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Peepo! - Janet Ahlberg
by karlsm93
I have been taking my daughter to our local library for a few months now and picking out a couple of books that we could read together at home. One such book that I got from the library originally but then ended up purchasing myself at a car boot sale when I saw it for 50p was this book 'Peepo' by Janet and Allan Ahlberg. ...
When I first came across this book in the library, I was a little hesitant and lifted it for a couple of reasons. Firstly, my daughter is made about babies at the moment, so I thought it might appeal to her, and secondly, inside the front cover of this book were comments from a variety of critics that seemed to sing great praises for this book, and I can see why, having read and re read it to my daughter, and as I said, with her now having her own copy.
The top of the book that my daughter owns is the same front cover as that shown above, but with the added title 'The BEST book ever published for babies' and my daughter's copy is the 30th anniversary edition. Once you look through this book, you will see that the illustrations have all been drawn to reflect life in the middle of the last century, within a family life where three generations share the same house and everyone gives a helping hand.
The nice feature of this book, which helps explain the title of the book, is that with every page there is a hole showing the view that the baby has from wherever he is sitting at, at the time, thus it has the word 'Peepo!' under each of these holes. It has been quite cleverly done, because when you bring the page back, the baby appears through the hole, but when looking at it from the baby's point of view, you can see what he sees.
I wasn't sure whether my daughter would sit and listen to the whole book, as it quite long for a young child, however, I needn't have worried, it is the gentle rhyme and repetitiveness of some of the text that keeps her attention throughout, even reading it three or four times in a row! My daughter recognises the different situations in the story - baby standing in the cot, baby in the bath. baby in the high chair, and even baby sitting in the pram. THis is an example of the lovely, easy to read rhyme that travels through the book 'Here's a little baby, One two three, Stands in his cot, What does he see?'. It follows a day in the life of the little baby boy, from when he gets up in the morning, standing looking out of the cot at sleeping parents, sitting in his highchair whilst mum makes breakfast and granny hangs out the washing, sitting in his pushchair watching his sisters play, sitting in the park, playing in the evening and then having a bath, before going to bed, with mummy and daddy saying goodnight and a picture of a content little baby sleeping at the end.
This really is a lovely book which was why I bought my daughter a copy, albeit second hand when I saw it, as she just loved it when I got it from the library and I really do think it is a wonderfully written book for a young child who can understand the daily life of a baby and the routines. Even though the illustrations are not of a modern family, there is something quite different about this book and creates a warm feeling about family life like it was when different generations lived under the one roof.
All in all, this book does live up to the claims made in the inside cover and it is a lovely book that every young child should have the chance to read.
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Hamlyn All Colour Cookbook 200 Cupcakes - Joanna Farrow
by xxfoxyredxx
I am by no means a master chef in the making. I can throw dinners in a slow cooker and even steam stuff and of course I'm ok at making toast and heating up ready meals and so on but anything more complicated than that.....well I'm done for really lo!
Since moving back to Coventry near my friends and family though and getting ... myself a huge kitchen I decided to get myself some new cookbooks. I was looking for something simple in the way of cake making to begin with and looking on Amazon this book rated very highly with people liking its simple format and that every recipe had a photograph so I thought for my first venture into cupcake and muffin making this would be a good bet for me!
The book that came is a light pink in colour and has a photograph of some lovely looking cupcakes on the front of it and we are told of course that it is published my Hamlyn and is an 'All Coulour Cookbook', 200 Cupcakes and that it is written by Joanna Farrow then on the back of the book we are told a little bit about the book and the rrp of the book is stated which is £4.99.
The Book:
I have to say I really do love this book, so much so that I have already put in an order for all the other Hamlyn '200' recipe books from within this collection I can get which includes a recipe book for slow cooking, how to make stews and casseroles, cocktails, cakes and jam and the likes and there's actually loads of them and if they are half as good as this handy and beautiful book then I will be really delighted with them and I ordered them from my usual place which is Amazon.co.uk
This book has 240 pages and about half of those pages are beautiful photographs of the cupcakes/muffins and the likes and as I mentioned earlier each recipe has a photograph to show what your outcome should look like!
