Dec4

Fingerprint Christmas Cards

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We had so much fun making these cards last year, I think we might have to do some more in the coming weeks.

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There were Christmas craft ideas in some of the email newsletters from Educational Experience in the lead up to Christmas. One of the ideas was to create fingerprint Christmas cards. We tried this out at home, making Christmas trees and candy canes with our fingers.

A liked to smudge her fingerprints together for her trees. A liked to smudge her fingerprints together for her trees.

L carefully creating a tree. L carefully creating a tree.

We started with plain white cards. The kids used green paint to create a triangle for the tree, and then brown paint for the trunk. The candy canes were alternating red and white fingerprints in a cane shape.

A making a candy cane. A making a candy cane.

To finish the cards, we added sparkly star stickers to the top of the trees, and little Christmas stickers in the corners of the candy cane cards.

This was a quick activity with minimal mess. And the end result looked good. We gave these cards to teachers…

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Dec3

Making It Home by Suzanne Roche

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IMG_6056Making It Home by Suzanne Roche, paperback novel, 179 pages, published in 2015.

Peri was an only child until her Dad remarried, then she became a big sister to Henry and Max. All three of them spend their afternoons in the antique store owned by Peri’s father and grandfather. Whilst exploring the stockroom, Max finds a set of old keys and takes them to show Henry, placing them on top of an antiques encyclopeadia. Peri tries to stop him, but it’s too late, and they are all transported back to Ellis Island when the first immigrants were processed through there prior to entering New York city. Now Peri, Henry and Max have to find a way home, and help some people along the way.

Making it Home is a time slip novel for upper primary and lower high school students. It is a bit different to the average time slip story though, in that it contains more detailed historical information, along with archival resources, such as photographs from the relevant time periods. It is fiction based in historical fact. There are also activities and recipes at the back of the book to allow the reader to get hands-on while learning history. It was a very interesting and educational read.

The story jumps through several times, all around the end of the nineteenth century in New York City, mostly looking at the immigrant population and their situations. It was very detailed, and I felt like I learnt a lot about this era whilst reading the book. The time jumps were often unexpected, and sometimes a little hard to follow, but the content was interesting enough to overlook this.

For a book that’s gone to print, there were quite a few text errors, such as repeated words or words out of order. These should have been picked up and corrected during the editing process. They didn’t affect the storyline, but I found them a little distracting. Something that did really bother me about the story, was how did Peri, Henry and Max get through the Ellis Island check point? They would not have been on a ship manifest anywhere, so they would have been detained by the authorities, yet they seem to walk through to New York without being checked. A minor issue, I guess, but still, it niggled me. Also, when the children meet up with Geraldo for the second time, they have not aged, yet Geraldo doesn’t seem to think this is odd, despite a number of years having passed by then.

I liked the children, they were written quite realistically for their ages and situation. I think Henry is my favourite. He’s so indignant at being demoted to middle child, irritated by Peri’s older sister bossiness, incredulous about being in the past, and just really wants to go home more than anything. Being the youngest, Max was rather carefree, and just happy to be having an adventure. Peri was a big reader, and knew quite a lot about New York City, the immigrants, and tenements, which helped them. She felt responsible for their situation, and wanted to find the solution to returning home, but became very involved in helping the people they met in the past.

Making It Home is the first book in the new Time to Time series, following Peri, Henry and Max on their adventures through time, and making history fun. I wonder where in time they will find themselves next?

Dec2

Dragons at Crumbling Castle and Other Stories by Terry Pratchett

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IMG_4945 (1)Dragons at Crumbling Castle and Other Stories by Terry Pratchett, paperback collection of short stories, 339 pages, published by Corgi in 2015.

This is a delightful collection of short stories written by Terry Pratchett when he was a young man working as a journalist.

I read Dragons at Crumbling Castle and Other Stories with my eight year old daughter. She has marveled at my complete collection of Discworld novels, and wondered why I like them so much, so I thought it was time she discovered Pratchett too. This was a good book to get her started, and we enjoyed reading it together.

