The Polar Bear Explorers' Club: Alex Bell: 1 (The Explorers' Clubs)

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Eine Karte gibt es also leider nicht in dem Buch, aber dafür befinden sich an den Kapitelanfängen wieder wunderschöne schwarz-weiß Illustrationen von Iacopo Bruno. Ich bin total verliebt in die Zeichnungen. Sie bereiten einen schon mal ein bisschen auf das Geschehen der jeweiligen Kapitel vor und schaffen eine ganz besondere Atmosphäre. I enjoyed the first installment immensely (Krysta did not, and you can read her review here), and my assessment of The Forbidden Expedition is nearly the same. The premises are actually somewhat similar, in that protagonist Stella and company go on a journey in icy unexplored territory that many people think they should not go on because it’s too dangerous. This book, however, introduces witches, which were not prominent in book one.

She soon finds herself on an expedition to find the coldest part of the Icelands. But it doesn’t go to plan, as she and her fellow junior adventurers get separated from the group and have to find their way across the Icelands together. While the Icelands is full of incredible places and creatures to discover, it’s equally full of danger. I do advise you to reae the first book in the series though as it brings out even more fun and goodness when reading this one. We meet the characters from the first book and it’s like meeting old friends. What adventure are we going on this time? They’re taking us to the infamous Witch Mountain, where few explorers dare to tread. It sounded like a respectable and worthy enough death for an explorer – tumbling from an ice bridge to be impaled upon a mammoth tusk – but Stella really, really didn’t want that to happen, just the same… Stella is a kind and smart girl who has learnt many things from Felix; Beanie, is a talented doctor who is funny, especially when he doesn’t quite get sarcasm and takes everything literally. Shay is an intelligent boy who lovingly cares for the wolves and Ethan is a magician in progress who acts tougher than he really is. This is a magical and charming adventure with memorable characters: Shay the wolf-whisperer, Ethan the grumpy magician, and Beanie, a genius half-elf. It is suggested that Beanie is on the autistic spectrum, although this is not explicitly stated.I really enjoyed the book. I liked the different characters within the book and their different personalities. What follows is a series of adventures on many levels. The explorers find out about this land, their new discoveries and plenty of mysteries. However, they also find out about themselves in many ways. Justice, feminism, morals – there’s a lot here for adults to and children will enjoy finding out about some serious issues while going on one brilliant adventure. It’s a good book to start many a conversation. Above all however, it’s a novel for having fun, exploring, going on one brilliant adventure and experiencing the freedom and fun that goes with that.

Even when he is adopted by the loving Tom, it all goes south. Middle-years books are an excellent place to introduce the idea that life can be quite barbaric; Mulligan piles on the peril. Ultimately, though, this is a thoroughly gripping buddy movie begging to be made, in which the underdogs – canine, human, insectoid and otherwise – school everyone in true grit and loyalty. Wovon ich auch wieder hellauf begeistert bin, ist das Setting! Die vielen fantastischen Orte, die wir zusammen mit unseren Buchhelden aufsuchen werden, werden so grandios und atemberaubend beschrieben – einfach nur klasse. Kopfkino pur, sag ich euch! Von der Hexeninsel hatte ich die tollsten Bilder im Kopf und auch davor, als wir mit Stella und ihren Freunden durch die Lüfte fliegen, war ich komplett verzaubert von der Kulisse. Was ich nur wieder ein wenig vermisste habe, ist eine Karte vorne oder hinten im Buch, die die wichtigsten Orte zeigt. Die hätte ich bei dieser Reihe irgendwie nicht schlecht gefunden. Aber dank der bildhaften Beschreibungen kann man sich, wie bereits erwähnt, natürlich auch so alles ganz genau vorstellen. It’s a great pity that we all spend so much time trying to be exactly the same when, in fact, we should be celebrating those things that make us different and uniquely ourselves.“ Es gibt einige böse Überraschungen, die sie zu überwinden haben und es mit Zusammenhalt schaffen, oder auch mit den besonderen Fähigkeiten und Stärken einzelner. Es ist ja eine sehr bunt gemischte Truppe, so verschieden dass sie sich perfekt ergänzen und man erkennt, dass gerade ihre verschiedenen Charaktere eine so tolle Mischung ergeben und es nie langweilig wird.Sometimes ordinary people are the most dangerous of all. Besides, people are always scared of what they don´t understand. Join Stella Starflake Pearl and her three fellow explorers as they trek across the snowy Icelands and come face-to-face with frost fairies, snow queens, outlaw hideouts, unicorns, pygmy dinosaurs and carnivorous cabbages . . .

As well as the (excellent) characters I also liked the many great adventures they went on and how they thought of ways to get out of the problems they got into, by using the knowledge they were gifted from their parents.

all those mistakes and wrong turns are how we find out who we really are, deep down. It´s how wie strengthen our souls.