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

First Lines Friday

Hello, hello my lovelies,

It's Friday so it must be time for First Lines Friday.

First Lines Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers hosted 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 is today's snippet ...

I read the sign again, glowing in front of me:

Type of organism: human female

Origin: Earth

 Age: about twelve years

This brand new exhibit will be introduced to the wider Earth Zone exhibition when emotional stability has been achieved.

There you go! Any ideas?

Today's opening is from The Kid Who Came From Space by Ross Welford.

I hope this has inspired you to go and read the book.

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

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 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

BOOT: The Rusty Rescue review

Hello, hello my lovelies,

I hope you are all staying safe and well.

Today I am reviewing Boot: The Rusty Rescue by Shane Hegarty



Synopsis:

Toy robot Boot has come a long way since it woke up in a scrapyard with only two and a half glitchy memories. It has a home with its robot pals in an abandoned amusement arcade, and has discovered what true happiness is - although it's still not sure why humans are so leaky and weird ... But when Boot and the gang stumble upon Rusty, an old, broken robot, forgotten in the back of a testing lab, it's time to spring into action. Boot knows there's something special about Rusty - but can they free the old robot and help it find its purpose?

Review:

Can you have a bit scary and a bit funny in the same book? Well in this book you certainly can! 

For those of you of a certain age, do you remember a cartoon called Raggy Dolls? Rusty and friends are just like them. Misfits. Broken. Parts missing. All those robots that are unwanted and unfit for being children's toys are sent to a lab to be used for testing. They are not tested on but are doing the actual testing. Mindbogglingly boring testing. Second after second. Minute after minute. Hour and hour. Day after day. The same action over and over and over again until something breaks; at which point they are then sent to 'robot heaven.'

I love the antics of Rusty and his robot friends and the chaos they cause. Children will enjoy visualising the scenes and laugh along. 

The tension created in robot heaven was fantastic. I really felt the anxiety as they moved from one part of the conveyor belt to the next; hoping to goodness they would all be ok. I loved the concept of the escape plan. It all seemed very James Bond-esque!

But deep in the heart of this is a story about friendship. It doesn't matter what you look like, what size you are, if you are different to others; you are liked by someone. And then that someone does something nice for you. It doesn't have to be a massive thing, but something that is just for you. You, the robot that has never had anything nice done for them ever before. 

A lovely book with themes that capture the imagination and make you think. This will also be a lovely read aloud book and would cover some PSHE topics on friendship beautifully.


I rate this lovely book ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Happy reading,

Allison