Krystal Bull Rain Dancer by Shirley Harber

This is a book that I won in a Goodreads First Reads contest. 

The story follows Krystal Bull whose mother is a psychic. At the beginning the main characters and their situations are seamlessly introduced allowing you to get into the story immediately. There's Krystal whose 13th birthday it is, her mum who is single now and dieting, and Mr. Wormley, the French teacher from school who "is all bad breath and B.O."

Krystal's character is well-written. She comes across as being very much a teenage girl, with her "oh puh...leeeeze!" type of language, the way she terms boys as fit or not and how she worries about what people will say about her when she does embarrassing things.

At the beginning Mr. Wormley has a sitting with Krystal's mum and that goes wrong with a flash of lightning bringing it to an end. After that Krystal meets a cowgirl called Jessie who is her spirit guide. Jessie tells her "You've inherited special psychic powers today, your thirteenth birthday. They're extra special on account of who you are."

And so Krystal learns she is the first female descendant of Chief Sitting Bull, along the English line, and he has left her something, only another spirit guide, Red Tomahawk, is after it too.

The "rain dancer" part of the title refers to what the gift is, it is a recording of Sitting Bull's rain dance chant, and because of Krystal's special powers when she hears it she can't control herself and starts to dance (these moments being highlights in the book).

Some bits of the book could have been better, such as a terrifying car ride to Heathrow that was over before it got started, and I don't know how necessary it was to put in a scene about Krystal getting her period, but overall this should appeal to teenage girls as Krystal is very much one of them.

(This book is available on Amazon UK HERE.)

Baggy Brown and the Royal Baby by Mick Inkpen

This is exactly the same book as the 2008 published "Baggy Brown". However the big difference is that the title of this one has Royal Baby in it and this book was published at a time when Royal Baby fever was taking over the country. However this book has nothing to do with Will and Kate's little one.

The story is of Baggy Brown the teddy bear. He is the first edition of a limited-run of teddy bears and is destined to be presented to Princess Sophie on her first birthday. However the production line gets messed up and the bear ends up coming Alfie's way, and Alfie falls in love with his toy christening him Baggy Brown. Then television news reports talk about the missing bear with the golden crown in his ear with the number 1 on and 5-year-old Alfie gets sad before going on a journey to give the Princess his beloved bear. And then the children grow up as friends and live happily ever after.

Pictures are big and colourful, story can hold the attention for at least a bedtime, and children can relate to loving a toy, and hopefully to sharing too.

(I got this book through Amazon Vine. It is listed HERE.)

The Water-Babies by Charles Kingsley

I started reading this at bedtimes with my 6-year-old and 2-year-old but with the antiquated text (this book dates to 1863), the long sentences and the many unnecessary diversions I stopped. This book would certainly have been edited a lot differently if it were to be published anew today.

This is a book for adults. Right from the way it has been presented with the dust jacket, the attached ribbon bookmark and the chapters number with Roman numerals, right through to the actual contents with an appendix being devoted to textual variants between the original published book form, as replicated in this book, and the preceding version as serialised in Macmillan's Magazine, something that only the most dedicated are going to refer to. 

The book doesn't even start with the story, that begins after 49 pages of introduction and chronology of the author Charles Kingsley's life. The introduction is good though. It gives some context about the way Victorian society was at the time, with the way the railways provided the Victorians the means to get down to the seaside and take in all the coastal wildlife, and how popular that was, through to the Victorians' views on cleanliness and how that was reflected in Kingsley's tale. But it also gives quotes from reviews of the time that reflected some of my experiences with the book: "writing which is repeatedly stalled", "a jerkily episodic narrative", and "one of the most uneven and ragbaggy books in the language".

However upon reading there are good points too. You can see the love of nature pour out of the page in places, and the story contains many a moral for a young lad growing up (for the story is written for a boy and referenced so in many places). 

The story itself follows Tom, a chimney sweep, who is mistreated by his master Grimes. In the introduction it talks of how the Water-Babies played a major role in the introduction of the chimney sweep act to prevent mis-use of children like this. Anyway Tom is accused of being a thief, although he is innocent, and he is chased far until he is exhausted and is drawn to a river where he drowns and becomes a water-baby.

As a water-baby he goes on many an adventure but the narrative is very full of ideas and not really going anywhere until near the end, although there are good moments along the way as Tom meets all sorts of creatures of the streams and sea and talks to them. But all the while he wants to meet other water-babies but he doesn't see any until he does a good deed one time and sees many so that "he knew that he had been hearing and seeing the water-babies all along; only he did not know them, because his eyes and ears were not opened."

