Rosh's Reviews

AUTHOR: Michele Amitrani SERIES: Rebels of Olympus, #1 GENRE: Greek Myth Retelling PUBLICATION DATE: November 1, 2021 RATING: 4.75 stars. What new ways can I search to tell you the magic of Michele Amitrani’s writing? I’m a huge fan, so all you will find here is a ton of gushing praise for his latest retelling. This time, he brings to us the story of the much-maligned Pandora. You might have heard the tale of Pandora’s Box. When Pandora, the wife of the Titan Epimetheus, opened the jar gifted to her by Zeus in spite of the All-Father’s express warning against it, she brought into the human world every possible evil. The only saving grace was that she also released hope to the world. This story is the Greek myth explanation for why there is evil in the world. Whenever I’ve read this tale in the past, each rendition portrayed Pandora as a gullible woman who couldn’t control her curiosity and with her actions, changed the destiny of humankind. But this book is different; it springs from t...

AUTHOR: Tamiko Pettee GENRE: Children's Picture Book PUBLICATION DATE: October 17, 2020 RATING: 4.5 stars. Emily the hedgehog is quite underconfident. Her friends can do wonderful things such as run fast, fly high or swim quickly. But all she seems to have is her quills that only seem to keep her friends away from her. But time and circumstances teach her that everything has a purpose and she learns to be comfortable in her own skin. This is a sweet story with really good illustrations and a great moral. The self-acceptance dilemma Emily faces can be applied in any context to teach children about how they should accept themselves for what they are rather than envy others their skills or looks. This book will work well in schools as well as for read-alouds at home.

Author: Angela McAllister Illustrator: Hannah Bess Ross Genre: Story Collection, Children's Fiction Rating: 5 stars. What a fabulous and eclectic collection this is!!! I loved it from the first page to the last! This is a collection of 50 folktales and fables from around the world. And when this book says “around the world”, it does mean around the world, and it does so in a very fair manner. Unlike many other collections which contain most stories from the USA or European countries, some tales from Russia and just a couple of stories from elsewhere in the world, this book focusses on all parts of the globe equally. It groups the stories by regions such as Africa, Middle East, Australia and Oceania, North America, and so on. Within each region, the stories come from a variety of countries. Hardly any country is repeated. Thus what you get is a rich variety of culture and folklore from diverse narrative viewpoints. The stories too are distinct and most of them are not the typical fa...

Author: Jennifer Jenkins Genre: Historical Fiction Rating: 3.5 stars. In a Nutshell: If you want to know what happened in Eyam during the plague and how the citizens rallied together in those hard times, this is a great option. However, if you expect a well-structured and well-written book, you might end up disappointed. (‘might’ is the key word here.) Keeping a safe distance from others, staying at home as far as possible, dealing with deaths of family members while still surviving for the sake of those alive, understanding the importance of hygiene, the hope that the new year would bring a fresh start, the disappointment at some people profiteering from others’ struggles, simply living in hope day by day, growing closer to God, going farther from God,… all are aspects that are familiar to us since the last eighteen odd months. But we have been lucky in two ways: 1. Science is advanced enough to tell us the behaviour of viruses, and 2. Technology is advanced enough to help us keep in ...

AUTHOR: Louise Douglas GENRE: Historical Mystery PUBLICATION DATE: October 12, 2021 RATING: 4.5 happy stars. In a Nutshell: Great characters, great plot, great writing. What are you waiting for? Read this book!!!!! Story: I am determined not to give anything away from this tricky story. So trying my best to just give the bare bones. 1903: Emma Everdeen is an old nurse who works at the All Hallows asylum in rural Dartmoor. When a boat with two unconscious people in it—a woman and a child--is discovered by the locals, the survivors are brought to the asylum and the child is put under the care of Nurse Everdeen. They spend their days in a room in the attic, away from the rest of the patients. The child, Harriet, soon makes her place in the lonely nurse’s heart. 1993: Lewis Tyler’s life has turned topsy-turvy after his mother’s sudden death eighteen months ago. His father has remarried, his new stepmother hates him, his elder sister has gone away to college, and Lewis himself is bundled of...

AUTHOR: Maja Andersen GENRE: Children's Picture Book PUBLICATION DATE: July 6, 2021 RATING: 5 stars! See how cute that cover is? The book matches it all the way! Little Bird has broken her wing and so she isn’t able to fly south for the winter. When she approaches some trees for help, they refuse her outright. But just as she begins to despair, some other trees pop up with offers of food and shelter till the winter goes by. This is a lovely retelling of a Native American story about how evergreen trees keep their leaves all through the winter while the deciduous ones stand bare. (The end of the book provides basic information on these two types of trees.) Within a few pages, it drives home the importance of kindness and charity. This story has the right length and vocabulary to make it perfect for bedtime reading. The illustrations add to the charm of the book. They are vibrant and old school, thus giving adults also a nostalgic feel while kids will be transfixed at the cuteness an...

AUTHOR: Rafaa Dalvi GENRE: Flash Fiction Anthology RATING: 3.75 stars. Until a couple of years ago, short stories simply meant short stories to me. It's only through my Facebook group and the interactions I've had there with authors that I've learnt about various sub-categories even within short stories. One of these is flash fiction, a very brief short story with sufficient plot and character development. While there is no predefined word limit for it, a hallmark of this genre is a clear plot hierarchy (start-middle-end) while maintaining brevity, and very often, a surprise ending. "Chasing Nirvana" is a flash fiction anthology that does a great deal of justice to the definition of the genre. It's a collection of 52 short-short stories, and most of these comply with the above requirements. The stories come from a wide variety of topics and genres: dark fiction, romance, sci-fi, thriller, drama,... The protagonists are good and bad and morally grey. Some stori...

AUTHOR: Dianna Wilson-Sirkovsky ILLUSTRATOR: Sara Casilda GENRE: Children's Picture Book. PUBLICATION DATE: October 5, 2021 RATING: 5 stars. Such a cute little story for every book lover and/or animal lover! James is a struggling reader. To cheer himself up and forget his troubles with reading, he visits the local rescue centre after school and plays with the cats there. However, one particular cat, whom James has named “ghost” remains adamantly aloof. James decides to start reading cat adventures to Ghost so that it might become friendlier and thus increase its chances of getting adopted. In this unselfish and kind gesture, James attains one more thing: his reading improves with every book he reads aloud to Ghost and his struggles with words have vanished. With a single story, the book effectively addresses two issues: reading and rescued animals. The content is simple and straightforward, and James will surely win everyone’s hearts. There are so many values brought forth by the s...

AUTHOR: Michele Amitrani SERIES: Rebels of Olympus, #5 GENRE: Greek Myth Retelling PUBLICATION DATE: September 1, 2021 RATING: 4.25 stars. Yet another Greek mythology retelling from the talented indie author Michele Amitrani! Have you heard the story of Persephone and Hades? I have, and I always wondered how Persephone could accept her fate with Hades so quietly, how Hades was such a villain for kidnapping her without anyone's consent, and how her mother Demeter bore the main brunt of her daughter's disappearance. Most tales focus only on Demeter's version of the events, with Persephone in the background as a complying heroine. This book tells us the story from Persephone's perspective. And how beautifully it does its job! Amitrani weaves a compelling story to fill in the mythological gaps and suddenly, you can empathise with the characters. Yes, even with the supposed villain, Hades. The retelling turns the kidnapping story into one of love and understanding and sacrif...