Goodnight Mister Tom by Michelle Magorian – book review

I get lots of book review requests from authors and publishers, so I always seem to have a huge list of books waiting to be read. I’ve now decided to make sure I have time to fit in books of my own choice. This is the first of these and I selected it on the basis to see if I thought it might appeal to either of my sons – one avid reader and one reluctant reader.

Here is the book blurb.

The story of young Willie Beech, evacuated to the country as Britain stands on the brink of the Second World War.

A sad, deprived child, he slowly begins to flourish under the care of old Tom Oakley – but his new-found happiness is shattered by a summons from his mother back in London.

As time goes by Tom begins to worry when Willie doesn’t answer his letters, so he goes to London to find him, and there makes a terrible discovery.

The story starts just as the Second World War is imminent. 8 year old Willie is evacuated to Little Weirwold and is billeted with Tom. He arrives “sewn in for the winter”, carrying only a small paper bag, malnourished, covered in bruises from beatings from his mother, cowering expecting Tom to beat him too and scared of Tom’s dog Sam.

“Sewn in for the winter” means his vest was sewn to his underpants for warmth and I don’t even wish to contemplate the implications for toilet needs. Willie is also a bed-wetter initially which is hardly surprising given the circumstances.

Tom has lived alone for many years since the death of his wife Rachel and baby son, and is considered a bad-tempered old man. Other villagers are surprised at the change in him as he begins to care for Willie, getting him clothes, boots and treats. Although Willie initially can’t read, Tom finds he has a fantastic aptitude for drawing.

Willie has never had friends before but becomes good friends with local children George, Carrie and Ginnie and evacuee Zach. By the time he is summoned back to London by his mother, he is a new boy. However everything changes when he returns to London and we see the darker side of the tale. Tom is worried when Willie doesn’t write and travels to London himself. What will he discover? And how can he deal with it?

Goodnight Mister Tom is available on Amazon. I highly recommend this excellent classic story, which is targeted at children age 9-12.

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Guest post: 9 Best Eco-Friendly Books for Children

There are not that many books for children, which would regard the topic of environmental threats and can help with bringing up an ecological conscience within them. However, there are still some and this article is going to tell about these eco-friendly books.

Trash Revolution. Breaking the Waste Cycle written by Erica Fyvie

Have you ever wondered what happens to the trash that we throw away daily? Where does the garbage truck go and what happens to the chocolate wrapper after you throw it in the bin? More often than not, we simply throw away unnecessary things, thereby polluting the surrounding nature more and more.

How We`re F***ing Up Our Planet written by Tony Juniper

What impact do we have on the planet and what challenges will we face shortly? How to use the latest technology to save the planet from disasters? How to provide the planet’s population with water? How to increase literacy in third world countries? How to meet the increasing demand for food? What to do with uncontrollably sprawling cities? Where to get energy without damaging the earth?

Storia dell` Immondizia [original title] written by Mirco Maselli

Begin your journey through time on the history of garbage! From the Athenian landfill and the Roman Big Cloak, through the stench and plague infection of the Middle Ages, to the smog of the first industrial revolution and mountains of plastic waste in our time. Find out how humanity took care of the planet since the time of the mammoths, what was done with garbage before and why it is important to recycle today’s waste right.

Captain Crankie and Seadog Steve written by Vivian French

Captain Cranky and his dog Steve love to live clean. And their neighbors throw garbage right on the street! Then the captain came up with an excellent plan to collect all the garbage and take it out to sea. But Cranky and Steve did not think about marine life. Another plan urgently needed! Finally, a great idea comes to the sea dog, Steve.

Tidy written by Emily Gravett

The funny, witty and kind story of Bobby Badger who is a lover of cleanliness and order will appeal to both children and adults! The author of the book is Emily Gravett, a talented British artist who not only paints great but also writes great stories.

Norton and Alpha written by Kristyna Litten

One day, Norton the robot collector found something amazing. He had never seen anything like it before. What is it?

Eco-books series written by Katrin Wiehle

Eco-books are the first dictionaries in pictures of natural shades, which are printed on the eco-cardboard with care for nature. Eco-books introduce kids to biotopes and their inhabitants, instill a taste for natural materials. Thanks to the use of an eco-cardboard, 11 trees on this planet were not cut down.

The Blue Whale written by Jenni Desmond

The Blue Whale picture book was created for those who do not like the encyclopedia with their dry set of numbers and facts. It is filled with scientific knowledge, which is presented in the form of a fascinating cognitive bedtime story. Atmospheric illustrations immerse the child in the world of marine giants, and clue details allow him to make a lot of interesting discoveries.

