 The Seren Trilogy is about a little girl's adventures in a fantastical place created by the imaginative Darren Lewis. The chief protagonist, Ellie, is based upon his own daughter which makes the story extra special as it's written from the heart with great love and affection. The characters are lots of fun as Darren's clever writing and wonderfully descriptive narrative flows along, interweaving between the three stories. The three stories are Ellie and the Rabbits where she meets talking rabbits and is turned into a rabbit herself! The second Ellie and the Dragon - as good a dragon as my own Jellybean? Hmm... By the way, she meets Cole, an orphan dragon in a basement! And the third, Ellie and the Battle - where she and Cole need to save the world with unexpected results.
A perfect story for children that is sure to make them excited and dreaming of their own fantastical adventures. Looking forward to the next adventures of Ellie.
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 A novel way to learn a language for young kids/slugs about to embark upon Spanish as a 2nd/3rd/10th language. My slugs have already taken it up and learnt many things yet still continue to burn my toast in the morning. It's quite short so not at all taxing for young kids or slugs that are missing one or two brain cells. My only criticism would be that black and white might not appeal to young ones, perhaps redo it in colour? Still, not bad! :)
The Kinmaran Chronicles I.i - The Adventures of Brackenbelly: All in a Day's Work by Gareth Baker27/2/2014  Lovely nose I bought this book because I liked the nose on the huge floating head on the cover. However, I soon discovered that huge noses wasn't the only thing I would like. The names too were most appealing. Isomee, the poor young, innocent yet spirited girl, her horrible uncle, Hogg-Bottom and then the Uma, Brackenbelly - what wonderful names! Obviously the author has been eating one too many cabbages.
Each chapter is short and it's a breeze to get through, and get through you do as this is a real page-turner. I was very impressed with the descriptions of the world the characters inhabit and the characters themselves. 'Isomee's curly red hair looked like it was caught on fire...' The characters themselves are involving, you don't feel indifferent and you do end up rooting for them. Brackenbelly is a noble character and Isomee's sweet like cabbage ice cream. There's good pacing and plenty of mystery as we learn about the chostri and whether or not they will they capture the beast. Now, to begin book two.  Not about a light switch This is indeed an exciting adventure story that had my slugs and I on the edge of our seats. A couple of slugs got so excited that they fell off their seats. Unfortunately, for them, there was a a frying pan beneath. Fortunately for me, it provided me with a little snack whilst I read this quite wonderful story.
The main reason I like it is because I am a little OCD and a bit of a maniac when it comes to hygiene, like our protagonist, Ethan. The poor boy has to leave his opulent home and then, via his Dad and stepmother's place in Zimbabwe go on safari and then gets transported to a strange, magical kingdom trying to rescue his cousin, Joe! Think of the dirt the poor Ethan has to encounter! With poor cousin Joe being held captive, will Ethan and the others rescue him in time? Or will he end up like those slugs that fell off the chair? What we have is a story with magic, adventure, witchcraft, all set in Africa - which is wonderful for kids to read and learn about. My remaining slugs are already looking forward to book two! Excellent stuff.  New cover coming! If you're looking for a book for your children or slugs (ages 9+) that delves into a bit of English history around the Elizabethan era, if you're looking for something that has magic and fantasy, uses the wonderful British Museum as a prime location, has well-written action and something that's a little different then I'd highly recommend The Magician's Fire (ZiyZo). You're not going to get your usual book as the author herself is probably rather unusual and who doesn't like quirky? The author obviously knows a lot about magic, spells and things of that nature - which is rather worrying come to think of it.
I'd imagine that if you or your children liked Harry Potter then they'd love this, however there's something more real about this. I understand that this is the first in the series so hopefully we will see many more. Get into it and begin the journey of online dragon chasing! Just don't attempt to chase slugs as they don't like it and will slime you.  I lived on an island My slugs and I had previously read D M Potter's In the Magician's House and Once Upon an Island follows the same formula of interactivity. This is fun, intriguing and with a little bit of history and geography about New Zealand thrown in too - not so much that my brain might explode. Unlike last time with In the Magician's House I actually made it to the end and got to meet a certain Captain and then was able to decide my own fate. I think children will love it, my slugs did, and I can recommend it if you're looking for something a little different and challenging for your 7 - 11 year olds.
 This brings me back to my pre-slug days. I remember reading/playing this kind of book/game when I was a little tulip but we had to use a die. I didn't expect it when I first saw this book and was delighted to discover it was interactive as it filled me with tonnes of nostalgia and aromas of tulips. Unfortunately, I ended up being turned to stone on my first go and had to return to the beginning, which made me very angry and forced me to throw a cabbage at Dieter. I'm just not very good. It's unusually written and that was pleasing and is definitely not your run-of-the-mill fairytale so I think it's got something new to offer to young readers. This is a lot of fun and I'm sure many kids will love it as much as I love planning military attacks with my slugs.
 He still doesn't eat as much as Duke! I was fortunate enough to read Mr. Blue and though it wasn't a book about slugs, which is slightly disappointing, I got to learn a lot about the Great Blue Heron - enough to wonder whether I should replace my slugs with Herons!
There are many interesting facts to teach children about a quite interesting animal and the pictures are superb. Wonderful to look at and, I'd imagine, look great in the physical version. Somehow, I don't think the Kindle version does it justice. The colours match the book perfectly and it's one of the neatest covers I've seen in a long time. Recommended. Hope Priscilla will soon do a book about the majestic slug.  "I don't like you," said the cute puppy Such a sweet, (caramel-like sweetness, candyfloss-sweetness), book that I could barely continue without having to chop some wood in-between. Lovely photos of the awesome 6 that'll make any child or adult go 'ahhh' in unison.
Have to say, it's an inventive way to get little ones into learning a language. These are baby-steps but a little goes a long way and in no time they'll be saying gute nacht or bonne nuit and before you know it, it'll be bonjour, comment ca va? Pas mal, et toi? And then they'll be having conversations about you and you won't understand! Highly recommended.  I quite like dragons. Not too fond of spiders. A spider once bit me and I was scratching for a week!
Anyway, this is a charming, fun rhyme that will definitely appeal to young readers with cute illustrations that will hopefully inspire little frogs to learn to play an instrument. There's even a fun game at the end! Good stuff! |
His ZapplenessChoosing books worthy enough to be read and reviewed by Elias Zapple. Archives
February 2015
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