24 Feb 2020 Leave a comment
in Giveaway Tags: blogiversary, giveaway, giveaway winners
The time has come to announce the winner of my giveaway. Thank you to everyone who entered, I was amazed at the final tally so thank you all for your support and for sharing the love. Also thank you to everyone who shared their favourite books with me. It’s always great to get recommendations, especially if they come with high praise.
The winner was drawn via Rafflecopter and I’m very pleased to announce that the winner is
The winner has been notified by email.
Congratulations!
21 Feb 2020 Leave a comment
in 4 Stars, The Picture Book Corner Tags: children's picture book, corrina luyken, four stars
Published: 18th April 2017
Publisher: Dial Books
Illustrator: Corrina Luyken
Pages: 56
Format: Picture Book
★ ★ ★ ★ – 4 Stars
One eye was bigger than the other. That was a mistake.
The weird frog-cat-cow thing? It made an excellent bush.
And the inky smudges… they look as if they were always meant to be leaves floating gently across the sky.
As one artist incorporates accidental splotches, spots, and misshapen things into her art, she transforms her piece in quirky and unexpected ways, taking readers on a journey through her process. Told in minimal, playful text, this story shows readers that even the biggest “mistakes” can be the source of the brightest ideas — and that, at the end of the day, we are all works in progress, too.
For a story with very few words, there is a wonderful profound nature and beauty to it. Luyken shows how small mistakes can become different yet beautiful things and can help create new intentional things.
The illustrations are very bare, the ink pictures the obvious focus of the story, but they are stunning and seeing the creativity and the imagination stem from those small mistakes are divine.
As each little mistake progresses you see the illustrator’s mind work and see the changes that happen because of unintentional things, one eye too big, one leg too long. It doesn’t dismiss the mistakes, it offers a chance to make something unique because of it.
The illustrations aren’t all black and white ink drawings, there are speckles of colour which stand out against the vast white pages. I love this story because it is a wonderful concept, but it is also a celebration of imperfection which I adore and shows that one mistake doesn’t have to ruin anything magical or beautiful.
You can purchase The Book of Mistakes via the following
20 Feb 2020 Leave a comment
in 4 Stars, Audiobook, Non Fiction Tags: autobiography, drug use, four stars, memoir, non fiction, samantha owens, sexual abuse
Published: 21 March 2019 (print)/21 March 2019 (audio)
Publisher: John Blake/Bonnier Books UK
Pages: 272/6 hrs and 55 mins
Narrator: Emma Swan
Format: Audiobook
Genre: Non-Fiction
★ ★ ★ ★ – 4 Stars
When your new best friend has pimped you out to older men and is making money from your abuse, who will come to your rescue?
By the age of thirteen, vulnerable Sheffield teenager Samantha Owens had fallen through the cracks in the care system. Bounced around numerous foster carers after her home life became too chaotic, Samantha thought she had found a friend in the streetwise Amanda Spencer. The older girl bought her clothes, styled her hair and found her places to stay. Samantha’s welfare was the last thing on Spencer’s mind, however, as in reality she was grooming the young girl for exploitation of the worst possible kind.
Over the course of the next few months, Samantha was plied with alcohol and drugs and pimped out to over fifty men for Spencer’s gain. Raped, abused, and with no chance of escape, Samantha was at the mercy of the calculating, ruthless and intimidating Spencer. It took a police investigation of two years to bring her and a small gang of cohorts to justice and, in 2014, Spencer was jailed for twelve years. With her abusers in jail, and Samantha bravely rebuilding her life, her shocking story is a stark warning to those who believe child sexual abuse follows any set pattern.
CW: sexual abuse, drugs
I can’t quite say what made me pick this up but it was an interesting story and one that is filled with sadness that these events could happen and no one ever notice or care. From a neglected childhood Sam is befriended by an older girl and from there her innocence and naivety is taken advantage of as the girl she looks up to leads her on the path of danger and destruction.
Samantha keeps referring to Amanda has her best friend but she clearly isn’t. But from Sam’s perspective she is the closest and only friend she has had, and once you know her childhood situation and her school life you can easily see how she held onto the belief that Amanda was her best friend.
