My personal favourite books are ones I grew up with, or I have recently found. For the youngest of us, (and I'm talking 1- 3) I love Bonton's 15 Animals, as well as the classic Hungry Caterpillar by Carle, more obscurely I love Anton Can Do Magic by Konnecke and Fly me to the moon by Roberts. For the children a little bit older, and better with their books authors like Babett Cole, Graham Base, Colin Thompson, Stephen Micheal King, Mem Fox, Giles Andrea and Ian Whybrow (for the Dinosaur fans), cannot be looked past, every child should have seen at least one of these authors growing up . I got a copy of Graham Bases Animalia and Eleventh Hour when I was about 5 years old, and 15 years later I am still trying to find the little boy and all the mice, his books transcend the age barrier, and I could never speak more highly of them.
Now for my personal Favourite for the first readers, I am a big fan of the Usbourne first readers series, not only does it get them into reading early with simple and easy to read books with large font, but they start with the classics all the parents know. No longer is it a chore to teach a child to read (and believe you me i know a few people who think it is) but pleasure, as the adults know all of these stories and can enjoy them with their child while introducing them into the world of adult classic stories, and let us not forget these are Classic stories, for a reason people!
Once they get over that last hurdle there is the larger and longer series (now up to 91 books in some cases) for the younger readers so as they pick up speed and it gets easier and easier for them to read, they can read a set of books that they are comfortable with, without making them feel like a baby. These are full chapter books, and most of the schools in my area award points for every chapter read, so not only are they learning to read and enjoy the world created within a book, but they are being rewarded for it.
Series like the Zac Power series from H.I Larry, are graded similar to the Usbourne series so the younger boys have something particularly boyish to read, but also for them is the Spiderwick Chronicles, and the Beast Quest Series. For the little girls, there is the Rainbow Magic series from Daisey Meadows, The Tiara Club by French, The Magic Ballerina by Darcy Brussel (who was a real ballerina!), Judy Moody is also there for the girls who want something more down to earth like the Go Girls series, which is done by a group of different authors all of whom have books for older children or in the same age range.
Well this is it for now, but never fear we have 3 more age ranges of my personal favourites to get through before I even think of reviewing anything yet.
So what do you do when you get transported from your room and wake up in the Royal Palace, under a sofa, 160 years out of place?
Katie Berger-Jones-Burg has been transported, but why is she under a sofa in Buckingham Palace? with her two new friends Princess Alice (daughter of the queen) and James O'Reilly (son of the queens doctor) they go on a wild ride to find out. Starting with magic sofas and twists even my crazy mind couldn't think the reader ends up transported along with her.
What stood out to me in this book was the characters, Katie doesn't automatically fit in 160 years out of time, she has to work at it which makes her a believable and realistic heroine which I can like. Also her supporting characters, who aren't all that supporting all the time, I loved Princess Alice, she is the perfect mix of princessy and mothering behavior of that girl we all knew as a child who wanted to play teacher and student and always wanted to be the teacher.
And the plot? well it is kinda fantastic, like one of my other favourite authors Richard Newsome (see: Billionaires Curse) this has the right mix for the young fiction/Young adult level of mystery and pace. Not only is Katie running from everything, she cannot be seen by any of the household members, but she is being hunted and there is the mister DuQuelle sinisterly watching her when on one else should has spotted her yet, so the question is, is he a friend or foe? While hiding Katie and her new friends need to find away to get her home and back to Mimi (her mum), and when all hope seems to be lost and Katie starts to settle in, the pace picks us back up again and sets us on a roller coaster before we get to the end.
The Queen Must Die isn't too young or too old for children from the ages of about 10-16, there is no content in this which screams inappropriate, quite the opposite in fact. The Queen Must Die, proves to be a nice bridge between the younger fiction for those girls who want to go into the older young adult but are still to young to follow the twilight supernatural craze. The Good news is that is also a part of a series The Chronicles of the Tempus, so we can watch out for more by K.A.S Quinn
My Score: 7/10
(why: in my copy, which happens to be an advanced reading copy, there are a few factual errors here or there, which hopefully will be sorted out before it goes to print)
Woo, first post.
So I guess you want to know a little about my dear self. Well, I'm a humble seller of Children's books, who loves her customers dearly, so much so that I have to date read every vampire novel on my selves, and every action adventure story I could afford to buy. So why am I blogging? good question I'm glad you asked ;).. Well basically I'm sick of hearing people in my store not know about a book, and then having to send them on to amazon, or another of the multitude of impersonal websites, and naturally it would be infinitely cooler if I could send them to my own. And the Name, well is from this lovely little quote: Books are the bees which carry the quickening pollen from one to another mind. ~James Russell Lowell
