Animal Farm

I have to start this review by saying “I want a book not a history lesson!”

I admit that this was a good story that got the emotion that the animals had across as well as telling an excellent story. But I thought that this was going to be little story about the animals standing up for themselves and proving that the humans ought to pay more attention to them. I mean come on listen to the name “Animal Farm” if that doesn’t sound like the name of a book for five year olds then I am a bottlenose dolphin (which I’m not of course) 

It was so confusing with all the stuff happening at the same time and how somehow the animals can talk to humans and stand on two feet and build windmills and have whips and believe in candy land and well you get the Idea. But to its credit it explains the Russian revolution a lot better than I could plus at SOME times in the book you feel like you really know these animals and you want to help them out of their terrible predicament. 

But the fact remains that is a lesson. A very good lesson with a fantastic way of teaching in fact the only history lesson that was better than this one was when my mum made the Tudor family tree out of ginger bread men and woman. That was awesome. But still a lesson. Kids don’t want history lessons they want fictional stories.

“WHAT DO WE WANT?!”

“GOOD STORIES!”

“WHEN DO WE WANT THEM?!”

“NOW!”

“WHAT DO WE WANT?!”

“GOOD STORIES!”

“WHEN DO WE WANT THEM?!”

“NOW!”

You see?

But the book still had a good setup, well designed characters and was well written. For all those positives 61/100.  

The Secret Garden

I have mixed feelings about this book. I like the story but dislike many of the characters. I like the book’s means of getting the story across to the reader but I dislike the Yorkshire accents everyone speaks in. 

This book just didn’t really fit in with me I am sure though that in a few years’ times this book will appeal to me. In fact the only thing that will not appeal is that whiney Colin. Oh my god please shut him up. But apart from that this book did OK. I can’t give it a good review for year seven though so I’m afraid all it can have is 63/100.        

Wild Card 1

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

This was a very hard book to read because everything was described at a very different pace to what I am used to. For example in many action scenes the author is describing the scene as if it is a poem. Another thing that made it hard to understand were the way the characters talked and expressed themselves, I had to reread many pages to even comprehend what was going on.

While I know that this book inspired many other stories such as the Hulk, the fact is, is that I couldn’t find that story in the jumble of words. But in the end I got the story out and thought it was really good. I am going to give it 59/100.        

Jay Writes - 

Luke chose to cash in the first of his wild cards rather than read I Capture The Castle.  I think this was a good choice - I love Dodie Smith's book but I am not an adventure-loving 12 year old boy.

We chose Jekyll and Hyde as a replacement because, as Luke observed above, this is one of the most influential horror stories we know.  From episodes of Scooby Doo to The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen and beyond, Luke's seen cartoons and films inspired by Jekyll and Hyde.  Reading the source material is a cool thing to have done.

Swallows and Amazons

I cannot say with all honesty that I was looking forward to reading this book. It was big, it was in that time where everyone is perfectly delightful and worst of all it had that thing where instead of writing tomorrow like a normal person they write to-morrow with doesn't make any SENSE! But as it turns out it wasn’t that bad. 

How were the characters? OK. How was the storyline? OK. How was the ending? OK. 

If someone asked me “Hey Luke can you sum up the quality of swallows and amazons in one word?” I would reply “Eh” The book overflows with mediocrity. Nothing is noticeably horrible yet nothing makes me fill with happiness or burst out laughing. 

This is the kind of book that you read when you just got nothing better to do. I hope that in future this book will mean more to me but for now it will just sit on my shelf until I lie on the floor groaning with boredom. 50/100.             

