A Tale of Dark and Grimm by Adam Gidwitz

Reader: beware. Warlocks with dark spells, hunters with deadly aim, and bakers with ovens retrofitted for cooking children lurk within these pages. But if you dare, turn the page and learn the true story of Hansel and Gretel - the story behind (and beyond) the bread crumbs, edible houses and outwitted witches. Come on in. It may be frightening, it's certainly bloody, and it's definitely not for the faint of heart, but unlike those other fairy tales you know, this one is true.

One of the things I love about having my blog and reviewing books is the possibility of reviewing books that I would not normally choose. This book is one such book. I would never normally choose a book like this, but when I was offered the oppurtunity to review this book I decided to read something out of my comfort zone. I liked the traditional fairy tales when I was younger and my daughter and I have shared many of Grimms Fairy Tales in the past but when I saw this book I was unsure on what I would think.

This book, A Tale of Dark and Grimm, is based upon the popular Grimm Fairy Tale, Hansel and Gretel.

I really enjoyed the style of the book with the story being interupted at many points by the author who prewarns the younger readers that they should put the book down, when the story is about to get 'gruesome' or scary. These parts of the book is as if an older peer or parent is warning you to stop reading, to ensure you don't get scared. 

The book has some sections of the book which have rather gruesome descriptions of violence within and I would therefore say that I think the book should be aimed towards teenagers, rather than the 9-11 years. There are scenes which involve beheading and fight scenes which may scare younger readers. However, these scenes are all necessary to the story and all add to the story's moral. There is a strong moral throughout the book of inner strength and also staying headstrong and trusting what you believe in to the end.

It was a well written book, which takes a well known fairy tale and splits it into nine manageable chunks, which are all interwoven and combine to tell the story in full. The author is a great storyteller and I will be looking out for future books from him.

Thank you to the publishers, Andersen Press, for sending me the book to review and for inviting me to be a part of the blog tour.

Blog Tour: The Dark and Grimm by Adam Gidwitz

I will be hosting an extract from the book on Friday but how about visiting the other blogs Adam Gidwitz has visited so far this week


http://bookzone4boys.blogspot.com/2011/10/tale-dark-and-grimm-blog-tour-guest.html?m=0
http://solittletimeforbooks.blogspot.com/2011/10/blog-tour-tale-dark-and-grimm-and-q.html
http://mostlyreadingya.blogspot.com/2011/10/blog-tour-tale-dark-and-grimm.html

100 Classic Toys by David Smith (Vivays Publishing)

This fascinating book covers one hundred classic toys that have enchanted, captivated and enthralled generations of children. From the simplest building blocks to the most sophisticated robots, each toy included is still being manufactured or is easily available through sites like eBay. Why do some toys become classic? There are many reasons why particular toys stood out from their competitors. Perhaps the limitless creative possibilities of the LEGO brick, the timeless appeal of the dolls' house or the comforting presence of a favourite bear - whatever the secret, these toys and games have earned a special place in the hearts of millions of children (and former children). The author presents the background on how each toy was created and explains why it has become a classic. He also provides information about the manufacturer and how to find the toy - even in cases where it might not still be in production. Anybody flicking through the pages of 100 Classic Toys for Generations will be able to see a toy and say, "I used to have one of those!" This is a book for toy collectors, for parents and grandparents, for anyone who has ever played with a toy!

This book is like a step down memory lane, remembering your favorite toys from your childhood. Whether you are in your twenties, thirties, forties or even fifties and sixties, you are likely to remember many of the toys contained in the book. 

The one hundred classic toys have been split into eight sections within the book: building toys; games and puzzles; activity toys; role-play toys; trucks and transports; toys for making things; future classics; and finally... Along with lots of photographs of how the toys included have changed throughout the years, there is lots of additional information and facts about the toys. Who knew that when Twister was released in 1966, that executives were worried that it would attract criticism, but it went on to sell three million copies in its first year. 

There is lots of nostalgic history about the 100 toys included within the book and I enjoyed looking through them all and reading about the toys of my childhood - I remember the initial craze of the Cabbage Patch Kids, where parents were storming shops when deliveries arrived, one woman broke her leg in Pennsylavnia when 100 Christmas crazed customers stormed a toy shop following the delivery of some dolls. I didn't realise that before Cabbage Patch Kids went into mass production, the inventor created Little People which members of the public were not able to buy but they could adopt them, the Little People were not made but born in a hospital. Each doll was a labour of love for Inventor Xavier  Roberts.

