Book nerds rejoice! Debbie Tung doesn’t just understand us; she’s one of us! Debbie first drew scenes from my life in her debut Quiet Girl in a Noisy World: An Introvert’s Story and now she’s gained access to the bookish part of me which, let’s face it, is pretty much all that’s left once you take away the introvert part.
This is my second (but not final) read of this graphic novel and once again Debbie’s nailed it. Her illustrations perfectly capture the bliss of escaping into a book, the allure of a book sale, the horror of finishing a book and knowing you have to wait a whole year before you can dive into the sequel, and the special kind of magic you experience when your book order arrives. Debbie explores the bookish nightmare of a favourite book being massacred by its film, the horror of price sticker residue and the devastation you feel when someone ruins the end of the book you’re reading.
Debbie talks about how we read, where we read, why we read, and I don’t think I’ve ever felt so understood.
Every turn of the page resulted in validation of my bookish experiences.
There was only one page I was glad I couldn’t relate to – when you have to choose between books because you’ve reached the maximum amount you can have on loan at any one time from the library. Thankfully my wonderful librarians consider the loan limit a suggestion, not a strict rule, where I’m involved; just one more reason why my library is the best in the world!
I cannot get enough of this book and only wish it had been several hundred pages longer.
I wonder what part of my life Debbie is going to tackle next … Whatever it is, I need to read it immediately!
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for introducing me to Debbie with Quiet Girl and giving me the opportunity to remember why I need every book she ever publishes.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
Bookworms rejoice! These charming comics capture exactly what it feels like to be head-over-heels for hardcovers. And paperbacks! And ebooks! And bookstores! And libraries!
Book Love is a gift book of comics tailor-made for tea-sipping, spine-sniffing, book-hoarding bibliophiles. Debbie Tung’s comics are humorous and instantly recognisable – making readers laugh while precisely conveying the thoughts and habits of book nerds. Book Love is the ideal gift to let a book lover know they’re understood and appreciated.
I loved the beginning of this book. It has banter between friends, TV series binge watching and an upcoming road trip to a haunted ranch that used to be the home of a serial killer. The main character is a true crime enthusiast who’s also more in tune with the spirit world than she’d like to be. Ever since the “Great Ouija Board Fiasco” in her childhood Riley has tried to squish, deny and otherwise ignore her ability to see dead people.
I was all in during the lead up to the weekend at the ranch and I loved the ooky spookiness of her time there. I loved Pete, the ghost boy she meets over hot chocolate; Pete became my favourite character. I even enjoyed the banter between Riley and Michael, a sceptic who was dragged along to the ranch because he lost a bet.
Michael, or Mr Perfect as I came to think of him, was a nice addition to the story during his initial banter with Riley but I ended up finding him nauseatingly perfect and hoped he’d turn out to be a serial killer in disguise. I was creeped out that Mr Perfect called Riley “my girl” and she goes all swoony about it when the serial killer also called his victims his girls. I also wondered how it was possible that Michael didn’t know what a séance was when he kept talking about his cousin who works as a medium.
Once the story left the ranch my excitement began to fade as this serial killer ghost story morphed into more of a romance (yes, I’m a romantiphobe), one that seemed to be a way for the characters to pass the time while they were waiting for people to respond to their murder investigation phone calls and emails. Naturally there’s the obligatory sex scene along with the follow up description of the next night – “They were two insatiable beasts”. Ugh! Trashy romance novel jargon is also borrowed, mentioning the serial killer’s “manhood”. Ugh! Eye roll!
I enjoyed the chapters that helped tell the story of the serial killer; the way he thought, what he was trying to accomplish and the history of some of his victims. I thought I would really like Mindy, the girl who lived, but was disappointed that she was mostly typecast as ‘helpless victim’. Fair enough, considering what she’d experienced but I wanted more for her. It also didn’t seem plausible that this woman who’d been in hiding since her escape would be so easy to find or that she’d respond to Riley in the way that she does.
I liked Riley’s character and really enjoyed the scenes when she was fangirling about her favourite TV series with another character as I could relate to that (maybe a little too well). I mostly enjoyed it when Riley chatted with her best friend Jade but Jade’s habit of spouting sexual euphemisms, while intended to be funny, had me practicing my eye rolling. The best (worst?) one was “cattle-prodding your oyster ditch with his lap rocket”. Seriously?
