Karl's Reading List

Published as an audiobook by Hodder Children's Books/Hachette Children's Books, 2013. Narrated by Jan Francis. Book 12 in the Famous Five Series. Preceded by ' Five Have a Wonderful Time. ' Followed by 'Five Go to Mystery Moor.' First published 1953. The five go on holiday to Cornwall, where they are booked in to stay on the farm of Mr and Mrs Penruthlan. Mrs Penruthlan is a warm woman with a penchance for over-feeding the children, while Mr Penruthlan is unintelligible to the children due to not wearing his false teeth (though Mrs Penruthlan understands him perfectly). The children are befriended by a small local boy named Yan who follows them around whether they want him to or not. A local theatre troupe - the Barneys - also features, turning up and hosting a few nights' worth of performances in the the Penruthlan's barn. The mystery this time around involves a light being shone from an old tumble-down tower that was originally used by criminals to tri...

Published by Zaffre/Bonnier Books UK: London, 2021. Another book from my parents' book-swap library, this one is outside my usual genres of interest, but it still gripped me. I suppose that makes sense, as the genre in question is thriller. The set up is great. In the first chapter, our main POV character, Ellen Devlin, is sitting on the train when a woman with a baby asks to sit in the empty seat next to her. Before too long, the woman has to answer a phone call, and asks Ellen to look after the baby for a few minutes. The woman then gets off at the next station, and Ellen is left with the baby, and a note that says: Please look after Mia. Don't trust the police. Don't trust anyone. I mean, what would you do?! Ellen is a complicated character, something that we learn more about as time goes on. She is recently separated, and her ex-husband is expecting a child with his new partner. Ellen, who is barren, has wanted a child for years, and is drawn to looking after Mia, even ...

We have been living in my parents' house for two months now, and they have a lot of picture books here. As a result, we have been reading a lot of new stories to Ezekiel, and it feels only right that I should do another picture-book entry to acknowledge some of them. Keeping the list to only ten has been tricky, particularly as I also wanted to include two books we read when we went to a friend's bach at the lake a few months ago. Aside from those two, I have limited myself to books that belong to my parents, knowing that the ones we own will still be with us the next time I do one of these. As is now usual, each of these books has their own page, meaning that you can easily skip all ten if you want to just move on to the next 'proper' book on my list. Karl's List First Flight ; Good Night, Alice and Other Stories ; Skarloey ; Swiggo ; Minny Car Elise's List Just Me and My Puppy ; Dogs ; Who's Driving? ; Mosan Mouse ; I've Lost My Kisses Previous Book ~...

Published by Western Publishing Company, Inc./A Golden Book: New York, 1985. This 'Little Critter' book tells the story of the titular Little Critter swapping a baseball glove for a puppy, and the subsequent ways in which he plays with and 'trains' his pet. Little Critter books always have an element of humour in the drawings, even when the story is being told matter-of-fact, and this exists in Just Me and My Puppy as well. As an example, on one page the narration states "My puppy is a big help around the house. He's a good guard dog." Meanwhile, the picture shows Little Critter's mother pulling the puppy away from the mailman, who has fallen on the ground, with letters everywhere. As Elise observed, the fact that the mailman is an anthropomorphic dog adds another level to the humour. Just Me and My Puppy is sweet-natured, fun, and light, with great illustrations. And it talks about dogs, a topic that Ezekiel is becoming more fond of (see also Dogs ). ...

Published by Little Mammoth/Reed Publishing (NZ) Ltd: Auckland, 1993. One of two books on this list that we found at a friend's bach and read to Ezekiel while staying there (the other being First Flight ) this book actually contains three short stories, the titular story of which was by far our favourite. Briefly, the other two stories tell of a meal where Alice - a small child - exclaims "Yuck" to a lot of foods that are offered to her (not something we really wanted to inspire Ezekiel to do) and then an 'imagination game' story where Alice pretends to be a number of different characters, and gets her family to join in (more fun over all, but just ok). The titular story is the strongest, and goes through a typical bed-time routine, with Alice being read to, sung to, having some milk, saying good night to her family... all good 'wind-down' activities. There is a moment where Alice tries to stay up rather than settling down, and her mother cautions her that...

