19
Jan 2011

The Baby Bible Christmas Storybook by Robin Currie and Constanza Basaluzzo

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No Christian kid is too ever too young to get to know the Bible. This is why The Baby Bible Christmas Storybook is the perfect first glimpse of bible stories for a young child.

It begins with ‘Mary’s Secret’ where Mary finds out from the angel Gabriel that she’s going to be the Mother of God.

After that, it’s a chronology of events right up until the birth of Jesus Christ.

There is a short prayer included at the end of every story. I love this one because of the way it’s written:

Dear God, thank You for the best secret: Jesus. Amen

What’s fun is that you don’t only read from the book to your kid but both of you could engage in some fun movements to bring the stories to life! For example,

The angel told Mary a special secret.
Put your fingers on your lips: shhhh.

You and your child will not find a dull moment while reading it.

Written by Robin Currie and illustrated by Constanza Basaluzzo, it is a sturdy board book with cute, colourful graphics to keep your kid (and you!) glued to the pages till the very end. Even if your baby decides to chew on the pages, the book won’t fall to bits.

This book is a recommended read during Christmas, of course. But don’t let it stop you from picking it up at other times of the year and re-reading with your child about the events that lead up to the birth of Jesus, which is the moment celebrated by Christians worldwide every Dec 25th!

***Thanks to Audra Jennings from The B&B Media Group for sending me a review copy of this book.

Popularity: 9%

Categories: Authors C, Genre - Children's Books, Titles B
06
May 2010

The Secret Life of Emily Dickinson by Jerome Charyn

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The first Emily Dickinson poem that I learnt was ‘There’s Been a Death in the Opposite House’ when I was in secondary school. I didn’t know much about her then. Fast forward to my uni days: for my English class, we learnt six of her poems and most of them revolved around the theme of death. Depressing? Yes, kind of, but it’s interesting to discover why Ms Dickinson constantly wrote about it. She also liked to write poems about nature.

Anyway, did you know that she wrote nearly 1,800 poems? Incredible, huh? She never got married and she died when she was 55. She was known to wear white all the time, never left her house, never met anyone but her family and she would lower down baskets of food through her window. The only form of communication she has with the outside world was through writing letters. Besides, she was good at baking and her famous black cake is mentioned many times in this book.

Take a look at the cover. Are you smiling at the cheekiness of it? Or are you raising an eyebrow since the cover does not seem compatible with my description of Emily? Well, The Secret Life of Emily Dickinson is about the secret, wilder side of the poet that will shock you horrendously. Don’t get too excited as it is part fiction with several fictional characters thrown in for an added thrill.

The story begins with Emily as a student at the seminary Mount Holyoke which had strict rules for its students. There, she falls in love with a blond, blue-eyed handyman named Tom. Though she thinks of him all the time and wants to woo him, she never had the chance to be with him. Emily was to find out later that her schoolmate Zilpah Marsh had already made Tom her man.

Her relationships with various characters are also explored throughout the novel. The characters include her protective father Edward Dickinson, her faithful dog Carlo, the fictitious Zilpah Marsh, her sister-in-law Sue, and also her array of suitors. In the book, she fell in love over and over again but I think her heart always belonged to Tom the handyman.

The author, Jerome Charyn, has used her letters and poetry as inspiration for the book. Therefore, you can spot some lines from her poems in the story along with her eccentric way of capitalising the first letter of certain words. Lots of metaphors are also used and I had to read some paragraphs again and again to comprehend the meaning. Honestly I gave up at some and just continued reading.

Split into seven parts and 48 chapters, the 348-page novel is written from Emily’s point of view. If you want to get to know Emily Dickinson intimately, read this book and you’ll observe how imaginative and flirtatious she can be! You’ll also find yourself delved into her innermost thoughts and following her on daring adventures (daring for women of her time). Remember that it is her secret life and secrets can be scandalous, can’t they?

***Thanks to Mark Goldman for sending me a copy of this book to review.

Popularity: 5%

Categories: Authors C, Genre - Historical Fiction, Titles S
24
Apr 2009

The Plain Janes by Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg

By 4 Comments

I’m beginning to adore graphic novels and this book is to blame for it. I bought it at a bookstore in Giant for only RM16.90. What an awesome bargain!

It begins with Jane who had to move to suburbia Kent Waters. She and her parents were living in Metro City until an unexpected bomb exploded in a café in the city. Jane was strolling past the café when it happened. She wasn’t hurt but she didn’t look forward to entering cafés anymore.

