First Lines Friday

Hello, hello my lovelies,

I hope you are all well.

Today is Friday - in fact it's Good Friday so happy Easter to you.

First lines Friday is run by Wandering Words

What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?  If you want to make your own post, feel free to use or edit the banner above, and follow the rules below:

• Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
• Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
• Finally… reveal the book!

So, here we go:

Like a man-made magic wish, the aeroplane began to rise.

The boy sitting in the cock pit gripped his seat and held his breath as the plane climbed into the arms of the sky. Fred's jaw was set with concentration, and his fingers twitched, following the movements of the pilot beside him: joystick, throttle.

Any ideas?

This is The Explorer by Katherine Rundell

Did you get it right?

If you haven't read this yet, I hope this has inspired you to.

Happy reading

Allison xx

Jungledrop book review

Hello, hello my lovelies,

How are you all?

Today I am going to review Jungledrop by Abi Elphinstone



Synopsis

Eleven-year-old twins, Fox and Fibber, have been rivals for as long as they can remember. Only one of them will inherit the family fortune and so a race is afoot to save the dwindling Petty-Squabble empire and win the love of their parents.

But when the twins are whisked off to Jungledrop, a magical Unmapped Kingdom in charge of conjuring our world's weather, things get wildly out of hand. An evil harpy called Morg is on the loose. And if she finds the long-lost Forever Fern before the twins, both Jungledrop and our world will crumble.

Suddenly, Fox and Fibber find themselves on an incredible adventure in a glow-in-the-dark rainforest full of golden panthers, gobblequick trees and enchanted temples. But, with the fate of two worlds in their hands, will the twins be able to work together for once to defeat Morg and her dark magic?

Review

Meet Fibber and Fox Petty-Squabble.
Twins.
Rivals.
Hate each other.
Never hugged each other, loved each other or trusted each other.

Meet Mr and Mrs Petty-Squabble.
Parents -  although I'm not sure you can actually call them that.
Business owners.
Driven by money.

Mr and Mrs Petty-Squabble have raised their children for one thing only - to take on the business and make them millions. Unbeknown to the children they are pitted against each other. The child with the best business plan to stop the family businesses going under and get them back to making millions gets to stay. The other gets sent to Antartica forever.

Nice huh?

Until one day it all changes when they are given the pheonix tear and find themselves on the Here and Now Express being whisked off to another world - the magical, fantastical world of Jungledrop.

There are problems afoot and it is down to the twins to save Jungledrop from the evil harpy, Morg. The trouble is, as I've mentioned before, the twins have been raised not to trust anyone or each other. Not to talk to each other nicely. Not to have manners. Yet, in order to save Jungledrop AND Faraway (our world) they realise that what they have been used to, has to change.

This is the second book in The Unmapped Chronicles, following on from Rumblestar. The world-building is second to none. The scene setting and descriptions are so vivid that the ideas  Abi Elphinstone has are expertly visualised by the reader. I am in awe of how she thinks of her characters names and nouns. Amongst others are Nightcreaks, Witchcrocs, snoozenuts, Doogie Herbalsneeze, flickertug map and my two favourite characters, Heckle and Total Shambles. Pure genius!

The adventures were thrilling. I was caught in the dangers, riskiness, uncertainty and pure buzz as the twins went from one set of problems to another. As the twins flew on the back of Total Shambles, I felt the wind through my hair as I went with them. As Fox hung on for grim death trying not to fall in the pit of hog-nosed vipers, I was willing her to hold on. Just perfect story telling.

However, there is an underlying premise that is for the twins to save Faraway and Jungledrop, they have to work together. Abi Elphinstone delightfully shows how to trust, be empathetic and sympathetic. To have manners, to forgive and accept anyone or anything for what they are. Everyone has a talent. It might not be the same as yours but it is just as amazing as yours. And then finally to be proud. Be proud of your inner beauty and be genuinely proud for those that you love and hold dear.

I think you can guess that I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I would highly recommend this for children to read but I would also urge KS2 teachers to have a copy in their room. If you can't read the whole book, you could easily pick out excerpts for children to analyse and explore how Abi Elphinstone makes her writing so descriptively believable or how she creates tension. How the twins show feelings and also how their feelings and behaviour change over time. What would have happened if they didn't change? What effect did Fox showing forgiveness have on the reader? I could go on and on.

I could easily waffle for hours about this book and to be honest I've wanted to say so much more, but I've had to really reign myself in so as not to give any spoilers. I could burst holding on to what I know and not be able to share it! 

