Rosh's Reviews

AUTHOR: Maria Isabel Sánchez Vegara ILLUSTRATOR: Queenbe Monyei SERIES: Little People, BIG DREAMS, #75 GENRE: Children's Picture Book, Biography. PUBLICATION DATE: January 1, 2022 RATING: 4.25 stars. If you still haven’t heard of Amanda Gorman, you have certainly been living with your head under a rock. This talented young poet stole the hearts of the world with her captivating rendition of her own poem, “The Hill We Climb”, at Joe Biden’s presidential inauguration. I am not into poetry at all, and yet I was enchanted by this young woman and the way she recited her spoken poem with confidence and exuberance. This little book introduces little readers to the first-ever National Youth Poet Laureate of the USA. Though the end of the book includes a detailed glimpse into her life (including her family, her education and her achievements), the main story begins from Amanda’s schooling and how she first became fascinated by poetry. She didn’t allow her speech impediment to stop her but w...

AUTHOR: Heidi Howarth ILLUSTRATOR: Daniel Howarth GENRE: Children's Picture Book. PUBLICATION DATE: August 15, 2020 RATING: 4 stars. A cute little story with an unusual protagonist – a little dragon named Egg. Egg comes from a family of dragon achievers. His grandpa, his dad, his mom, and his siblings- all have greatness to their name. Egg meanwhile is the youngest and the teeniest member of this family. He hates his life, and he hates his name, though his mom lovingly explains their rationale behind calling him something so funny-sounding. When he feels depressed at not fitting in, he goes to the forest to forget his sorrows. On one such day, there is a terrible incident in the forest and turns out, Egg is the only one who can do something about it. While the message that the story puts across is a typical one, it is still worth reiterating in children’s fiction – accept yourself as you are for everyone has at least one talent. Don't compare yourself to others but be the best ...

Author: Beetashok Chatterjee Genre: Anthology Rating: 3.75 stars. The People Tree (the name being an interesting wordplay on the ‘peepal” tree) is a collection of 14 stories on a variety of themes. The central point of these stories is, obviously, people. Relationships, emotions, connections, frailties… The set explores every aspect of “being human”. (No, Salman Khan hasn’t sponsored this promo. 😛) Other than the ‘people’ factor, there is nothing in common to the stories. They span a range of places (Mumbai, Bangalore, New York, London,…), a variety of topics (1980s insurgency in Punjab, WWII, first loves, 9/11 attacks, rebelling against parents,…), and an array of protagonists (lovers, soldiers, hitmen, students, office employees,…) Some tales are quite casual episodes from regular life while some others are more esoteric in their scope. Many stories will allow you to guess the direction they are going in, but the writing style will still keep you reading. Some other stories aren’t s...

AUTHOR: Michele Amitrani SERIES: Rebels of Olympus, #1 GENRE: Greek Myth Retelling PUBLICATION DATE: January 24, 2022 RATING: 4.25 stars. With “Song of Forever”, Michele Amitrani creates an intriguing addition to his ‘Rebels of the Underworld’ series. The first two books had brought to us the tales of two well-known rebels—Persephone (in Scion of Gaia ) and Sisyphus (in King of Defiance ). This third story brings us yet another figure who revolted against the Gods, attempting the previously unheard-of task of getting a soul back from the Underworld. Can you take a guess at who this brave fellow was? The “song” in the title ought to point at his identity – the most famous musician of the Greek myths, the one who was known for charming all things living and non-living with his magical playing of the lyre, the son of the muse Calliope, the talented and ultimately heartbroken Orpheus. What he is most known for is his brave decision of going into the Underworld of Hades and asking for his w...

AUTHOR: Delia Owens GENRE: Historical Mystery. RATING: 3.25 stars. In a Nutshell: This went better than I had expected, because I had zero expectations. 😉 I loved some parts, but found some other parts preposterous. So mixed feelings overall, being just a little bit tilted towards the positive side. Whether and how much you enjoy this book will strictly depend on what you focus upon while reading it. Story: The book has two distinct timelines that merge towards the end. 1969. The body of a popular local young man named Chase Andrews is discovered in the swamp. There seem to be no obvious clues about how he died, but the Sherriff and his assistant suspect murder. The only suspect is a young girl Kya Clark, who stay in the marsh, isolated from “civilised” society. This timeline focusses on the investigation. The other timeline begins from 1952 and works its way towards 1969 and beyond. This timeline shows the background of Kya, beginning from when she was six years old. Abandoned by eve...

