Nixie: Wonky Winter Wonderland by Cas Lester and Ali Pye

Book review: "Bumblebees' Bottoms!" Nixie is back.

I read "Nixie the Bad, Bad Fairy", the first in this series with my 9-year-old daughter. She likes it because it is a little bit like the Rainbow Magic Fairy books but is different because it features a mischievous fairy as the main character, Nixie. This is the second book in the series.

Nixie is the Fairy who'd rather have snowball battles and sleigh rides than go about her chores ahead of the Midwinter Midnight Feast. And her playing normally ends up with her rival Adorabella, the Goody-goody Fairy getting "smothered in freezing cold snow", rather by accident of course. This story seems a little episodic with a number of separate stories weaved together with the Midwinter Midnight Feast being the main focus of the book (and a little clock at the beginning of each chapter indicating the time in the day that the chapter is taking place in). 

The book is aimed at 5+ year-olds and all the trouble Nixie causes is innocent enough. The chapters are short and there are a few black and white illustrations along the way. Some of the text is bolded too to and put into different fonts to make it even more exciting. The words used are not as dumbed down as the Rainbow Magic books which is as it should be. And interestingly the extract at the back for the next Nixie book is for "Splashy Summer Swim" so it seems Nixie is on a bit of a seasonal journey in these two books.

This is a decent enough book for early readers.

AVAILABLE ON AMAZON

Publication date: 5 Nov 2015

Star on Stormy Mountain (Puppy Academy) by Gill Lewis

Book review: "Star on Stormy Mountain" is the story of a young collie pup called Star who goes to the Sausage Dreams Puppy Academy where she is training to be a sheepdog. Her mum was a star sheepdog before so there are huge expectations on her, which, together with her over-excitable nature leads to problems. Perhaps she wasn't cut out to be a sheepdog after all?

This is an early reader book suitable for readers around the ages of 6-8 moving on from picture books to a slightly longer read. It had lots of quality black-and-white illustrations throughout, little funny pics, like for example a picture of two sheep wearing glasses sitting on hay bales knitting.

My nearly-9-year-old thought it was really good.

Published: 1 October 2015

Available on AMAZON NOW

Olga da Polga by Michael Bond

Book review: Olga da Polga is a 13-chapter book about a guinea-pig called Olga. The chapters tell the tale of life from a guinea-pig's point of view, from moving to a new home from the pet shop, to meeting the family pets and neighbourhood animals when there, to winning a rosette at a show, to getting lost from her hutch and so on. 

But the best bits are where she holds the other animals in awe as they gather around and listen to her tall tales. whether that be her souping up of her rather mundane adventures, or her telling the stories of the history of the guinea-pig. Plus this being a book by Michael Bond, author of Paddington Bear, there is mention of Peru where Paddington also hailed from.

This edition is a gift edition and as such is rather lavish. Along the way are watercolour and spray painted images of Olga and the other animals. Also it comes with a hard-cover and a dust-jacket with shiny writing on. So it certainly looks the part.

Overall a well-produced book a much loved author.

This edition published: 1 Oct 2015

AVAILABLE ON AMAZON

Articles of Faith by Russell Brand

Book review: “Articles of Faith” is a book by Russell Brand about football. Don’t be getting it though if you want a companion to his Booky Wook books or his DVD shows unless you like football.

Basically the book is a “collection of columns” that Brand wrote for the Guardian newspaper during the 2007-08 season. There is a smidgeon of added value with some extras that you wouldn’t have originally got with your newspaper, these mainly being the cover “in which I am inadvisedly posing as Christ”, and three interviews with famous football fans – a humorous discussion of the football songs “Three Lions” and “I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles” with David Baddiel, a rushed interview with James Corden about West Ham, and a chat about Manchester City becoming the richest club in the world with Noel Gallagher.

The “rattishly indulged” articles “focus chiefly on Brand’s reaction to the phenomena of football culture” rather than focusing on the football itself, and are done in the Russell Brand style with plenty of poetic and fruity language, lots of analogies, e.g. “like a knicker thief suddenly made manager of a laundrette”, and many a “wacky, sideways” view, e.g. “I enjoyed his scissor-kick somersault celebration although I’d be the first to condemn him if he did it in a refuge for battered women.”

The presentation is lavish with colour illustrations relating to the text throughout, such as one of “former Blades boss Neil Warnock poised in a circle of stone, stinking of chicken’s blood, spewing white-eyed incantations and clutching a buckled dolly of West Ham player Julien Faubert”, but never actual photos of any of the football or footballers, the only photos being promo shots of Brand, pencil in hand (for example).