I did find Riley’s transition from denying her ability to embracing it a tad rushed but considering her experience at the ranch it was fairly understandable. I also found the wrap up of the story predictable right down to the police arriving fashionably late. I was really irritated by some of Riley’s actions including baiting the suspected murderer, leaving a key under her door mat for Mr Perfect when she was being stalked and mindlessly contaminating a crime scene even though she was obsessed with true crime and should have known better. Then again, it would take some of the fun out of reading a horror/mystery/paranormal book if the main characters didn’t do stupid things that you want to yell at them through the pages about.
I’m interested in reading the next book in the series because there was a lot to like about this book. I enjoyed the engaging style of writing and became hooked almost immediately. I was captivated until Riley left the ranch and turned into a swooner (is that a word?) who worries if her new boyfriend will yell at her for doing something stupid. It probably seems like I wouldn’t want to read on after essentially pulling this book apart but after such a strong beginning I have faith in this author’s ability to become one of my favourites. It feels like there’s potential for the characters to grow and given Riley’s still learning about her abilities I’m curious to see how the series progresses.
Thank you very much to NetGalley and Ringtail Press for the opportunity to read this book.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 3.5 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
The dead can speak. They need her to listen.
Ever since Riley Thomas, reluctant medium extraordinaire, accidentally released a malevolent spirit from a Ouija board when she was thirteen, she’s taken a hard pass on scary movies, haunted houses, and cemeteries. Twelve years later, when her best friend pressures her into spending a paranormal investigation weekend at the infamous Jordanville Ranch – former home of deceased serial killer Orin Jacobs – Riley’s still not ready to accept the fact that she can communicate with ghosts.
Shortly after their arrival at the ranch, the spirit of a little boy contacts Riley; a child who went missing – and was never found – in 1973.
In order to put the young boy’s spirit to rest, she has to come to grips with her ability. But how can she solve a mystery that happened a decade before she was born? Especially when someone who knows Orin’s secrets wants to keep the truth buried – no matter the cost.
CW/TW: Adult language, sexual situations, discussions about sexual assault
The first X-Files episode I clearly remember watching was Squeeze. I was wedged into a beanbag on the floor of a darkened lounge room. Behind me was an open door leading to the kitchen which, like the rest of the house, was dark and Eugene Tooms creeped me out enough that several times he had me looking over my shoulder. My love of the weird and the wonderful and all things spooky began that night and I’ve been an X-Phile ever since, collecting episodes on VHS and then DVD and an assortment of books and memorabilia.
As soon as I saw Monsters of the Week I knew I had to have it. I loved the picture of Mulder and Scully on the cover and the title called to me. I suspected immediately that reading this book would lead to an overwhelming urge to binge watch the entire series (again!) but the reason why I need to surprised me. I’d expected to binge read this book and then slowly reread it as I rewatched each episode but in my rush to get my hands on this book I somehow missed the critical part of the subtitle.
There was always going to be some disagreement between myself and the authors; you can’t be this invested in a series for so long and not have strong opinions about it. While the writers shredded some episodes that I count amongst my favourites, most of their comments were a fair balance of the good, the bad and the creepy. However, sometimes the criticism was so critical that it had me wondering at times if this pair even liked The X-Files. My stubborn has kicked in so my upcoming binge will now be about confirming to myself that the episodes I always loved are still worthy of my adoration.
I adored Patrick Leger’s cover artwork and the illustrations accompanying each section of the book. There are several of these that I’d love to have framed. I do appreciate how much time and effort has gone into this book. Besides watching or rewatching 11 series of TV and two movies between them, Zack Handlen and Emily Todd VanDerWerff have tackled all of the monsters and mythology in a fair amount of detail; ranging from half a page to over three pages of commentary per episode. The authors also really like footnotes; most pages have several, ranging from really interesting extra information to seemingly random.
As a huge fan I wanted this read to feel as passionate about the series as I am and it was to a point. There were some quotes I loved:
Mulder’s defining trait is his willingness to charge headlong into danger if he thinks he will find the answers he seeks, and Scully’s defining trait is her willingness to ultimately trust her partner, even when she doesn’t believe him.
