Gronk: A Monster's Story Volume 1 - a comic by Katie Cook

Synopsis

Gronk is a monster... and not a very good one. 

Gronk tells the tale of a young monster who has turned her back on monsterdom (mostly because no one found her scary) and has become fascinated with humans. 

She moves in with her human friend Dale and her pets Kitty and Harli, a 160 lb. Newfoundland Dale wants to declare as a dependent to the IRS. 

Enjoy the first installment from this popular kids webcomic in a wonderful, full-color collection!

Review

Lovely, sweet and amusing, Gronk is an inventive comic and the art and words depict a great sense of humour and fun. Gronk is a lovely monster who isn't interested in scaring anyone; instead she enjoys company, friendship and adventure, and she finds all this when she meets Dale and accepts her kind invitation to move in with her and her pets Kitty the cat and Harli the dog. 

One of my favourite pages was the one where Gronk gets in the cardboard box with Kitty the cat, and her imagination conjures up some great scenes that are sketched out. I love Harli the dog. It's sixty pages, I enjoyed reading the whole book in one sitting - it collates the episodes shared via the original webcomic. The original wonderful black and white illustrations have been coloured for this book by Kevin Minor. 

Gronk features likeable characters, and includes references to Harry Potter and other popular culture. I'm sure children will love it, and adults too - I did.

The website for the original webcomic is here: Gronk Comic

Digital review copy via netgalley.

Blackmore's Treasure - Derek G. Rogers - Guest Book Review

Synopsis

Blackmore's Treasure is part of the history of Prospect Farm. Tobias Allinson acquired the farm in 1645 and each generation since then has attempted to find the fabled treasure. None have succeeded... His descendant ,a thirteen year old boy, suffers a serious accident whilst visiting the farm. During his time in hospital, he ‘dreams' about events experienced by theoriginal Tobias, that of taking part in the Battle of Naseby, meeting Oliver Cromwell as well as other famous people he has read about in his history books.  During his ‘dream' adventures, a Sergeant Blackmore bequeaths his treasure to him. The treasure was never found; so the legend was born. Can young Tobias is solve the mystery and find Blackmore's Treasure?

Guest review by Janice Lazell-Wood

Apparently the author was compelled to write this story because his granddaughter had told him that the "Civil War was boring..."  This is certainly not the case in this engaging debut novel (although you could be forgiven for thinking it was about pirate treasure due to the cover artwork! A slight gripe, but mine own).  Mr Rogers has written a captivating time-slip story of this turbulent time in England's history, one that can be enjoyed by adults and children alike. 

The characterisation is good, including those heavyweights of the Civil War, Cromwell and Fairfax, as well as minor characters who all play their part. Tobias of then and now is a likeable character and when we meet Blackmore, he is a man keeping himself safe by any means possible, be they morally right, or not! The Battle of Naseby, a turning point in the war, is well told, without being graphic. 

I was keen to find out what the treasure was, and wasn't disappointed when the ending was revealed, it even had a nice little twist.  I'd be happy toread more by this author and now want to know more about the Civil War, I hope Mr Roger's granddaughter does too!

My thanks goes to Lindsay for giving me the chance to review this novel.

Many thanks to Janice for reading and reviewing this novel for The Little Reader Library.

The Julian Chapter - R. J. Palacio

My review of Wonder

'I know it can't be easy for him to look in the mirror every day, or walk down the street. But that's not my problem. My problem is that everything's different since he's been coming to my school. The kids are different. I'm different. And it sucks big-time.'

Just a quick little review of this one really. I was delighted to have the chance to read this when I heard about it, and I thought this little story was brilliant, such a great idea to write a story to show the other side of things and it adds more to the original tale for those readers who absolutely loved the novel, Wonder, (like me!).

It's a moving tale and I love how Julian's feelings were explored and shown so honestly, however unpleasant they were, and how he was able to finally confront his actions, and I liked how the past was brought into the story too.

Having read Wonder, we know Auggie's deepest feelings, now we can see what Julian was thinking and feeling, his behaviour is not excused but we can begin to understand.

Thank you to Lauren at the publisher for kindly sending me a review copy of this story.

Published in ebook format by Random House Children's Books

The Secret Lake - Karen Inglis

'A boat!' Stella whispered repeatedly. 'How on earth could it have got there? And why was Harry soaked to the skin?'