As for the football this was the season when Steve McClaren’s England “smashed to bits” the “beautiful distraction of Euro 2008”, and where “poor unlovable Avram’s” Chelsea and Manchester United contested the Champions League final. As there is no context presented between articles a basic knowledge of what went on in the football world at this time, as well as the characters, is advisable.

Overall then what you have here is a funny, episodic read about the 2007-08 English football season, with a slight West Ham bias (Brand being a West Ham supporter). His last words are “Football does not make sense” so ultimately this book probably doesn’t make sense, but I thought it was a good read anyway.

Published: 15 Oct 2008

Available on AMAZON UK

Heidi by Johanna Spyri

The first thing you notice about this edition of Heidi is the colour covers and inside covers. The front contains many features of the story of the book. There is the happy girl in the middle, the goats around her, the isolated hut near the top of the mountain and the flowers at the bottom. Inside the back cover there are pictures of 12 of the covers of books in the Oxford Children's Classics, including classics such as The Jungle Book and The Wizard of Oz. This is the sort of thing my almost-9-year-old daughter, being a veracious reader and recognising some of these famous books, loves.

As for the story this is the original English text of the book (as far as I know) which was published in 1881. Therefore it has old-fashioned sentence structures, which coupled with the long words and Swiss place names does not make it an easy task for my almost-9-year-old to read. There are no illustrations along the way either. On her own I think she would have persevered for a while before giving up. Therefore I read it with her over several bedtimes.

The story tells the tale of young orphan Heidi. Throughout the book she has such a cheerful nature, a "loving little heart", and brings joy to everyone she meets, whether that be blind Grandmother or Peter the goatherd. 

You meet her at the beginning as a 5-year-old being dumped by her aunt at Grandfather's as there is no-one else she can leave him with as she leaves for Frankfurt where she is to become a housekeeper. Here Heidi lives at the top of the mountain at one with the mountain meadows, nature, flowers, goats and fresh air. This is one of the things the book is famous for, the descriptions of the beautiful scenery - "lofty and silent rose the high mountain peaks above her, and below the whole broad valley full of quiet peace." 

Anyway aunt Dete eventually sends for Heidi to come to Frankfurt too where she is to be the companion of an invalid child called Clara. They make friends whilst Heidi also gets up the nose of the housekeeper there Fraulein Rottenmeier, innocently but hilariously at times. Unfortunately Heidi becomes homesick so the pair are split apart, until later when Clara comes to visit and the mountain air does her much good.

There is also a Godly message within the text too, with lessons about prayers and such like. 

My nearly-9-year-old daughter likes to have the last word. She says: "It is really good because you learn a few lessons about friendship and being truthful."

This edition published: 3 Sep 2015

Available on AMAZON

All Played Out by Pete Davies

Book review: “All Played Out” is the tale of Italia ’90, with a focus on England’s time there. It is interesting reading it now as in many ways despite not being that long ago it seems a different era. This was a time when the Premier League hadn’t begun, when Lineker had scored only thirty-odd goals for England, and when it was still just 2-points for a win. Also “these were the horror days of a nation all played out, a nation of riot and yobbery, a nation whose football was oafish and whose fans were louts.” Hooligans are far less an issue these days of course.

Along the way as the author follows England there is a lot of talk of the “fans” and the thuggish behaviour of a minority, always written about in the English press in an over-exaggerated manner, and the thuggish behaviour of the Italians too, plus their baton-wielding police. There is also a lot of talk about the English press, “the worst disciplined press in Western Europe”, because the author of the book was a fully signed-up member of the press pack with all the privileged access that brings, this access allowing him to conduct several interviews in the book with members of England’s playing squad, as well as the manager.

Some of these interviews are interesting retrospectively now, like how Lineker would “like to go into television”, and how Waddle thought Gazza with his personality could be a danger to himself when he was older. Also retrospectively it looks odd why Bobby Robson got so many negative headlines as England manager with his impressive record of a world cup quarter-final followed by a semi-final, but when the author maligns the press behaviour through much of the book you can probably begin to see why that happened.

The book also delves into football more technically than other offerings, with lots in particular on systems with 4-4-2 being said to be “all played out”. The author also covers all the wider football stuff going on at the World Cup in “Planet Football” with England players performing commercial activities such as casually modelling clothes or delivering Malaysian sound-bites, and some remarks on the official cheese of Italia ’90 with a multitude of tall, beautiful cheesewomen being present at various press events, never failing to impress the author, although the cheese less so as he never talks about tasting it.

