YA Manga Review: Aposimz

Aposimz is set in a world like I've never read about before very futuristic and very Sci-Fi.

Based on a 200,000 KM diameter artificial celestial body of APOSIMZ, a war took place fifty centuries ago. The people who lost that war were forced to live on the harsh cold surface of APOSIMZ not inside its core. Those living on the outside surface face many challenges but most of all they face the Frame Diseases.  Our main character Etherow is in the middle of combat training when a girl appears. She is being hunted down by Empire Soilders a is carrying with her a mysterious core which merges with our main character Etherow, turning him into a type of super soldiers. Etherow teams up with Titania to fight against the Rebedoa Empire.

This story is very interesting. There is a lot going on in this world but the way to writer takes you through the story it is easy to learn the new space . The writing is very short and quick so the story flows very quickly . I would definitely recommend this to someone who wants to try something a bit different .

Childrens Fiction Review: Wolf Girl 2

Wolf Girl 2 – The great escape – Anh Do -  Senior Fiction

Gwen has now been on her own for four years with just her ‘pack’ as company.

One day she sees a man driving a van.  She runs to meet him and is grabbed and thrown into the back of the van.  It drives off, leaving her pack (Sunrise, Brutus, Zip, Nosey and Tiny) racing to catch up.

The van drives her to a prison camp, where she sees lots of kids breaking up rocks and carting them in wheelbarrows.  The guards ask her questions, but she doesn’t answer them.  She is thrown into a cell alone and hopes her pack can follow.

She meets up with a boy called Rupert, who is also a prisoner.  Rupert knows that there are adults in the next camp, where his own parents are.  Gwen shows him a picture of her family and he tells her that he has seen them at the adult camo.

With the assistance of the dogs, and Gwen’s eagle, they get the keys to the cell and break out.

Find out what happens next.  Will Gwen and Rupert find their parents? Will they escape?

To Be Continued!

Picture Book Review: Bears Don't Eat Egg Sandwiches

Bears don’t eat egg sandwiches – Julie Fulton – Picture Book

Jack is at home making his favourite egg sandwiches for lunch, when he hears a knock at the door.

He opens the door and there is a big, hungry bear.  Of course Jack offers the bear one of his sandwiches.  The bear says ‘Bears don’t eat egg sandwiches’ and asks Jack to get him a big plate to eat his lunch.  Jack continues offering the bear a sandwich and the bear asks for something else to use for his lunch, and he gets progressively madder each time.

Kids will love to join in with this story.  It is very funny, has great illustrations and the kids will join in when they work out what’s happening. 

Picture Book Review: Eat Your Peas

Eat your peas – Kes Gray – Picture Book

A picture book about our favourite naughty girl, Daisy and her long-suffering Mum. 

Daisy is about to have her dinner and on her plate are peas, the things she hates to eat most! Little green balls ganging up on her plate!

Mum tries to bribe Daisy to eat her peas – she offers her some pudding if she eats it, but Daisy says “I don’t like peas”.  Mum tries something else, and offers her more bribes to get the peas eaten.  Mum gets pretty extreme in her bribes and offers Daisy many things ( Seventeen swimming pools, ninety-two chocolate factories, space rockets with double retro-blammers, and… and….and…. .  Daisy gets madder and madder in her answer.

Read the book to see what Daisy’s idea to solve the problem. 

A very funny Daisy book that kids young and old will love.   Brilliant illustrations and many, many very cool bribes.  

Note: My own adult daughter hates peas so I bought a copy of this for her! 

eBook Review : Navigating the Stars

Lyra's parents are archaeological experts specializing in Terra Cotta Warriors, and when they are found on other planets Lyra is dragged around the various planets to study them - seriously affecting Lyra's social life.

But Lyra's social life soon becomes the least of her worse when her families research center is attacked and her new focus is on why the Warriors are there and what that means ? 

With plenty of twists and turns along the way this story sounds like a good way to pass the time!

Picture Book Review : Picture Day Perfection

Picture Day Perfection – Deborah Dieson

The boy telling this story is planning for his version of the best school photo ever!  He doesn’t want a nice photo like his mum wants, and this story shows how he plans to achieve that.  He goes to extremes to make sure that he looks terrible.

He finally thinks he has worked out how to make it the best ever ‘worst’ school photo – but it doesn’t quite work out how he imagines! 

You can read this book or you can watch it on – Read Aloud Story for Kids on YouTube.

Note: Don’t let any boys who are about to have school photos done read this book – they do like a challenge, and some of his techniques are even better than just crossing your eyes.

Picture Book Review: There's a Lion in my Cornflakes

There’s a lion in my cornflakes – Michelle Robinson

A fantastic story about two brothers who are saving up coupons from their cornflake packets to get a free Lion! 

Things don’t go quite so well.  They have to save 100 coupons, which means they have to buy 100 packets of cornflakes using their pocket money– and of course mum says they must eat every last crunchy flake.

Mum gets a bit grumpy about it all, and the boys get very grumpy when the cornflake company runs out of lions and send a substitute!

It’s a really funny book, good humour and great illustrations by Jim Field.  Kids and adults will love it.  

YA Review: Deadly Beautiful

"A long time ago we used to believe that people were made up of two things- the body and the soul. When the body died, the soul lived on and was cleansed and reborn into someone new."

