After a considerable absence of 2
months I am happy to say that service is being resumed and for the first Blog
of 2014 Armadillo reviewer Bridget Carrington shares a few (very honest)
thoughts on a couple of books she has been kindly reading and reviewing
recently...
Tiny Twisted Tales
Last January I blogged a piece about
Stuart Reid’s Gorgeous George series, which I thought was better suited to an
animated film than to print – not least because of the many typos. Further GG
stories have confirmed my opinion… The GG books are illustrated (well) by Calvin
Innes, who has now written and illustrated two brief stories in verse, Pale Henry and Jenny in a series he calls ‘Tiny Twisted Tales’. Again,
the illustrations are the best bit.
Glenmore Valley
This new series from the noted Irish
publishers O’Brien is produced in collaboration with the Irish Farmers Journal, and are written by Anna McQuinn with
illustrations from Paul Young. The two titles so far available are utterly
delightful. Colm’s Lambs introduces us to the village, the farms and the
characters who will appear in the stories, and gives readers a good insight to
the realities of lambing, while A Rosette for Maeve? follows another farmer’s daughter,
Lisa, as she prepares her prize calf for a show. Aimed at older KS1 and lower
KS2 readers, well-illustrated, funny and sad at times, these short novels don’t
glamorize farming but perfectly express the hard work and enjoyment which farm
life offers. They also offer an insight to Irish life, on and off the
farm. Brilliant!
Yet more Tales from Lovecraft Middle
School
I’ve just received another volume in
Charles Gilman’s excellent ‘Tales from Lovecraft Middle School’ series (see the
February Blog). Intriguingly titles Creature it comes in the splendid holographic cover. Can’t
wait to read it!
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