Difference between revisions of "Book Reviews From The Bookbag"
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| + | |summary=Taking in a history of its production, as well as its theft, ''Who Stole Mona Lisa?'' is an intriguing look at La Gioconda. The story is told from the point of view of Leonardo da Vinci's painting herself, and will strike a chord with any intelligent and curious youngsters. | ||
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Revision as of 11:22, 21 January 2011
Hello from The Bookbag, a book review site, featuring books from all the many walks of literary life - fiction, biography, crime, cookery and anything else that takes our fancy. At Bookbag Towers the bookbag sits at the side of the desk. It's the bag we take to the library and the bookshop. Sometimes it holds the latest releases, but at other times there'll be old favourites, books for the children, books for the home. They're sometimes our own books or books from the local library. They're often books sent to us by publishers and we promise to tell you exactly what we think about them. You might not want to read through a full review, so we'll give you a quick review which summarises what we felt about the book and tells you whether or not we think you should buy or borrow it. There are also lots of author interviews, and all sorts of top tens - all of which you can find on our features page. If you're stuck for something to read, check out the recommendations page.
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Who Stole Mona Lisa? by Ruthie Knapp and Jill McElmurry
Taking in a history of its production, as well as its theft, Who Stole Mona Lisa? is an intriguing look at La Gioconda. The story is told from the point of view of Leonardo da Vinci's painting herself, and will strike a chord with any intelligent and curious youngsters. Full review...
Frank and Teddy Make Friends by Louise Yates
Professor Frank Mouse loves to build things in his workshop, but he's envious of the wild creatures that make things in the company of others. He does what any sensible engineer does: he makes a friend for himself. Teddy and he have a lovely time building things together, until Teddy's attempt to do something nice for Frank goes wrong, and the two friends fall out. Thankfully, a reforming of the friendship isn't too far away, and the two chums are back stronger than ever. Full review...
Ribbit Rabbit by Candace Ryan and Mike Lowery
Frog and bunny are best friends, but from time to time they fall out. However, after a bit of a sulk and a bit of a think, they soon remember why they were best friends again. Full review...
Kipper by Mick Inkpen
Kipper's blanket stinks, his ball is chewed and his bone is soggy. He's in the mood for some tidying up, so he tosses them and gets everything spick and span. Sans blanket, his basket is suddenly very uncomfortable, so he looks around to see how animals get comfy. You know Kipper, right? You've read the books and seen the TV series narrated by Martin Clunes. You'd like a dog, like a dog, like a dog like Kipper. Now we're treated to a 21 year anniversary edition of the original book, complete with a 10 episode DVD. Full review...
The Illustrated Mind of Mike Reeves by Asa Jones
Mike Reeves doesn't have his troubles to seek. His wife was brutally raped some four or five years ago and whilst she might seem to be recovered she cannot stand to be touched by a man – any man, Mike included. Quite suddenly Mike was alone, in every way – until he found himself drawn to the darker arts and began to dabble in Tarot, the Runes and I Ching. He's guided by two spirits. Sean is a wise and benevolent older man and Debbie, well she… isn't. She's the one who satisfies Mike's sexual needs. If that's all sounding rather good, then hesitate a moment, for with the good comes the bad and the bad is in the form of Tony a (very) real-life gangster who's been doing his own dabbling in the spirit world. When their worlds clash Mike has a problem which could well be more than he can handle. Full review...
Oliver and the Noisy Baby by Mara Bergman and Nick Maland
We've met Oliver Donnington Rimington-Sneep before - he has had trouble sleeping and travelled far and wide. This time, he's suffering with a noisy baby. He does what every sensible older brother does: he goes and plays with his toys, retreating into his imagination and flying around the world, taking in all the sights and sounds. Full review...
Nutmeg Says Yum! by Caroline Jayne Church
That Nutmeg is one naughty mouse. First she won't go to bed, and now she's turning her nose up at all the delicious fruit that's on offer. She doesn't want apples as they're too crunchy. Pears are a funny colour. Bananas? Too squidgy. She wants strawberries. Thankfully, Nutmeg's mummy is a wise and sneaky mouse, so she whips up a delicious strawberry surprise, with an interesting mix of ingredients. Full review...
