Nov23

Agent Darcy and Ninja Steve in Tiger Trouble by Grant Goodman

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IMG_5897Agent Darcy and Ninja Steve in Tiger Trouble by Grant Goodman, paperback novel, 188 pages, published in 2015.

Ninja Steve lives in Ninjastoria, where everyone wears masks and ghosts are real. He is an average student that keeps getting compared to his genius older sister. Apart from his swordsmanship, he really isn’t living up to her standards! In another land, Agent Darcy is a student at the Bureau of Sneakery, where she is one of the top students. When Agent Darcy and her rival, Agent Serena, are sent on a student exchange to Ninjastoria, they have to work together to complete their mission. They pull Ninja Steve and his best friend, Samurai Sam, into their game, getting them all into serious trouble. Will they be able to make things right?

A book that combines ninjas and spies, of course my expectations were high, and I have not been disappointed! Agent Darcy and Ninja Steve in Tiger Trouble is funny, action packed and engaging. The story was easy to read, flowing nicely between the two perspectives of Agent Darcy and Ninja Steve. I read the whole book in one day, as I couldn’t sleep without knowing what happened, so I got up and finished reading it! The action sequences were exciting, and I enjoyed learning about the world that has been created for the story. The Maze of Mirrors sounds horrible, but I wouldn’t mind a Field of Tall Purple Grass (as long as there are no snakes of course). I also enjoyed the puns throughout the story, gave me plenty of giggles.

I really liked Ninja Steve and Agent Darcy. Even though they are still young, Darcy and Steve are able to show maturity and dedication in their professions when required. They are kind, loyal and willing to help others. At first, I didn’t like Ninja Nora or Agent Serena much, but they grew on me through the story. Serena and Nora are quite similar, both are very clever and good at their jobs, but with that comes a lot of arrogance. Serena taunts Darcy and Nora is rather mean to Steve at times, but when trouble arrives, both girls show fierce loyalty towards their companions.

This book is suitable for middle primary school to lower high school students. I believe it is only the first in an upcoming series following Ninja Steve’s and Agent Darcy’s adventures. I am looking forward to another trip to Ninjastoria 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.

Nov22

Dangerous Reflections by Shay West

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Dangerous Reflections CoverDangerous Reflections by Shay West, e-book, 212 pages, first published in 2011, this edition published by Booktrope in 2014.

Alexis and her mum have been forced to move into her aunt’s guesthouse after her father left them penniless. Now Alex has to begin her freshman year of high school at a new school. Being new, her obsession with history and her old clothes already make her a target for bullies, but she also quickly manages to make an enemy of one of the most popular girls, Catelyn. To complicate her life even further, when Alex looks into the mirror, her reflection shifts to that of another. She finds herself traveling through the mirror into the past to prevent an evil time traveler from changing some important events.

This novel combines fantasy elements with the contemporary struggles of a high school student. For a lot of the story we are faced with Alex’s everyday issues, such as making new friends, having a crush, coping with how she feels about her dad leaving, school, all the things that consume the average teenager. Then Alex gets to travel through the mirror, becoming someone from the past and living as them as they avert a disaster that would alter the course of history.

I enjoyed the dips into history, they were well written and exciting. The time travel sections felt realistic and plausible, though perhaps not entirely historically accurate. I don’t know that Hernan Cortes had an older sister for instance. I’m also curious as to what happened to the people whose body Alex borrowed during these times. Since Alex’s body was cold and still during each trip, they probably didn’t take up residence there, so what happened to them? And what happened upon their return, would they remember what had happened in their absence? These trivial curiosities don’t affect the quality of the story, I’m just naturally inquisitive and like to think outside of the story.

Overall I liked Alex and her friends. However, Alex was a rather whiny and ungrateful character at times. Angry at her mum for selling all their stuff, and moving them to Grand Junction away from her friends, Alex shows little to no understanding of how hard it must be for her mother. Alex wants the right clothes, the latest fashion items and technology, and blames her mother for their lack of funds, which is quite unfair. Alex does grow through the story, and begins to understand her mother’s position a little better by the end. The trips through the mirror help her to mature and become more empathetic to those around her, but she is still a rather egotistical teenager, making her a pretty realistic character! I think teens will be able to relate to her, and to her friends.  Why she would moon over that idiot Beau is beyond me though, he was obviously a self-absorbed prat!

An engaging read, Dangerous Reflections is suitable for upper primary school and high school students. This is the first book in The Adventures of Alexis Davenport trilogy, which is followed by Twisted Reflections and Desperate Reflections.

