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The Gruffalo - Julia Donaldson
by hotrock4
Introduction:-
First released in 1988 The Gruffalo is one of many successful publications written by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler and has sold over 10 million copies in its 25 years of existence. The Gruffalo is actually a book I remember fondly from my own childhood and is a title I was keen to get a copy ... of for our daughter. With a recommended price of £6.99 I am usually priced out of buying books like this on the high street, however I pretty reliably manage to find them new for around the£3.50 mark either in one of the big supermarkets or after a quick search on the internet, and at that price they are a definite bargain.
The Story:-
Julia Donaldson as always seems to effortlessly make the telling of the story fast flowing and rhythmic, as the reader follows a mouse on its journey through the deep dark wood only to encounter a fox, an owl and a snake all of which think that the mouse looks good to eat and can't wait to invite him back for lunch. However each animal that the quick witted mouse meets is soon put off when he tells them the reason he is taking a stroll in the deep dark wood is to meet The Gruffalo for tea. When the mouse tells the fox of The Grufallo's terrible tusks, and claws and the fact that its favourite food is roast fox, the fox beats a hasty retreat. As the mouse gets further into the wood his imagination runs away with him as he describes the imaginary Gruffalo to each animal but he has no idea he is about to come face to face with his own creation.
Once again however the quick witted mouse manages to think fast and get out of trouble by telling The Gruffalo how he is the scariest animal in the wood. Not convinced The Gruffalo decides to take a stroll with the mouse back through the deep dark wood meeting the animals again along the way. As soon as the animals see that the mouse is accompanied by The Gruffalo they take flight and hide, which manages to convince The Gruffalo that the mouse really must be the scariest creature the wood and when the mouse mentions his favourite food is Gruffalo crumble The Gruffalo is sure not to hang around.
Following the mouse on its stroll through the deep dark wood is an amusing adventure even for adults especially when reading aloud due to the lyrical writing style and the fact that the book rhymes so easily throughout without detracting from the story itself. Julia Donaldson's writing style makes The Gruffalo great for reading aloud to younger readers from 18 months up as the way emphasis is placed on words due to the way the text rhymes and flows really well means our 2 year old daughter has picked up loads and loads of words from Julia Donaldson books in the last year. This said however I can see the Gruffalo coming to life when being read with a group of kids as there is opportunity to join in on every page due to the repetitive nature of the story and the fast pace is enough to keep the little ones from getting bored too quickly, whilst allowing for the book to be read in 5 - 10 minutes if needs be.
The style of the writing and the pace that the story trots along at makes this a captivating read that in no way shows its age and the fact that it was first published over 25 years ago, and could just have easily been published yesterday. In my eyes this book outshines most modern children's books that I have read to my daughter over the past couple of years and is on par with Julia Donaldson's other publications.
Illustrations:-
In my opinion Axel Scheffler's illustrations easily keep up with the quality of Julia Donaldson's writing, and are again somehow timeless meaning they hold the same appeal and amusement for my daughter now as they must have for me 25 years ago which I consider to be an amazing feat. Whilst being simple the illustrations are full of colour and background action with lots to name and point out along the way apart from what is going on in the main characters and what is going on in the story. The balance of words and illustrations is perfect with the illustrations polishing off the story rather than being over bearing.
Whilst there is plenty to look at in each illustration they fit perfectly alongside the text in the story meaning they are a great aid for not only teaching words, but also what those words relate to. If the text was completely removed from this book the pictures would do a great job of telling the story by themselves, which I feel is another reason that this book is a great educational tool. The bright bold illustrations from Axel Scheffler also do a great job of portraying The Gruffalo, as whilst my daughter knows that The Gruffalo is a scary creature she is not actually scared of it and I feel this book could have been completely different if The Gruffalo had been mis-represented.
The Gruffalo is one of the titles from nearer the beginning of Julia Donaldson's and Axle Scheffler's partnership and it shows this in no way what-so-ever. The way the illustrations fit snugly around the story and the way that Axle Scheffler seems to bring Julia Donaldson's characters to life in his illustrations really shows that these two combine to great effect with the illustrations really taking The Gruffalo a cut above the rest.
