Book Review: The Super Life of Ben Braver

Title: The Super Life of Ben Braver
Author: Marcus Emerson
ATOS BL: 4.1
Interest Level: Middle Grade, Grades 4 to 8

This is my son's new favorite.

I like how it's written. If you put yourself in the shoes of an 11-year-old (as is the lead character), the settings, the habits, the choice of words and sentence structure is relatable.

It can be a bit dark...

Quote 1:
"Dear Diary,
Today I died.
Sincerely,
Ben "

...but it's also very funny...

Quote 2: "BTW, peanut butter cups are my fave. I love them, but... would I marry one? Probably not, but only because my second love, the PB&J sammie, would get jelly. Get it? Jelly?"

Call me shallow but I laughed out loud on that one 🤣

...with lessons to be learned...

Quote 3: "Being a superhero is more than having powers -- it's about the struggles and the choices heroes have to make. It's about deciding to do the right thing even when the right thing is the hardest thing to do."

Recipe: Cinnamon Apple Muffins with Oats

It's back to school. I try to be creative about the snacks that my kids take to school. Some days they have fresh fruits for snacks, some days, I bake them muffins or cookies. I try to make the pastries as healthy as it can be. I can only do so much, otherwise, it would no longer taste good.

This week, I made Cinnamon Apple Muffins. The original recipe  calls for 2 cups of all purpose-flour. To add more fiber to the muffin, I replaced the 1 cup (out of the 2 cups) of flour with 1 cup of Quaker's Old Fashioned Oats.

Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour 
• 1 cup of Quaker Old Fashioned Oats
• 1½ teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt (optional. I don't normally add salt to anything that I bake)
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 2 cups diced apples
• ½ cup (1 stick ) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• ½ cup milk

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375º F. 
2. Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Set aside.
3. Cream together butter and sugar until lightened in color, about 3 minutes. Add an egg, one at a time, taking care to fully incorporate before adding the other. Mix in vanilla. I used an electric mixer for this.
4. Gently fold in flour mixture, alternating with milk. Stir until just combined. Fold in diced apples and scoop mixture into prepared muffin tins, filling about 2/3 to 3/4 full. I was able to make 12 muffins. 
5. Bake until a toothpick or skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean, about 30 minutes.

Since this is a healthy alternative, I didn't make the sugary toppings. Plus, the muffins are already sweet. However, if you do like to add toppings, check this recipe out: https://addapinch.com/cinnamon-apple-muffins-recipe/

Recipe: Banana-Chocolate Muffins

I read online that the secret to moist banana muffins was mayonnaise. Yep, mayonnaise! Initially, I feared that the muffins would taste like mayo but it turned out to be really good and the kids loved them.

Kids are the best critics when it comes to dessert. So when they approved of my chocolate-banana muffins, I know, I did well 😅

This recipe is actually a modified version of what I saw online. The original recipe does not have chocolate in it and it called for 1/2 cup of white sugar and 1/2 cup of brown sugar. I didn't want too much sugar so I replaced it with 1 cup of Swiss Miss Milk Chocolate instead - that's approximately 98g less sugar compared to the original recipe. I also added cinnamon and nutmeg for better flavor.

Ingredients

• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 3 ripe bananas (Don't mash the bananas separately. Just throw them in with the egg and mayonnaise and mash them with the electric mixer.)
• 1 cup Swiss Miss Milk Chocolate
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt (optional. I don't normally add salt to anything that I bake)
• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place 12 paper muffin cups in the muffin pans. The bottom diameter of each muffin mold in my pan is approximately 2 inches. 
2. In a large mixing bowl, beat together the egg and mayonnaise. Add the ripe bananas and beat until smooth. You can do this by hand or preferably, with a handheld electric mixer.
3. In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, Swiss Miss.
4. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients into the well. Mix the dry and wet ingredients slowly and carefully. Do not stir. Stop mixing just when the dry ingredients are moist. Over mixing may produce tough muffins and bake unevenly.
5. Divide the batter between muffin cups (it should be about 2/3 of the way full) and bake for about 25 minutes or until muffins are set. Let cool slightly. 

The Silent Patient - Book Review

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is, by far, the best mystery/thriller book I have ever read (so far that my sometimes-forgetful-38-year-old-brain can remember 😅 )

I didn't see the hype prior to reading this book so my review is not influenced by the media hype. This book was totally new to me when I walked inside Barnes and Noble. I was in there to browse for whatever new books they have and I just happened to see this book in one of their shelves marked Mystery/Thriller. I read the synopsis and I thought it was interesting. So I grabbed it ☺

Alicia is an artist who was convicted for the murder of her own husband. Because she had not, literally, spoken nor uttered a single word since after the murder, authorities deemed her mentally ill. So they put her in a mental facility instead of putting her in prison with other murderers. She was being treated by her psychotherapist, Dr. Theo Faber. The story rolled from there. I don't want to give out anymore details but to give an idea of what it's about, look up ALCESTIS.

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Ada Twist, Scientist - Book Review

Ada Twist, Scientist by Andrea Beaty
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a good book for kids and parents alike.
I would say that parents will learn more from this book than their kids will.
Kids are already curious by nature. This book is reiterating that parents need to have tons of patience and understanding when the house gets messy because their curious kids like to experiment on things.

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Waiting for the Magic - Book Review

Waiting for the Magic by Patricia MacLachlan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I am 38 years old and I LOVE this book because the conflict and the main setting is a scenario that is very real. The father left the family and the children struggled, emotionally. Smart mom adopted 4 dogs and a cat to help them through these tough emotional times. However, there's also the fantasy aspect where the pets can communicate to any humans who believe in magic. Who doesn't like talking animals? Maybe I'm just really a kid at heart. :)

This book uses strong negative words like hate and stupid but the author makes sure that this gets addressed and resolved.

Lessons that kids will learn after reading this book:
1. Forgiveness - not just forgiving the person who had done them wrong but also acknowledging their own mistakes and apologizing for them
2. Importance of family and looking out for each other
3. Emotional maturity



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The Woman in the Window - Book Review

The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

It was very slow. The building of the character and her daily routine is repeated on the first (maybe) 144 pages. I found myself flipping and skipping through pages to get to the exciting part. I was like "ok.. I got it already!". I almost gave up. What kept me going was the tag line "soon to be a major motion picture".

Anyway, once the exciting part came, it was fast-paced from then on.
I still was disappointed about the ending. I kind of predicted it. I was also disappointed about the lack of explanation as to how the two officers eventually believed the woman in the window.

(view spoiler)[
Remember, the two officers, in the beginning, had a hard time believing her because of her condition. I think that the author should have spent time or pages writing how the investigation went after the teenager fell from the rooftop and how his father admitted to the crime.
(hide spoiler)]

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Stellaluna - Book Review

Stellaluna by Janell Cannon
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

My kids and I love this book.
Lessons learned from the story is what we need to apply in this era of diversity:
Understanding and accepting each other's differences
- What's right for you does not necessarily mean it's also right for others and vice versa
- We can be friends despite our differences

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Henry's Freedom Box - Book Review

Wonderfully written and well illustrated. This is a true story about Henry Brown, a slave who mailed himself in a wooden crate to a "place where there are no slaves" (Pennsylvania).
This is a good book to teach kids about black history. It opened up discussions with the kids about compassion and bravery.

My 6 year-old son said: I was scared for him. It almost made me cry when his children were sold as slaves but I am still happy because he found his freedom in the end.