My oldest is on the Autism spectrum and he prefers non-fiction. Once I conquered when weвЂ™d read, the fight became what weвЂ™d read. So, I began reading aloud in the hallway as they all lay in their beds. Until I realized, вЂњWhat if I bring back reading at bedtime?вЂќ At bedtime, theyвЂ™re all in their bedsВ away from each other. When they were all younger, reading aloud was more successful when they had quiet activities to do as I read aloud.ДЄs they aged, they outgrew many of these quiet activities and once again, I was stuck. Instead of snuggling, mine always seemed to elbow each other in the eye, fight over who gets to turn the page, and constantly complain, вЂњI canвЂ™t see.вЂќ IвЂ™ve always envied the moms who can snuggle with their kids as they read aloud by firelight. Yes, I fully understand that this is an ironic thing for вЂњThis Reading MamaвЂќ to say.

Reading aloud has not always been a pretty thing in our house. **I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for me to earn fees by linking toВ В and affiliated sites. This is me telling you about something weвЂ™ve loved that I think you should love, too! No gory descriptions.Д®mma uses tonics to treat the wounded, some she appears to have discovered herself.Oh my goodness! Have you ever heard of The Green Ember series? If not, youвЂ™re about to.Д«ut first, let me back up and tell you how we landed on itвЂ¦ Birds carry small rabbits off to become slaves. An order of rabbits wears blue robes and appears to be some kind of spiritual group, but their beliefs are unspecified.Д«attles with swords, some proving fatal. References to the fact that Heather and Prince Smalls are intended to marry.Д«rief note that former heroes have become sort of saints in the eyes of the rabbits. If youвЂ™re interested in the series, I do recommend starting with the first book rather than with Ember Falls.Д¬haracters are rabbits, wolves, and birds of prey. I found it hard to get a sense of what had happened in the first book versus what was true backstory, so IвЂ™m not really sure. Reading the first book in the series first might have cleared up some of my confusion. He longs to rescue them, but the mission would place the survival of the rest of the rabbit army, and its prince, in jeopardy. Pick struggles through the story with the knowledge that his family has been enslaved by Morbin Blackhawk and the birds of prey. I liked the themes of sacrifice and honor. I kept wondering if they twitched their ears when they were nervous or had heightened hearing because, well, rabbit ears. Their movements and expressions donвЂ™t relate to rabbit movements or expressions. Without the illustrations to clue me in, I wouldnвЂ™t have known the characters were rabbits until the second chapter. I think the thing I found most difficult, though, was the lack of character descriptions. They added a lot of detail to the story as well. Pen and ink drawings show various characters and scenes throughout Ember Falls. The huge vocabulary of story-specific terms made the story feel like it had a definite place, but often terms were introduced quickly or one on top of each other and I never felt like I had a good sense of their significance or meaning.

Other times characters would be introduced by name without any indication of who they were or why their name might matter, if that makes sense. I sometimes got Pick and Perk confused because of their similar names. I struggled with the sheer number of named characters in the story, though, and found it really difficult to keep track of who everyone was. I enjoyed the strong fantasy-esque voice throughout Ember Falls and found Pick and his sister Heather to be cool characters. Can Heather and Picket help rescue the cause from a certain, sudden defeat? The fragile alliance forged around the young heir seems certain to fail. Heather and Picket are two young rabbits improbably thrust into pivotal roles. Morbin Blackhawk, slaver and tyrant, threatens to destroy the rabbit resistance forever.

The green ember series order