I absolutely loved50 Wacky Things Humans Do: Weird & amazing facts about the human body! so naturally I wanted to read about wacky pets as well.
With information ranging from gross (toads eat the skin they shed) to amazing (salamanders can breathe and drink through their skin) this book provides interesting facts and theories about various furry, feathered and scaly pets.
I think the writing style would be engaging for kids and the bite sized chunks of information get the point across without getting into information overload territory. While I already knew some of the facts, others were new to me. Then there were those that I wasn’t sure if I already knew or not but still found fascinating, including the potential for rabbits to get cavities from eating carrots.
A couple of my favourites facts were:
Goldfish use teeth in their throats to crush their food. They don’t have stomachs. Instead they break up food and absorb nutrients in their intestines.
Chameleon eyes can move independently, so they can look in two different directions at once.
Marta Sorte’s illustrations are so cute! I mean, look at this ferret dancing!
And this baby seahorse getting ready to chow down!
There were a few instances in this book where the answer to why animals do a certain behaviour was that we really don’t know or that it may be because of one of several possible reasons. I found this frustrating but other readers probably wouldn’t.
I enjoyed this read and would happily reread it. Overall though, I preferred 50 Wacky Things Humans Do.
Thank you to NetGalley and Walter Foster, Jr., an imprint of Quarto Publishing Group, for the opportunity to read this book.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
Have you ever wondered why your dog chases its tail or how your cat manages to land on its feet every time?
50 Wacky Things Pets Do takes an up-close look at all the weird and funny things our pets do, from dogs snacking on poop and guppies jumping out of tanks, to cats meowing and ferrets dancing happily.
Paired with equally wacky illustrations, 50 wild and incredible facts are presented, along with educational information about each animal’s habits and personality quirks. Whether seriously strange or downright silly, these wacky facts are sure to delight kids while they learn all about pets and their peculiarities.
A few years ago I became mildly obsessed with a documentary series called Weird Creatures with Nick Baker. It sparked an interest in wonderfully weird animals I’d never heard of before or knew very little about, so this book essentially jumped out at me.
From the Pacific barreleye with its see-through head to the leafy sea dragon that looks like seaweed, this book provides an introduction to some of the world’s most unusual animals. It even includes a couple of my favourites, the star-nosed mole and the three-toed sloth.
I enjoyed the down to earth, conversational tone of the writing and the focus on conservation and how each animals’ differences help them, e.g., for camouflage or protection. I discovered some animals within the pages that were new to me and learned some interesting facts about some I was already familiar with.
The illustrations were colourful and fun with a dash of quirkiness. I would have liked to have seen a photo gallery accompanying them though (perhaps at the end of the book) as I found myself searching for photos of the animals that were new to me.
Thank you to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group – words & pictures for the opportunity to read this book.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
Celebrate the weird, wonderful, and the downright bizarre in this compelling compendium of unusual animals. From the green fur of a three-toed sloth, to the pink and wiggly appendage of the star-nosed mole, there’s something new to marvel at on every page.
Delve into the forests, burrow under the ground, and dive into the deep to discover nature’s most peculiar creatures and learn about their behaviour, diet, and habitat, as well as folk beliefs about each animal.
Hidden away in Earth’s forests, caves, and oceans, these creatures might look or behave in peculiar ways but, as you will soon find out, every oddity serves a purpose:
The long, skeletal finger of an aye-aye, used by this lemur to tap on trees to locate hollow tunnels where delicious insects hide
The barrel-shaped eyes of a Pacific barreleye fish that turn upward to watch for prey above through its transparent head
The big, bulbous nose of a proboscis monkey designed to attract mates
The armour-like scales of a pangolin that are so tough that even lions and tigers can’t bite through them.
Come face-to-face with the most curious creatures from across the globe, and decide for yourself who’s the weirdest of them all.
This book is gorgeous! Photography is one of my passions, one I don’t spend as much time pursuing as I’d like. I’ve followed the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition since 2007 and accidentally found this book, the third Bird Photographer of the Year at my library. Yay, libraries!
I have a group of wild birds that I’ve been privileged to get to know over the past couple of years and have loved capturing their individual and often quirky personalities. This book, with its stunning collection of images, has sparked my creativity and given me so many ideas to improve my photos. I loved the compositions, the lighting and artistic choices made by the photographers that have resulted in photos that make you feel like you can almost reach out and feel the feathers.
