Tag: Capstone

The Golden Acorn – Katy Hudson

When Squirrel learns that the Golden Acorn Hunt is going to be a team event this year she’s not happy. Squirrel has won the competition for the past eight years and wants to add another trophy to her collection. Beaver, Rabbit, Tortoise and Bird eagerly join her team but Squirrel doesn’t think her friends will be fast enough to win. The day of the race arrives and Squirrel finds herself in a position where she needs to decide what is more important to her: winning or her friends.

I adored Katy Hudson’s A Loud Winter’s Nap so I was keen to get my hands on this book, especially after I fell in love with its gorgeous cover.

This picture book was written with 3 to 6 year olds in mind. There are plenty of themes to discuss with children, including the importance of teamwork and the value of friendships. If I was reading this to a child I’d also be talking to them about Squirrel’s competitive nature and that, while winning can be fun, it’s not everything.

I loved the illustrations, particularly the ones showing all of the different teams scurrying around the tress in search of the elusive golden acorn. While I smiled my way through all of the images my favourite was this one, showing the friends enjoying a picnic together.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Capstone for the opportunity to read this book.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Whoosh! Squirrel takes off at full speed through the autumn leaves. But pump the breaks, because this year the Golden Nut Hunt race is a team event. Squirrel reluctantly enlists his friends and is not impressed. Will Squirrel’s competitive spirit take over or will he learn how to be a team player?

Best-selling author Katy Hudson (Too Many Carrots and A Loud Winter’s Nap) proves that winning isn’t everything in this energetic picture book about friendship, teamwork, and forgiveness – and that’s something to go nuts about!

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Epiphany – Priya Sridhar

Illustrations – Meg Owenson

Kelli has known she can speak to objects and hear them reply for most of her life. Objects will even do what she asks them to. Since her parent’s divorce Kelli has kept quiet about her abilities but after doing paid surveys at the university where her mother works, Kelli’s abilities are suspected by researchers. Kelli joins a group of other children and young adults with potential ESP and telekinesis abilities for a three week study at the university. It isn’t long before the participants begin to disappear.

I enjoyed this book, although I am left with some questions (including why the blurb gave away so much of the story. Yes, I have too, but the blurb paved the way). I think my favourite character was Kelli’s pillow, whose role is to protect and comfort her. I can definitely imagine chatting away to an empathetic pillow when I have trouble sleeping.

I was annoyed by Kelli’s mother’s refusal to believe at the end of the book, despite all that she’d witnessed. She rambles to her daughter, “But Talia insisted on being part of that study anyway. And now look where that got her.” So much blame for Talia, so little responsibility for Kelli’s mother. Surely she would have found out all of the details of the study prior to allowing her daughter to participate.

I wondered how Kelli’s pillow knew what advice to give her but, all things considered, I suppose the pillow could have been given information from the walls. While I witnessed glimpses of what some of the other participants could do they never became characters I was invested in so I’d like to learn more about them.

It made no sense to me that when Kelli sneaks into Talia’s office she uses the computer to message her friend to do research on the person running the experiment instead of just using the desk phone to call her mother for help. We find out in the next chapter that the phone is in the same office as the computer. If the baddie was as smart as they obviously thought they were then they’d have known it was probably not the best idea to experiment on the children of their coworkers. If you’re going to do dodgy experiments on kids then surely anonymity is fairly high on your wish list, right?

While I thought the reason behind Kelli’s powers fading as the experiment progressed was obvious I’m not exactly the target audience for this book. If I was 8 to 12 when I was reading this I’m fairly certain I would have been pleasantly surprised when I learned why this was happening and probably wowed by it.

This book made me think about supposedly inanimate objects. As a kid I believed that objects could feel, long before I’d heard of animism, and even now I find myself unconsciously apologising to my car if I stall her. (Yes, my cars have all had names and personalities. I’ll happily admit to my weirdness.) Anyway … about the inanimate objects in this book.

Do walls and doors talk to one another and if so, what are they saying about us? Since Kelli seems to be the only one who can hear them when they respond to her, do the doors, walls and pillows think humans are essentially rude for refusing to acknowledge them? How does a pillow heat itself on command and can I ask mine to always remain cool? I also wondered how Kelli could drag a bag along the sidewalk, knowing that if she ever spoke to it she’d probably hear about how inconsiderate that was.

Following the end of the story there’s a glossary, discussion questions and writing prompts. From what I can gather from Goodreads there may be at least another two books following this one and I’m definitely interested in hanging out with Kelli again. I really want to know what happens if she ever tells her best friend about her abilities and whether her mother will ever believe they exist.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Capstone for the opportunity to read this book.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Kelli talks to objects, and the objects talk back. However, Kelli has kept her powers of ESP and telekinesis hidden until a psychological study notices her potential. Kelli agrees to the psychologist’s program, interested in learning more about her abilities. She also meets other people with powers of their own. But when test subjects begin to disappear, Kelli discovers the curious psychologist is much more like a mad scientist eager for power.