The X-Files is a cop show, yes, but it’s also one in which you could wake up in a safe, standard reality, then turn the wrong corner and end up becoming a thing that goes bump in the night. No one is safe, and any given door could lead to madness.
this isn’t a show about aliens as much as it is about our need to believe in something, lest the night become too dark and terrifying. There’s so much darkness in the night sky, but there are also so many stars. And maybe one of them is looking back at us.
If Deep Throat was a cheat code to the quest for the truth, X is a walkthrough written by somebody who doesn’t want to share his secrets, doesn’t like you, and might not even be playing the same game.
While I loved most of their take on the first few seasons I found the book became a bit of a slog to get through towards the end as it became more focused on the negative when discussing the later seasons:
The mythology episodes would come to feel more and more poorly motivated, and eventually, you’d start to wonder how Mulder could believe in any of this bullshit.
you won’t just be wondering why you decided to watch this episode; you’ll be wondering why you decided to watch a show that could produce an episode this bad at all.
Other people die, but those deaths don’t have any weight, and the point the episode tries to make is too unwelcome and backward to really care about.
Like nearly everything else in the episode, there’s no real joke here, just a joke-shaped hole where comedy could have theoretically existed.
The X-Files has been reheating its leftovers for several seasons now
The X-Files is frantically trying to find a new reason to justify its own existence as it circles the drain.
But then I’d find sentences like these and know they understood after all:
we wouldn’t still be talking about the series if it didn’t hit more than it missed.
“The Sixth Extinction,” parts one and two, are ridiculous television, but dammit, they’re our ridiculous television.
I acknowledge that had I written this book most reviewers would be commenting on how annoying it was to keep reading, “This is one of my favourite episodes!” almost every time they turned the page. It was a really nice trip down memory lane and it reminded me of so many episodes that shocked, horrified, intrigued and amazed me. I’d forgotten or maybe never realised that the Lone Gunmen made their appearance before Skinner did. I did keep waiting for the commentary about how each time Mulder pulls his gun on someone he loses it but sadly it never happened.
I had some objections when criticisms were made based on what is or isn’t acceptable today without consideration for the time that the majority of this series was made, when we thought computers were going to do some really scary things once the clock stuck midnight at the end of 1999. In particular the embarrassment the writers supposedly felt by being two white men critiquing a TV show written predominantly by white men irked me. By focusing so much on the gender, racial and cultural inequalities of the show they missed the obvious; Scully, being such a strong lead, inspired so many women to study and go on to work in STEM.
If you’re not already a fan you probably won’t pick this book up anyway but if you are just beginning your journey to find the truth out there I’d definitely recommend watching each episode prior to reading the commentary about them to avoid spoilers.
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Abrams Press for the opportunity to read this book.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
In 1993, Fox debuted a strange new television show called The X-Files. Little did anyone suspect that the series would become one of the network’s biggest hits – and change the landscape of television in the process. Now, on the occasion of the show’s 25th anniversary, TV critics Zack Handlen and Emily Todd VanDerWerff unpack exactly what made this haunting show so groundbreaking.
Witty and insightful reviews of every episode of the series, revised and updated from the authors’ popular A.V. Club recaps, leave no mystery unsolved and no monster unexplained. This crucial collection even includes exclusive interviews with some of the stars and screenwriters, as well as an original foreword by X-Files creator and showrunner Chris Carter.
This complete critical companion is the book about The X-Files, the definitive guide whether you’re a lifelong viewer wanting to relive memories of watching the show when it first aired or a new fan uncovering the conspiracy for the first time.
This colourful board book goes through an alphabet of work options available for girls when they grow up. I really appreciated the diversity in this book, in the jobs explored and the girls pictured. The jobs traverse traditional male and female jobs, from pilots and teachers to yoga instructors and quantum physicists.
Because girls from around the world are represented, young girls looking through this book should be able to identify personally with at least one girl. There are girls with blonde hair, red hair and dark hair. One girl is wearing a hijab. Another is in a wheelchair. Girls are wearing dresses, skirts, pants and uniforms.
