BLOG TOUR: Fig Swims the World

April 2, 2020March 29, 2020Leave a comment

Good morning!

This morning I come to you with an absolute corker of a blog post from the wonderful Lou Abercrombie – author of the brilliant new book, Fig Swims the World.

When I received this book, I was totally over the moon. I’m a MASSIVE fan of swimming (It’s in fact one of the things that I’m going to try and get back into once we’re allowed to be back in the world with other human beings because it’s so good for me, both physically and mentally!) and I was over the moon when the publishers asked if I wanted to host a stop on the blog tour. So here, on publication day, I have the absolute joy of hosting a piece all about Lou’s list of open water swimming!

Lou’s List of Swims

I’ve been swimming all my life, but my obsession with open water started in 2013. If there’s a lake, quarry or sea, I’ll swim in it! Here’s a few of my most memorable:

An iconic British swim – 2km around of Burgh Island

Off the coast of South Devon, Burgh Island is a private island with an Art Deco hotel where Agatha Christie wrote two of her novels. It was my first proper open water swim and while it was a straightforward router, getting used to the tide and the waves and the saltwater was hard. This was my inspiration for Fig’s first swim – Dinosaur Island.

An iconic canal swim – 2km round the Christiansborg in Copenhagen

This swim provided the inspiration for Fig’s 17^th swim – the Mermaid Canal and I remember thinking about it as I was swimming. I have the best memories from completing this one, as I had my family cheering me along. The elation and pride on their faces when I got out the water was wonderful.

The Marathon swim – Dart 10K

This is the hardest swim I’ve ever done. Training 3-4 times a week, building up to 8km, was tough and took a lot of time, energy and willpower, not to mention how hungry it made me! It’s also my saddest swim, as I had no one there for me when I got out. The emotion of completing something that I had worked so hard to do hit me and I ended up bursting into tears in front of a complete stranger!

The Popular swim – 6.5km around Brownsea Island

This swim is so popular you have to set your alarm at 7a.m to register and even then, you might not get a place. After several years of trying, I finally got to do it in 2019. The day was gorgeous, with perfect weather conditions. Unfortunately, I let myself get psyched out by all the amazing swimmers who stormed past me. Then my goggles leaked the whole way round and I got a terrible rash burn from my thermal top and wetsuit. All of which spoilt my enjoyment of what could have been a beautiful swim.

The cold swim – 7km down the River Wye

The Wild Wye was an amazing swim. From getting in the river and being pulled along by the current, to seeing other swimmers laughing, chatting and generally enjoying the opportunity to swim in such lovely surroundings. Unfortunately, I got too cold and started to panic. Even asked the SARA volunteers who were standing along the course whether I had blue lips. I was freezing and by the time I got to the finish line, a rope leading up a muddy bank, I could barely walk and ended up letting out a crazy tribal roar as the emotion of getting there hit me. I ended up in the First Aid tent wrapped in a silver foil blanket. However, this time I had friends looking out for me. It’s amazing what a difference that made…

The World’s Oldest Swim – 4.5km Hellespont & Dardanelles

This is what got me into open water swimming, because I liked the idea of saying that I’d swum between Europe and Asia, across one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes! The enormity of the challenge hit me when we took a ferry along the route and I realised how difficult it was going to be, given the currents and choppiness not to mention the idea of literally being stranded between two continents!

This was the inspiration for Fig’s final swim – the Cross Continental.

I of course have a list of swims I’d like to do one day, most of which were also the inspiration for Fig’s swims. They include:

St Michael’s Mount

Swim the Arctic Circle

Oman Fjords

The Hurly Burly

Gozo to Malta sunrise swim

What an incredible story to read! As a massive fan of swimming myself, I’d love to take on an outdoor swim one day… I just don’t think I’m brave enough right now! Maybe one day… this has certainly inspired me to start thinking about it though!

Massive massive thank you to Lou for writing this fascinating piece and to the publishers for asking me to be on the blog tour! Fig Swims the World is out TODAY! You can buy it online – be awesome, go buy it and support an indie bookshop!

“Fig Fitzsherbert is good at a lot of things: making lists, playing the piano, advanced mathematics. But it’s never quite enough for her high-flying mother, who every New Year’s Day sets Fig an impossible resolution. So one year, Fig decides to set her own challenge instead: she’s going to swim her way round the world. There’s just one tiny problem … Fig can’t swim. Taking it one length at a time, Fig embarks on the adventure of a lifetime. But with her mother closing in, will she be able to keep her head above water and complete her challenge?”

Fig Swims the World by Lou Abercrombie, out TODAY from Stripes Publishing.

