Rosh's Reviews

AUTHOR: Brooke Knight GENRE: Middle-grade Nonfiction PUBLICATION DATE: August 10, 2021 RATING: 3.75 stars. This book comes to us from the Honest History publishing company, and it sure does live up to its name! The content seeks to provide us with the honest history behind many popular inventions and the persons to whom these have been attributed. It proves the point that a single person cannot be considered an inventor as every invention relies partially or greatly on some earlier invention or thought. It offers a very different look at the past.  The book covers many inventions from various historical periods, right up to the modern technological age. Considering that the book is aimed at middle-grade readers, the content seems quite age-appropriate. The content is a little text-heavy, so it might be better to read it in small doses rather than going for it cover to cover. The trivia scattered throughout the book helps in breaking the intensity.  The “Thinking It Over” secti...

AUTHOR: Michele Amitrani SERIES: Rebels of Olympus, #4 GENRE: Greek Myth Retelling PUBLICATION DATE: January 1, 2020 RATING: 4.5 stars. The name "Avalon" immediately evokes the thought it King Arthur. But would you ever have imagined Arthurian legends to be intertwined with Greek Mythology? The Muse of Avalon tells us of Calliope in the days after the fall of Olympus. Among with her sister muses, she seeks refuge on the abandoned island of Avalon and they create a satisfying world there for its citizens. But the bloodshed in nearby Britain troubles her. So when Morgana approaches her to assist in bringing peace to the mainland, Calliope puts her own in motion. As the third of his reimagined Greek myths, Michele Amitrani continues his magic streak. The writing is as appealing as always. With simple language and a well-written plot, the story doesn't need great efforts from your side. You will stay hooked from start to end. I do wish there was a little more at the end. The ...

AUTHOR: Michele Amitrani GENRE: Fairy Tale Retelling PUBLICATION DATE: June 30, 2020 RATING: 4.75 stars. In a Nutshell: WOWWWW! This one begins right where the first story (Not That Fairytale) ends. This sequel is much longer than the first part, and darker too. There are elements of horror in this tale whereas the first was simply a dark fantasy. While I adored the plot and the writing yet again (I couldn't keep it aside for a single moment from start to finish), I hated that there was no resolution at the end. The finale seems to lay the foundation for yet another sequel. And I so desperately want to know what happens next! It can't end like this! If you are interested in this novella, it is available for free on the author's website and on BookFunnel. But make sure you get to this after you read the first part: Not That Fairytale .

AUTHOR: Michele Amitrani GENRE: Fairy Tale Retelling PUBLICATION DATE: March 24, 2020 RATING: 4.5 stars. I've tried many fairy tale retellings but this has to be among the darkest and quaintest! While most retellings choose the same protagonist and change the setting or vice versa, here we have a change in both. The story comes to us from the point of view of Red Riding Hood's grandmother and how she and her granddaughter try to escape from the wolf's stomach after being swallowed whole. I loved the dark twist that the author incorporated in the original version. The entire back story he creates for the grandmother is amazing. I'll never look at her the same way again! 😄 This isn't my first Michele Amitrani book. I've read two of his mythological retellings earlier and loved them both. But it is because of this book that I discovered an astounding fact: his first language is Italian, he has never studied English formally, and has grasped the language only throu...

AUTHOR: Jodi Picoult & Samantha van Leer GENRE: YA Fantasy RATING: 4 stars. Imagine this. The characters in the book you are reading have a life of their own, beyond what is written for their characters. And they do what they want to every time you close the book, only to be pulled back in their roles when you reopen the book. Unbelievable, right? Goes without saying then that I've never read a story like this before! That doesn't necessarily mean that I loved it. But the concept is mind-blowing for sure. Delilah, a fifteen year old introverted bookworm, is shocked to discover something new appear in the illustrations of her latest favourite read, a fairy tale about a cowardly prince who uses his wits rather than his valour to fulfill his royal duties. Soon, she realises that the protagonist, Prince Oliver, can actually talk to her, that he dreams of getting out of his routine and predictable "plotlife", and that the book world has a life of its own. Can Delilah h...

AUTHOR: Nathalie Tordjman ILLUSTRATOR: Julien Norwood GENRE: Children's Nonfiction PUBLICATION DATE: September 14, 2021 RATING: 3.5 stars. The book has great information on trees including their shape, composition, leaf patterns, growth process, and so on. It also includes some interesting questions for which answers are provided at the end. There are also a couple of activities for children. The information is quite enlightening. I especially enjoyed the section on record-breaking trees. The illustrations are superb. Though there aren't any actual photos of trees, the illustrations more than suffice to accurately buttress the information provided. There are three suggestions I would like to make with respect to the content: 1. Right at the start, the book declares, "Trees are plants that tower high in the sky." Immediately to the right of it is a statement saying that trees grow in every size, from a subshrub to a fully grown tree. That first definition needs a rethi...

AUTHOR: Monika Utnik-Strugała ILLUSTRATOR: Ewa Poklewska-Koziełło GENRE: Children's Nonfiction, Christmas PUBLICATION DATE: September 14, 2021 RATING: 3.5 stars. I have a hard time resisting any book that says “Christmas” in its title. What with this book’s bright red cover pic, it was doubly difficult to resist it. But it didn’t exactly work out the way I had thought. The book contains a treasure trove of Christmas-related information, be it with respect to special days around Christmas, traditions set in the festive season, customs associated with Christmas, and so on. It is very informative. Even many adults wouldn’t know many of the details covered in the book. However, the book is almost encyclopaedic in its approach. I had assumed this to be a simple picture book with some information on how Christmas is celebrated across various countries. ( My mistake entirely. The blurb didn’t promise a picture book. I think I jumped the gun because of the lovely illustrations on the cover...