The book starts off with a content page and then the book is split into sections which are an introduction to the world of cupcakes and then an introduction into the equipment we will need which isn't really much at all and then we are told a little about frosting and how to make a simple buttercream and so on and of course this all has little photographs to accompany all this information and then we move on to the interesting part which is making the cupcakes and muffins which again these recipes are divided into sections which are Everyday Cupcakes. Chocolate Cupcakes, Cupcakes For Kids, Cupcakes For Adults, Savoury Cupcakes and Special Occasion Cupcakes. Each recipe is on the left hand side of the book and takes up a whole page and that gives us the ingredients and of course the instructions to make the cupcakes and also we are told how many the mix shoudl make and how long they take to prepare and to cook. Most of the recipes have alternative ideas for ingredients on them too so in actual fact you get more than 200 recipes in this book and of course you get the photograph of the finished product on the other side of the page.
My Opinion:
The first thing I did was go and get he equipment I needed which simply was a bun tray and some paper cases and I already had a food mixer though I could have got away with a hand mixer for the recipes if that's what I'd of had. I have since invested in some silicone bakeware and cases....that's how much this recipe book has impressed me!
I have made Vanilla Cupcakes, Double Berry Muffins, Chocolate Toffee Cupcakes, Marmalade Madeira Cupcakes and Saffron & Potato Buns. I won't lie and say all have looked exactly as they did in the book but all recipes were easy enough to follow with the right amount of cooking time given and so on.
I have made the above recipes quite a few times now and all the time my presentation improves and this book has given me a lot of confidence to get more creative and I love the mix of really simple recipes such as the vanilla cupcakes which are basically little golden sponges and really simple to make to giving me things to aspire to. Some recipes are more intricate than others but none of them outrageously hard and this is simply a great book for any occasion and of course you can adapt the recipes to how you want them.
At the back of the book there is a list of all the recipes so you can find what you want at a glance and its fair to say if anything happened to this lovely little book I'd repurchase it pronto as I simply adore it. When I get bored now I simply whip out my book and make some cupcakes up, they don't have to be expensive to make and do taste better and in time will look better than shop bought ones too! Promise!
Available from Amazon at about £2.50 a book though Google if interested for the best prices.
This review is also posted on Ciao under this same username.
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Headhunters - Jo Nesbo
by grahamt
I am a great fan of Jo Nesbo's Harry Hole novels. However, this is a one-off that does not feature his idiosyncratic hero. In fact, this book has been made into a film, although I haven't seen it. I was attracted to it by the fact that Nesbo is the author and that it was felt worthy of a film.
Once again it is a crime novel ... but in this case it features a character with no police connections. Indeed, it could be said that this is a story told from the opposite perspective.
Roger Brown is a recruiter, the headhunter of the title. Regardless of his name, this is a story set, once again, in Norway. Brown is a man confident in his superiority as someone who can spot the perfect candidate for a job. When he does he does whatever it takes to make sure that his man gets the job. In Clas Greve he believes he has just such a candidate. But has he?
Brown also has a little sideline, to supplement his income that supports a high maintenance wife and her art gallery. He steals pictures, and, it would seem, Greve has just the one that will solve all his problems.
But, nothing is as it seems and the story line twists and turns as gradually the true motivations of the characters are revealed. Along the road, Nesbo comes up with some of the most gruesome and unpleasant scenes I have ever read in print; I defy you not to squirm. Not all of the events ring true although many are rationalised towards the end; many rely upon the police not really doing their job.
Overall I did enjoy the book. I don't know if Nesbo is intending to write more stories around Brown but, if not, well, I still have a few Harry Hole books still to read.
Also posted on Goodreads.
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