Showing posts with label Children Books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Children Books. Show all posts
Eight Keys by Suzanne LaFleur
by Suzanne LaFleur
Pages: 272
Release Date: August 11th 2011
Publisher: Puffin
Buy the Book: Amazon UK | Amazon US
Elise and Franklin have always been best friends. Elise has always lived in the big house with her loving Uncle and Aunt, because Elise's parents died when she was too young to remember them. There's always been a barn behind the house with eight locked doors on the second floor.
When Elise and Franklin start middle school, things feel all wrong. Bullying. Not fitting in. Franklin suddenly seems babyish. Then, soon after her 12th birthday, Elise receives a mysterious key left for her by her father. A key that unlocks one of the eight doors upstairs in the barn...
My Thoughts
As soon as I started reading Eight Keys, I was very intrigued to find out what secrets these keys will unlock. The synopsis had me hooked and it was only after a matter of pages into Eight Keys that I knew this book was something special.
Elise, the main character, is a 11 year old girl whose parents have both died leaving her in the care of her uncle and aunt. It's only until her 12th birthday that she notices a key addressed to her. And from that moment, many doors opened, many challenges are met and many lessons are learnt.
Elise is a great girl with an amazing friend, Franklin. Franklin is the type of friend that anyone would love to have. You could say he's very near to perfect. Nothing seems to set him and he is always there for Elise through think and thin. That's what I love about him. He's cute, caring and very childish. However, Elise believes his 'childlike' attitude isn't very grown up.
This is where Elise's locker buddy, Amanda comes in. I utterly despise her. Mainly because of what she does to Elise. It's quite funny how one small mean repetitive action like squashing your lunch every single day can make you really really not like someone. At least, shje got what she deserve at the end. Though not as quite I was expecting.
I really enjoyed Eight Keys. It's a book for all ages I believe. It had me wanting to read more. I look forward to reading more books by Suzanne LaFleur! An uplifting and insightful read.
Doc Mortis by Barry Hutchison
by Barry Hutchison
Pages: 288
Release Date: August 4th 2011
Publisher: HarperCollins Children'sBooks
Series: Invisible Fiends #4
Other books in series: Mr Mumbles, Raggy Maggy & The Crowmaster
Buy the Book: Amazon UK | Amazon US
The fourth thrilling book in this darkly funny, horror series Darren Shan called 'deliciously nightmarish'. The first book, Mr Mumbles, is shortlisted for the Royal Mail Awards for Scottish Children's Books Kyle wakes up in hospital -- which is strange, because he doesn't remember being ill. And that's not all. He's also deliriously flitting in and out of the Darkest Corners, and in the shadow version of the hospital the surfaces aren't clean, and the sharp instruments aren't used for healing. It's Kyle's most terrifying experience yet, and it's about to get much, much worse. The doctor will see him now! The fourth installment of this darkly comic horror series.My Thoughts
Even within a couple of pages of Doc Mortis I knew that I would like reading this book. And I did. I really enjoyed it. At first I didn't think it'll be my type of book as it's mainly aimed at children but boy was I wrong. Doc Mortis is without doubt for everyone and anyone over 9.
Doc Mortis continues where it's left off in the previous book in the series, The Crowmaster. Kyle, the protagonist, is not in a very pretty situation having had to deal with another Invisible Fiend, and a whole load of other problems. Things just keep getting worse though the book keeps getting better and better.
Doc Mortis takes you on one horrifying yet thrilling rollacoster. It's very creepy and the imagination in it is just amazing. I have to give it to Hutchison, he sure knows how to keep us readers on our toes. Everything about this book is just wow. And oh did I mention the cover is also very awesome. It totally goes with all the other books in the series. Very spooky indeed.
I really enjoyed reading this book! I can't wait to see what the other books have in store for us. I can't wait to read the next book either! I thoroughly recommend Doc Mortis (:
Radiance by Alyson Noel
by Alyson Noel
Pages: 183
Release Date: February 4th 2011
Publisher: Macmillan Children Books
Series: Riley Bloom #1
Other books in series: Shimmer
Buy the Book: Amazon UK | Amazon US
My Thoughts
Riley has crossed the bridge into the afterlife—a place called Here, where time is always Now. She has picked up life where she left off when she was alive, living with her parents and dog in a nice house in a nice neighborhood. When she’s summoned before The Council, she learns that the afterlife isn’t just an eternity of leisure. She’s been assigned a job, Soul Catcher, and a teacher, Bodhi, a possibly cute, seemingly nerdy boy who’s definitely hiding something. They return to earth together for Riley’s first assignment, a Radiant Boy who’s been haunting a castle in England for centuries. Many Soul Catchers have tried to get him to cross the bridge and failed. But all of that was before he met Riley . . .
