Moominsummer Madness

I'm going to start this review with the words Never Read This Book.
It's insane.
It's incomprehensible.
It's silly.
Not the nice, funny-cos-it's-so-weird kind of silly, the Oh-my-god-I-can't-make-sense-of-what-they're-saying kind of silly. Through the jumble of strange words I managed to pick our some sort of storyline in which a flood hits their home and so the family goes to live in a floating theatre. Then the family gets separated and the son and his girlfriend are arrested while the mother and father put on a play. Then they all meet up and go back home.
I think that this book is really to be read out loud to 4 or 5 year olds. One of the most negative points about this book is that when you read something you should not have to go online in order to find out who on earth these strange people are. After reading a few chapters I realised that there weren't going to be any hints about who the characters are so I was forced to go to their website and read their character summaries.
Due to its lack of sanity and incomprehensibility I'm giving it 29 out of 100.

Jay Writes
I love a bit of whimsy, but I'm with Luke on this one. Because this book is part way through a series, and the author gives no quarter to the uninitiated, he and I floundered about having no clue who anyone was, nor their relationship to one another. The book would have been immeasurably improved with a cast of characters - including illustrations - so newcomers to the Moomins would have a fighting chance. Thanks to a Canadian childhood I'd only ever heard of Moomins as illustrations on a friend's coffee mugs Ss I was as clueless as Luke. Ah well, one fewer book to read for the challenge!

The Tygrine Cat

The Tygrine cat is a fictional story written by Inbali Iserles about a cat named Mati and what happens when he meets the Cressida Cats of London. Mati comes from Egypt and know very little about his past. He can't even remember the name of his mother. All he knows is that he must learn the Three Pillars Of The Cat. Unfortunately he does not have much time to learn them because his mother's deadly enemies, the Cats of Sa, are determined to destroy him and take his unknown power.

Although this was told from the point of view of a cat, the cats all had very human traits like betrayal, suspicion, laughter and homesickness. It wasn't at all cutesy, unlike some cat things can be, nor any old puns about things being purrfect. The author treated the characters as people, which I liked.

This was a very good adventure story with action, mythological references and magic. Because I love Egyptian mythology I'm giving this book 87 out of 100.

The Story of Tracy Beaker

The Story of Tracy Beaker is based on events happening all over the country in, as Tracy calls them, dumping grounds (children's homes). The author of this book, Jacqueline Wilson, often writes about problems that affect children such as being left at children's homes, divorcing parents and moving to new places.

Tracy Beaker is a 10 year old girl who has an extra 10 years of attitude. She is waiting for her Hollywood movie star mum to pick her up in a limo and take her to a tropical island where she will swim with the dolphins and fly with the eagles. Unfortunately, until that happens she is stuck with Justine No Good Littlewood and everyone else in the dumping ground.

Because I loved the character of Tracy Beaker so much, and her opinion of the world, the humour in this book has gained it a 96 out of 100.

Jay writes -

This is my first Jacqueline Wilson and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I guess she is the Judy Blume of this generation, tacking issues and emotions affecting kids in a funny and realistic way. Tracy is a wonderful character. Much of the pathos comes from what she doesn't say - her Hollywood mum is really a young woman with an abusive partner and Tracy has no idea how to find her. Tracy's angry, destructive streak and her passionate creativity never let her slip into someone you pity. She'd be very hard to be friends with but probably worth it.
We both liked that Tracy 'never cries, just gets hayfever,' which happens to coincide with being upset.

Just William

Just Williams is an interesting set of stories written by Richmal Crompton about the 11 year old boy William Brown and his adventures in his small village in the country. He and his group of friends, the Outlaws do many things from kidnapping kids to setting up marriages.

I found the book very humorous and witty. The plots were interesting and lifelike. Williams behaves like lots of young boys do: challenging every rule and finding loopholes for everything.

A good classic LOL book. Because of Richmal Crompton's excellent writing I'm giving this 90 out of 100

Pig Heart Boy

Pig Heart Boy is about a boy named Cameron ans his experiences as he is informed that in order to stay alive he must have a heart transplant from a pig.

This like many of Malorie Blackman's books raises issues - such as "should animal experimentation continue?" and trust between friends. I was interested to find out how it ended.

The plot is that Cameron is told by doctors that he has about 1 year left to live and the only way to stay alive is to have a heart transplant. But since they don't have enough human donors they want to give Cameron the heart of a specially bred pig. The story then continues as his life is thrown this way and that because of the transplant. I enjoyed the book and was fascinated by every opinion of this operation.

Malorie Blackman is an excellent author. I give the book 77/100

Jay Writes - This book is one I chose for Luke to replace the second of the Moomin books on his challenge list, as both people who chose a Moomin book said any of the others would so just as well.

The London Eye Mystery

The London Eye Mystery is a book by Siobhan Dowd about a boy named Ted who has Aspergers and so thinks 'like a computer,' and the mystery of the disappearance of his cousin Salim.

This is a great story with suspense at every turn. Ted and his older sister Kat become sleuths to try to figure out what went on when their cousin went up in a London Eye pod and didn't come down again. A great thriller for the whole family. It was one of my favourite books so I'm giving it 100/100

Enjoy!

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.