You can find the winners featured in this book on the Photocrowd website.
Sometimes words just don’t cut it so instead I have to show you my two absolute favourite photos, which were both commended in the Creative Imagery category:
and Kevin Morgans’ silhouetted Canada Goose, found here.
Aren’t they stunning?! I loved them so much I forced myself to learn how to add images to Goodreads just so I could show you. (It’s only taken me almost 2 years to learn how 🤪)
An added bonus is that this competition isn’t just about brilliant images; it’s also about conservation. From the Photocrowd website, “Over the past three years Bird Photographer of the Year has been able to donate over £7,000 to the British Trust for Ornithology.”
I just hope my library has the first two books!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
The Bird Photographer of the Year competition celebrates the artistry of bird photography, and this large-format book is lavishly illustrated to reflect this. A celebration of avian beauty and diversity, it is a tribute to both the dedication and passion of the photographers as well as a reflection of the quality of today’s modern digital imaging systems.
The book includes the winning and short-listed images from the competition, now in its third year, showcasing some of the finest bird photography, with a foreword by BTO President and head judge, Chris Packham. A proportion of the profits from the book goes directly to the BTO to support their conservation work.
The advent of digital technology has revolutionised photography in recent years, and the book brings to life some of the most stunning bird photography currently on offer. It features a vast variety of photographs by hardened pros, keen amateurs and hobbyists alike, reflecting the huge diversity of bird enthusiasts and nature lovers which is so important in ensuring their conservation and survival.
I’m convinced the Wayward Children series are fairy tales for adults whose door never opened for them as children, who are holding out hope against hope that some day their door will finally appear.
Alas, that this is not a fairy tale.
Okay, Seanan, I hear you. So it’s not a fairy tale, but it’s a cautionary tale, right?
this is Lundy’s story, Lundy’s cautionary tale
This cautionary tale’s doorway leads to the Goblin Market which, despite the fact that I would never make it a day there, still made me yearn for my own doorway to appear. It also made me want to reread Every Heart a Doorway to revisit Lundy’s journey after the conclusion of this book.
Lundy is this tale’s Wayward and she’s a reader!
Everything was a story, if studied in the right fashion.
She won my heart before I knew anything else about this precious soul. Lundy is also a strict keeper of rules, which is exactly why her doorway would never even consider me a possibility.
Following the rules didn’t make you a good person, just like breaking them didn’t make you a bad one, but it could make you an invisible person, and invisible people got to do as they liked.
This is a book of friendship and loyalty, of being torn between what you want and what you need, and of pies. Oh, the pies! I need to eat all of the pies.
I adored the Archivist, had a soft spot for Moon and wish I had gotten to know Mockery. I loved learning about how the Goblin Market’s rules work and especially loved the idea, foreign in our own, that unfair things always come with consequences.
I’m also entirely in love with that cover artwork and the gorgeous illustrations. I need a print of that doorway in the tree that’s large enough to span an entire wall so I can gaze at it all day, waiting for it to magically transform into the doorway to my world.
I was disappointed that some of the most exciting scenes happened off the page. I wanted to witness firsthand the battles that had been fought and won by characters when I wasn’t looking, and to be told of their conclusion rather than being shown them was frustrating for me.
Maybe it’s wishful thinking but I keep hoping there will be a Wayward Children book that explores the world I should be living in and that the simple act of opening the pages will open its doorway for me.
“It is a place where dreamers go when they don’t fit in with the dreams their homes think worth dreaming. Doors lead here. Perhaps you found one.”
How am I supposed to wait an entire year for Come Tumbling Down?!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
This fourth entry and prequel tells the story of Lundy, a very serious young girl who would rather study and dream than become a respectable housewife and live up to the expectations of the world around her. As well she should.
When she finds a doorway to a world founded on logic and reason, riddles and lies, she thinks she’s found her paradise. Alas, everything costs at the goblin market, and when her time there is drawing to a close, she makes the kind of bargain that never plays out well.
I really enjoyed this book and I’m still not entirely sure why. I read until 3am and then continued as soon as I woke. I’m guessing it was partly because I found the writing so beautiful and partly because I find human behaviour fascinating and am always interested in seeing how people respond differently to similar circumstances.
It starts at the college. A student goes to sleep and cannot be woken. We follow a variety of people: college students, professors, medical professionals, new parents and preppers as they navigate the progression of a previously unknown illness that’s sweeping through their geographically isolated town.