S x

BOOK BLOG: Abi Elphinstone

March 27, 2020March 22, 20203 Comments

Jungledrop: exciting, filled with heart and adventure!

“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?”

Jungledrop is the second book (technically third) in Abi Elphinstone’s incredible Unmapped Chronicles series (Rumblestar being the other novel length one and Everdark being the other one – a World Book Day book!). This series gives me SO MUCH JOY.

When the amazing humans at Simon and Schuster emailed me asking if I wanted a proof copy, I couldn’t refuse. I am a massive massive fan of Abi’s writing. She writes such incredible stories which are always adventure filled and magnificence that I needed to get my hands on it (plus, my Year 6’s would have lynched me if I had turned it down… they are also massive fans!)

Just look at this proof man… HOW SHINY AND GORGEOUS.

Jungledrop tells the tale of the two obnoxious and rude twins (Fox and Fibber) who have an awful lot to learn about themselves and about the world. They’re not the kindest or friendliest protagonists to start with and when they begin their quest to save their world and the Unmapped Kingdoms, you find that in fact, they’re going to have to grow and change to get through it. They have to learn to be kind, to show humility and be brave. They are of course on the quest to save the world from Morg (cruel, mean Morg, who is set on taking over the Unmapped Kingdom with her dark heart).

This book is a total adventure with an awful lot of heart. Abi Elphinstone writes new worlds and new characters with such brilliance that is hard not to fall in love with the stories straight away. It’s rich in language, setting, characters and messages.

One of the things that always stands out to me about Abi Elphinstone books is the messages that are delivered through brilliant storytelling. This one delivers a gorgeous message about the importance of being kind and being brave. Bravery comes in all forms in this book. It comes from small acts of kindness and massive acts of a heroic nature. The twins learn a lot about how unkind they can be and how kindness can actually help them to learn about themselves and each other.

This book is so jam packed with wonderful characters. New and old.

The twins are not very likeable at first: they’re mean, selfish, obnoxious and just plain spiteful. They’re very self-obsessed. They’re not very compassionate. They’re not kind to each other. But when they realise they need each other and they need to be vulnerable and trust other people, they really start to change. They’re devious and conniving at times. You definitely warm up to them in the end though.

Of course, mean, power-hungry Morg is back and she’s up to her old funny business again. Trying to destroy the world of Jungledrop. Trying to capture the people. Trying to grow stronger after the happenings of Rumblestar. As much as she terrifies me, it was great to be back with her. She’s one of those deliciously evil characters (a bit like Maleficent).

In the lands of Jungledrop, the twins meet a wonderful array of characters. When they end up in their adventure, they are accompanied by Heckle the parrot. He’s very aptly named and he definitely kept the laughs coming. He sticks around despite all rebuffs from the twins (Fox in particular is mean). In these magical lands, the twins come across many other magical animals who lend a hand, even though the twins try and avoid this happening (they’ve been brought up to be hardy and get on themselves!).

There’s another familiar face that appears in this book that made my heart so happy. I loved seeing them again. I’m glad they reappeared.

My Goodreads review:

Blooming magnificent. A book, like all of Abi’s others, filled with adventure and heart. You can’t read one of her books and not be swept away with the lives of her characters, the depth and richness of her worlds and the brilliance of her baddies. I loved the twins and the journey they go on: kindness really is the bravest thing in the world. As much as Morg terrifies me, it was great to be back with her dastardly ways. And Heckle is a brilliant character (with a perfect name!) bloody bravo Abi Elphinstone!!

And that’s it! If you like the sound of this, why don’t you consider preordering it?

Amazon Preorder Link

Waterstones Preorder Link

Hive Preorder Link

A massive thank you to the gorgeous Simon and Schuster for sending me a copy of Jungledrop – it’s in the possession of one of my Year 6s as we speak! They’re planning to send it around each other! Speak to you all soon!

S x

The Spring Book Tag

March 26, 2020March 22, 20201 Comment

Hello!

It is ThursTAG again. Phew. How is everyone keeping on? What have you been up to this week? Staying safe I hope! Today I am here to bring you the Spring Book Tag since it is technically now Spring! (And don’t I know it? My hayfever is KICKING MY ASS!)

Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go!

1. What’s on your Spring TBR list?

I mean, what isn’t on my TBR? Literally everything haha! My “school closure but not really closure” TBR is up to my hip. Whether I’ll get through them all, or whether I’ll be distracted by other things will be interesting haha. Saying that, some recent additions to my TBR are:

2. If someone asked you for a spring release recommendation, what would it be?

Last Lesson by James Goodhand is INCREDIBLE. It’s the story of a young boy who plans to bomb his school on the last day of Year 11. I read it in the space of a few hours and I just adored it. It’s tough and gritty, but man, it’s so good. (It’s out at the beginning of April I believe!)