 

*I received this book as a digital 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.

Nov13

Aussie Christmas Books for Children

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With Christmas only six weeks away, it was time to pull out some of our Christmas books. We have a pretty good selection of Christmas themed books and I wanted to share some of the Australian ones here.

IMG_3000Our absolute favourite Christmas book, What Does Santa do When it’s not Christmas? is by Australian author and illustrator Heath McKenzie. It is a perfect picture book for sharing aloud and is sure to make you laugh!

IMG_5824Other humourous rhyming books for an Aussie Christmas include There Was an Old Bloke who Swallowed a Present and There was an Old Lady who Swallowed a Star, both by P. Crumble and Louis Shea. With hilarious illustrations and a familiar cadence, these are great for young children.

IMG_5827For some Christmas carols with an Aussie twist Colin Buchanan has it covered with Santa Koala (to the tune of Waltzing Matilda), Aussie Jingle Bells and The Twelve Days of Aussie Christmas. The latter also has a list of things to spot in the pictures throughout the book. Fair Dinkum Aussie Christmas is a collection of songs by Bucko & Champs which can be sung to the tunes of some traditional carols. Possibly the most popular Australian Christmas song is Six White Boomers by Rolf Harris and Bruce Whatley; it is certainly our favourite! We also like The Twelve Cats of Christmas by Kevin Whitlark. If you’re more of a dog lover, you may prefer The Twelve Dogs of Christmas!

IMG_5829IMG_5833It wouldn’t be Christmas without reading An Aussie Night Before Christmas on Christmas Eve! I love the idea of Santa arriving in an old ute.

Fans of Diary of a Wombat won’t be able to pass Christmas Wombat by Jackie French and Bruce Whatley. That wombat sure does like carrots!

IMG_5830We have a picture book called Santa is Coming to Sydney. Santa takes the whole night to make his special deliveries to Sydney children before flying home… it’s probably nice for kids in Sydney to read about Santa coming to their city, but my kids weren’t really impressed, as it made it seem like Santa would only be visiting Sydney. I do like that Santa uses Santa-Nav to get around though.

IMG_5836If you’re looking for something to keep the kids entertained, you might like to try Where’s Santa? In Australia by Louis Shea. There are literally hundreds of things to spot in this Where’s Wally?-esque book. The humourous illustrations will keep the kids busy for hours!

We also enjoyed The Australian Twelve Days of Christmas by Michael Salmon (my favourite version), Tea and Sugar Christmas by Jane Jolly and Robert Ingpen, and Christmas in Australia by John Williamson and Mitch Vane. We borrowed these ones from the library.

What Aussie Christmas books do you like to read with your kids?

 

 

Nov11

Pin the Tentacle on the Octopus

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We made our own version of Pin the Tail on the Donkey for our beach themed party; Pin the Tentacle on the Octopus!

Using a piece of scrap cardboard, I painted an octopus with only seven tentacles. I gave her a lovely big smile, and A thought she should have a little crown too. We used some glittery paint for extra effect.

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Streamer tentacles.

While the octopus was drying we cut some lengths of crepe paper streamers up in various colours to use as the missing tentacle. Each child could choose one, and using a piece of blu-tack on the back of the streamer, stick it to the octopus picture during the game.

I’m sure most of you have played a version of this game at some point, but if not, it is played like this; each child stands in front of the picture, is then blind-folded and spun around gently three times before trying to stick or pin the tail/tentacle onto the picture. The child that gets their tentacle closest to where it’s meant to be is the winner. A scarf tied around the child’s eyes can suffice for a blindfold.

Example of where to place the tentacle.

Example of where to place the tentacle.

This is a fun game for younger children and can be done with as many players as there are available tentacles (or tails).

 

Nov10

Creeping Shadow by Caroline Peckham

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image1-1Creeping Shadow (The Rise of Isaac #1) by Caroline Peckham, e-book ARC, 341 pages, expected publication 10th December 2015.

Oliver and May Knight find themselves alone in the world when their mother mysteriously vanishes from their home. The authorities ship them off to live with a grandfather that they have never met, and don’t know anything about. He lives in a strange house and is keeping secrets from them. When May awakes screaming under the pain of a powerful curse, some truths must come to the surface. The earth is but one of seven worlds connected by gateways, there is real magic and mages who can control it, dark creatures, and more family secrets. Oliver and May must accompany their grandfather into the next world, and as they discover more about their family and themselves, they find that there may be danger lying ahead for them, and perhaps for all of humanity.