Sofis trade expedition written by Stefan Casta

Do you know what tree the paper on which this book is printed is made of? And what trees make musical instruments and warships, toothpicks and charcoal for drawing, ice cream sticks, and skis?

About the author

Melisa Marzett is an eco-friendly person and loves children very much. She is much of a reader, do crafts, an animal rights activist, a traveler and a citizen of the world who is currently working as a freelance writer writing articles for http://resumeperk.com. As a Gemini, she may be a lot of things.

Guest post by Melisa Marzett

Gorgeous George and the Zigzag Zit-faced Zombies by Stuart Reid plus giveaway

Time to tell you about another of the Gorgeous George books by Stuart Reid. This time it is Gorgeous George and the Zigzag Zit-faced Zombies, a book that my usually reluctant reader, son1 chose to buy himself.

To find out more about the author you may visit his website.

Here is the book blurb.

Sneezing, sniffing, snoring and snots! Zombies, zebras and zits!

A chemical experiment by the military has gone wrong and the toxins are now airborne. The pupils of Little Pumpington primary school are breathing in the gas and their behaviour is becoming bonkers.

Do you still pick your nose? Do you sit next to someone in school who still picks their nose? Do they eat it, even in secret, underneath their hand when they think no one else is watching? The Little Pumpington nose-pickers are taking over the school and their own bogies are not enough any more; they need to eat everybody else’s too.

These psychotic snot-zombies are on the rampage, feasting on the nostril contents of the entire town and the army will do nothing to prevent them.

Can Gorgeous George, Allison and Crayon Kenny find a cure before the military decide to blow up the school? With the help of Grandpa Jock, Ben and Barbara and a box full of the tissues, they must stop the snot-zombies biting their booger-crusted fingernails to the bone.

Parents will not be able to read this book. This book is for strong-stomached children only so no wimps need apply. This is the last taboo known to mankind and way beyond the comprehension of adults. The older you are, the yuckier this book will be. You have been warned!

Must…..have….bogiieeeeeeeeeeeeeees!

Gorgeous George and the ZigZag Zit-face Zombies is another brilliant book in the Gorgeous George series

This is what son1 had to say about the book.
I liked this book. It was about a few kids who became bogie zombies and infected a whole school.

Short and to the point, but son1 told me that the book erases your memory of reading it. I gave him the benefit of the doubt, since it was last year when he read this book. And I decided to risk the warning on the back cover that parents will not be able to read this book. The author is correct, it does make disgusting reading for us adults, but just the sort of thing of thing that kids love and find really funny. It goes into the details of kids with green snot streaming down their faces, which they wipe with their sleeves or even worse, lick up. You get the picture. Definitely one to let the children enjoy on their own, rather than reading it out loud as a bedtime story, unless you’re into that sort of humour yourself.

A really silly storyline where almost everyone at the school including teachers becomes infected and turns into a bogie-eating zombie. The army puts an exclusion zone up around the school, but who is going to come up with a cure and save the day? Can anyone avoid infection?

Another disgustingly funny book from Stuart Reid. Great even for reluctant readers like my son. Each story always features something like poo, bottom burps or snot, which most children delight in reading about.

And Stuart is passionate about kids reading as we saw at his entertaining Boogers, Books and Big Bottom Burps show at the Edinburgh Fringe last summer. In between writing his books, he spends lots of his time visiting schools not just in the UK, but worldwide promoting his books and reading. He will be back at the Fringe next month, so if you are in Edinburgh, do pop along. His shows are fab.

Gorgeous George and the Zigzag Zit-faced Zombies is available on Amazon, currently priced at £6.99 in paperback.  There are now 7 Gorgeous George books in the series, targeted at children age 8+, with another title “Grandpa Jock and the Incredible Iron-Bru-Man Incident” due to be published in a few days time on July 8th. A big thumbs up from son1 for this book from best-selling children’s author Stuart Reid.

You may see son1’s reviews of two of the other Gorgeous George titles here.
Gorgeous George and the Jumbo Jobby Juicer
Gorgeous George and the Timewarp Trouser Trumpets

Plus I’m hosting a rafflecopter competition to giveaway a paperback copy of Gorgeous George and the Zigzag Zit-faced Zombies to 1 lucky winner.

a Rafflecopter giveaway – Please click on the link to enter.

And you may see my other giveaways here.

