Better Late Than Never

This blog post is three days late. Does that mean I've failed in my mission to read one book a week and post about it? Technically yes. Does it mean that I've quit and decided I'm going to give up without seeing this through to the end? Not a friggin chance!

I am  more than a little disappointed to have come so close to the end and to have missed a deadline. It's something that'll stick with me for a while yet. But I won't be too hard on myself, after all I have made it this far, putting the blog ahead of everything else for over 40 weeks now. If anything this'll spur me on to do a better job next year and not to miss a single week. Only time will tell how that one goes.

This past week has seen me do a lot of travelling, especially at the weekend. So this book is a fairly fitting choice once again. Though I don't think I'd want to share it's central character's journey through it for love nor money!

Tokyo, written by Graham Marks tells the story of Adam, whose world is turned into total chaos upon the discovery that his backpacking sister has vanished in Tokyo. Frustrated by the lack of input from the police and his parents' inability to act Adam takes matters into his own hands and catches the first available flight to Tokyo to go and find her. There is only one problem, he does this all in secret, hoping that by the time his parents even realise he's missing he'll be back, sister alongside him. But as poor Adam finds out in this book life is rarely ever that simple.

With Adam being a college student and the book set from his perspective there are a fair few concepts and scenes that simply aren't meant for children below a high school age. Over the course of the book's 254 pages there are plenty of swear words and passages that hint to adult content.
On the other hand though the story is solid, with the action being quite evenly paced throughout. We do also get the viewpoints of his parents and several police officers involved in the story (albeit quite briefly).

There are no illustrations in the book whatsoever, but each chapter has a unique badly phrased English sentence that raises a little smile. The real bonus comes in the variety of language, beautiful words often juxtaposed with very plain sentences in the same paragraph, all contributes to the picture we get of Adam's quite complex character.

I actually came across the word inexorably which was a real treat as it was simply a word I didn't know (by the way it means unpreventable, just sayin')!

The ending of the story is very bitter sweet, I would've liked to see more of it in order to get a better picture of the relationship between Adam and his parents. But that is more than made up for by our exploration of their relationship with each other.

It's a definite one for a quick read when you've got a week off!

Book 47 of my 52 book list and a book with a place in the title. I'll see you again in 4 days with this week's book.

Book Title: Tokyo
Author: Graham Marks
Pages: 254
Published: 2006
Suitable for: Children aged 12 and upwards
Interesting Words: intervent, angst, stupor, conciliation, presumable, inexorably. 

Tougher by the Week

I'm not even gonna deny it this time, I'm down to the last of my get out of jail free cards. This one is a complete stretch and I'm not ashamed to admit it. But with only six weeks to go after this I'm really not in the habit of caring how much I bend the rules so long as I don't give up.

In my head completing this means I can finish something I started. For someone who’s never been able to do that her whole life, this needs to happen. I need to unlock this door before I can start to open new ones.

Anyway, that’s the personal bit out of the way. This week’s book is asking me to read something that is set in the future. I’m sure there’s plenty out there to choose from. But with me prepping my house for Christmas today and with my beloved after school club prepping for a Christmas concert, I knew the second I saw this book that it would be the ideal choice.

The Night Before The Night Before Christmas is an homage to the legendary poem by Clement C Moore, who’s charming tale told us all about a regular man’s encounter with the larger than life St Nicholas. Written by Kes Gray ( the author of the hilarious ‘Oi Frog’) and illustrated by Claire Powell, it tells us the backstory of what happened the night before Christmas Eve.

There’s tonnes of work to be done in Father Christmas’ workshop. He, Mrs Christmas and all the elves are hard at work getting the last of the things ready. But in amidst all the chaos there is something that Santa has clearly forgotten to do. Will it mess up his plans for Christmas? Will children get their presents? Will the reindeer get up from their year long hibernation and fly? Only the end of the book will tell!

Written in a grand combination of simple and yet traditional language it features a few words that children might not ordinarily come across. In spite of this fact, it’s easy to grasp these unfamiliar words in the context of their surrounding sentences. Each page features a short verse made up of rhyming couplets. The rhythm of the original poem being echoed throughout the entire piece. 

The illustrations are lovely, I don’t know why but they remind me a little of the warm drawings in the Raymond Briggs’ book The Snowman. They are nothing really like them, I just think it’s something about their warmth that makes me think of it.

This book is easily suitable for any child and would have been one I’d have loved to read to my children when they were babies. Does it encapsulate the charm of the original poem whilst still appearing as fresh? Definitely. Is it of the same calibre as the original? Probably not, but then it doesn’t have to be. It tells it’s own lovely story. And for that I’m happy to add it to my collection.

A book set in the future (remember it’s still a month till Christmas Eve Eve) this is book 46 of my 52 book list.