The book covers more than just football though. For example it starts before the World Cup with a journey to Sardinia and Cagliari, England’s World Cup base for their group games, and delves into the history and culture of the place. Some of this works better than other bits, for example all the administration bits about waiting for fax machines to work etc. as he tries to obtain press tickets and the like could have been left out.

There is also a good writing style present too. On the unpredictable Gazza getting fouled: “Will he clout the guy? Or will he get up and shake his hand, pat his face and ruffle his hair, then embrace the referee?” And on the stadiums: “where the ordinary folk go to watch the men who’ve got gold in their shoes.”

Overall then an enjoyable read, and if you want to play a game whilst reading then see if you predict when the author is just about to use his favourite phrases “all played out” and “Planet Football”.

Published: 29 Oct 1990

Available on AMAZON

Nelly and the Quest for Captain Peabody by Roland Chambers

Book Review: "Nelly and the Quest for Captain Peabody" is a swash-buckling adventure of a little girl called Nelly. "The girl was called Nelly and the boat was called Nelly, just the same. It belonged to Captain Bones Peabody, of the Gentlemen's Exploratory Flotilla, who had gone off many years before with a group of gentlemen explorers to sail around the world and, as yet, had not returned. Nelly, the girl, was Captain Peabody's daughter."

So that is the premise, Nelly goes off on the seven seas with her pet turtle Columbus for adventures with "pirates, waterspouts, and so forth". There are some lovely descriptive scenes as Nelly goes on her voyage, like that of the quiet seas that her journey begins on, to the storms she later encounters, to the icebergs she comes across and so on. And she is a reflective character too, like when she is about to meet her doom when encountering a pirate ship she "thought how unfair it was that she was so young and had nobody at all to help her; that her parents had not cared for her better; that she had been forced to do all the cleaning as well as the household accounts". So as well as being independent she is a bit more grown up for a little girl which will appeal to girl readers themselves.

Along the way there are two-tone illustrations to add to the text. These also help to bring the book alive and two colours is better than black and white. My 8-year-old and 4-year-old daughters enjoyed this.

Published: 1 Oct 2015

NOW AVAILABLE ON AMAZON

Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff

Book review: “Fates and Furies” in many ways is two books in one. The first "book", entitled Fate, tells the story of Lotto and Mathilde. You meet them at age 22. They are on a beach enjoying each others company having just eloped, their young love shining through the pages in this breezy intro.

However as their marriage goes through its course it isn’t always so breezy. “Nothing like having a wife who works herself to death to stifle the mood for love. Nothing like dying dreams, and disappointment.”

However always at the core of their story is a love of each other. But the marriage does end in tragic circumstances and thus “Fate” ends, back where it began on the beach, Lotto and Mathilde as they once were.

Then the second part of the book is “Furies”. Whereas the first part was from Lotto’s perspective, now you get to see things from Mathilde’s point of view, as she picks things up from where they were left off, with a lot of anger. She also fills the gaps in to the backstory because, as the blurb says, “every story has two sides”.

Altogether I enjoyed this book and the writing style, with unique style, like its use of square brackets for asides, and the bit-part characters with names like Freckles and Miniskirt. And, as I said, it is like two books in one so you get double the value. All-in-all then a good read.

Publication date: 17 Sep 2015

Available on AMAZON (Go check it out!)

Casino Royale by Ian Fleming

Book review: "The scent and smoke and sweat of a casino are nauseating at three in the morning." And so begins the career of probably the world's most famous secret agent for those are the opening words of Casino Royale, the book that Ian Fleming wrote introducing Bond, James Bond to the world.

The plot seems simple enough and is well known. Bond is sent on a mission to bring down Le Chiffre whose investments have left him needing to make a lot of money. "Le Chiffre will endeavour to make a profit at baccarat of fifty million francs on a working capital of twenty-five million (and, incidentally, save his life)." That's because Le Chiffre is an agent of the USSR, and they know of his bad investments which he foolishly used "Leningrad Section III" monies for. Now they want it back and SMERSH, an organisation specialising in death to spies, are after him. Bond is to out-gamble Le Chiffre so that he can't repay his money. And it is HM Treasury who put up the money for him to do this. I can't imagine George Osborne doing that these days but this story wasn't written in these days.

