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Pretty Little Liars - Sara Shepard
by cyberem78
I'm way out of the suggested reading age of this novel, Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard, but a few years ago I started watching the television show which is based on the book series. The show has become something of a cult hit and has amassed a huge following of fans who are both young and old, male and female. It is based around a ... tantalising mystery and feeds viewers clues every episode. Although the television series is not following the plot of the book series in every single sense most storylines are loyal to the original writing. When I saw this book reduced to a couple of pounds in my local store I thought I'd have a read to see what the original story was and what had been changed for the television show. I also thought I'd see if there were any extra clues in the book that might help me to figure out the secrets of this amazing story.
The book I bought it a more recently published copy than the one pictured in the Dooyoo picture. The book was published with their original covers when the novel came out in 2006. The covers of the newly printed 2013 copies feature a picture of the now famous girl cast (Ashley Benson, Troian Bellisario, Lucy Hale and Shay Mitchell) in a promotional shot for the television drama. The book is a paperback and the story covers 243 pages. There is also a short snippet from the next book in the series at the end of the book. The author is now currently writing her fourteenth novel in this series with thirteen books already published, so that's a lot of books to collect if you intend to begin reading this!
The story and characters in the Pretty Little Liars was inspired by the author's own upbringing in Philadelphia's Main Line. The characters all live in a town called Rosewood. It's a town full of affluent high achievers where everyone seems perfect on the surface. However, everyone seems to be hiding a dirty little secret in Rosewood. The story centres around four girls who were once best friends along with their glamorous queen bee Alison Di Laurentis. The novel is set three years after Alison suddenly and mysteriously vanishes. The four other girls have all lost touch with one another and they have grown into different people. All of the girls harbour secrets about themselves and they also have one big collective secret which is so bad they could be in trouble with the law because of it. When one of the girls, Aria, returns to town after being abroad with her family the girls start to receive intimidating and scary text messages which threaten to expose all of their secrets.
The content and language of the novel is not very challenging and I think this means that even quite young readers could attack it. I thought the author's attention to how teenage girls live, speak, dress and act was fantastic. There are many references to modern culture and issues that are really of interest only to the cool kids! It makes the characters feel authentic although I did feel there was too much similarity in the tone and content of dialogue to distinguish each girl as a true individual and not just an extension of the author.
The themes in the novel are actually quite adult and serious. Topics range from having an inappropriate relationship with a teacher to dealing with being gay to the consequences of bulimia. I like the way the author approaches each sensitive subject and allows us to see into the minds of the characters dealing with these issues. I like the dynamics in the teacher-student relationship in the novel way more than I do in the television show. It feels just as sexy but I felt it was not being as endorsed as much as it is in the television show!
I thought in this first novel of the series that the character of Emily was most well written. She is the character that is struggling with the idea of being gay and her mini evolution in this first novel is a truly beautiful thing to read. Overall though this does feel like an introductory novel though since we are only just learning about the characters and no huge dramas ensue, although little bombshells do explode here and there!
As far as it's relationship to the television show goes there are a few major differences concerning ethnicity of the characters and family statuses. However, the actual core of the four main characters and most of the other major characters remains the same. In terms of scale this first novel basically covers the pilot episode in the television show. Are there any clues I picked up from reading this? Yes! But if you want to know more you'll have to read the book yourself!
Overall I quite enjoyed reading this. It definitely felt like something that was aimed at young teens but I still liked the writing style, the drama and mystery and most of all I liked feeling like I was getting to know the four main characters. I would recommend this to younger readers aged about 11-17 who like fast paced, modern, mystery novels.
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Mog the Forgetful Cat - Judith Kerr
by PaigeTurner
Mog the Forgetful Cat, written by Judith Kerr, tells the tale of Mog who, as the title declares, is a forgetful cat. She forgets everything from the fact she has a cat flap to the fact she can't fly.
But it is this weakness which makes Mog the cat a heroine in the end, however unintentionally on the part of Mog.
