Tell me

Hi! I hope you enjoy this book review on Tell me!

Author- Joan Bauer
Genre- Fiction
Theme- Never give up l will explain why later in the post
Target audience- 10+ l will explain why later in the post

I will now explain why l chose never give up for the theme. I chose never give up because Anna never gave up on saving the little girl (Kim Su) and her mother (Mai) because she knew something was wrong. Anna and Winnie (a librariain) saw a man being abusive and harming Kim Su and Mai. Anna kept trying and trying to save Kim Su and Mai from the man.

I chose the target audience as 10+ because it is hard to understand what Kim Su and Mai are going through. At a younger age, most children think the world is perfect, where everything is going great and everyone loves each other but the world is not like that and I don't think most children get/understand that.

This book is about Anna. Her parents were fighting and Anna's Mum decided to take her to Mim (Anna's grandmother). Whilst Anna is at Rosemont (Mim's home) she meets Taylor and Zoe. Anna and Zoe became good friends and side kicks during the main problem of this book. Then, Anna meets Caitlin Crudup; the Crudup family is one of the richest families in the town. To make matters worse (or better!) it is the flower festivel and everyone is too busy trying to get their things for the festival ready. No one is paying attention to the surroundings around them...

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. I don't exactly have a reason other than it wasn't amazing. Generally it was ok- it had all the basic things that were well developed, everything existed for a reason. It just wasn't spectacular. There were a few things like I would have liked more description and information on how the whole ordeal was resolved.

The question of blog is, have you ever lived somewhere (other than your own home) for a long period of time? I have not but I don't think I would enjoy it especially as I can get quite homesick. I find it hard to fall asleep in a new setting and this would be quite bad for my sleep schedule.

I hope you enjoyed this book review on Tell me by Joan Bauer! Love-bookworm blog 

Bookify! #2

Hi! I hope you enjoy this Bookify! post.

Bookify! is a series where I am going to choose a prompt and we have to make a plot, write a book or text around the theme. I have made this series to motivate people to write or to think of ideas.

If you want ideas for reading- Reading Prompts

Today's theme is- Water

I chose the prompt water because water is such a diverse subject. It can be the main topic of fiction or non-fiction. Water is a really strange and fascinating  medium that would be really fun to write about.

There many things you could write about that involve water. Ideas include (but are certainly not limited to): ocean plastic, climate change (e.g polar ice caps), any sort of marine biology (the above could all be used to spread awareness!), a trapped under water narrative, a thrilling report on the Olympics and many more!

I hope this series helps if you're experiencing writer's block or need some interesting inspiration! Love-bookworm blog 

Would You Rather? #1

Hi! This is another new series called Would You Rather!

This series is going to be based on scenarios where you have to choose which one you would rather. I know some people do this already on their blogs but I have decided to do it too!

Today's Would You Rather is...

Would you rather only read Fiction or Non-Fiction for the rest of your life?

I would rather Fiction because you can learn and get entertained. Fiction also makes you think more because Non-Fiction tells you everything. I don't generally read non-fiction anyway. 

What would you choose? Love-bookworm blog

The Ivory Rose

Hi! I hope you enjoy this book review on The Ivory Rose!

Author- Belinda Murrel

Genre- Fiction, Time Travel

Theme- Be brave 

Target audience- 10+

I chose be brave for the theme because the main character, Jemma, kept being brave even in the strange, new land of the 1890's. She kept pushing on waking up at the crack of dawn and adjusting to the amount of chores and work as a house maid. I really admire Jemma for adapting to her "new life" so quickly.

I chose 10+ for the target audience because for these type of books having the main character a similar age to you is beneficial to understand what is happening. I also feel that a young child won't grasp the concept of time travel nor the completely different time that the 1890's were either.

This book is about Jemma, going back in time to the 1890's in Sydney. Jemma landed her first job babysitting Sammy, a little 7 year old girl who just moved into town with her mother. During a babysitting session with Sammy, Jemma finds a locket of an Ivory Rose (hence the title) and falls down the stairs, going back in time.

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars because it was extremely predictable, even I knew who it was halfway through the book, killing all the suspense the book might of held. I will admit the ending was satisfying, making the book come nicely together. The beginning was quite good, establishing dynamic relationships that grow throughout the story. The second half just dragged on a bit too much for my liking.

The question of the post is: do you enjoy learning about the Victorian times? I certainly do. I find it one of the most fascinating time periods ever! It's really interesting how much our world has changed in all aspects in a generally short period of time. As well as our "normal" during Covid-19 compared to upperclass or lowerclasses "normal" during the 1890's.

