Saturday, January 20, 2007

The Molly Moon Series by Georgia Byng


Molly Moon's Incredible Book of Hypnotism

Synopsis: Molly Moon is an orphan living in a miserable orphanage eating horrible food. Nothing goes right for the poor girl until one day she discovers a book in the library on hypnotism. She discovers that she has a knack for it and suddenly her life changes for the better. After winning a talent contest, she uses the money to fly to New York City, stays at a posh hotel, and then lands the lead role in a Broadway play. However, she soon discovers that her powers can also have a downside when a crook steals her dog and makes her help him rob a bank.


Molly Moon stops the World

Synopsis: Molly's mentor Lucy Logan compels the girl to go to America because she suspects that an evil advertising mogul named Primo Cell is out to take over the presidential election through hypnotism. It's up to Molly and her friend Rocky to discover his dastardly plot and stop him. Along the way, Molly discovers that she has the power to stop time, and that she may not be an orphan as she had always thought.

Molly Moon's Hypnotic Time Travel Adventure

Synopsis: Molly is kidnapped and taken to 19th century India by the evil time traveling hypnotist, the Maharajah of Waqt. However, Molly refuses to go along with his nefarious plans. The Maharajah realizes that she stands in his way, and kidnaps Molly as a baby, a three year old, six year old, and ten year old. Now Molly must rescue all the versions of herself and conquer time travel in order to get everyone home.


Assessment: It's a sad fact that most boys won't read a book where a girl is the main character because they think it is just for girls, even if the main character's best friend and accomplice is a boy. (If your boy doesn't think this, then never mention it). However, girls will love these books. Molly is spunky, bright, and a typical girl who loves her pug Petula, Qube soda, and ketchup sandwiches. The mood of all these books is light, and should not be taken too seriously. The first book is the best. With the exception of a confusing part in the middle where Molly's friend Rocky reveals to her that he also knows hypnotism (I had to read it twice to understand it), the book flows quickly. I love the quirky humor Byng throws in, such as the name of the play Molly lands, Stars on Mars, or the cook who is hypnotised to love Italian cuisine so much that she starts wearing a t-shirt declaring, "You'd better love Italian food or else!" The second loses some of this with a more serious plot that begins to run a little strained when everything is caused by hypnotism, which everyone seems to know very well. The third falls a little more in that it never really made sense to me why the villain was Indian and why he spoke in Spoonerisms (it got a little annoying after a while). Still, these books are fun to read and I look forward to what Byng has in store next.







2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good post.

Anonymous said...

This is true and it is a confusing book. Most people just read to read but this one challenges your mind. It makes you really think about what your reading. Everything you said is true and it's funny because I didn't even notice how true that is until I read it, right here!