While reading Radiance I realised that this wasn't a book that was for me. I think it's mainly because there wasn't any romance. However, Even though it just didn't appeal to me, the story overall was pretty great. I'll say it's mainly aimed at younger teens, considering the writing style.
However, as I've read the Evermore series I already had a connection to Riley. I absolutely adore her. I instantly loved her personality, character and simply everything about her. And, I really love the way she acts and handles different situations. It's quite awesome.
I think that Radiance would many suit younger teens and definitely children above 11. It seems like their kind of book as its full of young action and adventure. Because Riley is only around 13-14 years old the book would be in her perspective and the way she see's things. A great plot with great characters. A definite recommendation to younger teens.
Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin
by Gabrielle Zevin
Pages: 271
Release Date: June 5th 2006
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Buy the Book: Amazon UK | Amazon US
Elsewhere is where 15-year-old Liz Hall ends up, after she has died. It is a place so like Earth, yet completely different from it. Here Liz will age backward from the day of her death until she becomes a baby again and returns to Earth. Is it possible that a life lived in reverse is no different from a life lived forward?
My Thoughts
WOW! Elsewhere is a complete stunner of a book! The whole concept of people dying then aging backwards until they were back to being a baby... then brought back to Earth ...FAB! I loved everything about it! I loved so much I recommended it to most of people and literally forced my firends to read it!
As soon as I started reading it I just knew that I will like it. The atmosphere, the immaculate writing, the charcters- they were all without doubt amazing. There was such simplicity and perfection that I was comletely captivated.
I love Liz. She's small and innocent. She still can't get hold of what's happening to her. Who can? She died. She was still young and desired to do so many wonderful and childful things. She wanted to live her life for just a tad bit longer.
However things in the story do look up as she discovers new likes, new feelings and new people. Liz is at a different world that has to be yet explored. I love Grabrielle's writing! I really hope to read more books by her! :)
Coraline by Neil Gaiman
Coraline
by Neil Gaiman
Pages: 192
Release Date: 6th October 2003
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Buy it: Amazon
MILD SPOILER ALLERT!
Let me start by saying that I loved this book.
Release Date: 6th October 2003
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Buy it: Amazon
The day after they moved in, Coraline went exploring....My Thoughts
In Coraline's family's new flat are twenty-one windows and fourteen doors. Thirteen of the doors open and close.
The fourteenth is locked, and on the other side is only a brick wall, until the day Coraline unlocks the door to find a passage to another flat in another house just like her own.
Only it's different.
At first, things seem marvelous in the other flat. The food is better. The toy box is filled with wind-up angels that flutter around the bedroom, books whose pictures writhe and crawl and shimmer, little dinosaur skulls that chatter their teeth. But there's another mother, and another father, and they want Coraline to stay with them and be their little girl. They want to change her and never let her go.
Other children are trapped there as well, lost souls behind the mirrors. Coraline is their only hope of rescue. She will have to fight with all her wits and all the tools she can find if she is to save the lost children, her ordinary life, and herself.
MILD SPOILER ALLERT!
Let me start by saying that I loved this book.
Neil Gaiman did an amazing job, while creating the "other world": the few descriptions were so vivid, and the characters were so believable (though their spookiness) that in a few pages I was already so engaged in the book that I shivered! Though the "other world" where Coraline finds herself in, is indeed different from her own world, there are a few similarities between this strange "other world" and the ordinary one from where Coroline comes from, that make it more spooky!
As many reviewers have said, this book resembles Alice in The Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, though in the world that Gaiman created the creepy factor is much higher!
Coraline is an amazing chracter . In spite she's young (her age is not specified, but I would say she is 9 or 10 years old) she's very smart and she has an interesting way of understanding the behavior of the "strange" adults around her. Besides that, Coraline is very courageous and she doesn't give up when she really wants something.
This book is directed for children but I believe teens and adults will appreciate it.
What do you think?
CLARISSE
What do you think?
CLARISSE
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