I hope you enjoy this book review on The Ivory Rose by Belinda Murrel! Love-bookworm blog  

Did YOU Know? Dr. Seuss EDITION

Hi! This is a Did YOU Know about Dr. Seuss!

Did YOU Know? Is a series aimed to provide interesting facts about book-related things. 

Fact #1- Dr. Seuss's real name is Theodor Seuss Geisel!

Facts #2- Dr. Seuss wrote and illustrated 47 books before he died. His estate later published a few books posthumously.

Fact #3- Dr. Seuss's first book was published in 1937. It was rejected 27 times before being picked up! This book is "And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street".

I hope you enjoyed this Did YOU Know? Love-bookworm blog 

Name a Book- Guess the Author

Hi! Welcome back to a Name a Book post and today you have to guess the authors.

1. Q- Who wrote Harry Potter?
A. J.K Rowling

2. Q- Who wrote the Baby-sitters club
A. Ann M. Martin

3- Q. Who wrote Matilda?
A. Roald Dahl

4- Q. Who wrote Mary Poppins?
A. P.L Travers

5- Who wrote Little Women?

A. Louisa May Alcott 

I hope you enjoyed this Name a Book post! Love-bookworm blog 

The girl in the Well Is Me

Hi! I hope you enjoy this book review on The girl in the Well is Me by Karen Rivers!

Author- Karen Rivers
Genre- Fiction
Theme- Learn from your mistakes
Target audience- 10+

I chose learn from your mistakes for the theme because while Kammie was stuck at the bottem of the well she reflected on her past and mistakes. She vowed never to repeat some of her regrettable actions again and learned from the consequences. 

I chose 10+ for the target audience because this book had concepts that are complicated and hard to understand. While Kammie was stuck in the well Kammie reflected on her past which involved, some harder ideas that I think 10 year olds and below couldn't understand.

This book is about an eleven year old girl named Kammie. She has just moved to a new school for year 6. Her plan is to be a popular girl, envying her old "friends". At school, she meets The Girls. The Girls are the most popular group in the school. Kammie, following her aspiration obviously wants to join, conveniently getting an "invitation" to join. She has to stand on a boardered up well to join them. The wooden boards snap! Kammie falls into the well. The Girls start taunting and teasing her. In the well, Kammie thinks about her life and some memories. The Girl's have gone to get help, haven't they?

I give this book 2 out of 5 stars. I felt the ending was really rushed and hard to follow. I kept getting confused and the author kept adding new characters at the end which added no value to the plot and were meaningless. On the other hand, the beginning felt really slow and I was super bored reading the first half of the book since almost nothing was happening. The Girls were really flat and uninteresting, I could barely tell the difference between the three girls in the group. We also get no background information or history on any of the characters except that Kammie has just moved to this new school. I also feel like the plot was badly executed and the ideas in the book were quite boring. Like an imaginary talking goat? Really?

The question of the post is did you have a "popular" group at school? I haven't actually, during school everyone was friends with everyone. A well known popular group is "The Plastics" from Mean Girls.

I hope you enjoyed this book review on The girl in the Well is Me by Karen Rivers! Love-bookworm blog 

Songs- Defenceless

Hi! Today I'm doing a song review on "Defenceless" by Louis Tomlinson.

Artist(s)- Louis Tomlinson 

Released- 31st of January 2020

Album- Walls

Genre- Pop

Song- Defenceless (not a single)

Louis Tomlinson is one of the four One Direction members who went on an indefinite hiatus in 2016. His debut solo album Walls, has racked up an impressive 400 milion streams on Spotify! Defenceless is one of the amazing 12 tracks on Walls. Recently, Louis has left the label Syco and is currently pursuing his own management for other artists.

I give this song 5 out of 5 ⛥ stars. This song shows a more vulnerable side to Louis and I love the lyrics. The bridge and the beat drops are so good! The story with the lyrics is phenomenal and extremely relatable. I especially enjoy the ending where the lyrics kind of switch into the other perspective of the lyrical argument. The first verse and pre chorus have really great metaphors and forces you to look deeper into the meaning and concepts in Defenceless (this shows that Louis really is a writing genius!)1

I hope you enjoyed this song review on Defenceless by Louis Tomlinson! I really encourage you to listen to this song because it's marvelous! Love-bookworm blog 

Bookify! #1

Hi! "Bookify!" is going to be a new series.

Bookify! is a series where I am going to do a theme and we have to make a plot or a book or text around the theme. I have made this series to motivate people to write or to think of ideas.