I felt as though I was watching snapshots of peoples’ lives from a distance. Maybe it was because the narrative circled around so many different people or maybe I failed to make connections I should have but, while I found the writing beautiful in many places, I didn’t feel anything for the people whose lives were being so greatly affected. I liked some of the characters but wasn’t affected when their lives were turned upside down.
I also never felt the expected sense of urgency while I was reading. Perhaps this was intentional as the writing did have a dreamlike quality at times, although I’d been more prepared for a nightmarish feel. The narrative just seemed to waft over me and it read more like a series of character studies than the drama I had hoped for.
While I didn’t feel, I did think. I enjoyed pondering the nature of reality, consciousness, what it means to sleep and dream, how trees communicate with one another and various philosophical debates that reminded me of when I was at university. Thinking my way through this book seemed to help distract me from the fact that a lot less happens in this book than I’d expected.
I spent a lot of the book waiting to find out what the dreamers were dreaming and, while I did get some answers and there were some satisfying conclusions, I was also left with a bunch of unanswered questions. Some people who seemed integral to the story simply faded away without resolution. Rebecca’s story, which I was initially quite interested in, became tedious and annoyed me. Then there was the psychiatrist who I expected to add a lot to the story but didn’t really leave an impression on me.
I think what really kept me glued to the pages were the outcasts. I’m a sucker for people who for whatever reason just don’t fit in and this book had several that I loved. I could have easily done away with a few other characters to spend more time with Mei, Sara and Libby.
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Scribner, an imprint of Simon & Schuster UK, for the opportunity to read this book.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
In an isolated college town in the hills of Southern California, a freshman girl stumbles into her dorm room, falls asleep – and doesn’t wake up. She sleeps through the morning, into the evening. Her roommate, Mei, cannot rouse her. Neither can the paramedics who carry her away, nor the perplexed doctors at the hospital. Then a second girl falls asleep, and then another, and panic takes hold of the college and spreads to the town. As the number of cases multiplies, classes are canceled, and stores begin to run out of supplies. A quarantine is established. The National Guard is summoned.
Mei, an outsider in the cliquish hierarchy of dorm life, finds herself thrust together with an eccentric, idealistic classmate. Two visiting professors try to protect their newborn baby as the once-quiet streets descend into chaos. A father succumbs to the illness, leaving his daughters to fend for themselves. And at the hospital, a new life grows within a college girl, unbeknownst to her – even as she sleeps. A psychiatrist, summoned from Los Angeles, attempts to make sense of the illness as it spreads through the town. Those infected are displaying unusual levels of brain activity, more than has ever been recorded. They are dreaming heightened dreams – but of what?
The difference between hero and villain was so frequently in the paperwork that most people never thought to file.
I love this book and I need MORE! Part of me adored that ending and another part of me, the greedy reader part of me, needs to know what happens next! In detail!
This was my very first Mira Grant Seanan read and I’m in awe over how much I loved it. I accidentally found Every Heart a Doorway on my library shelf in October 2016 and it became, over the course of one day, my all time favourite book. However, I’d hesitated to try a Mira book as I had this bizarre notion that they may not be for me. Well, to that I now say, ‘Pish posh! And bring me another!’
Seanan’s characters become real to me in such a short space of time. I become fully immersed in their world and the only reason I didn’t finish this book within a day was because life vaguely imitated art. Nope, I don’t have Morris’s disease but I did have a lovely time with food poisoning.
The outbreak was beyond control long before anyone realized it was happening.
Julie Dillon’s dust jacket illustration is absolutely jaw dropping and made me need this book before I even read the blurb. It’s just so delightfully creepy and mysterious and sinister.
I would advise with this book that you read the blurb but not much else. I want everyone to experience this book as I did, not knowing how everything was going to unfold until it did so with each page turn. The only thing I would mention is that if you’re strongly against the use of vaccinations then there’s a fair chance this isn’t a book you want to add to your TBR pile.
No matter how much she wanted it, this was one nightmare she would never wake from.
I am the proud owner of copy 35 of 1250 signed numbered hardcover copies. ❤️
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
We live in an age of wonders.
Modern medicine has conquered or contained many of the diseases that used to carry children away before their time, reducing mortality and improving health. Vaccination and treatment are widely available, not held in reserve for the chosen few. There are still monsters left to fight, but the old ones, the simple ones, trouble us no more.