My favourite story was “Dok the Caveman”. Dok was a caveman inventor, always inventing something new, and often creating havoc with his new invention, but I loved his enthusiasm. It was a very funny story! My daughter liked the tales of the Carpet People, with their adventures among the fibres of the Rug.

Most of the stories were funny, with insights into the kinds of stories that Pratchett would produce later, but these really are his early work, when he was developing his style and perfecting his tale-telling abilities. I far prefer the Discworld novels, but Dragons at Crumbling Castle is a nice, easy to read kids book. My daughter would like to try some other Pratchett now, which makes me very happy!

There are black and white illustrations throughout the book which to me looked like the work of Quentin Blake, who illustrated Roald Dahl’s books. I was mistaken in this belief though, the illustrator is actually Mark Beech, he just has a very similar style, I guess. None the less, I liked the illustrations, and thought that they complemented the stories very well.

Dragons at Crumbling Castle is suitable for primary school children and up. Many adult Pratchett fans will enjoy it too, just try not to compare it to the Discworld novels!

 

 

Dec2

The Cow Tripped Over the Moon by Tony Wilson and Laura Wood

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IMG_6057The Cow Tripped Over the Moon by Tony Wilson and illustrated by Laura Wood, paperback picture book, published by Scholastic Australia in 2015.

Everyone knows the rhyme ‘Hey Diddle Diddle’, it has been a popular nursery rhyme for many years. The cow in the rhyme gets to jump over the moon, which is quite an impressive feat, and must have taken a lot of practice to perfect. In The Cow Tripped Over the Moon, the cow is on her training journey to make it over the moon. There are many attempts with trips, mis-jumps and wrong turns, but surely she must get it right in the end?

I had never considered the effort the cow must have put in to be able to jump over the moon, but I’m so glad that this author did. This book is hilarious! All my kids love it, and I love reading it to them. When the dog laughs so hard that he pukes, I thought my kids might do the same! The cow getting stuck in a sand dune was pretty funny.

The lyrical text just rolls off the tongue, and is complemented by humourous illustrations on every page. The cow even gets to wear sweatpants and a sweatband for her training! The text is clear and simple, making it easy for young readers to read on their own.

The Cow Tripped Over the Moon is a fantastic book for reading aloud. Though suitable for children from toddlers through primary school, it is especially good for preschoolers and lower primary school children. My kindergartner likes reading this one independently too.

 

* The Cow Tripped Over the Moon is shortlisted for the 2016 Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year in the Early Childhood category.

Nov30

Digger Cake

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IMG_5941Digger! Digger! Digger! is all I hear as we drive past a building site in town. Both boys are completely obsessed with diggers at the moment, with trucks running a close second. T2 is having trouble with the ‘d’ sound, so he actually says Gigger! Gigger! which is super cute.

To make our toddler boys extra happy on the weekend, we made an excavation cake with little plastic digger toys on it. When I brought it to the table after dinner, they both started yelling excitedly and bouncing in their chairs!

Cake cut and ready for decorating.

Cake cut and ready for decorating.

This is a super easy cake to make, and really doesn’t take very long to decorate at all. Cooking the cake is the most time consuming part of this cake. I used two Betty Crocker Devil’s Food cake mixes because this is the boys’ favourite type of cake. We cooked the two mixes together in one rectangular baking pan. Once it was cool, I cut part of the cake out to form the space for the excavation. I re-used some of the spare cake to create a ramp and road along one side of the cake.

Frosting the cake.

Frosting the cake.

The cake mixes came with ready to spread chocolate frosting, which made icing the cake even quicker. I covered the whole cake with the frosting. L helped me to crush up several bars of Flake chocolate to create the dust and rocks at the excavation. We mixed this with some Coco Pops and spread it around the hole in the cake. We also used some finely crushed Flake chocolate along the path and ramp under the vehicles.

Cake from above.

Cake from above.

Then it was time to place the vehicles on top of the cake. The excavation toys I bought as a pack from Toys’R’Us. There were five CAT vehicles, including some diggers, dump truck and bulldozer. We put the diggers into the hole, added the bulldozer to the path, and had the excavator dumping its load into the dump truck. We placed some of the Flake and Coco Pops into the scoops and the back of the truck as if they were actually moving the dirt around.