She was surrounded by dead bodies but she managed to save a young man’s life. He’s known as John Doe throughout most of the story and is in a coma. Jane tries to visit him often and tells him stories of her everyday life. John Doe appears to be an artist since he had a sketch book with him. As Jane is also an artistic person, she keeps the sketch book with her and fills it with her own sketchings.

Afraid that another bomb would explode or some other disturbing event would occur in the city, Jane’s parents moved the family to peaceful Kent Waters. Jane attends the school over there and awkwardly befriends the reject group of girls: Jane, Jayne and Polly Jane. That’s how Jane got the idea for P.L.A.I.N.

The three Janes only allowed Jane into the group after she suggested a seemingly brilliant idea that’ll somehow make their voices be heard. They were the rejects in high school and it was thrilling to leave eccentric messages for the people in an anonymous way. It’s as if they weren’t that invisible after all. Soon, they go on to leave their P.L.A.I.N. marks all around their neighbourhood. P.L.A.I.N. stands for People Loving Art In Neighbourhoods.

I don’t want to give away too much of the story now. There are only around 100+ pages of the story with great graphics and great storyline. I was simply hooked till the last page. The sequel to this book is Janes in Love! I’m definitely looking out for that.

A few graphic novel titles such as Re-Gifters, Clubbing and Good As Lily were advertised on the final pages of this book and they do seem fun to read. If you’ve read them before, please tell me all about it!

You can check out the preview for this book here.

Buy The Plain Janes (Minx)


Popularity: 3%

Categories: Authors C, Genre - Comics/Graphic Novels, Titles P
16
Jun 2008

Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul by Jack Canfield, et al

By 6 Comments

If you’re a teen and you’re feeling like it’s the end of the world, don’t fret. The Chicken Soup book is here to help you. My sister gave me this book a few years ago when I was a teenager and the stories did me good. They never failed to lift my spirits up when I was feeling down. Even now, they are still able to improve my mood.

The Chicken Soup books are actually very good, you know. The stories were sent in by real people who wrote them themselves and therefore, their inspiring stories are downright true. Reading other people’s stories of kindness, motivation, miracles, etc can make you feel better. At least it gives you hope that something good will happen to you in time and all you need to do is wait. Good things come to those who wait.

It seems that there are 101 stories of life, love and learning (as seen on the cover). There are some stories which were written by celebrities like Bill Cosby, Jennie Garth, Jennifer Love Hewitt, A. J. Langer and more. Makes the book even more attractive, huh? Well, at least we know that celebrities are human beings like you and I too and they also go through life’s problems, just like anyone else.

My favourite story would be in the On Love and Kindness category and the title is ‘Life Just Isn’t’ written by Katie Leicht. When I feel sad, I read this story. It reminds me of what life is really about and what I should be doing.

Life isn’t about keeping score. It’s not about how many people call you and it’s not about who you’ve dated, are dating or haven’t dated at all……But life is about who you love and who you hurt. It’s about how you feel about yourself. It’s about trust, happiness and compassion. It’s about sticking up for your friends and replacing inner hate with love……

It’s not only stories in this book. You will find cartoons, poems, famous quotes, inspirational quotes, etc. I am glad that there are books like the Chicken Soup ones around. I have no doubt that they’ve probably saved people’s lives! Yeah, it’s that effective. If you don’t believe me or if you haven’t read any yet, I strongly recommend that you do it soon.

When you’re physically sick, the real chicken soup is good for you, right? Well, I do know that chicken soup makes you healthy and strong! Anyway, I believe that this Chicken Soup book can be your best friend when you’re lonely.

Buy Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul: 101 Stories of Life, Love and Learning (Chicken Soup for the Soul)

Popularity: 53%

Categories: Authors C, Genre - Self-help, Titles C
06
Apr 2008

The Secret Scroll by Ronald Cutler

By 2 Comments

The title itself has made me eager to get started on reading the book. The Secret Scroll…it sounds pretty mysterious and exciting, don’t you think?

Anyway, the hero is supposed to be American archaeology professor, Josh Cohan. He has been dreaming some weird dreams about a cave somewhere in Jerusalem. Something inside the cave, which is The Scroll, is waiting for him to find it. Wouldn’t it be fun if we had dreams like his that would help us make the most important discoveries in our lifetime? But then, life would get a little bit too exciting.

