Any book that features a pangolin deserves my love and attention because I love those adorable creatures. This was a sweet and very eye opening book for children. It does teach a lesson about animals and their migrations and what is happening to them around the world. The part with the pangolin broke my heart, and it really does make you think. This was full of magic and mystery and lessons that are easy for a child to learn.

Before I even get started on my thoughts, I just want to say that the audiobook narrator, Simon Vance, does a spectacular job narrating this book. He really brings all of the characters to life. The Silver Arrow is a middle grade novel that is perfect for those looking for a whimsical tale like The Polar Express but offers the adventure and magic of The Chronicles of Narnia. This is not to say that this book should be likened to either, but those were the feelings that I had while reading this o...

"When you're a child the adult world looks so exciting, and it is, but it's also so much sadder and more complicated that you expect. And you can't just take the good parts, you have to take it all, even if it's not what you wanted." ➸ Trigger warnings for a near-drowning incident, and mentions of animal death. Blog • Trigger Warning Database • Twitter • Instagram

Kate and her younger brother Tom lead dull lives. With her 11th birthday imminent, Kate sends a letter to her rich Uncle Herbert for a birthday gift. Herbert and her mother are estranged, but he shows up in a bright yellow suit, and parks a 102-ton locomotive (The Silver Arrow) in her backyard. Reminiscent of The Phantom Tollbooth, they jump on the train and head off on an adventure, starting with their eclectic choice of railcars, ranging from a library to swimming pool to candy shop. At the fi...

This is the audiobook version of the Silver Arrow, a middle grade children's book by Lev Grossman, narrated by Simon Vance.This is a wonderful children's story about two kids who have an adventure on a magic train, and the passengers are talking animals! I think young kids will really enjoy this story, which also provides education about animals and the environment. For myself, I would have liked the author to take the story further. When you have a magic train with a library car and a candy car...

4ish stars.Had to read based on my curiosity of how a middle grade book written by the author of the decidedly vulgar, nihilistic, and ADULT The Magicians series (one of my very favorites) would work. Surprisingly well, it turns out! It’s reminiscent of classic children's books like Narnia and The Polar Express, or more recently La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman, although maybe not destined to be a classic in its own right. It’s sweet and adventurous with a likable protagonist and a colorful ar...

This book was purely a cover pick up, I had no idea what the book was going to be about. I was not expecting the lessons and important message that are between these pages. This is a book I think everyone should read.

I read this book after it was recommended to me by a colleague and I enjoyed it very much. It’s about a young girl who is gifted a magic train by her uncle on her birthday, and the journey she goes on with her brother.If I had had time, I would have read this book in a single sitting (I finished it in two sittings). I was sucked into the story and genuinely sad when I had to put the book down. I also love that even as an adult, this book taught me things that I never knew before and found myself...

The silver arrow isnt just a story, it's a cry of help that Lev Grossman is sending.It's a book full of adventure, as we set on a journey with kate and tom to get the animals to places they wanna go, at first, I didn't know why all the passengers were animals, but when I found out, it broke my heart, hard.MOst of the chapters are full of sadness but there's hope as well.The book is loaded with messages to the new generations asking them to do their best to save the planet, that the balance is no...

The Silver Arrow is a fun, exhilarating, fast-paced, magical tale narrated wonderfully by Simon Vance. The story follows Kate, who on her eleventh birthday receives a life-sized steam engine named 'The Silver Arrow' as a birthday gift from a crazy rich uncle she barely knows. Soon, Kate and her annoying brother Tom find themselves in a mind-blowing adventure aboard the Silver Arrow with walking-talking animals to keep them company. And on their way, Kate and Tom uncover some bitter truths about

A cover quote compares this to The Chronicles of Narnia, but that's not right. Grossman expressed his ideas about Narnia in The Magicians trilogy, and they're... complicated. This book has more in common with The Polar Express, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the book version of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, The Phoenix and the Carpet, and Ranger Rick magazine (or No Man's Valley for something truly obscure). It starts out with an impossible premise, and gets more impossible and stranger as it goe...

I am privileged and not a little proud to have had the opportunity of spending some small time talking to Lev Grossman about his work. It might surprise you, it certainly surprised me, to learn he didn't start out as a fantasy writer. He comes from a family of academics and artists and I think there was a feeling there that fantasy writing simply wasn't serious or intellectual enough.Its almost insane to think that had he held on to that notion we'd never have gotten The Magicians, that's a worl...

3.5 starsThis was so sweet. I just loved illustrations.

A magic train adventure! I love Lev Grossman's writing, and it turns out he's great at writing middle grade too.The opening chapters are fantastic fun (happy birthday, here's a GIANT train). Then after some delightful shenanigans, there's a shift to a slowly building environmental focus that I can see being inspirational for kids (we can change things!). But that same message is pretty bleak for adults, or at least it was for me.All of that, adventure and environment, is tied up with animal pass...

[ARC Provided by NetGalley, my review is unbiased]Wordpress Blog | Twitter | Pinterest📗 There's a trend in middle grade books that I don't really like - books written AT children, rather than FOR them. The start of this book seemed to be the former, with the adults being written as superior to the children and talking down to them, and the story started off very rushed. It managed to slow down and find it's footing, but ultimately, the story could have been much better.📕 I think another big prob...

This is a middle grade book. The audiobook was so good. The narrator of this book is Simon Vance. I do listen to my audiobooks at a faster speed because I feel it is to slow at the normal speed. I feel the narrator had a clear voice and changed voices for the character parts. The total audiobook is just under 4 hours at a regular speed, so it is a shorter audiobook. Now, on to how I feel about the book/story. I really enjoyed this story. The main character is Kate who is 11 years old. There is a...

I was looking forward to reading this book because I tend to love middle-grade adventure stories. They usually feel so carefree and magical to me. Unfortunately, I didn’t feel the same about The Silver Arrow, and I ended up being very disappointed. This book sort of feels like a mix of The Polar Express and The Chronicles of Narnia, but not done well. It honestly felt very contrived and forced, which really hindered my enjoyment of it. The story starts out with rich Uncle Herbert gifting his nie...

I loved The Magicians and it's sequel The Magician King, so I was really excited to get started on this audiobook edition of The Silver Arrow narrated very engagingly by Simon Vance. It was provided to me by Netgalley and the publisher.This is quite different from the previous books, and pitched at middle grade readers but I think that some of the younger high schoolers I know would appreciate it's lovely fantastic feel, especially the fans of Phillip Reeve and Angie Sage. It is a fantastic adve...