Published by Happy Cat Books, Bradfield, Essex, 1999 (1997). First published by Little, Brown and Company, USA, 1987. One of two books in this entry that we found on a shelf at a friend's bach and read to Ezekiel repeatedly over the few days we were there (the other being Good Night, Alice ).  This particular entry, written in first person, tells of a small boy taking his first flight without parents. The story outlines the steps involved: going to the airport, watching the planes arrive, boarding, having a meal, using the toilet, etc. This is all told very matter-of-factly, and would be a good book to help prepare a small child for a similar flight. It even ends with the child's grandparent collecting them from the airport after the flight. Meanwhile, the illustrations for the story add in a fun subplot that is not mentioned at all in the text: the boy is seen carrying a teddy bear with him through the airport, and yet as he boards the plane the bear becomes a real bear, who s...

Published as an audiobook by Hodder Children's Books/Hachette Children's Books, 2013. Narrated by Jan Francis. Book 10 in the 'Famous Five' series. Preceded by ' Five Fall Into Adventure. ' Followed by 'Five Have a Wonderful Time.' First published 1951. Some of the tropes of this series are becoming more noticeable as we finally reach Book 10 and enter the double-digits. This entry includes the five going on a journey without adults (as happened in Five Go Off in a Caravan and Five Get Into Trouble , and effectively happened in Five Go Off to Camp ), the mystery unfolds partially because one of the five are involved in a case of mistaken identity (as happened in Five Get Into Trouble and Five Fall Into Adventure ), and adults are side-lined for various reasons that probably wouldn't happen in real life (in this instance, the five decide to report their findings to the police but are dismissed as ragamuffins making things up!). This is not to say th...

Published by Fabbri Publishing: Barcelona, Spain, 1991. First published by The Thames Publishing Company, 1857. When I recently reread Lord of the Flies it noted that William Golding wrote that book after having read this one. Apparently he decided that this book was too happy, and that it wasn't realistic, so wrote the far heavier version he is known for. I had a copy of this book on my shelf, so felt it only appropriate to see what I thought, myself. The Coral Island is, as Golding pointed out, a far more positive experience than Lord of the Flies. There are only three boys who end up shipwrecked on the island (with all the adults adrift in a separate boat and possibly ending up elsewhere), and two of them - Ralph and Jack - have had their names repurposed for the main characters in Golding's book. The third book, Peterkin, does not appear in Lord of the Flies, but perhaps his 'P' name inspired the character of Piggy - the third 'lead' of Flies. Whereas Flies...

Published in Western Germany, date unknown. This book, sitting in the 'children's room' at my parents house, has a dedication inside the front cover saying it was given to my mum by her brother, obviously when both were children. It has no publication date, no author's name, and putting the title into Google doesn't provide any further information. Quite interesting to find something so 'mysterious' in today's easy-access-to-information age. As for the story and the layout: Simon's Adventure in Goblinland is a very accurate title for a book that tells the adventures of Simon in Goblinland. Simon, playing in the woods, rescues a trapped goblin, and in return is allowed to visit Goblinland, where he is guests at a wedding and helps save an injured animal. After this, he returns home. It is simple and sweet, and has a large number of full-colour (and almost full-page) images that help tell the story. It comes across mildly old-fashioned (it seems to dat...

Published by Walker Books Ltd: Vauxhall Walk, London, 1996 (1994). Ok, so this one is pretty cute. Little Nutbrown Hare is getting ready for bed, and wants to communicate to Big Nutbrown Hare how much he is loved. So Little Nutbrown Hare begins to say how much he loves Big Nutbrown Hare, using actions such as outstretched arms, high jumps into the air, and even describing distant locations to say, "I love you this much." However, whatever Little Nutbrown Hare is able to do, Big Nutbrown Hare can repeat, but do it bigger, or see further, suggesting that he loves Little Nutbrown Hare even more! At times, Little Nutbrown Hare is very impressed with Big Nutbrown Hare, such was when Big Nutbrown Hare reaches his arms up to say he loves Little Nutbrown Hare as high as he can reach, and we read: "That is very high, thought Little Nutbrown Hare. I wish I had arms like that." The game continues until Little Nutbrown Hare, trying to find the most distant thing he can, says th...