3. Which two books coming out before summer are you eagerly awaiting?

I have already read both Destination Anywhere by Sara Barnard and Jungledrop by Abi Elphinstone, but I can’t wait for other people to read them and be so happy and love them as much as I did! Seriously, when they come out, you need to get your hands on them!

4. Which character would make a great Easter bunny?

Hahaha, what a random question! Erm… someone who’s giving and happy about it? Maybe like Miss Honey? She’s really generous. Or Coach from the Run series by Jason Reynolds. He’d make you work for your egg, but then you know you’d deserve it! Ha!

5. What book makes you think of spring?

Literally anything with flowers on the cover. I know I’ve already mentioned her, but Sara Barnard books make me think of spring. They’re so pretty and shiny.

6. Name a cover with flowers on it.

(Haha, my answer to that previous question was NOT planned at all!)

A book with flowers on the cover? EASY:

7. Which two characters would you go on an Easter egg hunt with?

OOOOH. I do not know! Someone to keep me entertained on the hunt and then someone who was good at finding things?

8. What is your favorite spring bookish activity?

Now I love a good wander along the seaside and then sitting reading on the beach, but as that won’t be happening for some time, I’m going to say, just sitting with a cup of tea, on the back doorstep and reading. I love a good sit outdoor.

9. Which book did you enjoy that has a spring-like cover?

A book I’ve enjoyed this year that has quite a spring-y cover… oooh a good question! I love the Hotel Flamingo books and this one screams spring to me: bright, colourful and sparking joy!

10. Who is your favorite contemporary author?

Oh friends. Why do you do this to me? SO SO MANY. I love me some Juno Dawson (for bloody brilliant storytelling), Sara Barnard (for incredible characters and they will always make you cry!), Non Pratt (for sheer brilliance), Simon James Green (for funnies) and so many more. That’s just impolite to ask me to be honest.

My Nominees for the Spring Book Tag

Literally anyone who wants to take part… I am guessing my friend Charlotte will engage in this tag. I would be offended if she didn’t let’s be fair.

And that’s it! The spring book tag has sprung! If you fancy giving this a go, please do!

S x

BOOK BLOG: Sara Barnard

March 25, 2020March 22, 20201 Comment

Destination Anywhere: what do you do when you’re so lost you don’t even know where to find yourself?

“Sometimes you have to leave your life behind to find your place in the world…
After five years at secondary school spent bullied and alone, Peyton King starts sixth form college determined that things will be different. Whatever happens, she will make friends at any cost. When she finds the friends she’s always dreamed of, including an actual boyfriend, she’s happier than she’s ever been. But when they let her down in the worst way, Peyton is left no better off than when she started. Now Peyton knows the only chance she has of finding happiness is to look for it somewhere else. With nothing but her sketchpad and a backpack, she buys a one-way ticket and gets on a plane…”

I’m not here today to share a full review… that’s to come once I can form sentences about how much I loved this book.

I’m here today to share one of my moodboards (because being creative in these times is keeping me sane and it helps me a lot) and some preorder links. I think it’s SO important that we support authors and preorders are one of those incredibly easy ways that we can support them!

Sara Barnard keeps writing story after story that are just kick you in face good. I adored Peyton’s story and her adventure. We’ve all been there: lost and looking for ourselves. People are going to get a lot from this and it’s a gorgeous story. I loved that this book was a celebration of friendships without hiding away from the fact that friendships aren’t always great and that some of them totally suck. Now who do I speak to about my Canadian road trip?

If my moodboard and my short Goodreads review has inspired you to get this book (cause you probably should my friends, it is incredible), then why not consider preordering it from your favourite indie (can I recommend @biggreenbooks if you don’t know an indie?) or clicking one of the links below (this is not a sponsored post or anything, I just wanna get behind this book a lot and we all know I am a massive fan of Sara):

Amazon Preorder Link

Waterstones Preorder Link

Hive Preorder Link

Destination Anywhere isn’t out until June, but if you can preorder, please consider it!

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my post! There will be a full review coming, I promise… just bear with me!

What did you think of my moodboard?
Are you a preorder-er?
Have you read any of Sara’s other books?

Speak to you all soon! Stay safe!

S x

BOOK BLOG: James Goodhand

March 24, 2020March 22, 20201 Comment

Last Lesson: Tense, gripping and thrilling

“Last year, Ollie Morcombe was a star pupil, popular and a gifted musician. Then, after the accident, everything changed. Now he’s an outcast, a prime target of the school bullies who have made his life a living hell. Today – the last day of the school year – he’s brought those bullies a gift. A homemade pipe bomb. What has driven a model student to plan an unspeakable revenge? And with the clock ticking down to home time, what can anybody do to stop him?”

