Our Library - Book Reviews

Hidden Wonders -book review

December 3, 2019 by Anne Sweet Leave a Comment

Hidden Wonders – A lonely Planet Kids Guide to the planet’s wildest, weirdest places

Book is currently reduced from £14.99 to only £8.99!

The Blurb

Take a journey into the unknown and discover the planet’s wildest and most wonderful sights. Paddle through the eerie glowworm caves of New Zealand, ride with the wild horses of the Namib desert, swing off the end of the world in Ecuador, and be amazed at hundreds more wonders you never knew existed!
This travel companion for the incurably curious is your guide to finding the world’s most amazing secret places. So grab your compass and let’s get started as you explore the far corners of our world. Start your adventure in the west at Hawaii’s Pineapple Garden Maze, before travelling along the line of longitude to Vanuatu’s underwater post office.
Get ready to bungee jump off a road to nowhere in the Brazilian jungle, or lose yourself in the world’s largest maze. Whether deep underwater in a prehistoric grotto or high on a cliff at the tip of a rock troll’s tongue, afloat on waters as pink as a rose or swimming with pigs on a sandy beach, adventure awaits around every corner.

Our Verdict

A lovely hardback book with quality paper and gorgeous illustrations. This book would make a lovely gift for any chid aged 9 or over. It’s recommended up to 12 years but it’s one of those books that will interest anyone of any age.

With loads of photographs and short stories, it’s easy to dip into and find something interesting to read. A lot of these places you will have probably never heard of. And there is a whole 240 pages to digest. It will be a book that’s treasured for a long time.

You can read all my other book reviews here : Raisiebay’s Library

Disclosure: This book was gifted in return for my honest review.

Christmas Reading

November 18, 2019 by Anne Sweet 5 Comments

Every year we have books on our Christmas gift lists. The whole family have their own tastes but there is always something to read in my gift stash. So, I thought I’d share some of our reading enjoyment with you to see if I can inspire more reading material for Christmas.

Magazines

I love my magazine subscriptions. Yes, it may be a little old fashioned when you can get so much information online, but it still doesn’t stop the excitement of getting a magazine through the door. My favourites are crochet and cooking magazines, but there are so many to choose from, they would suit any interest. I’ve so many Christmas crafts and cooking to be getting on with. And it’s not just for Christmas it would be the gift that keeps giving throughout the year.

Advent Books

We love our Christmas Books but we haven’t done an advent calendar with books for a while because it does work better with picture books. You buy the books before Christmas and wrap them to be opened and read each day before Christmas Eve. It’s nice to buy Christmas themed books and it helps build up the excitement to the big day itself. But as you will be reading one book a day, it’s easier with younger readers.

There are some more books that can be shared with older children on a daily basis on the run up to Christmas. I have read ‘The Christmas Mystery’ By Jostein Gaarder to my kids in the past, one chapter a day starting from December 1st.

Manga

My kids love Manga and we always have some on gift lists. If you’ve not heard of Manga before, they are Japanese graphic books which can read like a regular graphic book but are often read the Japanese way from back to front. You can buy them for all ages, don’t think they are just for kids and do check the age range for reading them. Some of them may contain adult content not suitable for younger readers.

Christmas Reading.

Why not join in with a Christmas reading challenge like the one that Tea And Cake for the Soul is doing. You’ll have a bit of catching up to do because she actually started it in October, but you could just up your reading time for Christmas and instead of indulging in those Christmas movies, you could pick up a book instead. The books don’t need to be Christmas themed but there are a lot of books out there. You can read my review of The Gift, By Cecelia Ahern, a lovely, if a little strange, story leading up to Christmas time.

How many books do you think you could fit in between now and Christmas, just think of them as a way of chilling out from all the Christmas preparation stress.

pile of books including Christmas reading

Christmas Classics.

Everybody knows a Christmas Story. My Little Man still loves a good Christmas themed picture book even though he’s getting a bit old for them. But honestly, whoever gets too old for Christmas stories. A few years ago I took the girls to a Christmas Carol Sing-a-long at the Birmingham Symphony Hall and Brian Blessed read ‘The Night Before Christmas’ to us all. I think we have about six different copies of that book.