Excavator dumping 'rocks' and 'dirt' into the dump truck.

Excavator dumping ‘rocks’ and ‘dirt’ into the dump truck.

Diggers digging out the ground.

Diggers digging out the ground.

 

Nov29

Author Interview: Stephanie Mayor

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GoldenLocketcover copyI loved reading the charming adventures of Stephanie and her cat Angel in Nobody’s Story: The Golden Locket. I am now eagerly (and perhaps just a little impatiently) awaiting the second book, which hopefully will be out early next year.

Stephanie Mayor has been writing from a very young age, and The Golden Locket is her first novel (read my review here). I was impressed with the story and keen to find out a bit more about the author. Luckily this very talented lady could fit in an interview with me!

 

First, a bit about you, your family and your home?

About me… I’m Nobody special? Seriously though, I’m just a girl with a couple of cats and a hyper heeler puppy. Stories and music are my favourite things in life. I have three brothers and a lovely sister by marriage. My parents are divorced, but amicable, fortunately. I live in a small town in Canada, which isn’t as cold as it sounds.

 

 What is the first book you remember falling in love with? What made you love it?

The very first? I have fond memories of being read Dr. Seuss when I was young. The first book I read and truly loved was most likely Charlotte’s Web. Only E.B. White could make me sad over a spider!

 

What was the last book you read?

One of the ‘William’ books, by Richmal Crompton. I have quite a few of them, old hard-covers that belonged to my grandfather when he was a boy. My grandfather gave them to my dad, and then he gave them to me, so they’re family heirlooms! Mostly though, I’ve been stuck reading my own books. It seems like I need to read them about a thousand times during the proof-reading and editing process. (It’s amazing how many times you can miss the same mistake.) Right now I feel a little guilty reading somebody else’s work when I’m behind on my own.

 

You started writing when you were quite young, didn’t you? Did you always want to be an author?

Actually, no. I really wanted to be a singer… but I started writing in school and just fell in love with it. Once I started Nobody’s Story, that’s when I knew what I wanted to do with my life. I do still enjoy singing and song writing, though.

 

Is there a special place you prefer to write from?

Pretty much anywhere, depending on the circumstances. I do have a fairly comfy writing chair I have to fight Angel for, and a well-aged little laptop for long writing sessions.

 

What was your inspiration for the name of your fantasy world, Metilia?

I wish I had a good story for that, but it just popped into my head when I started the book. But fun facts I learned when looking it up later: lex Metilia is a Roman law about regulating luxury. (It is also a type of mantis, but I prefer to dwell on the former!)

 

The character Angel is based on your own cat, isn’t she? Could you describe the real Angel?

She certainly is! The real Angel is much the same as the one in the book, save the ability to talk. She’s feisty, protective, and very much my best friend. She has also been a part of my writing since she was just a tiny ball of cream coloured fluff. The shelter billed her as a ‘Siamese X’, but as she got bigger (and bigger), her markings changed considerably. One day, I found a picture of a Birman that looked almost identical to Angel, down to the ‘Roman nose’ and signature white socks. So I’ve been calling her one ever since. She always looks at me as if she’s known the whole time.

 

What is your favourite animal? Would you really like animals to be able to talk?

I love animals in general, but my very favourite are obviously cats, big and small. I have always had and loved cats. Yes, I definitely would. I think we could learn a lot from each other.

 

The Golden Locket is the first book in your Nobody’s Story series. When can we expect the next book?

Originally the book was supposed to be out in November 2015, but my Grandfather passed away recently and so at this point it looks like it will be sometime in 2016. Still hopeful for early 2016.

 

If you would like to find out more about the Nobody’s Story series, head over to Stephanie’s website, or follow her on Facebook or Twitter.

Nov29

Little Jakey’s House by Richard Edgley

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IMG_6039Little Jakey’s House by Richard Edgley and illustrated by Kalpart, paperback picture book, 28 pages, published by Strategic Book Publishing and Rights Co. in 2014.

Little Jakey’s House is the first book in the Little Jakey series, which follows a small black panther called Jacob. In this book Jakey has started out on an adventure and is looking for a home of his own. He looks in bushes and trees until he finds just the right place for him, with protection from the rain and wind, and a place for a cosy bed.