Then the other part of the plot involves Bond meeting Vesper Lynd who is also assigned to the job, and trying to rescue her after getting herself kidnapped but instead getting caught and tortured.

The way the book is written is fantastic. Fleming is a great writer. You meet Bond already in the heart of the action at the glamorous casino. Then he introduces the mission and Le Chiffre via a dossier, an excellent tool to introduce the villain and his back-story, before returning to Royale, France. He also inserts the rules of baccarat into the novel seamlessly to allow non-casino goers like me understand what is going on (something I didn't understand from the films where it was assumed people would know, and I don't think Bond uses the Evelyn Tremble method in the book either, although he does explain his method in detail).

Bond the character is of his time. He smokes 70-a-day, loves his drinks, although a "vodka Martini, shaken not stirred", is not one of them, and is terribly sexist. "These blithering women who thought they could do a man's work. Why the hell couldn't they stay at home and mind their pots and pans and stick to their frocks and gossip and leave men's work to the men." He is also very meticulous, which is probably what makes him such a good spy.

There are other bits in here too that are classic James Bond like the car chase, the narrow escapes and Felix Leiter.

But once the main thrilling part of the novel finished the story seemed to meander off course a bit with Bond recovering in a hospital bed, discussing "the nature of evil" with Mathis, before falling in love with Vesper rather too easily it seemed to me.

Still thanks to this book we have James Bond and we can all be grateful (or not as the case may be) for that.

Originally published: 13 April 1953

Available on AMAZON

Paper Aeroplanes by Dawn O'Porter

Book review: Set in Guernsey in 1994 "Paper Aeroplanes" is about a friendship between two 15-year-old girls, Renée and Flo, united by their "loneliness and their dysfunctional families".

They're not friends at the beginning though. They're not yet throwing paper aeroplanes with messages written in them to each other during lessons at school. Instead they have different friends. Renée has Carla and Gem, but is their "tag along", and Flo has the mean and bossy Sally. But Renée and Flo find each other and become friends, although it isn't always smooth.

The book is in part inspired by the author's teenage diaries, and I think this works well as you can definitely feel that the two voices that the story is told through, those of Renée and Flo, are those of two 15-year-olds. But other parts are quite deep as the characters explore their inner thoughts, and those bits do feel like you are reading bits pulled directly from someone's diary rather than bits of a story.

The blurb says this is an edgy book which is presumably because of some of the language and the things that go on, the sort of things 15-year-olds do for the first time. And the story is a bit girly in places, boyfriends, clothes, period pains, but that's probably to be expected. The story is gripping, and moving, and you do root for the two main characters. It is well worth a read.

 

Published on 3 May 2013.

 

Available on AMAZON

The Book of the Bothy by Pheobe Smith

Book review: "The Book of the Bothy"" is, surprise, surprise, about bothies. But what are bothies. Well a bothy is "a  mountain hut that's completely free to use as an overnight stop", thanks to the organisation called the MBA, the Mountain Bothies Association, and they are in remote locations far from roads, so this is a book for walkers and hikers of Britain, and those who love the countryside.

Firstly upon getting the book it is full colour. The beautiful picture on the front is typical of the pictures that follow inside. And the inside contains information about 26 bothies including one on the Balmoral estate, one that was set up as a remote hostel and one that was the very first bothy. Each entry has a little history about the building and sometimes a little detail about its past residents before the building was abandoned. Then there is a map, map reference, details of the route in (by foot), an alternative, more challenging route, what facilities each has (no toilets in most), what to look out for while you're there (wildlife etc.) as well as the author's bothy book entry, the bothy book being a book found at each bothy allowing visitors to write their thoughts down for the next set of visitors to find and read and add to.

The author's bothy book entries included things like imagining what the five-year-old girl who wrote an earlier entry felt whilst she stayed in this bothy in a typically beautiful location. These entries definitely helped to break up the more factual information bits that the rest of the book brings, as do the lovely full-colour pics of course, even if common themes do pop-up in them, such as talk of the mice that also live at the bothies, and the author's frustration when she realised she would have to share with others who arrived before her (but then it turned out alright anyway).

The book is suitable for beginners and also for experts I guess, although they may want to skip the early sections on what bothies are, the etiquette involved, what to take, as they probably know these parts or may disagree slightly.

There are some bothies missing from this book as it says there are over 100 in Britain, and this book covers just 26 of them. The author's reason for excluding the other 74 plus is that she "didn't want too large a spread so that there were no new ones for you to discover yourself - that is after all the joy of bothying."