Published by St Martin's Press/Priddy Books/Macmillan Publishers Ltd.: London, 2007. A book that has numerous sliding sections on each page, and themes to each page, this proved useful in helping Ezekiel begin to understand that words have meanings too. For example, on a page that gave four different trucks, each with a different colour, the text then asked the reader to slide the 'door' with the right colour written on it (also, handily, written in the appropriate colour) in order to reveal the appropriate truck. This meant that we could point to a truck, ask Ezekiel what colour it was, and then have him point to the appropriate word in order to reveal the appropriate truck. Handy, and providing good visual cues. The only tricky bit was when Ezekiel mislabelled a truck's colour, pointing at the word 'yellow' and saying 'orange.' However, when he was corrected he embraced the right word in it's place. Karl's List Simon's Adventure in Goblinla...

Published by My Story Tale, 2025. In the vein of When Ezekiel Was Born which was featured in my first collection of picture-book reviews , this book was custom made/tweaked online for Ezekiel, this time by one of Ezekiel's friends Reuben, and his mother Morgan. Whereas When Ezekiel Was Born focuses on Ezekiel himself and the 'story' of his naming, this book stars a little truck who just happens to be named Ezekiel, and his journey to figure out what sort of truck he wants to be when he grows up. With Ezekiel already being fan of vehicles, this book is definitely a hit, featuring as it does such trucks as a fire engine, a tipper truck, and an ice cream truck. If there is not quite as much customisation as in When Ezekiel Was Born (which changes the whole plot in order to correctly spell the customised name) it still gives a little extra thrill by keeping Ezekiel's name featuring throughout. Karl's List Simon's Adventure in Goblinland ;  Slide and Find Trucks ;  M...

Published by Templar Publishing: Dorking, Surrey, 2011. This is a fun little rhyming book that tells the stories of the various animals who bring their vehicles to get fixed by Larry and Barry at the Snappy Garage. Most of the pages are focussed on one vehicle and its issues, however, a little bit of plot enters in later in the book. An impatient hare who has a racing car has missed a light and gone into the river. Larry and Barry have to take their tow-truck out and pull Harry Hare's car - and Harry - to safety. Then all the animals gather to celebrate Larry and Barry's heroics. The story is basic and sweet, and about vehicles, so it's instantly a winner for Ezekiel. There is a gimmick to the book, in that when it is sold it also includes pop-out model versions of the garage and all of the main characters. I cannot review that part, though (which I'm sure Ezekiel would love), because we got given a second-hand copy in which the pieces had already been removed. Karl...

Published by Dorling Kindersley Limited: London, 1998. One of a pair of similarly themed books we got at the same time (the other is Big Machines ), Truck Trouble follows truck driver John as he sets out to make his daily deliveries in his truck. As the title suggests, things begin going wrong, ranging from bad weather, to traffic, to a tyre needing replacing...  This book introduced Ezekiel to some terms of frustration that he quickly picked up ("Oh no!"), as well as the idea of someone feeling time pressure to get somewhere. Being a book about trucks, though, makes this an instant winning. And the ending is good. John makes it to his final destination on time, and is able to provide toys to the children's hospital. Karl's List Simon's Adventure in Goblinland ;  Slide and Find Trucks ;  Make Tracks Trains ;  Guess How Much I Love You ;  Hug! Elise's List Ezekiel's World of Trucks ;  Snappy Play Set Garage ;  Big Machines ;  Did You Do This Poo? ;...

Published by Harper & Row Jr Books/Evil Eye Music, Inc: New York, NY, 1974. Elise, Ezekiel and I were recently house-sitting for my parents, and I came across it on one of their bookshelves. It is a book I first read when I was five (this particular copy of the book, as well, which has a written dedication to my family in the front from the person who gave it to us), and I loved it, and learned a lot of it by heart. I can still quote numerous poems from it verbatim. I don't read a lot of poetry. By now, anyone who has read my reviews regularly will have picked that up! This book, however, is a favourite of mine. How come I love this so much, when a lot of poetry leaves me cold? Well, Shel Silverstein is a very funny poet, along with being quite witty, and at times, surprisingly deep. So, we get a silly poem like 'The Battle', which in its entirety, reads: "Would you like to hear Of the terrible night When I bravely fought the -  No? Alright." And we recognise ...

