WATCH OUT! There’s a jam thief about! Have you ever bitten into a jammy doughnut and thought – This needs more jam? Imagine Sam’s horror when he discovers that his favourite treat has been SUCKED DRY! Who did it?!
Rating:
This caught my eye while browsing other illustrated books and bought myself a copy.
The artwork is cute and fitting and the jampires are very sweet. Could totally see them as a plush toy or something with their little jam doughnut on the side, all puffy and soft.
We meet Sam wanting a jam doughnut but it doesn’t have any jam inside! (I’d be so disappointed, jam doughnuts without jam are sad ones.) So he sets off to try to find out what happened and why is the jam disappearing.
Sam sets a trap with some doughnuts filled with ketchup and traps the Jampires, who then take him Sam to their world.
This was a cute read and gosh, it made me very hungry so I had to go buy some jam doughnuts afterwards. I’d say this is the kind of book to read with a treat. Buy some jam doughnuts (make sure the Jampires haven’t gotten to them or do while you read), cuddle with the kiddos or just on your own, and read while enjoying the doughnut. Delicious!
Moon and Me: The Little Seed by Andrew Davenport. Illustrated by Mariko Umeda
Rating:
This book was gifted to me by the publisher, because we both liked the idea of having “Moon”(me) talk about it. All opinions are my own.
It is a super cute little book, and sturdy. Plus it is very blue, all the tones of blue and it has shiny silver on the title (I am easily satisfied sometimes)
Inside it includes a series of read out loud friendly, that can be read doing voices (I kinda did the voices in my head as I read). They are centered around sleep and friendship. Obviously they feature a little seed that will grow, and all the friends contributing something.
And of course, Moon and Moon baby which was cute to find. I just found this book to be a good bed time story. The book can be read all in one go (for older children) or in small chunks that appear as mini chapters/stories (for younger children).
Artwork is cute and colourful but not crazy bright, just a lot of blue tones and a sense of happy feelings in it. Very cute, and the moon is so pretty!
My favourite page!
A story is always a good idea (or at the very least almost always). Moon recommends stories to soothe souls, encourage little ones to sleep or just make you feel good as an adult when you read a cute book.
The Way Home for Wolf by Rachel Bright and Jim Field
This is a cute story that caught my eye at some point while buying other children’s books. And to answer the silent question, I do not have children, I don’t buy this type of books to give them away to someone’s child. They are bought for me, to cheer me up when I am sick, to refresh my creative juices, to remind me to be a child.
Back to the review, the artwork is gorgeous and endearing. Wilf is a curious proud young wolf (as most children are, very “independent” until things turn out to not be easy and in the cocoon of your safe environment), but as the pack moves to a new home, he gets lost.
But thankfully, he is not alone and other animals can help him find his way to get back home.
The wording is easy and fun and very rhyming and I just enjoyed it quite a lot.
Narwhal’s obsession with his new favorite food leads him into hijinks and hilarity in the third book of this all-star early graphic novel series!
Narwhal and Jelly are back and Narwhal has a new obsession . . . peanut butter! He’s so obsessed he even wants to change his name to . . . that’s right . . . Peanut Butter! Ever-sensible Jelly isn’t so sure that’s the best idea, but is all for Narwhal trying new things (instead of just eating waffles all the time, no matter how delicious waffles are).
Rating:
This is the third book in the series and though you don’t need to have read the previous ones, they definitely help! You can see my reviews for the first one and the second one.
As per the previous books, this is ultra cute and sweet. Jelly is trying to find out if Narwhal has tried peanut butter (or several other foods) but Narwhal is in for a surprise and so is Jelly!
Charming, fun, very positive and just overall cute, this book wins and made me giggle and smile as I read it, so I highly recommend it.
Plus it has a narwhal and a jellyfish and they’re friends and there’s loads of waffles, and in this particular one, even some peanut butter cookies and peanut butter in a jar! Yum, now I am getting hungry, so I will finish the review here saying you should buy them all and have them around to give yoursefl a soft smile and some warm feelings when needed. Meanwhile I am off to find a jar of peanut butter…
It is the eve of Chinese New Year. Lanterns are hung in the shopping malls of Singapore and Yao is preparing to wake the ancient sky dragon, Shen Long, from his year-long sleep. From the moment Shen Long opens his great amber eyes and unfurls his silver-blue tail, Yao will be propelled on a magical journey through the skies of Singapore to battle the bad luck of the previous year and usher in the good. Will he succeed? Will his grandfather watch over him and protect him from harm? A beautiful story of a Chinese festival and its symbolism for Chinese communities everywhere, told from the perspective of Yao, the dragon dancer.
