Mr. Stink by David Walliams - A Book Review

This is another book I have read with my 5 year old son - for those of you following my blog I promise I do read other books as well! As you may have guessed, the main character is a man who is rather smelly! The story follows a young girl, Chloe, who befriends the local tramp, Mr. Stink, with a lot of fun ensuing. Chloe helps Mr. Stink to integrate back into society whilst he, in turn, helps to piece Chloe's family back together. Along the way we see Chloe turn from a misunderstood reject to a central figure in family life. David Walliams has, in my opinion, a talent for bringing his humour to life in his books in a way which appeals to both children and adults (my wife seemed to enjoy the story as much as my son did!). The ever present shopkeeper, Raj, provides some consistency to the series of books that David Walliams has written. His advice and entrepreneurial spirit provide a large degree of stability whilst adding some light relief to the book. I only wish that my local shop keeper was as charming, wise and helpful as Raj is in these stories. Mr. Stink always seems to be somethin more than simply the smelly tramp of the town and, sure enough, we learn over the course of the book that he is, in fact, a Lord! That said, he lost his family and blames himself and that is why this Lord has turned into a tramp. The story isn't really about Mr. Stink, even though he is one of the two main characters in the book. Instead it is about bringing Chloe's family back together. Her mum ("Mother") turns from a woman obsessed with appearances into a loving parent and wife. The little sister, Anabelle, goes from worst enemy to best friend, etc., etc. The book was, as always with Walliams, one where the pages appeared to turn themselves. That said, David Walliams has a tendency to put long lists of things into his stories. IF you are reading them independently then these probably work however trying to run through three pages worth of someones timetable isn't too much fun to a 5 year old (or myself for that matter!). Overall I would definitely give this book a go, especially if you have already come to love David Walliams' books - something I have inadvertently come to do. As always with this blog the above is my personal opinion and I would love to hear what other poeople think of both the book and author. For anyone interested in reading the story a link to the book on Amazon is below. Cheers, Craig. Mr. Stink

Are the Harry Potter books "kids books"?

 

Whilst at a book club meeting the other day we started talking about books that people were reading and someone mentioned that they had just started the Harry Potter series.

Instantly the club was split and I realised that, as adults, you will almost certainly fall into one of three main camps;

1. You never have, and never will, read any of the Harry Potter books.
2. The series is one of your all time favourites,
3. These are "kids books" and, as an adult, you have no place reading them.

Now those of you who have read several of my blog posts may know where I sit in the above spectrum but the honest answer is I don't really know who these books are aimed at!

Certainly you would imagine, prima facie (a posh Latin phrase meaning "at first instance") that a series of books involving someone at school able to do magic must be aimed at children - before reading the books this was what I personally had thought.

I had never thought of reading any of the books until I saw the first film, Harry Potter and the Philospher's Stone (or the Sorcerers Stone if you are American) on TV one grey and dreary Saturday 

This happended to conincide with the release of the fourth book in the series, The Goblet of Fire, which my Mum got for me as a surprise birthday present.  At first I was really unsure about reading it however I soon found that my now wife was ignored as a read the book in under two days - not bad for a 640 page book whilst working!

After this I was hooked and read each book in the series, in order, from cover to cover!  This is the one of only two series of books where I have managed to do this as I normally get a little bored half way through a series and so need to read something different to 'recharge my batteries' before coming back and finishing off the series.

Ok, so the content of the books is meant to be for children???  Let me draw your attention to a few brief, if somewhat edited summaries of the salient (or key) plot lines from each book;

1. The Philosopher's Stone - a dead wizard possesses another person and attaches their face to the back of said persons head before torturing a young boy.
2. The Chamber of Secrets - a strange force, that turns out to be a giant snake, or basilisk, truns children to stone or kills them with no warning whatsoever, and the spirit of a dead person possesses a young girl.
3. The Prisoner of Askaban - a convicted mass murderer esacpes from pirson and stalks a young boy (Harry Potter) at school, attacking people/paintings in the process.  Lets not forget the werewolf.
4. The Goblet of Fire - a competition is rigged in such a way that two school boys are kidnapped and taken to a grave yard where an evil man cuts one of the boys to bring a 'dead' man back to life.  A vicious fight ensues in which one of the boys is murdered and the other barely escapes with his life!.
5. The Order of the Phoenix - ok so this has a teacher the kids love to hate which makes it a kids book - right?  But then again the teacher issues detentions that lead to the students writing lines using their own blood, invisible animals seen only by people who have witnessed death, and a group of children subjected to torture before fighting adults intent on inflicting as much pain as possible.
6. The Half Blood Prince - our hero uses a book that ends up with him, unknowingly, attacking another boy and leaving him bleeding on the floor.  Various attempts at murder ensure before a battle in which someone is bitten by a werewolf and one of the main 'goodies' gets murdered in cold blood.
7. The Deathly Hallows - we have to work through a child being attached in various ways whilst one of his friends is tortured, another friend (if you can call Dobby the house elf a friend) is killed, and then the hero himself choosing death to be reborn and kill the main 'baddie' ("He who must not be named" / Voldemort) in the final showdown.

