Serafina and the Black Cloak-The Serafina Series Book 1

I am privileged to have received an advanced reader copy of a captivating new book entitled Serafina and the Twisted Staff, which was written by author Robert Beatty. This fast paced mystery book is the second one in a series about a young girl whose existence has been kept a secret by her pa who lives in the basement of the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina. By creating his story as historical fiction, the author places the reader into the elegant 1899 lifestyle of the Vanderbilts who live at their elaborately decorated Biltmore mansion. He skillfully weaves local history into a suspenseful tale that shocks, as well as excites both the middle school students it is recommended for and all of the adults who can't get enough of this delightful story! The richness of the language used by Mr. Beatty is impressive and often borders on poetic. The author's vivid descriptions added to the excellent and respectful use of regional dialect allows readers to easily sense and visualize exactly what happens as Serafina and her friend Braeden Vanderbilt sneak around to investigate mysterious houseguests and search for clues about the dangerous things that have been taking place. This unlikely friendship grows as the two explore Biltmore and the surrounding forests and battle powerful evil threats as they solve the spooky, rather complex mystery. In the first book, Serafina and the Black Cloak, Serafina aches to understand why her pa had been hiding her for the first 12 years of her life. Throughout the second book, Serafina and the Twisted Staff, this young protagonist is pulled toward her destiny as she continues to grapple with loyalty decisions and finds even more surprising discoveries about her own origins. Though Serafina is exhausted from dealing with the Man in the Black Cloak in the first book, she is immediately drawn into a new and very serious threat that involves both the Biltmore Estate and the people and animals she is trying to protect there. The depth of the language, multiple understories, and wisdom woven into the complex plot make this an exciting read!As a 5th grade teacher in departmentalized English classrooms, I recently used both books as high interest mentor texts to help my students prepare for Virginia’s high stakes tests. The text of both books offered many possibilities for correlation to the Virginia standards and the local pacing guides for teachers. My students absolutely loved that I read the Serafina books orally as we reviewed story structure, characterization, figurative language, genre, point of view, and use of context clues! As the heroine of the series, Serafina is strong and courageous. She offers appealing characteristics and is a good role model of perseverance, friendship, and loyalty. Thank you, Mr. Beatty, for writing pure enjoyment for your readers![...]https://www.amazon.com/Serafina-Twisted-Staff-Novel/dp/1484775031?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1484775031&linkCode=as2&linkId=KVZGI53YPOD7EMQQ&redirect=true&ref_=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl&tag=robertbeattyc-20Linda WoodwardJonesville, Virginia

I bought this book for my young son. I try to read all the books that I buy for him, and in this one, I discovered a magical tale that drew me in immediately. Seen through the eyes of and told by the young protagonist, the author has done a masterful job of allowing one to share the feeling of being young, surrounded by a story of a child coming of age, discovering their true identity, of finding friends and a place in a suddenly much larger and grander world, of discovering a duty to protect others and the courage required to do so, and becoming a hero wrapped in a small but determined package in the process.Several wonderful themes emerge along the way for children readers: that a job done well, however mean, gives one a chance to achieve pride in oneself and satisfaction of knowing that it also may benefit others, 2) that one's true parents are those who love and care for us as children, not only those who we share genes with, 3) that being different is not bad at all, and one's difference can actually be one's true strength and gifts to the world, 4) that true character and goodness are not defined so much by victory or defeat against a challenge as it is by our courage to rise to meet it, no matter how daunting it may seem.This book is filled with themes and values that I want my child to be filled with, but they are shared in a most delightfully charming way, through the eyes and words of a child, learning these and many other values for herself, as a truly delightful and magical story unfolds in a way which feels like being read to by a parent or librarian, with warmth, the occasional gasp, a sense of knuckle-tightening trepidation, and a soul-warming and deeply satisfying resolution. I intend to read it again right away,with and to my own child, to share it together with love, warmth, and intimacy the like that shared in between the characters in the book. And I'll privately enjoy knowing that I'm also secretively sharing a few lessons of American history, folklore, and social ethics and moral values so subtly that my child will likely not ever even realize that education is even one of my motives for sharing the book with him.I am a most ardent fan of this author and book. It should be considered a must-read to be shared between parents and children of all families, whether they share genetic heritage or not... perhaps especially appropriate for non-traditional or single-parent families where love is the primary motivation which binds one to another, not a wedding vow or ring. I just can't adequately express how thankful I am to have found this book to be able to share with my child, but I've tried and I hope many other parents also find it and share it with theirs, as well.And if you are a young person reading this review, ignore everything I just typed about a parent liking it so much as a teaching tool. I promise you'll never notice it other than it being a cracking- good story with moral courage and daring-do facing against true evil and daunting strength, with love and loyalty to friends being what matters most, in the end.

È un middle grade, quindi la lettura è scorrevole e i termini non sono complicatissimi. Io non sono super fluente in inglese e l'ho letto abbastanza facilmente. La storia è bella e avventurosa, probabilmente se non l'ha già fatto Disney ci farà un film/serie. Consigliato

This is a story about a young girl serafina and how her life changed when a certain event happened...this is a great middle grade book with a touch of whimsy and bravery..go for it..this book will not disappoint you..I give it 5 stars..🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Shapeshifting comes alive in Beatty's beautiful language that reaches out to all who both fear and hope there will always be more to us than how we may appear. Beatty's magical Serafina and the Black Cloak proves that what counts is what we can DO with our special, unique talents.

This was a great story and I wish there were more kid's horror books to choose from. It did drag a little in places but overall it was good.

Serafina and the Black Cloak is a sensitive, evocative piece of writing. Serafina herself is a quite wonderful literary creation and one who generations of children, boys as well as girls, will surely delight in discovering. Equally her rapidly, but deeply developing friendship with Braeden, the young master of the house - friendship that she has never before encountered except in books - is quite wonderfully and touchingly drawn. Both young protagonists personify admirable and most likeable characteristics, whilst remaining convincingly human and vulnerable. Serafina's gutsy determination and fierce loyalty, tempered but never daunted by her very real insecurities, are conveyed every bit as strongly as the author seems to have intended.For these qualities alone this would be a notable book. But I have not yet reached the real reasons for its unique and very special appeal. Interspersed within the lyricism of this narrative are several passages of high tension, high adrenaline action, again skilfully, but now thrillingly, written. However, this is not the whole picture either. For very gently and subtly the elements of strangeness, of mystery, of horror even, are introduced and built through this lyrical narrative. There are weird goings on in house and in the nearby woods.There are strange things about Serafina too, of which she herself is only all too well aware. The story edges further towards the supernatural. As readers, we begin to feel less sure of our ground. What seemed initially to be Serefina's fanciful imagining creeps closer to reality. Then, in the truly amazing, compulsively exciting climax, the story, helter-skelters into a new understanding. Less well handled, these startling developments could have seemed inconsistent with the earlier tenor of the story. However, such is this author's skill that, once the shocking revalations are reached, we readers see that the seeds of its shifted reality were there all along, even in such subtle clues as the chapter head embellishments. It all makes sense to us in the end, as well as to Serafina, even if it took us a while to fully register quite what sort of world we were vicariously sharing.