Rating:
I’ve reviewed another of Joyce’s books here, the Dragon Physician (Joyce also writes about werewolves in space, but I have a soft spot for dragons over werewolves).
This is a different type of books, in that it is an illustrated one and more poetical. I ahve to admit since I am not that familiar with Chinese dancing and rituals, I started unsure what to expect.
The artwork is stunning and fits perfectly in style with the story and words, with the dragon and the dragon dancer. And it feels like it fits the way China is and was and may be. So in general, artwokr is a win here.
The story has a vibe of being thought in Chinese (please excuse me if I generalise) and then adapted to transmit the feeling and story in English. I feel it because I have done similar with some stories in Spanish and culture that is hard to translate (sometimes Egnlish doesn’t even have the words, or using an expression means nothing if translated).
I don’t think this is a bad thing, rather I like that it is being shared and told in English (as I can’t read/understand Chinese), but I am aware it may be something readers find odd (I doubt children would, but the adult reading it, might). This is very definitely not a Western tale, and as such, it is worth coming to it with a different mindset rather than expecting a Western view.
To me this is a winner and I enjoyed the book and the story. It made me curious about the dancing and what the rituals and traditions behind it are. So now I leave you while I go do some research on that.
What happens when an evil queen gets her hands on an ancient force of destruction?
World domination, obviously.
The seven kingdoms of Dreamside need a legendary hero. Instead, they’ll have to settle for Cucumber, a nerdy magician who just wants to go to school. As destiny would have it, he and his way more heroic sister, Almond, must now seek the Dream Sword, the only weapon powerful enough to defeat Queen Cordelia’s Nightmare Knight.
Can these bunny siblings really save the world in its darkest hour?
Sure, why not?
Rating:
Cucumber Quest was one of my birthday gifts I had on my wishlist. One of those I am randomly looking at related to this item things and stumbled upon it.
The main thing about it is that it is cute, it has a nerdy bunny who doesn’t want to be a hero and his little sister that does. Cucumber Quest pokes fun at the cliches. Starting with “you are given this quest, you are the chosen one”, which Cucumber (the nerdy bunny) definitely doesn’t think he is. All he wants is to go to school of magic.
We also have an evil queen bent on world domination! And her lackeys, who are amusing and very much useless, but they made me laugh a lot. There is a princess that is kept captive (and that Cucumber has zero interest in).
And Almond, his sister is super awesome and ballsy. She’s studying to be a knight, and training to do so, but she’s the little sister, so she can’t be the hero, obviously (but Almond will fight you on that, trust me).
It is a fun easy read with lots of food related things and a lot of poking fun at cliches and quests. It made me laugh and also it is adorably cute! I am curious to read the next one.
It’s up to Daddy to give his daughter an extra-special hair style in this story of self-confidence and the love between fathers and daughters.
Zuri knows her hair is beautiful, but it has a mind of its own!
It kinks, coils, and curls every which way. Mum always does Zuri’s hair just the way she likes it – so when Daddy steps in to style it for an extra special occasion, he has a lot to learn.
But he LOVES his Zuri, and he’ll do anything to make her – and her hair – happy.
Rating:
I got this book because I saw a mini trailer for the short film (?) that is being played before Angry Birds 2 (I have not seen any Angry Birds film and do not plan to). I thought it was cute and the animation was really sweet.
This is a short illustrated book but it packs a punch and it was just nice to read. I don’t have natural hair but I do have curly hair and some of this applies. Though I don’t think my dad ever really did my hair or not that I can remember.
But Zuri’s dad is ready to help and somehow get this special hair style just for the very special occasion.
Artwork is really cute and sweet, story is also lovely and makes me feel all cozy and warm inside. I just wish it was a bit longer. Because it felt too short (but I know it is a kids book and not meant to be long, so I am not demanding this or anything).
Chinglish: An Almost Entirely True Story by Sue Cheung
Jo Kwan is a teenager growing up in 1980s Coventry with her annoying little sister, too-cool older brother, a series of very unlucky pets and utterly bonkers parents. But unlike the other kids at her new school or her posh cousins, Jo lives above her parents’ Chinese takeaway. And things can be tough – whether it’s unruly customers or the snotty popular girls who bully Jo for being different. Even when she does find a BFF who actually likes Jo for herself, she still has to contend with her erratic dad’s behaviour. All Jo dreams of is breaking free and forging a career as an artist.
Told in diary entries and doodles, Jo’s brilliantly funny observations about life, family and char siu make for a searingly honest portrayal of life on the other side of the takeaway counter.
Rating:
I can’t remember exactly how I heard of this book but it had been on my radar for a few months and I had preordered it. For some reason I didn’t clock in that it had doodles in it *facepalm* so that was a wonderful surprise (and explains the competition of doodling yourself). So this copy came from a competition (as said before) during YALC and I kept trying daily to win it because I had to.