Published as an audiobook by Hodder Children's Books/Hachette Children's Book, 2013. Narrated by Jan Francis. Book 9 in the 'Famous Five' series. Preceded by ' Five Get Into Trouble. ' Followed by ' Five on a Hike Together. ' First published 1950. By this point in the Famous Five series, Elise and I are prepared for the familiar beats: suspicious and 'ugly' people will be the villains, there will likely be a secret tunnel, and the five will, for some reason, be separated from the influence or oversight of adults. We know that these are likely to happen.  What we appreciated about this particular entry was how little Enid Blyton tried to disguise them anymore, particularly the 'children left alone' part. At the beginning of this entry, the five - staying at Kirrin Cottage - are simply left behind, on purpose, when Uncle Quentin and Aunt Fanny go to mainland Europe. There is a housekeeper on site, but there is no need for a further elabora...

Published by Penguin Books: New York, 2016. First published 1954. This famous book is a potential Year 12 text, on our English Department shelf near The Book Thief . It is also a book that I studied in high school myself, and have not revisited since - like To Kill a Mockingbird was before I re-read it last year. With that book, I remember the vague feeling of the book, and also that I enjoyed it on the whole. When I re-read it, those thoughts and feelings were validated, to the point where I ended up including To Kill a Mockingbird on my Top 5 List for 2025! This book, on the other hand, I remember thinking of in a slightly different way. I remember the overall plot. I remember a feeling of it being well written. But I also remember thinking it was a bit too intense, a bit bleak, a bit disturbing... and once again, those thoughts and feelings were validated. Let's begin with what Lord of the Flies has going for it, particularly if I was to choose to study it. Firstly, it is sho...

This is the first time I have done a 'yearly' top 5 (although I did a ' Top 5 Top 5s ' previously, after my 5th book list), but it seems to fit with the year ending in a 5. Anyway, this is entirely subjective, and is an indication of where I currently sit in regards to these books. The list might even be different if I was asked on a different day. The following are not reviews of these books per se, but each one has been reviewed, and that review can be found by clicking on the title of the book in question. Also, these are ranked in the order that I read them, rather than specifically 1-5 or 5-1. That would take a while longer to sort out! The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman. I will give this one the award for 'Best Audiobook of the Year' and 'Best Whodunnit of the Year'. I listened to this over the Summer holidays last year, and enjoyed it enough that I listened to the rest of the series in the same year. Twisty, humorous, a bit unpredictable (a...

Published by Scholastic Australia Pty Limited: Gosford, NSW, 2025. Subtitled A Hunger Games Novel, Sunrise on the Reaping is a prequel to the main series - the second Suzanne Collins has written in recent years, actually. I have yet to read The Ballad of Snakes and Songbirds, which tells the story of a young President Snow, but I spotted this one - telling the story of a young Haymitch - at the library, and got it on a whim. Fans of the original Hunger Games series, particularly the first book , will remember that Haymitch was introduced as a perpetually drunk, cynical, checked-out past winner of the Hunger Games, who doesn't see any point in training Katniss or Peeta because they are not going to win anyway! Throughout the book - and the series as a whole - we see him regain his spark of life, and eventually become a true protagonist, working to bring about the downfall of the corrupt Capitol and its evil President. And of course, if you are looking for a subject to write a spin-o...

Published in an omnibus edition by Penguin Classics: London, England, 1998. First published individually 1865. 'The Centenary Edition' includes 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' and 'Through the Looking Glass' with commentary and short stories. You know, I've never read Alice in Wonderland before!  The closest I've come is a memory I have of a relief teacher in primary school reading out an excerpt from the chapter 'A Mad Tea Party', including the unanswerable riddle about a raven and a writing desk, a clock that tells you what day it is, and a story about sisters in a treacle well who draw treacle. It is very odd, but I remember thinking that the puns were clever, and thus, my impression of the Alice stories have been - from childhood - just that: odd, but clever. Maybe I had built it up too much in my imagination. This first Alice story is certainly odd! But clever...? Maybe...? The edition I read has many endnotes, many of which try to ti...