Or so we thought. For with the reduction in danger comes the erosion of memory, as pandemics fade from memory into story into fairy tale. Those old diseases can’t have been so bad, people say, or we wouldn’t be here to talk about them. They don’t matter. They’re never coming back.
How wrong we could be.
It begins with a fever. By the time the spots appear, it’s too late: Morris’s disease is loose on the world, and the bodies of the dead begin to pile high in the streets. When its terrible side consequences for the survivors become clear, something must be done, or the dying will never stop. For Dr. Isabella Gauley, whose niece was the first confirmed victim, the route forward is neither clear nor strictly ethical, but it may be the only way to save a world already in crisis. It may be the only way to atone for her part in everything that’s happened.
She will never be forgiven, not by herself, and not by anyone else. But she can, perhaps, do the right thing.
Beneath the Sugar Sky is a 2019 Hugo Awards finalist in the Best Novella category.
This will always be the Wayward Children Road Trip book to me. As soon as this disparate bunch of kids piled into the school minivan and set off on their journey I rejoiced, and their adventure just kept getting better and better, venturing through different worlds on their quest to help Rini, who fell from the sky near the beginning of the book.
This book took me an embarrassingly loooong time to read and I take full responsibility because I loved it! It unfortunately became one of those reads where life happened in between. I only wanted to read it whenever I could fully appreciate the brilliance that is Seanan McGuire, and let’s just say that 2018 sucked for me.
Recharged by the impending release of In an Absent Dream 💜 I knew I had to finish this one and, even after months of not having read a single page, I slipped straight back into the story. I hope to do a review that does some sort of justice to this book after a reread but for now please enjoy a sample of my favourite quotes:
“It’s never a good idea to eat the ground,” she said blithely, cake between her teeth and frosting on her lips. “People walk on it.”
Chandeliers of sugar crystals hung from the vaulted, painted chocolate ceiling. Stained sugar glass windows filtered and shattered the light, turning everything into an explosion of rainbows.
“It’s going to be okay. You’ll see. Just hang on. This would be a stupid way to die.”
“Sometimes that’s all you can do. Just keep getting through until you don’t have to do it anymore, however much time that takes, however difficult it is.”
“Every world gets to make its own rules. Sometimes those rules are going to be impossible. That doesn’t make them any less enforceable.”
Everyone who wound up at Eleanor West’s School – everyone who found a door – understood what it was to spend a lifetime waiting for something that other people wouldn’t necessarily understand. Not because they were better than other people and not because they were worse, but because they had a need trapped somewhere in their bones, gnawing constantly, trying to get out.
There is kindness in the world, if we know how to look for it. If we never start denying it the door.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
When Rini lands with a literal splash in the pond behind Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children, the last thing she expects to find is that her mother, Sumi, died years before Rini was even conceived. But Rini can’t let Reality get in the way of her quest – not when she has an entire world to save! (Much more common than one would suppose.)
If she can’t find a way to restore her mother, Rini will have more than a world to save: she will never have been born in the first place. And in a world without magic, she doesn’t have long before Reality notices her existence and washes her away. Good thing the student body is well-acquainted with quests …
I had never heard of ‘weird fiction’ prior to reading this book’s blurb and was immediately intrigued. I usually enjoy stories that have unexpected twists and turns or cover terrain I haven’t encountered before. I love weird stuff!
So it both surprised and disappointed me that this book wasn’t for me. I did enjoy the first story, The Calling by David B. Silva. It reminded me of Roald Dahl’s Tales of the Unexpected with its macabre ending, so I had hope for the rest of the stories.
I found the second story so disjointed and jarring that I kept putting off finishing it. I finally decided I had to finish it to get to another story I’d connect with more so I pushed through to the end and then slogged through another three stories. I didn’t like a single one.
Perhaps if I’d read these stories when this anthology was first published in 1994 I would have found them shocking but most of what I read felt either clichéd or bad weird. I acknowledge that I may be missing out on some gems by throwing in the towel at this point (there are some really positive reviews for this book) but I think I can live with that, especially when I read some reviews commenting on the amount of stories featuring women being abused by men.
Whenever I rarely DNF a book I usually feel guilty about it and plan to give the book another shot in the future because I don’t want to miss out on any magic that I didn’t find for whatever reason during my first attempt. I don’t think I’ll be doing that with this book and I’m probably more sad than anything because I was really looking forward to discovering this amazing new (to me) world called ‘weird fiction’.
