Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Old Favorite Review: Molly Moon's Incredible Book of Hypnotism

Title: Molly Moon's Incredible Book of Hypnotism
Author: Georgia Byng
Publisher: Harper Trophy
Release Date: April 1, 2004
Titles In Series:
Molly Moon's Incredible Book of Hypnotism
Molly Moon Stops the World
Molly Moon's Hypnotic Time Travel Adventure
Molly Moon, Micky Minus, & the Mind Machine
Molly Moon & the Morphing Mystery




The Review:

The Molly Moon series by Georgia Byng was one of my favorites around the time of 5th or 6th grade. The story revolves around British orphan Molly, who lives in a cruel orphanage where's she's constantly bullied until she discovers a book of Hypnotism in the local library. She reads the book, and very quickly learns how to hypnotize people herself.

Molly uses her new power to go on the ultimate adventure a pre-teen girl could imagine. Of course, there are others out there that want to get a hold of her hypnotism book and use it for less-than-innocent means. Molly is a smart and hilarious girl who uses her wits (along with her pug Petunia) to deflect them and have a fun time, and learn some lessons too.

But hypnotism is only the first book in the series. In each successive book, Molly learns another supernatural power, and consequently deals with others who have the same power and want to use if for their own evil benefits.

There are 5 books in this series (so far), but I only read the first 2 (I didn't even know there were more until sitting down to write this reveiw!). The first book could've been a stand alone though, then it could've been a series of two, and I was amazed to find there were more. I don't know if the sucessors are as good as the first two, because they wrapped up the plot pretty well.

Though it may sound like it, this series is not all just fluff. The plot was so epic and intense in both of these books. The first book revolved around Molly going to New York City and performing on Broadway. In the second book, where she can freeze time, she goes to Los Angeles and gets into the Academy Awards, all while foiling an evil billionaire who has been using hypnotism to make a ton of money. Cheesy at times, yes, but a lot of fun and intense situations.

Being a book about an orphan, one part of the plot is Molly searching for her parents, who she does eventually find, also one of my favorite parts.

I devoured this fun series when I was younger, I read the first two books at least twice if not more. I think if I re-read them, I would enjoy them just as much. This series is Middle Grade, but still awesome. I don't know if the last three books in the series are as good as the first two, but I might have to read them and see for myself.




Preview it from Harper Trophy







3 comments:

  1. I loved Molly Moon! I only read the first book when I was about eight or nine, but I read it so many times I still remember the plot really well.

    I remember trying to teach myself hypnotism from the descriptions in the book.. Needless to say, it didn't go too well!

    I may have to check out the next four books!

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  2. I have a very old, yellow copy of Molly Moon's Incredible Book of Hypnotism sitting on my shelf. It was also one of my favorites from middle school years, but I had no idea there were four more books in the series. That's wild, that Molly had a ton of other supernatural powers hidden away as well! Thanks for the review, Ava-- this one made me smile. :)

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  3. @Amber and Kat: Yeah, I'm considering checking out the next books in the series too!

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