The amazing humans over at Penguin books sent me a proof copy of this book (see below proof cover) and as soon as I read the blurb, I knew I needed to pick it up. I read it on my train journey down to London (when we were still allowed to be around other people) and I THOROUGHLY enjoyed it!

Last Lesson is the brilliant story of young Ollie, who plans to plant a bomb in his school on the last day of the year. It follows his story from being a popular member of his school community to being the boy who wants to bomb his school. You get the chance to sneak into the world of being a teenager in his school, the things he goes through and his pretty tricky life. He has a lot to deal with. This book is told in flashbacks and a run down of the last day of school and it’s so brilliantly done.

We all know I love a good character I can get behind.

I was initially VERY anti-Ollie (I mean who wouldn’t be? He’s bombing his school), but as you go through the story and you see what is going on in his life (an awful awful lot), you begin to question his motives and his reasons for it and maybe see a bit of humanity in him. As a teacher, it was really hard to read what Ollie was going through at school because there were just so many red flag from the actions of the teachers (one teacher in particular I wanted to murder because he was SO neglectful).

There is one teacher who is an absolute ray of light in Ollie’s life and I am so here for her – yes to positive representations of teachers in YA… we need more of these!

I had very conflicted emotions about his grandad too. He lives with his granded and while his grandad is super supportive and doing a super good job of raising Ollie, he’s got this very “men should be men and not cry” kind of toxic masculinity vibe going on about him. This doesn’t mean I didn’t think he was a good character. For this book and for the story, grandad was a brilliant character. He was part of the problem, but he also ends up being a bit of a ray of hope in all of it.

This book is a total emotional rollercoaster. I can’t lie and say I wasn’t gripped straight away. The premise alone was one that I needed to be part of. From the get go, you are in on the action. There’s a real sense of urgency about this story. You need to go through it greedily. You need to know what is going to happen. There’s so much you need to know the answer to. You go through this story thinking one thing, then another, then back to your first thought. You really go through it all with Ollie. Poor, poor Ollie.

There’s anger, disbelief, horror, love, hope and sadness all thrown into this book. I finished it feeling a bit of a shell of myself!

There’s some pretty tough themes in this book. It deals with toxic masculinity, rape, bullying and mental health issues. They’re all dealt with so brilliantly without shying away from some pretty harrowing scenes and the reality of some of these situations from a teenager’s point of view. I think this book will make people ask questions and I hope it will start conversations, which start conversations.

My Goodreads review:

My gosh, what a ride. This is gripping, harrowing and a total rollercoaster. Following the story of young Ollie, who plans to plant a bomb in his school on the last day of the year. This hooked me from the get go and I needed to know the ending. Proper brilliant.

A massive massive thank you to Penguin for sending me a copy of Last Lesson. I hope you all go out and buy this book because it’s BLOODY BRILLIANT.

Have you read Last Lesson?
Can you share some more positive representations of teachers in YA?
What are your thoughts on this book?

Talk to me! I’d love to know what you think!

S x

ThursTAG: Amazon’s 100 Books To Read In a Lifetime

March 19, 2020March 16, 20202 Comments

Hello friends!!!

I came across the “Amazon’s 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime” Tag a while ago and stored it in my tag vault… now I figured was as good a time as any to get it out of storage and share with you what I’ve read!

“recommend reads” lists always fascinate me. I don’t think I’m necessarily the target audience for them… but I figured I’d see how many I had read… and you can all shout at me for ones I’ve not read haha!

Rules:

Include the link to Amazon’s List
Tag the creator of the meme (Perfectly Tolerable)
Tag and thank the Person that tagged you
Copy the list below and indicate which ones you have read
Tally up your total
Tag 5 new people!