Some parts describe the day to day before skipping parts of time and in this way we get to see a lot of the intimate moments of Sam’s life and get to see how long this went on and how it changed her life. It isn’t just her life on the streets with Amanda, her childhood has its own traumas and honestly, seeing her resilience through that as a child herself is something to be proud of. To see that be taken advantage of is hard and to see those around her fail her is even harder.
As Samantha got older and tells of her life on her own it was harder to track her timeline because she seems to change her mind a lot and her opinion flips often. This may have been over days or weeks but in the telling of the story it happens in a few sentences. This easily works as her being indecisive, but listening to it it happens fairly quickly. I didn’t mind this, but I was unclear of the time period and whether this was instant or over a few days or longer. Not that is has any real bearing on the story, but it was a moment of confusion.
Samantha doesn’t get away scot free and there are moments of unjustness but also of deserved consequences. Throughout her story though there are moments of despondency because you see Sam’s struggles and the circumstances she finds herself in and how she was behind from the start. It was sad to see how she often tried her hardest but the situation she was in and the lack of support she got often resulted in her falling back into bad habits. It is easy to see how it happened though as she explains that the pressure was too much and the need for money or comfort was what puts her over the edge no matter how much she hated it.
The is definitely a story about falling through the cracks of the system and seeing Samantha’s life from childhood to adulthood with neglect and abuse with only a few people to care about her was hard to hear about but one I think is important too. It is a powerful story to tell and having the courage to do so, and do so in a way where she doesn’t paint herself entirely as a victim, is incredibly brave.
You can purchase Pimped via the following
Dymocks | Wordery | Angus and Robinson
Fishpond | Amazon | Amazon Aust | Audible
18 Feb 2020 Leave a comment
in 4 Stars, Audiobook, Young Adult Tags: 1990s, Audiobook, lgbt, LGBTQIA, young adult
Published: 28th May 2013 (print)/6th April 2013 (audio)
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/Audible
Pages: 470/14 hrs and 17 mins
Narrator: Beth Laufer
Format: Audiobook
Genre: Young Adult
★ ★ ★ ★ – 4 Stars
When Cameron Post’s parents die suddenly in a car crash, her shocking first thought is relief. Relief they’ll never know that, hours earlier, she had been kissing a girl.
But that relief doesn’t last, and Cam is soon forced to move in with her conservative aunt Ruth and her well-intentioned but hopelessly old-fashioned grandmother. She knows that from this point on, her life will forever be different. Survival in Miles City, Montana, means blending in and leaving well enough alone (as her grandmother might say), and Cam becomes an expert at both.
Then Coley Taylor moves to town. Beautiful, pickup-driving Coley is a perfect cowgirl with the perfect boyfriend to match. She and Cam forge an unexpected and intense friendship–one that seems to leave room for something more to emerge. But just as that starts to seem like a real possibility, ultrareligious Aunt Ruth takes drastic action to “fix” her niece, bringing Cam face-to-face with the cost of denying her true self–even if she’s not exactly sure who that is.
The Miseducation of Cameron Post is a stunning and unforgettable literary debut about discovering who you are and finding the courage to live life according to your own rules.
CW: self-harm, drug use, sex
I’m not sure what made me start reading this book but I am so glad I did. I loved the story, I loved Cameron and her life and truly I think I could have read about Cameron’s early romances and relationships forever. I was so involved with everything this book was about; I loved the complications and the secrets and the pure freedom of expression of desires. It was wonderful to see that even though everything is hidden, it is possible. Laufer is a fantastic narrator, she uses inflections and tones perfectly and you’re never taken out of the story. I was drawn into Cameron’s world and was with her the entire time.
There are fabulous friendships, the inevitable betrayal and I wanted nothing more than to jump into the book and seek justice for Cameron on her behalf. There is such an energy from those early parts that I fell right into. I didn’t quite feel the same energy in the final parts/chapters until right at the very end. Not quite sure where it kicks over but I think somewhere when she is sent to be “fixed”. The place is a strange set up and while it isn’t nearly as weird as others that no doubt existed, it has a dangerous approach to it all the same.