Eleven year old Stella and her eight year old brother Tom have moved from Hong Kong to a new home in London, where they enjoy exploring in the gardens around their house. Harry, the little dog belonging to Mrs Moon, one of their neighbours, arouses their interest as he keeps disappearing, and when he reappears he is wet. During their summer holidays, the two children investigate the gardens further and find a buried boat, and a tunnel which leads to a secret lake. Here they meet a young boy rowing, and looking scared. Their subsequent adventures take them on a journey back to the past, making new friends and discovering their home as it was nearly a hundred years previously.

This was a lovely read of just over a hundred pages with short chapters, and the author builds the suspense well over the course of the story. It's a magical and imaginative children’s tale, filled with plenty of excitement, discovery and adventure, time-travel, and some rather special moles! The interactions between the children and with those they met were well written and the author conveys their real excitement and intrigue about the mysteries they uncover and the discoveries they make. The realistic details of their lives in the present  - such as their clothing and Stella listening to her iPhone and connecting with old friends from Hong Kong on Facebook - both adds substance and also contrasts well with the different appearances, speech and behaviour they find in the people they meet in the past. The attractive, intriguing setting is well evoked, and this is also nicely illustrated in the colourful, appealing cover design of the book jacket which matched the story nicely. 

The Secret Lake is aimed primarily at readers aged around 8 to 11 years old, and I think readers of that age bracket (girls and boys) would enjoy this one very much, though I myself certainly enjoyed escaping into it and joining them on their adventures through the time tunnel too! It's a recently rediscovered delight to pick up a children's story from time to time.

Source - author review copy in exchange for an honest review

Self-published - available in paperback and ebook editions

Visit the author's website here and visit the book's website here

Find the story on twitter @secretlake_book

Little Exiles - Robert Dinsdale

It's post World War Two England, and we meet young Jon Heather, living with his mother and his older twin sisters in Yorkshire. Jon has never known his father but still holds out a hope that he will return one day soon; Jon imagines his father having adventures overseas. Struggling to cope, and with fading health, his mother takes Jon one day and leaves him at the Chapeltown Boy's Home of the Children's Crusade, in Leeds, where he meets and befriends Peter, who is an older, supportive boy, and George, who is younger and very scared. Jon believes initially that he is only there temporarily, that his mother is coming back for him in a couple of months. Most of the boys have been told their parents are dead. They are watched over by mysterious, menacing men in black gowns, including, one, Judah Reed, who is Australian, and leads them on their voyage further from everything they have known; they are taken on a ship to Australia, with promises of a better life, a good future. When they arrive though, they are divided up and set to work on the land, doing hard strenuous, sometimes grim, work, strictly supervised by the men in black and the cottage mothers, and at times harshly disciplined. Jon is ten when he arrives there.

It's a very sad story based on events that actually happened - forced child migration between Britain and Australia after World War Two, in order to provide inexpensive labour and to further populate this country within the empire. I am glad that the author has chosen to tackle and highlight this important, true episode from history in his fiction here. I knew little about this prior to reading this novel; though this isn't a factual account, it presents us with an idea of what went on that to me felt very real, and because of the sadness and hardship it could be harrowing and I didn't find it an easy read at times, and it's difficult to understand the deception perpetrated by those involved; I believe this was a church based organisation. As Robert Dinsdale writes in his acknowledgements, `though Little Exiles is a work of fiction, the world it presents was frighteningly real...'

The author depicts very well how the boys feel, what happens to them, and how the boys change through the experiences they endure, and the unlikely friendships that are formed under these strange and difficult circumstances. The three boys, Jon, Peter and George, were vividly and roundly drawn, I could imagine little George in his terror, and Peter being strong and trying to help him, reassuring him at one point on the boat that `it's going to be a grand adventure.'

I felt the palpable sense of fear and abandonment that Jon, George, Peter and the others experience knowing that they have been left at the boys home, separated from their families and everything that they have ever known, and then to face the further upheaval of being taken across the world with little idea what will happen to them there. Jon wants to come home. Many were told that their mothers had died. One moment that struck me as particularly poignant was when we learn that some of the smaller boys can't remember when their birthday is, and there's no one they can ask who will know, now. The style of narration is not overly emotional, though - the events speak for themselves - and the writing used seemed fitting for portraying this tale. I might have preferred the story to be slightly shorter, but Little Exiles was an evocative, convincing and very moving read bringing to the fore a part of history that ought to be better known. I think it will certainly linger in my mind.

