4 Stars | Lost in a Good Book

Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia

27 Apr 2021 Leave a comment

by Amy in 4 Stars, Audiobook, Young Adult Tags: Audiobook, caitlin kelly, four stars, francesca zappia, kate rudd, young adult

Published: 30 May 2017 (print)/7 May 2019 (audio)
Publisher: Greenwillow Books /Harper Audio
Pages: 385/8 hrs and 51 minutes
Narrator: Caitlin Kelly and Kate Rudd
Format: Audiobook
Genre: Young Adult
★ ★ ★ ★ – 4 Stars

Her story is a phenomenon. Her life is a disaster.

In the real world, Eliza Mirk is shy, weird, and friendless. Online, she’s LadyConstellation, the anonymous creator of the wildly popular webcomic Monstrous Sea. Eliza can’t imagine enjoying the real world as much as she loves the online one, and she has no desire to try.

Then Wallace Warland, Monstrous Sea’s biggest fanfiction writer, transfers to her school. Wallace thinks Eliza is just another fan, and as he draws her out of her shell, she begins to wonder if a life offline might be worthwhile.

I really enjoyed this book, it was wonderful and a little heartbreaking and surprising but there was also a great familiarity too. The characters and their relationships felt real and each character was fleshed out, even if they were only minor characters I still got a sense of who they were. There are strong friendships that are established but also fresh new ones that grow and seeing Eliza work through these with her own anxieties and coping mechanisms was extremely validating.

Online communities and forums get great representation and reading a book that celebrates loving something enough to create art and fanfiction in a normal, non-judgemental way is great. Zappia captures the relationships and friendships of online interaction really well and I loved how she makes a point of explaining how these connections are just as meaningful as in person friendships.

However, for a story about online communities and finding friends across the country bonding over common interests I will admit I hated that Zappia uses the worn out irksome trope of the “40 year old dude in a basement” which alone is annoying but Zappia goes a little bit further adding insult to injury with descriptions of having Cheeto dust on his fingers and “a Star Wars shirt that doesn’t fit his growing girth.” Look, I get it, it’s a well- known trope but it is a cheap joke and one that I am really tired of seeing dragged out, especially in this kind of book. There could easily have been a better line for Eliza’s apprehension, even just the age would have sufficed, we didn’t need the extra judgement and mocking, no matter the context. Just because it isn’t your fandom, doesn’t mean it’s any less important.

On the plus side, many other stereotypes are broken with the demographic and age of fans for Eliza’s work. I liked that popular internet content is showcased as being for all ages and can hold such important meaning in people’s lives, it isn’t only teenagers but adults too who enjoy the content and consume it and engage regularly as fans online.

It isn’t only the online experience represented well, Zappia also handles issues like depression and anxiety in realistic and believable ways. Eliza’s experience and her fears are conveyed through the narrative naturally and through Eliza’s eyes we see how her mind works to build up these feelings and what triggers them.

Overall I enjoyed this book for giving a space to celebrate the internet culture and the fandom experience. I love that it came from original content and wasn’t based on established media and at times I really wished I could read more of Eliza’s web comic.

You can purchase Eliza and Her Monsters via the following

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Romeosaurus and Juliet Rex by Mo O’Hara

23 Apr 2021 3 Comments

by Amy in 4 Stars, The Picture Book Corner Tags: andrew joyner, children's picture book, dinosaurs, four stars, mo o'hara, romeo and juliet, shakespeare, shakespeare adaptation, william shakespeare

Published: 11th December 2018
Publisher: HarperCollins
Illustrator: Andrew Joyner
Pages: 34
Format: Picture Book
★ ★ ★ ★ – 4 Stars

In this hilarious take on Shakespeare for children—with dinosaurs instead of people—Romeosaurus and Juliet Rex get along perfectly well until they realize that their families should be mortal enemies!

“Your family would eat mine,” says Romeosaurus, who comes from a family of herbivores. Yes, it’s true—Juliet Rex’s family are carnivores, and Romeosaurus’s family are plant-loving herbivores.

With two families up in arms (very short ones for Juliet Rex) the two friends run away, determined not to let family baggage determine who their friends should be.

It’s Shakespeare Day and what better way to celebrate that than with a Shakespeare adaptation in the form of a picture book! This is Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet told through dinosaurs which is a brilliant concept and should start a whole series of Shakespeare told through dinosaurs.

