Instruct: Classify Amazon reviews into positive or negative sentiment
Query: A shame that the author did not show more concern about her craft

I gave this book (and the whole series) two stars for providing an easy transition from picture books to chapter books.I did not give it more than two stars, though, because the books are sloppy and shallow, and their grammar is horrible. (Since I was reading the books to my son, I could at least make corrections on the fly.) The characters are not only flat stereotypes (scholarly, rational brother and his emotional, impulsive sister), but in the majority of the stories, they are almost completely passive. Things simply happen to them. There is little display of ingenuity or independent problem solving on the part of these two "heroes".It is too bad that the author did not show more concern about her craft. If she had, my son and I would probably still be reading her books. Instead, after getting our toes wet with the first few volumes, we quickly moved on to better material (namely, Dragon Slayers' Academy).