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Definitely Daphne – Tami Charles

Spoilers Ahead!

Annabelle and her father usually travel where her mother’s work takes her but this time her mother’s assignment is TDY (Temporary Duty Yonder) and Annabelle and her father have to stay behind. While she’s serving in Afghanistan for six months Annabelle and her father will be living civilian life. For Annabelle that means the seventh grade, in an actual school with other kids.

All of a sudden the shy girl who used to enjoy being homeschooled while wearing her pyjamas is having fashion emergencies and hiding out in the janitor’s closet. To help Annabelle adjust to civilian life and get a support system in place before her mother’s deployment her parents arrange therapy for her.

This was an easy but predictable read. I loved that the main character’s mother is in the Air Force. I haven’t come across a book for this age group that talks about what it’s like to be a military kid before so I loved that this book explored different characters’ feelings and behaviours relating to this experience. There’s a build up to when Annabelle’s mother needs to leave but the leaving itself doesn’t happen in this book so you don’t get to find out how Annabelle copes when it actually happens.

While I liked the concept of Annabelle talking about trying new things on her vlog I had to suspend my disbelief to get through the sections where the other kids at school are discussing Daphne in front of her, not realising that Annabelle is Daphne. What’s happening in Daphne’s world coincides perfectly with what’s happening at their school and the vlog begins soon after the new kid arrives; the new kid who just so happens to look exactly like Daphne if she was wearing a wig, costume and glasses. Annabelle’s ability to hide in plain sight rivals that of a superhero.

I would have liked to have gotten to know Annabelle’s mother better but enjoyed drooling over her father’s amazing homemade dinners, especially the pizza. I liked Annabelle’s friend John but I never really got much of a sense of Clairna or Nav’s personalities.

I wasn’t quite sure how Rachael was supposed to be maintaining her status as fashion queen if money was tight in her family. I also never figured out what made her so popular that her legions of fans needed to wait outside the bathroom to take selfies with her other than the fact that she’s pretty, but then again I actively avoided the popular kids at school so I doubt I’ll ever understand popularity.

I didn’t find Daphne’s vlogs particularly funny but I may be too old and decrepit to understand their humour. I’m always hesitant when I come across kids using slang and referencing specific songs in books because it dates them so quickly so I have that concern for this book. Personally I think the whole ‘squad’ thing has already been overdone.

With the hype surrounding the Daphne’s first two vlogs it didn’t make sense to me that there’d be almost no interest in the third. I would’ve thought that a significant amount of the people who watched the first two would have also watched the third. How would they know it wasn’t as good if only 9 people saw it?!

While I understood that Annabelle has spent years being homeschooled she talks about watching Netflix and references watching rom-coms so I was surprised that she was as clueless about school life as she was. She didn’t know what a locker was or what ‘putting your face on’ means. I did appreciate some of the other humour relating to Annabelle’s lack of experience in the American school system though.

I was more than a little shocked that it was possible to get an emergency Sunday afternoon appointment with a therapist and that when Annabelle’s mother rang the therapist out of the blue they got straight through. I also cringed when the therapist continually shared details of their appointments with Annabelle’s parents.

In my experience therapists will outline any exclusions to the confidentiality of their appointments up front and while it was true when the therapist said that nothing shared in the appointment would leave the room, Annabelle’s parents were brought into the room to catch them up. While it didn’t seem to be a big deal for Annabelle I know that if I’d attended therapy as a kid and the therapist had then told my parents everything I told them, any trust I had developed with the therapist would have been broken. I hope that kids who read this book aren’t put off by this.

Hopefully the age group this book is marketed towards won’t have already heard variations of this story so many times they could tell you how it’s going to play out step by step but most of the story felt clichéd to me. You’ve basically got a new kid who’s trying to fit in. They become friends with the nice kids who they ditch when the queen bee pays them the slightest bit of attention. Eventually they realise they made a mistake, realising that their nice friends are actually true friends.

Then you’ve got the super obvious secret identity cliché that only one special person and the queen bee figure out before the big reveal. If the main character finally tells everyone the mystery person is actually them and that they’ve been lying to everyone for so long they risk losing every friendship. Oh, and the big reveal can only ever happen at the school dance in front of the entire school.

Despite the clichés this was a sweet book and I did enjoy it. I think military kids in particular will find themselves in Annabelle but those whose parents move frequently for work will also relate to constantly being the new kid. I thought Annabelle’s struggles were handled sensitively and appreciated that her strengths were also highlighted.