After that he meets the fairies Mrs Bedonebyasyoudid and Mrs Doasyouwouldbedoneby who teach him some lessons. Finally he learns that to become a man he must do what he doesn't want, and Tom knows that that is to see his old master Grimes again. So he has a final journey to do to the Other-end-of-Nowhere.

And lots of surreal stuff goes on throughout, with the text also being experimental with poems songs and lists thrown in as and when Kingsley saw fit.

But a happy ending at the end. And as it is a fairy tale "you are not to believe a word of it, even if it is true."

So a book for adults to keep on a shelf, and if you want children to enjoy this tale too I recommend getting one of the abridged versions made for the modern audience.

(I got this book through Amazon Vine UK. It is listed HERE.)

Georgina the Giraffe by An Vrombaut

Should your child (or grandchild) be an avid viewer of CBeebies then they are probably familiar with the TV show “64 Zoo Lane”. If they love the TV show then getting this book, or one of the others in the series, is a no-brainer.

This book has nice wide pages with colourful pictures on them that match the art from the TV show. Inside is the story of Georgina the Giraffe, but also the lyrics to the theme song from the TV show so that you can sing along to that too.

Georgina the Giraffe is probably one of the favourite animals at the zoo because it is always she that lets Lucy slide down her neck to come into the zoo every night for her bedtime story, as told by one of the animals.

Georgina’s story (which matches one of the TV episodes) is of how she got her neck in a knot one day and so had to see the knot doctor. It is a funny story because everyone knows giraffes in real-life can’t get knots in their necks, and also because of the pictures. For example when she gets to the knot doctor she has to queue in line behind lots of other animals with knotty problems of their own, e.g. a chameleon who has a knot in a place you’d expect.

All in all this is a perfect companion to the TV show.

(I got this book through Amazon Vine. It is listed HERE.)

Are You Happy Now? by Richard Babcock

"Alleys, thinks John Lincoln. At least Chicago has alleys." These are the opening lines, immediately catching you off-guard but in so doing drawing you in from the off.

John Lincoln is comparing Chicago to New York, the place he sees as his future. "He wants to attach himself to a great publishing house, edit profound writers, maybe even write a book or two himself. Bask in the pride of his parents. Wave those credentials in front of his rivals. Be somebody."

The reality though is that he is stuck in Chicago, 33-years-old, on a marriage vacation from Mary and is just a small-time editor at a small publishing house, Pistakee Press, on the road to nowhere. That is until he meets Amy who on first impressions resembles a "little ruffled grouse", but provides John with his ticket out of here. Will he finally be happy?

Overall I was reasonably happy with the book. Maybe the first-half with all of John's woe is me stuff got a little depressing in places, "Am I going to die in exile in Chicago?" he muses whilst he has the law on his back, his wife filing for divorce, plus a nagging feeling that his boss is soon to sack him. Woe is me indeed, but a book is about escapism so I didn't need that.

The second half of the book picks up though as John has something to focus on, namely Amy and her book. But in "blindly pursuing his ambition, he's corrupted an innocent." And so his idea of what would bring him happiness gets trodden on a little along the way, although by the end he realises once and for all what it is he needs to finally be happy giving a uplifting ending after all the doom and gloom before.

(I got this book through Amazon Vine UK. It is listed HERE.)

Down and Out in Beverly Heels by Kathryn Leigh Scott

This story follows Meg Barnes, an actress who has lost everything. She is living in the back of a car "down and out in Beverly Hills". This is because her husband was a con-man and faked his own kidnapping, and is now presumed dead. Meanwhile Meg had to stamp up the ransom and the rest was taken from debts he built up in her name. When the FBI get involved she meets handsome agent Jack.

Meg's most famous character from her acting days is that of detective side-kick Jinx, and after running away for a year or so she decides to take a leaf out of Jinx's book and go on the hunt of her husband. But with people being killed around her and an FBI agent warning her off things get dangerous.

The book was well written and the actor sensibilities of Meg came through, probably because the author is an actress herself, whilst not writing books. The cover was a bit misleading as I imagined Meg as a 20-something woman into high heels but she is in her 40s/50s, and probably prefers flat shoes. But you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover as they say.

Thoroughly entertaining read with the beginning being better than the end in my opinion, with the coming together of all the parts being out of character for someone. But overall really good and definitely worth reading.

(I got this book through Amazon Vine UK. It is listed here.)