OnlineBookClub.org

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Adventures of Lola" by Jade Harley.]

The Adventures of Lola by Jade Harley is a magical children’s chapter book about a thirteen-year-old girl and her mission to save her community. Lola thinks that her life is pretty boring. She knows there must be something more out there. When Lola overhears the new teacher at her school talking about something bad that might happen, she knows it must be her mission to find out what’s going on. She doesn’t hear exactly what this suspected event is, but she knows she must do something. She recruits her two best friends to help her do some detective work and find out just what it is that’s going to happen. Will they be able to discover what this event is in time to stop it?

The story is told in the first-person perspective through Lola’s point of view. This perspective gives a great insight into Lola’s thoughts and emotions. As a result, the reader really gets to know Lola and her personality as the story is told. She is a very relatable character for kids her age, and this extra insight will really help readers connect with her. The other characters were also developed well, and the reader really gets to see them the way Lola does. She spends quite a bit of time describing her friends and family, so the reader gets to know them along the way.

Not only were the descriptions of the characters great, but the descriptions of the scenery and action scenes were also excellent. It was easy to visualize everything the author wrote about. She did a great job painting a vivid picture of what was happening. There were also a few illustrations within the book that added to the story and helped with the visualization of certain scenes. I really enjoyed these pictures and would have even liked to see more throughout the book.

I also enjoyed the difficulty level of this book. I thought it had enough advanced vocabulary to challenge kids without being so hard that they want to stop reading it. I would definitely recommend the book for kids between the ages of 10 and 13. Because the character is thirteen, this age group would relate to her well. I also think it could be a great challenging book for younger children who have a higher reading level. The concept isn’t overly mature like some books of this reading level, but the book would still help them learn new words.

Unfortunately, there were some errors in the book. They were fairly minor, but it was still enough to notice. Because it is a children’s book, I feel that extra attention should be paid to the errors. When reading, children should see proper grammar that matches what they are learning in school. The only other critique I have about the book is that the dialogue was often unbelievable. I understand that this is a make-believe story, but I feel that children will connect more if the dialogue is closer to what they hear in real life.

Keeping all of that in mind, I give this book 3 out of 4 stars. I thought that it had a great plot and characters and is perfect for children who are on the brink of their teenage years. If the errors were fixed and the dialogue were tweaked, I would definitely consider giving this book a perfect score.

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The Adventures of Lola
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I'm glad the errors were minor because this looks like a really cute and wonderful story. I absolutely love the cover, and that's important to draw a child in! Thanks for the review.

The cover is indeed very good. It's a key factor, since kids are always naturally drawn to imagery.

I agree, it is very important to pay attention to proper grammar in children's books. However; if the story and characters are as colorful as the cover, then perhaps I would have my child read it and do their own review! Thank you for the insightful and honest review!

Cute cover it has..infact the kid gets more intrested to read the book by its cover.The grammer itself is 100% great jst for the kids..

This sounds absolutely adorable. My daughter is named Lola and I can see her doing something just like this. Is it a bit reminiscent of Harriet the Spy?

I love kids books, especially chapter books aimed at the tweens. But I, too, am especially picky about the grammar, etc. being right. What they read will teach them, right or wrong, they will be learning from it. I hope the author is able to fix the small errors and am very glad that they are few.

NL Hartje wrote: ↑24 Feb 2018, 20:57 This sounds absolutely adorable. My daughter is named Lola and I can see her doing something just like this. Is it a bit reminiscent of Harriet the Spy?

I've never read Harriet the Spy, so I'm not sure if this is similar to it or not.

Great review! I absolutely love the cover artwork. It's nice that the plot and characters were both done well. It's a shame about the errors. Hopefully, the author will use a good editor in the future.

Wow i would've had fun reviewing this book, so adorable! Admirable review!

I'm not a kid and I love the cover of this book. It gives me the idea this story is magical. Good to know the author created a believable and relatable character. This isn't easy since the protagonist is a teenager. Perhaps that's why the dialogues are a little bit off. Anyways, thanks for this fun review!

The cover is cute and colorful! I love that the vocabulary is challenging, but doesn't put the reader off. Even with the small grammar issues, it sounds like a lovely book. Sadly, my child is too young to enjoy this, though I will be adding it to my list of future reads. Thanks!