You have to read it!

A super easy ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ from me.

Happy reading,

Allison xx

First lines Friday

Hello, hello my lovelies,

I hope you are all well.

Today is Friday - in fact it's Good Friday so happy Easter to you.

First lines Friday is run by Wandering Words

What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?  If you want to make your own post, feel free to use or edit the banner above, and follow the rules below:

• Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
• Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
• Finally… reveal the book!

So, here we go:

There was a man made of midnight and his name was Shadow Jack.

The name suited him well; his clothes were dark and his hair was darker. His eyes were pools of shadow. As he slipped through the winding labyrinth of the slums on the night our story begins, his intentions were darkest of all.

Ooh, I think this is a really good one. Any ideas?

This is the fantastic Evernight by Ross Mackenzie.

I haven't read this yet but how good is that opening paragraph! 

Hope this has inspired you to read it.

Happy reading

Allison xx

March Reading Journal wrap up

Hello, hello my lovelies,

This is going to be a new monthly post from me where I will share my reading journal with you. You will get to see what I put in it and what it looks like and also how it develops over time. In fact some pages have already changed since I took the photos but that's the beauty of it.

Do you keep a journal? I don't know about you but I am a stationery addict. Give me a notebook and pens and I'm happy. At one time, my dream job was to work for W H Smith as they sold books AND stationery. What more could a girl want!

But I love to make notes about things and keep lists. I'm a list fanatic. Do you write things on a list just so you can cross it off so it looks like you've done something? I do - but not in my reading journal though.

First up is all the books on my kindle.

You can see that I've been using different colours. As I've started this way, I will keep going, but next year I am going to limit the colours I use. I also started putting the yellow highlighter for Arcs but I've stopped that now as you can see in the picture below.

I absolutely adore physical books but when I'm reading at night, I have to use my kindle as my eyesight isn't great and I can't see the text very well when I'm in bed. So most of my books are read on my kindle but then I buy or am gifted the physical books as well.

When I have read a book, I put a black line through it and on my kindle I put in a folder of finished books. I'm not sure how many books a kindle can hold but if it gets to the point where there isn't much memory left, I will delete books from here first or those I have a physical copy of.

Now, I'm not getting on with Goodreads AT ALL. I know some love it but I'm finding it infuriating but I'm obviously doing something wrong. For instance if I'm on the APP it tells me my challenge fine, but I can't access as much as I would like to and I don't find it very user friendly. On my PC, the challenge is different. Grrrr.

I am not a fast reader and after a day teaching, followed by marking and everything else, I'm generally shattered. I do read every night in bed but the amount can vary from a couple of chapters to a couple of pages. This is why, at first, I set my challenge to 12, thinking that if I read a book a month I'd be happy.

However, I think I met that target easily this month so I had to re-evaluate and with the lockdown, I'm hoping to read much more.

This is a poor photo (sorry) but is how many books I have on my kindle. The previous pages were the titles and authors, this is just numerical. This also doesn't include books in my finished collection folder or my DNF collection folder.

Here is my reading log. Here I jot down the date I finished the books, the title, author and how many stars I gave it.

Still with finished books, I then have pages where I write a bit more detail. I was going to write my actual reviews down, but if you've read any, I tend to waffle a bit and need to work at them being a lot more succinct; so I decided to write the synopsis instead. These pages act as memory joggers when I look back.

Another poor photo alert. This is a new page I've just added. Here I'm going to list the book series I'd like to read. The column at the end is where I can add the number of each book I've read in the series.

Next up is a numerical total of how many books I've read each month.

I've realised I have one more page but I didn't take a photo. It's books which I want to buy a physical copy of.

I absolutely adore my journal and it has soooo many pages left so will hopefully last me a couple of years.

Have you any ideas of anything else I could include? 

If you have a reading journal, I'd love to see it. I follow reading journals on Instagram but I can never get mine to look as beautifully neat as theirs. But this is mine and I love it.

Happy reading,

Allison xx

Attack of the Heebie Jeebies - Review

Hello, hello my lovelies,

I hope you are staying safe and well and managing with the social isolation. I'm lucky as I have a garden but I can't imagine how those of you who don't have one are managing.

So today I have another review for you.

