The Ultra Violets review and GIVEAWAY!
By Sophie Bell
Published on April 9, 2013
Published by Razorbill
Source: Publisher for review
Published by Razorbill
Source: Publisher for review
Meet four best friends. They’re not super…yet.
IRIS: Visionary, artist, leader--the glitter-glue that holds the group together.
CHERI: A girly-girl on platform roller-skates who's never met a rescue puppy she didn’t immediately-and-madly love.
SCARLET: Short enough that you won’t see her sneaking up behind you. Freckled enough that you might mistake her for innocent. But look out! She can pants a bully faster than you can say O-M-Jeepers!
OPALINE: Loveable, huggable, supershy, sweet as pie…or is she?
And introducing CANDACE. Not just any babysitter—she's a Teen Genius, thankyouverymuch!
What happens when four best friends find themselves splattered with mysterious purple goo during a routine sleepover? Iris, Cheri, Scarlet and Opaline are about to become…
THE ULTRA-VIOLETS
The Ultra Violets by Sophie Bell is a
middle grade action-packed purple adventure! First off, let me say, I
*loved* this book and I think my daughters will love this book too! The
illustrations by Chris Battle were completely awesome. And, if you
couldn't tell, everything was PURPLE (even in the Kindle ebook)! No,
black and white boring print and drawings... all purple! (And, that's my
favorite color!)
We meet the main characters, Iris, Cheri, Scarlet, and Opaline, as giddy little second-graders who get covered in a mysterious purple goo, but quickly fast-forward to more grown-up sixth-graders for the duration of the book. Due to their sticky purple shower, the girls develop some pretty awesome super powers! Each has their own personality and brings something to their foursome. Every time I think I've got a favorite character, one of the other girls does something and then they're my favorite.
The story progresses rather quickly and then slows down while they (and you) are learning their way around their super powers, and then picks up again when they start to learn that not everything is lollipops and gumdrops in Sync City, where they live. Even through the slower portions, I was still furiously flipping pages to find out what was going to happen next.
Also in this book are a TON of pop culture references that I'm not sure the targeted age range will pick up on. To double-check, I read some sections to my daughter (9) and she didn't get any of the references, except one. The animal shelter in Sync City is named Helter Shelter and my daughter, being a lover of The Beatles went, "Hey! Like Helter Skelter!" Whether Sophie Bell was aiming for that or not, that's where we both took it. There are many other references, and while I got them all, I'm not sure that young girls will get many of them. However, I don't think it detracted from the book in any way because the targeted age range will just take the references at face value (such as Helter Shelter is just the name of the shelter and nothing more).
This book was written in a very fun and funky style. You're not reading a classic novel here. You're reading new spellings, made-up words, and cute puns written in a style that young readers will enjoy! Even I enjoyed it! As with everything else, I thought it added to the fun of the book.
The one drawback is that the main action that all the super powers and strangeness in Sync City has been leading up to comes down to about two chapters at the end of the book before a closing from the author and a final scene located in the last chapter of the book. But, it leaves you hanging and anticipating The Ultra Violets #2: Power to the Purple! coming in August 2013!
For even more Ultra Violet fun, check out the website dedicated to the series for more purple fun! (http://theultra-violets.com/)
We meet the main characters, Iris, Cheri, Scarlet, and Opaline, as giddy little second-graders who get covered in a mysterious purple goo, but quickly fast-forward to more grown-up sixth-graders for the duration of the book. Due to their sticky purple shower, the girls develop some pretty awesome super powers! Each has their own personality and brings something to their foursome. Every time I think I've got a favorite character, one of the other girls does something and then they're my favorite.
The story progresses rather quickly and then slows down while they (and you) are learning their way around their super powers, and then picks up again when they start to learn that not everything is lollipops and gumdrops in Sync City, where they live. Even through the slower portions, I was still furiously flipping pages to find out what was going to happen next.
Also in this book are a TON of pop culture references that I'm not sure the targeted age range will pick up on. To double-check, I read some sections to my daughter (9) and she didn't get any of the references, except one. The animal shelter in Sync City is named Helter Shelter and my daughter, being a lover of The Beatles went, "Hey! Like Helter Skelter!" Whether Sophie Bell was aiming for that or not, that's where we both took it. There are many other references, and while I got them all, I'm not sure that young girls will get many of them. However, I don't think it detracted from the book in any way because the targeted age range will just take the references at face value (such as Helter Shelter is just the name of the shelter and nothing more).
This book was written in a very fun and funky style. You're not reading a classic novel here. You're reading new spellings, made-up words, and cute puns written in a style that young readers will enjoy! Even I enjoyed it! As with everything else, I thought it added to the fun of the book.
The one drawback is that the main action that all the super powers and strangeness in Sync City has been leading up to comes down to about two chapters at the end of the book before a closing from the author and a final scene located in the last chapter of the book. But, it leaves you hanging and anticipating The Ultra Violets #2: Power to the Purple! coming in August 2013!
For even more Ultra Violet fun, check out the website dedicated to the series for more purple fun! (http://theultra-violets.com/)
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