As for me I've never been in a bothy before, and may never do so in the future, but at least I am aware of them now, and should I go on a walking holiday I have a new option available to me, possibly allowing me to explore parts of the country I would never otherwise have seen.

Published on 15 August 2015

Out now on AMAZON.

World War Moo: An Apocalypse Cow Novel by Michael Logan

Book review: “World War Moo” is the second book in the Apocalypse Cow series. If you’ve read the first you know what to expect from this one, zombies, OTT characters taking the mickey out of each other and cows. 

This story begins where it left off in the previous book, the zombie outbreak that started in cows has spread to humans and taken over the whole of Britain which is now cut off from the rest of the world. To bring the virus to an end the rest of the world is considering eliminating Britain, rather than find a cure for the disease, and it is the task of a group of individuals, some zombies who have learnt to control themselves, and some humans, to stop this. 

I got this book through entering a competition for the author to put my namesake in the book. Therefore there is a Tim Roast in this story, and needless to say I was most interested in how this particular character got on. He is the (“sorry excuse for a”) government chief scientist, with a “V-neck pullover, badly knotted tie, and a pair of glasses so ginormous they made his eyes look like snooker balls.” Thankfully he doesn’t get killed so is likely to appear in the next book in the series too. (Authors, I am available for more roles in books.)

Many of the other characters, such as a band of mercenaries that are called upon to infiltrate Britain, in the book are also namesakes of people who entered this competition, and you can tell by the way the author introduces and describes them that he had a lot of fun with it. 

The book is quirky, and has good scenes in it, such as a “bar full of bearded and smirking Noels (as in Noel Edmonds) cavorting in Christmas pullovers so garish they should have carried an epilepsy risk warning, playing pranks on each other and grinning smugly.” The story took a while to get going, what with the character introductions, re-introductions of characters from the first book and where they’d ended up, plus the setting the scene bits, and there are less cows than before, but once the story got going there was plenty of action and plenty of fun. 

Published on 9 June 2015

Available now on AMAZON

My review of the first book in the series: Apocalypse Cow

Danny Dread by Ben Davis

Book Review: "Despicable Me meets Diary of  a Wimpy Kid" says the description of this book "Danny Dread". The Diary of a Wimpy Kid element is because it follows Danny Dread who is a bit of a wimpy kid, "wouldn't even hurt a fly", and the Despicable Me element because of the villainous, comical scheming that goes on through the book reminiscent of Gru attempting to steal the moon.

Danny Dread is a boy, "the latest in line of the dastardly Dread clan of super villains". The only problem is he doesn't want to be a super villain, he dreams instead of being a superhero. And so the book follows him at "Demento's Academy for Young Evil Geniuses" where bullying isn't frowned upon, it's encouraged, and where Danny fails every subject. From there his secret desire to be a superhero is revealed, but what is his superpower? To mimic voices? And so he calls his alter-ego Mynah boy (after the Mynah bird), not to be confused with Minor Boy (which it is on multiple times in the book for comic effect).

What makes the book great is the comedy. First there is the situation, Danny Dread stuck in the Dread lair with his dad trying his bestest to get his son involved in his evil schemes, when all Danny wants to do is stop them. Then there are the characters and the relationships between them. For example there is Dad Dread's Gollum-like assistant Malevolo with his attempts to out Danny whilst being devoted to his master but also having his own hidden agenda. Then there is Danny's own chum Earl, the talking lab-rat who has a human ear on his back and who is forever foiling a hungry pelican who just wants to eat him. And the Lionhearts, the superhero family who are "the only thing keeping the world from destruction" with their daughter Crystallina, Danny's secret crush.

Other comedy is derived in the ridiculous schemes and ridiculous machinery involved such as over-sized jets with massive winches ideal for picking up world leaders far below.

What's more this book isn't just a series of jokes put together into a narrative. It also has a fully-formed plot. All-in-all then this book is perfectly executed and is a blast right from beginning through to climatic ending.

Book published by Oxford University Press: www.oxfordchildrens.co.uk

Publication date: 6 August 2015

Available on AMAZON

Gum Girl: Countdown to Destruction! by Andi Watson

Book Review: "Countdown to Destruction!" is the third book in the Gum Girl series. It is a comic book consisting of three stories. In each story schoolgirl Grace Gibson, or Gum Girl, uses her gum to foil some nasty villain who is up to something naughty.

