The House with Chicken Legs by Sophie Anderson

Publisher: Usborne Publishing Ltd

Publication Date: May 3rd 2018

ISBN-13:  978-1474940665

Age: 8+

Welcome to my first review on my new blog and I have a fantastic book lined up for you!

This book caught my eye when I took my son to the library Lego club and went off for a peruse. Never judge a book by its cover but in this case, it really drew me in as Melissa Castrillon’s design just screamed ‘PICK ME UP, I’M MAGICAL’ and it wasn’t wrong!

The story tells of Baby Yaga, a character from traditional Slavic folklore, who guides the dead through their return to the stars. Baba has a granddaughter, Marinka, who is on course to become the next Yaga but who wants so much more than the lonely Yaga life can offer her. She wants to walk amongst the living and change her destiny, fighting against what is expected of her.

What I love about Marinka is that she is so flawed but essentially, knows this and wants to be better. She is rebellious, knowing how to hide from the house and Baba and defy them and often makes selfish choices to fulfil what she is trying to achieve. However, Anderson takes us into Marinka’s thoughts and shows us it isn’t easy for Marinka and she struggles with the conflict of what she wants and what she needs. She is a good person, intelligent and caring and one of my favourite protagonists to date.

If you research Baba Yaga, it is really difficult to find a definitive answer to who she is and what she represents, which adds to the mystery. Anderson paints her as a stern but incredibly caring and joyous woman and while creative with her portrayal, I recognised so many traits from the traditional ideas, particularly the grotesque appearance and the fact that Baba attempts to live a life away from civilisation in a house with chicken legs. The house is a character in it’s own right and, without spoiling too much, a lot of fun and full of magic.

(Image not from book)

The narrative bursts with traditional references and food stuffs that will leave you desperate to know what Kvass and Borsch taste like and the beautiful illustrations by Elisa Paganelli throughout the book just capture the essence of Marinka's lonliness and the wonderful adventures of being a Yaga.  The tale twists and turns and you never know where you are going to end up next, whilst the imagery is breath-taking and conjures up some truly beautiful scenes in your mind, a stark contrast to the barren, desolate descriptions of the locations in which the house settles.

The House with Chicken Legs is such a unique tale and I don't think I could find any fault with it, other than it ended (Come on Sophie, sort it out! 😉). It draws no comparisons in my mind, but I did often find myself thinking of the Disney movie Coco, probably for no other reason than the subject of death and such fantastic traditions surrounding it. The idea of a life celebration and returning to the stars is so serene and heart warming, I really hope it is true.

Overall, I cannot wait to share this book with the children I meet while on my training and hopefully in my future career! I will definitely be buying my own copy and hope to see it so well used, I need to buy more! I can't wait to see what Sophie Anderson has in store for us next.

A Place Called Perfect

Published: 1st August 2017

Publisher: Usborne Publishing Ltd

ISBN: 978-1474924160

RRP: £6.99

Age range: 9+

Available at: A Place Called Perfect
Let's just jump straight in with the cover designed by Karl Mountford. I straight away got this creepy feeling and I love the contrast of the dark background with the eye catching colours. When you look closely at the flowers, the eyes are weird and coupled with the teapots, it's like a dark version of 'Alice in Wonderland', I love it. When I received a 'books of the month' email from Waterstones (owners of all my money), I was intrigued straight away and went the same day. I have not been disappointed!

Violet is forced by her parent to move to Perfect against her will, as her dad has been head-hunted by the Archer brothers due to his success as an opthamologist. Everyone in Perfect goes blind, supposedly because of their location in relation to the sun and everybody wears glasses but everything else in Perfect is, in fact, Perfect! However, Violet suspects there is more to this when her parents start acting weird....and who is the mysterious 'boy'?

Helena Duggan has created a fantastic mystery, which had me gripped from the first page.
Comparisons have been drawn with 'Coraline' by Neil Gaiman (I have only seen the film to date) but the whole feel of the town and characters reminded me of the storyline of a Nintendo Professor Layton game without the puzzles, which is awesome and it also reminds me a bit of the BFG joined with a Tim Burton film. That said, comparisons aside, this story is unique in itself and I just could not put it down.

Violet is fantastic, both scared and feisty, which gives a more 3D feeling to her. She is full of love for her parents and will do whatever it takes to save them. No matter what the Archers try, some imaginations just can't be stolen and Violet's is one of these! I loved the idea that the glasses worn in Perfect make her unable to see or hear Boy but when she takes them off, there he is! Boy is brave and fun, Perfect's answer to the Artful Dodger and an orphan. I love that he laughs off having no parents but we can feel acutely just how much he feels alone without a family.