AUTHOR: Tatiana Christie ILLUSTRATOR: Alexandra Rusu GENRE: Children's Picture Book. PUBLICATION DATE: April 7, 2022 RATING: 4.25 stars. A really sweet story about a little pig who tries too hard to fit in. Penny is the only pig on a farm full of horses. As she is lonely, she decides to “change” into a horse so that the actual horses would include her as their friend. Her attempts result in dismay. But the horses make her realise that she is a perfectly fine pig, and they decide to adapt their activities so that Penny feels more included. This is a great story from the points of view of both Penny and the horses. Penny’s arc teaches kids how they just need to be themselves and they don’t need to bend over backward and change their personalities in order to make others like them The horses’ behaviour shows how we must be inclusive of everyone and not stick to our kind. Adaptations and adjustments are necessary in friendship and one mustn’t look at this as a sacrifice. The book deliv...

AUTHOR: Nita Prose SERIES: Molly the Maid, #1 GENRE: Mystery-Drama PUBLICATION DATE: January 4, 2022 RATING: 4.5 stars. In a Nutshell: An engrossing story with endearing characters. My first true-blue super-duper soul-satisfying read of 2022. Couldn’t keep it aside for a minute! Plot Preview: Molly Gray, who works as a maid in a five star boutique hotel, is all alone in the world. With a father she’s never known and a mother who left her, Molly grew up only with her loving Grandma. But now that Grandma is dead, Molly has no one to tell her how to function in social interactions. Because you see, Molly isn’t like a typical person. She struggles with social communication. The day Molly discover a dead guest in the hotel room she is cleaning is the day her life turns upside down. Somehow, the perfectionist Molly finds herself the key suspect in the murder. And Molly, who lives every single day with her strong sense of discipline and perfection in every task she attempts, has no idea how t...

AUTHOR: Chris Naylor-Ballesteros GENRE: Children's Picture Book RATING: 5 Stars! Remember reading a book in your childhood with a big grin on your face throughout? Ever had an experience where the grin starts off as a smile and goes on increasing in size until you are actually laughing out loud by the last page? Here’s a book that will do exactly that, and much more! These two are best friends and love playing hide and seek. Or maybe I should say, Bert loves to hide and Frank loves to seek. Unfortunately Bert isn’t very good at hiding and Frank inevitably finds him. When Bert finally laments about how he might have a better chance if Frank counted till a hundred instead of till ten, Frank, being a good sport, agrees. Does Bert manage to find the perfect hiding spot? There are children’s books with morals, and there are books that are for entertainment. This book falls in both the categories. The idea of friendship vs. competitiveness is nicely brought out in the story. Frank’s coun...

AUTHOR: Terri Tatchell ILLUSTRATOR: Ivan Sulima SERIES: Endangered and Misunderstood Animals, #1 GENRE: Children's Picture Book RATING: 4.25 stars. After I chanced upon the third book of the “Endangered and Misunderstood Animals” series—a book named Okapi Loves His Zebra Pants , I was so impressed that I immediately searched for the other two books. Luckily, both of them are on KU and this made my pocket happier. This is the first book of the series. (The second book was Adventures of a Pangopup .) Aye-aye the lemur is a happy soul who delights in playing pranks on the people of the nearby village. The result is that he gets banned from entering the village. As a result, he is heartbroken. Luckily for him, he meets a new friend, a flying fox, who shows him the error of his ways. Aye-aye learns that pranks can’t be fun if they result in fun only for him and trouble for the others. He understands with the help of his new friend that being kind and helpful is a much better way to be,...