In Conclusion:-
In conclusion just in case you haven't already guessed I feel that this is another great book from the Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler team being perfect in just about every way I can think of. I have tried picking holes in it and found nothing that I can actually fault this book on. It is great for reading aloud as well as being a great educational tool. The pages and covers of the book wipe clean if caught quickly enough with a baby wipe, and are pretty resistant to tearing although our copy does have a few felt tip marks in which we didn't catch in time.
Whilst the recommended price of these books is generally on the expensive side I do feel that books from Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler really are worth the £6.99 asking price and anything cheaper than this is truly a bargain so it is great they are generally available on the internet for around half this price. So overall from me I cannot fault this book in anyway what-so-ever, and given the fact that both me and my daughter love to sit down and read this book together definitely makes this worth 5/5 stars in my eyes.
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Bugs by the Numbers - Sharon Werner
by broxi3781
Despite the BBC news sites prediction of a beautiful sunny day, it's pouring rain outside and all the creepy crawlies have run for cover. Since we can't go outdorrs to hunt bugs, we've been forced to find them insdie and what better place than in this absolutely beautiful book by Sharon Werner and Sarah Forss, Bugs by Number. I also own ... two alphabet books by the same authors/ illustrators, and have ordered a fourth book, so it is obvious we enjoy their unique take on illustration.
It is a bit difficult to tell by the illustration above, but if you click the icon to go to Amazon you will be able to see that each insect in made up only of numbers. In most cases, it is the same number, over and over again, but a few through in a couple of extras, such as the Praying Mantis on the cover. The main picture is made of the number 180, the number of degrees the insect can turn its head. This picture also has 1-5 on the Mantis' head and a brief not telling us that five is the number of eyes this animal possesses. The numbers are repeated in different sizes, much as square dots were once used to make computer pictures, giving an unusual but very recognisable illustration.
Since this is a number book, it would be easy to assume that it is a counting book. It isn't. I aware of this before buying, but I do wish it has been presented as counting book - it would have been brilliant. On the plus side, there are an incredible amount of things a child can count, and this certainly makes a welcome change from the average counting book. It also does expose a child to a lot of numbers in a fun and engaging manner. There are hundreds if not thousands of books that teach a child to count to ten or twenty, but there is nothing else quite like this.
Another unique feature of this book is the is the fact that it includes far larger numbers than the average counting book. The highest number in this page is 1,750,000 which is the number of earthworms meant to be in one acre of fertile land.
I both loved and hated the termite page, which features the number 2,500. Instead of the usual design in which the insect is made of tiny numbers, in this case we have a very large, two page spread in which the number 2,500 is made up of what I presume to be 2,500 termites. Sadly the book does not tell us if this is the case or not, and I have no intention of counting every one, but with a count of 25 for a single square inch. Assuming my maths are correct, two 11.5 x 8.75 pages would yield just over 200 square inches. There are some white areas and cut out bits, but this is still more than adequate for 2,500 insects. I love the fact that this gives a child an idea what the number 2,500 looks like. I doubt very many children below school age have any concept of numbers over 100, and I love books where you can see larger numbers in illustrations.
The termite page is the one page in which I take issue with the facts though. The author tells us that Termites live in large groups which can have more than 2,500 members. This is true - but they have can have quite a bit more with a queen termite laying up to 3,000 eggs a day and colonies numbering into the millions in many cases. My problem is that the author states 2,500 termites would weigh more than a ton. With a ton being 2,000 pounds the only way this figure could be true is if each termite weighed 8/10 of a pound. Those sound like some very large termites. I rather suspect this is a misprint, and as such I have knocked one star off my rating. A bit harsh, yes, but this seems a major misprint that should have been caught and showing a child a picture of 2,500 little tiny insects and informing that this number would weigh a ton seems very misleading. I can easily believe the number of termites in a mound might weigh a ton. I just think the number is more likely to be 2,500,000 than 2,500.
My issue with the termite facts aside, this is an excellent book. It has beautiful and unique illustrations, it exposes children to a wide variety of numbers, and it has all sorts of fun facts on insects and other creepy crawlies. Of course some scientists do take issue with calling things like worms bugs. Some books now insist on calling them mini beasts as the word bug really only refers to insects of the order hemiptera, but try telling that to a four year old. Until a better word is created, I use the term bug myself to include various arthropods and small invertebrates such as worms and slugs. This book is primarily about insects, but it does include spiders, worms, centipedes and scorpions. I like that the fact the non insects are included as so many books do stick to insects only.
