What better way to ring in the New Year than to scrutinize the latest and final book cover of Rick Riordan’s Kane Chronicles series, for The Serpent’s Shadow? Check out the beautiful, newly released cover by illustrator John Rocco:

(Click to see the cover larger, so you can study each pixel individually!)

Based on previous posts, you know the drill. I’ll put out my guesses about the final installment, and you should leave YOUR thoughts on the cover in the comments below!

First, an official description of the book from the Kane Chronicles website:

He’s b-a-a-ack! Despite their best efforts, Carter and Sade Kane can’t seem to keep Apophis, the chaos snake, down. Now Apophis is threatening to plunge the world into eternal darkness, and the Kanes are faced with the impossible task of having to destroy him once and for all. Unfortunately, the magicians of the House of Life are on the brink of civil war, the gods are divided, and the young initiates of Brooklyn House stand almost alone against the forces of chaos.

Whoa. That is quite a lot to digest from one paragraph! Let me collect my thoughts…

• First, I just love the color scheme of the whole series: It goes from dark rust red, to bright purple, to brilliant blue. It reminds me of different types of flames.
• Apparently Rick Riordan himself claims that this is his favorite cover yet.
• Carter stands on the left, ready to use the Crook and Flail of Ra, the weapon he used after he lost his khopesh.
• So then that’s probably Sadie standing on the ledge, but I can’t really make out if she’s doing anything — is she ready to jump in or holding on for dear life?
• What is this body of water Carter and Sadie are standing in front of? Does it look like to anyone else that the rocks and boulders are creating a path across the water?
• A spiky serpent shadow (presumably the super duper evil Aphosis, God of Chaos) looms ominously in the distance.
• Floating above and around the obelisk (is it the Washington Monument in D.C., or a different one?) are white birds, which look comforting to me for some reason. Perhaps some combat avatars? They don’t look like Carter’s falcon form…
• I can’t make out any of the symbols on the obelisk, so I’m guessing they’re intentionally drawn to be vague.
• Hey, what’s that shape above the obelisk? Let me take a closer — OMG IT’S A REALLY CREEPY GIANT EYE STARING RIGHT AT ME. Okay, it’s probably staring at Carter and Sadie. But still, really creepy.

So, Kidsmomo readers, what do you think of the newest (and sadly, last*) cover for The Kane Chronicles? I can’t wait to follow Carter and Sadie’s adventures once more on May 1, when The Serpent’s Shadow comes out!

Meanwhile, you can keep busy until then by reading a preview of The Serpent’s Shadow from the official website, maybe a couple (hundred) times…

— Nancy

As you can tell, Nancy is not a fan of creepy giant eyes.

More about Nancy »

*Unless Rick Riordan writes another book/series with Kane Chronicles characters. He IS a writing machine, after all!

You know how it’s always nice and sunny when you don’t have any plans, and then the one day you have a big outdoor event to attend, it POURS? Well, that’s kind of what happened to us yesterday.

Rick Riordan’s publishers held a toga party in New York yesterday, to celebrate the upcoming release of The Heroes of Olympus Book 2: The Son of Neptune (in stores October 4). As you know from our many, many posts about his books, we’re HUGE fans of Rick Riordan, so we’d been looking forward to the shindig all week.

But apparently, Zeus did not care. Because right when we got to the event, it rained and rained and rained. And rained and rained. And rained.

Luckily, no lightning! (Maybe someone stole Zeus’ lightning bolt again?) But still, the rain meant the party shut down early and we missed seeing Rick Riordan. Well, we did hear him saying goodbye to the crowd as we ran towards the stage, but he had disappeared into The Mist by the time we got there…

At least some of the gods hung around! And they weren’t shy about posing for a photo with Karen:

Hey, mister! Watch where you swing that anvil!

The gods were also kind enough to pose with some young Romans:

Read the rest of this entry »

There’s a storm raging right now (literally, Hurricane Irene is currently pouring on NYC, where Karen and I live), so I decided to stay inside with The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan. Right when I finished the book, lightning flashed outside my window — maybe a sign of approval from Zeus?

Last fall, Karen wrote about The Heroes of Olympus, a new series by Rick Riordan that continues the adventures of the  Camp Half-Blood kids. In case you’re not familiar: Camp Half-Blood is a camp where demigods (children of Greek gods and mortals) hide out and learn to fight monsters. They have special powers. Need more information? Pick up the awesome Percy Jackson series.

So, back to business: I just finished the first book in the series, The Lost Hero, which was also pretty awesome. It’s told from three demigods’ perspectives: Jason, Leo, and Piper. All three of them have complicated pasts. Jason woke up with amnesia, Leo feels guilty over his mother’s death, and Piper’s just found out that her father disappeared. And they still have to find out which Greek god is one of their parents.

This is the part of the recommendation where I really don’t want to give out any spoilers, but I really want blab everything because it was so great. Here are a few more morsels: Jason speaks Latin. Leo can fix anything. And Piper can convince strangers to give her expensive cars. It’s a great continuation of the Percy Jackson and the Olympian series (I won’t even complain that Percy wasn’t in the book in person — uh oh, was that a spoiler?), and even if you haven’t read the PJTO books, I guarantee you’ll like it. I’ll just leave it at this: the last sentence of the book made me shout “OMG!!!” really loud (which scared my visiting family a bit). I can’t wait to read the next book in the series, The Son of Neptune.

And if you noticed that Neptune isn’t a Greek god, it’s a Roman god — well, that’s very clever of you and a big deal in the series. And if you didn’t notice… well, oops, spoiler.

— Nancy

 
Nancy’s off to read the first chapter of The Son of Neptune many, many times until it’s released on October 4th!

