Hooked On Bookz

Title/Author:    Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons / Eric Litwin (writer), James Dean (illustrator) Publisher: Harper Pages: 40 pages ISBN: 978-0-06-211058-9 Ages: 4 - 7 In a nutshell Pete the Cat wore his bright yellow new shirt which had four totally colorful, groovy buttons. But it fell off one by one! However, that didn't bother Pete at all. He said, buttons come buttons go, and kept on singing his song, until he was left with one last button - his belly button! :) What I liked EVERYTHING! It's such a simple, straight-forward story, yet my kids (4-5 year olds) in school enjoyed it immensely! They not only loved the story but also the bright, beautiful illustrations. I was quite surprised they loved the book. I guess that's how all children's books should be written - clear storyline, straight-forward & simple; basically KISS - (my definition: Keep It Simple & Straight-Forward) How I read/presented it 1) Get the children interested in ...

I'm a sucker for children's books; anything for ages 0 - 10; especially those written by Roald Dahl, Dr. Seuss, Julia Donaldson and Eric Carle. I normally pick books which are: * entertaining * simple but educational * has good vocab * well written and conceptualised * great illustrations! (for picture books) Recently, I came across this article which listed 10 children's books and I was flabbergasted. Were these books REALLY MEANT FOR CHILDREN??? I won't ever read these books to kids. Would you or allow your kids to? The Story of Little Suck-a-Thumb Illustrations by Sanya Glisic First, the title itself turned me off. Suck-a-thumb, and the illustrations seemed to aim at giving children nightmares...Definitely not something I wanna read to my children... The ABC of Anger Ghastly, ghostly, gory...A HUMAN HEAD-SWALLOWING HEAD???! Is this Nightmare on Elm Street?? And check out its title...I dare not imagine what's in their ABCs Brave Mr....

Title/Author: Handle with Care / Jodi Picoult Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton Pages: 548 ISBN 13: 978-0340979044 In a nutshell Willow is born with Osteogenesis Imperfecta (commonly known as Brittle Bones disease) and her mom, Charloote, is offered a lifeline - to file a wrongful birth – suggesting that Sean and Charlotte (the mother) should have been made aware earlier on in her pregnancy that Willow suffered from this life-threatening condition. If they win the case, they'd receive a monetary payout which would secure Willow's future. And the doctor Charlotte would be suing is her best friend, Piper. What's worse is filing for wrongful birth also means that if Charlotte had known in advance about the disability, she would have terminated the pregnancy, i.e. openly declaring it in court she would rather her daughter had never been born. What I liked As with the other Picoult's books that I've read (My Sister's Keeper, Nineteen Minutes), it's though...

Title/Author: The Marriage Plot / Jeffrey Eugenides Publisher: FSG New York Pages: 406 ISBN 13: 978-0-374-53325-0 In a nutshell I'd say this novel is a combination of Twilight by Stephenie Meyer and One Day by David Nicholls. It's a love story with lots of teenage angst. What helped it score a notch higher than the other two is of course the language and the literary theories that revolved around The Marriage Plot. The story concerns three college friends from Brown University who graduated from Brown University in 1982. The friends - Madeleine, Leonard, and Mitchell, are 'victims' of a love triangle. Mitchell loved Madeline, who loved Leonard who's mentally depressed. Madeline tries to accept Leonard's condition, while Leonard tries to keep what's left of his 'sanity' by trying to hold down a job and his relationship, and Mitchell, the hopeless romantic, tries to get over Madeline and find spiritual enlightenment. The story follows them in t...

Finally. FINALLY! Another book from the author who wrote one of my favourite books of all times. He's back with, THE MARRIAGE PLOT, which comes out in October, somewhere mid I think. It's another love story, and it's a book about other books. As some of you may already know, I'm not into love stories, but...(there's always a BUT! :)) anything written by Eugenides is an exception (all because of Middlesex :P) So. I'm going to give The Marriage Plot, his 3rd novel a try :) What's The Marriage Plot about? I googled and this is what I found: Madeleine Hanna, the 22-year-old heroine of Jeffrey Eugenides's long-awaited follow-up to Middlesex, is an English major unfashionably absorbed in Regency and Victorian literature. This is at a time, the early 1980s, when her contemporaries at Brown University are in thrall to the radical opacities of poststructuralism: "How wonderful it was when one sentence followed logically from the sentence before! What exquisi...