Attack of the Heebie Jeebies by Tom Percival



Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Published: 2nd April 2020

Synopsis:

Erika's had a bad day. But going to sleep upset means bad dreams. She finds herself stranded in the Dreamscape along with a mob of hungry Heebie Jeebies - and to make matters worse, she's being hunted by a terrifying Angermare!

Enter the Dream Team! Can they help Erika overcome her worries and get home, or will she be trapped forever? 

Review:

What a lovely book! 

Meet Erika. Erika is the older sister to her baby brother and has become VERY jealous and feels she is missing out on her parents attention. In fact, this has made her grumpy. VERY grumpy. So much so, she snaps at her brother and parents, she argues and finally, in a fit of rage tells her parents exactly what she thinks and storms off to her bedroom, where she cries herself to sleep.

This is where her adventure begins. She finds herself in another world. One that is full of Heebie Jeebies and she soon discovers that there are other creatures that she can talk to. However, there are bad things in store. Erika and her new friends have to work together, not only to defeat the nasty being, but also to get her back home.

I really enjoyed how the author has sensitively dealt with the problems that Erika has. I thought the illustrations particularly enhanced the story. They are mostly black, white and purple, which sounds boring, but actually depicts Erika's feelings and situations really well. 

I can see myself reading this aloud to my class. The book deals with anxiety, behaviour, jealousy and how to overcome these. It can be easily used within the LKS2 PSHE curriculum, being proactive, or indeed as circle time if you need to be reactive to a situation. In fact, it would also be an ideal book to give to a specific parent and child to read together, to help the child relate to Erika and then come up with their own strategies to deal with their problems.

I'd happily have this on my bookshelf at school but I would also happily recommend this for any parent to read with or give to their child to read. Not only would it help a child that finds themselves in the same situation as Erika, but it would also help those children who are lucky enough to have no worries, understand where Erika is coming from in order to empathise.

My rating is ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Callum Mcbride - review

Hello, hello my lovelies,

How are you doing? 

Today I am reviewing Callum McBride by Michael Riding



Publisher: Troubador Publishing
Publish date: 28th March 2020

Synopsis:

Twelve-year-old Callum McBride, home from school and bored in the holidays, discovers to his shock that he has an unknown talent: he can occupy the minds of animals and control their actions while leaving his body where he left it, seemingly lifeless. He's only just discovered this worrying ability when he meets Emma. Emma is a girl with her own issues and talents - including a computer-hacking talent that has previously previously resulted in a brush with MI6.

As the bond between them grows, Emma uncovers a surprising connection between Callum's powers and his adoption by a local family after he was found at less than a year old on the ferry that runs between Iona and Mull. Throwing themselves into an investigation into the link between Callum's strange abilities and his origins, they're soon caught up in a plot to steal a nuclear warhead. Only by thinking on their feet, trusting each other and using their abilities can they hope to stay alive and defeat the enemy they face together.

Review:

This is a debut novel by Michael Riding and it's a good one! It's aimed at middle grade and YA, but I will say that the reader needs to be quite accomplished to tackle this book. It's not one for someone just picking it up and having a go at.

This is about Callum and Emma who come across each other by chance. It just so happened that Callum had had his first ever 'out of body' experience. Emma helps him realise that he is able to transfer his mind into an animal or bird and then think, feel and control it. There are some dangerous side effects to this ability but as Callum is only just realising what he can do, he is yet to find out what these are. Emma knows about Callum's ability because her father has done lots of research on it. There was apparently a big scandal involving soldiers, the Ministry of Defence, MI6 and LSD that has been pushed under the carpet.

However, with Callum's new found ability and Emma's knowledge, they start digging for information and before long are dragged into a world of secrets, cover-ups, attempted murder and a huge plot to steal a nuclear warhead.

This is an adventure/mystery book with lots of action. There are two protagonists: Callum and Emma.

Callum is one half of a twin. He was found abandoned on a ferry up in the Isles of Scotland. Luckily, he was taken in by the family of the ferry captain, whose wife is a local nurse. He knows his background but has happily got on with his life with an older sister and a much older brother. 

Emma has just moved to the island with her parents to start a new life, away from previous upsets caused, unintentionally by Emma. She has a talent for computers and can memorise information. In fact, she has already hacked into the computer system of MI6 and she is only 12!

Both characters were very likeable and I enjoyed the interaction between them. The author has clearly either done some research or knows about the way Emma thinks and behaves as, her literal dialogue and social inadequacy is spot on for her needs and talents. Callum and Emma are poles apart in character but circumstances draw them together. Callum has to get used to Emma's quirks and that takes time but he soon realises that he can trust her, literally with his life.