Because Josh made that tremendously ‘fantastic’ discovery, he has put his and other people’s lives in absolute danger. When Josh translated the scroll, as it’s written in Aramaic, he found out that it was supposedly written by Jesus Christ himself! Now that is one heck of a crucial discovery and Josh has to make sure that it does not fall into the wrong hands.

Since the scroll was found in Jerusalem, Josh must hand it over to the Israel Antiquities Authority or The IAA. While he was trying to pass the scroll to them, there are other people too who wants the scroll badly. They are The Guardians, a cult who believes that they are the only true Christians in the world and wish to eradicate those who don’t share their faith.

Therefore, Josh and a team of archaeologists from The IAA set out to translate the scroll to determine if it’s really written by Jesus Christ. Also, there is someone from The IAA who has been leaking out information to The Guardians. Actually, there are a number of traitors and I had a fun time trying to guess who they were. Sadly, all my guesses were wrong. =D You’d be truly surprised when you read the book.

Besides action and adventure, there is also romance between Josh and the daughter of an archaeologist from The IAA, Danielle. Actually, Danielle has suffered more than Josh since she has been kidnapped and molested by The Guardians. I’ve noticed that Josh didn’t really go all out to save the woman he loves. He was more interested in translating the scroll.

Nevertheless, The Secret Scroll is an incredibly exhilarating read. You never know what’s going to happen next and I really enjoyed doing a lot of speculation while reading. It’s easy to read so you can probably finish it in less than a week or maybe even a few days. But do take note that Ronald Cutler embarked on a research that took him more than two years to create this book!

Oh, I also like the short chapters in this book. I don’t like long chapters because then, reading would be tiring. I usually stop reading at the end of a chapter and then take a break or something, so short chapters are always welcomed. =) There is a simple map of Jerusalem on two pages in the front part of the book, so you can refer to it if you want to get a clearer picture of Josh’s journey.

For fans of The Da Vinci Code, I highly recommend The Secret Scroll. Incidentally, this is Ronald Cutler’s first novel.

***Thanks to Lisa Roe for sending me a copy of this book!

Other Bloggers’ Reviews: naida

Popularity: 3%

Categories: Authors C, Genre - Thriller, Titles S
03
Dec 2007

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

By 17 Comments

A well known book and has gained numerous excellent book reviews though some book bloggers couldn’t finish it. Well, I did complete the book. The language was easy and it was quite a quick read. However, some parts of the book were too deep for me and I’m too tired to understand everything in it. But, never mind, at least I got the gist of it all. After reading, you may want to consider to really follow your dream, like what Santiago did!

The title is The Alchemist but it isn’t wholly about an alchemist. The alchemist only appears halfway through the book. All the while, the story is about a young boy, Santiago, who is in search of some hidden treasure near the pyramids of Egypt. That’s what a gypsy lady told him after she interpreted some dream he had dreamt a few times.

Santiago was a shepherd and understood his sheep but he gave them up so that he could look for the treasure. During his journey, he met several interesting characters who guided him towards his goal. He’s met the gypsy lady, a king who wanted his sheep, a crystal merchant, an English man and many others. He even fell in love with a woman of the desert.

Then, there’s all this stuff about Personal Legend, the Soul of the World, the Language of the World, etc, which is all quite complicated. Perhaps I just wasn’t alert enough to really understand everything. Anyway, there are words of wisdom that one could use through life. It’s kind of like a motivation book. A book that gives hope to the despondent. My favourite part of the book is on page 86 where a camel driver tells Santiago:

Because I don’t live in either my past or my future. I’m interested only in the present. If you can concentrate always on the present, you’ll be a happy man.

That makes a whole lot of sense, don’t you think? No use worrying about the past or the future. It just won’t bring anyone any good.

If you have read Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling, then you’d definitely be familiar with the Philosopher’s Stone and the Elixir of Life. The functions of both items are explained more in this book. So, that part’s quite fascinating.

While reading, I had suspicions that the ‘treasure’ wouldn’t be a physical thing. The ending was a surprise anyhow. It’s an okay book for me – some parts were too deep and boring. Or like I said, perhaps I didn’t give this book a chance. I will try reading it again later on.

Other Bloggers’ Reviews: Zeek, Alice, QuaChee, Just A Reading Fool, Bibliolatry, Deckled Edges

Popularity: 8%

Categories: Authors C, Genre - Fantasy, Titles A