In "Gum Girl in Time Trial" she takes on Doctor Tick Tock and his baby assistant Mr Higgins as they steal time. In "Gum Girl in Roller Grrlz" she takes on "the Roller Raider" who wants to blow up the city and replace it with a more roller skate friendly town, "No stairs, no hills, no uneven pavements..." Then in the final story "Gum Girl in Space Cadets" she has to stop "a member of the Evil Genius After-School club" blasting an anti-gravity ray from a space probe.

The colour scheme uses a limited palette, with mainly pinks, greens and yellows. so it has a distinctive style which should appeal to girls. The drawings are clean and there are some good jokes in the stories too.   

It is interesting that this is a comic aimed at girls as you might expect boys to be more interested in this type of format but my eight-year-old daughter liked this.

Release date: March 2013

Amazon UK link: Gum Girl: Countdown to Destruction!

Dr KittyCat is ready to rescue Daisy the Kitten by Jane Clarke

Book Review: This is a great book for the stated 5-8-year-old group. I read it with my 4 and 8-year-old daughters.

 

First thing that I noticed is the art style. There are pictures on every page in the art style as on the cover. Real photos of animals are used with smiles and clothes and things drawn around and on them. The colours in the book are black, white and orange which works well. Other books in the series use different colour schemes to match their main border colour as on the cover, and it is a clever art style that differentiates these books from the competition.

 

The story follows Dr KittyCat with her assistant Peanut the mouse on "Shiny smiles day" where she checks the other animals' teeth. Whilst doing this little tips are written in to the text to help children understand about how to care about their teeth and what to expect when visiting the dentists. For example one animal is nervous and Dr KittyCat reassures her that there is nothing to worry about. Dr KittyCat also tells another animal the correct way to brush her teeth.

 

After their morning clinic is over Dr KittyCat and Peanut need to go to the Thistletown festival to help Daisy the Kitten, and to judge a cake baking contest. This is related of course because of the effect cakes can have on your teeth. It also gives the opportunity to slip in some tips about staying safe when baking cakes with a hot oven.

 

My girls enjoyed this book and also dressed up in their doctors fancy-dress stuff to play doctors in between reading sessions so a good book.

 

Amazon UK link: Dr KittyCat is ready to rescue Daisy the Kitten

 

Release date: 2 July 2015

The Brave Kitten by Holly Webb

Book Review: My 8-year-old is a ferocious reader. She saw this book in the library, said she'd heard about the author so took the book out. It is a great little book for her to devour.

The story follows Helena who finds a cat on the road “so cold and lifeless” that she “hadn’t thought he could still be alive.” Luckily her cousin Lucy who works at a vet is with her so they take him there. The story then tells the relationship between the girl Helena and the cat through his recovery. 

The way the story is written is clever in that it gives the two way perspective so you can read about the feelings of the cat as well as the girl.

My daughter enjoyed this very much and is likely to read other books in the series now.

Publication date: 2 June 2014

Amazon UK link: The Brave Kitten

The Observer's Book of Association Football by Albert Sewell

Book review: Observer’s Books produced these pocket reference books for many different subjects between 1937 and 2003 (birds, insects, trees, etc.). This one was the first time they covered “Association Football” with the book being correct up to end of the 1971-72 season.

 

Although up to date upon publication reading it now is like reading a history document. This was a time when Alf Ramsey was England manager, Bobby Charlton (who stars on the glossy dust jacket cover) was still playing and Southport and Workington were still in the Football League.

 

The book’s contents are:

 

 

 

 

 

• Foreword by Sir Alf Ramsey
• Guide to the 92 Football League Clubs in England and Wales
• The Scottish League (First Division Members 1971-72)
• Prominent European Clubs
• Prominent South American Clubs
• World Stars of 1972-73
• The World Cup
• The European Championship
• The European Cup
• The European Cup-Winners’ Cup
• The U.E.F.A. Cup
• The World Club Championship
• Records Section
• * England’s Complete Record in Full Internationals
• * Football League Champions and their Records
• * F.A. Cup Winners
• * Scottish League Champions
• * Scottish F.A. Cup Winners
• * Scottish League Cup Winners
• The Field of Play

 

The most interesting bit of the book is the profiles of the English league clubs where you can learn a little about Fulham’s Bedford Jezzard, where you can find out that “Middlesbrough were formed following a tripe supper at a local hotel” (see what tripe can do to you) and that Shrewsbury’s record gate receipts were just £4,962.

