The colours draw you into the story on those first few pages of the book, the shades of green give you the feeling of being out among the trees and plants in the garden, the tortoise face a beautiful rosy complexion whose eyes show an old but warm and happy soul. The colours and illustrations continue to amaze as I turn the pages, each majestic and beautiful creature brought to life by the artist ability to bring us the African Jungle through her artistic ability.
Things never go right for poor Ivy Pocket, and for this third novel in the series that was released not that long ago things keep going from bad to worse...or should that be from mad to madhouse, or perhaps even from on the run (still) from Miss Always to Disguise at Butterfield Park? Whatever it should be, Ivy Pocket does not disappoint in this her final book...yes you heard me right I am dreadfully sorry to say that there will be no more books about the incorrigible and infuriating Ivy Pocket.
I was very excited to attend the book launch - or as the wonderful host said to the children - the book birthday of I Just Ate My Friend. I love being able to support Australian authors, whether it by purchasing their books or in this case attending my first book launch. The first thing I did was purchase myself the book and the staff asked if I would like it signed...Yes Please! I was delighted to have a quick chat with the author Heidi McKinnon, who is incredibly humble, lovely to speak to and will delight us with another book in the future...although she is not sure what it will be about yet.
Munro is a teenage boy struggling to come to terms with the death of his sister Evie, who had always dreamed of going to Australia. Munro is plagued by the coyote (a tormenting voice in his head), pain, flashbacks, and anger and feels that if he can fulfill Evie's wish and go to Australia as an exchange student that everything will be ok.
There is such strong YA fiction being written in Australia at the moment, and Sparrow is right up there as being one of the best. I wasn't sure what to expect from this book that was set along the coastal region of the Kimberley - a rugged remote Australian location, with deep gorges and mostly isolated coastline. It didn't take me long to be impacted by this book which went deeper than I expected. Those very first chapters saw the characters become so ingrained within me that I didn't want to close the book at the end. I wanted to continue to follow Sparrow on his journey.
The first time I opened this book I instantly loved it. The story begins with Mr Moot living his happy quiet life with his beloved Fluffywuffy. He wasn't troubled by anything, that is until cousin Clarence decides to move in for ..."a week...or a month, or quite possibly a year!" Mr Moot was optimistic that it wouldn't be so bad, fluffywuffy remained knowingly silent.
Initially when I opened this book to read it I was expecting the story to be full of fashion diva's, but I was pleasantly surprised. The story is about so much more, its all about friendship, loyalty, family, winning at all costs and the very talented Mickey.
I am beyond excited to share this review with you my blog readers, it is one of those books that was hard to put down because it was really that good. If I had more free time this would have been read in one day. So why did I love it so much? Read on to see...
I think Alice Miranda is a kind and caring character and the stories are always full of fun adventures.
Little Big Reads 