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Disclosure. This post is a review of a book we purchased, although we have received other titles by this author for free. All opinions are mine and my son’s own.

Gorgeous George and the Timewarp Trouser Trumpets by Stuart Reid plus giveaway

Whilst we were in Edinburgh this summer, we enjoyed plenty of entertainment at the Fringe including Boogers, Books and Big Bottom Burps with best-selling children’s author Stuart Reid. Son1 was particularly delighted to see this, as he really enjoyed reading one of Stuart’s books “Gorgeous George and the Jumbo Jobby Juicer” a while ago. And he was inspired to buy another of the titles “Gorgeous George and the Zigzag Zit-faced Zombies” after the show.

I tweeted Stuart to let him know how much son1 was enjoying Gorgeous George and the Zigzag Zit-faced Zombies, to which he offered us a free copy of his newly published addition to the series, “Gorgeous George and the Timewarp Trouser Trumpets”.

To find out more about the author you may visit his website.

Here is the book blurb.

Pirates, parrots, pyramids and pants full of poo! Beans, boats and big bottom burps.

Have you ever wanted a book so exciting it keeps you up past your bedtime? A story so mad that you’re scared to put it down in case the adventure goes on inside the pages, on its own, even after you’ve stopped reading? Well, you’ve found it.
Grandpa Jock has made one of his world-famous killer curries using the magic beans that his grandson George swapped for a cow costume with a small leprechaun. Mad enough for you yet?
But now their bottoms are about to blow and these time travelling trouser trumpets just might transport Gorgeous George and Grandpa Jock anywhere. Or any when!
This book is a big ball of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey stuff – Who said that? – as the story loops and swoops and poops, and pops out to the shops, then meets itself coming back again.
Crayon Kenny and Allison are tracking down that mad leprechaun, there’s a talking parrot who never shuts up, and of course, there are two cute, fluffy, evil little kittens.
And bottom burps. Lots and lots of big bottom burps. So much wind that you’ll be glad that this is NOT a scratch and sniff book!

This is what son1 had to say.
This is a review for Gorgeous George and the timewarp trouser trumpets which is rated ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This is is because books 📚 like these are hilarious for children. Comedy is one factor that makes a book brilliant.

Stuart Reid has definitely come up with a winning theme of books, as far as my son is concerned, and most other children too I would expect. Not only are they hilariously funny, but they focus on poo, bottom burps or snot. Right up my son’s street! He is mostly a reluctant reader now, but these books have him fixated and giggling away.

This book has a fabulous crazy storyline which begins with George swapping his Grandpa Jock’s panto cow costume with Tiny Tom , the leprechaun for a handful of magic beans. Grandpa Jock throws the beans into the killer curry he is cooking. They eat the curry, but later with an enormous stinky bottom burp, Grandpa Jock vanishes into thin air. He rematerialises a few minutes later, declaring he has time-travelled. This sets the scene for their adventures.

Gorgeous George and the Timewarp Trouser Trumpets is available on Amazon, currently priced at £6.99 in paperback.  There are now 7 Gorgeous George books in the series, targeted at children age 8+. Son1 really loved this book and gave it the thumbs up.

Plus I’m hosting a rafflecopter competition to giveaway a paperback copy of Gorgeous George and the Timewarp Trouser Trumpets to 1 lucky winner.

a Rafflecopter giveaway – Please click on the link to enter.

And you may see my other giveaways here.

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Disclosure. This post is a review of a book I was sent for free. All opinions are mine and my son’s own.

Cool Science Experiments for Kids by Sumita Mukherjee

Regular readers of my blog may remember when son1 made a lava pen from Sumita Mukherjee’s “Steam Ahead! DIY for kids” book earlier this year. He really enjoyed this, so was very pleased when we received a free e-copy of Sumita’s latest book “Cool Science Experiments for Kids” free to review.

Here is the book blurb.

With this book all you need to do is gather a few household items and you can recreate dozens of mind-blowing, kid-tested science experiments. Meant for kids between six to ten, it is an easy-to-follow, step-by-step instruction book for children. It introduces kids to the magic of motion, energy, chemistry, art, games, math fun; understanding basic scientific principles and most importantly, having a blast making them. Inside this book you will find projects that bursts, glows, erupts, spins, runs, ticks and more! There is also a BONUS: A FREE downloadable book on young kid inventors and their inventions.

