The Second Summer of the Sisterhood by Ann Brashares

Published: December 2004 (print)/14th May 2010 (audio) Goodreads badge
Publisher:
 Delacorte Books/Bolinda audiobooks
Pages: 373 pages/1 disc
Narrator: Angela Goethals
Format: Audiobook
Genre: Young Adult
★   ★   ★  – 3 Stars

With a bit of last summer’s sand in the pockets, the Traveling Pants and the Sisterhood that wears them embark on their 16th summer.
Bridget: Impulsively sets off for Alabama, wanting to both confront her demons about her family and avoid them all at once.
Lena: Spends a blissful week with Kostos, making the unexplainable silence that follows his visit even more painful.
Carmen: Is concerned that her mother is making a fool of herself over a man. When she discovers that her mother borrowed the Pants to wear on a date, she’s certain of it.
Tibby: Not about to spend another summer working at Wallman’s, she takes a film course only to find it’s what happens off-camera that teaches her the most.

The second summer, the second adventure of the girls and their magic pants. The jeans are out doing their thing and the girls are having adventures. This time around they aren’t as separated, Bridgette does go to Alabama, but the other three stay close by for most of the summer. Now that the Pants have been established, this book was more a continuation of their own journeys, not so much about keeping them together and close. They do all have their own problems in their lives so the Pants do act as a connection, and each girl still uses its magic for guidance.

I liked this one a little bit better than the first one. Bridgette still annoyed me at times, but she seems to have subdued and maybe growing up emotionally. She finds peace of sorts away from her suffocatingly absent family and goes on an emotional discovery which I think she needed.

Carmen is an absolute brat in this book. I can see Brashares was going for the only child/single mum whole world combo and I get it, but my goodness she was intolerable. When her world is disrupted and she is put out in the smallest way she overreacts. I feel like Carmen was meant to have learnt from the events in book one, but she hasn’t seemed to learnt anything. She mistreats people and sabotages things and for someone meant to be almost 17 it was a bit ridiculous.

The other girls had minor improvements. Tibby tries to continue her film career and seems to gain some understanding of herself and her family. Lena too has some hard lessons to face. I feel Brashares cheated with some of Lena’s story, it fell into predictability. Actually, a lot of the book felt predictable. That’s why I was surprised that Bee’s storyline was actually probably the better of the three.

It was a good story, it wasn’t amazing, it was just four little adventures that kind of overlapped at times. The format is there, the jeans, the letters, the drama. As I say, some ridiculous moments and silly things, but I’ve come to expect that from these books.

You can purchase The Second Summer of the Sisterhood via the following

Book Depository | Dymocks

Publisher | Wordery

Booktopia | Amazon Aust

Little Koala Lost by Blaze Kwaymullina

Published: 1st July 2016Goodreads badge
Publisher:
 Scholastic Australia
Illustrator: Jess Racklyeft
Pages: 24
Format: Hardcover Picture Book
★   ★   ★  – 3 Stars

Little Koala is lost in the bush and sets out to find a home. Along the way he meets many other creatures, but he can’t live with any of them. Will he ever find some friends?

Not as cute as I first thought it would be, but still pretty cute. Little Koala Lost is about, as you would expect, a lost koala. In a counting style similar I guess to The Very Hungry Caterpillar the little koala visits animals in increasing numbers: two magpies, then three pelicans etc as it searches for someone to take him in.

The illustrations are beautiful, and the baby koala is adorable as it goes from animal group to animal group asking if they will let it join. It’s a simple story but sweet at the same time. The animals are nice enough to the koala, rejecting him not so much in a mean way because he’s “not one of them” but they give logical answers as to why they can’t take him in based on their different bodies and behaviours.

I was expecting a heart-warming story about a little lost koala and while it wasn’t as touching as I thought, it was still very sweet.

I Don’t Like Koala by Sean Ferrell

Published: 14th April 2015 Goodreads badge
Publisher:
 Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Illustrator: Charles Santoso
Pages: 40
Format: Hardcover Picture Book
★   ★   ★  – 3 Stars

What’s not to love about a cute, cuddly…creepy toy koala? This is the story of a boy and the stuffed animal he just can’t seem to shake.

Adam does not like Koala. Koala is a little creepy.

Adam tries explaining this to his parents. He tries putting Koala away – far away. He tries taking Koala on a long, long walk. Nothing works. Will Adam ever be rid of Koala?

I had to really think about this review. My first reaction was confusion about this book and why anyone would write it. It wasn’t until I was writing down my thoughts and I got to think about it more that I altered my view.

Don’t get me wrong, I still think this is a creepy book about a demonic stuffed koala, but I can see in a very small way that it might be funny to some seeing this kid try to get rid of his koala to no avail.

I thought this was going to be a cute story about a kid not liking a toy and then learning to love it but this reads like something from a horror novel. Adam describes to us all the reasons why he doesn’t like his toy koala and from a little kid point of view the reasons are justified. Adam hides Koala around his house and then we assume his parents return him to Adam’s room. But it gets weird when Adam leaves Koala at the top of a hill and it still manages to return to Adam’s house.

Maybe it’s the way I interpreted it but it isn’t that cute. This kid doesn’t like his toy, Koala, and his parents keep bringing it back to him ignoring his protests. Then something happens and he suddenly loves it? Even if I can see the reasons I don’t know, it just seems odd.

Looking at it another way, if we embrace the possessed stuffed toy angle, Adam has secured himself a demonic toy that is actually a guardian of sorts against the other evil of the world while giving off the creepy vibe. Why not, I can work with that, even if it’s exceptionally peculiar.