The Archers are comical baddies, though worshipped by the inhabitants of Perfect, which is what they've always wanted. I don't want to give any of the excitement away but I will say their control mechanisms over the town are fantastic and Duggan's imaginative side shines through brilliantly!
I also love the addition of the map. When I opened the book and saw it, it meant nothing but halfway through the book, I went back to it and it is quite fabulous to see Perfect laid out in front of you!
I think for the age range, it's excellent as it alludes to science topics, such as eyes and transplants, not in great detail, but definitely could be linked with curriculum material and science for KS2. I love a book that makes me want to know  more about other things!

Please go and get this book NOW (or even better, yesterday!) for your child, yourself, your class reading shelf, whatever! Too excited for the upcoming sequel!!

Being Miss Nobody

Published: 1st June 2017

Publisher: Usborne Publishing Ltd

ISBN: 978-1474927277

Age range: 10 +

Rosalind has selective mutism and can only speak in front of her parents, her little brother (who has cancer) and her neighbour. After starting high school where the bullying is relentless, Roz sets up a blog under the guise of Miss Nobody to help everyone fight back the tide of bullies but then the bullying gets twisted even further.

There was so much I loved about this book. First of all, it's another gripping book about a young person with mental health issues. So many people expect children to just be happy, they are 'too young to be depressed' etc, the old cliche. I like that there is no obvious reason for Roz's SM, it just is as always has been but with the right interventions and support, it can be overcome is the general message and it's true. It's very true to life as well, the guilt because her brother has 'real concerns' i.e. Cancer, and the humiliation but being unable to do anything about it. The writing is really representative of an 11 year old child and the way they think and the use of speech bubbles and clouds of Roz's thoughts are really effective at getting the point across.

I think Winter writes about the cancer brilliantly as Seb is a very poorly boy but alsoobsessed with poo. The humour lightens the mood in many of the scenes with Seb and he is his sister's biggest champion. I think Roz's support at home is brilliant and I wish all kids had parents like hers! The relationships for Roz in this book are so healthy and nurturing, even with Aunt Marie, who has never heard Roz speak.

The high school scenes were awful but true. Kids are just so cruel and we are becoming ever more aware of the consequences of bullying. Cyber bullying is particularly prevalent nowadays so the subject is just awesome. Kids need to be reading things like this and reflecting on it, a novel like this can really get through to them. It was a brilliant representation of how a noble goal (the blog) can become twisted as more pages pop up from the bullies using the same name and how some kids don't know where to draw the line. I won't tell you what happens but I don't at any point feel sorry for Maisy. Roz is a nicer person than me though and does the right thing! She really learns from her mistakes and grows in the way you would want an 11 year old to grow. Her attitudes change and she is a brilliant person.

My other favourite part of this book is a character called Rajit. His book week ideas are superb and he really made me laugh! I loved Ailsa too, she's the kind of friend we all wanted as a child.
So overall, I think this book is really relevant. Sometimes we say too much, sometimes not enough but it definitely helps to consider how our actions make people feel. I for one cannot wait to read Winter's next novel!

The Island At the End of Everything

Author: Kiran Millwood Hargrave

Published: 4th April 2017

Publisher: Chicken House

ISBN: 978-1910002766

Age range: 9+

Available at:  The Island at the end of everything

First of all, how gorgeous is the cover of this book? Of course, never judge the book based on this but in this case the story follows suit!

The story tells of Ami, 'untouched' by leprosy but living on an island, Culion, with many afflicted, including her nanay (mother). Until, that is, Mr Zamora arrives on behalf of the government to turn Culion into a leper colony, with all those untouched being sent to a different island and the untouched children going to an orphanage.

The descriptions of Culion are beautiful, but the contrast of all those diseased with their bodies rotting away is a great juxtaposition. There is imagery of both the leprosy and butterflies throughout as these are essentially the two main themes with a clever play on words, lepidopterist (someone who studies moths or butterflies) and lepido, meaning scaly, the word that spawned the name leprosy, closely linking the two.

There is so much to this book in terms of content. I felt like I learned a lot about butterflies, about the prejudice against leprosy (and was inspired to find out more about it) and I love that the characters are not two dimensional. We see Ami, our brave protagonist running back to Culion with her new friends Mari and Kidlat, desperate to reach her mother to the point she is cruel to the very people helping her before struggling with the guilt. Then there is the cruel bully, Mr Zamora, struggling with his own demons and yet, so passionate about butterflies that he is almost a decent being to people when discussing them. Ami hates him and yet can't help but be fascinated when he talks about butterflies. I think all of these flaws and emotions make the characters realistic and I loved that as it is too easy sometimes to make the protaganist too goody-goody. The supporting characters add well to the plot and build up a clearer picture of Ami and her passion and bravery.