This year I’m taking my girls to see The Nutcracker ballet. (I can barely contain my excitement) but I’ve yet to read the story. On Sunday morning I watched a film I’d not heard of before called The Nutcracker and the Four Realms. It starred Helen Mirran, Keira Knightly and Morgan Freeman. I guess I can understand why it wasn’t such a big hit as you would expect, but I enjoyed it all the same. The Nutcracker and The Mouse King is a novel written in 1816 by the German author E.T.A. Hoffmann.

Do you gift books or magazine subscriptions for Christmas? Do you read more at Christmas time?

Magical Underwater and Roman Adventure Activity Books

November 14, 2019 by Anne Sweet 2 Comments

Today I’m bringing to you two fabulous new books from Button Books. The Magical Underwater Activity Book and Roman Adventure Book.

The Magical Underwater Activity Book

Pub month: November 2019
ISBN-13: 9781787080447
Author: Mia Underwood
Price: £9.99
Binding: PB with flaps
No. of pages: 64 pages
Dimensions: 300 x 230 mm
Colour: Full colour throughout

You can purchase The Magical Underwater Activity Book for £9.99 on Amazon. (Affiliate link)

The Blurb

The Magical Underwater Activity Book is the second beautiful activity book created by Mia Underwood. Sumptuously illustrated with Mia’s Scandinavian-inspired artwork, this book incorporates a plethora of both real-life as well as some fictitious aquatic characters and is packed with a huge variety of imaginative activities for children to do wherever they are. The environmental impact of humans on the marine ecosystems is subtly referred to from time-to-time to help children understand how important it is for us to look after all things aquatic.

Activities in The Magical Underwater Activity Book include mazes, paper-craft activities, colouring in and scenes to create with help from the included stickers. All with a mystical and magical theme!

Our Verdict

This really is a delightful book that would please any underwater explorer or mermaids. The book is made of tough paper and is packed full of fun ideas and activities which teach children while they play.

Whether your child likes colouring, writing, puzzles, mazes, quizzes or putting in stickers this book really does have everything.

Big fish puzzle from the book — Big Fish Puzzle

Maybe your child wants to learn how to draw a mermaid, or make their own deep sea submarine. They can spot the difference or learn how to make sushi. In the middle of the book you will find pages containing over 150 stickers. They can use writing prompts to create fantastic stories or complete mazes and treasure trails.

This is a beautiful, colourful fun book that would delight any child, and even though it features mermaids it’s not only for girls. The book would be a big hit with children aged around 4 to 8 years old, although Boo thought it was brilliant and she’s 12 years old.

Roman Adventure Activity Book

Pub month: November 2019
ISBN-13: 9781787080423
Author: Illustrated by Jen Alliston
Price: £6.99
Binding: PB
No. of pages: 64 pages + 4 pages of stickers
Dimensions: 295 x 220 mm
Colour: Full colour throughout

You can buy Roman Adventure Activity book on Amazon for £6.99 (affiliate link)

The Blurb

This fabulous Ancient Rome-themed activity book will keep children entertained for hours on end. The pages are crammed with all sorts of fun, including puzzles, anagrams, maths, codes, spot the difference, colouring in and other engaging activities. Absorbing and educational, the book features beautiful, bright illustrations that will draw children in and keep them busy. Also, while they are enjoying the mazes, matching and counting, the activities are helping them to develop a wide range of skills, including observational, conversational and motor skills. They’ll also find out more about the fascinating world of Ancient Rome along the way.

Our Verdict

This is another quality book from Button Books. The pages are thick and colourful and jam packed full of fun activities all related to the Romans.

From how to make a laural wreath to word searches and spot the difference. This is definitely a boredom buster with it’s fun packed pages.

The book comes with over 100 stickers and so much to do including how to make your own Roman weapons.

Either of these books would make a delightful Christmas gift.

See my previous book reviews under Our Library.

Disclosure: I was sent these books for the purpose of my review, all thoughts and opinions are my own. This post also contains affiliate links which if you use will not cost you anything but may earn me some money. Thanks for your support.

Be Your Best Self – Book Review

November 6, 2019 by Anne Sweet 4 Comments

As a mother and a book lover I was delighted to receive this review copy of Be Your Best Self by Danielle Brown and Nathan Kai.