All right, now let’s take a look;

100 Books To Read In a Lifetime List

Title	Author	Read?
1984	George Orwell	Yes
A Brief History of Time	Stephen Hawking
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius	Dave Eggers
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier	Ishmael Beah
The Bad Beginning	Lemony Snicket
A Wrinkle in Time	Madeleine L’Engle
Selected Stories, 1968-1994	Alice Munro
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland	Lewis Carroll	Yes
All the President’s Men	Bob Woodward
Angela’s Ashes: A Memoir	Frank McCourt
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.	Judy Blume
Bel Canto	Ann Patchett
Beloved	Toni Morrison
Born to Run	Christopher McDougall
Breath, Eyes, Memory	Edwidge Danticat
Catch-22	Joseph Heller
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory	Roald Dahl	Yes
Charlotte’s Web	E. B White	Yes
Cutting for Stone	Abraham Verghese
Daring Greatly	Brené Brown
Diary of a Wimpy Kid	Jeff Kinney	Yes
Dune	Frank Herbert
Fahrenheit 451	Ray Bradbury
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas	Hunter S. Thompson
Gone Girl	Gillian Flynn	Yes
Goodnight Moon	Margaret Wise Brow
Great Expectations	Charles Dickens
Guns, Germs, and Steel	Jared Diamond Ph.D.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone	J.K. Rowling	Yes
In Cold Blood	Truman Capote
Interpreter of Maladies	Jhumpa Lahiri
Invisible Man	Ralph Ellison
Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth	Chris Ware
Kitchen Confidential	Anthony Bourdain
Life After Life	Kate Atkinson
Little House on the Prairie	Laura Ingalls Wilder	Yes
Lolita	Vladimir Nabokov
Love in the Time of Cholera	Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Love Medicine	Louise Erdrich
Man’s Search for Meaning	Viktor E. Frankl
Me Talk Pretty One Day	David Sedaris
Middlesex	Jeffrey Eugenides
Midnight’s Children	Salman Rushdie
Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game	Michael Lewis
Of Human Bondage	W. Somerset Maugham
On the Road	Jack Kerouac
Out of Africa	Isak Dinesen
Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood	Marjane Satrapi
Portnoy’s Complaint	Philip Roth
Pride and Prejudice	Jane Austen
Silent Spring	Rachel Carson
Slaughterhouse-Five	Kurt Vonnegut
Team of Rivals	Doris Kearns Goodwin
The Age of Innocence	Edith Wharton
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay	Michael Chabon
The Autobiography of Malcolm X	Malcolm X
The Book Thief	Markus Zusak	Yes
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao	Junot Díaz
The Catcher in the Rye	J. D. Salinger
The Color of Water	James McBride
The Corrections	Jonathan Franzen
The Devil in the White City	Erik Larson
The Diary of a Young Girl	Anne Frank
The Fault in Our Stars	John Green	Yes
The Giver	Lois Lowry
The Golden Compass	Philip Pullman	Yes
The Great Gatsby	F. Scott Fitzgerald	Yes
The Handmaid’s Tale	Margaret Atwood
The House at Pooh Corner	A. Milne	Yes
The Hunger Games	Suzanne Collins	Yes
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks	Rebecca Skloot
The Liars’ Club	Mary Karr
The Lightning Thief	Rick Riordan
The Little Prince	Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
The Long Goodbye	Raymond Chandler
The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11	Lawrence Wright
The Lord of the Rings	J.R.R. Tolkien
The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat	Oliver Sacks
The Omnivore’s Dilemma	Michael Pollan
The Phantom Tollbooth	Norton Juster
The Poisonwood Bible	Barbara Kingsolver
The Power Broker	Robert A. Caro
The Right Stuff	Tom Wolfe
The Road	Cormac McCarthy
The Secret History	Donna Tartt
The Shining	Stephen King
The Stranger	Albert Camus
The Sun Also Rises	Ernest Hemingway
The Things They Carried	Tim O’Brien
The Very Hungry Caterpillar	Eric Carle	Yes
The Wind in the Willows	Kenneth Grahame	Yes
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle	Haruki Murakami
The World According to Garp	John Irving
The Year of Magical Thinking	Joan Didion
Things Fall Apart	Chinua Achebe
To Kill a Mockingbird	Harper Lee
Unbroken	Laura Hillenbrand
Valley of the Dolls	Jacqueline Susann
Where the Sidewalk Ends	Shel Silverstein
Where the Wild Things Are	Maurice Sendak	Yes

Hahahaha… this list was NOT designed for me… my total comes to

17 books

I don’t think the ones I’ve chosen will surprise many people… but I think some people will be shocked by some of the ones I’ve not read. (What can I say? I’m not a big classics fan!) I’ve just spotted that there’s a list of children’s books on there too… so I may total them up next week – I bet that number is higher!

I’d like to add that I recently bought To Kill A Mockingbird and Catch 22… so maybe I can tick them off by the end of the year!

Are you shocked by my total?
Can you recommend me any from that list?
Would you like to have a go at this tag?

I’m not going to tag anyone because if you wanna have a go, just do it!

S x

BOOK BLOG: Matt Haig

March 18, 2020March 16, 20201 Comment

Hello!

Now… for those of you who are new around here, there is an important message I need you to take from today:

I am a MASSIVE Matt Haig fan.