AUTHOR: Ellen DeLange ILLUSTRATOR: Ilaria Zanellato GENRE: Children's Picture Book PUBLICATION DATE: January 1, 2021 RATING: 3.75 stars. Quite a cute book, but I am not sure of the extent to which it will be “re-readable”. It’s Lissy’s Grandma’s birthday and Lissy is spending this special day with her. As the gift package she has brought her grandma contains a diary, Lissy wonders what a diary is and how it can be used. Grandma takes out some of her old diaries and shares a few memorable incidents of her younger years with her granddaughter. Quite impressed and motivated, Lissy decides to keep a diary of her own. Some of Lissy’s grandma’s adventures are interesting. Beyond that, there’s not much to this story except for how sweet it is. The close relationship between Lissy and her grandma is very touching. The language used is quite simple. I liked how the font changes from a basic sans serif in the story to mild cursive in the diary entries. The change in style creates a nice visu...

AUTHOR: Pang Shuo GENRE: Children's Picture Book PUBLICATION DATE: November 9, 2021 RATING: 2.5 stars. This is quite a basic story about Bear who loves to play the flute. She wanders around her neighbourhood playing her melodies, but some neighbours don’t appreciate the disturbance. Just as she gets disheartened, some other animals tell her how much they appreciate her music. And thus, as Bear starts playing her flute again, she spreads happiness to all around her, including the animals who were earlier upset. There is no outright message or moral in this story. It is just a story that goes at its flow and culminates with a happy ending. I understand how Bear must have felt confident after some animals support her music. But that’s hardly a stand-out point. As regards those animals who complain about Bear’s flute, I quite understand their reasons: one couldn’t hear her own music, one was fishing and the flute drove away the fish, and the third was taking a nap. All quite justifiab...

AUTHOR: Terri Tatchell ILLUSTRATOR: Ivan Sulima SERIES: Endangered and Misunderstood Animals, #2 GENRE: Children's Picture Book RATING: 4.5 stars. After I chanced upon the third book of the “Endangered and Misunderstood Animals” series—a book named Okapi Loves His Zebra Pants , I was so impressed that I immediately searched for the other two books. Luckily, both of them are on KU and this made my pocket happier. This is the second book of the series. And it is just as cute as the third one. Pangopup, a little pangolin, is fed up of being at home. His mother doesn’t allow him outside as there are many dangers and he is very small. One day, tired of his boring house, he sneaks out of the house while his mother his asleep. He discovers a beautiful world full of a variety of creatures. He has a fun time playing with them and even makes a new friend, a dik-dik deer, who introduces him to more adventures. Pangopup is quite confident now that his mother was wrong and that he can take care...

AUTHOR: Maureen Fergus ILLUSTRATOR: Olga Demidova GENRE: Children's Picture Book PUBLICATION DATE: January 11, 2022 RATING: 4 stars. You’ve heard of the Angry Birds but have you ever seen an angry cow? Well, your dream comes true with this book! 😉 Petal the cow is a lovely soul. She paints, she dances, she cares for her friends when they need help…But the one personality law that she has is that she has a short fuse. Because of this bad temper, she falls in trouble many times. One fine day, the farmer decides that enough is enough and as a penalty, he won’t take Petal on the planned picnic to the water park. ( Animals going to the water park! 😂😂😂😂) Petal realises that her temper gets her into trouble and she needs to start dealing with it. But is it that easy? I loved the story to a great extent. Petal the cow is adorable and so are the other farm animals. All of them are shown with personified human talents and hobbies so it’s a fun story. Having so many animals in the story...

AUTHOR: Terri Tatchell ILLUSTRATOR: Ivan Sulima SERIES: Endangered and Misunderstood Animals, #3 GENRE: Children's Picture Book RATING: 4.75 stars. What a gorgeous book this is! It delivers highly on story and moral and illustrations. Okapi adores his lovely striped legs. But when a naughty chimp teases him for having stolen “zebra pants”, he starts questioning his unique legs. As he hasn’t ever seen a zebra, he decides to go across the jungle to locate a zebra. Accompanying him on this journey is his best friend, an African Grey parrot. They meet a huge variety of animals such as gorillas, lions, elephants, hippos and so on. And finally, Okapi spots a whole zebra herd and discovers, to his surprise, that they are entirely striped, unlike him. This is a beautiful book about self-acceptance and friendship. There is also a segment where the parrot teaches the chimp how we shouldn’t be mean to others about looks. The content is written in rhythmic prose that works wonderfully without ...