I will freely admit that the above is a very brief, and therefore somewhat biased, summary of the plot of each film.  That said I think it highlights the fact that the story lines, when explained a certain way, appear far from 'childish'.

At the start of this post I included two pictures of the UK covers of the fist book.  One is the 'children's' cover and the other is the 'adult' one.  Other than the picture on the front the two versions are the same.  This is true for each book in the series.

They tell the same story, in the same number of pages, using the same words.  For me, this says a lot about the author, and publishers, views on the books.  Namely that they are aimed at both adults and children alike.

On a simple, basic level, the books will appeal to children as they will be able to identify with Harry Potter - the oddball who never really fitted in before yet makes some great friends who help him stand up to the various bullies and evil teaches (and other adults) that the books introduce.

If you delve deeper into the books though you find themes of a far more adult nature, including love, friendship, and the ever present battle of good versus evil.  Indeed good versus evil gets quite involved as you work through the series.

You see, each character has their good and bad sides (just as we do in real life).  I spent most of the series hating Professor Snape, only to finish it thinking that he as one of the best and bravest characters of them all.

In contrast, I started off hating Sirious Black for the mass murderer that he was, only to find that he was nothing of the sort before identifying with him as a lost, and somewhat misunderstood, soul.

This is before you deal with Harry's link to Voldemort, the Malfoy family's change of heart, Ginny Weaseley being possessed by Voldemort, and the (frankly stunning) revelations that Professor Dumbeledore was not quite the goody-too-shoes that we were led to believe.

Into the above mix you can add dragons, werewolves, goblins, giants, merpeople, centaurs and a whole lot more.  Some of these you may expect in a children's story and others in a horror movie.

For me the simple fact that each book came with both an adult and children's cover says it all - the books are aimed at both age ranges.  In my opinion, the only thing that will stop you enjoying these books is your own preconceptions!

All of the above is simply my own personal opinion.  One thing I have really enjoyed in being part of a book club (where a debate encouraged me to write this blog post) is having my views challenged and being made to look at things in a different way so please feel free to share your thoughts!

If you haven't read any of the Harry Potter books yet than I would ask you to set your preconceptions aside and give them a go then tell me what you think!  I have included links to each of the books in the series below to help you look into them a little more before you take the plunge or to reintroduce you to some old friends as the case may be.

Thanks,

Craig.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

The full Harry Potter Series

Billionaire Boy by David Walliams A book review.

This is the fourth David Walliams book that I have read with my son and was another great overall read.

David Walliams probably isn't someone you would associate with children's books however his comic genius that you may be familiar with from his TV shows translates well into a written format.

The story centres around a 12 year old boy, Joe Spud, whose father is rich, and when I say rich I mean ridiculously filthy stinking rich!

Joe has everything that he wants, including his own Formula 1 racing track in the back garden. He attents one of the best private schools in England but life wasn't always like this. His dad used to work in a toilet roll factory before he invested a new type of toilet roll that was ultra successful.

Joe's mum left his dad and it is just the two of them in the massive house. Joe is spoilt rotten by his dad but there are some things that money cannot buy, including a friend.

The problem with Joe's posh school is that all of the other children make fun of him because of how his dad made his fortune. Joe therefore demands to attend the local comprehensive school and his dad, reluctantly agrees.

There, Joe makes a friend but before long the money gets in the way and starts to cause trouble. Joe pays off some bullies to help his friend and things go downhill from there. His dad tries to help by hiring an actress to be Joe's friend but this soon unravels and causes a rift between father and son!

Ultimately disaster strikes when people have an allergic reaction to one of his dad's new products and the family lose all of their money. During this time Joe, and his dad, realise that the money never really made them happy and the book finishes with some heart warming scenes that see Joe reconcile with his friend and his father.

As always, the humour in the book works really well and makes it a nice easy read both for children and adults (I still cannot work out who likes David Walliams as an author more, me or my son!). The book is long enough to tell the story but without lots of extra detail that slows down the pace and will lose to children's attention being lost.