Meet Nancy »

Submitted by Brandon, Age 12 from North Carolina

Rating:

one word awsome. it is always a twist in the story. it is a all around great book.

[Note from Kidsmomo: Sorry, Brandon, we had to edit your review to take out the MAJOR SPOILER! Hopefully, everyone will read the book and discover the twist for themselves!]

I saw posters for it in bookstores, and notifications on websites. There were announcements on blogs, and trailers before movies. I was told that the hottest thing thing to read right now is Rick Riordan’s Throne of Fire (Book Two of The Kane Chronicles)… and everyone and everything was right!

Picking up the book several months after The Red Pyramid was a breeze — if the breeze were a giant gust of wind that causes tsunami-sized waves of action. To give you an idea: the first chapter is titled, “Fun with Spontaneous Combustion,” and it’s immediately followed by Chapter Two: “We Tame a Seven-Thousand-Pound Hummingbird.”

There are also new characters that immediately intrigued me — the book is still narrated by Carter and Sadie Kane (underage Egyptian magicians who were once possessed by reawakened Egyptian gods Horus and Isis), but we’re now introduced to Bes, a dwarf god, and Walt and Jaz, who are Carter and Sadie’s new trainees. That’s right — Carter and Sadie are training other teenagers of Egyptian magician descent to practice ancient magic. Definitely not a run-of-the-mill teenager story! (Unless you count Sadie’s crush on Walt and Anubis, a 5000-year old god of death… actually, nope, definitely not run-of-the-mill!)

This time around, Carter and Sadie have to find a way to reawaken Ra, the sun god, so that he can battle Apophis, the god of chaos. Apophis is breaking free of the cage that Ra put him in many, many centuries ago. Just a few of the problems Carter and Sadie encounter: an evil Russian magician with horrifically scarred eyes who dresses like an ice cream man (yes, an ice cream man), who wants Apophis to take over. Sadie’s grandparents being possessed by a giant baboon and a vulture. And the possibility that Ra is actually a creaky, tired god who would have preferred to be left in retirement.

Have I said too much? I hope not. Because everything I’ve mentioned is only about the FIRST HALF of the book. So pick it up already, and join the adventure!

— Nancy

To be honest, if Nancy were to choose a book to “live” in, she wouldn’t pick The Kane Chronicles. As cute as Anubis sounds, giant snakes are just too scary.

Meet Nancy »

Submitted by Roni, Age 11 from Rhode Island

Rating:

This book is full of romance,excitement, and adventure. Its super thrilling and you don’t know what to expect next.
I read the whole series but this book was the best by far!!

Karen says: You guys are gonna love our latest podcast, all about books with multiple viewpoints. And as a bonus, I tell some really fascinating stories about corn! I promise, you’ll be on the edge of your seat!

Nancy says: I think you’ll all really enjoy our latest podcast, all about books told in alternating perspectives. I’m just sorry that Karen talked about corn SO MUCH. Maybe you can fast forward through that part…

Listen now:
 
  (10:26)
Download the MP3 (5 MB)
• “Lost and found” — aka our mystery book revealed
• Dumbledore tells all? We wish!
• Our One Story, Multiple Narrators picks (Never Mind! and The View from Saturday)
• Corn

Also, don’t forget: our new theme is books for series starring girls, in honor of Women’s History Month! So send us a review of your favorite series starring a girl, and check our picks for series starring girls.

— Karen and Nancy

This book trailer for The Lost Hero was originally the Mystery Book Theater video for our One Story, Multiple Narrators theme. For more on The Lost Hero, check out our “Look Who’s Talking!” podcast.

Usually field trips are a nice break from everyday school life. But what if you’re on a field trip — and you’re suddenly attacked by magical spirits? Then you’re transferred to a camp for the children of Greek gods… and guess what, you’re one of them! That’s how the story starts for three different but connected teens in Heroes of Olympus Book 1: The Lost Hero. Watch our video to meet them!

Thank the gods, the world now has a sneak preview of The Throne of Fire (Book 2 of Rick Riordan’s The Kane Chronicles)! The first chapter has been released, along with the cover!

As you might have guessed from my obsessive — I mean, thorough coverage of the cover for The Red Pyramid when it was first released, and from my recommendation of the book in Kidsmomo theme Globe-Trotting Adventures, I really like this series so far.

As you’ll see from Chapter 1 of The Throne of Fire, posted exclusively on USA Today, Carter and Sadie are at it again with their baboon companion, Khufu, and the Egyptian gods that are semi-inhabiting their minds.

So, onto the new book cover!

• Sadie and Carter are back, on what looks to be an Egyptian papyrus boat.
• I like that they are facing us (more or less) this time, and don’t have their backs towards us. It’s like they’ve grown up since the first book and have a lot more confidence!
• I spot Carter’s bag around his shoulder…
• And Sadie’s carrying a scepter…
• There’s a flaming throne represented on the sails (title alert!).
• And is that a museum behind them?
• What are those three sticks poking out on the left?
• And last, but not least: OMG THERE ARE A BILLION COCKROACHES/BEETLES/SOME KIND CREEPY CRAWLY BUG ewwwwww…

What are some things you notice from the beautiful cover?

— Nancy

Nancy is very much afraid of bugs, which is pretty obvious from the freak-out in the last bullet point.

Meet Nancy »

Submitted by Brianna, Age 11 from Rhode Island

Rating:

This book by Rick Riordan is amazing. It’s about Percy and Annabeth traveling into the labyrinth and trying to find the inventor Dadelus to help them to keep Kronos’s army from invading Camp Half Blood. This book was so good that I could not put it down for one second.