Picture Book Review - Missing Jack - Rebecca Elliott (Author & Illustrator)

Picture Book Review - Missing Jack - Rebecca Elliott (Author & Illustrator)

Blimey, I've only just got over the emotion of Grandad's Island and now I'm being hit with the story of a boy whose pet cat has died! I've been there several times myself so this has struck quite a chord, but it doesn't matter if you or your kids don't have cats particularly; you can apply this to any pets.

The story deals very sensitively with the issue of pets dying, never trying to shy away from it being a sad event where you won't get to see your pet again, but instead embracing the fact that you can remember the good times, and that other pets can come along who can be part of the family too without replacing the old pets.

The illustrations are bright which help to keep the story positive, and I'm really taken with the drawing style. It's the perfect way to help children understand about the death of a pet, and the joy of getting a new one.

Just finish dabbing my eyes here...

5/5

Picture Book Review - Rapunzel, Rapunzel, Wash Your Hair! - Steve Smallman (Author) & Neil Price (Illustrator)

Picture Book Review - Rapunzel, Rapunzel, Wash Your Hair! - Steve Smallman (Author) & Neil Price (Illustrator)

I've got to be honest and say that normally I can't imagine there being anything that would make me particularly recommend one re-telling of a fairy tale over another. It's not that there aren't any good picture books of fairy tales available, because there are - loads in fact, which is why it makes this telling a bit special that I want to share it.

The clue is in the title really; Rapunzel, Rapunzel, Wash Your Hair! is a story for children about what will happen if you don't have good hair-hygiene (it even says this on the front cover). Far from the handsome prince coming along and climbing straight up Rapunzel's hair, we get TWO princes coming along and rejecting the opportunity because our heroine has neglecting to wash her hair for a considerable length of time! Even the wicked witch refuses to come and visit any more!

Couple this with the twist on how rescued maidens and their handsome princes usually get married (hint: they don't here, with the end result being much funnier), and you've got a fairy tale re-telling that I'd recommend above most others. Lovely illustrations to highlight that horrible hair, too!

4/5

Picture Book Review - Grandad's Island - Benji Davies (Author & Illustrator)

Picture Book Review - Grandad's Island - Benji Davies (Author & Illustrator)

Excuse me a minute while I just wipe away the tears that I don't seem to be able to stop flowing. Justtttt a minute.

Ahem.

Right, on we go.

Grandad's Island is the award-winning story of a boy and his Grandad, who set sail for a tropical island together, and frankly I've forgotten what happens when they get there because dear God, all you'll remember is the ending. What an incredibly powerful, emotional end, and delicate way of introducing children to the idea that the ones we love won't always be around, but that we'll always cherish the memories.

It's not hard to see why this won the Sainsbury's Childrens Book Award; it's expertly hides itself as just another story, until the point where the adults reading this will get that awful gut-wrenching feeling as you suddenly realise where the story is heading. It's so subtle and sensitively done that you could read this over and over again to your kids without ever actually having to confront the notion of death, instead replacing it just with Grandad going to live on the island and that being a long distance etc., until you're ready to use it as a tool to talk about the loss of a loved one.

I couldn't read this at storytime, or I'd be in tears too much, but I would give this to every parent with a quiet warning about what the content involves. It's beautiful to look at, both heart-breaking and heart-warming to read, and even after just a couple of reads it's a sure-fire Picture Book Hall of Fame contender.

Just beautiful.

5/5 and an entry into the Picture Book Hall of Fame

Picture Book Review - The Cloudspotter - Tom McLaughlin (Author & Illustrator)

Picture Book Review - The Cloudspotter - Tom McLaughlin (Author & Illustrator)

You know the delight you feel when you find a simple story that is utterly delightful? Meet The Cloudspotter! It's the story of Franklin, a boy with no friends who finds adventures in the clouds that he sees. One day a dog joins him - could it be that the dog is looking for a friend?

It speaks to me as someone who always feels sorry for the outcast children (no, I wasn't exactly one myself, but I've known a few through working in the library and in my old school, and my heart's always gone out to them), that I can find charming stories like this to show there are always people out there to share your adventures. It's got bright, colourful pictures, drawn in a style that's familiar but at the same time unique, and it uses these wonderfully to enhance the sparse text (and I'm not saying sparse in a negative way - it just doesn't need many words to tell the story).

It's a great chance to connect with your kids about their adventures too, and I can imagine this one getting the nod of approval from parents and children alike at storytimes.

Just lovely!

4/5

Young Adult Book Review - One - Sarah Crossan

Young Adult Book Review - One - Sarah Crossan

Recommended for literally everyone ever. Babies? Yeah, why not.

You know how sometimes you start a book and almost immediately you think, ‘this is going to win awards’?

Well, this is going to win awards. This should win awards. This should win all the awards. It’s a stunning, emotional journey in the lives (or is it life?) of teenage conjoined twins starting school for the first time, and if it doesn’t have you weeping at the end then there must be something wrong with you.

Told from Grace’s point of view, we see into the life that she shares with twin Tippi, and the way that what is so alien to everyone else is so normal to them. Where everyone gives them sympathy or is certain that they were be broken apart if given the opportunity, this special bond and connection is all the twins have known, and it would be like cutting out one of their vital organs if they lost the other.

