Title: Witch Sticker Ball
Author: R.C. Scott
Year published: 2012
Publisher: Omega Star Publishing
Number of pages: 129
Recommended age: 6+
Daughter Rating: ★★★★½
Son Rating: ★★★★★
Grown-up Rating: ★★★★½
Reviewed by: Renee, Danielle, and Dominic (Mother, Daughter, and Son)
Summary (from Amazon): Three Witches have kidnapped the twin Sky Elves’ Mom! To save her, these eleven-year-old Eagle Riders, Winghawk and Dorzi Vastplains, will have to enter their Wizard’s mysterious Bubble World to hunt down the broken Witch Sticker Ball. It’s scattered across time . . . and said to be in the hands of crusty, old Goblins.
DAUGHTER SAYS
What I liked and disliked about it: I liked that the elf children were Winghawk and Dorzi from the first book, Dream Robbers. I wish that there were a little bit more of the elves from the first book. I liked that they traveled back in time because it was cool. It was cool that they kept running into the Archibald Puz-Yuc goblins every time they went back.
I liked the part with the Sleeping Seeress because it’s sort of cool that she is always asleep and she can open Sky Dors like sky elves so that she could talk to Dorzi and Winghawk. I liked that, on their first visit, she woke up just as they were leaving and that was kind of scary. I am thankful that they didn’t see what her face looked like and that there was no picture because if there was a picture, the author still would have described it and my imagination would go crazy on me.
It was cool how, at one of the parts, they were traveling through the bubbles and they saw scary monsters that tried to attack them. I liked that in the witch’s bubble, there were scary monsters trying to follow them like weird birds made out of fire. I liked that in some stories about witches, they dress in black or in black dresses with pointy hats, but in this story they are wearing different clothes than that.
I wasn’t scared about the parents getting kidnapped, because in every story it’s always a happy ending (except for Happily Never After).
My bottom line: I love, love, love this book and I would recommend it to boys and girls 7 years and older.
SON SAYS
What I liked and disliked about it: I liked that this story continues from Dream Robbers and has two elves from that story, Dorzi and Winghawk Vastplains. I never knew that elves could fly eagles and it’s cool, but I don’t want to ride an eagle because it’s too scary. I might be too heavy and the eagle might fall and crash.
There was a red-eyed goblin and his name was Archibald Puz-Yuc and he had the one part of the witch sticker ball and he was getting a dare for them to give him gold nuggets and a magical musical box and then he would give them the piece of the witch sticker ball. He’s kind of mean and kind of nice because he did give them the piece of the ball. But he’s mean too because he has red eyes. Then, the next goblins they meet get even meaner.
There were lots of good parts like the part about the Seeress and I would like to have a Baby Gwid because they sound cute.
There was nothing I didn’t like about it.
My bottom line: I loved this book so much that I want to read it every day. I would recommend it to everyone.
MOM SAYS
What I liked and disliked about it: Witch Sticker Ball is the second book in the Nature Elves series by RC Scott. We read and reviewed Dream Robbers (the first of the Nature Elves book) a while ago and we all enjoyed it immensely. In the second book, the story continues on through the perspective of Dorzi and Winghawk Vastplains, the twin Sky Elves. By focusing on two of the Nature Elves (instead of including the twelve Nature Elves from the first book!), this story is much tighter with the focus on an interesting and adventure-filled plot line instead of on the character development that was necessary for the complex cast of elves in the first book.
The Vastplains twins are so endearing with the way that they show loyalty and love toward each other as well as the courage they harness to pursue the witches that kidnapped their mother and father. I particularly appreciated the moments of vulnerability demonstrated by the little elves when thinking about the loss of their mother and father. I thought that was realistic and was really well done.
Another thing that I really enjoyed about both books is that the tension created in the book is not overly violent and the descriptions of various creatures and predicaments is not over-the-top frightening. You never feel like the elves are going to encounter a horrendously scary monster or that someone is going to get gravely injured or die. The creatures that are encountered are not described in such a way as to frighten children, although Winghawk does suffer an injury at one point.
That being said, there are many exciting moments in the book that make it feel like a grand adventure; such as, traveling through the bubble world to go back in time and traveling through the mountain to find the sleeping Seeress, for example. There are so many examples of creativity and imaginativeness in these books from little details such as Baby Gwids (cute little creatures) to more complex elements such as the retrieval of the flower to cure the King of the Fairies. These books are such great adventures!
My bottom line: Overall, I would say that the second book in the Nature Elves series, Witch Sticker Ball, is even better than the first book, Dream Robbers. We all enjoyed both books tremendously. I would recommend both these books to children aged 6+.
*Witch Sticker Ball was provided to us free-of-charge by the author in exchange for our honest opinion.*
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