The Tale of Georgie Grub by Jeanne Willis and Margaret Chamberlain
Georgie Grub flat out refuses to have a bath. His mother is fed up of trying to get him clean, so she throws in the towel and leaves him to his filth. As the week goes on, he gets dirtier and dirtier. People hold their noses when he walks by, his teacher throws him out of school, and Georgie ends up scrabbling around in bins. Happy ending? Oh no no no. Georgie Grub gets his comeuppance, and quite right too, the mucky pup! Full review...
Diary of an Ordinary Woman by Margaret Forster
After reading the introduction, I couldn't help but sneak a sly read at the author's note right at the end of the novel. I don't usually do this. I'm glad I did as the information is both surprising and revelatory. Back to the beginning and Chapter 1 ... We meet the 13 year old Millicent in 1914. By her written statements and recorded mannerisms, we see that she's a girl who knows her own mind. For example, she thinks writing in her diary every single day could be dull and boring so she's made a golden rule that she's only going to write something down when she feels like it. Some may call her precocious but I liked Millicent right from the start. Courtesy of her diary we find out that she's part of a large and boisterous family. She doesn't appreciate all the noise and chatter from her siblings. She craves peace and quiet to think and to read. She's a prolific reader. She also believes that she's smart and clever and wants to 'do' something with her life when she grows up. She's not sure what exactly but she certainly doesn't want to be a mere housewife and mother. Full review...
Belle by Lesley Pearse
Belle's story begins in London in 1910. She is fifteen years old and lives an innocent life in her mother's brothel, with no understanding of what really takes place there. Her mother has encouraged her to read and write, wanting her kept away from the harsh realities of the brothel and the rough streets of London that surround her. But Belle's innocence is shattered when she witnesses the murder of one of the brothel's most popular girls, and is subsequently grabbed from the street and trafficked to Paris as a prostitute. Full review...
The Kiss That Missed by David Melling
The king is in an awful rush, and doesn't even have time to read the prince a bedtime story. He blows him a kiss, but it misses! So, he dispatches his knight to track it down, and an elaborate and bizarre adventure ensues. Full review...
Susan Laughs by Jeanne Willis and Tony Ross
There's something very satisfying about a good picture book. With a pre-schooler at home with me all day we get through a lot of books, so I've seen hundreds, from dazzlingly brilliant through to terribly dull. There are times when my daughter at I look at each other at the end of a book and shrug in disbelief that a publisher thought it worth printing, and there are times when we read something over and over (and over!) because it's so good. This particular book is one of the brilliant ones I'm happy to say, and let me tell you why... Full review...
Zimbabwe in Pictures by Keith Hern
I'm a bit of an amateur photographer, and since the advent of digital cameras I always come back from holidays with thousands of photos, over-excited by the fact that I am no longer limited to 24 or 36 exposure films! I enjoy, therefore, flicking through photography books, to see the images that have captured someone else's imagination and to see if I can pick up any interesting framing ideas, or subject settings. Full review...
Passing the 11+ with NLP: NLP Strategies for Supporting Your 11 Plus Student by Judy Bartkowiak and Carolyn Fitzpatrick
The 11+ process is nerve-wracking for parents and children alike and many parents find it difficult to know how best to help their child. Over-enthusiastic intervention can make a child more nervous and conscious that there's a lot at stake, whilst leaving the child to get on with it can well make the child feel that their success or failure doesn't matter to you. It's also important that any preparation is built up in a steady way and that it leaves the child feeling confident of their success. 'Passing the 11+ with NLP' is a dual purpose book: there are the strategies for giving your child self-esteem, focus and concentration along with the other skills needed to pass and then there are details of the type of questions your child will face in the exam. Full review...
Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover (Gallagher Girls) by Ally Carter
When your average girl wonders what a boy is really like, she and her friends will maybe ask around among brothers and lab partners, or even, if he is majorly good-looking, try to trail him around town on a Saturday morning. But the girls of the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women do things differently. They have access to top-secret files. They have been trained to disguise themselves for covert operations. They know how to read the slightest hints drawn from a person's body language. When they get curious about something, there's very little chance it will stay hidden. But now their skills are really being put to the test. Cammie's room-mate Macey, the daughter of a senator on the campaign trail, has been attacked. It will take everything her friends have learned, and more, to protect her and solve the mysteries which surround them. Full review...
Spindlewood: Pip and the Wood Witch Curse by Chris Mould
Pip doesn't want to be sold to Captain Snarks as a pirate's cabin boy. He is sure he'll get sea-sick, and he would far rather continue to work at the stable yard. But the foul-breathed drunkard who runs the orphanage refuses to listen: he will receive more money for the lad if he sends him to sea. On the way to the docks Pip manages to escape, and he stows away in the rear carriage of the Stage Fright Theatre Company, charmingly described as 'dancing masters of the macabre'. Our hero remains there for many days, hidden from everyone and only occasionally sneaking out to find a bone to gnaw, until the travelling troupe arrives at its destination, Hangman's Hollow. And then Pip's troubles begin in earnest. Full review...
Message from an Unknown Chinese Mother: Stories of Loss and Love by Xinran
Xinran first came to my notice with her 2002 book "The Good Women of China" which retold tales of the women she had come across through her work in Chinese radio, where for many years she had hosted the local equivalent of a cross between Woman's Hour and a late night phone-in talk show. She has been busy bringing us other stories in the meantime, but in this latest work she returns to those early days in radio and the stories she learned. Many of these stories she decided were too painful to tell. They speak of children, specifically daughters, abandoned by their Chinese mothers one way or another. Full review...
The Accidental Proposal by Matt Dunn
Edward Middleton seems like a pretty decent guy. He always stops to buy a Big Issues from Billy, a local homeless man and he takes his elderly widowed neighbour shopping once a week. These are some of the reasons why his girlfriend, Sam, loves him so much. One night, after a friend's wedding, Sam asks Ed if he would also like to get married to which Ed enthusiastically replies 'yes'. However, the following morning, whilst nursing his hangover, he cannot work out if it was a hypothetical question or an actual proposal. His best mate Dan is no help at all and is quite incredulous that anyone should ever want to marry Ed. Full review...
The Suicide Run by William Styron
A WW2 naval soldier, guarding a prison island for those found guilty at courtmartials, is forced to wonder if he is winning his own battles against those arriving and leaving. A soldier remembers calming memories, and those causing tension, as he rests up before action. And for a highly-charged young man, there may be too much risk to be found in his high-octane downtime. Full review...
The Decision Book: Fifty Models for Strategic Thinking by Mikael Krogerus and Roman Tschappeler
This little, black book with its gold lettering on the front cover is beautifully presented. Truly pocket-sized to make it easy to refer to at any time, any place. Divided into four neat sections dealing with the self and others (others in the main being say business partners, colleagues or like-minded people) these fifty working models are designed to give the individual both self-awareness and ammunition, if you like, in order to cope with various business/political and even social scenarios, for example. Full review...
An Optimist's Tour of the Future by Mark Stevenson
In 1968, the film '2001 A Space Odyssey' had an optimistic view of the future we would soon be living in. In terms of technological advancement we're not quite there yet, even though that date has a decade since passed, so maybe it's time for a revised view of what is to come. Enter Mark Stevenson, a stand up comic slash scientist. It's perhaps not the most familiar of combinations, but take the best bits of each and the result is this wonderful book that combines humour and fun with proper nitty, gritty, science stuff. Full review...
My Father's Fortune: A Life by Michael Frayn
Translator, playwright and esteemed novelist Michael Frayn turns in 'My Father's Fortune' to his own family in this personal memoir; an act of remembrance and a work of preservation. Humorous in parts, laced with philosophical musings and revisited by ghosts, Frayn excels and excites in this humane portrayal of his father, Tommy. This retelling of scenes from this theatre of memory has also its tragedies and vividly portrays his family's courage. Full review...