If you want ideas for reading- Reading Prompts

Today's theme is- #BlackLivesMatter (BLM)

I chose this topic (BLM) because this is a topic that's quite big at the moment and about racism. It's an issue which has been talked about a lot recently.

My idea is you could write a persuasive (a text trying to convince someone to do something) about why black lives matter or even why every person matters. Everyone is important even if they have different opinions or views on certain things, a different religion and how they look/speak. 

Tell me your idea in the comments! Love-bookworm blog 

Book talk- End of 2020/Beginning of 2021

Hi! I hope you enjoy this Book talk!

This series is aimed to provide a recap and quick overview of the books I reviewed this month.

I have reviewed these books, Inheritence by Carole Wilkinson, Drama by Raina Telgemeier and To Be Mona by Kelly Easton.

A quick recap:

Inheritence- Nic, who moves to go live with her grandfather in a old, remote family home but this house has no reception, 30 rooms and 3 dogs. When Nic had nothing to do she went to search for clues about her mother who died the day that Nic was born. When Nic found magical stones to make her go back in time, she discovers much more about the deep and dark past.

Drama- Drama is set during a school production. Callie had always been in stage crew because she can't sing. At all. She's determined, however, to make something that could be at broadway with a middle school budget. But what happens when the tickets are down and the stage crew are having trouble working as a team? Callie still has her own problems to solve. Not to mention eighth grade formal...

To Be Mona- Sage Priestly wanting to reinvent herself. She wants to get rid of her extra fat, unpaid bills and the crazy Mum. Sage has a teenage crush on Roger Willis, but him being "Mona's boyfriend" adds another reason to hate and be jealous of Mona. Sage gets an lucky ending but it wasn't how she thought it would be. Vern, Sage's "best friend" starts a fight with Sage. Mona and Sage have a school project together and Mona invites Sage over and some secrets are revealed...

The book I liked the best was Inheritance because I found it the most interesting in terms of plot. The main character, Nic, is really relatable and grows as a person over the book which was extremely fun to reflect on. Carole Wilkinson did a great job at developing her characters back story and history,  which made it lots more enjoyable to read and created an element of suspense.

Here is some information on these books,

Inheritence- HERE posted on the 19th of November

Drama- HERE posted on the 12th of February

To Be Mona- HERE posted on the 11th of March

I hope you enjoyed this Book talk! Love-bookworm blog 

To Be Mona

Hi! This is book review on To Be Mona!

Author- Kelly Easton
Genre- Fiction

Theme- Be you
Target audience- 12+

I chose 'be you' for the theme because Sage was trying to make herself into a different person. Sage was trying to be someone else, trying to be Mona. I think Sage would have been better off just being herself. This way she would've found friends who love her by being herself and not having friends that like her "fake" self. 

I chose 12+ for the target audience because this book needs you to think past the surface and deeper. Otherwise, you don't get the plot or the characters well enough to understand this book well and enjoy it.

In this book Sage Priestly wants to reinvent herself. Get rid of the extra fat, unpaid bills and the crazy Mum. Sage has a teenage crush on Roger Willis, but him being "Mona's boyfriend" adds another reason to hate and be jealous of Mona. Sage gets an lucky ending but it wasn't how she thought it would be. Vern, Sage's "best friend" starts a fight with Sage. Mona and Sage have a school project together and Mona invites Sage over and some secrets are revealed...

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. At the beginning of the book, it was really well written and the characters were muti-dimensional and had depth. I loved the beginning and if it kept going that way I definitely would've given a rating of 5 stars. Unfortunately, the ending was horrible. I found it to be really rushed and it was really anti-climatic. Mona was really dry and we barely knew anything about her even though she's one of the main characters.

The question of the post is- do you like school projects? I don't mind them, but sometimes they take a long time to do and can be a bit annoying. It also depends on the topic and how we need to display them e.g dioramas, posters etc. What about you? 

I hope you enjoyed this book review on To Be Mona by Kelly Easton. Love-bookworm blog 

Drama

Hi! I hope you enjoy this book review on Drama!

Author- Raina Telgemeier   
Genre- Graphic Novel, Everyday Life 
Theme- Be persistent 
Target audience- 10+ 

l chose to be persistent for the theme because when Callie's (the main character) school did the school production for Moon over Mississippi, Callie wanted to audition but she couldn't sing. So, she had to stick to being on stage crew instead. She kept trying to do her job but there was a lot of stress from the actors and everything was going wrong!

l chose 10+ for the target audience because some of the pictures I would say are only tweens and up (there is a very brief kissing scene). There are also lots of characters that have similar names and it is easy to get confused.