This is a simple and engaging story with beautiful full-page illustrations. There is a lot of detail in the illustrations; they really capture what is happening in the tale. Little Jakey is very cute! Quite a lovable character actually, and perfect for kids.

The layout of Little Jakey’s House was good for my kindergartner, as there was plain black text on one page, while the opposite page was filled with an illustration. She found this made the book very easy to read because it was so clear. It was also at a good level for her to read herself, just a few words she wasn’t sure of. She really enjoyed reading about Jakey finding his house, and is keen for more Little Jakey stories.

I also sat down and read this to my toddlers. Throughout the story they kept pointing to Jakey and saying “meow”! They seemed to enjoy it quite a lot, but got a bit fidgety towards the end. I think it was maybe a little long for them at the moment. T1 still asked me to read it to him again later though.

Most suitable for preschoolers and lower primary school students, Little Jakey’s House is a promising start to a new series. Myself and my kids are looking forward to the next title, Little Jakey Goes Swimming, which is coming out soon.

 

*I received this book from the author, who asked me for an honest review of this book. I did not receive any other remuneration, and the review is composed entirely of my own opinions.

 

Nov29

Immurement by Norma Hinkens

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immurementcoverImmurement by Norma Hinkens, e-book, 247 pages, published by Dunecadia Publishing in 2015.

When the core of the Earth overheats and causes major volcanic activity, much of the world’s population is lost. The remaining survivors take shelter in underground bunkers in the less populous areas, and become known as Undergrounders. They are not the only survivor groups though, there are also roving bands of subversives that are happy to raid and kill for fun, known as Rogues. And from the sky, come the Sweepers, who snatch up people from the ground in their hoverships.  Derry Connolly, along with her Da and her brother, Owen, are Undergrounders living in the Sawtooth Mountains, just trying to survive. Then a nearby camp is attacked, and Owen is taken. Derry finds herself on the trail with her bunker mates, Big Ed and Mason. Despite her young age, Derry must rise to the task of rescuing her brother, facing Rogues and Sweepers, doing anything necessary to stay alive.

Immurement is the first book in The Undergrounders Series, a YA dystopian/sci-fi saga. It is a fast action packed ride of survival suitable for middle to upper high school students. This story is about survival, but there are also science fiction and futuristic themes, including cloning and artificial intelligence. There is also a lot of violence, weapon use and death. It all felt appropriate for this story though.

The flow of the story was pretty fast, with lots of action. It was well written and descriptive, though I am still a little murky on exactly what happened to cause the devastation of the core overheating. I also didn’t quite follow how the world went from individually run countries to a sovereign leader, or why. I could have done with a little more background to the situation at hand, but I ploughed on and still enjoyed the story. The ending wrapped up the story nicely, while setting the stage for the sequel.

Most of the characters were quite complex. As the story progresses, we get to know the characters and their backgrounds, and watch them develop. In particular Derry grows quite a lot during the story, from a dreamy kid into a leader, a transformation that is not without its bumps. She had some tough decisions to make, but she did her best. I liked her. I also liked most of the other characters. Mason was a very interesting character; he seemed so cold and tough at the start, but a gentler side appeared later on. And Big Ed was a tough old cookie, though discovering his past surprised and saddened me. Blade and Rummy were suitably despicable as Rogues, cut-throat, violent and very very scary! The leader of the Sweepers was a hideous person inside and out. Him and his work gave me shivers! He reminds us why the responsibility of scientific development should not be given carte blanche to a single person. The bodyguard clones were blood-chilling too, but I also felt bad for them as they were made to be like that, with no life of their own.

Overall, this was a complex read with lots happening. At times it was sad, but it was always exciting and engaging. Immurement is set to be released on the 16th December 2015, with the second installment scheduled for January 2016. I hope the next book is as exciting as the first!

 

*I received this book as a digital advanced reader copy from the author, who asked me for an honest review of this book. I did not receive any other remuneration, and the review is composed entirely of my own opinions.

