Reviews

Ottoline Goes to School by Chris Riddell

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Cover of "Ottoline Goes to School"
Cover of Ottoline Goes to School

For those of you keeping score at home, I have been exploring what you might call the graphic novel side of children’s and young adult literature.  Works that are more than picture books; chapter books with a heavy visual aspect to them.

The latest book I stumbled upon at the library, Ottoline Goes to School, is actually the second book in a series but I didn’t know that at the time.  Regardless, it is a witty, silly, and visually stimulating story.

Here is School Journal’s plot summary:

In this second story about Ottoline, who lives with her faithful, hairy best friend, Mr. Monroe, readers are visually thrust into her Big City life, as she befriends Cecily, who is quite a storyteller, and decides to accompany her to the Alice B. Smith School for the Differently Gifted. There the students, each with an outlandish and noteworthy pet, seek out their talents in origami curtain-making, plate-spinning, tea-sipping, and other different arts. Ottoline flounders, unable to find her special talent, but is drawn to the mystery of the curse of the Horse of Hammersteins. In the end, she proves to be a fine sleuth.

I am most familiar with Riddell from his collaboration with Paul Stewart in The Edge Chronicles.  And the illustrations here will stand out to anyone familiar with that series.  But this series is much more playful and more of a graphic novel than a straightforward illustrated story.

I read this story to my daughter in one sitting and she really enjoyed it.  I did as well. The illustrations are fun and full of surprises and the humor is dry and witty.  The text illustration combination pack a lot into this slim volume.

As School Journal also noted:

This is an outstanding example of a picture book-cum-graphic novel, in which Riddell dazzles readers with visual detail and comical oddities and language that is rich, zany, and imaginative. It will satisfy visually needy and visually discerning readers.

To use a cliche, this includes readers young and old.

So if you are looking for something different to read at bed time, or to have your young reader tackle themselves, this fun series is a good choice.

Reviews

The Extraordinary Adventures of Ordinary Basil by Wiley Miller

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Cover of "The Extraordinary Adventures of...
Cover via Amazon

As regular readers know, I have long had an interest in both well written and/or beautifully illustrated children’s books and chapter books/young adult fiction.  Lately I have been checking out some books that fit in between picture type books you read to your kids and full fledged fiction they read themselves.

One such example, I picked up at a local library sale was Extraordinary Adventures of Ordinary Basil written by the creator of the Non Sequitor comic strip Wiley Miller.  Allow me to steal the plot description from the School Library Journal:

It’s 1899, and 12-year-old Basil lives in a lighthouse on the coast of Maine. A dour, gnomish lad with an oversize head, he longs for adventure. When a balloon piloted by a kindly, mysterious man appears outside his window, the boy leaps aboard and soars off to a fantastic city in the sky. Professor Angus McGookin has brought him to Helios, the home of a secret, advanced society, and Basil is soon caught up in an adventure involving evil scientists, pteranodons, and mechanical armies.

I read the book to my daughter who is almost five years old and she enjoyed it enough to sit still and listen to it over the course of two nights.  I found it clever and interesting.

The bright fun color illustrations add some zip and visual excitement to the story. The story itself is certainly not all that unique (boy finds secret world, has been chosen to play a role, bad guy threatens all that is good, etc.) but I found it entertaining and a nice mix of adventure and mystery. There is sense throughout that not only is a sequel in the works but there is a whole lot to the story that isn’t being told.

Continue reading →

Reviews

In the Mail: Relationships

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divorce sucks–> Divorce Sucks: What to do when irreconcilable differences, lawyer fees, and your ex’s Hollywood wife make you miserable by Mary Jo Eustace

Description

Hock the platinum. Take down the vacation photos. Cancel the joint checking account.

There’s no question . . . Divorce Sucks. And perhaps no one knows that better than author Mary Jo Eustace, whose ex-husband Dean McDermott married Tori Spelling a mere thirty days after their divorce was finalized. One part tell-all and one part guide to get readers on their feet after a bitter breakup, this hilarious addition to the bestselling Sucks series tells everything readers don’t want to know about divorce – from what a phone call with a lawyer will cost; to how to handle your newer, younger replacement; to what Hollywood divorcees are actually thinking when they watch their ex walk the red carpet with a millionairess. Sometimes horrifying, sometimes gratifying, and never merciful, this book will give readers an inside look at one of today’s most public divorces while reminding them – hey, it could always be worse.

–> Law of Forgiveness: Tap in to the Positive Power of Forgiveness–And Attract Good Things to Your life by Connie Domino

From the Publisher

A revolutionary way for readers to change their lives, their worlds, and make all their dreams come true-through the power of forgiveness.

Author of the life-changing book The Law of Attraction: Develop Irresistible Attraction, Connie Domino knows the secret to reaching goals, attracting what one really wants, and receiving myriad blessings: forgiveness. Forgiving others and oneself is key to greater health and prosperity.

Reviews

The Sorceress by Michael Scott

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Cover of "The Sorceress (The Secrets of t...
Cover via Amazon

I will fully admit that I can be far too derivative in my reviews. I think that I can write some thoughtful and detailed reviews when I have the time and energy.  But I also post a number of “here is the publishers blurb and here is my reaction” type posts.

This doesn’t bother me too much because one function of this blog is simply to track what I read; and not every review is, or has to be, a thoughtful masterpiece.