Creeping Shadow was an intriguing and complex novel that captured me right from the start and hooked me to the very last. It was a real page-turner, and so so hard to put down at bed time! The plot was fast, well constructed and gripping. The creation of seven worlds is interesting, and I love the idea of being able to travel through them via gateways, though passing the challenges to be allowed to travel through sounds a little daunting. The landscapes, new animals, plants and food are all described beautifully, making me feel like I could just step into Aleva myself.

The Race of Aleva reminded me of The Hunger Games, though with less murder. It was physically and emotionally challenging, with each task coming to life through the pages. It really tested the competitors, revealing their true selves. I felt like I got to know Oliver and May intimately, sharing their hopes and worries. All the characters were so well written, they came to life as I read. I became invested in the characters, always a good sign of an excellent story. I cheered Oliver and his team on during the race, my stomach lurched at signs of danger, I smiled at Ely’s concern, laughed at Rogan’s and Quinn’s attempts at disguise, and I wanted to punch Larkin in the face. I felt a thousand emotions as I ripped through Creeping Shadow. And I will be thinking about it for a long time to come.

I don’t normally get hung up much on the covers of books, however, I just love the cover for Creeping Shadow. It would definitely grab my attention from across the bookstore!

Suitable for high school students and older, Creeping Shadow is perfect for fantasy fans. It is the first book in a new series called The Rise of Isaac. It is due to be released on the 10th of December 2015 on Amazon, and would make an excellent Christmas gift for a teenager (or young adult fan of any age!). I can hardly wait for the next installment in the series!

 

*I received this advanced reading copy as a digital version 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.

Nov9

Island Cupcake Tower

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IMG_5701Recently we held a birthday party with a beach theme. As the centrepiece of the food table, I made cupcakes to place on my cupcake stand. My stand has three levels for holding cupcakes, plus a place for one right at the top. I used this design to make the cupcake stand into an island cupcake tower.

Freshly baked cupcakes.

Freshly baked cupcakes.

First, we baked the cupcakes using a basic butter cake mix. A helped me set out the paper cases (she chose ones with Disney Fairies on them!), and spoon the mixture into the cases. We only filled each one about half way so that they didn’t rise too much.

Once the cupcakes were completely cool, A and I divided the cupcakes into piles for each level on the stand. The lowest level held the most cupcakes, and was to represent the water of our island. A helped me mix up the butter (vienna) cream to ice them. I like to use a simple recipe for butter cream that I found on Taste.com. We added some blue food colouring to the butter cream until it was the blue we wanted, and then we generously covered the cupcakes with it. We used the flat edge of a knife to create the “waves” by tapping the top of each iced cupcake, pulling some of the butter cream up in peaks.

A sea cupcake.

A sea cupcake.

Adding coconut to the top of the cupcake.

Adding coconut to the top of the cupcake.

We made a second batch of butter cream, this time colouring it yellow for our layer of sand cupcakes. We had previously coloured coconut to use as the sand on these cupcakes. We covered each cupcake with butter cream, and then dipped them into the yellow coconut until the tops were completely covered. I made the butter cream thick on these cupcakes to help hold the plastic toy palm trees we then placed on each one.

Beach cupcake.

Beach cupcake.

Grassy cupcake.

Grassy cupcake.

The final layer of cupcakes was to be the heart of the island, with green butter cream and green coconut for the grass. Again, we applied the butter cream generously to help secure the plastic ferns we added for foliage. These cupcakes were the pinnacle of the cupcake stand. The cupcake on the very top was the centre of the island, which sloped down to the sea at the bottom. I think it looked quite effective on the table!

Island cupcakes.

Island cupcakes.

Nov8

Flower Lei

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IMG_5633Summer is coming! Warm weather, sun, sand, surf… The thought of the beach put me in the mood to make flower leis with the kids.

Fabric flowers.

Fabric flowers.

This is a very simple lacing activity using fabric flowers and cut up plastic drinking straws. I bought the flowers from Educational Experience, an online educational supply store. These flowers have little holes in the centre of each one, perfect for threading. You could also make your own fabric flowers from fabric scraps, or use paper/tissue paper for the flowers.

Threading flowers and straws.

Threading flowers and straws.

We cut pieces of yarn roughly a metre long, and tied a big knot in one end to prevent the flowers from slipping off. The kids alternated flowers and straws until they had filled their yarn up. I helped them tie the ends together to form a loop, and the leis were ready to wear.

