15 hours on a D S read, yo, ho, ho and a book full of fun!

This week I was actually reading a different book entirely when Friday night came around and it hit me: with only two days until the end of the week I was never actually going to finish it in time! Oh no!
So I set about looking for an alternative, only after I'd finished going through a couple of my vintage gameboy games.

What a pleasant surprise it was to come across a game which wasn't a game at all. A forerunner of the popular kindle this game literally consisted of 100 different classic books in their original published editions.

What is a classic you ask? Well this game had a classic down as anything that predated the 1920's. In fact most of the books were much older than that. Anyway, I scrolled through the titles looking for a children's book that was quick and easy to read. I stopped at a selection of books by Robert Louis Stevenson, the one that caught my eye the most being Treasure Island.

First published in 1883 it tells the story of young Jim Hawkins, who gets mixed up in a piratical adventure after a stranger dies whilst staying at his family's inn. The story is years ahead of it's time, written fairly simply without the frills and extended, ridiculous language that I often find boring in Victorian literature (sorry Mr Dickens).

What is not really common knowledge is the extent of the influence it has had on our impression of pirates.

The black spot? Treasure Island.

Captain Jack Sparrow? A heroic version of Long John Silver from Treasure Island.

Pieces of eight? Fifteen Men on a Dead Man's Chest? That annoying parrot that always gives everything away? X marks the spot? All down to Treasure Island.

Our entire concept of pirates comes from this one novel, most of it through things that Mr Stevenson created himself.

The book is aimed at boys from around 9-10 years old. The more difficult older language (which frankly doesn't appear all that often) is easy to get around so you're not having to constantly re read passages and the story all being told in the 1st person narrative really draws you in; giving you a sense of being on the adventure with the main characters.


I won't say too much about the plot, one paragraph and I could tell you the entire story. That for me is the beauty of it: it's sheer simplicity. This counts as my Victorian novel and book 4 in my 52 book challenge!

It's free to download on a kindle and worth every second of time invested in it. Well played Mr Stevenson, well played.

Book Title: Treasure Island

Author: Robert Louis Stevenson

First published: 1883 

Suitable for: any child from 9-10 (even advanced 8 year olds could give this a go) 

Interesting words and phrases: baited breath, care (curiosity) killed the cat, by little and little (little by little), countenance, disarray,  eminence, plateau, numskull (numb skull), enveloped, irreverence, solitude, beheld, buccaneer... ..there's loads more too! 

A matter of fate

I'm going to talk a little bit about my job today. Quite possibly one of the most unique roles in existence simply because it was created solely to address a singular need.

My official title is Reading Ambassador. 'What the blazes does a Reading Ambassador do' you ask?  Well its a two pronged job. The first half of my job is helping those who are struggling, learn how to read. A beautiful yet challenging task in and of itself. The second half is the bit I really love though and that is to promote the joy of reading. Something I'm wholly invested in after seeing the difference it has made to myself and my own children. Not quite teacher, not exactly teaching assistant, but somewhere hanging in between.

'Why is she ranting about this' you ask?  Well that is a story all on its own.

So I moved cities in early adulthood, spent my life following a certain path not knowing where it would lead me. That I wound up in my job is either a very happy happenstance or fate: simple as.
Imagine though my surprise when clearing out a cupboard at work last year and coming across one of my favourite childhood books.

That might not seem like much, but it was when I looked at the inside cover and saw the stamp of my local childhood library that I was really blown away!

That this book and I would've started out in one town just a stone's through away from each other; only follow different paths which lead us to another, to meet in the same place years later is, for me, a sign that I was fated to do the work I do. Call me melodramatic, I don't mind.

Written by the amazing Babette Cole, who sadly passed away last year it tells the story of Cinderella a little differently. In fact, the description of a royal ball as a rave up had me in stitches, what a wonderful way to liven up a dreary concept!
The wording is fairly basic, no flowery language here. But what it lacks in expansive language it more than makes up for in pace and humour. The illustrations are one-of-a-kind, which is what always marks Babette Cole's books out for me. I used to be a huge fan of Princess Smartypants!

It is down on this challenge as a book from my childhood, book number 3 of my 52 books. A lovely little gem that I'm going to hang on to simply for the fact that it makes me think of home every time I look at it.

Title: Prince Cinders

Author: Babette Cole

Suitable for: Children from reception age (4) upwards

Interesting words: rave up, teasing, shy, proclamation

The Ultimate 2018 Reading Challenge!

So I've been itching to share this post, only because I am desperate to explain why on Earth I started this blog in the first place!

A couple of weeks ago a friend of mine (who I can hand on heart say is every inch a proper reader) shared this with me.

Now I know what this looks like, it looks like a mammoth amount of reading! How on Earth could you possibly cover all of these? I have to admit when I first saw it I didn't think about any of that. I just saw something exciting and like the numpty that I am said "Yeah, I can do that." 

What a fool I was! 