Mog ... the Forgetful Cat is a book penned by the same author as the more widely-popular The Tiger Who Came to Tea. There is reason for this as The Tiger Who Came to Tea has a simplicity and a surrealism which instantly captures the imagination of readers. This is not to say that Mog the Forgetful Cat does not hold an appeal all of its own.
For me, as a little girl, the cat as hero of the tale was a very appealing one. Psychologically speaking, it represents the triumph of the maligned and ridiculed - essentially the triumph of the little guy - something which will always hold a certain sway with youngsters.
Mog is incredibly impeded by her personality flaw. She makes mistakes which lower her in the favour of her owners, the Thomas family, and even the little girl, Debbie, her one ally, is pushed to the limits of her sympathy towards the end of the book. It is at this crucial point that Mog carries out her good deed and wins back round her family and an award at the same time.
I get a real sense of nostalgia on opening up a copy of Mog the Forgetful Cat. In fact, it is my own well-read copy of the book that I now read to my own two-year-old daughter. My little girl is captivated by the colourful drawings of Mog and her family, particularly the one of Mog flying with the birds. She also enjoys the ending which sees Mog win a medal, and an egg.
I would say that there are some aspects of the book, which was written some 30 years ago, which haven't translated to the modern day such as the fact the book opens with "Mog lived with a family called Thomas" rather than "the Thomas family", which makes it instantly appear a little out-dated for today.
The other problem is the fact for a child to gain a full understanding of the story they need to be able to read the pictures as well as the words. This poses problems when reading the book aloud to little ones. For example, there is a scene where Mog accidentally sits on Mrs Thomas' hat. The fact she does this is not explained in the writing but purely shown as a picture.
Whilst young children will be interested in the colourful pictures, this aspect is perhaps a little too subtle for younger children to fully understand. Having said this, judging by how engrossed in the story my daughter becomes when I read it and how often she picks up the book to be read, this is by no means a problem for her.
Overall, despite there being some slightly antiquated aspects to this book, like all good classic children's books, Mog has a cuddly, warm and friendly aura about it. It captures that morality and sense of all things coming right which books today do not always grasp.
Reading it is a way to recapture that cocoon of innocence that children enjoyed in times gone by where they were shown that whilst there were dangers outside, all was well in the sanctuary of the home. This sense of there being nothing to fear could no better be expressed than in the fact the burglar, rather than being handcuffed, is given a cup of tea by the Thomas family.
Add to this backdrop short, snappy, easily readable sentences and the use of repetition, particularly through the phrase "bother that cat", and you have a great little story which will, I'm sure, be enjoyed by generations of children to come.
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Hello Kitty - My Prettiest Colouring Book
by emmad5689
My eldest daughter loves anything to do with colouring and crafts and our local Asda store have started selling a range of different Hello Kitty books, one of which is these which she bought herself when we went to do the weekly shop.
I personally have only seen the book in Asda so I'm not sure if they are on sale elsewhere, ... the back of the book states RRP of £3.99 but Sophie only paid £2.99 which I think is quite a bit for a colouring book when you compare to what you can buy for that.
The front of the book is pale pink and colour and has the title of the book on it in bright lettering, Hello Kitty is pictured on the front dressed up as an artists and coloured in paint and then there are little pictures surrounding her which are just outlines as if they are waiting to be coloured. The cover is really thick and really nice quality, it is glossy so gives a really nice finish.
Inside the book you have 48 pages that need colouring in, each page has Hello Kitty on it dressed in different outfits or in different poses. The paper is really great quality and you can tell that it isn't a cheap book and best of all you can use felt tips on the paper without it soaking straight through to the next page which is ideal as Sophie loves colouring with felt tips.
Sophie picked this book herself so obviously she liked the look of the book, she has coloured in this book plenty of times and there are still plenty left to colour, if we are going out anywhere this is the book she tends to take with her at the moment. The book is really good quality and it is worth paying a bit more for, I would happily buy more of this range and will probably see what else there is available for her birthday.
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