Take Me Home: Tales of Battersea Dogs by Melissa Wareham
Melissa Wareham always wanted a dog but her parents would never allow it and she didn't get good enough exam results for her next option – becoming a vet. Not one to be deterred she joined the staff at Battersea Dogs Home, first as a kennel maid and eventually as the head of rehoming. 'Take Me Home' is the story of some of the highlights of her life at the home and some of the dogs which she met whilst she was there. Full review...
Stamps of the World 2011 by Stanley Gibbons
In describing reference books the word bible has been used too frequently of late. Slim booklets on a particular subject have the word emblazoned on their cover, which makes it rather difficult when you encounter a book – or in this case a set of six books – which merits the word. Stanley Gibbons 'Stamps of the World 2011' is genuinely a bible – an essential tool for a dealer and the serious collector. It's now available in six soft-bound volumes and is rightfully the company's flagship publication. Full review...
School According to Humphrey by Betty G Birney
After six near-perfect books' worth of adventures in Room 26, the class pet Humphrey the hamster faces a nightmare at the start of term. The entire pupil population has changed, and all his friends he's got to know and love (and be loved by) have been replaced by a new intake. Here are the absurdly tall and the unfortunately short, both with the same first name; here is the girl in a wheelchair pestered by an over-attentive helper. Can Humphrey solve all their problems - as he usually does - and, is the biggest problem of all the fact that his old friends no longer have a classroom pet? Full review...
Halo by Alexandra Adornetto
When three angels – Gabriel, Ivy and Bethany – arrive in a quiet town, their mission is to bring good to a world in danger of falling into darkness. They have to conceal their true nature – hiding the glow of their skin, their wings – a task not easy for Bethany, the least experienced of the trio. She's overwhelmed by human life, fascinated by all the experiences available to her in human form. A fascination that leads to a dangerous attraction to human boy, Xavier. Falling in love was not part of the holy mission, and Gabriel and Ivy fear Bethany won't be in the position to save anybody if she continues down the path she's on. Full review...
Nothing but the Truth: Selected Dispatches by Anna Politkovskaya
Anna Politkovskaya worked for the Russian newspaper Novaya gazeta, becoming particularly famous for her critical reports on the wars in Chechnya, on Putin, on state corruption and on life in Russia under his regime. She never avoided controversy and received a number of death threats before she was murdered in October 2006. She had reason to know these were no idle threats – one of her articles here entitled 'Is Journalism Worth the Loss of a Life?' reports the attempted murder of one of her colleagues. Full review...
Grace by Morris Gleitzman
'In the beginning there was me and Mum and Dad and the twins. And talk about happy families, we were bountiful. But it came to pass that I started doing sins. And lo, that's when all our problems began.'
This is exactly how Grace talks because she lives with her family as part of a separatist fundamental Christian sect. She goes to a church school. The school bus driver is a church Elder because she mustn't talk to or touch an outsider as outsiders are unclean. She can't eat outsider food without purifying it first - even ice cream must be microwaved. She wears her unruly, curly hair in a bun and woe is upon her when wisps free themselves from her hairpins. Full review...
The Hare With Amber Eyes: A Hidden Inheritance by Edmund de Waal
'The Hare with Amber Eyes' vibrates with that rush of desire to uncover family history that often follows the death of someone you love. It is also a meticulously researched book of wide ranging scope. When I first picked it up, it looked worryingly erudite, and I had visions of becoming lost in a sea of names, places and ideas. So I was amazed to find myself reading it in one sitting, completely absorbed, and losing a whole day in the process. Edmund De Waal had me hooked from the bottom of page one when he admits to kicking the gate of the Japanese language school he was attending in frustration at his lack of fluency. He then thinks sheepishly: 'what it was to be twenty-eight and kicking a school gate.' This funny, disarming comment put me on his side from the off. Full review...
