult than every single actual adult in this book and I haaaaaaaaaaaaate that. I consider it pretty bad writing really.

I did like the character of Flo though and her twist is a good one. Max, the one friend Alice makes, is also a good character.

I just wish Carroll could have figured out how to tell this story without making every adult in it act poorly.

EMMA CARROLL 1

I discovered author Emma Carroll through an ad for her newest book in a post by one of the many Egyptian things I follow on either Twitter or Facebook. Annoyingly, a lot of her books cannot just be purchased via Amazon. I had to hit ebay for the newest one. But I did get The Snow Sister and Strange Star from Amazon. I received those before the newest book, the one I was actually most interested in, so I read them first.

The Snow Sister is a very short book for younger readers than Carroll's other works. She doesn't shy away from darker elements in her stories, so the young girl protagonist has a dead older sister that she recreates in snow before Christmas. She comes from a poor family with a newly-deceased rich uncle who left something to his brother, the girl's father. As her father goes to find out what, the family assumes they'll be rich. The girl sets out to get pudding ingredients at the store and through a series of misadventures, ends up spending the night in the home of the wealthiest family in town, where she learns that family and love are more important than money. She also learns that it's this dude who inherited her uncle's fortune. When she gets home, she learns her family got...the uncle's daughter. They're happy to have a new person in their family, a semi-replacement for the dead older sister, and he left some jewelry behind to be sold to help pay for her upkeep, but I don't like any of this. Why leave your fortune to some dickbag rich dude you mentored when you could leave it for YOUR CHILD? Just make it where she can't access it until she's older. I hope there's enough jewelry there to take care of her for years, because they're gonna need it.

So not the best thoughts about this author going into the second book. This one's a pretty wild ride. The framing and concluding chapters take place at the Villa Diodati, during the famous gathering of Lord Byron and the Shelleys. The central and main part of the story is from the POV of a young girl who, along with her mother, was struck by lightning. There are mysterious animal disappearances and deaths, a comet in the sky, an elusive creepy scientist...who turns out not to be the scientist in the story after all. It's an interesting tale and much better than the Snow Sister. I don't want to give too much away, but all these events lead Mary Shelley to write her famous work.

Ah, finally we get to the one I wanted to read most. This is set in Egypt as Howard Carter is finding the tomb of the now-legendary King Tut. This one's an excellent journey with solid characters, a twisting backstory that resolves in a pretty unbelievable way, curses, and portions of the story set in ancient Egypt. The whole thing is extremely unbelievable. You've just got to set that aside.

As an Egyptologist, two things did bother me.

First, the author uses "hieroglyphics." This is not a word. Hieroglyphic is the writing system. One glyph is a hieroglyph. Multiple glyphs are hieroglyphs. Likely some would argue that "hieroglyphics" has become so commonly used that it has become a word, but that's a load. If you're writing about Egypt and you want to sound like you did a lick of research, never ever use "hieroglyphics." I mean, unless you're writing for a character that is meant to sound uneducated and it's a conscious decision to use the incorrect word. I wouldn't mind the young girl that's the POV using it if it was ever made clear in the text that it's not the correct term. Regardless, whenever I see it, it ruins the story by taking me right out of it, and I just sit and wonder how much research was done if this bad an error was made.

Second, the canopic jar that's the focus of the protagonist's problem is described as having the head of Anubis. I kept waiting for this to be dealt with. It never was. You see, the four canopic jar heads are a human, a falcon, a baboon and yes, a jackal. But this jackal is NOT Anubis. It's Duamutef. It's a mistake someone who didn't know much would make, because yeah, he looks just like Anubis. So when it first happened, I was okay with her not knowing the proper deity on the jar, but as the story went on, it was revealed that the jar held the heart. The heart is not typically removed during mummification, so there is no jar for it. It was never said if the character who put the heart in the jar just used a random Duamutef one or maybe had a special jar he had made for this purpose and did put Anubis's head on it.

Not things that would bother the average reader, but both took me out of the story a bit, because I know how things should be. (And I get annoyed when people don't research properly.)

The story itself is an excellent ride and I do recommend giving this a read. You likely won't be as bothered by the errors as I was, but hey, at least you know the right information now.