This book is full of fun science activity projects. The first project that son1 chose to do was invisible ink. He wrote his message out with lemon juice, waited for it to dry, then used the heat of a hairdryer to make the message reappear. He was slightly disappointed that some letters were still not very visible after heating. Perhaps we should have used a fresh lemon rather than bottled juice. Reminds me of how I wanted to be a spy as a child. I used to love doing secret messages, although mainly with ciphers.

Apologies for the quality of the photo, but this is the message just written on the left, hidden once dry in the middle and then reappears after heating on the right.

And then he did a very quick project on lego multiplication, by multiplying the number of studs on a lego brick by the number of bricks. He is quite a maths whizz, so was very speedy with this.

 

The project also asked which bricks may not be possible to use for the multiplication tables, so son1 identified a selection of lego without studs.

He is planning to make an erupting potion from diet coke and mentos mints next, but I have to buy the ingredients first. We need to visit a bigger supermarket, as our small local one didn’t stock mentos.

Cool Science Experiments for Kids is available on Amazon, currently priced at £12.44 in paperback or £1.54 in Kindle format. I do recommend this book for all its fun scientific projects that children can do at home with minimal adult supervision. It is targeted at children age 6 – 10. And to find out more about the author you may visit her website.

However I do have to say that we couldn’t work out how to download the bonus free downloadable book on young kid inventors and their inventions. I did try clicking, but to no avail.

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Disclosure.  This post is a review of an e-book I was sent for free.  All opinions are my own.

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STEAM AHEAD! DIY FOR KIDS by Sumita Mukherjee

I have received a free e-copy of the book STEAM AHEAD! DIY FOR KIDS by Sumita Mukherjee to review. To find out more about the author you may visit her website.

Here is the book blurb.

STEAM AHEAD! DIY FOR KIDS is an easy-to-follow, step-by-step instruction book for parents and children. It introduces kids between the ages of four and twelve to the magic of electronics, game and toy designing, printing, understanding basic scientific principles and most importantly, they’ll have a blast making them. Inside this book you will find projects on LED cards, dance pads, handmade soaps, bubble blowers, Play-Doh circuits, cloud lanterns, scribbling bots and more!

Created by NASA STEM certified leader, Sumita Mukherjee, this book is jam packed with projects that will engage any bored child. The hands-on projects are broken into areas of practical implementation: Party, Build, Toys and Art. They have also been sorted according to levels of difficultly and STEAM relevance. Adding one or two experiments per week can get your child excited about science, inventions, science fair projects and overall classroom performance.

This book is full of fun science activity projects. Son1 chose to make a lava pen. We had most of the things needed for it apart from the tubing, so I bought some on eBay. The book didn’t indicate what internal and external dimensions so I guessed at 5x8mm. Also I don’t have a hot glue gun, so we used fabric glue.

We did find it rather tricky as initially it leaked when we filled it, so we had to start again. This time we used more glue and pushed the pen further into the tube, before leaving it to dry overnight. But our perseverance was rewarded and son1 was able to carefully fill it. He did end up overshooting how much coloured water to use, but we were able to shake a few drops out to allow space for the glitter and oil. He is very proud of his creation.

Here is son1’s video review.

STEAM AHEAD! DIY FOR KIDS is available on Amazon, currently priced at £7.87 in paperback or £3.27 in Kindle format. I do recommend this book for all its fun scientific projects that you can do at home with your children.

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Disclosure.  This post is a review of an e-book I was sent for free.  All opinions are my own.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid Double Down by Jeff Kinney

I have some good news for Wimpy Kid fans. Not long to wait for book 11 in the series by Jeff Kinney. Both my boys are huge Wimpy Kid fans and can’t wait to read this one. We’re going to be a sent a free copy once it is published.

Here is the book blurb.

The pressure’s really piling up on Greg Heffley. His mom thinks video games are turning his brain to mush, so she wants her son to put down the controller and explore his ‘creative side’.

As if that’s not scary enough, Halloween’s just around the corner and the frights are coming at Greg from every angle.

When Greg discovers a bag of gummy worms, it sparks an idea. Can he get his mom off his back by making a movie . . . and will he become rich and famous in the process? Or will doubling down on this plan just double Greg’s troubles?

We were sent a short 10 page Halloween extract from Diary of a Wimpy Kid Double Down as a sneak peek. Son2 enjoyed reading this and is looking forward to the book. He particularly found the extract funny because Rowley needed the toilet at the Halloween party. However he thinks the cover should be a different colour as he says they have already had red. But at book number 11, I explained to him there can’t be many good colours left unused.

