My daughter is mad for dance. Doesn’t matter if it’s ballet, jazz, contemporary or whatever … a LOT of dance goes on at our place. She also loves books. And that’s the problem, you see. Because my dance-loving daughter tells me that most books about dance and dancers are just plain rubbish.
Continue reading “9 books for teens who love dance that are actually good”
Take a pinch of fantasy, a whack of adventure, a smidge of mystery and a skerrick of historical fiction. Mix them all together and you get Tiger Heart.
Continue reading “Review: Tiger Heart by Penny Chrimes”
Kenneth Oppel’s The Nest is one pretty scary book. But not scary in an in-your-face, crazy clown-slash-serial-killer kinda way. No, The Nest is wa-ay more frightening than that.
Continue reading “Review: The Nest by Kenneth Oppel”
The stories I loved writing best back in my journalist days were the ones that made people feel something. Stories that hit them right in the heart, that made a tear (or two or three or more) well in their eyes. Stories that made them catch their breath, that made them want reach out and tell someone about what they’d just read.
The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise is just that sort of story.
Continue reading “Review: The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise”
Ah, Harry Potter. You brilliant boy wizard, you. Single-handedly responsible for driving gazillions of kids to pick up a book and read. But what about when that kid has devoured all seven volumes – that’s 1,084,170 words btw – of Potter and co’s adventures? What should a kid read next after everyone graduates from Hogwarts and Voldemort finally gets what’s coming to him?
Continue reading “What to read after Harry Potter”
Welcome to junior cricket season. Time to pull the cricket kit out of the shed, dust off the deck chairs and learn to deal with grass stains on white pants.
I have four seasons of junior cricket under my belt and still don’t understand how the scoring works. I have no idea when to yell ‘Howzat!’, (hot tip: apparently it’s not when your kid’s bat finally connects with the ball). And I am clueless when it comes to telling a bouncer from a yorker. At least I’m on the front foot when it comes to cricket books.
Continue reading “The 9 best books about cricket for kids”
Raymie Nightingale is a 10-year-old kid whose father has just run away with his dental hygienist. But Raymie has a plan to win him back – and it involves getting her picture in the newspaper by winning the Little Miss Florida Central Tire competition. The only catch is she needs to learn to twirl a baton.
Continue reading “Review: Raymie Nightingale by Kate DiCamillo”
I Think the Cover Was Red ... 