I think he writes BRILLIANTLY. He’s one of the few authors who I read ANYTHING they release (non fiction, adult, MG). In fact, I’d go so far as to say I’ve read ALL of his books… I may even OWN them all (if not all of them, MOST of them!) I’ve reviewed quite a few of his books on here, but I recently read Evie in the Jungle (the Worls Book Day 2020 book by him) and thought this was the opportune moment to FINALLY review Evie and the Animals and Evie and the Jungle!

Evie and the Animals: a great story about the importance of kindness

“Ten-year-old Evie has a talent. A SUPERTALENT. Evie can TALK to animals and HEAR their thoughts. Pretty amazing, isn’t it? One day at school, Evie sets Kahlo the rabbit free from her too-small cage. Evie knows she’s done A Good Thing . . . but it lands her in BIG trouble. Evie’s dad and Granny Flora say her talent is a curse; she must never use it again. Until a year later pets on her street – including Lady Gaga the cat and a hamster named Cheryl – start disappearing. Evie is determined to find them. But it’s dangerous for her to help. Because the villain has a talent of their own, and only wants to use it for evil… Can Evie save the pets before it’s too late, even if it means DARING TO BE HERSELF?”

Evie and the Animals is a gorgeous story where Dr. Dolittle meets modern day issues to do with conservationism and activism!

Evie has a special talent: she can understand other species. She can talk to them and she can hear what they are saying. Whether it’s the dogs of the neighbourhood, the school rabbit who wants to be set free or even scarier animals, Evie can hear them and talk to them. For so long she’s been ignoring them because she doesn’t want to be different (don’t we all worry about this!?), but when they start to go missing, Evie knows she needs to do about something about it. She knows she needs to use her power to try and help.

This book has one of those brilliant things that kids are instantly hooked into. It’s exciting and enticing – who wouldn’t like to talk to animals?! We’ve had loads of chats about what animals the children would talk to if they had Evie’s powers (with answers ranging from tigers, to worms and pets, it’s been a topic of hot debate in the classroom!)

This book is full of elements that kept me wanting to read. There’s mystery, talking animals, scary moments (scary big cats at the zoo), bad guys and powers.

Evie is a brilliant main character. She’s full of heart and gusto. She’s got a brilliant message to deliver to children about being kind and the power behind those acts of kindness. She’s caring and gentle to both the people around her and the animals she encounters. Plus, she’s on her way to solving a mystery!

My Goodreads review of Evie and the Animals:

A lovely story about the importance of being kind (to humans AND animals), being yourself (even when everyone tells you not to be) and looking after the world. I bloody love Matt Haig SO much.

Evie and the Jungle: a new adventure into the Amazon!

“Twelve-year-old Evie has a talent. She can HEAR what animals are thinking and she can TALK to them with her mind. When Evie goes on a trip to the Amazon rainforest, her powers are put to the test. She makes friends with pink river dolphins, must save an injured sloth, and discovers the secret life of a jaguar. Soon she sees that the jungle is in serious and deadly danger, and comes up with a rather risky plan to help save it…”

Evie in the Jungle is a wonderful addition to the Evie family of books. She’s a brilliant protagonist that children might know from the first book, but I don’t think you NEED to know her as this book stands by itself if necessary.

This second adventure takes us on a fascinating (and sometimes a little bit scary!) trip all the way to the Amazon Rainforest, where we hear about Evie’s adventures in Peru with her dad. Evie and her dad have the chance to meet all kinds of incredibly exotic animals, including an adorable sloth, some very rude monkeys and a downright rude Scarlet Macaw. They go to help save so many of these animals who are affected by the destruction of the rainforest.

One of the things I loved about this book is that there are so many facts jam packed into it that it appeals to my wonderfully science loving class! I learned that pink dolphins exist (no, I didn’t know that!) There’s some pretty shocking facts to be learned in this book too: humans are destroying enough rainforest to fill 30 football pitches every minute; 35 species of the Amazon Rainforest become extinct every day.

This book is an exciting and fun story, with lots of very important messages about looking after our planet, being kind to each other and the importance of doing good things. It’s got wonderful messages about compassion and honesty too. It’s a perfect length for new readers without being intimidating!

My Goodreads review:

I really enjoyed this short story about Evie, the girl who can talk to animals. It’s got important messages about saving the rainforests, the importance of nature and kindness.

And that’s it! Completely and utterly recommend these books (and the rest of Matt Haig’s catalogue of books too, if you’re after some recommendations!)

Have you read any of Matt Haig’s books?
Can you recommend me any more books with similar messages?

