Rosh's Reviews

AUTHOR: Joey Benun ILLUSTRATOR: Laura Watson GENRE: Children's Picture Book, Maths. RATING: 4.5 stars. In a Nutshell: A fun way of learning about large numbers, and finding out which is the largest of them all. Educational plus entertaining. Pebbles the butterfly likes to count things in his garden, but one day, he realises that the numbers are mostly the same. So he sets out on a journey across the world to find out what the largest number is. Through his adventures, we learn plenty of new facts. As an adult you might know what the largest number is, but to kids, “large” is quite a vague idea, maybe represented by a vague term such as “gazillion”. ( You will need to read the book to know what exactly a gazillion is! 😉) The numbers that Pebbles learns about increase incrementally, multiplying a thousand fold each time, thus going from thousand to million to billion and trillion and even further. ( Do you know what’s a thousand times a trillion? 😁) Because of Pebble’s travels, we ...

AUTHOR: Julia Seales GENRE: Parody, Regency Cosy Mystery. RATING: 3.75 stars. In a Nutshell: A mostly agreeable parody of Regency-era dramatic mysteries, combining elements from historical fiction, Regency romance, cosy mystery, satire, and humour. A good debut work, but it tries too hard and hence stumbles a bit. Nevertheless, a fun experience. To be read with all logic kept firmly aside and with your wacky hats on. Story Synopsis: Regency-Era England. (The year is left to our imagination.) Swampshire is a swampy little township that no one has heard about, with its key features being swamps, frogs, and hail. Nevertheless, it has its set of loyal residents who follow the set of rules laid down by the founding father Baron Ashbrook a long time ago. One such family is the Steele family, whose eldest daughter Beatrice Steele is burdened with the responsibility of having to marry well. Sadly, she has no talent that could make her a good wife, with her needlework, artwork, and music bei...

AUTHOR: Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai GENRE: Historical Fiction RATING: 3.75 stars. In a Nutshell: Reveals some great insights about Vietnam and the aftermath of the American war on the country. The plot was somewhat predictable, but overall, a worthy OwnVoices work. Story Synopsis: 2016. Middle-aged Phong is the son of a Black American soldier and a Vietnamese mother, but as he grew up in an orphanage, he doesn’t know anything about his parents except their race. He has now decided to search for his father and using his help, escape to the US with his family to avoid the drudgery of Vietnam. 2016. Dan, an American veteran, has returned to the country where he served during the war, in the hope that his PTSD will improve, but unknown to his wife Linda, he has a secret agenda as well. 1969: Sisters Trang and Quỳnh follow their friend’s advice and leave their rice fields to work as ‘bar girls’ in Sài Gòn, hoping to earn enough to repay their parents’ debts. As Sài Gòn is filled with American GIs...

EDITORS: Ismée Amiel Williams & Rebecca Balcárcel GENRE: YA Anthology  RATING: 2.5 stars In a Nutshell: An anthology themed around the troubles of coming from multi-racial/multi-cultural origins. Great in terms of authentic rep. In terms of writing, well… it’s YA as advertised. So it will work better with the YA crowd. This collection of twenty stories comes with an amazing theme. What happens when your identity crosses boundaries of race, culture, religion, or nationality? You are ‘boundless’; your identity cannot be contained within a single checkbox. Do you lean more towards one side of your parental ancestry? Can you keep one foot on each side of your cultural origin and do justice to both? Do your peers accept your holistic persona or see you only as you are visible to them, in terms of your facial features (or perhaps, I should say – racial features)? Sounds like a relevant theme, right? In today’s world, where boundaries keep getting diluted and a “country” is nothing bu...

AUTHOR: Joann Howeth ILLUSTRATOR: Vicky Kuhn GENRE: Children's fiction. RATING: 3.5 stars In a Nutshell: Sometimes, you want to love a book just for its intent. And in intent, this gets full marks. The content needs a little more to be perfect. Written in the first person perspective of a young girl, the story reveals to us how the narrator lives with a mother who is possibly bipolar. (The book doesn’t assign any cause to her behaviour.) The girl’s dad “has been gone a long time” (again, no explanations provided) and as such, she is dependent only on her mother. But her mother’s mood swings are quite erratic, and the girl doesn’t know what makes her like this. Moreover, the house is cluttered and the fridge is empty. When Mummy tells the girl that she’s doing the best she can and accompanies her words with “Don’t tell!”, the girl understands that she should keep her personal problems a secret. But her neighbour Mrs. McGeorge realises what’s happening, and encourages the girl to ...