 

The profiles for Scottish top division clubs, European and South American clubs are less informative, particularly on the honours and records front. Nonetheless you can still find out a little about Standard Liege’s Congolese player Paul Bonga Bonga.

 

The World Stars section then provides details, and pictures, of 20 of the stars of the time. Here you can learn about Roberto Rivelino, for example, who “next to Pele is reputedly the world’s best-paid player at £80 a day” and that Pietro Anastasi “set a world transfer record fee when signed by Juventus for £440,000” (as opposed to the British transfer record of the time, Alan Ball for £220,000 from Everton to Arsenal).

 

Following this there are little profiles on the European competitions, which were still quite new at the time, and some limited stats sections.

 

Overall the stats sections are perhaps a bit primitive by today’s standards, although at the time they may have been cutting edge with the book presenting “England’s complete International results in a form not previously published”. It is the written parts that are the most interesting as names from the past are brought to you possibly for the first time along with now defunct competitions such as the Latin Cup, the International Cup (held in New York) and the Ford Sporting League.

 

So an interesting read from a historical perspective.

 

Original publication date: 1972

 

Amazon UK link: The Observer's Book of Association Football

 

Other link: Interesting article on same book

The Private Blog of Joe Cowley: Return of the Geek by Ben Davis

Book review: “The Private Blog of Joe Cowley: Return of the Geek” is, as the title suggests, a sequel, not that you need to have read the original book before this one although it does feature the same characters.

 

On his blog Joe writes about his life. This includes his home life with his heavily pregnant mum, whose pregnancy has made her a bit mental, step-dad Jim, step-brother Gav, who is also the school bully and who Joe shares a room with, and mad nan Doris. Then there are his school friends Ad and Harry, Harry who speaks in an old-fashioned way calling people “old chap” and all that as he contemplates life’s problems by sucking his empty pipe. And then there is his girlfriend Natalie who Joe is worried will dump him at every turn.

 

The main stories running through the book are Joe’s attempts to win over his girlfriend’s dad who is very much his adversary. Then there is the DJ competition in which Joe acts as manager to his friends Harry and Ad and their double act as they take on another adversary, the smug, son of an MP, Seb.

 

The front cover of this book makes the comparison to the Wimpy Kid series and with Joe getting into plenty of embarrassing situations which escalate you can see the similarities. However there are fewer pictures here than Wimpy Kid, and the material is more suited for teenagers.

 

I laughed at Joe’s “pain and humiliation” and recommend you do too.

 

Publication date: 2 April 2015

 

Amazon UK link: The Private Blog of Joe Cowley: Return of the Geek

The Gracekeepers by Kirsty Logan

Book review: My version of “The Gracekeepers” is a lovely hardback version with dust jacket. The cover shows the girl North in the arms of her bear as they travel the seas inside their coracle. The stars are silver etched as are the ripples in the sea. The back cover shows the girl Callanish on her little island. The inside covers show maps of the fantasy world and beneath the dust jacket is another cover showing mermaids and mermen beneath the sea.
 

As for the story the first paragraph introduces the fantasy world this novel is set in perfectly. It says “In a world that is almost entirely sea, placing your feet on land was a privilege that must be earned.”
 

There are two types of people in this world, landlockers and damplings. Damplings travel the sea, landlockers stay on the land. And the two don’t really mix.
 

The book follows two young women, North and Callanish, one dampling and one landlocker, and their separate lives. Callanish is a gracekeeper. This means she lives isolated on her own small island where she performs resting ceremonies for dead damplings that are brought to her by passing ships. One day the group that visits is a travelling circus of which North is part of. She is the bear-girl. Her act is dancing with a bear. 
 

They bond but soon are leading their separate lives again, of which more and more is revealed as the story progresses to its thrilling conclusion.
 

A very good book.

 

Publication date: 23 April 2015

 

Amazon UK link: The Gracekeepers

 

 

Fishbowl by Bradley Somer

Book review: “The heartbreaking sweetness of love, the rending hatred, the slippery lust, the sorrow of losing a family member , the pain of loneliness, all thoughts that were ever thought, every word ever said and even those that were not, the joys of birth and the sorrows of death and everything else will be experienced in this one vessel.”

 

That is what is says near the beginning of the book and in many ways this book does do that, although maybe not using every word ever said and maybe excluding some thoughts that were ever thought, yet the quote is not about the book (or is it?) but about the block of flats (or apartments as this is an American setting) where this story is set.