There are enough facts to make this book interesting to a wide variety of ages. Both my eight year old and my four old enjoyed this, and I found many of the facts very interesting myself. Of course I am not expert enough to know if there are any other errors. I would also note that this is an American book so it gives American temperatures. The book mentions that a cockroach can survive freezing at 32 degrees and my son said 32 degrees was really hot. I had to explain that it was 32 Fahrenheit which would be only 0 degrees here. The most interesting fact to me, if true is the claim that mosquitoes have been responsible for 50% of all human deaths since the stone age.
This book also has all sorts of flaps to open up, which my youngest particularly enjoyed this feature. His favourites were a flap you pull down to reveal the inside of ant colony, and a large leaf like flap with a cocoon that opens to reveal a butterfly. The boys also enjoyed a life sized illustration of the largest stick insect ever found at 22" long and the Praying Mantis picture.
Overall this is an excellent book. It can keep a child occupied for ages and helps them learn science, literacy and maths all while having fun. I do think the termite weight is a huge mistake, but it wouldn't put me off buying the book. It is £9.23 new and delivered from Amazon, but I do feel it is worth the price if you have a child who loves bugs.
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Abandon - Meg Cabot
by DarkMessenger
'And then I heard his voice reminding me of how I had tripped and hit my head, had fallen in the pool and drowned, and that's why my clothes had been wet, and... Dead. That was main word I heard. I was dead.'
PLOT
Pierce Oliviera knows what it's like to die. When she was 15, she slipped and fell into the swimming ... pool in her garden, and drowned. Pierce finds herself standing on the edge of a lake, with crowds of other people, standing in lines, not knowing what's going on. But she see's him, the man she met in the Isla Huesos Cemetery years before, at her Grandfather's funeral. Relieved to have found someone she recognises, she rushes over to him, only to be moved into the line that nobody wants to be in.
John, the man she recognised, is a death deity, charged with ferrying souls to their final resting place. It's his job to decide if they go to a good place, or a bad place. John wants Pierce to spend the rest of eternity with him, but terrified Pierce manages to escape, when she is revived in hospital. But John won't give up. He always appears when Pierce is in trouble, warning her to stay away from the Isla Huesos Cemetery. And the reason for this warning becomes all too clear to Pierce, when she discovers that somebody close to her, isn't all that they seem.
MY OPINION
I picked this book up in the library, when I had some time to kill one day, since I liked the look of the cover. When I saw that it was written by Meg Cabot, I was intrigued, since I'd only read her Princess Diaries books, and this is a much darker story, aimed at an older audience. I was immediately drawn into Pierce's life; the trials that she's faced every day since she died, the rumours that circulated around School about her, and her experience of the Underworld, all adding up to make her life difficult. Not to mention her parents divorce, mostly caused by Pierce's accident, and being uprooted and moving to a remote island in Florida.
I really enjoyed reading this book. It's told in first person, through Pierce, and it was a really interesting insight into her thoughts, about the Underworld, and about the world that she lives in. Her inner dialogue is entertaining; although the book has a dark and serious nature, her dialogue lightens the mood of the book. An example of this, that made me laugh is; 'I was all over the hallway like a sniffer dog at customs.' I enjoy first person stories with entertaining dialogue, giving me an insight into the thoughts and feelings of the character, from their own point of view. It also allowed me to see that Pierce had a strong character, since she was still able to make jokes out of her situation, while going through so much.
The character of John was also interesting. He also cracked a joke or two throughout the story, which is surprising, since he's been ferrying the souls of the dead for a hundred or so years. His own story is just as moving as Pierce's. He's suffered greatly for many years, and he's been waiting for Pierce his whole life. Although at times he's angry with her, he's always there when she needs his protection, making for a very touching Romance, in the middle of all the horrors that face them both.
I've already got the second book of this series from the library, and I'm looking forward to getting stuck into it, and seeing what happens to Pierce next.
THE AUTHOR
Meg Cabot is the Author of the well loved series 'The Princess Diaries',as well as other books such as 'The Mediator' and 'Avalon High.' This book was quite a surprise to me, having only read her books aimed at a young audience. I thought that the story was well thought out, it had a great concept, and was delivered excellently. A thoroughly enjoyable book.
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