Published by HarperCollins

Freaks Like Us - Susan Vaught

‘There’s no running away from what’s in your own head.’

This is the story of three friends, one of whom, seventeen-year-old Jason Milwaukee, is the first person narrator. Sunshine goes missing and the mystery of the story is in trying to resolve where she is and why she has disappeared, with Jason struggling to remember what she had said to him before she disappeared, her voice fighting with the other, overpowering voices in his head.

Jason, who is telling the story here, is SCZI - schizophrenic. Sunshine is SM - selectively mute, and Drip (Derrick) has ADHD. Collectively they, and others like them who suffer mental illnesses tagged by such initials, refer to themselves as ‘alphabets’. As Jason’s father explains to FBI Agent Mercer, ‘”It’s a word Jason and Sunshine and Derrick use to describe themselves as a group. It feels better to them than any of the disorder-disability talk.”’

Jason often refers to his mother and father by their professional ranks of the colonel and the captain. His parents divorced when he was twelve and when we meet him he is living with his father. Jason is also referred to as “Freak” and tells Agent Mercer frankly: “Everybody calls me that. You can.”

The tension builds in the story as the hours go by since Sunshine has been gone. Susan Vaught's writing feels compassionate and honest in dealing with mental health in teenagers, how it feels to them to be different, to be classed as SED - Severely Emotionally Disturbed. The author is a practicing psychologist. She conveys the intensity of the struggle to deal with his affliction throughout every waking moment, through Jason’s hurried speech and transcribing the talk he hears from all of the different, competing voices in his head – the style of writing reflects the chaos of Jason’s mind and thoughts and the voices. Some of the thoughts they tell him are very negative and cruel: ‘He knows it’s your fault. He knows you’re an idiot. Fool on the hill. Fool on the hill. He’s got cold eyes. Why does he have cold eyes? He’s probably a serial killer.’

The author is careful to make it clear that he is not his illness; at one point he is talking and realizes these aren’t his thoughts but the thoughts of the voices he hears;

‘I hate it when I sound like my alphabet voices.

I hate it when I smear together like a wet photograph and get all sticky and can’t tell the crazy voices from my own voice and what I’m seeing now from what I saw before and what I want to see now and what I wanted to see before and –‘

His frustration at his real thoughts being clouded and hidden sometimes by everything else that is going on in his mind is difficult for him to bear.

I found this an unsettling and difficult read at times; some of the images Jason sees are a bit disturbing and the constant reminders of the cruel and confused voices littered throughout the text make for an uneasy read. But this is the author’s point; this is conveying the illness and the realities of what Jason endures. I’m glad the author attempted to portray this as it is. Anyone who has suffered or had experience of a mental illness will likely feel a resonance with this story, as will many compassionate readers who haven’t.

Throughout the story I found myself liking Jason and admiring him for who he is. I felt very sad and frustrated for him at times, when he was being bullied, or misunderstood by those who don’t know him, or when his unusual behaviour attracts unjustified suspicions that he might be guilty. Most sad of all was when he couldn’t reach inside his mind and find the memories and thoughts that he really needed, the clues that would help him understand about Sunshine, because the voices keep getting in the way, causing confusion. His deep affection and respect for Sunshine is evident throughout. I was so glad the three of them – Jason, Sunshine and Drip - had had each other’s friendship and understanding. It’s very clear that, as Jason observes, 'Some days life makes more sense than other days.'

The shift in the relationship between FBI Agent Mercer and Jason as the story progresses was very nicely done I thought. As he emerges with new understanding and consideration for Jason, so too does the reader.

A poignant, honest and distinctive young adult mystery novel with frank insights into mental health. 

Published by Bloomsbury Childrens Books

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children - Ransom Riggs - guest review

Jacob grew up being enthralled by the tales his grandfather Abe told him, of how, at the age of 12, the only surviving member of his family to escape from Poland during the horrors of WW2, he came to live at Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, an orphanage situated on a remote island off the coast of Wales.  Abe even had photos of the peculiar children, strange black and white snapshots, the girl who would float away if she wasn’t wearing her weighted shoes, the girl with two mouths, or the boy who had prophetic dreams.  Abe ended up there because he was special too, he could see monsters, and he had been running from them all his life.