 Undaunted by the fact that there are 52 different types of book to read and the idea is to read 1 a week I thought 'I'm gonna do this, not only am I gonna do this but to prove that I have done it, I'm gonna write a blog post a week reviewing the books I've read. 

At first that was great: I was flying through them. That was two weeks ago. Now I'm less confident, still optimistic but definitely less confident! 

So that's the plan, read a book a week and then blog a mini review. Hopefully I'll be able to share this and get people looking into books that they may not otherwise have bothered with. 

Keep a tab on this blog to see if I manage to meet the challenge! 

Bring on December (haha)! 

A huge thanks goes out to Hannah Braime who's allowed me to showcase her reading challenge on my blog. Check out the link below to see her website. Its well worth the look! 

www.hannahbraime.com

Once there was reading...

So I'm on to my second book of my 'book a week' challenge and I've realised that getting through one book, every week for an entire year is going to be quite the quest.

Last week I was wandering through my local library when an interesting cover caught my eye.

A book written by the legendary author of the 'How to Train Your Dragon' series, it has been the subject of a lot of fuss by the reading groups across social networks. I can understand why. The plot moves quickly but not fast enough to lose it's readers. The world woven is so beautiful and so vivid that it's almost as if you can reach out and touch it. The only weakness lies in the fact that she's so wrapped in the story she's written, the choice of character names can be a little daunting.
The two central characters, Xar (pronounced 'Zar') and Wish are excellently contrasted against each other and yet very similar.
The variety of language is just right: not too heavy, not too simple. The story is strong and I like the fact that it ends without clear morals being shoved down a reader's throat.

At 388 pages it already appears as though it may be the opening of a whole new series of stories. I hope so. I've never read the 'How to Train Your Dragon' series, but if its even half as good as this has been then I find I may have no choice but to steam through it!

I'll be posting a little more about my actual challenge in the next couple of days. In the meantime I highly recommend that you indulge in a little bit of magic, just once!

Book Title: 'The Wizards of Once' 

Author: Cressida Cowell

Published: 2017

Suitable for: children from 7 upwards.

Some interesting words used: 'distinctive', 'pursuit', 'meandering'. 

Favourite line: "Turning back time is impossible... ...but I can do it, for I am the God of this story and thus have rather more Magic than perhaps is quite good for me." 

Never judge a book by its cover!

So I was in my favourite book shop earlier today and I couldn't resist looking through their bargain bins. I came across an interesting little book for only £1. The cover design was nice and at it seemed quite the easy read at only 94 pages, great considering I had only a day to get through my first weekly book. What could possibly go wrong?

Well...
        ...94 pages later and I've found myself being given the biggest textual telling off of my life! On the surface it looks like a title that would've been conceived by the legendary Phillip K Dick ('Do Humans Dream of Electric Cars?' Does that title sound eerily familiar?)

It turns out its a promotional charity book aimed at getting the populace as a whole to use more sustainable means of transport in an effort to reduce carbon emissions. Now I don't mind contributing to greener forms of travel and to reducing my own carbon footprint. I was pleased to see that I was already following a lot of the book's suggestions (green points for me). But by the time I had finished reading, I was not only afraid to ever consider flying in the future, I was made aware that offsetting any carbon costs was about as useful as a book printed on paper telling me to save more trees! Good to know at least it was printed on recycled paper.

I can't deny that there were some handy tips and facts. I was delighted to read that walking burns as many calories as jogging over the same distance. Yay for all the walkers like myself!

But overall I'm not sure it was worth the pound I paid for it. My total sympathy goes out to anyone who paid full price.

Still, on the upside its my first weekly book and one I read in a day (well an hour and a half to be precise).

Bring on the next one!

Useful facts

Title: Do Humans Dream of Electric Cars? 

Published: 2009

Suitable for: people of all ages, though children might find it quite boring! 

A brief Introuction

Its a bog standard Saturday in early January. The children are back at school, the excitement of the holidays has worn off and the normal routines have been firmly re established. To put it bluntly: I'm bored.

That may not be the best reason to start a blog, however right now I can't think of another one so it'll have to suffice.

I am a youngish woman who loves to read. It wasn't always the case. I spent most of my teenage years being so preoccupied with 'experiencing life' that I had no time for reading. I worked diligently in high school and read when I had to. I wasn't a massive party animal so most of my 'experiencing life' meant going from home to school or work and back again.
Sounds dull doesn't it?

In later years though I got the chance to rediscover books, namely through children's literature. Now I actually enjoy keeping up with my own children who are avid readers!

This blog has been started in response to a very interesting reading challenge I'm taking on. One that I hope will stretch me as a reader.

My aim? To read and review one book a week. And to share any tips on promoting reading in an effort to spread the reading love to all I know (apologies to the grammar lovers who've just witnessed me starting a sentence with a conjunction) . Maybe this'll even get shared with those I don't know, you never know, y'know?

I look forward to blogging!