It’s strange because it could have been a lot worse, and I think Cameron eventually highlights what the main problem with it is, and of course other people do in small ways before, but it was such a weird environment and that comes across in the writing. The majority of the book comes before this though and by then you can clearly see the wrongness going on even if it is disguised as something else.
I loved Cameron’s defiance and her self-assurance. I loved that she knows the risks and yet wants to experience things anyway. Danforth doesn’t preach at us, but through the characters we see the injustice, through their words and their situations we see how messed up this thinking is, how kids are being essentially punished for loving who they love through no fault of their own.
This is a story about teenager’s being teenagers and doing all the things teenagers are going to do. The turn of the decade and coming of age all mix together into an honest story that is filled with passion and kids who are just being kids. There’s marijuana use, some language and a pretty honest exploration of sexuality and sex. It is uncertain, it’s new, it’s exciting and all of that comes across on the page with these characters who you love and hate and see for all their foolishness and faults.
I loved it all, but I really loved the earlier parts the most. I could feel it, right there with Cameron and her childhood, figuring stuff out, never naming it but working on instinct and having those around her to guide her. We go through years of her life and see the people who influence her and who love her. It is a brilliant exploration of best friends and women helping women.
It also has such a great 90s feel, the early years of a decade, the end of another when you can remember the previous decade and new trends are happening, there’s new music and old clothes, a mix of times. Even though this was published in 2012 there isn’t a clear shoehorning of 90s references, it happens naturally if at all. You understood it was from an earlier time and it was also timeless in a way which allowed the story to focus on the characters, on Cameron and her life, and the lives of those around her.
I would have loved the book to go on further, but despite the fact it was already quite long, I wanted to see more after those final moments. I wanted to be vengeful on Cameron’s behalf, I wanted her to be free and to see the previous life she had left behind, I wanted to save so many people from the adults around them. I do love the ending, it was beautifully done and Danforth brings it back to earlier moments so wonderfully well it was a great conclusion. My own wishes though would love to see what happens next and yet I don’t need a sequel because I really do think that would ruin the magic.
You can purchase The Miseducation of Cameron Post via the following
QBD | Booktopia | Book Depository
Dymocks | Wordery | Angus and Robinson
Fishpond | Amazon | Amazon Aust | Audible
14 Feb 2020 Leave a comment
in 4 Stars, The Picture Book Corner Tags: children's picture book, four stars, melanie walsh
Published: 22nd March 2016
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Illustrator: Melanie Walsh
Pages: 32
Format: Picture Book
★ ★ ★ ★ – 4 Stars
Isaac may look like everyone else, but he actually has superpowers that make him different from his brother and his classmates. Even though he’s not really a superhero — he has Asperger syndrome, which means his brain works a little differently.
Straightforward and engaging, Isaac’s first-person narrative will help kids see the world through the eyes of a child with the high-cognitive type of autism spectrum disorder commonly known as Asperger syndrome.
This is a book that celebrates the great talents and explains the challenges that a child with Asperger’s might face. It turns Isaac’s differences into his own superpowers. His boundless energy lets him play for hours on the trampoline, and he is always thinking of things therefore he might forget to say hello to someone.
The narrative explains some of the downsides too like being sensitive to noises and not wanting to look people in the eye, but Isaac remains positive and includes some handy tips he knows to help. Isaac is very positive about his superpowers, he sees them as an advantage to his day to day life and I think this is a great way to approach it. While there may be difficulties having a child with Asperger’s, or interacting with one, it is good to know that it doesn’t have to be a constantly negative thing or become a huge issue if you understand where the child is coming from.
The illustrations are simple but big and there is a lot of focus on what the text is saying. The colours are bright and bold but they are a good representation of what is being described and add a clear visual of the story.
Walsh has created a great book for helping kids understand someone they may know who has Asperger’s or even help a child understand themselves a bit better. The first person narrative lets reader’s see things through Isaac’s eyes and enables them to relate on a better level. It’s a good beginner’s guide to understanding Asperger’s in an enjoyable story format.
You can purchase Isaac and His Amazing Asperger Superpowers via the following
QBD | Booktopia | Book Depository