While looking through the book, there were many toys that I did not recognise (i must be too young to remember them), however, there were also toys that I was surprised were not included: Buzz Lightyear was included but The Teletubbies were not, both caused huge queues with desperate parents trying to find them for Christmas presents  for their children. Barbie dolls are included in the book but I was always a Sindy doll girl, Sindy was not included either.

I really enjoyed reading through this book and I found it really interesting to read through, a great book to look through with my children and would be something that would make a great coffee table book as it would appear to a wide age range. It would make a great present for toy enthusiasts or someone who is young at heart and enjoys reminiscing of times gone by.

Thank you to the publishers, Vivays Publishing, for sending me the book to review.

Puffin Post

I was recently sent two copies of Puffin Post for review. I received Puffin Post (Volume 3, Issue 5) and Puffin Post for Puffling (Volume 2, Issue 5).

Puffin Post is a magazine about books for children. It is a subscription only magazine which have two separate magazines, Puffin Post for Pufflings, suitable for children aged six years plus and Puffin Post, suitable for children aged nine years plus. Six issues of the magazine are published each year and subscribers also get to choose a free book each issue too!

Each issue is full of articles, reviews, author information, activities, cartoon strips and exclusive short stories.

In the Puffin Post for Puffling issue I reviewed, there was an article by Andrew Cope about The Spy Dog Joke Book, a recipe for a rattlesnake sausage roll, an extract from Dick King Smith's Smasher, a tutorial on how to draw Puffin Peter, reviews of recent book releases by Puffling readers, author interviews, puzzles, cartoon strips, competitions, an exclusive story by author, Tamsyn Murray, and a sneak peek at the latest Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw. Throughout the issue there are lots of little animal facts and lots of contributions from Puffling readers.

The Puffin Post for readers aged 9 years plus includes lots of contributions by Puffin Post readers including letters, drawings and articles, an article and mathematics challenge by Johnny Ball, an exclusive short story by author, Elen Caldicott, competitions, a tutorial on how to draw Puffin Peter, animal antics, instructions on how to make a paper mache mobile, puzzles. recipes for moon rock biscuits, an exclusive sneaky peek of the latest Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw, installments of an exclusive story, jokes and a sneaky peek of Alex Scarrow's TimesRiders: The Eternal War.

The price for a years subscription to either magazine is £39.00 which includes six issues of the magazine, each magazine includes the option for a free book (there was the choice of 12-14 books to choose from in the issues I reviewed), and a mega membership pack. This seems a very good price for the yearly subscription when including the price of the books and the magazines.

The magazines have a wide range of content and I enjoyed reading what other subscribers thought about the books and topics covered within the issue. The exclusive stories and sneaky peeks included within the magazines are another great addition to the magazine - exclusive to subscribers. There is something for everyone in the magazine and as well as promoting books from Puffin there is lots to learn in the magazine - both educational as well as puzzles, competitions and Jokes to share with friends and families.

A subscription to Puffin Post would make a great birthday or Christmas present for young book lovers which would continue to give for a whole year as magazines and chosen free books will be delivered six times per year,

Thank you to Puffin Post for sending me two complimentary magazines to review.

Signed Book Giveaway - The Best of Me by Nicholas Sparks

The very kind publishers, Sphere, have asked me to host a book giveaway for my blog followers to celebrate Nicholas Spark's new book release, The Best of Me. I have five copies of the book to giveaway which includes signed book plates. My review of the book will be on the blog later in the week, which I am loving so far.

With well over fifty million copies of his books in print, Nicholas Sparks is one of the world's most beloved storytellers. His novels include nine No. 1 New York Times bestsellers. All Nicholas Sparks' books have been international bestsellers and have been translated into more than forty languages. Six of his novels have been adapted into major films: The Last Song, Dear John, Nights in Rodanthe, Message in a Bottle, A Walk to Remember and The Notebook.

To be in with the chance of winning a copy:

1. become a follower of my blog and comment on this post only (1 entry)
2. tweet about the competition (1 entry) (please include me in the tweet @sbroadhurst) and add a link to the comment below.

This is a UK only Giveaway, sorry for international followers of my blog.

Winners will be drawn at 6pm on Thursday 13 October 2011 and the books will be posted out by the publisher.