Book Title: The Night Before The Night Before Christmas
Author: Kes Gray
Illustrator: Claire Powell
Pages: 29
Published: 2018
Suitable for: all children
Interesting words: bellowed, brow, resounded,shirk, harrumphed

A Tale from far Away

I wrote most of this post whilst 'on location' today, having allowed myself to indulge in a weekend in the country with friends.

After a busy week it's been a proper treat, but once again there's been little time to fit in a good read. So why is it that this morning I was sat writing this blog post by hand instead of just curling up in a blanket and watching the world outside the window. Well in truth I was actually trying to do both.
My book this week is supposed to be a book from another culture, fairly apt doing a blog about somewhere far away when I was away from home myself.
It should have been a simple enough task. It really wasn't. Firstly, if the book is about another culture does it count if it isn't written by someone native to that culture? Does it have to be modern? Or can it be historical in context? Does it even have to be something that is non-fiction or can stories count?
See? Not exactly an easy path to follow, especially with children's books.

After much searching and mulling things over I settled on a book featuring traditional fairy tales from a place about as far away as I could get!


Written by English author James Mayhew it retells four traditional Russian tales which are then wrapped up in a larger fictional narrative.

The main 'fake' story is of a Tsar who punishes his wife after being tricked (by her wicked sisters no less) into believing that the handsome strapping sons she's promised to bear him are instead animals and monsters. Aware that she is being tricked she conceals one son in the folds of her clothes in an effort to try and save him.

But none of this is enough to save her and with her son still hidden away in her garments she is placed into a barrel and cast into the sea, where she drifts forever and a day before washing up on a mystical island complete with a magical storytelling cat.

A merchant passes and offers to pass on a message to the Tsar after encountering the Tsarina, her son and the magical cat. But when he relays the message to the Tsar he is forced to 'test' the cat by trying to get it to retell particular stories that no one should really know.  Is there more to this cat than meets the eye? And will the truth finally come out in the end?

Woven into this are four actual traditional Russian fairy tales including one which was the root of a ballet called The Firebird which was composed by Igor Stravinsky.

Set out in picture book format it features tonnes of beautifully vivid sketch like illustrations. The language is also beautiful and reflective of a really intelligent style of writing. At a length of 79 pages which can be quite text heavy it isn't to be taken lightly. In fact I personally wouldn't let a child under 8 read it unless they were an avid reader. It might simply put them off with the small print and large amounts of text.

It is well worth a read though, and it gives us a warm impression of tales that would've been told around the fire. The tales are well woven into the fabric of the main story and had it not been for the author's notes at the back of the book I would never have known which stories were genuine tales and which were the author's inventions.

Book 45 of 52 and my book from a different culture, this is my choice this week. Now time to rest again!

Book Title: The Kingfisher Book of Tales from Russia.
Author and Illustrator: James Mayhew
Pages: 79
Published: 1993
Suitable for: children aged 8 and up
Interesting words: weave, hurled, flickered, spluttered, mighty, beloved

Going it alone

I found this particular topic quite interesting this week as it involved a little detective work. I had to look up a book that was self published and couldn't quite believe one of the first titles that came up.

Having sold over 45 million copies world wide and been responsible for a recent big budget movie this was the last thing I was expecting to see. Okay maybe not the last thing but somewhere close to it.

The tale of Peter Rabbit is about a mischievous little bunny who ignores his mother's advice one morning and winds up sneaking into the garden of Mr McGregor, who chases him about and tries to catch him. Unlike his obedient sisters who spend the day picking fruit Peter ends up having an adventure which almost leaves him following the same fate as his poor father (who gets served in a pie). Fortunately for our young explorer he manages to escape the farmer's clutches goes home only for mother to serve him tea and put him to bed.

I don't know what it is about this book that makes it so alluring. The words are well chosen, I feel like I'm being read the story by Mary Poppins when I read it. I can just hear the voice in my head with it's gentle, yet no nonsense tone. The vocabulary isn't too difficult but definitely shows signs of the time it was written in. There are certain words which sound archaic.

I feel like it has more to do with the beautifully drawn illustrations, which walk that fine line between realism and cartoon cute with aplomb. It is 47 pages of quaint charm which draws a smile with every page.

Hard to believe that in 1901 it's author, Beatrix Potter could not get this published for love nor money. An educated and established woman in her own right, she ended up spending cash of her own to self publish this. It wouldn't be picked up by a publisher for another year. But published it was and that is a great relief, because it went on to change Potter's entire career, allowing her to become a major children's author. With money raised from her book sales she bought and preserved large areas of land in the lake district which are now cared for by the National Trust.

So thank goodness to the man who decided to take a chance on it, he's helped change Potter's career, save vast areas of natural beauty and my blog!

A self published book, this is number 44 of my 52 book list!

Book title: The Tale of Peter Rabbit
Author and Illustrator: Beatrix Potter
Pages:47
Published: 1901 (self) 1902 (officially)
Suitable for: children aged 4 and up
Interesting words: dreadfully, implored, exert