The book is very very funny, and extremely honest. I was giggling at the antics of Jo’s family and the doodles also help make this even better (I found them really cute and they felt like the right type of doodles Jo would do, which is an odd comment but sometimes the doodles are too young or too mature and you struggle to believe the “narrator” made them, but in this book it felt very much like they were hers).
I just have to mention that this book requires a couple of trigger warnings (maybe more than a couple but I can’t remember it all). There is child abuse (non sexual) peppered throughout the story, minors smoking, and abuse/violence in general. It surprised me because I wasn’t sure what to expect but I didn’t feel like I needed the warnings (which I usually do want in other books). Maybe because of the way it was narrated that it didn’t feel like a punch in the gut to move the plot, but more as the title says “an almost entirely true story” and when those happen, it is easier in a way to see where it is going. Anyway, in case you needed them, there you go.
Oh, and also, you may become hungry. I kept wanting Chinese food when they talked about some of it (there’s a lot of talk about chicken’s feet, which reminded me of a shildren’s song in Mexico that talks about eating the beak and the tail of the chicken so yeah, not that far off).
I would recommend it as a quick read, with fun doodles, hope and a window into life in a Chinese takeaway in the 80s (not that this is all takeaways!). I thoroughly enjoyed it and didn’t want to put it down!
A gorgeous and inspiring picture book about a young girl, Nell, who invents a machine to fix the pollution that is choking the city.
Rating:
I bought this after seeing (I may be wrong but probably not) Stephanie Burgis comment about it. It is a little on the pricey side, but it is good quality so it kinda balances it out.
We start with little Nell who is busy inventing something to help save the city from pollution and she insists she has to go show it to the people there (she lives far form the city).
When she arrives to the city, it isn’t as easy to be considered important. Nell is just a little girl and the adult men have things to discuss (like the pollution). But Nell doesn’t give up and she goes back to the drawing board (inventing) and works hard to help the city.
The artwork/illustrations are gorgeous and full of detail and I like the invention Nell does. And it encourages children to invent and to try to solve real problems.
What I didn’t like was that the ending was kinda left there without much. At the end I felt like there needed to be more, and there is a back pages illustration that hints at it, but story wise it feels a little incomplete.
Still, a cute book witha girl as the heroine and encouraging to invent and create.
I got this gorgeous colourful book from my birthday elf box (we do a birthday box like a secret santa) Tracey, and I was really happy.
This is the paperback version as there is a hardback one, but I am a paperback human through and through. The book is big and colourful and full of imagination.
It is like the perfect imagination box inside, and with a story about a little girl who prefers to doodle than do her homework or pay attention in class (I was the kind of person who needed to doodle to pay attention or she just couldn’t concentrate). And then she meets a new girl at school and she seems to like her drawings. But maybe it isn’t all good…
It has a creepy/scary element in it but it reminded me a little of the Book of Kells style of artwork (it isn’t the same I know) and type of story. Highly recommended as a story book and just to enjoy the artwork.
I am at YALC this weekend so hopefully if you are around you can find me (bright blue hair, cosplaying each day).
My short tip list is to:
Be kind. Your attittude will help you get the help you need.
Hydrate. It is hot and you are excited and you forget. A few of us “veterans” are well prepared, so reach out to us.
Eat. Snacks are the very least but there’s places to eat or bring your own food (again, find veterans who can help if in a pinch).
Do a recon of the area. I sometimes go a bit crazy and do everything the first day. Depending on which days you’re going, try to make it last as long as you’re there.
Don’t rush. Yes, there’s a lot to see and do, but you’ll enjoy it more if you take it easy rather than rushing around.
Sunday near closing time is when crazy offers happen (stock is too small to take home, etc). If the risk is not too big for you, it may be worth waiting. I snagged some wonderful deals on Sunday that I wouldn’t have otherwise.
Authors sometimes walk the area and will happily chat to you and sign books (not all of them, be polite when you approach them and don’t expect them to be at your beck and call, they’re humans too). So don’t over fret.
Divide and conquer. If you’ve got friends (or made queue friends) who can help you queue or get a ticket or something, ask. Most of us are a friendly bunch and diviing bits and asking for your highest priority and helping others get theirs is win win.
I could go on and on but there are other helpful guides around, so I’ll leave it there. I will be posting a selfie or some kind of picture of my costume each day so you can find me (I am very bad at names, so I forget, even if I recognise your face don’t take this badly). Be aware that at social gatherings I go on overdrive and I am talkative and overly extroverted (my Mexican side shows up). I am not trying to be annoying.