Thank you to NetGalley and Riverdale Avenue Books for the opportunity to read this book. I really wish I had loved it.
Once Upon a Blurb
It’s hard to believe, but this anthology first appeared 28 years ago. In re-reading the stories in this gathering of the weirdest tales, I am also reminded of how strikingly fresh and original the material remains.
As its title implies, Borderlands contains fiction that resides out there on the edge, on the perimeter of what’s being done in the field of horror, dark fantasy, and suspense literature. When I solicited material for what I hope will be the first of many volumes, I made it clear I didn’t want stories that employed any of the traditional symbols and images of the genre. I wanted writers to expand the envelope, to look beyond the usual metaphors, and bring me something new.
Charlie Parker, who was loved by everyone (including his teachers), has died. The entire school has been deeply affected by his death at the beginning of Year 12. Well, everyone except Hamish and his only friend Martin. Hamish hasn’t been the same since a tragedy in his own family years ago and he thinks he knows what Annie, Charlie’s girlfriend and the prettiest girl in school, is going through.
Back then, I thought I was invincible. Back then, I didn’t realise children could die.
It’s a hard book to review for a couple of reasons. Most of the time I didn’t even like the main character, particularly when he kept ditching his only friend because someone more popular was suddenly paying attention to him. I also spent most of the book wondering why a specific character suddenly wanted to spend time with Hamish when they were polar opposites in most respects. This is explained towards the end but, although I liked the other character, I didn’t really take to their unusual friendship. I had guessed a big reveal early on so I didn’t feel the impact of that when it happened.
Some conversations work better in dark rooms where faces are hidden by the quiet.
At times it felt like I was playing YA Social Issue Bingo while reading this book (look at length of my content warnings list if you don’t believe me) but at the same time it was realistic because many high school kids really do have to deal with all of these issues and more.
I appreciated that this book highlights the fact that you really don’t know what is going on in other peoples’ lives. Behind the smile of the prettiest girl in school there could be a world of pain. Beneath the bravado of the star football player there may be secret shame. I wish that these kids had been given help for their problems or at least been able to tell a trusted adult instead of another kid who didn’t know what to do to help.
I loved that not only does the author live in the same county as me but we even live in the same state. For those of you living in America you will probably never understand how wonderful it feels to actually find your local area represented in a book when it happens so infrequently. Whenever I find a book by a local author I always relish all of the minor details.
In this book the distance between places was measured in kilometres and the temperature was in celsius so I didn’t have to convert any numbers in my head as I was reading. A character ate Vegemite on toast for breakfast. I love Vegemite! The beat up car one of the characters drives? I drive one of those! The tar melting on the road and sticking to the bottom of your shoes? Welcome to summer in Australia!
Once Upon a Nitpick: In chapter 15, Hamish and another character go to the beach. It’s specifically noted that the other character leaves his football in the car and Hamish has a little internal monologue about why this is the case, but on the next page Hamish takes a photo of the other person with the football on the beach. However they never go back to the car to retrieve it.
The sentences that addressed the reader only served to pull me out of the story and the repeated use of “As you know” irritated me. For example,
I guess I don’t need to tell you that Martin hated the beach. As you know, he couldn’t really swim, and he didn’t look too great with his shirt off.
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Pantera Press for the opportunity to read this book. I’m interested in reading this author’s next book.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 3.5 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
When Charlie Parker dies, it affects everyone who knew him. Everyone, that is, except for seventeen-year-old Hamish Day, the boy who lives on a cabbage farm and only has one friend. But Hamish soon finds himself pulled into the complicated lives of the people left behind. Among them is Annie Bower, the prettiest girl in school. As he uncovers startling truths about his peers, his perspectives on friendship, love, grief and the tragic power of silence are forever altered.
Meg’s own teaching experience has enabled her to delve deeper into the true nature of a universal high school experience. I Had Such Friends will speak to high school students/teenagers on a personal level, and foster important conversations among Australian youth, school and family culture on issues including abuse, failure and neglect.
With hard-hitting themes including unrequited love, abuse, neglect, sexuality, bullying, prejudice, death and suicide, I Had Such Friends is a poignant journey of self-discovery, grief and the tragic power of silence. A gripping look at adolescent pain with a narrative maturity that accurately reflects its YA milieu, I Had Such Friends resonates with young adult audiences and pushes them to reflect on their own ‘sliding doors’ moment.
Schizanthus Nerd 