Title/Author: The Night Circus/Erin Morgenstern Publisher: Doubleday Pages: 400 ISBN 13: 978-0385534635 In a nutshell This introduction itself hooked me: "The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, “the Circus of Dreams”, and it is only open at night." This novel takes place between February 1873 and January 1903 and follows this travelling circus and its cast of acrobats, contortionists, magicians and fortune-tellers, and fabulous attractions such as the Carousel, the Cloud Maze, The Stargazer, the Wishing Tree, the Labyrinth, Bedtime Stories, the Ice Garden, and the Pool of Tears, just to name a few. But behind those mysterious black and white stripes tents and iron gates that surrounded the circus, lies a story which some aren't aware of, the story of ...

Title/Author: Diary of a Wimpy Vampire: Prince of Dorkness/Tim Collins Publisher: Michael O' Mara Books Pages: 224 ISBN 13: 978-184-317-524-7 In a nutshell Nigel Mullet was transfored into a vampire at the awkward age of fifteen, and had remained this age for ever, and spent eternity struggling through a confusing, challenging adolescent phase. So yeah, this book is more suitable for kids aged 12 - 15. After more than 80 years of being single, he finally got a girlfriend, Chloe. All was fine until Chloe begged him to turn her into a vampire. It frustrated him and he had tried delaying her request as long as possible by coming up with all sorts of excuses. He then regretted it when Chloe started hanging out with his nemesis, Jason, who later became Chloe's boyfriend. With that, Nigel vowed to get revenge. But the more he discovered about Jason, the more confused he got. He was just as good as Nigel in sports. And once, he saw Jason and his family take out 4 larg...

Title/Author: A Monster Calls/Patrick Ness Publisher: Walker Books Pages: 269 ISBN 13: 978-0141039701 In a nutshell A Monster Calls is about a teenage boy, Conor, who has to come to terms with his mom, the only person he cares about and loves, not recovering from cancer. He has nobody he could turn to. He doesn't get along with his grandmother and his dad now lives with his new family. His school life isn't any better either. In the midst of all these problems, the Monster appears, wrecking his life even further, or so he thinks. What I thought of it I was first drawn to the black and white illustration by Jim Kay. Dark, sombre, yet beautiful - a great complement to the tone and mood of the story. The complexity of the illustration was a nice balance to the straight forward manner in which the story was written. 'A Monster Calls' deals with family issues, teenage angst, peer pressure, loneliness and confusion - all of which young Conor had to come face-to-face with...

Title/Author: Room/Emma Donoghue Publisher : Little, Brown Pages : 496 ISBN 13: 978-0316120579 In a nutshell Ma was 19 when she was kidnapped, raped and kept in this room. When Jack was 5, she had lived in there for 7 years. And for 7 years, she did what all loving mothers would do – love, nurture and protect her son the best she could, even in that small space with limited resources. And for 7 years, she had to comply with her kidnapper, Old Nick’s whims and fancies, so that he wouldn’t get angry and hurt her and Jack, and continued to supply them with the basic necessities they needed to stay alive. The story’s told from Jack’s perspective. The first half of the book introduces you to Room, Jack and Ma, and it’s not a pretty picture, I can tell you. Being able to enjoy life’s luxuries, and then being shoved to live in an 11 by 11 foot, sound-proofed space would definitely be the worst nightmare anyone could experience. But Ma made it beautiful for him. She created a world of imagi...

In a nutshell It may seem like a love story, but it’s actually not (covers can be deceiving!), which is why I decided to read it. This story, set around the depression era, is about Jacob who almost graduates from an Ivy League school with a degree in veterinary sciences. Upon finding out his parents’ death and his dad’s debts, he wandered off from home and jumped onto a train, only to find out later that it was a circus train. When the owner of circus, Uncle Al, found out he has a degree in veterinary science, he was hired to be the animal doctor and was put in charge of caring for the circus menagerie. He ended up spending most of his life there until he had his own family. What I liked The story flowed very well, moving from one scene to another very beautifully. What added to its quality for me also is the author’s ability to give the story a very strong sense of place. I could feel like I was in every part of the story – from moving in the train car with Jacob to looking desperate...