The scene setting and descriptions of the islands were vivid and stunning and the author captured the essence of life and beauty there in abundance. Being set in Scotland, obviously people there speak with an accent. I'm not going to lie, it took me a while to get how to read the native accent, but actually, I really enjoyed these parts of the story. It was easy to imagine I was actually there and I found it kind of grounded the story.

The build up and tension was written exceptionally well and I thoroughly enjoyed the thrill of the chase. The writing swept you up and took you at speed through exhilarating escapades where life was literally held in the balance.

I mentioned at the beginning that I didn't think this book was suitable for newer readers or those who are not yet fluent as there are a lot of scientific and technical words. For those now thinking that this would put them off - don't be. It all has it's place and fits in with the whole premise of the story. This book is set in the world of espionage, science and computers so to make it all the more believable, words that fit those areas have to be used and they are used well.

In summary, I thought this was a really exciting book that was just one thrilling ride from beginning to end. The only downside is that it ends on a cliffhanger. Nooooooo! Now I need the second one - pronto!

I rate this book:
⭐⭐⭐⭐ - I would definitely recommend it.

Happy reading,

Allison xx

March Wrap-up

Hello, hello my lovelies,

So I'm here today with my March wrap-up. I'm quite a slow reader (sooo frustrating) so with teaching as well, I tend to read 4 or 5 books a month. Not many, I know, but I can only do what I can do!
However, now that we're in social isolation and I am on a limited rota at school, in theory there is much more time to read. I say in theory, because although I have read more, I haven't actually read as much as I wanted. There's always something to else to do - damn you housework 😂😂

Anyway, enough procrastinating (another of my skills), and on with the wrap-up.

In total I read 8 books.but I didn't finish the first book in March until the 15th so I've done well!

In order, this is what I read. As usual, I will put links to Waterstones but please support your independent bookstores as well during these difficult times if you can. It is becoming increasingly more difficult to buy books online due to suppliers closing, so if you haven't got a TBR to keep you going for a while, it might be wise to stock up now.

1. The House of Hidden Wonders by Sharon Gosling

• Publisher: Little Tiger Press Group
• Publication date: 2nd April 2020

You can read my review here. This is another I will definitely be buying.  

2. Oh No, Bobo by Donna David

• Illustrated by Laura Watkins
• Publisher: QED Publishing
• Publication Date: 21st April 2020

You can read my review here. This is a lovely picture book for younger children.

3. Winterborne Home for Vengeance and Valour by Ally Carter

• Publisher: Hachette Children's Books
• Published: 5th March 2020

You can read my review here. This is another I'm going to buy. Love that cover!

4. The Nothing To See Here Hotel by Steven Butler

• Illustrated by Steven Lenton
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Ltd
• Published last year

I finished this book with my class just before school stopped. Review to follow.

5. The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse by Charles Makesy

• Published by Ebury Publishing

I was late to the party with this one. Review to follow.

6. BOOT: The Rusty Rescue by Shane Hegarty

• Illustrated by Ben Mantle
• Publisher: Hachette Children's Group

You can read my review here. 

7. The Vanishing Trick by Jenni Spangler

• Illustrated by Chris Mould
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Ltd
• Publication date: 30th April 2020

You can read my review here.  This is top of my list to buy!

8. Attack of the Heebie Jeebies by Tom Percival

• Publisher: Pan Macmillan
• Publication date: 2nd April 2020

Review to follow.

So there you have them. My March 2020 reads.

I've a feeling that we won't be back to school throughout April so I'm hoping to beat 8 next month. Let's see! 

Happy reading,

Allison xx

Top Five Tuesday

Hello, hello my lovelies,

How are you all?

Today I am taking part in Top Five Tuesday which is run by Shanah over at Bionic Book Worm.

This is what you have to do:

How you make your lists is completely up to you. Want to do authors first names? Go ahead! Want to do last names? Have at it! Want to do a mix of both? It’s your post and I’m not the Top 5 police who will send you to bookish jail or anything….. wait….. bookish jail? That sounds like fun…. can that be a thing? Point is, attack the alphabet as you please. I think I’ll be doing last names for these but I haven’t decided yet.

If you’re lucky enough to have your shelves organized in alphabetical order, then this will be easy! Me – I organize by genre so……. not so easy! I can’t wait for the chance to highlight a few authors I don’t talk about all that often!