AUTHOR: Anne Hunter GENRE: Children's Picture Book. PUBLICATION DATE: May 31, 2022 RATING: 2 stars. This could have been so good! But it fails to deliver. Mamma Mouse is very happy to have a baby. When she hears her baby’s first words, she is excited. But soon she realises that her baby simply doesn’t shut up and keeps squeaking all day long. In hope of getting some peace and quiet, she sends him out of the house to be with his other animal friends. Baby Mouse babbles and squeaks with every single one of them until they either run away or fall asleep. At the end, Mamma Mouse finds the house too quiet and goes in search of Baby to get him back. Every parent will be able to identify with Mamma Mouse and how, at times, the constant chatter of our little ones can get on our nerves. However, instead of making optimum use of this comical paradox, the book just ends up with the bare minimum. There’s not much humour except if you make squeaky noises while reading the book aloud to your chi...

AUTHOR: Caroline L. Thornton GENRE: Children's Picture Book PUBLICATION DATE: November 10, 2019 RATING: 4.25 stars. All of us know how stereotypical princesses in traditional fairy tales are. All they have to do is to wait for their prince to come and rescue them. However, have we also thought about how stereotypical the poor prince's life is? All he is supposed to do is find a princess, "rescue" her and marry her. Here comes a book where a prince learns that he doesn't need to live the life everyone expects him to. of course, he takes some time to realise this lesson. This prince has always been trained in sword fights and tower climbing and so on, all so that he might save a princess some day and get married to her. But when he makes his attempts at these rescues, he discovers that the princesses have already saved themselves with their brains and guts. He thus understands that he too can break the pattern and thereby discovers his own happily ever after, doing ...

AUTHOR: Mario Bellini ILLUSTRATOR: Marianna Coppo GENRE: Children's Picture Book PUBLICATION DATE: June 21, 2022 RATING: 3.75 stars. A cute little story about a little boy who wants to draw the mountain he can see from his window. He attempts his sketch multiple times and from various angles. But he is never satisfied with the result. He even tries climbing the mountain but that too doesn’t help much. Until he finally realises what it was that he had been missing out on. The story is quite simplistic in its essence and yet teaches a lot about perspectives. It also helps kids realise that sometimes, we might miss out on the obvious that’s right next to us in the quest to search something farther in the distance. The book might also create an interest in exploring what’s outside the window rather than sticking to screens all day long. However, all these morals come out only on contemplation and the story doesn’t advocate any lesson directly. So it will work better if read with an adu...

AUTHOR: Kari Allen ILLUSTRATOR: Tatjana Mai-Wyss SERIES: Maddie and Mabel, #1 GENRE: Children's Fiction, Chapter Book. RATING: 4.5 stars. A sweet little story that shows the beauty of sibling relationships. Maddie and Mabel are sisters. Maddie is the elder one; she’s the planner who wants to handle everything. Mabel is the younger one; she wants to contribute more in their fun. Together, they learn the value of having a sibling and discovers the joys of sharing, of having a partner to play, and of adjusting to each other’s wishes. The sisters’ antics are assembled into five stories, each with a specific theme. Not every tale is moralising. Some of the tales are simply funny! I enjoyed all the little nuggets. The adventures of the children are quite relatable, so children are bound to enjoy this little gem. This book is written in easy-to-understand vocabulary and each story has a lot of repetitive sentences to aid coherence. What’s worth mentioning is that the dialogues are exactl...

AUTHOR: Jaimie Admans GENRE: Romantic Comedy RATING: 4 stars. In a Nutshell: If only I had managed to read this in time for Christmas! This was a heartwarming read, albeit with minor writing issues. My quest for a beautiful and magical Christmas story of 2021 finally ended a couple of days into the New Year. Story: Sasha Hansley isn’t a big fan of Christmas, though she loved it as a child. After her mother passed away, her dad left her in the care of her strict maternal grandma. As such, Christmas memories became dull rather than magical. But now, after all these years, Sasha has received a phone call from her dad all the way from Norway, asking her to come urgently to help him out at his Christmas-themed holiday village as the doctor has told him to slow down after a heart attack. Homebody Sasha, who hasn’t ever left the UK and hates travelling, has no choice but to leave for Norway, where she works along with her father’s right hand man, Taavi Salvesan, to get the holiday village up ...