The Singing Tree

The Singing Tree is a story about cousins Janski and Kate and their struggle to continue life on the Hungarian plains during the First World War. At the start of the book Janski is 15 years old and the book covers about 5 years of his life. He loves horses more than anything else and when his father leaves to join the war he is put in charge of the horses along with the rest of the farm.
While Janski is struggling with the problems of the farm, Kate is having troubles of her own. You don't find petticoats growing on trees, you know! She often surprises Janski as he is used to the little girl who loves riding her white horse Milky, whereas Kate is becoming a young woman.
Throughout this story they lock girls in barns, gain 6 Russian men as workers and adopt 7 German children.
While I am sure this is a good book for some people it's simply not the kind of book I like. It lacked action, adventure and humour.  I think it would have been better if Janski's love of horses had been used in a dramatic escape.  Since I'm very fond of books and even I found it rather dull I'm giving The Singing Tree 50 out of 100 because it lacks interest for your average 12 year old.

Refugee Boy

The book Refugee Boy follows the story of a boy named Alem after he has been shipped to London because of the war in his country.

While I can certainly understand the opinions of this book and the plot wasn't too convoluted and was easily followed, I just didn't find the story believable.

Refugee Boy is a book that is based on events that do happen in real life. I know these things occur, but the way Benjamin Zephaniah placed the events just didn't seem believable to me.

For example, the main character Alem seems to speak like a robot. He says, "I like the school very much. It is very good. It is full with possibilities. I think the facilities are good. The building is structurally sound and I think that the students here have a great opportunity to advance physically, intellectually and socially."

In addition, in my experience people don't make friends within an hour of coming to a new school. I could address other points but for now I will give it 50 out of 100.

Jay Writes -

Luke and I really disagree on this one. Luke found it hard to accept that a father would leave his son in London alone, and struggled with the formal language common to non-native English speakers. I thought much of the detail insightful and authentic. However, like Luke I felt the book was very flawed - which rather disappointed me as I love Benjamin Zephaniah. For me, Alem was such a paragon that I found him hard to take seriously. I wish he'd sometimes been bad, or expressed anger, or done something petty or stupid. As it was, he felt more like a mechanism for Zephaniah to make a point than a realistic character.

The Happy Prince

SPOILER ALERT

I can't talk about this properly without discussing the ending.

The Happy Prince is a short story by Oscar Wilde. It is a story of how a statue of a young prince emotionally bullies a swallow into staying with him for the winter to do tasks for him. Because swallows are creatures that have to stay warm, the swallow dies after three tasks.

Many people interpret it differently. They see a lovely statue who has a kind heart and his friend the swallow who will help him to the end. I'm sure that reading of it is a much more positive one but mine is Swallow Murder.

The swallow didn't want to stay. The swallow wanted to migrate to Egypt with all the other swallows. The Prince convinced it to stay and because it does, the swallow dies. Call me a pessimist but that is what happens in the story.

I'm sure many people will have enjoyed it because of their perspective of self-sacrifice but I prioritise self preservation above somebody else's problems that I did not cause. Therefore I'm giving it a manipulative 41 out of 100

Jay Writes -

I love Luke's take on this story. I had never been able to read it without getting teary - the statue's love for his people at the cost of his wealth and beauty, the loving swallow sacrificing its life for friendship, the townspeople throwing the statue and dead bird in the rubbish but God and his angel prizing them above all. I've always been a sucker for self-sacrifice. However, I think Luke's view - that the statue manipulates the poor swallow into dying for the statue's cause - is a marvellously original and insightful way of seeing the story. Go Luke!

Alice's Adventures In Wonderland / Through The Looking Glass

I think it is unfair that I had to read two books and they only count as one on the list. Out of the two books I think I liked the second one the best because I could act out the whole book on my chessboard. I liked this prospect a lot and tried it out. Surprisingly it works perfectly, you just have to figure out the terms.

In terms of the books themselves, the first one was very odd and it was difficult to keep up with all the strange characters. I think that the best character in the first book is the Cheshire Cat. I liked him the most because of his attitude and evaporating skills.

In the second book the plot is a game of chess and Alice's quest to be a queen by crossing to the other side of the board. I think everyone knows enough about chess to follow this book, plus at the start of the book it says that all the moves correspond and stay within the rules of the game.

