Middle Grade

Battle of the Beasts by Chris Columbus and Ned Vizzini 

This was better than the first book in this series, but still too much happened in this book. The siblings were again transported into three different books: a Roman gladiator fight, Nazi cyborgs, and Himalayan monks fighting wild beasts. Cordelia was possessed by the Wind Witch and it caused her teeth to fall out in the middle of school. Their dad was addicted to gamboling all of their money away. The Wind Witch killed her own father. Brendan is still horribly self-involved; no character growth. Eleanore is the best character: she gets rid of the book (permanently), she figures out how to stop the beasts and saves the monastery, and she is keeps the family together despite being the youngest. The Wind Witch tries to manipulate all three with horrible futures and then shows them wonderful adventures if they just pick her, but despite her revelation that they are related, they would rather take their chances with the future and all return home. Then, the find out that they are moving away from their new house because their dad lost all of their money. And the book ends with their giant friend from book 1 being in the Bay. I would not recommend this book to my nephew or niece but I will finish the series; there's only one book left. It's too busy and too big for too little pay off.