AUTHOR: Nicola Skinner ILLUSTRATOR: Rebecca Bagley GENRE: Middle-Grade Fiction. RATING: 2 stars. In a Nutshell: Mixed feelings. A decent story by itself, but I don’t know if I want children to read a story with such an annoying main character. Story Synopsis: Hattie’s family, which comprises her father, her brother, and her pet rat, is moving from Bristol to a village in Somerset, much to Hattie’s chagrin. She doesn’t like talking to new people, and is quite irritated about having to attend a new school. When she sees a scarecrow in one of the local fields, she decides to make her own scarecrow, whom she calls ‘Crow’, to scare kids away from her den in a corner of the school playground. Crow mysteriously comes to life, and turns out to be too serious about his job – scaring children. Hattie is happy with his attempts, but soon she realises that things are getting out of hand. What can she do? The story comes to us in Hattie’s first person perspective. At the surface level, this should...

AUTHOR: Andy Weir GENRE: Short Story RATING: 4.25 stars. In a Nutshell: Quick and cute! The titular Annie, in her first person narration, gives us a glimpse of her day with Paul and Billy. As this is a short story with a surprise ending, I won't reveal much. You ought to experience it for yourself. I did guess where the plot was going because I have seen a similar trope being used a couple of times in other short stories, but that didn't decrease my enjoyment of this tale. Annie, Paul and Billy all are great characters, especially considering that we have just about 3 pages to get to know them. Definitely worth a read. You won't require more than 5 minutes to complete it. You can check out this story for free HERE . Leaving you with golden words by Annie: If a woman is asleep, let her sleep. Sage advice, and given a strong stamp of approval by me.

AUTHOR: Georgia Zola ILLUSTRATOR: Mira Amaya GENRE: MG Fiction, Animals. RATING: 3 stars. In a Nutshell: A nice chapter book for tween-aged beginner readers. Needs more fine-tuning to serve its purpose better. The story focusses on the titular Mehitabel, a “dainty and dignified” black cat who knows that she is in charge of the Donnely household, where 5th grader Henry resides with his parents. Mehitabel has tried her best to train the humans into following her orders, but humans, unfortunately, can be quite silly and tough to manage. When Mehitabel persuades her friend Thomas—an orange marmalade cat from next door—to get her a pet, Thomas brings her a little mouse, whom Mehitabel christens ‘Rose’. Thus begin the new adventures in the Donnely house, with Henry watching out for his pet Mehitabel, who in turn is watching out for her pet Rose. The cat’s perspective is the highlight of the book, and provides a lot of humour through the disdainful way in which she talks about humans and d...

AUTHOR: Jaspreet Kaur ILLUSTRATOR: Manjit Thapp GENRE: Children's Nonfiction RATING: 3.25 stars. In a Nutshell: Love the intent and the parting note about ‘mindfulness in the city.’ The content left me with mixed feelings. Cities can be overwhelming. Storybooks often highlight the joy and peace of country living, and cities are shown as busy and bustling places with lots of noise and crowds. The portrayal is valid, no doubt. But does this mean that city dwellers can seek no respite from the noise? Where can children who feel anxious about city hyperactivity find their safe bubble? The book offers some potential spots of respite, where children can take a breather. At the end of the book is a two-page note about how we can practise mindfulness in the city. This has some helpful and practical tips on finding inner calm. My favourite section of this book, by far. I loved the idea behind the book. Calming spaces are very important, and especially for sensitive children who live in cit...

AUTHOR: Liz Hyder GENRE: Historical Fiction RATING: 4.5 stars. In a Nutshell: A historical fiction about magicians and film pioneers in the mid-1890s. Fulfills all the promises made in the blurb. After a long time, I am on a book high. Story Synopsis: 1896, Bristol. Cec Marsden : a sixteen-year-old assistant to an old con artist. Cec's life is suddenly upended by the death of her master, and she is convinced that she is to blame. After all, she seems to have some hidden power that she doesn’t understand and can’t control. Eadie Carleton : After her father’s death and her brother’s disappearance, Eadie, who is in her mid-twenties, is left in charge of the family photographic studio. But Eadie is an inventor at heart, and is desperate for the world to recognise her talent with motion pictures. But is the society willing to accept a woman inventor with no man standing beside her? George Perris : A twenty-six-year-old magician who has the talent but not the finances to establish himsel...

AUTHOR: Evie Gaughan writing as 'Evie Woods' NARRATORS: Avena Mansergh-Wallace, Olivia Mace, and Nick Biadon. GENRE: Historical Fiction plus Magical Realism. RATING: 3.5 stars. In a Nutshell: A story spanning multiple genres, timelines and themes. Has plenty of interesting elements but also a few loopholes. Will work better if you read it with your heart than with your head. Story Synopsis: Present-day Dublin. Martha has escaped an abusive marriage and is trying to stand on her own feet by working as a housekeeper to the eccentric ex-actress, Madame Bowden. Henry is a Ph.D. student who is obsessed with an old manuscript, and is ready to do anything to locate it. Connecting the two, unknown to them, is a missing bookshop, which should have been next door to Madame Bowden’s house, but isn’t! But as Henry and Martha learn more about the bookshop, the bookshop also seems to want to be found by them. The story comes to us in the first person perspectives of Martha, Henry, and Opal...