Romeosaurus and his friends do all the normal things we’ve come to see from a Romeo and Juliet story: there is a masked ball, Romeosaurus sneaks in with his friends and causes chaos but not before he and Juliet spot each other and become friends. All the main plot points from the original are covered, all our favourite characters (with a slight variation on the details and circumstances as you’d expect). I love that this book doesn’t make Juliet the plant-loving herbivore – instead she is the large, carnivorous T-Rex in a smashing dress; I also love that there is a Shakespeare cameo in his dinosaur alternate form that introduces the story much like is done in the original play.

The illustrations are fantastic, it’s dinosaurs but they’re in period clothing, but also in the wild 150 million years ago. The myriad of anachronistic elements can be ignored but also cherished because this is such a cute story and the little jokes about logistics and dinosaur anatomy bring in a different type of humour with issues such a stegosauruses inability to climb due to their lack of claws, and jokes about tiny T-Rex arms.

O’Hara keeps the two as friends, and through the story we also learn friends are important and can come in any form, even the carnivorous kind. It has a wonderful mix of happily ever after that picture books can bring, but there’s also a touch of the original Shakespeare tragedy which is absolutely fantastic.

You can purchase Romeosaurus and Juliet Rex via the following

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Dear Grandpa by Kate Simpson

23 Apr 2021 Leave a comment

by Amy in 4 Stars, The Picture Book Corner Tags: #aww21, aussie books, australian women writers challenge, aww 2021, aww2021, children's picture book, four stars, kate simpson, ronojoy ghosh

Published: August 2019
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Illustrator: Ronojoy Ghosh
Pages: 32
Format: Picture Book
★ ★ ★ ★ – 4 Stars

A picture book about the special relationship between a boy and his grandfather, who stay close even when they are separated by distance.

Grandpa, did you know that if you rub a needle with a magnet, one end will point to the north and the other end to the south? In the south there’s an apartment building 160 metres tall. From the balcony, you can see the entire city. There are cinemas and ice cream shops … and me!

As Henry measures the distance between his new apartment and Grandpa’s wooden house under the mango tree, Grandpa works out how close they really are. A moving story that celebrates the bond between a boy and his grandfather.

This is a great story about families who live far apart but can still have meaningful and connected lives. We learn about Grandpa and Henry through their letters to one another – the content of which explores facts Henry’s learning and we learn about where he lives and what he has been doing as he recounts it to his grandpa.

Simpson shows us that Henry is loving and likes to share fun facts with his grandpa while Grandpa is supportive of his affection and adds his own fun to the letters as well. Telling these things in a letter to his grandpa is sweet and it shows the fun whimsical relationship the pair have.

Ghosh’s illustrations are a beautiful addition. The letters between Grandpa and Henry take centre stage but around them Ghosh has created stunning illustrations about their content with everything from a picture of Henry’s new neighbourhood to a beautiful two page spread of blue whales and Grandpa floating through the milky way. What I love about these illustrations is Ghosh alternates between Henry’s life and the real world and Grandpa’s exaggerations.

The symmetry between the start and end of the narrative is clever and I loved how it created a nice frame not only story wise, but by creating similar emotions that we experienced at the start but which have evolved as we’ve read the story.

This is a beautiful story about missing family but still being able to connect with them and share your lives with them. The relationship comes across the page as you go back and forth between the pair, Simpson capturing the light but deep connection between grandfather and grandson remarkably well. There is a lot said in these pages and even through the most innocent and whimsical interactions it tells so much.

You can purchase Dear Grandpa via the following

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Never and Forever (#4) by Cressida Cowell

19 Apr 2021 Leave a comment

by Amy in 4 Stars, Fantasy, Junior Fiction Tags: cressida cowell, fantasy, four stars, junior fiction, wizards of once

Published: 22nd September 2020
Publisher: Hodder Children’s Books
Pages: 384
Format: Paperback
Genre: Junior Fiction Fantasy
★ ★ ★ ★ – 4 Stars

Xar and Wish are on the final leg of their journey. First stop: The Mines of Unhappiness. Here, starvation is never far away for the Magical creatures who toil in its horrible depths. Xar and Wish must escape and fast; Xar needs to take control of his ever-growing Witchstain, and Wish must achieve her Destiny. But the Tazzelwurm is in their way, a grotesque monster who threatens to block every entrance.

Time is not on their side, but the forests are calling them. Will their combined strength be enough for the BIGGEST quest so far; to defeat the Kingwitch once and for all?