From an illustration angle, Santoso does an amazing job. The illustrations of Koala are effectively creepy and Adam is adorable and Santos captures all the moods and tantrums and gives Adam excellent facial expressions. Even while we’re creeped out by the story itself, you can’t help but admire the fantastic illustrations that accompany it. I am upping the stars on this purely based on Santosa’s fabulous illustrations.

You can purchase I Don’t Like Koala via the following

Book Depository | Booktopia

ABC Online | Fishpond | BookWorld

Wordery | Dymocks

Before You Forget by Julia Lawrinson

Goodreads badgePublished: 30th January 2017
Publisher:
 Penguin Random House Australia
Pages: 235
Format: Paperback
Genre: Young Adult
★   ★   ★  – 3 Stars

Year Twelve is not off to a good start for Amelia. Art is her world, but her art teacher hates everything she does; her best friend has stopped talking to her; her mother and father may as well be living in separate houses; and her father is slowly forgetting everything. Even Amelia.

The best word I could describe this book with is sweet. It is a very sweet book, it has heart and there are some beautiful moments that hit all the right emotions and makes for a, well, sweet story.

This is a book that covers a range of mental health issues, highlighting how they affect those around them as much as it shows how it affects those that suffer from them. At its core it is also a story about love and about having a family member experience something that you will never understand completely but something that will affect you in so many ways.

Lawrinson expresses Amelia’s confusion regarding her father’s behaviour remarkably well. You understand her uncertainty and her fear about what is wrong with him, the uncertainty about what it means for the future of herself and her family.

Amelia is a character that intrigued me. Her obsession with September 11 videos is a fascinating aspect of her character and Lawrinson does a wonderful job helping the reader understand why she watches these over and over again.

One of the things I loved was how Amelia expressed herself through art. I’ve read a string of books lately with main characters who love art and it is a wonderful addition to their personality, letting their creativity show and working through any personal issues with their art is always great to read about.

One thing I did want more of is better character development of Poppy. Lawrinson makes a point of telling us that Amelia and Poppy become close friends, but we learn little to nothing about Poppy herself. She is merely a side character, one that barely gets any depth. I feel like we learn more about her mother than we do Poppy which is a shame. It felt like she was meant to be a more in-depth character, she is mentioned a lot but any real relationship didn’t come across the page.

Overall I did like this book. It has heart and it has a compelling story about change and an uncertain future. One thing I wish had been included was a picture of Amelia’s art. I did the best I could to picture it in in my mind, Lawrinson provides a lot of detail, but as I turned the final page I was silently hoping there would be the artwork for us to see. Sadly, this was not the case.

 You can purchase Before You Forget via the following

Booktopia | Dymocks

QBD | Book Depository

Amazon | A&R Bookworld

 

The Lampo Circus (#2) by Alexandra Adornetto

Published: 1st March 2008 (print)/March 28 2011 (audio) Goodreads badge
Publisher:
HarperCollins Australia/Bolinda Audio
Pages: 400 pages/6 discs
Narrator: Alexandra Adornetto
Format: Audiobook
Genre: Fantasy/Young Adult
★   ★   ★   ★  – 3 Stars

The arrival of Federico Lampo and his travelling circus brings a new threat to Drabville when the children are kidnapped and transported to the grim world of the Conjuors’ Realm. Lord Aldor, assisted by Ringmaster Lampo and the vicious Contessa Bombasta, is plotting to conquer the fairy province of Mirth. . 

The children embark on a quest to warn the Queen of Mirth, encountering some fearsome obstacles, not least the ferocious Grin Bandits and their tooth–extracting apparatus.

As the day of battle draws near, Milli and Ernest realise that if Lord Aldor defeats them, theirs won’t be the only lives at stake…

Having had Milly and Ernest grow on me after book one, it was only natural I dove into book two. Also I listened to it on audio book again and it was great to hear Adornetto’s narration again, excellent continuity which is often not the case with audio book series I’ve realised.

After the events of The Shadow Thief, Milly and Ernest’s town of Drabville is settling into their new lives, being lively, and trying to think of a new town name. Their relief at being joyful and carefree means their guards are lowered when villainy threatens the town once more. The arrival of the Lampo Circus seems innocent enough, but there is a sinister nature about it that no one seems to notice.

Initially I didn’t love this story as much as the first one. It was an odd premise; it didn’t grab me as quickly as the other one did. Adornetto retains her wonderful language, her style, her narration and absurdness, so that was a comfort when they story itself was a bit odd and hard to engage with.

When the story eventually gets going, which was quite a bit of a way in I thought, but it gets to settle into the adventurous style Milly and Ernest do best. There were a few great surprises this time which made the adventure more fun. While there was adventure and suspense in the first book, I feel this had more the journey/adventure style where there a greater chance of the unknown.

There is a great moral tone which Adornetto doesn’t wave in your face, but works incredibly well in the context (no spoilers). I loved the surprises and I loved the magical element that is the crux and climax of the story. It balanced out the strangeness from the beginning and worked really well.

I would have loved a better ending. Not the conclusion per se, but the actually ending of the story. I feel like it was a tad unresolved, I still had questions that needed answering, but judging by what Adornetto has done with this second book regarding events in book one, I feel more answers will be provided in book three. As the continuing adventures of Milly and Ernest go, this was a great addition.

You can purchase The Lampo Circus via the following

Booktopia | Angus and Robinson

Kobo | Amazon

QBD | Audible | HarperCollins

aww2017-badge

Previous Older Entries Next Newer Entries