I would have liked P to be for president but the end of the book does specify that the jobs mentioned are only some of the options so I’d be adding that one if I read this to a young girl.
O is for Optometrist. She checks our eyes to make sure we see clearly.
Because this is a board book I had hoped it would be told in rhyme and was disappointed that it wasn’t. It was written in a down to earth way that makes the different jobs easy to understand but I found it a bit too matter of fact. This is the type of book I expect people would buy for a baby shower but I couldn’t imagine myself wanting to read it over and over.
Thank you to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group – Walter Foster Jr. for granting my wish to read this book.
⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 3 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
ABC What Can She Be? explores 26 different career paths. Each page introduces a letter of the alphabet with bright artwork and highlights a career that is fun, challenging, and makes a big impact in its own way.
A boldly illustrated, fun family read, ABC What Can She Be? is a great way for parents to introduce their small children to the bright futures before them.
Pearl is a unicorn whose magic doesn’t exactly turn out how she plans. All she wants to do is share some apples with her best friends in the Kingdom, Tweet the firebird and Olive the ogre. However, each time she tosses her head or wiggles or prances something unexpected happens, like strawberry milkshake falling from the sky onto one of her friend’s heads.
Perhaps it would be better if Pearl didn’t try to use her magic after all. Then Pearl and her friends encounter three big gobble-uns who are planning something dastardly (and smelly).
This is a cute friendship story during which Pearl’s friends help her to believe in herself. Young readers who enjoy sugary sweet stories will enjoy hanging out with Pearl and her friends. I wasn’t a fan of Pearl’s random exclamations which included “Purple potatoes!”, “Cold crumpets!”, “Sizzling salad!”, and “Toddling toads!” but I’m not exactly the target audience; they may find these funny.
This book is extremely PINK! Pink things fall out of the sky, the illustrations are greyscale with lots of pink and plenty of words are pink too. I really liked the illustrations, particularly those showing Pearl suspicious, confused and cranky. I actually found the illustrations funnier than the story and they’re most of the reason why I will be ordering the second book of the series from the library. Also the second book is called The Flying Unicorn; flying combined with dodgy magic is something I want to see.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 3.5 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
Meet Pearl. She is a magical unicorn. But Pearl doesn’t quite know how to use her magic. With the help of her friends, Tweet and Olive, can Pearl believe in her magical self? And what happens when Pearl and her friends stumble upon three naughty, stinky gobble-uns!?
One thing you should probably know about me is that I absolutely adore abandoned photography so this review was never going to be unbiased. Most of the photos I’ve seen until now have been of abandoned America so I was really excited to see how amazing abandoned Japan looked. This is the coffee table book of my dreams!
From the snowy mountains of Hokkaido down to the southern tropics of Okinawa, these modern ruins or, ‘haikyo’, provide a paused and romantically silent contrast to a country known for the brightness, sound and movement that swells in so many of its thriving metropolises.
Shane Thoms took me on a journey through hospitals that looked like they belong in a horror movie,
resorts, hotels and restaurants whose still intact chandeliers tell a luxurious tale of days past, mines and industry that once employed thousands, theme parks and leisure with rides that still look like fun despite the rust, and schools where what looked like a gigantic stuffed walrus remains in perpetual time out, facing the wall in shame.
Besides enjoying the overall haunting beauty of this type of photography I also like to look closely, searching for telltale signs of the people who have lived within the walls; their stories whispering through the faded portraits gathering dust on the floor or calendars on the wall frozen in time during a specific month many years ago. While most of the photos have muted colours there are pockets of green where plants are growing through the floors or finding their way through broken windows.
I always wonder about the story behind each abandonment, how a building that has housed or entertained so many can be seemingly forgotten and left behind for nature to reclaim.
There’s an inherent sadness wandering through the shadowy halls; even the sunlight appears subdued as it fights its way through grime and mould.
I was surprised by the lack of graffiti in these photos but particularly liked the pink UFO captured mid flight. I loved the abandoned bathhouse with the cute sculpture of a person made from water containers that’s standing in the middle of the room.
I wanted to visit Nara Dreamland, an entire abandoned theme park, with its rusted rollercoasters
and demonic looking witch with fangs who overlooked the entrance to the haunted house.
Sadly this particular haikyo was purchased and its dismantling began in 2016.