S x

BOOK BLOG: Emma Carroll

March 17, 2020March 16, 20202 Comments

The Ghost Garden: Historical fiction done splendidly

“SUMMER 1914. When Fran unearths a bone in the garden of Longbarrow House on the same afternoon that Leo breaks his leg, it must surely be just a coincidence. But Fran can’t shake the uneasy feeling that the events are somehow connected, and there is a shift in the atmosphere that leaves her troubled and anxious. Roped into keeping wheelchair-bound Leo company, Fran is forced to listen to his foolish theories about the looming threat of war in Europe. But as the pair start to uncover more secrets buried beneath the garden, they dredge up threatening shadows of the future, and Fran begins to fear that Leo’s dire predictions might be coming true…”

The brilliant squirrels over at Barrington Stoke sent me one of their brand new titles and I couldn’t have been more over-joyed to receive it. They have collaborated with Emma Caroll (Queen of all things historical fiction) and created an absolute winner!

Set at the start of World War 1, The Ghost Garden tells the story of Fran: a young girl whose family works at Longbarrow House. She ends up digging up a bone in the garden of the house and then something happens to one of the grand-children of the rich family. She worries that these things are connected (she’s not the biggest fan of Leo and his siblings) and is concerned that there is more to it than just coincidence. She ends up being roped into looking after Leo as he is wheelchair bound and his siblings don’t look after him well. As they spend more time together and go deeper into some well-kept secrets, they discover there’s more to Longbarrow House than they first knew!

I absolutely adored this story. It was one that I picked up and then gobbled up in a very short space of time! Something that I love about Barrington Stoke books is just that: they’re readable and brilliant. Their books are perfect for reluctant readers… and this is one that I would recommend whole heartedly!

Throughout the story, there’s an over riding sense of bad omens and a lot of tension is built up in very subtle but effective ways. I can see a lot of children loving this book for that sense of fear and tension.

I also thought the characters were brilliant too. Fran is a great main character and I think a lot of children will like her! She’s definitely pretty brave – I don’t think you’d find me going on adventures through the gardens of Longbarrow House in search of secrets and history!

My Goodreads review

This is great! Properly classic Emma Carroll: historical fiction done well. I loved the apparent bad omens and tension throughout. Fran is a great main character. I’d love to visit Longbarrow House. Although I definitely would be as brave as Fran was!

Another massive thank you to Barrington Stoke for sending me a copy of this fantastic read! It’s out in July! You’re all in for a treat!

S x

BLOG TOUR: Scribble Witch

March 16, 2020Leave a comment

Scribble Witch: Funny and beautifully illustrated!

“When Molly’s best friend announces that she’s moving to a new school, a blue Wednesday becomes the Worst Wednesday Ever.
That is until some unexpected magic brightens up Molly’s day. Notes, a secret paper witch, springs to life from her pen pot – and into action! Some of the things Notes does are absolutely NOT helpful and gets Molly into trouble with her stinky teacher. But it’s surprising what one tiny witch, armed with nothing more than a pencil, can achieve before the home-time bell rings…”

Scibble Witch: Notes in Class is about a young girl called Molly. She is horrifed after hearing a piece of news from her friend Chloe. When Molly is looking a word up in the dictionary, she comes across a drawing of a witch and decides it is a brilliant idea to cut it out (because obviously!) to cut it out. The next thing she knows, the paper witch has come to life! The witch’s name is Notes and all Notes wants to do is help her friendling. As the story unfolds, Molly realises that what Notes does is sometimes very unhelpful and she finds herself in so much trouble.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book: it’s cute, it’s funny and it sets the scene for the rest of the series to be brilliant! It made me chuckle a lot and I know that it has gone down very well with the children in my school. We are dying to know what happens with Notes in the coming books! We’ve made some hilarious predictions about what we think could be coming for the group!

I’m a massive massive fan of a well-illustrated book and this is one that has some wonderful illustrations. They are so brilliantly done and add so much to the story. I love Molly’s Lists of Things! This list made me chuckle a lot (and I agree with most of them, and I remember the pencil topper craze. I was never allowed more than one, though…)

Some reviews from the children at school:

“I loved this book because it made me laugh a lot!”

“This book was a lot of fun because I’d love to have someone like Notes in my life. Imagine having a witch who thinks she’s being helpful when in fact she isn’t!”

“The pictures in this book made me smile a lot because they showed a lot of fun and things that you didn’t always read”.

A massive thank you to the publishers for sending me a review copy of the book! The kids at school loved reading it and it’s been a wonderful thing to have to chat about! Check out the rest of the stops on the blog tour!