This book, Drama was about a school production. Callie had always been in stage crew because she can't sing. At all. She's determined, however, to make something that could be at broadway with a middle school budget. But what happens when the tickets are down and the stage crew are having trouble working as a team? Callie still has her own problems to solve. Not to mention eighth grade formal...

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars because I feel the ending was quite rushed. It wasn't the best ending but it wasn't the worse either. This was a well drawn graphic novel and I could understand the plot. This shows that the pictures conveyed the story well.

The question of the post is would you like to act in a production? I don't think I would as I have stage fright. Personally, I also find it quite daunting to perform/talking in front of people. I would rather be in the background, painting sets, directing, making costumes, doing make up etc.

I hope you enjoyed this review on Drama by Raina Telgemeier. Love-bookworm blog 

What Books I got for Christmas- 2020

Hi! It's a month after Christmas and I thought I would share what I got for Christmas in 2020.

Last year- Here (2019) 

Count- 3

Fiction- 3

Non-Fiction- 0

My first book I got was Wonder.

Picture- Wonder Cover

Released- 14th of February 2012

Award- New York Bestselling Novel (5 times) and others!

Genre- Fiction, Everyday life

Author- R. J. Palacio 

The second book I got was The 117 Storey Treehouse.

Picture- The 117 Storey Treehouse Cover

Released- 8th of August 2017

Award- 2020 YABBA Award, KOALA Fiction for Older Readers, ABIA Book of the Year for Younger Children and more!

Genre- Fiction, Humor 

Illustrated- Terry Denton 

Author- Andy Griffiths

The third book I got was The 130 Storey Treehouse.

Picture- The 130 Storey Treehouse Cover

Released- 6th of April 2021 (Hardcover)

Award- None

Genre- Fiction, Humor

Illustrated- Terry Denton 

Author- Andy Griffiths 

I hope you enjoyed this list! Have you read any of these? Love-bookworm blog 

I "Adopted" Library Books

Hi! Last year my local library did a stocktake and the books they didn't need, people could take for free! So, of course I just had to take some and here is the list of what books I "adopted".

Count- 13
Fiction- 12
Non-Fiction- 1

Books-
Primary Atlas (Non-Fiction)
Star Seeker (I've reviewed)- Star Seeker Review
The Diary of Ali Ismail- Refugee
The Royale Diaries- Catherine The Great Russian Journey
The Day My Bum Went Psycho
The Horse and his Boy
The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe
Hating Alison Ashley
Two Weeks with the Queen
The Folk of the Faraway Tree
By Balloon to the Sahara
City of Masks
So Much to Tell You
Song of the Wanderer
Unbelievable! (Short Stories)

These are all the books I got! Love-bookworm blog

Inheritance

Hi! This a book review on Inheritence. 

Author- Carole Wilkinson

Genre- Fantasy

Theme- Persistence

Target audience- 10+

I chose persistence for the theme because Nic kept trying to time travel even though her friends from the past and her guardians tried to prevent her. Nic kept persisting because she stood for what she thought was right.

I chose 10+ for the target audience because sometimes the sentences/paragraphs were wordy but most of the time it was quite easy to understand if you read it over. Some of the ideas were a bit hard to comprehend e.g the Australian history.

This book is about Nic moving to go live with her grandfather in a nice remote family home but this house has no reception, 30 rooms and 3 dogs. When Nic had nothing to do she went to search for clues about her mother who died the day that Nic was born. When Nic found magical stones to make her go back in time she discovers much more about the deep and dark past.

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars because sometimes I felt the main part of the story (time traveling) got pushed away slightly. Sometimes the author would focus too heavily on Nic's school and social life, which is great but I feel that the author ignored the time traveling a bit.

The question of the post is would you like to time travel (it can be future, past or both)? I don't think I would because the author described time traveling as draining. You can also see horrible things, which I wouldn't want to see.

I hope you enjoyed this book review on Inheritence. Love-bookworm blog 

Songs- Stop

Hi! Today I'm doing a song review on "Stop" by the Spice Girls!

This series is for reviewing songs.

Artist(s)- Spice Girls
Released- March 1998
Album- Spiceworld
Genre- Pop
Song- Stop

This girl band (Spice Girls) split up in the year 2000 as 'Ginger Spice" Geri Halliwell left due to her eating disorder (much like One Direction band member Zayn Malik). Although Gerri left in 1999, her vocals were still included in the song Stop. She also left due to the demanding schedule and the band fighting all the time. 

I give this song 5 out of 5 stars ⛦ because this is a very upbeat song that never gets old! This song was mainly written by Gerri but they still released it after she left. I'm extremely happy with their decisiom to release Stop because I love this song!