I really need to buy this book so someone else has the opportunity to appreciate this library book instead of borrowing it time and time again.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
Stepping away from the lights and into the shadows, one adventurous photographer embarks on an underground voyeuristic journey, documenting a curious collection of images that provide a rare and intimate glimpse into a secret, mysterious and sometimes bizarre world. Miniature jungles sprout and thrive in the rooms of a discarded beachside resort. Filled with curiosities and eccentric furniture, a long forgotten love hotel crumbles away on the outskirts of a small country town. Inside a large snow covered building, a giant taxidermy walrus sits wedged in the corner of a darkened, dust filled room.
After years of abandonment, vines and foliage take over from past crowds to engulf roller coasters, carousels and water slides in a swampy amusement park. Rows of stools await more customers as the years pass by in a dilapidated strip club filled with retro treasures. Each with its own unique story to tell, the end result is the presentation of a fascinating realm where one can contemplate Japan’s hidden journey from permanence to disposability, composition to decomposition and construction to deconstruction.
Sometimes I don’t know what I miss more: everything I’ve lost or everything I never had.
I don’t usually say this but for this book I will. Please don’t read too many reviews prior to reading this book, but please, read this book! I finished reading only a few minutes ago and the tears that haven’t been soaked up by several tissues are currently drying on my face, which I expect looks like a mess!
It’s not about finding peace. There will never be peace.
This was my first, but certainly not my last Courtney Summers book and I didn’t know what to expect other than knowing there was a mystery. I know Sadie, the book and the character, will haunt me. Before I’d finished the first 50 pages I was already searching my library catalogue for more of Courtney’s books. This surprised me because I often struggle with books that switch between formats; in this case some chapters are told from Sadie’s perspective in first person and others are transcripts of podcasts. In this book I loved the different voices that contributed to the story and never felt the jarring that can happen during transitions from one to the other.
Ever since Mattie died, it’s been like this, this surfacing of ugly things, forcing me to witness them because living through it all wasn’t enough. When Mattie was alive, I could push it down inside me because I had things to do, I had to look after her. And now … I still have things to do.
In the beginning the podcast is well behind Sadie as she searches for her sister’s killer. I both longed for and feared the podcast catching up to her in its timeline. This book tackles so many painful topics but for the most part I didn’t feel weighed down; instead I was bouyed by Sadie’s sarcasm, along with her perseverance and resilience. I will definitely remember “Becki with an i” and hold a place in my heart for Javi with the silent J, Cat, Nell, May Beth and even Claire.
I wish his darkness lived outside of him, because you have to know it’s there to see it. Like all real monsters, he hides in plain sight.
One of my favourite bookish things happened in this book; another much loved book was referenced in this one. I may have gotten a teensy bit excited when a character was seen reading The Baby-Sitters Club and I’m not ashamed to tell you that I knew the exact one they were reading from the description of the cover image alone.
I did start to think I may have fallen into some plot holes but every one was filled in along the way. All of my questions were answered; all except for the most important one, but I was strangely satisfied with the ‘fill in the blanks yourself’ component. In the hands of a less capable writer I would have been really frustrated by this but with Sadie it only feels right that my heart should be conflicting with my mind.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
A missing girl on a journey of revenge. A Serial-like podcast following the clues she’s left behind. And an ending you won’t be able to stop talking about.
Sadie hasn’t had an easy life. Growing up on her own, she’s been raising her sister Mattie in an isolated small town, trying her best to provide a normal life and keep their heads above water.
But when Mattie is found dead, Sadie’s entire world crumbles. After a somewhat botched police investigation, Sadie is determined to bring her sister’s killer to justice and hits the road following a few meager clues to find him.
When West McCray – a radio personality working on a segment about small, forgotten towns in America – overhears Sadie’s story at a local gas station, he becomes obsessed with finding the missing girl. He starts his own podcast as he tracks Sadie’s journey, trying to figure out what happened, hoping to find her before it’s too late.
Weir is dreading his school’s swimming carnival and I know exactly how he feels. After attempting to fake his way out of having to attend [“COUGH! COUGH!”] Weir relents, deciding he will attend but not participate in any events. After all, if he’s too ‘sick’ for the swimming carnival then he won’t be able to attend the first family dinner with the Do’s new next door neighbours.
