Lost in a Good Book

I Just Ate My Friend by Heidi McKinnon

07 Sep 2018 Leave a comment

by Amy in 3 Stars, Australian Women Writers, The Picture Book Corner Tags: #aww2018, australian women writers challenge, aww 2018, cbca 2018, children's book council of australia, children's picture book, heidi mckinnon, three stars

Published: August 2017
Publisher: Simon Schuster Books for Young Readers
Illustrator: Heidi McKinnon
Pages: 40
Format: Hardcover Picture Book
★ ★ ★ – 3 Stars

The search for a true friend is something everyone can relate to – from the very young to the very old.

“I just ate my friend. He was a good friend. But now he is gone. Would you be my friend?”

A hilarious story about the search for friendship and belonging… and maybe a little bit about the importance of impulse control…

I was intrigued by the title and by the end of the book I was intrigued by the story as well. With no explanation for why or how the friend was eaten, the story follows the creature as he tries to find a new friend, not sure he will ever find another. What if he truly had eaten his only friend?

I liked the illustrations. The dark pages against the single large, colourful characters, it worked to its advantage and gave a sense of being in space or at least somewhere on another planet. This is unconfirmed, but it is logical based on the illustrations to think of the creature as an alien or space creature of some kind. McKinnon has done a great job with her illustrations. I found this book because it was on the 2018 CBCA Shortlist and shortlisted for the Crichton Award for New Illustrators. McKinnon didn’t win but for a new illustrator she has done a great job.

There is not a lot to unpack here. The creature goes around to everyone he can find and asks them if he will be his friend. Some of the responses are quite funny and the straightforwardness works to the story’s advantage. For a story that is not that complicated it managed to surprise me and delight me. It’s a little absurd and nothing makes sense and there is no reason but that is what makes it great. I don’t need an answer I just like a clever story and this is a clever story.

You can purchase I Just Ate My Friend via the following

QBD | Book Depository

Booktopia | Angus and Robertson | Fishpond

Amazon | Amazon Aust | Wordery

Image result for cbca shortlist logo

The 78-Storey Treehouse (#6) by Andy Griffiths

05 Sep 2018 Leave a comment

by Amy in 4 Stars, Junior Fiction, Treehouse Series Tags: andy griffiths, aussie books, four stars, junior fiction, Treehouse Series

Published: 1st August 2016
Publisher: Pan Macmillan Australia
Pages: 375
Format: Paperback
Genre: Junior Fiction
★ ★ ★ ★ – 4 Stars

Join Andy and Terry in their spectacular new 78-storey treehouse. They’ve added 13 new levels including a drive-thru car wash, a combining machine, a scribbletorium, an ALL-BALL sports stadium, Andyland, Terrytown, a high-security potato chip storage facility and an open-air movie theatre. Well, what are you waiting for? Come on up!

Another 13 storeys means another grand adventure and zany levels to explore. This time poor Andy get pushed aside as Terry becomes the star of the new upcoming Treehouse movie and in true Terry style lets it go to his head and he becomes a little bit mean. Because there is no need of a narrator in this film, Andy must find ways to amuse himself which involves exploring the many new rooms of the treehouse including trying to hatch the giant egg, spinning the plates in the spinning room, and scribbling some more in the scribbling room.

This is a great Andy centred adventure because while Terry is the star of the film, Andy becomes the star of the book. I loved this, it’s fun and silly and hilarious in all the right places. Jill also makes an appearance, I’m always glad to see Jill get her time to shine in these stories, she’s a wonderful character.

Since I read this book instead of the audio I got to appreciate the drawings, and they were fantastic. When I read one of these with creative illustrations I forget the great audio Wemyss does to express the illustrations and admire Denton’s drawings instead. They are very funny and very clever, filled with little secret critters or comments, if you stare at them long enough you keep finding hidden gems in some of the more complicated ones that are both relevant and not relevant at all, and like all good illustrations they certainly bring something extra to the story. Griffith’s writing is wonderful but needs accompaniment whether it’s Denton’s drawings or the sound effects on the audiobooks and Wemyss’ voices.

I love that this book (and the whole series really) breaks the fourth wall, it goes a bit silly and illogical but that’s half the fun. Andy’s attempts at staying out of the way always end up interrupting the movie in some way and when nefarious things begin to happen, no one believes him.

I also loved that there are stages in the Treehouse stories, just when one aspect is solved something else happens, or while you are trying to enjoy one adventure something else pops up as well, skilfully coming together in the end with Griffiths clever writing. Writing which in itself can be delightfully convenient and illogical but which makes the story that much more enjoyable. I love the reality that this treehouse exists in where anything is possible and logic and physics don’t really need to play a part.

On top of the dazzle that is a Teehouse movie, you can also expect action and adventure in this book, you can also expect rhyming rants, suspicious cows, the ever delightful Mr Big Nose, as well as lot of Andy’s. Possibly one of my favourite treehouse books, not only because the writing is funny, but despite having the same basic formula for six books now, this is still an original story that goes in directions you didn’t even know it could take. I can only imagine what another 13 storeys is going to involve but I look forward to reading about it.