Title/Author: Norwegian Wood/Haruki Murakami (Translated by Jay Rubin) Publisher: Vintage Books USA Pages: 400 ISBN 13: 9780099554561 Expect no flying elephants, man-eating cats, or any of those surrealist eccentricities that you’d normally find in a Murakami novel. Norwegian Wood is a rather straight forward, coming of age novel of nostalgia. What stayed though is its quiet, still and melancholy tone (which I love). I don’t know why but I always find it hard to summarise and/or review Murakami’s novels. This would be my very first attempt. So here goes. In a nutshell Norwegian Wood is about Toru Watanabe and his love affair with beautiful, damsel-in-distress Naoko, whom he’s known since school, and who used to go out with his best friend Kizuki, until he committed suicide. Their relationship deepens when they spent more time with each other after Kizuki’s death, and it somehow affected Naoko who realises she has psychological problems that need to be addressed. So she left for ...

Oh yes....my dear ol' friend, Bartimaeus IS BACK!!! The Ring of Solomon is prequel to the Bartimaeus Trilogy written by Jonathan Stroud. Here is a plot introduction I nicked from Wikipedia: It is the year 950 b.c. and King Solomon of Israel rules his empire from Jerusalem with a steely hand. Upon which rests a magic ring of incredible power. Among the many spirit slaves in the service of the king and his magicians is the djinni Bartimaeus, a spirit with extreme cunning, a sarcastic wit, and an unparalleled reputation for insolence. After botching a construction project, Bartimaeus is sent out into the desert to hunt down a group of bandits attacking Solomon's trade routes, and in the process he encounters Asmira, a girl in the service of the Queen of Sheba. Soon afterwards she drags the reluctant djinni into a seemingly suicidal mission: Kill Solomon and steal the magic ring. This one has got some mix reviews though...: While not as good as the original trilogy, The Ring Of S...

Title/Author: The Gruffalo/Julia Donaldson & Axel Scheffler Publisher: Macmillan Pages: 28 ISBN 13: 978-0-333-71093-7 In a nutshell Walk into the deep dark wood, meet a quick-thinking mouse and discover what happens when he comes face to face with a ugly, hungry gruffalo. What I liked Ever since I took a liking to children's books, I'ver heard and read about Julia Donaldson and her very famous and well-loved 'The Gruffalo'. And I'm privileged and honoured to be given the chance to review some of her books, thanks to Odelia from Pansing :) I asked my students if they've read 'The Gruffalo' or have been read to, one of them looked at me quizically and asked, 'Is that the story about the clever mouse?' Thrilled that he was right, I said,'Yes! Did you like it?' 'I don't remember much, but I liked the mouse who was small yet smart!' That's what I loved about the story too :) It's fun to see how this little mouse alw...

Title/Author: Freddie and the Fairy/Julia Donaldson & Karen George Publisher: Macmillan Pages: 28 ISBN 13: 978-0-330-51118-6 In a nutshell Freedie meets Bessie-Belle, a fairy whom he rescued from a tree. In return, she offers to grant his every wish. But Bessie-Belle can't hear very well, causing Freddie's wishes come out all wrong... What I liked You can't go wrong with reading any children's books written by Julia Donaldson. This is a first collaboration between the queen of picture book text and a new talent in illustration, Karen George. Julia Donaldson said that "Karen has a warm, appealing and distinctive style that I think will complement the text of Freddie and the Fairy perfectly." And that was what made Karen the winner of the Bath Festival of Children's Literature . I loved everything about Freddie and the Fairy . Not just the simple, rhyming words and illustration, but also the lesson learnt from it. Freddie sort of blamed Bessie-Belle ...

Title/Author: Blackmail Bride/Normanda Whyte Publisher: Ink-Slinger ISBN: 978-1-908138-00-2 In a nutshell Stalked by her abusive ex-husband, Lucy Grant is desperate for a protector. Lucy aims for the one man who is tough enough for the job, ex-convict Jack Welsh. Found guilty of a crime he didn’t commit, Jack Welsh is convinced Lucy’s ex set him up. Jack will do anything it takes to clear his name - even if it means marrying Lucy. What I liked Although I'm not much of a romance novel fan, I enjoy reading about the relationship between Lucy and Jack - seeing how they helped and complemented each other in many ways. Jack's confidence and protective nature helped Lucy with her fears and insecurities, while Lucy's intelligence helped Jack in proving his innocence. I'm in the middle of finishing the novel, but just couldn't wait to put this up so that you could enjoy this story too :) You can read the first chapter for free and buy it from here . It’s Ellen Whyte'...