S x

Mini MG wrap ups: Spooky edition

March 13, 2020March 8, 2020Leave a comment

Hello!

For all it’s no where near Halloween, I’ve read a few books recently featuring spooky characters: zombies, vampires and even Bigfoot! I thought rather than not share reviews of these books, I would share mini reviews so you can all hear how bloody brilliant they all are and go out and read them yourselves!!

Sam Wu is NOT Afraid of Zombies – Katie and Kevin Tsang

“There’s hardly anything that Sam Wu is afraid of. Unless you count ghosts, sharks, the dark and maybe even spiders. But definitely NOT zombies. Except for actual real ones maybe. So when Sam’s arch nemesis, Ralph Zinkerman the Third announces that he has zombie werewolves living in his basement, for the first time ever, Sam really isn’t sure if he wants to be the one to save the day. Ralph has always been pretty mean to him and, well, just one little nibble from the zombie werewolves wouldn’t hurt that much, would it? Common childhood fears dealt with in a hilarious, sensitive and accessible way”

I am a massive fan of these books and this one is another brilliantly fun book in the series. These books never fail to make me smile! Sam and his gang have to work together to overcome their meanest opposition yet: scary zombies. When Sam and co think there’s a zombie hiding in the basement of Ralph’s house, he definitely isn’t afraid of it… until he has to do something about it! I loved the plans they came up with! The children all thought they were going to be eaten by the zombies and they had to work together. I love that these books show the importance of friendship and everyone being different. Plus, as ever, the illustrations by Nathan Reed make me so bloody happy!

Amelia Fang and the Naughty Caticorns – Laura Ellen Anderson

“Amelia Fang’s mum has a baby vampire on the way! But with the Fang household completely focussed on the new arrival, no one is paying Amelia any attention. Until she is asked to look after three very mischievous caticorns who make it their business to get Amelia in a world of trouble. Now EVERYONE is watching. And not in a good way!”

Another series I am a massive fan of. Amelia and her friends are always getting up to some kind of fun and in this book they are learning what it’s like to look after things… especially when those things don’t want to listen. When Amelia and her friends just want to be helpful, they learn that looking after caticorns is a lot more trouble than they thought it would be! This book is a whole load of fun with brilliant messages about Amelia becoming a big sister. The caticorns get up to some sheer nonsense and all Amelia wants to do is a good job looking after them. The illustrations, as always by Laura Ellen Anderson her very self, are gorgeous and add so much to the story!

The Bigwoof Conspiracy – Dashe Roberts

“When twelve-year-old, UFO-obsessed, Lucy Sladan sneaks out in the middle of a thunderstorm to investigate the unexplained disappearances in her hometown of Sticky Pines, she finds more than she bargained for: a huge hairy creature, a thirteen-year-old stranger named Milo Fisher and a deep-rooted secret. Together, Lucy and Milo become entwined in a mystery that threatens to engulf the whole town of Sticky Pines and its weird and wonderful residents.”

I don’t get to read books about conspiracies very often, so when this showed up I was MOST intrigued. And my gosh this was a whole lot of fun. A small little town that’s being taken over by Bigfoot type monsters, a little girl who refuses to accept that the adults don’t have the answers. She comes up against a factory owner who is plying the town with sugar and begins to get suspicious. When she makes herself an unlikely ally, the two of them work together to get to the bottom of what is happening to the town she lives in and some of the people she loves most. This was gorgeously paced with some brilliant humour thrown in. I don’t think I’d like to visit… but I’d love to be Lucy’s friend! A great sci fi mystery!

Amelia Fang and the Bookworm Gang – Laura Ellen Anderson

“Amelia Fang is feeling anxious. Everyone in her class has to write their own stories and read them out loud to the class – but for the first time ever, Amelia has run out of ideas! And she doesn’t feel like she can ask for help. So she decides to gets some inspiration from one of the many books in Loose Limb Library. But when Amelia and her friends get there, the gang discovers big bite marks in every book! Bookworms have invaded and they chomp through EVERYTHING and EVERYONE in their path. How will Amelia save all the books – and her friends – before it’s too late?”

The second entry for Amelia Fang into this post and it’s a testament to this series! This is a special World Book Day 2020 book and I was so glad to see an Amelia Fang book on the list. As soon as I knew I could buy it, I dashed out to buy a copy for myself. This was really cute! A brilliant way to explore writers block using Amelia and some helpful bookworms! I loved the messages about asking for help and that not being a bad thing! I love this series and to have it as a WBD book makes me so happy! Plus, you can’t beat these illustrations!

And that’s it for now! Thanks for stopping by! Let me know if you’ve read any of these books, or any you’d like to read!

S x