The Twenty-One Balloons

The Twenty-One Balloons, by William Pene du Bois

8/60 | Started 01.15.26 • Finished 02.09.26 | 5 stars

The book is about a man named Professor William Waterman Sherman. He is a balloonist who tries to fly across the Pacific Ocean in a hot air balloon called The Globe. Instead he crash lands on the island of Krakatoa. He finds a group of people living secretly on the volcanic island. He sees the diamond mines, experiences the restaurant government, and takes a ride on the balloon merry-go-round. Then one day the volcano explodes and everybody escapes on a balloon platform. The Professor crash lands into the Atlantic Ocean and is rescued. He is then taken back to San Francisco where he tells the story of his adventure.

Carolyn, age 9

Dear Writer

Dear Writer, by Maggie Smith

7/60 | Started 01.30.26 • Finished 02.09.26 | 4 stars

I aspire to be an aspiring writer. As a recovering perfectionist, I find it quite difficult to put words to a page, whether in prose or poetry, without being hyper-critical and editing on-the-go. Rarely can I just punch something out stream of consciousness style. So, I remain curious about works about writing. Maggie's book is excellent. She writes beautifully about writing: its processes, triumps, struggles, questions, habits, etc. I'm finding it a little bit hard to explain, aside from it scratching that writing itch in me. The book follows a pattern of letter to the reader/writer, then essays on various writing elements, and includes several writing exercises/prompts. Confession: I did not do any of the writing exercises. They seemed to be for more seasoned writers, not for beginning beginners like myself. But I could see how they would be helpful for an actual writer, to challenge and stretch him/her, and open him/her up to new possibilities. Highly recommend for that writers and wannabes out there.

The Stolen Queen

The Stolen Queen, by Fiona Davis

6/60 | Started 01.22.26 • Finished 01.30.26 | 3.5 stars

While I would admit to this being a page-turner of sorts, I found that it was a little too "neat" for me. Just for one case in point - when Annie decides she's going to follow Charlotte to Egypt, she grabs her passport. Was that a common thing in the late 70s for people to have their passports? Especially a young girl who'd never been anywhere and due to economic difficulties, wasn't in a place to go anywhere anytime soon? It didn't pan out for me. It feels like the book was riddled with these kinds of things, but the overall plot was quite good in and of itself. I'd also say that this was more of a plot-driven novel where I'm more drawn to character-driven ones.