Book Review: The Fallen Star by Tracey Hecht

 

Book Description:

 In The Fallen Star, Dawn, Tobin, and Bismark awaken one evening to a disaster: all of the forest's pomelos have been mysteriously poisoned! As the Nocturnal Brigade sets out to investigate, they encounter Iris, a mysterious aye-aye, who claims monsters from the moon are to blame. While the three heroes suspect a more earthly explanation, the animals of the valley are all falling ill. And then Tobin gets sick, too! The Nocturnal Brigade must race to find answers, and the cure, before the pomelo blight threatens to harm them all.

In The Fallen Star, the third book in the non-episodic middle grade series, The Nocturnals, the adventure of the three unlikely friends—Dawn, a serious fox, Tobin, a sweet pangolin, and Bismark, a loud-mouthed sugar glider—continue with teamwork, friendship, and humor.

Rorie's Review:

My son has been anxiously awaiting the third book in this series ever since he finished the second one. He was over-the-moon excited when I handed it to him when I picked him up from school one day. He immediately started reading the book and pretty much didn't come up for air until the next day when he finished it. I'm pretty sure he would have read all night long if I had let him.

Now, my son has loved reading ever since he was old enough to learn how - something that I am entirely grateful for. But I am still so glad for books that get him so excited that he wants to learn everything he can about the characters or places featured in this book. In this case, pangolins and sugar gliders - two animals he had never heard of before reading this series. Now, he will tell anyone who is interested what a pangolin is, what they look like, and any other tid-bit of information he can find on them. For that reason (and many others) I consider The Nocturnals series a huge hit. 

Now, on to his review. He may love reading, but he's not so fond of writing reviews. It took a whole lot of doing, but I finally managed to get him to write more than three sentences about the book:

"I really like the falling star. My favorite character is Bismark. I like how he thinks that Dawn likes him. My favorite part of the story is when they find out what the glow was. I like how it features different animals that are very unique like sugar gliders and pangolins. I like how the animals can talk in stories like this one. I really think that makes the stories unique. I really hope the author makes another story of the Nocturnals because I don't think three books make a good ending point. So I hope you make another book like this. I really want to know what happens."

There you have it. A huge hit for the 9-year-old set. I have to say, I'm with my son on this one. I really do hope the author writes more books in this series.

Tarah's Review:

 Two of my children were very excited when The Fallen Star came in the mail. I greedily horded it however, and wouldn't let them read it until I was finished. They were very excited when I told them they could now read it.

I will admit that this time in the story, the sugar glider Bismark was a little too much for me. I sort of wished he would be quiet and let the story go on. He seemed to pipe up more in this story than the other ones, but it's possible I am not remembering correctly. And, I think the kids will still really like him, even if I thought he was annoying.

The best part of this story was the end. I'll admit I wasn't sure how they were going to make this in to realish situations, but they did and I was like, "Oh, that's cool." But the end...I like the moral of the story. That, I hope, resonates with my kids the most when they fight over who gets to read this first :)

Title: The Fallen Star
Author: Tracey Hecht
Publisher: Fabled Films Press
Published: May 2017
ISBN: 1944020055
Source: We received copies from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Purchase: Amazon   Barnes & Noble