I bring this up, because I would be hard pressed to add much to Heidi Broadhead’s Amazon.com review of The Sorceress by Michael Scott:

The third book in Michael Scott’s “Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel” series, The Sorceress, kicks the action up to a whole new level. Adding to the series’ menagerie of immortal humans (“humani”) and mythological beasts, the book picks up where The Magician left off: the immortal Nicholas Flamel (of The Alchemyst) and the twins, Sophie and Josh, have just arrived at St. Pancras international train station in London. Almost immediately, they’re confronted with a demonic bounty hunter that immortal magician John Dee has sent their way. At the same time, Dee’s occasional cohort, Niccolo Machiavelli, decides to focus his energy on Perenelle Flamel, the Alchemyst’s wife, who has been imprisoned at Alcatraz since the beginning of the series. In this book, Perenelle gets a chance to show off her sorcery and resourcefulness, fighting and forging alliances with ghosts, beasts, and the occasional Elder to try and find a way out of her predicament and back to Flamel.

Scott is as playful as ever, introducing new immortals–famous figures from history who (surprise!) are still alive. He also adds to the roster of fantastical beasts, which already includes such intriguing foes as Bastet, the Egyptian cat goddess, and the Morrigan, or Crow Goddess. Raising the stakes with each installment, Scott deftly manages multiple story lines and keeps everything moving pretty quickly, making this third book a real page-turner. More than just another piece in the puzzle of the whole series, The Sorceress is an adventure in its own right, and will certainly leave series fans wanting more.

I wasn’t blown away by The Alchemyst but each book since has ratcheted up the intensity.  The Amazon review matches my reaction perfectly.  The action is kicked up a notch, the pacing is great, and the characters – both old and new – are fun and well done.

If you have been living in a cave and haven’t stumbled on this series yet, and you like fantasy adventure, I highly recommend it.

This is one of those great series where each book seems to get better and each wait for the next one to come up seems more intolerable.

Reviews

Kids Go! by They Might Be Giants

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Kids Go!One of the best things about being a “book blogger” is finding new books and authors.  Pretty basic right?  But it is particularly fun when you get something new and exciting in the mail from a publisher out of the blue.  It is like Christmas or your birthday.

The other day I experienced this when Kids Go! by They Might Be Giants arrived in the mail

(Formal FTC disclosure: this means I got a free copy, OK?).

Normally, my kids are excited when a package comes in the mail but soon disappointed when it is just another adult book of no interest to them. So when a book came that they could look at, I could read to them and had a DVD to sing along to they were pretty excited.

So what is Kids Go! exactly? Well, it is a sing along book authored by the band They Might Be Giants.  Here is the publisher’s explanation:

Once upon a time there were two sleepy kids. Then they heard a distant sound, a beat that got louder and louder. They had to move their feet. They got up off the couch and started to move their legs. Then, with the help of a few unexpected friends, they learned how to move like a monkey, move like a jumping bean, move like a jack-in-the-box and go! go! GO! This very special book is both a story and a song.

So watch the animated DVD, move like a monkey, and sing along!

I have to agree.  This is a fun book and you will certainly want to watch the video and sing along.  Not surprisingly given the authors, it is a very catchy tune that will have you singing and dancing with your kids.

The illustrations, by Pascal Campion, match the fun and simplicity of the music. To me they have a retro feel; a riff on post-war children’s books. But whatever they are they match the carefree and slightly silly sensibility of the music and authors.  They will keep the younger kids entertained but I think the book really works best with the music.

I would have to think this would be a handy thing to have around. Any time you needed to break up the monotony a little, you could pull out this book and pop in the DVD and watch your kids “move like a monkey, move like a jumping bean, move like a jack-in-the-box and go! go! GO!”

Reviews

In the Mail: In Translation Edition

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–> Many and Many A Year Ago by Selcuk Altun

Publishers Weekly

Altun’s second novel to be made available in the U.S. has a premise almost as intriguing as his first, Songs My Mother Never Taught Me, but the execution is less successful. Kemal Kuray’s meteoric ascent to the top of the Turkish Air Force comes to an abrupt end after the engine of the plane he’s piloting fails. Barely escaping serious injury, he’s assigned to coordinate a secret translation project, during which he befriends Suat Altan, a technology consultant working on the project to complete his military service. Later, Kemal learns from Suat’s identical twin, Fuat, that Suat, who’s vanished, has left behind a cryptic note for Kemal and arranged for monthly payments to him of $5,000 a month after his retirement. Kemal spends the rest of the book seeking the purpose, as well as the true meaning, of Suat’s message. If Poe’s fans are meant to be enticed by the title, taken from Poe’s poem “Annabel Lee,” they will find little to chew on.

–> The Last Supper by Pawel Huelle

Library Journal

Twelve men make their way to a theater to pose for a photo to be used as the basis for a new painting of The Last Supper. This pastiche is set in the near future in Gdansk, Poland, paralyzed by terrorist attacks during the 19th-century travels of a painter and in much earlier times in real and imaginary Middle Eastern locales. A few problems prevent this book from being a near masterpiece: the irony is laid on too thick, and pages 99–100 contain a terrible spoiler. It’s like revealing “whodunit” right in the middle of a mystery, so readers should be strongly advised to skip those pages, which take a little power out of an otherwise spectacular final chapter. VERDICT Huelle addresses some of the same issues found in Nikos Kazantzakis’s The Last Temptation of Christ or Christopher Moore’s Lamb but in a very different way, yet fans of those authors might enjoy this book. The ultimate ironic act would be to use The Last Supper as a Christmas present.