Rosh's Reviews

AUTHOR: Lucy Strange. ILLUSTRATOR: Pam Smy GENRE: Middle-grade historical fiction. RATING: 4.5 stars. In a Nutshell: I knew this would be a great book because I had heard of this author’s children’s fiction works. But I wasn’t prepared for it to be so fabulous! Mind you, the story is quite dark. Story: 11 year old Bess has left the London workhouse to work in a rural cotton mill on the promise of good food and shelter. Unfortunately, she finds herself overworked and underfed. She is antagonistic with the other poor orphan labourers who share the same gloomy dorm with no hope of escape. Right outside her dorm window is a pond, but they’ve been warned against entering it as there is supposed to be a monstrous mermaid dwelling in it. The only good thing in Bess’s life is the new entrant Dot, who makes a way into Bess’s reluctant heart. With regular beatings, work struggles reaching intolerable levels and a scary mermaid outside, will Bess be able to escape her situation? And maybe help Do

AUTHOR: Claire Oshetsky GENRE: Literary Fiction RATING: 3.25 In a Nutshell: This is, by far, the weirdest book I have ever read in my life! But I still found it thought-provoking, and to a certain extent, I liked the questions it raised. Story Synopsis: (Golden Rule for this story synopsis and everything else that follows: don’t question any content with ‘How is that possible?’ I have no answers.) Tiny has had a one-time dalliance with her secret owl lover. ( I know…I get ya…read on. ) She is now pregnant, and is a hundred per cent sure that her baby is an owl-baby, something her husband only sees as one of the mental side-effects of pregnancy. When Chouette is born though, Tiny is proved correct. Small and predatory, Chouette proves to be a very difficult owl-baby who functions as per her own adamant demands. But Tiny is a mother, and she vows to do the best she can to make her child happy, even if it means going against her husband and the rest of the world, and even if she ends up b