Hardcover: 120 pages
Authors: Danielle Brown and Nathan Kai
Publisher: Button Books (7 Sept. 2019)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1787080382
ISBN-13: 978-1787080386
Product Dimensions: 23.1 x 1.8 x 17.5 cm
Price: £12.99

The Blurb

Be Your Best Self empowers children to be happy, confident and become the best versions of themselves. So we put this question to all readers, young and old, what are your BIG dreams? We all have different dreams, that’s what makes us unique. But whatever your goals are, the skills you’ll need to achieve them are the same. This exciting new book helps children and young people to practise these core skills and provides a survival kit for them to dip into when they need extra help or motivation. No need to worry if you don’t yet know what your big goals are, this book helps you work that out. Maybe you just need some tips for boosting your confidence, staying positive or thriving in everyday life. Looking after yourself is an important theme of the book whether that be eating healthy food and exercising, sleeping well, knowing how to deal with bullies or being kind to yourself. Some of the other themes explored are: goal setting, growth mindset, perseverance, getting organised and learning to fail well.
Be Your Best Self is an exciting new book for children – it’s a comprehensive framework that encourages children to raise their aspirations and turn exciting dreams into a reality. It’s a thought provoking career tool, a vital people skills asset and a modern day confidence builder. This book is a recipe for success, happiness and esteem and children can use it as an engaging life-hack and a way to empower themselves and create their own opportunities and go on to lead bright and successful futures as well as make the most of the opportunities they already have.

Our Verdict on Be Your Best Self

This was a big hit with my 12 year old who still has this book under her pillow. She is always striving to be her best self and she does have big dreams. One is to become an author herself, so if 9 year old Nathan can do it then I’m sure she can too.

The book covers how to stay focused and to choose the right mindset, as well as how to cope when things go wrong. It also talks about dealing with bullies and how to stay safe.

The pages are full of colourful illustrations and photographs as well as easy to read text that will be absorbed easily by young readers. It’s basically a self help book for kids that provides all the inspiration needed to make their futures brighter.

It’s not just for bright, clever kids who can achieve anything, it’s also for those who want to dream but feel they are restricted in some way, maybe by a lack of confidence or skills. It’s okay to dream and to strive to reach your goals and this book will guide you into the right mindset to turn your dreams into reality.

There is also a website associated with this book where you can read some more, the blog is really great. You can also purchase the book from the site for £12.99. The book is also available on Amazon.

Disclosure: I was sent a copy of this book for the purpose of this review, all thoughts and opinions are my own and I was not paid to write this review.

You can read more of my book reviews here.

You can join in with my Book Linky here at Bookworms Monthly

Momentous Events in the Life of a Cactus – review

October 21, 2019 by Anne Sweet 4 Comments

Momentous Events in the Life of a Cactus by Dusti Bowling (Second in the series about Aven)

front cover of momentous Events in the Life of a Cactus

Hardcover: 320 pages
Age Range: 8 – 12 years
Publisher: Sterling (7 Oct. 2019)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1454933291
ISBN-13: 978-1454933298
Product Dimensions: 13.5 x 2.8 x 19.6 cm

Available on Amazon for £9.35 in hardback. Also available from The GMC Group

The Blurb

Just as Aven starts to feel comfortable in Stagecoach Pass, with her friends and schoolmates accustomed to her lack of armage, everything changes once again. She s about to begin high school . . . with 2,300 new kids to stare at her. And no matter how much Aven tries to play it cool, nothing prepares her for the reality. In a year filled with confusion, humiliation, fears, loss, and just maybe love, can Aven manage to stay true to herself?

My Review

I was lucky to receive a copy of this book for review. You can see my review of the previous book about Aven here, Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus

Myself and my girls are a big fan of Dusti Bowling so I was thrilled to get a signed copy of the review book.

As I’ve said before, Aven, the main character of the book, is inspirational to all who read about her. Born without arms she already has a lot to deal with, but now she’s also dealing with growing up. Written in the first person we get a real insight to Aven and go on her journey with her.

This is the sequal to the critically acclaimed first book about Aven by Dusti Bowling, The Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus.

It’s so difficult to imagine the life of a child born with no arms but Dusti Bowling has done her research carefully. But it’s not just her disability that Dusti focuses on, she examines the difficulty that most youngsters face when trying to fit in, no matter what their differences.

The main age group for readers is stated as 8 – 12 years old but it was also a hit with my 14 year old. Moving to big school is a major thing no matter where you live. And I’m totally in awe of Aven and her approach to life.

Another fabulous book for tween readers is 24 Hours in Nowhere which I also reviewed.

You can read more about Dusti Bowling on her website here. She claims her inspiration came from many places but one in particular was YouTuber Tisha Unarmed.