Winter Wishes, A Magical Collection of Animal Tales

This delightful collection of animal tales is perfect for sharing at bedtime. A young penguin looks forward to his first penguin parade, a snow hare wishes upon a falling star, and a baby seal sets out in search of the singer of the mysterious music he hears underwater...A beautiful addition to our hugely successful range of anthologies, with delightful illustrations from Alison Edgson and featuring brand-new stories from a host of best-loved authors, including Penny Dolan, Michael Broad and Holly Webb.

This is another fantastic anthology of animal stories by Stripes Publishers. They all have a winter and/or Christmas theme but there are a wide range of animals included within the stories. There are the usual dog and cat stories but the book also includes stories about elephants and tigers. My favorite story was The Wish Elephant by Elizabeth Baguley about a girl called Louisa who, along with her family, has moved from England to India. A visit to a local market leads to Elizabeth befriends and setting free an elephant from a trader and the elephant taking Louisa on a nighttime walk to the snowy mountains, a sight she misses in India and remembers due to her snow globe, a present her mother bought her to remember England by.

The stories are the perfect length for sharing at bedtime and there is sure to be at least one story in the book that an animal lover will enjoy, with one of their favorite animals included.  

I like these anthologies published by Stripes - a great selection of authors contribute to these and I was surprised to see Guy Bass included in this book, as one of my recent reads was Stitch Head by Guy Bass, a story completely the opposite to Finding Bigfoot, Bass's contribution to this book, a story about an ape like creature in a forest. However, this story is on par to Stitch Head and was a story I would be able to share with young or older children alike.

I would recommend this as a great stocking filler to animal loving children of all ages, they are lovely for sharing at story or bed time or ideal for 7+ readers to read alone.

Thank you to Stripe Publishing for sending me the book to review.

Close Your Eyes by Amanda Eyre

'Electrifying, a literary whodunit of the first order!You won't be able to look away. People will be talking about this book.' Justin Cronin, author of THE PASSAGE My father smelled like cigarettes and cardamom. When I was small, and wanted comfort, he would put down the wooden spoon when he was cooking, or the pen when he was writing. Always, he would halt what he was doing and crouch down. I pressed my cheek to his warm chest. In his arms, I was safe. The savage murder of eight-year-old Lauren's mother, and the sentencing of her father Izaan to life imprisonment for the murder, tears her world apart. As an adult, she can't understand why she has panic attacks, is unable to accept her boyfriend's marriage proposal, or listen to her brother Alex attempt to convince her of their father's innocence and wrongful imprisonment. Meanwhile, Sylvia Hall is running away from her loser boyfriend, determined to keep the baby he doesn't want. She knows her best friend since childhood, Victoria, will help her -- but Victoria has her own problems that threaten to consume her. All three women are connected by tragedy and betrayal: 'Close Your Eyes' is a heart-breaking page-turner about what happens when a family is destroyed.

This book was fantastic - it was split into five 'books' and although they seemed to be separate, towards the end of the book they entwined and the story was complete.

The story begins with 6 year old Lauren who, following a night in their tree house in their garden while their father and mother host a party in their home, makes the grim discovery with her brother (Alex aged 8) that her mother has been murdered. Their father is arrested and charged with her murder, while Lauren's brother believes their father is innocent, Lauren is not so sure.  Alex grows up and begins to train as a doctor before taking time out to work out in war zones while Lauren grows up into a more troubled adulthood. Working and in a relationship within which she is unable to commit her life gets worse when she receives the one phone call she didn't want - her brother has been in a hospital during a bomb attack and is now missing, presumed dead. Before Alex went to the war zone he made Lauren promise him that if anything happened to him, she would continue to look into her mother's murder and try to find innocence for her father, a task she was unsure of as she didn't believe her father was innocent.


There is also another story running parallel to that of Lauren. Sylvia is pregnant, but has also left her partner, and is now travelling to find her childhood friend, Victoria who appears to have gone off the rails since Sylvia last saw her.

This book had me gripped from the start and as I read through the five 'books' little clues were given as to what would be revealed but when I got to the end of the book I was still shocked as to the ending, however I had that satisfied feeling that all loose ends were tied up and an appropriate ending written. 


I would definitely recommend this book as a great read, for readers who like a good read where they are able to try and unravel the secret as they are reading.


Thank you to the publishers, Random House for sending me the book to review.