I hope you enjoyed this song review on Stop! Love-bookworm blog 

Book talk- October 2020

Hi! I hope you enjoy October's Book talk!

This series is aimed to provide a recap and quick overview of the book(s) I reviewed this month.

Whisper by Chrissie Perry

A quick recap:

Whisper- This book is about Demi who is fourteen. She becomes incredibly ill and could die. Luckily, she survived but her illness but the illness left deaf. Demi moves to a school which is specialised for deaf students. Moving school allowed Demi to get away from Jules (her interpreter). This book is about Demi facing rascim, discrimination, anxiety, friend and family problems and adjusting to living with deafness.

Here is some information on this book,

Whisper- HERE posted on the 17th of October 

Why you should read Whisper- HERE posted on the 26th of October

I hope you enjoyed this month's Book talk! Love-bookworm blog 

Why you should read Whisper

Hi! These are some reasons why you should read Whisper by Chrissie Perry:

 Whisper Review- HERE

Whisper is a novel (by Chrissie Perry) that everyone should read. There are several reasons to read this book including learning about important topics such as discrimination, disability and mental health. In addition to being very educational, the story is also entertaining. These reasons will be explored in more detail in this post.

Whisper discusses relevant issues including discrimination. Discrimination is when you treat another person or group unfairly or differently because of their background or characteristics (like age, race or religious beliefs). In this story, there were many characters discriminated against because of their disability, including the main character Demi who is discriminated against because she is deaf. For example, Demi was in a gathering where people in the group turned off the lights. This meant that Demi could not see, lip read and communicate within that particular group and was excluded. By reading these examples, it builds your own awareness and you can learn how to be more inclusive.

In Whisper, Demi also lives with anxiety. Anxiety is when you get really nervous or scared about something. Demi's anxiety got so bad to the point where she had panic attacks at the mention of North Field where she experienced trauma. She managed her anxiety by talking through her trauma with someone. This example teaches you to look after your mental health and how important mental health is.

Whisper is also an extremely entertaining book. Once you start reading it, you won't want to put the book down! You learn because you are engaged with the characters in the book and are too focused and invested in the story to even realise you are still learning about serious and complex issues! 

You should read Whisper because there are multiple benefits of reading this book including: learning about discrimination, anxiety and above all, enjoying the journey because the story is entertaining and engaging. Hope you have a fun time reading Whisper! Love-bookworm blog  

Name a book- Mary Poppins BOOK EDITION

Hi! Here is yet another Name a book... but the Mary Poppins EDITION!

Name a Book is a feature on my blog with questions about a certain topic. These have questions and answers on the same post.

1 Q.  Who is the eldest child?
    A.  Jane.

2 Q. What are the twins' names?
    A. John and Barbara.

3 Q. The language of nature?
    A. Starling.

4 Q. Who wrote this series?
    A. P.L. Travers.

5 Q. How does Mary Poppins arrive in the second book, Mary Poppins comes back?
   A. By a kite.

I hope you got the same answers. If you want a movie (original)/Mary Poppins Again edition of Name a Book, please let me know in the comments! Love-bookworm blog 

Whisper

Hi! I hope you enjoy this book review on Whisper. 

Author-Chrissie Perry

Genre- YA (Young Adult Fiction), Everyday life

Theme- Be unique. l will explain why later in the post

Target Audience- 12+ I will explain why later in the post

                                

I chose 'be unique' as a major theme of this book because if you were the same as everyone else then, everything you thought was interesting within yourself wouldn't be. Everything would become boring and there would be nothing special about you or anyone else.

I chose 12+ because this is a YA book, otherwise you can read it at your own risk. It has some confusing themes. This is a good book to read multiple times for the enjoyment as well as to grasp the meaning of the book better.

This book is about Demi who is fourteen. She is becoming incredibly ill and could die. Luckily, she survived but her illness made her deaf. Demi moves to a school which specializes in teaching the deaf. By moving schools, Demi gets away from Jules (her interpreter). This book is about Demi facing rascim, discrimination, anxiety, friendship and family problems as well as adjusting to fit in the deaf community.

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars because it's really well written. As the reader, you felt like you were going on the journey with Demi and could feel her struggles. It wasn't fake or cliche and was a book with unique problems and characters.

The question of the post is- would you rather be deaf or blind? I think deaf because I can still "talk" by signing or talking if I learn to lip read/get an illness. I can also still see and read, write and do other things.

I hope you enjoy this book review on Whisper! Love-bookworm blog