As Jacob grows up, he comes to realise that they are just that, stories and ramblings of an old man in the grip of dementia.  But when tragedy strikes, and Jacob finds his badly injured grandfather dying in the woods, Abe tells Jacob to go to the island to uncover the truth for himself.  So Jacob sets off on a journey of discovery…

For the most part, I enjoyed this book, which is marketed at young adults.  It is beautifully designed and the inside is interspersed with haunting black and white pictures, which makes it all the more intriguing.  There are elements of magical realism, as well as a healthy dose of fantasy, there is also adventure and love, peril and villains, shape-shifting and time travel. 

The only niggles I have are, that although part of the book is set in Wales, (in both 2011 and 1940), sadly, you don’t get any sense of that.  There is no local dialect used, and the children of WW2 use words and expressions that I very much doubt were around back then.  Then there are the photographs themselves, all very haunting, but clearly not contemporary with the 1940s.

However, all that aside, the book was beautiful to look at, quirky and enjoyable to read, and there is scope for a sequel, which I will definitely buy.

Reviewed by Janice Lazell-Wood, guest reviewer.

Published by Quirk Books

Many thanks to Janice for kindly reading and reviewing this novel for The Little Reader Library.

Thanks to PGUK Books for sending a copy of this novel for review.

The Night Rainbow - Claire King

‘I fly up into my head to play with my thoughts.’

Pea (Peony, or Pivoine), spends her days playing with her little sister Margot in the sprawling countryside around her home in the south of France. It is summertime when we meet her, and we learn that her Maman is heavily pregnant. Sadly she lost her previous baby, as Pea explains, telling us ‘she didn’t bring back a baby like she promised. She left it at the hospital, along with her happiness.’ Pea wonders at the sadness inside her Maman, so deep that she cannot reach in and bring her back to them no matter how she tries.

Pea tells the story throughout and she captivates the reader. Her five year old voice is completely honest; at times so delightful in her observations, yet at other times so fearful and sad, and prone to moments of darkness. Her imagination is her strength and the key to a part of this story.

She is insightful in her observations; on one occasion, seeing the swallows, she recalls when she saw them in their nest, and now they are out in the world, no longer fed by their mother but having to fend for themselves. I felt that Pea and Margot were like these little swallows, having to do things for themselves, as the mother bird was no longer able to always be there for them at the moment. In this way, Pea is strongly bound up in the life and nature around her.

The sense of place is strongly evoked and provides an important backdrop to Pea’s adventures and exploring. I felt I could picture the meadows and trees, the little village market, and the family home.

Pea and Margot befriend Claude and his dog Merlin, who are both an integral part of their countryside surroundings. They find companionship and wisdom; Claude advises Pea that ‘you can’t mend everything that gets broken.’ Claude is an intriguing character; I wondered at his past and his life now.

Claire King has crafted a very special tale and told it beautifully. It is a tale of sadness, grief and loss, and of friendship, belief and hope. Surely an author to watch. 

I must add, I absolutely love the cover of this book, so beautiful and attractive and fitting.

Published by Bloomsbury

Thanks to the author and the publisher for a copy of this novel to read and review.

You can follow the author on twitter @ckingwriter  and visit her website here

Liesl and Po - Lauren Oliver

‘Everywhere and in every fold and bend of the universe, strange and miraculous things happened.’

This magical, delightful book was a very personal journey for the author, as she writes in her introduction to the story. It is charmingly illustrated. A fantasy, it tells of little Liesel, whose father has just died. She now spends her life locked in an attic by her unkind stepmother. One night she is visited by a ghost named Po, and an animal ghost called Bundle, who come from the Other Side. The same night, alchemist’s apprentice Will has an important delivery to make to the Lady Premiere, a wooden box containing the most powerful magic in the world. But there is a mix-up. And so begins this exciting adventure, involving an exciting journey, and a trip to the Other Side, where people go when they first die. 

I thoroughly enjoyed this magical children’s read. I loved the cast of characters. The story strands all come together well and it is skillfully done. It is such a special story, and it captures human emotions whilst filling the reader with joy at the magical happenings.

I found a website all about the book and author here: Liesl & Po

You can visit the author's blog here: Lauren Oliver