When he accidentally wins a race at the carnival Weir not only has to worry about his family embarrassing him in front of Bella and her family at dinner the next evening, he also has to face almost certain humiliation at the Regional Swimming Finals! Weir’s classmates, who have featured earlier in the series, make appearances in this book; naturally Han Some is as brilliant at swimming as you’d expect.
After reading the previous ten books I feel like I know Weir, his family and his friends. Anh Do’s books are always funny but I’m finding them funnier as the series progresses as I’m getting to know everyone better.
The illustrations always add to the humour of Anh’s books. My favourite image this time was the family pets playing a game of limbo. While I definitely enjoy chuckling my way through them Anh’s books always make me wish I had a kid to read them with.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
The school swimming carnival is on and Weir isn’t looking forward to ANY of it! Not the TINY cozzies! Or getting water UP HIS NOSE! And especially not the RACING! Can Weir win for his team? It won’t be easy … but it will be FUNNY!
Matilda is 30! How is that even possible?! Matilda and I became friends 29 years ago and her story remains one of my all time favourites. I couldn’t tell you how many times I’ve read it over the years but I can say that it gave me hope that circumstances can always improve, taught me that girls can be powerful and resilient, and that it is perfectly okay to be a book nerd, and proven if you’re really lucky you’ll find your very own Mrs Phelps and Miss Honey. I spent my childhood on the lookout for my Miss Honey.
I never had friends that enjoyed reading when I was growing up so Matilda became that for me. We even had a shared favourite book, The Secret Garden. I loved this story so much that the year after I first read it I wrote a multi page poem about the infamous chocolate cake incident for school. Not many things survived my childhood but I still have my treasured 1989 paperback copy of Matilda and that poem.
I found an amazing article by Mara Wilson about Matilda at 30. I love that there are multiple 30th anniversary editions of Matilda, each showing her thriving in a different way. Naturally this means that I have to buy one of each because, you know, marketing and obsessive book love and I have to have them all!!!
I need to press pause for a bit and tell you how much I adore all of Quentin Blake’s illustrations in Matilda and the rest of Roald Dahl’s books. As a kid I read about a bazillion books and while I always remembered the names of the titles and authors, the only illustrator whose name I knew was Quentin’s. Roald and Quentin made a perfect team, with Quentin highlighting all the phizz-whizzing quirkiness of Roald’s imagination. Even now I compare every illustrator I come across to Quentin; I can’t help it.
I don’t think you can truly put into words the impact a book has had on you like Matilda had on me but I know I wouldn’t be who I am today without it. While reading it this time I wondered where its characters would be today. I expect I’ll change my mind each time I reread this book from now on but here’s what I came up with this time:
The Wormwoods
Michael Wormwood eventually reconnected with his brilliant sister and they stay in regular contact. After some turbulent times as a teenager where he made some choices he’d prefer to forget including stealing cars, Michael turned his life around and now mentors troubled teens.
Mrs Wormwood is now a frumpet in an aged care facility where she cheats at Bingo and watches her programmes. She did try to sell Avon for a while but potential customers took one look at her caked on makeup and shut the door in her face. She never made a single sale. She bleached her hair one too many times so she’s now bald and her face has a look of perpetual surprise due to botched plastic surgery.
Mr Wormwood remains a grunion. The Wormwoods lived in Spain for a few years until his schemes were discovered and they were run out of the country. After trying and failing to implement new scams in numerous other countries Mr Wormwood eventually found work at a sawdust mill. His boss is a woman. He has a phobia of hats.
The Kids
Fred, Matilda’s friend who owned Chopper the parrot, became a veterinarian.
Lavender remains adventurous and now spends her days touring the world, conquering one extreme sport after another. She has lucrative sponsorship deals and whenever she’s photographed you can be sure her hair is a different colour, but never lavender. She has a pet newt and remains in contact with Matilda.
Hortensia now owns a pub and is known to regale her customers with wild, detailed yarns about her formative years under the watchful glare of the Trunchbull and her experiences in The Chokey. No one knows whether to believe her or not but she’s a born storyteller so they always come back for more.
