Karl's Reading List

Published as an audiobook by Hodder Children's Books/Hachette Children's Books, 2013. Narrated by Jan Francis. Book 8 in the 'Famous Five' series. Preceded by ' Five Go Off To Camp. ' Followed by 'Five Fall Into Adventure.' Originally published 1949. In this entry, set in Spring (my favourite season), the four children and Timmy get permission to go on a cycling trip on their own, when Uncle Quentin has mistakenly double-booked himself elsewhere. They are only given permission because Timmy is 'such a good guard dog', but of course, the 1940s were a different time, when this sort of thing was probably seen as a little safer than now-a-days?? Of course, very quickly the five get caught up in a mystery, this time through association with a strange boy they encounter, named Richard. When I first heard Richard's name, I laughed to myself and wondered whether Enid Blyton had run out of names, seeing as how Dick (one of our main four characters) is...

Published by HarperTeen/HarperCollins Publishers: New York, NY, 2021. This is the fourth book I have read in the relatively recent subgenre of 'Jane Austen Murder Mysteries', having previously read Death Comes to Pemberley by PD James, and The Murder of Mr Wickham and The Late Mrs Willoughby by Claudia Gray. Each author has brought a different interpretation to what exactly a 'Jane Austen Murder Mystery' is, and as a result each author's books have a slightly different feel.   PD James wrote her novel as a sequel to Pride and Prejudice , but still keeping Elizabeth and Darcy as the main characters with the same personalities, meaning that they weren't really 'detectives.' Claudia Gray - whose take I have enjoyed the most - also makes her books sequels but includes new, younger characters who are driven to solve the crimes - it makes sense! Tirzah Price does something very different; she semi- retells the original Pride and Prejudice story but changes ...

Published by Arrow Books: London, 2006. First published 1960. This is an incredibly well-known book that I remember reading in high-school - I think it was even our book study. Although the generalisation is that books you have studied at high-school are 'ruined forever' for you, I remember quite enjoying this book, to the point where I offered it as a choice to read to Elise. However, after only a chapter, we weren't feeling it as a co-read, and so put it down.  Recently, I decided to pick it up as a solo book, and have now re-read it for the first time since highschool. A few things strike me about To Kill a Mockingbird after this second read. Firstly: it is a good book. My memory was not faulty on that front. Telling the story of a lawyer in the southern states of America during the 1930s who is defending a black man accused of rape, the book cleverly chooses the perspective of the lawyer's young daughter, 'Scout', as its point-of-view. This means that we get...

This is the third entry based around picture books I've read to Ezekiel, and the first one I've done this year (it's far too long since I've acknowledged Ezekiel on this list !). It's interesting to see which books have dropped off the radar from when I did my first picture book list . At that point, Ezekiel was only 7 months old, so the books we read were largely our choice. It's also nice to see how many books are still favourites, now that he is able to decide for himself what we read. I'm trying a different format this time around for this entry, giving separate pages to each picture book even though this will still only take up one 'entry' in my list. Or you can skip this entry entirely fairly easily! Let's see how this goes... Karl's List My Cat Likes to Hide in Boxes ; Do Not Lick This Book ; Scarry Word Book: On Holiday ; Perky the Pukeko ; I Can Fly a Plane . Elise's List Seek and Circle: Christmas Stories ; My First Clock Book ;...

Published by Hodder Moa Books/Hachette New Zealand Ltd: Auckland, New Zealand, 2010. I have previously talked about this author's version of  Old MacDonald's Farm  in the  first group of picture book reviews.   The Wheels on the Bus  does a similar thing to that book, taking the titular children's song and making it far more 'Kiwiana.' This one goes the anthropomorphic route, with the bus being driven by a Kiwi and picking up iconic New Zealand creatures, each from iconic New Zealand landscapes. Along with the usual verses, we also get a few like  "The lambs on the bus go baa baa baa"  and  "The passengers on the bus go bumpity-bump..."  which are a little more specific to the page. One page seems to have a cameo by the animal characters from  Old MacDonald's Farm,  which makes sense since the bus from this book is visible in the barn in that book. Another 'hidden' aspect is a little bit of Maori mythology: there are faces on the th...

Published by Penguin Group: New Zealand, 2007. Originally published 1974. This book is one I really like, and in fact is the first time that Elise has picked a book for her list that was on mine. Knowing how much I enjoy it, she changed her list to another choice. Thanks, Elise! I remember my primary school having this book in a large format, and for some reason it is a story that has stuck with me, probably because of it's repetitive and slightly humorous story. What I didn't realise then, but enjoy now, is that the illustrator of this book is Lynley Dodd of  Hairy Maclary   fame! Fun! Each page of  My Cat  introduces another cat from some international location, usually with an incredible talent -  "The cat from Spain/ Flew an aeroplane/ The cat from France/ Liked to sing and dance"  - only to compare it with the narrator's own cat, with the refrain,  "But MY cat likes to hide in boxes."  These international cats are dressed in traditional costu...

Published by Mattel Inc./Autumn Publishing, 2017. A book 'written' by Fisher-Price and starring various characters from the 'Little People' range, the main drawcard of this entry is the giant clock with physical hands that takes up a good portion of the book. Each page gives a short poem about a particular part of the day, including a character and what they are doing, and within the poem a particular time is mentioned. The reader is then encouraged to physically turn the clock hands to match the time in question. As with some rhyming books - particularly those that are more 'corporation' written than actual author-written - the rhyme and rhythm scheme can be a little off in patches, but overall, the book succeeds in providing an introduction to analog clocks, and engaging a young reader in the process. My only real criticism of the book (aside from the fact that the hands can sometimes struggle to line up perfectly with the times mentioned) is that every single...