Kim Donovan

At the turn of the twentieth century a young woman is found dead on the beach at Yarmouth. She is finally identified as 'Mrs Hood' who was staying at a local lodging with her daughter. However all lines of enquiry seem to be going nowhere and the case is referred to Scotland Yard. Finally the woman is identified as Mary Jane Bennett and from then all evidence leads to the murderer as being her husband Herbert. As the Victorian era ends, the trial of Herbert Bennett grips the nation.
This sia really well researched true crime story in which the complex nature of the Bennett's lives is dissected. The records of the trial are used copiously and there is a little twist in the tale right at the very end. However what makes this book so powerful is the fact that this is actually the story of the author's great-great-aunt and the fight for justice has that personal dimension that lifts the tale.… (mehr)

Imagine going to school inside a volcano where you learn to be bad, and get extra points for being extra bad. That’s right, you get to take classes such as World domination taught by Dr. Super Evil, The Super Simulator in the evil hands of Vera Vile and Sinister Science by Professor Plutonium. Well, If you attended St. Viper’s School For Super Villains you would be doing that and much more.
Demon Kid is one of the lucky attendees along with his friends Stacey Stretch, Wolfgang, a young werewolf, and others. However, this school is similar to our very own schools. They have bullies just like we do. The difference is that these bullies are super villains who also bully other super villains, namely Demon Kid and his friends. For a bad guy Demon Kid is always trying to help his friends. Now he has to find a way to stop the super villains who are constantly picking on them, all the while learning to dominate the world. This is a cute book and one I could see my reluctant readers picking up. It is full of action and humor.… (mehr)

St. Viper’s School for Super Villains



by Kim Donovan

4 Stars


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780957130005
Publisher: Squawk Books
Publication date: 2/8/2012
Pages: 160
Product dimensions: 5.00 (w) x 8.00 (h) x 0.37 (d)

Summary (Spoilers unintentional, but be warned anyways):
Demon is on his way to his first year at St. Viper’s School for Super Villains. His father, Demon King, is one of the baddest super villains, so Demon Boy has big shows to fill. On the way there, he meets Stretch, another first year that can stretch herself in all directions. Unfortunately, he also meets Chill, an older boy who decides to be a bully. Chill shoots ice at Demon Boy, which makes Demon see red and he goes up in flames. A teacher puts the flames out and everyone has a laugh at Demon Boy’s expense. The rivalry begins as Chill deems Demon Boy and friends (which grows to include Shrink and Wolfgang) as his personal slaves. Classes begin and Demon Boy has further issues, accumulating the lowest scores and more homework because of his accidental misdeeds. Finally, he gets a break. Chill has had a major score and snatched a rocket ship. Demon Boy and his friends make a plan to steal it from Chill, find the secret hidden inside, and return the ship for the reward money. Find out if they are successful, or if it is just another one of Demon’s grand ideas that fall flat.

My thoughts:
This was a really fun book. I read it in about two hours (with interruptions in between). I think a child between the ages of 7-10 would be the best fit for this book. It is high on adventure with vocabulary that is not terribly difficult. I think this is also a great choice for boys. Boys are always the hardest for me because they view reading as uncool. This has enough of a comic book look and feel that I am pretty sure they would get into it. The only reason why I marked it down 1 star is because I felt the drawings did not add to the story. They broke the pages up oddly for me on a Kindle, so I would get two or three sentences on a page and then a graphic that often wasn’t very big. It distracted me from the story and made me feel like it was wasted space. All together, I found the adventure entertaining, the action moving enough to keep me interested, the characters moderately developed but enough to make me root for them, and the plot good enough to make me interested in the next installment.… (mehr)