You can purchase The 78-Storey Treehouse via the following

QBD | Dymocks | Book Depository

Booktopia | Angus and Robertson | Fishpond

Amazon | Amazon Aust | Audible

Wordery | Publisher

Coming Soon: Long Lost Reviews

03 Sep 2018 4 Comments

by Amy in Long Lost Reviews Tags: Long Lost Reviews

Long Lost Reviews is a monthly meme created by Ally over at Ally’s Appraisals which will be posted on the second Thursday of every month.

Are you a blogger who keeps telling themselves you’ll get around to writing reviews, but then don’t? Do you write ‘review to come’ on Goodreads only to let them languish for years? Well then, the blog feature ‘Long Lost Reviews’ is for you.

The aim of the blog feature is to start tackling your review backlog. Whether it’s an in-depth analysis of how it affected your life, one sentence stating that you only remember the ending, or that you have no recollection of reading the book at all. Let’s tackle your review backlog and dig up some long lost reviews!

Starting next month I will be participating in a monthly meme created by Ally’s Appraisals. While I have been getting better at following through with my reviews, I still have so many let unfinished and unwritten. This is a great chance to go back through and review the things I read a long time ago. Even a quick glance at my Goodreads page tells me I have at least 35 books with a ‘Review to come’ attached to it and oh so very many more with nothing at all.

I am really looking forward to doing this because I think even though I have my Bookish Bites for the books I want to review but can’t seem to have much to say about them, this is a great chance to review the ones I’ve read so long ago I remember so little about them if anything at all. It will be a great challenge and I am excited to see what I have to say about these books that clearly I’ve read, and yet maybe remember nothing about!

A Boy, a Bear, a Balloon by Brittany Rubiano

31 Aug 2018 4 Comments

by Amy in 5 Stars, The Picture Book Corner Tags: brittany rubianp, children's picture book, disney, five stars, mike wall, winnie the pooh

Published: 3rd July 2018
Publisher: Disney Press
Illustrator: Mike Wall
Pages: 40
Format: Hardcover Picture Book
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ – 5 Stars

Retelling touching scenes from the upcoming Walt Disney Studios’ upcoming Christopher Robin film, this charming picture book finds Christopher reuniting with Pooh, Piglet, Tigger, Eeyore, and the rest of his old friends when he returns to the Hundred Acre Wood for the first time since childhood. As he returns to the life he once new, Christopher sees the world through new eyes and discovers that even as everything around us seems to change, the most important things remain constant.

I have an intense love for Winnie the Pooh so of course I was eager to read this new picture book featuring my favourite bear. Rubiano does a good job mixing the old and the new, even putting in the dedication a quote from one of the best Winnie the Pooh films: Pooh’s Grand Adventure.

My heart did a small leap of joy as I recognised many of Milne’s quotes from the original books, reworked into this story which only brought the woods back to life and reminded me how much I adore these characters. The story also casually revisits some of the original Pooh adventures, seen now through the eyes of the older Christopher Robin which reminds us how much he has changed. He visits his old friends and they fail to see the young boy they knew in this man who has entered their woods.

Rubiano doesn’t quite catch the tone of Milne’s writing, it is very close, and you can see where it’s drawing from, but at the same time I don’t think it’s meant to mimic it exactly. This is her own story that is reflecting part of the upcoming film. With that in mind it is unfair to make it live up to the previous Winnie the Pooh books. Coming at these beloved characters from the mind of an adult like Christopher Robin, but still telling the story to children (or even those who left the woods a long time ago), it has a suitable tone and one that still manages to reignite that love and affection.

The illustrations are a beautiful mixture between Shepherds and the ever familiar Disney. I loved how Wall has brought his style to the characters while still keeping them familiar. The colours are beautiful and his designs are simplistic and elegant, showing just enough detail.

There is a lot of responsibility to writing and illustrating for Winnie the Pooh (in my view anyway), but this book does a beautiful job in presenting a story for those of us who are a little but more grown up and find ourselves wandering back to the Hundred Acre Woods.

Because of the popularity and endearing nature of Winnie the Pooh there is always going to be reminders about other adaptations and in those final pages. On that final page I found my mind immediately going to a quote from the masterpiece 1977 film The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh:

“Wherever they go, and whatever happens to them on the way, in their enchanted place on top of the forest, a little bear will always be waiting”.

*cue Amy sobbing*

You can purchase A Boy, A Bear, A Balloon via the following

Booktopia | Book Depository |

Amazon | Amazon Aust | Wordery

Fishpond | QBD

AWW 2018 August Update

31 Aug 2018 Leave a comment

by Amy in Australian Women Writers Tags: #aww2018, australian women writers challenge, aww 2018, aww18 update

In a small miracle I’ve managed to exceed my 25 book goal. I lapsed a tad in my Aussie books, especially the women, after my first update so I haven’t exceeded it by much, but I will take these small victories. I hope to try a bit harder for the next update and focus a bit more on the Aussie books and try and see how many I can read before my next update. I got too caught up in all the other books I found, the problem is there’s so many good ones that come across my path I get lured into their delightfulness. Another miracle is that all of these books have reviews coming and I will update this post with links when they go live.