Their family and newfound friends all react in different ways to the challenges of the twins’ condition, from their father’s drinking and unworthiness of the title ‘father’, to the friendships they strike up immediately upon starting school with two outcasts, and the emotional and romantic bonds that begin to form following that. You can’t help but feel the pain that goes with the knowledge that, though they wouldn’t change who they are for a second, it means that they can’t do everything that a ‘normal’ person does, at least without huge challenges. A romantic relationship, for example.

I’ve already mentioned how emotional the story is, and it only gets increasingly so as the story goes on. No spoilers, but use your imagination for the issues that might arise for conjoined twins, and you’ll be on the right tracks.

Underpinning all this is the beautiful poetical and lyrics prose that Sarah Crossan uses to tell the story. It’s essentially one long poem broken into smaller chapters, occasionally broken up with the odd POV from another character, and is unlike anything else I’ve ever read. Would I feel differently about the story if it was written traditionally? I doubt it. Does it make it stand out and feel utterly special because of it? A million times yes.

If I had to place a bet now, I would put this above all others as the main contender for the Carnegie Medal 2016. It’s an emotional powerhouse, beautifully written in it’s own unique style (as far as I’ve ever come across), and does a great job of highlighting an unbelievable difficult situation for people to live in, whilst highlighting how it’s simply the norm for those involved.

I was recommending this even before I’d finished reading it. It’s not just for young adults; it deserves to be read by everyone. The only book that comes close to this on an emotional level for me is A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness, and I’m guessing you know all about that.

If you only read one book this year, it should be One.

5/5

Graphic Novel Review - Dragons Beware! - Jorge Aguirre

Graphic Novel Review - Dragons Beware! - Jorge Aguirre (Author) & Rafael Rosado (Illustrator)

Recommended for Older Children/Young Adult/Adults

I received a free of this title from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks!

Young Claudette, her brother Gaston and Princess Marie set off on an adventure to retrieve her father Augustine's magical sword, Breaker, from the belly of the fearsome dragon, Azra. They'll face multiple foes along the way, including Marie's evil wizard grandfather, Grombach, and his army of gargoyles; will they find the sword and defeat the dragon, or will they meet their doom?

Well, I won't spoil it, but what I will say is you will laugh your arse off during their quest, because this is a fantastically funny fantasy graphic novel that I didn't want to put down. It's full of pop culture references, from a certain famous Marvel shield making a vomity appearance, to multiple Death Star attack run nods (yeah, I saw what you did, and I LOVED it), which gives it an edge of over other funny children's graphic novels that I've read recently. The humour is silly but witty, and with a nod to the audience that it knows full well it's being daft and doesn't care, and it's exactly the type of humour that I love in a book like this.

The illustrations are great, and they invoke fond memories of similarly-styled texts that I've read before (though I can't put my finger on which ones exactly at the moment) - all three of the main characters eccentricities are perfectly brought across, and to a very high standard.

This is the second book in the series (following Giants Beware!) and I'm certainly going to try and get hold of a copy. The library doesn't appear to have it, so both of these are going straight on my monthly requests for the librarians to order in, because I'll be pushing these at the new monthly comic book club that I'm hoping to set up.

Worth been checked out by all ages from about 7 upwards, and it's pushed into 5* territory by its pop culture references - seriously, if they aren't Death Star run references in the last battle then [insert forfeit but just don't make me do it].

5/5

Graphic Novel Review - Monster Motors - Brian Lynch (Author) & Nick Roche (Illustrator)

Graphic Novel Review - Monster Motors - Brian Lynch (Author) & Nick Roche (Illustrator)

Recommended for Older Children/YA/Adults

I received this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks.

You know how sometimes a book tries to do something different, like re-telling a classic story using reanimated-motors rather than a monster? Yes? Then read Monster Motors, because it does it ever so well. No? Then read Monster Motors, because it does it ever so well.

Mechanic Vic Frankenstein buys a junkyard in Transylvania to set up a repair business, and immediately comes across the not-too-insignificant problem of a vampire cadillac called Cadillacula, who wants to suck the gas out of all the other cars, and be evil and stuff. He'll have to reanimate a truck of his own if he's going to stand a chance at stopping this evil...

Later on, he'll team up with Minivan Helsing and his team to stop an even greater threat, when a lightning strike accidentally reanimates all the other cars in the junkyard and sends them on a cannibalistic spree across town. Not quite the simple life repairing cars that Frankenstein had in mind.

Monster Motors is split into the two separate stories described above, and it's definitely the second (The Curse of Minivan Helsing) that is the strongest. Not to take anything away from the first about Cadillacula, because it's perfectly good fun, but the jokes and subtle humour in the second are far better, and genuinely laugh-out-loud in places. The idea of 'Minivan Helsing' for starters is genius, and in places the script seems to acknowledge the sheer craziness of everything with a knowing wink to the reader, without ever actually breaking the fourth wall, which is a technique I've always been fond of.

It's in the second story, again, where the characters really start to standout. To start with, it was only the delightful robot Igor that I had found memorable, but with the arrival of Minivan Helsing and crew, you've got Minivan himself, his daughter, some self-admittedly treacherous crewmates, Frankenstein's own monster truck, and Frankenstein himself becoming funnier and more likeable. I'd see it as the ingredients all properly falling into place, just like Neil Morrissey joining Men Behaving Badly; good beforehand, excellent afterwards.

The illustrations are great, with a very cartoony feel to fit the story perfectly, and I'd happily get people to read this in the library. If the next story is as good as The Curse of Minivan Helsing then I'll be delighted!

4/5

Monster Motors is out on 16th June 2015 through IDW Publishing