Holy Cow: A Modern-Day Dairy Tale by David Duchovny

A cow that's read Homer, a turkey that can fly a plane and a Jewish pig who talks "porcine Yiddish". Sounds like something out of the X-Files!

Well it's all in this book written by X-Files star David Duchovny. "Holy Cow" tells the story of Elsie Bovary, a cow "born on a small farm in upstate New York". She is also the narrator, a very chatty narrator prone to digress, e.g. inserting conversations she has had with her editor about the book and advice to any would-be movie directors out there who wanted to turn the book into a film.

Anyway one day Elsie is attracted to the "snorting of the bulls" who are kept separate from the female cows, and as she goes to visit them she inadvertently ends up outside the farmer's house watching TV where she sees what happens to farm cows - "murdered, one after another".

This leads to an adventure, after a bout of depression of course. Rather than be killed she decides to escape to India where cows are treated as Gods and are not eaten. Along for the ride are Jerry the pig aka Shalom who wants to go to Israel where he will not be eaten, and Tom Turkey who wants to go, you've guessed it, to Turkey.

It might sound like a kids' book, but with the "sex, curses and maybe some potty humour" plus "all the religion stuff" it wouldn't be suitable for young children. The story is surreal with sentences like "I looked up to see a pig tottering upright on its hind legs and a turkey with a cell phone, waiting for me. It was time to go." It has jokes too and the story is certainly unique so if you like that kind of stuff then go for it.

Publication date: 3rd Feb 2015

Available on Amazon UK (priced from £5.99 at time of writing): Holy Cow 

Georgie the Royal Prince Fairy by Daisy Meadows

I read this with my 7-year-old daughter who loved it. Anyone who has read any of the rainbow fairy books before will know why. They are designed perfectly for her age group. Each story features best friends Kirsty and Rachel having to help out a fairy friend from Fairyland in their perpetual battle with Jack Frost and the goblins. This one is no different.

This story is about Georgie the Royal Prince Fairy. Jack Frost has stolen her special royal seal because it can make him royal. Georgie needs the seal to make official "all naming ceremonies of royal princes".  It falls upon Kirsty and Rachel to help Georgie sort it out of course.

Also along the way there are a number of clear and simple pictures to bring the text alive, and the story is written in big text too ideal for early readers.

As for my daughter she loved the story, the pictures and also the opening poem. If I was to be critical I would say that if you read a lot of these rainbow fairy books the plots are rather similar with the girls having to recover a lost item for a fairy from Jack Frost and the goblins in each book, but my daughter doesn't mind. 

Overall a typical rainbow fairy story that little girls will love.

Published: 2 Jan 2014

Available at Amazon (£3.85 at time of writing): Georgie the Royal Prince Fairy 

The Gruffalo's Child by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler

"The Gruffalo's Child" is a sequel to the terribly successful "The Gruffalo". But it is a very clever sequel because it turns things on a head. This time instead of the mouse talking about the terrible features of the Gruffalo it is the Gruffalo who tells the tale of the big bad mouse. The Gruffalo's child then goes off not scared, meeting the characters from the original story all of who are here, before seeing the big bad mouse for himself.

Probably not as good as the original but still great and it has the excellent Axel Scheffler artwork to accompany the story.

Available at Amazon UK: The Gruffalo's Child

First published: 2004

The ONE Thing by Gary Keller with Jay Papasan

Being called "The ONE Thing" there is still a lot to take in when reading this book.

"The ONE Thing" is about putting your focus into your most important thing, rather than focusing on lots of things, because "if you chase two rabbits... you will not catch either one." Using the ONE Thing approach the authors also help you to aim big - "the moon is reachable if you prioritise everything and put all your energy into accomplishing the most important thing".

The book is split into three sections - the Lies, the Truth, and the Extraordinary Results. "The Lies" section tries to debunk common theories that people hold that are anti-One Thing if you like. For example, the lie that multitasking is good, when in fact "to do two things at once is to do neither".

"The Truth" section goes through the processes you should do to make the ONE Thing work, then "the Extraordinary Results" section gives you the tools to use it to break through the ceiling.

The chapters in the book are arranged with introductions, have key points underlined and end with a Big Ideas section providing a summary of the chapter if you just wanted to skim read through. There are also appropriate quotes from various people dotted through the pages and several diagrams to illustrate some of the concepts explained.

Some of the bits in the book you may have come across before, e.g. how writing and sharing your goals with others makes them more likely to be acted upon, but there is no harm in being reminded of these things. The writing is concept-y so takes some concentration. There is some story-telling in there that makes it more readable, but not enough for me. And the ONE thing idea is stretched a bit, e.g. "...your first ONE Thing is..." (surely there should just be one?). However if you make the effort then reading this book could be worthwhile.

Overall I think the ONE Thing approach could work with the key thing for me being to continually use the "focusing question" - "what's the ONE Thing I could do such that by doing it everything else will be easier on or unnecessary?"

Publication date: 25 April 2014

Available on Amazon UK: The ONE Thing