Title/Author: Hector And The Search For Happiness Publisher: Gallic Books No. of Pages: 180 ISBN 13: 978-1-906040-23-9 In a nutshell Hector, a successful young psychiatrist, sets off round the world to find out what makes people happy and sad, and whether there is such a thing as the secret to true happiness What I liked I liked the overall simplicity - from the front cover to the language and style. Hmmm....and Hector (on the front cover) somehow reminded me of Dilbert. But what I don't understand is, why have 2 different depictions of Hector? (Refer to another cover below) Is it because it's published by different publishers? Even so, they could have avoided depicting two different versions of Hector and stuck with consistency. And Hector's voice in the book, somehow, to me, resembled Alice in Alice in Wonderland (Probably due to the fact that I read this book after reading Alice in Wonderland haha). I also liked the simple list of 'What's Happiness' that ...

I came across these facts about Alice in Wonderland in one of the many versions of the book, and thought they were interesting. So I'd like to share them with you :) #1 The author, Lewis Carroll, whose real name is Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, was very meticulous and had this habit of making lists and keeping records of everything that he did. He even kept records of all the letters that he wrote - a total of 98,721 letters, from January 1861 until his death in 1898! #2 Mock Turtle soup IS REAL ! It was a popular dish in Victorian times. It was made from parts of a calf. #3 Alice Liddell is the little girl who inspired this story. Read more here . Read a review of a historical fiction based on Alice Liddell's life (Alice I Have Been) here . #4 In the 1930s Alice in Wonderland and its sequel, Through the Looking Glass , were banned from publication in China because the Chinese authorities objected to the animals in the story talking like humans. #5 Before it was called Alice'...

I've been keeping these pictures in my phone for awhile now. I'm uploading them here to share them with you :) These are some of my favourite buys in 2010. Why do I love them? 1) As you can see, most of them are classics :) 2) The beautiful pictures! The illustrations are so breathtaking they come alive in my mind. 3) The indescribable feelings they evoke when I turn the pages. (These are the things an e-book can't do!) So what do we have here: 1) Illustrated Tales from Shakespeare 2) The World of Pooh Collection 3) The Secret Garden 4) Life of Pi 5) Alice in Wonderland

Title/Author: It's a Book/Lane Smith Publisher: Roaring Brook Press No. of pages : 26 ISBN 13: 978-1-59643-606-0 In a nutshell With digital revolution carrying us forward, will our future generation recognise a book? In It's a Book , the jackass is a 'tech-freak' fella who couldn't recognise a book, and gets all curious when seeing the monkey holding one. He asks things like 'Can it text? Blog? Scroll? Wi-Fi? Tweet?' and annoyed the hell outta the monkey who he keeps telling the jackass 'It's a book' again and again. What I liked Two words. Sweet. Delightful. Arghhh...I must add another one. Funny! Another one. Wonderrrrful! In only 26 pages, it captured my heart. Loved the monkey and the jackass and oooh the little mouse! :D I not only loved the very, simple, straight-forward, funny story, but also the beautiful illustrations. It says so much, so simply! I loved how the little changes in the monkey's facial expression made so much differe...

Title/Author: Radiance/Alyson Noel Publisher: Macmillan No. of pages : 183 ISBN 13: 978-0-330-52691-3 In a nutshell Riley Bloom crossed the bridge into the afterlife following a car crash - with her parents and beloved dog, Buttercup. In her afterlife, she has been assigned a job as a Soul Catcher, with Bodhi as her guide. Her first assignment takes her back to earth, where she must find the Radiant Boy, a spirit who doesn't want to move on. What I liked The only thing I liked about Radiance is probably Riley Bloom and Buttercup. Riley is a strong character; confident, outspoken and spunky. And I liked Buttercup, the timid dog,for his name and he seems rather adorable especially when he closes his eyes to shut out some 'evil' sights. And I think, that's about it. What I didn't quite like... I hate doing this part, but I want to be honest with my reviews. Well, overall, I didn't quite like Radiance . (Dear author, if you're reading this, please forgive me....