I will start off by just saying awesome! This is one of those series that captures the imagination and leaves you wanting more.

After Renèe Winters discovers her parents dead, in what seems to be a strange double murder, her grandfather sends her off to Gottfried Academy, a remote and mysterious school dedicated to philosophy, crude sciences and Latin; the language of the dead. Its here she meets Dante, a dark and elusive student to whom she is inexplicably drawn.

No, I wont be giving spoilers! There are some real twists and turns in this book that leave you wanting more and if I tell you what to expect then why would you read it? This is a great new take on the whole urban fantasy genre and a nice change from the usual vamps, wolves and fairies. Would you risk your life for eternal love?

Childrens Fiction Review : Wolf Girl

A new series by the author of the ‘Ninja Kid’ and ‘WeirDo’ series’.

Book 1 – Into the wild

Gwen finds herself separated from her family in the midst of a disaster, and she is very afraid because she finds herself alone in an unfamiliar place!  This doesn’t last long as she is befriended by a wolf puppy, a labrador, a chihuahua and a greyhound.  A great adventure story, maybe a bit scary, with a strong female character and very resourceful animals. A story about how anyone can make up a ‘family’.

This story lets us live through some of the trials that Gwen and her pack overcome. 

Watch for the review of Book 2 – The great escape

Childrens Fiction Review : Running Wild

Running Wild is yet another great story by Michael Morpurgo.  His books generally have a historically based theme – a great way for kids to accidentally learn about some of the important historical events in our world.  His books include topics such as World War I and II, the Sinking of the Titanic, famous characters like Robin Hood and Joan of Arc.  Take a look at some of them.

Will is on holiday with his Mum in Malaysia after the death of his soldier Dad.

On Boxing Day, Will goes on an elephant ride along the beach on Oona when all of a sudden the elephant gets scared and runs into the jungle with Will on his back.  The elephant has been scared when the sea begins to act strangely. This story is about the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami and the terrible but sometimes uplifting events during and after. Oona runs into the jungle with Will on her back abd doesn’t stop. 

This story is about how Will and Oona survive for months in the jungle.  There are some very sad parts of the story, and also some amazingly incredible things that happen with the animals he meets.  Read it and wonder, could I do that?

I would recommend this story for children 8 years and all adults – and do often!

YA Book Review: Carve The Mark

Carve The Mark is a story set in space where everyone develops special power given to them by a weird current that runs through the universe. 

Some powers are plain and simple while others are much more complicated

One of the main protagonists, Cyra, currentpower is the abiltiy to inflict pain on others by her ability to control the currents flow within others but her ability also means she's in continues pain. 

Cyra's evil brother and leader of  Shotet uses this to his advantage and manipulates her into dealing out torture for him to get what he needs   

Which leads us to Akos, a boy kiddnapped from his home with his brother in one of Cyras brothers schmes, Akos currentpower is the ability to interrupt the currents, he is gifted as a slave to Cyra, but for years Akos and his brother have been imprisoned within the Shotet spaceship and hes not about to settle down as someones slave now - all he wants is to find his brother and escape

And his unlikely ally my be closer then he thinks, in the form of a mistreated, misused and misunderstood girl....

YA Manga Review: Sailor Moon

Sailor Moon. The manga that popularized a genre. 

This is where many of the magic girl tropes was established. Even if you haven’t read it before you will probably recognize the characters. This book is funny, dramatic, and at times heartwarming. The artwork is beautiful.

Usagi is a 14 year old girl who, on her way to school finds a cat with a crescent moon on its forehead. Turns out this cat is called Luna and she can talk! Luna tells Usagi she is the legendary Sailor Moon, a powerful warrior with the mission of finding her fellow Sailors and to find the Moon Princess. But Usagi is a crybaby and not ready to lead a team, let along fight evil. But with the help of her new friends and a mysterious and handsome masked man, she might learn to be brave.

Naoko Takeuchi used her science background as well as her love of astronomy and geology in writing her epic story. The aesthetic is very 90s and some on the references are a bit dated, but as with the cultural references, those dated ones are explained at the back of these editions.

Review by: Holly

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Comic Review: Mech Cadet Yu Vol.1

Mech Cadet Yu is based on a planet where giant aliens threaten the planet. Sky Corps Academy is an academy that trains teens to pilot giant robots that also appear from space to bond with one of the teen pilots to defeat the invading aliens. 

The teens are specially selected and only the most elite teens are presented to the robots because if the bond doesn't work that's one less robot to help.       Stanford is a young teen that works within Sky Corps Academy as a janitor with his mother - his dream is to be a cadet at Sky Corps Academy but he doesn't make the cut . When travelling home on the day of the arrival of the robots, Stanford's life changed for ever when he is confronted with a giant robot who has lost his way and against all odds the robot chooses him as his bonded partner and now Stanford is thrust into the world of Sky Corps Academy not only as a student but one of the elite students chosen to defend the planet 

Trust, Teamwork, Fighting Tactics.. They will have to learn it all quick because the aliens aren't taking breaks 

Senior Readers hitting the shelves soon !

New Books on their way for Teens !

Some new comers and some highly anticipated sequels !

Welcome 2020!!!

2020 is here and so are some new book reviews! 

New Librarian book reviews ,

New 'Lets talk book two' Reviews ,

New 'What to read after...' ,

I'm so excited to be back so watch this space!