Ollie Bogswhistle double crossed the wrong people and wound up serving time. He’s currently a prison snitch and after being on the receiving end of one too many punches he now sports a full set of dentures.
Julius Rottwinkle has a fear of heights and flying, among many other phobias. He attends therapy frequently. He hasn’t eaten liquorice since he was a child.
Nigel Hicks has extraordinary balance. He wrote a book espousing the health benefits of not showering very frequently but for some reason remains single.
Prudence, emboldened by being able to spell a ‘difficult’ word in Miss Trunchbull’s presence, went on to become a spelling bee champion.
Amanda Thripp never cut her hair again, an achievement that has made her the Guinness World Record holder for having the longest hair. She only ever wears her hair in pigtails.
Rupert Entwistle works at the Natural History Museum but his passion is cryptozoology. He had a secret crush on his next door neighbour Lavender for many years and follows her adventures on social media.
The other Rupert, Matilda’s classmate with the golden tresses, became an accountant and carries a calculator wherever he goes.
Eric Ink has a most unusual party trick; he can waggle his ears at will. He loves cosplay and due to his large pixie shaped ears he never needs to worry about adding prosthetic ears to his costumes.
Wilfred overcame his fear of being upside down when he went bungee jumping.
Bruce Bogtrotter became a competitive eater during high school and is now a well known food critic. His favourite food is chocolate cake and travels the world in search of a more delicious cake than the one Cook baked for him. He’s yet to find one.
The Crunchem Staff
Cook, may she rest in peace, quit her job shortly after selling her prized chocolate cake recipe to the highest bidder and then proceeded to lose every cent betting on the horses.
After Mr Trilby became the Head Teacher of Crunchem Hall Primary School the students and teachers breathed a collective sigh of relief. He became the most loved Head Teacher that ever ran the school. Sure, that’s not saying much, but he was wonderful. Honest!
Miss Plimsoll remained a teacher until she retired. She never had another student as brilliant as Matilda.
The Trunchbull was never heard from again. A school without children was established several years after she disappeared. While record numbers of applications were received for the school’s teaching positions, the school itself surprisingly went bankrupt within its first year and was forced to close. There is an old lady in Arkham Asylum that constantly mutters about chalk but no one knows who she is.
The Heroes
Mrs Phelps went on to inspire countless young minds to adore reading. A number of her patrons became well known authors and you’ll find her name in the dedications and acknowledgement sections of several bestsellers. Mrs Phelps has since retired and now travels the world, Kindle in hand. She spends each Christmas with Matilda and Miss Honey.
Miss Honey found her relatives in Australia and has visited them a few times during school holidays. She adopted Matilda but only because she needed offical paperwork to prove what they already knew; they were family. Miss Honey went on to become many students’ favourite teacher and won numerous awards for her pioneering method of using music in her classroom. Her home is full of books. She loves nothing more than pottering around in the garden at The Red House and lives a peaceful, quiet life.
Matilda has led a full life. She couldn’t decide which university course to study so she completed them all and was able to study for free because of the scholarships she was awarded. She has travelled extensively, following in the footsteps of the characters in the books of her childhood. She has worked as a librarian, lovingly sharing her passion for books with a new generation. She has also published a number of books, both fiction and nonfiction. She gets excited when she finds a book she hasn’t read. After consulting with Matilda behind the scenes many leaders have implemented her ideas to solve worldwide problems. Matilda is a wonderful mother and a loving partner, and Miss Honey remains one of her favourite people. Above all, Matilda is happy.
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Puffin, an imprint of Penguin Random House UK, for the excuse to read this book yet again. As soon as I saw the 30th anniversary edition on NetGalley I got so excited about Quentin Blake’s amazing covers I had to see them immediately!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
Matilda is a little girl who is far too good to be true. At age five-and-a-half she’s knocking off double-digit multiplication problems and blitz-reading Dickens. Even more remarkably, her classmates love her even though she’s a super-nerd and the teacher’s pet. But everything is not perfect in Matilda’s world.
For starters she has two of the most idiotic, self-centered parents who ever lived. Then there’s the large, busty nightmare of a school principal, Miss (“The”) Trunchbull, a former hammer-throwing champion who flings children at will and is approximately as sympathetic as a bulldozer. Fortunately for Matilda, she has the inner resources to deal with such annoyances: astonishing intelligence, saintly patience, and an innate predilection for revenge.