The book is easy to read but challenges prejudice and deals with leprosy in a sensitive manner. There were parts I cried, which is always a sign of a great book. For me, the only thing missing was I wanted to know more about Mr Zamora: what was his illness, did he get his comeuppance? Life tells us that the baddies don't always get what they deserve but I feel there was more to him than I got to read about.

All in all, this was a fantastic read, a book of love, heartbreak, adventure and bravery and there is very little to improve upon. Having won the Waterstones Children's Book Prize for 2017 with her first novel, The Girl of Ink and Stars, Kiran Millwood Hargrave is really shaping up to be one of the big children's authors of the day.

The Goldfish Boy

Author: Lisa Thompson

Published: 5th January 2017

Publisher: Scholastic

ISBN: 978-1407170992

Age range: 8+

Available at:The Goldfish Boy

I bought this book as part of a deal in Waterstones and it was the last book I picked up, just because I needed another book to complete the deal and the cover was bright. I am so glad I did.

This story introduces Matthew, a young boy with terrible OCD, who barely leaves his room. Matthew watches the neighbours of Chestnut Close go about their day to day life, making notes and excessively cleaning his room. Then, one day, the grandchild of his next-door neighbour goes missing and Matthew was the last one to see him. He decides  to help find the little boy and unravel the mystery despite being terrified of the germs around him.

The book opens with Matthew at his bedroom window, describing the mundane little details that normally go missed and the happenings of his neighbours. I loved how descriptive this book was from the beginning, and it really gave the feeling of being stuck in your room, looking at every tiny detail you could see just to pass the time. Quite quickly, we learn Matthew has a baby brother who died at birth and has severe OCD, which he is ashamed of but can't control.

What struck me is how true to life this book was. As a mother who has lost a baby, and as a result, suffered health anxiety and on occasion, OCD, Thompson encapsulates all of the pain and shame so perfectly.  When Matthew asks 'Why can't I stop?' (washing his hand despite the agonising pain), we really get that feeling of him being desperate for this feeling to go away and yet he can't fight the vicious cycle. He feels bad so he cleans, which in turn makes him feel bad.  To add salt to the wound, he is ostracised by not only children around him but adults in his world. I was so angry that the people who could be helping Matthew just made him feel worse, especially the GP who tells him he is a good boy and to 'stop all this messing around now'. We truly enter the desperation of his parents to help him but being unable to connect. It is only now that child mental health is really coming to the forefront of people's minds and the lack of understanding was portrayed perfectly. Matthew's grief for the loss of his brother seems to have been overlooked (we find out his was seven when his brother Callum died) and the problem is exacerbated by a pregnant neighbour. The mentality of 'You are just a child, what do you have to be depressed about?' is addressed head on. Children often know and feel more than they are given credit for.

I thought it was really clever to use OCD as Matthew's outlet for his grief. Many people don't realise that grief can manifest as other mental health conditions and it is brilliantly written. The obsession not only with cleaning but also numbers, to the point where Matthew can't even say thirteen (choosing instead tenplusthree) really shows how debilitating OCD is. The supporting characters come with their own stories and I was completely engrossed in all the activity and secrets on Chestnut Close. I loved the fact that Matthew's peers are also outsiders and I think for a book aimed at 8-12 year olds, it was a gentle reminder that everyone is fighting their own battle and to just be kind to one another but also, that it's normal not to be normal. Even bullies have their secrets, it seems! The mystery of the missing child kept me reading but I think more so, why Matthew was so frightened and what had happened to make him that way.

It's really difficult to find any flaws in this book. It is easy to read, you can't put it down, and it is executed perfectly. I felt Lisa Thompson had pulled all my feelings out and put them into this child, from my own loss. I think the one thing I would have liked to have known is more about the bully teacher and any outcome of that but otherwise this book is fantastic. I can understand to some extent the comparisons with Mark Haddon's 'The Curious Incident with the Dog in the Night Time', but for me, I connected with the characters much more in this book. There were so many twists and I was gripped from start to finish.

Overall, I can't recommend enough and for young readers, it deals with some serious issues in a sensitive and poignant manner, whilst also incorporating humour and an exciting mystery!

Welcome!

Welcome to my new look blog! Please look around, leave a comment and let me know what you think 😃