Cinderella Book and CD by Disney

My daughter said this book and CD was great. I asked why and she said it was because at the end Cinderella doesn't live with her ugly sisters.

The story of Cinderella is so widely known that you'll know what to expect here. I let my 6-year-old daughter listen to the CD whilst reading the book. The CD runs for just 8-minutes though. This is one track that contains all the story and has chimes ringing for when the page in the book needs to be turned, as well as various sound effects in the background.

And the voices of the characters are actors that sound like the ones in the film. The only bit that didn't work well was the transition between voices, and the narrator being clearly aimed at the American market.

The book is very well laid out with nice full page pictures running throughout, and is the sort of high quality look that you'd expect from Disney.

The CD itself fits into the front cover of the book with a plastic covering holding it in, and the book is hardcover too. This means it isn't as flimsy as some other books that come with CDs where the CD holder gets ripped out by little hands. The CD has a picture of a clock on it too, which is of course relevant to the story, and is just another little detail that tells you this is a Disney product.

Most of all I think this book is ideal for girls who love Disney Princesses and are learning to read, so that they can give their parents some quiet time as they go off somewhere to listen to the CD and read the book.

We have the Snow White Book & CD and Little Mermaid Book & CD ones of these already and this one probably looks the best but doesn't quite sound as good on the CD and is shorter, plus if you are going to choose a Disney story you'd probably go for one of the others (my daughter's favourite is Snow White which comes with a song too) given that Cinderella is such a well known story even outside of the Disney telling of the story.

This book is available on Amazon UK HERE.

Tango Tangle (Strictly Come Dancing) by Chloe Melody

Essentially this book is about a 9-year-old girl called Bella going through a dance audition. But somehow this fits across roughly 100-pages with a proper story arc too.

The audition is for the Strictly Dance Academy and Bella is one of many hopeful girls wishing to be successful on the day. Along the way we have nerves, disappointment, dancing, self-doubt, excitement, triumph dressing up, make up, a dance partner boy with a"Justin Beiber-style cut", making of friends and an enemy too.

Bella Jones goes through a lot of emotions, but running through the book is a sense of awe and excitement at everything to do with the "Strictly Come Dancing" programme. She also just loves dancing and the smile on her face and her general happiness shows in the writing.

What also shows through the writing is that the author is familiar with dancing, yet the book is still accessible by non-dancers such as myself and my 6-year-old daughter.

It's true that the characters in the book don't correspond with the real life Strictly Come Dancing people (bar a brief Flavia profile at the beginning which is separate from the story), but this book would ideally be read whilst the TV show was running.

In terms of faults the chapter-numbering missed out number 5, and perhaps colour pictures (great pictures by the way, even in black and white) would have made the book even better, but young girls will love the book.

It is the first of a series of books. A little preview of the next one, Samba Sensation), is given at the end which my daughter implored I read to her. That just shows she couldn't get enough of this book.

(This book is listed at Amazon HERE.)

Young Knights of the Round Table by Julia Golding

This book says on the cover, “Under threat. Out of time. Pure magic.”

The “under threat” refers to the Earth as its very existence is under attack; the “out of time” refers to the parallel world from which attack is coming, a world where time runs differently, where 1 year passes compared with 100 Earth years, and “pure magic” because magic is involved all through the book.

The story starts in the parallel world where young humans Rick, Roxy and Santiago are being trained to hate humans because they themselves are orphans abandoned by the horrible humans before they were taken there by the Fey. But something is afoot. A magical power is threatening the rule of the world and something needs to be done so these three humans are sent into the human world to investigate, to Oxford to be precise.

There ensues a few funny moments as these three adjust to an alien environment with Rick in particular finding things strange as he infiltrates Earth. Their “foster parents” also stand out a bit, what with them being a Fey and a Pixie and basing their human lives on fictional books such as Sherlock Holmes stories.

As things progress the three children get deeper into finding out what is going on discovering that how the world they have been living has been a lie, and how the setting up of a new round table could be pivotal to linking the two worlds and overthrowing the evil King of the parallel world called Avalon, for it was the time of Arthur and Merlin at the round table before when Avalon was last threatened in the same way. 

There is a good crescendo at the end with a Darth Vader moment too, as decisions over which side to represent become harder.

There was the occasional slightly confusing moments as the magic interactions between the two worlds were explained but overall the book is well written, is set up at the end for the next in the series, and should provide a thrilling read for any young or old knights that choose to read it.

The book releases on 4 April 2013. It is listed on Amazon UK HERE.

One Snowy Day (Willow Valley) by Tracey Corderoy and Hannah Whitty

Willow Valley - A set of books about mice, hedgehogs and badgers. Presumably it's inspiration is The Wind in the Willows. So how does this book compare?