The younger kids had some trouble keeping the plastic yarn needle on the yarn, so I tied the needle on for them. This allowed them to focus on the threading without the frustration of needing to re-thread the needle all the time. Once they were finished, we just cut the needle off and tied the ends together. The boys (who are only two) did very well with this activity, carefully threading their flowers and straws on. This is a great activity for fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination and concentration. And it makes some lovely, bright leis for dressing up with!

 

Nov8

Colouring Coconut

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Ingredients.

Ingredients.

Desiccated coconut can be used in many different cooking dishes, but lately we have been using it to decorate cakes. I once made a rabbit cake that I covered with plain white coconut for the rabbit’s fur, but sometimes I want to use coconut for something that isn’t white, so I have to colour it.

Coconut and food colouring in the bag.

Coconut and food colouring in the bag.

Post mixing.

Post mixing.

Colouring desiccated coconut is a very easy process and only takes a few minutes. I prefer to use a zip-lock sandwich bag to mix the coconut and the food colouring together. I add some coconut, just roughly how much I think I will need, and then the food colouring to the bag. I make sure that the bag is securely shut prior to shaking it up to move the colour around. Usually I worked the colour around the bag with my fingers to make sure all of the coconut is exposed to the food colouring.

Ready to decorate with.

Ready to decorate with.

Because I wanted to use the coconut for grass, I coloured it green. The kids also helped me colour some yellow to be used as sand. They like to shake the bags up and squeeze it all over to spread the colour.

Nov4

The Hippity Dippity Witch by Lorraine O’Byrne

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hippitydippitycoverThe Hippity Dippity Witch: Trouble in Willow Grove by Lorraine O’Byrne, e-book, 138 pages, published by Updrift in 2015.

To avoid a spelling test Jenny ditches school and goes to visit Willow Grove, a wood where her animal friends live. Since her last visit to Willow Grove, a young witch called Marigold has been wreaking havoc with her poor spell work. Marigold is the niece of Willow Grove’s resident witch, Griselda, who will not be impressed by Marigold’s interactions in the wood.

This was a quick and entertaining read. It contained short chapters, which are great for younger kids, and some black and white illustrations scattered through the book. I enjoyed reading about Marigold’s mishaps, which often made me laugh. I think this would be an excellent book to share with my kindergartner.

I enjoyed reading The Hippity Dippity Witch; it was well written, and the plot flowed nicely. The story finished with hints towards a sequel, so hopefully there will be more books to come. I was surprised by the twist for Jenny towards the end of the story, but thought that it fit nicely.

The characters were interesting. Marigold was a bratty, dislikeable girl with a temper, though her mistakes were rather funny! I liked her rhyming spells, it’s just a shame that they never quite worked. Jenny on the other hand was a caring, polite and gentle child who talks to animals. I liked Griselda too, she was a talented witch, who was also strong and kind.The little woodland creatures were funny, especially after their encounters with Marigold!

The Hippity Dippity Witch is a wonderful story for lower to middle primary school students. I hope there will be more stories about Jenny, Griselda and Marigold soon!

 

*I received this book as a digital 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.

Nov3

Annalise’s Up and Down Day by Denise L Jenne and Julie Iannone

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AnnalisecoverAnnalise’s Up and Down Day by Denise L Jenne and illustrated by Julie Iannone, picture e-book, published by Gill Publishing in 2015.

Annalise is a little girl exploring the meaning of up and down throughout her day. She gets up in the morning and starts a wonderful summer day, experiencing nature, play and family.

Each page of Annalise’s Up and Down Day shows something that is up and something that is down. It’s repetitive nature will assist in reinforcing the concept of the opposites, down and up. It is a fun way to cover basic ideas, and I can easily see a series of Annalise books covering other opposites.

The language and text are very simple and easy to read, suitable for toddlers and preschoolers. My toddlers liked this book, and engaged by telling me which item was up or down on the pages.

There was something about the illustrations that didn’t quite appeal to me. The pictures are detailed watercolour paintings, but I think Annalise’s face or hair isn’t consistent throughout the book, and this threw me. I guess it’s not really that important, my kids didn’t seem bothered at all. Some of the pages were split to show “up” on one side and “down” on the other. I preferred the pages that weren’t split.

Annalise’s Up and Down Day is a nice and simple book to share with a child.

 

*I received this book as a digital 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.