 

The story is essentially about a goldfish making a jump for it out of his fishbowl on his “little corner of the balcony” of a 27th floor apartment. After all “an entire life devoted to a fishbowl will make one die an old fish with not one adventure had.”

 

He then takes four seconds to descend but in those four seconds we learn about some of the residents’ lives within that block as he passes them by in the glint of eye. In many ways they are all living in their own fishbowls although some of their lives/fishbowls connect as the story gets told. And whilst this goes on the book also explores the idea of time, whether that be through Homeschooled Herman and his ability to time travel, or through the slow motion descent of the fish with its “stresses and terrors to last a lifetime”.

 

Through this method we get to see the different points of view of the separate characters, and get to hear the same stories from the different viewpoints.

 

Maybe at the end of the book you’ll want to know what happens next in some of the character stories, but the nature of this book is that it is only following the characters, and the lives they lead within their separate fishbowls, for a particular moment in time and therefore the stories are obviously going to be incomplete as it were. And is it not the sign of a good book that it makes you want more.

 

The only other thing to mention is that my version of the book came with an excellent cover and the pages formed a flipbook of a fish falling from the top of the book to the bottom. This fish aided me in working out my rough progress through the book at any one time and the cover was excellent because the “O” had a hole in it revealing the fish which then appeared beneath on a second cover where he is falling from his bowl. Therefore initial impressions are good just on flicking through the book too.

 

Amazon UK link: Fishbowl

 

Publication date: 6 August 2015

Charlie Merrick's Misfits in I'm a Nobody, Get Me Out of Here! by Dave Cousins

Book review: The first Charlie Merrick book saw him and his team of “misfits” in a tale that was essentially about football, with a theme of friendship running through it. This time, as the title “Charlie Merrick’s Misfits in I’m a Nobody, Get Me Out of Here!” suggests, the story is more about survival in the wild, although it still had the friendship theme running through it.

Therefore the book is more suitable for girls than the first book given the move away from football. Indeed whereas in the first book Charlie says “FOOTBALL – it’s all I ever think about” in this one there is a point where he refuses a game of football leading to his friend Jasmine remarking, “No time for football! OK, Where’s the real Charlie Merrick?”

Anyway the story of this book is that North Star Galaxy Under-12s football team are going to a football camp but when they arrive they realise their manager has accidentally signed them up for a survival course instead. With all soccer camps’ places being filled by that time they decide they may as well stay and do the survival course.

There they are split into squads of fours with the other kids and compete against each other on bushtucker-like trials and spending time out in the wild. The competitive nature is taken up a notch as Charlie has made a secret bet with a member of another squad that the losing squad all need to jump off “the Leap of Doom” at a place called Devil Falls.

The book is set up to be narrator Charlie’s notebook of his time at the survival camp (all the children were given one) and, as Charlie is a budding cartoonist, there are pictures to accompany the text, pictures that tell bits of the story, as well as things like survival tips and squad profiles that help to break up the text which is of benefit to young readers. The text itself is in a child friendly font too as it is made to look like it is handwritten rather than a typed font.

The book features an excellent crescendo, just like the first one, and there are funny moments along the way. Readers of all ages should enjoy.

Publication date: 4 June 2015

Amazon UK link (£6.99): Charlie Merrick's Misfits in I'm a Nobody, Get Me Out of Here! 

KS2 Maths SAT Buster - Shape,Measures & Data by CGP Books

Book Review: There has been a lot of news about SATS and the stress that 11-year-olds feel under when doing them. So is it a good idea to get these books for your child? Well in my opinion with my children I think that these can only help. The more practice they do, the more prepared they should feel, so they should feel under less stress.

I got this for my 8-year-old because she is quite advanced in Maths. Obviously for her she has not been taught everything that is in this book at school yet but having a Maths background I am able to help her, plus the level is pretty simple so most adults can hopefully help. For example she hadn't been taught what probability is yet.

The good thing at the start of this book is that it tries to make it fun. It talks about the student becoming an Shape&Datagator, and that is followed through in the book with the marking system.

The bad thing is that all the maths books are available to buy separately. This one covers Shape, Measures & Data so doesn't fully cover the SATS programme. Other maths SATS books available are "Number" and "Mental Maths". The answers book is only available separately too. So maybe you might want to look at getting the full set if inclined that way.

Overall though my 8-year-old is enjoying doing this in her own time (she said "this is fun") and without any parental pressure.

Publication date: 15 March 2013

Amazon UK link: KS2 Maths SAT Buster - Shape, Measures & Data