Well Wind in the Willows will never be surpassed, and this book is for early readers anyway so is aimed at a different audience. I read this book with my 6-year-old daughter at night-times. We took it in turns to read it. The layout of the words is that they are nice and big and spaced out so that she could easily follow it. There are several simple and clear pictures along the way too that aided her with picturing the text. These included a map of Willow Valley at the beginning, and maps in books are one of her favourite things.

The tale is about Riley the mouse, and his two friends Horatio the hedgehog and Starla the badger, as they prepare for Christmas. They need to get Christmas trees so go with Starla's granddad Willoughby White-Whiskers on his narrowboat. However after having great fun in picking out trees the snow comes and the way back is blocked because the river has turned to ice. Luckily a random reindeer called Mistletoe comes along to help them out and they get home in time for Christmas. The last chapter is devoted to present giving which my daughter seemed to enjoy, what with the magic of Christmas and so forth.

There was one dark bit in the book where it mentioned that Riley's dad had gone exploring once and disappeared in the Dark Wood, so I was surprised that was in there, but the rest was light and fluffy.

So perfectly suited towards its market.

(I got this book through Amazon Vine and it is listed on Amazon UK HERE.)

Fish Camping and Other Travel Stories by Matthias Leue

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

Essentially we have a travelogue of one person's holidays over the period 1996 to 2002 split into separate stories. For example the titular story "Fish Camping" is about camping in an aquarium for the night.

The pattern of the stories is summers in France, and the rest of time the occasional trip somewhere in the States, with visits being fleeting and food being prominent.

The best bits are the bits like "The grandeur of creation lets one fall silent with awe", less so the bits like "I don't recall what we had for dinner that night, and since Tom is on the road in an 18-wheeler somewhere right now, he is unavailable to jog my memory; and so, dear reader, I must apologize for depriving you of the evening's menu."

There are occasional pictures throughout, which I assume are the author's art, but no photos even though the author mentions many times about how photos were taken. However it may be because the book is black and white that they were excluded for that reason.

There were also some interesting bits missed out I think. The author talks of living in a church because he has no home, then a loft where "the landlords were willing to accept me despite my ruined credit" but that is all the detail we get, although off topic the reasons behind this would have been interesting.

Overall then the book is ok, the author is pleasant enough, but the places visited are passed through swiftly and the book becomes a bit repetitive as you go through it.

This book is listed on Amazon UK here.

A Conspiracy of Alchemists by Liesel Schwarz

The book starts off at a great pace with much intrigue surrounding a box that Eleanor (Elle) Chance, a female dirigible pilot, has been tasked with transporting. But straight away there is a chase as the box obviously contains something of value. 

And after a rip-roaring start the pace slows a bit and Elle manages to escape to Oxford with her companions Patrice and Mr Marsh but finds out that her father has been kidnapped. Bit-by-bit, with the help (or hindrance) of Mr Marsh or Lord Greychester as he is otherwise known, she learns about the magic in the world, about the light and the shadow and her role in it all. But can she believe him?

Set in Edwardian times I thought the start was brilliant, as were the other fast-paced parts of the book. The slower parts though didn’t hold the interest as much but I suppose were necessary to slowly reveal all the many bits and pieces about all the magic in the world etc.

The conversation between the characters was good at the beginning with the characters being polite in the Edwardian manner, but still managing to spark against each other.

The ending was clever too in that there was a clear ending followed by an epilogue which nicely set the book up for the sequel that is due to follow later in the year.

All-in-all a good debut.

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

Natalie the Christmas Stocking Fairy by Daisy Meadows

This book was a Christmas present for my 6-year-old daughter Natalie. She obviously loved it, not only because the star fairy in the book shared her name, but also because of the story.

The story follows friends Rachel and Kirsty and their adventures over one Christmas Eve. First they have problems making mince pies which leads them to chase some Goblins and they end up getting beckoned to Fairyland to meet Natalie the Christmas Stocking Fairy who has had three enchanted items stolen: a mince-pie, a stocking and a candy cane. Without these items there will be no mince-pies, no stockings and no sweets at Christmas. The girls then help Natalie to retrieve them.

The book is arranged into three parts which were written as three separate stories and then bundled together as one book, which leads to a little bit of clunkiness between the three parts but that is the only complaint really.

The rest of the book has everything little girls love: best friends, fairies, a fast-moving story of good versus evil, plenty of clear and simple pictures along the way to bring the text alive. It reminded me very much of the Secret Kingdom books I've been reading with my daughter too, so if you liked this you may want to check them out.

Anyway it is only right I give my last words of this review to my daughter Natalie: "The book was fun because Jack Frost was trying to destroy Christmas. He took the three items, but the goblins and Jack Frost didn't like them so gave them back to make Christmas good again. And the two girls, Rachel and Kirsty turned into fairies by magic."

(This book is listed on Amazon UK here.)