AUTHOR: Olivia Hawker SERIES: A Point in Time, #3 GENRE: Short Story, Historical Drama, RATING: 3.25 stars. In a Nutshell: A short story about a man wanting to focus on his priority, while the world wants him to focus on another priority. Story Synopsis: Alan is a young NASA engineer who is involved with the Apollo 11 team and focussed on the moon-landing project that's just a few weeks away. He is also a newly married man, with his young wife Carol vying with the Apollo mission for his attention. Alan can't understand how people cannot see the importance of his work. Alan's father-in-law is clear that his daughter should be at least as important as the moon in Alan's life. Will Alan need to choose between the two? On the whole, this story is good. Interesting premise, flawed characters, steady pace. The plot is linked very well with the historical events of the 1969 moon mission. The Apollo 11 bits were the most interesting. The plot also doesn't go overboard wi...

AUTHOR: L.V. Pires SERIES: The Towry Family, #1 GENRE: Gothic Horror RATING: 4 stars. In a Nutshell: A Gothic Horror with some intriguing characters. Went a tad beyond my comfort level in terms of horrifying scenes, but that’s on me and not the book. Enjoyed the rest of it. Story Synopsis: Thirty-three-year-old Anne Towry has lived away from her family since she was ten. Forced to go to boarding school and ordered by her mother Seraphine never to return. she has spent all these years remembering hardly anything about her roots, except that she hates her mother. But when she receives an urgent phone call from a Dr. Cornish telling her that her mother is missing, Anne is forced to return to her childhood home, Whitehall Manor, in the hopes of locating her mother and then rushing back. Things aren’t that easy though. Anne sees that the state of the Whitehall estate isn’t as it was in her childhood days. Moreover, when she finds Seraphine’s journal, she is shocked at the revelations ther...

AUTHORS: Albert & Anna Choi ILLUSTRATOR: Bettina Brasko GENRE: Children's Picture Book. SERIES: Little Aiden, #2 RATING: 3.5 Stars. In a Nutshell: A sweet book reaffirming parents’ love for their toddlers, no matter what their little ones do. A bit too similar to the earlier book in this series. Little Aiden is a typical toddler. From the moment he wakes up to the time he goes to bed, he experiences a variety of emotions - some good, some, not so good. But will this affect his parents’ love for him? This picture book is written in the first person voice of the parent, using the simple sentence structure of “I love you when you are <<insert emotion here>>” on most of the pages. This is the standalone second book in the ‘Little Aiden’ series, the first book being ‘Little Aiden: A Feelings Book for Toddlers’ . As the minor change in the tagline indicates, the first book focussed on the child’s *feelings* while this book focusses on parents’ *love*. I love the idea behi...

AUTHOR: Victoria Williamson GENRE: Middle-Grade Fantasy RATING: 4.25 stars. In a Nutshell: A captivating dark fantasy for middle graders. Memorable protagonist and hair-raising adventures. I’d have devoured this in one go in my childhood! Story Synopsis: Witchetty Hollow is an unusual village where people cannot have kids and hence rent them through Storkhouse Services. One such rented child is eleven-year-old Florizel, who lives with the poor but loving Gammer Oakenshaw.  One night, as Florizel is rushing home, she runs into some strange visitors, the Gobbelino siblings. She soon discovers that the trio has come to open a Daydream Delicatessen and a sack-baby factory. While both the establishments come as novel concepts to the villagers, it is soon clear that there is something fishy going on. It is now up to clever Florizel, along with her whimsical sack-baby companion named Burble, to save the day. The story comes to us from the third person perspective of Florizel. The plo...

AUTHOR: Marina Rubin GENRE: Anthology. RATING: 4.1 stars In a Nutshell: A knockout beauty of an anthology with hardly any afflictions. When I opened this indie collection by Ukrainian-American indie author Marina Rubin, I looked for the author’s note. In any anthology, this is my first step as it gives me an idea of what to anticipate from the stories. There was no author’s note. *disappointed sigh.* When I peeked into the blurb in the hope of getting some sign about the theme, I saw some hefty claims: 👉 “Insightful, and often wickedly funny”; 👉 “stories of desire, damage, and human meandering”; 👉 “filled with drama, irony, humor, and unforgettable characters“; 👉 “Affairs, addictions, loss, and loneliness come alive”; 👉 ”hope, redemption, and the search for beauty.” There is no way an indie work is going to live up to such exaggerations, right? Right? Wrong! Every single word in the blurb is applicable to some or the other story herein. The whole collection is quite varied in its...