Today we are finishing off authors with the letters U, V, W, X, Y, Z.

This is going to be soooo tricky!

U is for Alison Uttely who wrote The Little Grey Rabbit series.

V  has to be for Jules Verne

W is for E B White

X, Y and Z I couldn't do 😒

Have you got any suggestions?

Happy reading,

Allison xx

The Vanishing Trick - review

Hello, hello my lovelies,

I hope you are staying safe during these difficult times. 

Today I am doing a review for:

The Vanishing Trick by Jenni Spangler

• Illustrated by Chris Mould
• Published by Simon and Schuster Ltd
• Release date: 30.3.20

Synopsis
Madame Augustina Pinchbeck, travels the country conjuring the spirits of dearly departed loved ones... for a price. Whilst her ability to contact ghosts is a game of smoke and mirrors, there is real magic behind her tricks too - if you know where to look.

Through a magical trade, she persuades children to part with precious objects, promising to use her powers to help them. But Pinchbeck is a deceiver, instead turning their items into enchanted Cabinets that bind the children to her and into which she can vanish and summon them at will.

When Pinchbeck captures orphan Leander, events are set into motion that see him and his new friends Charlotte and Felix, in a race against time to break Pinchbeck's spell, before one of them vanishes forever...

Review

Wow. What can I say other than I absolutely loved this book! 

I really enjoyed the setting. I'm liking historical fiction more and more. I think it can be particularly hard to capture the time period when writing for children, as they may have little understanding of this time, but I felt there was enough historical detail for them to understand.
Then there was the premise of the story set around the dark, sinister world of the seance and being able to see and talk to spirits of past loved ones. This was utterly believable. The introduction of the early camera was portrayed well and the whole mysteriousness of the 'other world' had a real sense of foreboding, even though we know, as readers, it was all done through magic. Yet, we're not actually sure how the magic works! Love that element.

This story follow Leander, an orphan and street child who just about scrapes through life stealing morsels of food and sleeping wherever he can, as he gets duped into believing Augustina Pinchbeck when she says she will give him a job and food in exchange for him working for her.

 I thought the character of Leander was totally believable. Despite where he has ended up in life, he has good morals. He knows right from wrong (even though he steals) and he believes that there is good in everyone. Just before he agrees to work for Pinchbeck, we get a mysterious glimpse of Charlotte, who we later find out also works for Pinchbeck, as she tries to stop him making the wrong choice. That section of the book in itself was a mystery as we feel ourselves asking the same questions as Leander.

Leander soon discovers that all is not as it seems. He learns to trust Charlotte and Felix (the third child) as together they try to stop Pinchbeck fooling the rich as she tries desperately to become a famous medium.

Pinchbeck reminded me of the child catcher. The author really worked her magic in making us, as well as Leander, believe that she is just looking out for him. Yet soon, we see her other side. A side that encompasses magic, stories, evil, darkness, greed and trickery. The more I read the book, the more I hated her but I just couldn't quite work out why things were happening. I just had to keep reading!

The book was full of suspense and a sense of fear for the children. Would they die? Would they survive? Would they be locked away forever? A fantastically written story that takes the reader on a heart stopping journey. There were times when I found myself reading quicker and quicker. I could feel my heart thumping as I was totally sucked in to the plights of the children.

For me, this book stands out as one of a kind. The setting, the characters and the plot all were different to anything I've read at middle grade before.

I'd highly recommend this book to children of about 9 upwards. It may be a little too tense for lower key stage 2. It easily fits within the Victorians topic and further research could be done in class to enhance the children's understanding of the time period. There would be so much to look into: clothes, development of the camera, travel, beliefs etc.

This has to be the easiest 5 stars I've ever given. 
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Happy reading,

Allison xx

A book for each letter in my name

Hello, hello my lovelies,

How are you all doing stuck at home?

Just a fun post for you today. These are book titles for each letter of my first name.

As usual. I have posted links to Waterstones, however please also don't forget your local independent bookshops at this difficult time.


A is for A Pocketful of Stars by Aisha Bushby





L is for Letters from the Lighthouse by Emma Carroll




L is for The Land of Roar by Jenny McLachlan




I is for The Iron Man by Ted Hughes



S is for Starfell Willow Moss and the Lost Day by Dominique Valente







O is for Orphans of the Tide by Struan Murray



N is for Nevermoor by Jessica Townsend




What books would you choose?


Keep safe.

Happy reading,

Allison xx