Nov24

Horrible Histories: The Big Fat Christmas Book by Terry Deary

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IMG_5904Horrible Histories: The Big Fat Christmas Book by Terry Deary and illustrated by Martin Brown, hardback, 159 pages, published by Scholastic Ltd. in 2014.

Come on a journey through the twelve days of Christmas Horrible Histories style!

This book is divided into sections for each of the twelve days of Christmas from the 25th of December through to the 5th of January. Each part is dedicated to a different aspect of Christmas, such as food, animals, royals, games and weather. It covers many eras in history, from the Stone Age through to more recent history. Each section also contains some information on something that happened in history on that particular day.

There is a lot to learn in this interesting and entertaining non-fiction book for primary school students. The Horrible Histories series makes learning history fun, and this Christmas book is particularly good. I had no idea that Christmas was such a popular time for bad things to happen in the past! There are be-headings, ghosts, wars, storms and other amazing historical events to read about. It is made more fun through the use of anecdotes, comics, plays and illustrations.

With Christmas coming up, now’s a great time to sit down and read a good Christmas book, and this one really is fun. It’s a must for any Horrible Histories fan!

Nov23

Beach Cake

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The hardest part of making this cake was the figure on the beach. I made the girl, her towel and the tree from fondant the day before I needed them. The rest of the cake was decorated on the morning I needed it.

Fondant snakes before rolling out.

Fondant snakes before rolling out.

Finished beach towel.

Finished beach towel.

To make the girl’s towel, I started with two lumps of white fondant, one I coloured red, the other blue. I made little snakes in each colour, and carefully lined them up side by side, alternating colours. I sprinkled some icing sugar over the top and then carefully used my rolling pin to flatten the snakes. The two colour stripes joined together as they were rolled out. I then cut off the uneven ends, forming a rectangle to use as the beach towel.

Girl on towel.

Girl on towel.

I used a very small amount of pink food colouring added to the white fondant to make the girl. I shaped this into a basic body shape, with the arms folded under the head. I added some green coloured fondant to the body for her swimmers, and for her hat. Where required, I used a little bit of jam to stick the separate fondant pieces together.

Palm leaves.

Palm leaves.

Palm trunk.

Palm trunk.

The one palm tree was fairly easy to make, though I needed to use skewers and toothpicks to prevent it from drooping or falling over. First I coloured some fondant green, rolled it out flat and cut out some leaf shapes using a sharp knife. I used the side of a toothpick to make the marks on the leaves. For the trunk, I used Nutella to create a nice brown colour, which I then shaped into a trunk shape. I stuck a skewer longitudinally through the trunk to keep it upright on the cake, and two toothpicks perpendicularly through the top to support the leaves. I draped the leaves over the toothpicks, using a little bit of jam at the top of the trunk to stick them together.

Cake cut and ready for icing.

Cake cut and ready for icing.

The actual cake was two large rectangular cakes made in my baking pans (each takes a double cake mix). I placed the cakes side by side then used a sharp knife to cut out the ocean section. I left part of the cake for an island, and the edges prevent the jelly from falling off the cake. I skimmed some of the cake off from the island to create a sloping beach area.

Island and beach iced.

Island and beach iced.

Waiting for the jelly ocean.

Waiting for the jelly ocean.

I used a basic butter cream mixture colouring a portion of it green, and a portion of it yellow. I covered the island area with the green butter cream, and the beach area with the yellow butter cream. I made up another lot of butter cream and coloured it blue, which I used over the rest of the cake, down the sides and onto the cake board for the ocean. On top of the green butter cream I added green coloured desiccated coconut for grass. The beach was made using finely crushed plain sweet biscuits (I used Arnotts Nice), and the ocean was filled with blue jelly (berry flavoured, yum yum!). I added a little bit of blue butter cream to the top of the jelly for the waves.

Island grassed, beach sanded, ocean jellied.

Island grassed, beach sanded, ocean jellied.

Once all the icing was done and the jelly added, A helped me place the towel and girl onto the beach, and then the tree up on the grass. The skewer through the tree went right through to the base of the cake. As a final touch, A added a cocktail umbrella to shade the girl.

This is quite a large cake, but it could be made to a smaller scale. It went down very well with all the kids!

Girl lying on the beach.

Girl lying on the beach.