If you've never seen the TV show of this then the book probably won't make sense in places. But if you have, and you like its silliness and grossness, then get this book.
The story is the same as the Season 1 episode "Oh Brother Who Art Thou". Howie's evil sister want's to get her hands on Banana Cabana which Howie owns. But Howie won't give it to her, although he mentions that if he had a brother he would give him half of it. This gives Poodle an idea and soon a long-lost brother shows up. But first Howie has a list of things he would do with a long-lost brother if he had one to get through. What could possibly go wrong?
The book has plenty of glossy colour pictures throughout, and even a page of stickers. It would be suitable for fans of the show.
(I got this book through Amazon Vine UK. It is listed HERE.)
Ante’s Inferno begins with Ante, short for Antonia, playing the Last Post on the trumpet as part of a remembrance service for the ex-students of her school who fell during the First World War. Little does Ante know that not long after she will be experiencing first hand exactly what they went through.
But before that Ante first suffers from the bullying of Florence which leads to the Florence chasing her into the closed off organ loft, which is a dangerous place to be given the drop to the floor of the hall down below.
This is where the journey through Hades begins (just like Dante did in Dante's Inferno). Their companion on the journey is Gil, a boy who was murdered when he was pushed off the very same organ loft that the two girls entered the Underworld from. Along the way they encounter Cerberus the 3-headed dog, the boatman of the Styx, the seven deadly sins at the “shopping maul”, harpies, Chiron the centaur, a Minotaur and the devil himself. That is even before Ante is thrown into World War I action.
Ante learns that the reason she, as a mortal, is there is because she has some sort of task to do, although she doesn’t know what, although all gets revealed through the course of the book of course.
Maybe Hades isn’t hellish enough but this is a book for 11-year-olds so that is ok. Also youngsters may not get all the references to Dante’s Inferno, so it is a bonus if they are familiar with that, although it is possible to get by without it. They should enjoy the happy ending (the selected quotes on the back suggest this) and the action along the way though in thie well-told, action-packed tale.
(I got this book through Amazon Vine UK. It is listed HERE.)
Bin Weevils is an online virtual world. Weevils live in bins and are controlled by kids (and adults) across the world. I've been playing it over the past week or so with my 6-year-old daughter, although she has mostly played independently. The main thing the game is about is interior design as each weevil has their own nest that they design based on items they can purchase with in-game currency on things like wallpaper, shelves, rugs and beds. They also earn trophies as they do some of the other things in the world like win games or reach the next level which they can show off in their nest because you can invite other players over to see and rate your nest.
And the nest-inspectors handbook is an extension of that. The nest inspector dishes out trophies to the weevils with the best nests (although you have to play the paid-for version of the game for this). This book gives some interior design tips. It shows some of the online products you can buy for your nest. Essentially it is like a catalogue (although not an extensive one, maybe just a sampler). As we were reading through it my daughter was pointing out the items that she had.
There are a couple of games in there to do, and three codes you can use in the game to unlock things for your nest but overall you can get by in the game perfectly well without it.
(I got this book through Amazon Vine UK. It is listed HERE.)
This book took me a while to read, probably because there is a lot to take in. It discusses the emerging nations of the world, the countries such as China and why they have been growing, and what the next decade could bring. The thing I got most out of the book was how inter-connected politics and economics is, something I’d never really thought about before. I took some notes as I went along:
The book starts with the author at a lavish party in India where he strikes up a conversation with the “twenty-something son” who works in the family export business who remarks “where else will the money go?”, referring to emerging markets. Thus a book is born.
Chapter 1 provides an intro with the definition of a emerging nation detailed, and the author’s approach to looking at them (“monitor everything from per capita income levels to the top-ten billionaire lists, the speeches of radical politicians, the prices of black-market money changers, the travel habits of local businessmen, the profit margins of big monopolies, and the size of second cities). This approach plays out in the rest of the book.
Chapter 2 focuses on the success story that is China, although “to a degree most observers have underestimated many critical factors now point to a slowdown”. Chapter 3 looks at India which has “many stars aligned in its favour, from it’s demographic profile to its entrepreneurial energy and an annual per capita income that is only one-fourth of China’s.” Chapter 4 covers Brazil where prices are high, which has resulted, at the time of this review, with riots (June 2013).
Chapter 5 is about Mexico where oligopolies rule. Russia is next where “the spectacularly ugly homegrown Ladas have made way for Mercedes and BMWs” although “the bottom line is that Russia was an amazing comeback story until 2008.” A chapter looking at Poland and the Czech Republic follows, before Turkey, then Indonesia are profiled. Chapter 10 looks at “South Korea’s rare ability to stay at the cutting edge of fast-changing industries".
South Africa with “its fundamental problems” is next, followed by a chapter on frontier markets where “investors who get in early and get a grip on what’s going on can double or triple investments – but it’s just as easy to lose everything.” Then there is a chapter devoted to commodities which the author likens the current commodity boom to the dotcom boom, even terming it commodity.com, before a final closing chapter about emerging countries in the next decade and how the perceived East-West shift is not something that the West should worry about too much.
Overall then a lot to take in, with the anecdotes such as the Indian party at the beginning, some nightclubbing on the Bosporus, private helicopters being used in Brazil to get to business meetings on time because of clogged up roads helping to bring the points to life. The book would be best for people who have an interest in the topic or who want to get into it. Certainly a lot of food for thought although not an escapist read.
I got this book through Amazon Vine UK. It is listed HERE.