I think I give the first book 47 out of 100 and the second book 62 out of 100. This gives a mean score of 54.5 (My mum made me do the maths)

Jay writes - I always struggle with Alice books. The dreamlike surrealism and the nonsense gets on my nerves. I much prefer the poems within the books to the stories, and I am glad Luke could find things to enjoy in these classics that mostly don't appeal to me.

Treasure Island

An enjoyable book, at least for the first half. After that, with all the Arr-ing and Yo-Ho-Ho-ing I couldn't find out what on earth was going on.

The story as I understood it is this:

The main character, Jim Hawkins, finds a map of the old pirate Captain Flint showing where he buried his treasure. Jim, a Doctor, a cook named Long John Silver, and a crew set off to find the island. Just before they reach their destination, most of the crew mutiny and it is revealed that Long John Silver is the captain of the mutineers.

On the island Jim finds a man called Ben Gunn (who would like more than anything to eat some cheese). Gunn teams up with Jim, the Doctor, the Captain and a few other loyal sailors. Jim goes on a stealth mission and somehow manages to sneak aboard the ship and move it so the pirates can't find it. He is captured by Silver, there is a hunt for the treasure but the good guys beat them to it. Jim and the rest of the good guys find the ship and sail off (taking Ben Gunn with them) leaving the mutineers behind to slowly go mad.

I'm sure it's an excellent story. If only it had more modern language or if it included footnotes to explain the words I didn't understand! I am going to give it a 46 out of 100 for being a good story but difficult language for modern kids to follow.

The Man Who Planted Trees

This book's appearance was rather pretty because it was small and completely made of paper, even the cover. However, in terms of the story, I was left slightly confused. It is told in the first person.

The man who was narrating said that after travelling for 3 days he met a shepherd. After staying with the shepherd for a few days, he discovered that he was a very quiet man who spent his days tending his flock of sheep and planting oak trees. He did this very calmly and did not get frustrated when most of them didn't grow, and he was quite friendly in a very quiet way. The narrator then left to fight in the 1914 war and did not see the shepherd for many years.

Once the war was over, he went back to visit the shepherd. He finds there are only 3 differences that have happened: the man is slightly older, instead of sheep he has beehives and he's started planting other trees like beeches. This time the narrator stays for longer and helps plant trees and collect new seeds. Of course, by now there is a huge forest.

Eventually the old man becomes a lot more tired but still carries on planting trees. The second world war occurs. The narrator goes to help with that, and comes back when the war is over and again goes to visit the shepherd. The forest is even bigger and lots of people are assuming it is a 'natural' forest.

In the end, after a small village has been built in the forest, the old shepherd dies, no one takes up his job but they do live peacefully in the village.

I'm pretty certain that there's supposed to be some moral or a lesson in this story but I simply can't pick it out. Although it was quite a nice story I think it's a bit obscure for kids my age. So I'm giving it a mere 57 out of 100.

The Phantom Tollbooth

This book is very interestingly written. The plot is about a small boy called Milo comes home from school after another dreary day and finds a toll booth waiting for him, which has been sent to him by someone completely mysterious. He pays the toll and goes into a magical world with two arguing kingdoms: the Kingdom of Words and Letters and the Kingdom of Numbers and Maths.

Milo goes on a quest with two companions - a faithful dog called Tock, who has a clock in his belly, and the reluctant HumBug - to rescue the princesses Rhyme and Reason, to restore peace to the Kingdoms. Along the way lots of strange and wonderful things happen to him and Milo eventually succeeds in his quest.

The magical world was full of edible letters and subtraction stew which makes you feel hungrier every time you eat it and also demons of time wasting and interrupting. It was very imaginative and original but I didn't enter into it as much as some of the books I choose for myself.

It got off to a slow start for an adventure book.

I think this book would work best if it were read out loud to younger children - maybe a chapter a night to 6 or 7 year olds - than it does for someone my age. Because of the brilliant ideas in it, I give it 63 out of 100.