We also received a Halloween Haunted House activity sheet. You can see son2’s very imaginative version below on the right and Greg Heffley’s on the left.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid Double Down is available for pre-order on Amazon, currently priced at £5.00 in hardback compared to RRP of £12.99 or in kindle format. This is book 11 in the series and will be published on 1st November.

Here is the trailer.

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Disclosure. This post mentions a book that I will be sent for free. All opinions are my own.

Gorgeous George and the Jumbo Jobby Juicer by Stuart Reid

I have received a free signed paperback copy of the book “Gorgeous George and the Jumbo Jobby Juicer” by Stuart Reid for son1 to review. To find out more about the author you may visit his website.

Here is the book blurb.

If you don’t know what a jobby is the title of this book would be ‘Gorgeous George and the Power Pink Poo Pump’

George and Grandpa Jock are investigating the enormous piles of pink poo appearing around Little Pumpington. The circus is in town, the elephants are having tummy trouble and the monkeys are up to mischief. Crayon Kenny (when he’s not sticking crayons up his nose) has developed a craving for McDoball’s new burgers and their energy drink ‘Power Pink’ whilst Allison is doing her best to control the boys.

There’s pink poo, pumps and parades. Monkeys, mayhem and mysteries!

Any book that mentions poo, pee, farting or bottoms is a sure-fire winner with both my boys and I could certainly hear son1 giggling as he read this book. He definitely gave it the thumbs-up.

Here is son1’s video review.

Gorgeous George and the Jumbo Jobby Juicer is available on Amazon, currently priced at £1.99 in kindle format. It is also available in paperback, but not via Amazon. There are 5 Gorgeous George books in the series, targeted at children age 8+. Son1 loved this book and wants to read Gorgeous George and the Giant Geriatric Generator next.

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Disclosure. This post is a review of a book I was sent for free. All opinions are my own.

The Night Before Christmas by Rose Collins

I have received a free copy of a new twist on the classic poem “The Night Before Christmas” for the boys to review. We already have the version illustrated by Christian Birmingham and it is a family tradition to read that together every Christmas Eve and then listen to the CD. So the boys are already familiar with Clement C Moore’s traditional poem.

Here is the book blurb.

It was the night before Christmas and all through the house not a creature was stirring,
Not even a … BEAR ?

Clement Clarke Moore’s much loved poem is brought beautifully to life in this gorgeous picture book with a twist- as Santa visits a family of bears on Christmas Eve.

Share the Christmas magic and experience a whole new retelling of the timeless Christmas classic.

The boys have a huge number of cuddly bears, so I was interested to see their take on this version illustrated with bears rather than people. They liked the idea of bears, but thought that St Nicholas should have also been portrayed as a bear. From my point of view, the book looks cute, but I am glad to see that the poem’s words have not been altered. A lovely book to share for Christmas.

This book is available directly from publisher NurseryBox and is currently priced at £4.99 in paperback or £1.99 for an ebook, although I can’t seem to get the order buttons to click. You may also purchase the ebook version from Amazon or Apple, for £1.49 currently.

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Disclosure. This post is a review of a book I was sent for free. All opinions are my own.

What are Diamonds, and how do they form? by Judith Hubbard

I have received a free e-copy of the book “What are Diamonds, and how do they form?” by Judith Hubbard for son1 to review. To find out more about the author and other books in the series, you may visit her website.

Son1 chose this one to review over and above the other science titles in the series because he has an interest in diamonds, particularly diamond swords, from playing minecraft.

Here is the book blurb.

Have you ever seen a diamond? Have you ever wondered where it came from? The story of how diamonds form will take you on a tour of the Earth. Zoom in to the atomic scale to see how atoms bond, dive into the Earth’s mantle to explore how temperature and pressure change, and get carried back up to the surface in a special volcanic eruption. All of this is real, cutting-edge science, written at a level that kids can read and understand. At the end of the book, you will find a self-quiz to test your new knowledge and fun hands-on activities that build on the science.

This non-fiction book starts by talking about diamonds before moving onto to other forms of carbon, such as graphite. It then covers all the geological aspects, before ending with a quiz and activities that children can try out at home.

Here is son1’s video review.

“What are Diamonds, and how do they form?” is available on Amazon, currently priced at £9.82 in paperback or £3.04 on Kindle. It is targeted at children, age 8 upwards. Son1 particularly enjoyed testing me with the quiz, before I had a chance to read the book. A good book for children to engage with science.

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Disclosure.  This post is a review of an e-book I was sent for free.  All opinions are my own.