She warms up with some practical jokes aimed at her hapless parents, but the true test comes when she rallies in defense of her teacher, the sweet Miss Honey, against the diabolical Trunchbull. There is never any doubt that Matilda will carry the day. Even so, this wonderful story is far from predictable.
Roald Dahl, while keeping the plot moving imaginatively, also has an unerring ear for emotional truth. The reader cares about Matilda because in addition to all her other gifts, she has real feelings.
Mickey Mouse made his cartoon debut in 1929 in Plane Crazy with his girlfriend Minnie. Since then Walt’s creations have made their way into so many hearts around the world, including mine. Family members have long joked that they’re going to drop me off at Disney World; promising they’ll come visit me at my new home from time to time.
I have zero artistic ability but a Disney book was always going to pique my interest. I was expecting the step by step instructions to recreate Mickey, Minnie and the rest of the gang but I didn’t realise I’d also find such an interesting history lesson about the introduction and progression through the decades of my childhood friends.
I loved the animation timeline shown at the bottom of the information pages and I adored the layout of the entire book. You can really see the progression of Mickey and his pals throughout the years in the frames from classic cartoons. There are also tips on the illustration pages that will help bring out the characters’ expressions and personalities.
I didn’t think for a second that I’d have a chance at replicating any of the step by step masterpieces and chuckled to myself when I thought about the scary monstrosities I could come up with from trying to attempt just Step 1. However, when I looked at the illustrations objectively, I could see how they would help someone who can already draw turn their pencil strokes into something that would make Walt himself proud. I do think this would be too advanced for most kids though.
The projects begin with 1920’s Mickey and Minnie, along with Pete from Steamboat Willie (who was actually first drawn as a bear three years before Mickey was born).
In the 1930’s audiences were introduced to Pluto, Goofy, Donald Duck and his nephews Huey, Dewey and Louie, Daisy Duck and Mortimer Mouse. Goofy and Daisy originally had different names. The 1930’s projects teach you Pluto, Goofy, Donald, Huey, Dewey and Louie, as well as 1930’s versions of Mickey and Minnie.
The 1940’s & Beyond section includes my favourite illustration; Mickey as The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. There are also other more modern Mickey’s and Minnie’s to draw, as well as Goofy, Pluto, Donald Duck and Daisy Duck.
Fun Fact: Did you know that 1943’s Pluto and the Armadillo was the last time Mickey wore his iconic red shorts until 1995?
While this book will certainly appeal to artists, the additional information about Mickey and co. along with the promotional posters and photos of such Disney awesomeness like the desk where Mickey was drawn for 45 years elevates this book to Disneyana status. I loved it!
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group – Walter Foster for the opportunity to drool over this book.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
Learn to Draw Mickey Mouse & Friends Through the Decades is a must-have collector’s item that celebrates the world’s most beloved mouse and his pals through step-by-step drawing projects and vintage artwork from the Disney archives.
On November 18, 1928, Walt Disney unveiled a cartoon character who would soon become one of the most recognisable global icons: Mickey Mouse. Since then, Mickey has touched the lives of fans of all ages, all around the world. For more than 90 years,Mickey has undergone several transformations, changing in appearance from his premiere appearance in “Steamboat Willie” in the 1920s to the modern mouse we know and love today. A collection of vintage artwork from the Disney archives reveals early designs, sketches, and poses of Mickey Mouse, as well as other classic characters, such as Minnie Mouse, Goofy, and Donald Duck.
This book celebrates Mickey and his friends with 128 pages of art instruction and animation history, making it a covetable collector’s item for any Disney enthusiast or aspiring artist interested in learning to draw in vintage cartoon style.
Featured projects include the evolving looks of Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Daisy Duck, Goofy, and Pluto. Each section of drawing lessons is categorised by style and decade in Disney history. Artists and fans alike will find interesting anecdotes and facts sprinkled throughout Learn to Draw Mickey Mouse & Friends Through the Decades, for a well-rounded collector’s experience that is sure to entertain and enlighten.
Schizanthus Nerd 