With this being the final book in the Wizards of Once series I am a little sad it’s ending. I liked reading about Wish and Xar and their mismatched merry band of adventures but Cowell gives them a fitting send off and brings together everything that has been building up over the last three books. There are perils and sacrifices, magical powers and other things even more powerful at play and seeing our young heroes face these challenges and go against the odds is fantastic.

The whole series is about finding one’s true worth and capabilities and with the right guidance, gentle encouragement and positive reinforcements it shows how powerful that can be. The negativity of parents and evil doers in the story have been pushed against from the start and the contrast with characters who have faith and trust in Wish and Xar are a great example of nurturing giving the best results.

There are a lot of lessons learnt in this final story and the misjudgements and criticisms by characters are altered – which have been pointed out through the whole series by the narrator and other characters, but having it acknowledged is an important step. Cowell doesn’t do an immediate flip of opinion, she uses the characters to admit mistakes, realise where they’ve gone wrong, but she doesn’t redeem them entirely either which I found a great move because one small action can’t change a lifetime of habits.

Wish is still a stubborn and determined force as the fight to defeat the Kingwitch continues and it’s great to have her courage grow and see her seek guidance from those around her. Xar is wonderfully flawed in his own way – yet he is loyal and brave and seeking the approval of those around him. Cowell’s done a great job through this whole series showing that trying and failing is not worth nothing, and that the adventure and the experience can change you for the better despite any misgivings or mistakes. She also never makes us forget they are still children but the mission and the importance of success is a strong driving force and doing the right thing is what matters.

The unknown narrator once again is fantastic in their observations about children and adults, about responsibilities and doing the right thing. We do find out who this unknown entity has been the whole time and while it was an interesting surprise, I didn’t feel it overly remarkable.

I read the paperback version this time round and got to experience Cowell’s illustrations throughout. Her style is fascinating because it is simple but rough and complicated and I love her designs of the characters and creatures. With the paperback you miss out on the delightful David Tennant narrating but you get the two page spread of illustration and Cowell’s use of dark pages and sketches.

It’s a gripping and satisfying conclusion to this series. There are a lot of players by the end but Cowell balances it well and each gets their own ending and role to play. It wouldn’t be a Cowell story with some heartbreaking moments amongst those of triumph and while I didn’t start crying, there is no doubt she has power in her words that on the surface look whimsical and silly, but look closer and you can see commentary about love and justice, about bravery and believing in yourself. Also the failures of adults and the imperfections of the world and family.

I know there are mixed reactions to the final chapter and I’m torn about how I really feel about it – I liked it in some ways but I understand the criticism as well. It shoehorns the story but it is also a nice hint at future events. I agree on some level it was unnecessary but I can see what Cowell was trying to do. I only wish she’d known that her stories are wonderful and powerful enough without needing to end it how she did. In a way it takes away all the effort, creativity and uniqueness of the previous books.

Overall though, it is a beautiful story of found family with magic and adventure from the beginning until the very end.

You can purchase Never and Forever via the following

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Cleo and Rob by Helen Brown

16 Apr 2021 Leave a comment

by Amy in 4 Stars, The Picture Book Corner Tags: children's picture book, four stars, helen brown, phoebe morris

Published: 1st October 2019
Publisher: A New Zealand
Illustrator: Phoebe Morris
Pages: 32
Format: Picture Book
★ ★ ★ ★ – 4 Stars

A kitten called Cleo steps into six-year-old Rob’s life after his big brother, Sam, dies.

Based on true events in author Helen Brown’s family, this heart-warming story first appeared as a world-wide bestselling book for adults, Cleo.

I first came across this picture book not knowing about the adult book Cleo but it didn’t matter because Brown captures an emotional journey through beautiful words and Morris’ illustrations are the perfect balance that reflect the picture book format while never making light of the content.

This is a heartfelt story that is super sweet but quite sad as well. The exploration of brotherly relationships, family dynamics as well as the emotion impacts of loss and suffering make it a powerful read but one that speaks to both children and adults.

The way that Cleo and Rob come together after tragedy is so incredibly sweet and as the story goes on it shows how those moments from childhood have a long lasting effect on Rob’s life. Anything based on a true story is going to get me invested and emotional, especially if an animal is involved and this story was no exception. A truly beautiful read.

You can purchase Cleo and Rob via the following

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Fishpond | Amazon