We also have the same mix of characters that you will either love or hate, many of which are somewhat stereotypical. There's the doddery old headmaster, the affable newsagent (Raj who has featured in several other books), the kindly dinner lady (whose cooking is terrible) and the evil history teacher who delights in punishing students for no reason. This is all topped off with the money grabbing page 3 model that is, at one point, engaged to Joe's dad but disappears as quickly as the money does.

That said there are a few, minor gripes. The plot was very predictable - you knew as soon as Joe met his friend whose mother was single that Joe's dad would end up marrying her, for example. It doesn't spoil the book though as the humour and well written story keeps you turning the pages anyway.

My main gripe is some of the language. In particular I had to skip words like 'slag' which I wouldn't have expected to be in this book based on the others that I had read. Thankfully I managed to think of an alternative word fast enough to not draw any attention to this but something to be mindful of, especially if you have children who are at the age where they question everything (and if you do then you will know what I mean!).

Overall I would recommend reading this book and would be interested in hearing your thoughts on it too.

A link to the book is below for anyone who may wish to see what others think or get a copy for themselves.

Amazon.co.uk - Billionaire Boy by David Walliams

Hamish and the Neverpeople by Danny Wallace - Book Review

Ok, so Hamish and the Neverpeople is probably not the first book you expected me to review (after all why is someone in their 30's reading a children's book?) however I have recently started reading longer books to my eldest son and this is the latest one.

I have never read a Danny Wallace book before and did not realise that this is the second in a series of books that have Hamish Ellerby as its main character.  That said the book was still a good read and gave you enough information to let you follow the plot whilst, at the same time, making it worthwhile reading the first instalment in the series.

One thing that I really liked is the humour that runs throughout the book.  This is especially true given that the humour worked both for my 5 year old son and also for my wife and I which is something very hard to do!

If it wasn't my son laughing then it was my wife, all while I was trying to keep a straight face and read the story in a 'proper grown up way'.

The action starts fairly quickly and keeps going at a good pace throughout the book.  The plot centres around Hamish Ellerby, a young boy who foiled a plot to stop the world along with his friends who formed the PDF - that's Pause Defence Force rather than anything to do with Adobe.

This time around the evil villain, Axel Scarmarsh, is trying to take over the world by 'blanking' people.  The book starts with several important people being 'blanked' and acting very strangely indeed.

As we progress through the story we are introduced to Otherearth.  This is a separate world that is the opposite to ours but linked to it.  Everyone has a mirror of themselves, their neverperson, and if either one is blanked then the other will be as well.

This makes for some interesting twists as every brave character gets a cowardly counterpart and the two must work together for mutual survival.  So Hamish ends up working with his neverperson, Holly.  It also introduces some interesting concepts such as the UK flag becoming the Union Jill, etc.

The fact that there is a male and female version of every important character helps to make the book appeal to both boys and girls which is quite nice.  I must admit that, based on the cover, I wasn't expecting the book to have such broad appeal.

The book is set in England and the majority of the action takes place in London (and Never London).
After much agonising I have decided not to go into too much detail about the plot so as not to spoil it.

The above is simply my personal views on a book that my son and I really enjoyed reading together, you may well disagree with what I have written however that is, for me, one of the great joys of reading - we each take something different from a book!

I have left a link to the book on Amazon below in case you wish to purchase it or have a look at it in more detail.

If you do read the book, or already have, I would be interested to see what your thoughts on it are.

Amazon - Hamish and the Neverpeople

Here it goes...

Ok, so first of all thank you for taking the time to look at this blog.

I am now 33 years young and a father of 2 amazing boys.  Having been first described as a book worm when I was 8 years old, reading has been a major part of my life!  When I first met my wife, around 11 years ago, she simply couldn’t understand my love of reading and declared that “books are boring”.

I will happily admit that I could not hide my shock when I rang her one day to be told off for interrupting her reading!  For the first time ever she had come across a book that she simply could not put down (I kind of envy her that feeling).

Anyway, after years of reading what I now refer to as proper books (paper or hard back versions) I finally switched to an e-reader around 5 years ago.  This was a major shift for me and something I will cover in my blog (at some point).

Primarily, this blog is aimed at covering a number of areas including;

• How I read my books – e-readers, software, library services (in the UK), etc.
• The books that I read – this can be quite a mixture but will mainly be either action; military history; or more recently fantasy books (sorry ladies but 50 Shades of Grey isn’t included).  Also I have now started reading books with my eldest son and will share my thoughts on these.
• What books I am looking forward to reading.
• My thoughts on being part of a book club – my workplace has one which I have, somehow, ended up running.

Whilst the content of each post on this blog will reflect my personal opinion, I am hoping that you will contribute your own views at some point, especially if you have made it this far through my first post!.

This is my journey, but I hope that it may become part of yours as well.