Completely irrelevant but welcome to my brain: Because I’m weird I tend to accidentally notice patterns in books. If I was going to go all Sesame Street on you this is where I’d tell you that today’s review has been brought to you by the number 2. In the space of three sentences I found ‘Second Chance’, ‘two carts’, ‘Two Tony’s’ and ‘two hours later’. Further down that page there were ‘two screens’. I’m sure this was unintentional but once my brain sees something like this I then look for it for the rest of the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Capstone for the opportunity to read this book.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

In front of her followers, Daphne is a hilarious, on-the-rise vlog star. But at school Daphne is the ever-skeptical Annabelle Louis, seventh-grade super geek and perennial new kid. To cope with her mom’s upcoming military assignment in Afghanistan and her start at a brand new middle school, Annabelle’s parents send her to a therapist.

Dr. Varma insists Annabelle try stepping out of her comfort zone, hoping it will give her the confidence to make friends, which she’ll definitely need once Mom is gone. Luckily there is one part of the assignment Annabelle DOES enjoy – her vlog, Daphne Doesn’t, in which she appears undercover and gives hilarious takes on activities she thinks are a waste of time. She is great at entertaining her online fans, yet her classmates don’t know she exists. Can Annabelle keep up the double life forever?

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Scream Site – Justina Ireland

Scream Site reminded me a little of the Point Horror books I loved as a kid, only with more introspection and fewer scares. I adored the front cover art and the blurb made it sound as though danger would be lurking around every corner.

While it was an okay read it felt like it was a victim of its own marketing in a way. It’s marketed (depending on where you look) towards readers between 12 and 15 years or 12 and 18 years. I think 12 would be towards the higher end of the age group that would enjoy this book most.

I can trace a lot of the problems I had with this book back to its blurb. We’re told very clearly that Faith, Sabrina’s sister, goes missing so I assumed this would happen fairly early in the story and then we’d spend the rest of the book chasing down clues to try to save her before its too late.

As a result of this (wrong) assumption each time I read Faith’s name I was looking for clues and getting ready to learn of her disappearance and potential demise. Then I got bored waiting for the inevitable. By the time it finally happens I was already 85% of the way through the book and I don’t think I’ll be so happy to learn that someone may have been kidnapped ever again.

It’s difficult to know what spoiler territory looks like in a book whose blurb is possibly the biggest spoiler of all so let’s just say there are potential spoilers in my review. Consider yourself warned.

Sabrina is a 14 year old wannabe investigative journalist. She like super wants to apply for a summer internship at a newspaper. If that last sentence annoyed you then this is probably not the book for you. People are “super busy”, things are “super creepy” or “super weird”, and “it was super illegal”. “He, like, volunteers” and is “like the nicest guy in the entire school”.

Why does our main character, who loves documentaries and romantic comedies, decide to investigate a website hosted by horror movie makers? Because she hasn’t come up with a good lead for her internship application and her best (and possibly only) friend thinks it’s a good idea. After watching one video and suitably freaking herself out Sabrina decides there’s more to the story and continues her own personal scare fest for the rest of the book.

Sabrina scares herself when the lights suddenly go out in her home a couple of times but as it’s already established early on that this happens all the time I never expected any jump scares to come as a result of rooms plunging into darkness.

Besides the too much information blurb I found myself questioning too many elements to really enjoy much of the read.

With her sister missing and this website being pretty much her only clue I doubt that Lupe would have handed over her sister’s login information to a 14 year old investigative journalist wannabe she’d just met.

I would have thought that a horror video competition would encourage originality but most of the videos seem to be of girls being chased through the woods. “Everyone shot their videos in the woods.”

We hear about “creepy nursery rhyme recitations” but the vagueness of this detracts from any potential creepiness.

If Evelyn (Sabrina’s best and maybe only friend) was so concerned about Sabrina’s safety while meeting some random person from the internet then why didn’t she go with her? Originally I thought I might like Evelyn with her dyed streak in her hair and somewhat rebellious attitude. I was wrong.

“I care about popularity, and I need you to pull it together, Sabrina. We are perfectly positioned to be in the mid-tier of cool next year, which means we will at least be popular enough to get invited to the good parties. But that’s not going to happen if you keep up with running around like this.”

When it seems as though Sabrina is in actual danger she lies to her mother. I spent most of the book wondering why Sabrina didn’t tell her mother what she was investigating and then I found out. Sabrina finally tells her Mum and she’s not believed. Okay, question answered.

I wasn’t sure why Sabrina didn’t try to warn her sister that she feared she’d be the next victim. Even with the adults of the world in collective disbelief and the risk of not being believed by Faith either, I still would have been warning her to be “super” careful.

Do sophomores and seniors have classes together? They do in this book.

I found it odd that Sabrina didn’t know that the guy her best friend had a crush on last summer is the same guy she has a crush on now; the one she gushes over in the coffee shop in the first chapter. The page after this confusion Evelyn seems to get confused about why Sabrina would be mentioning her uncle in relation to the missing girl. You know, the only uncle that’s mentioned in the book; the police detective.

I doubt detective uncle would be revealing details of an open case to his 14 year old niece. It was also fairly convenient that both times his niece dropped by the police station Uncle John just so happened to be working and sitting at his desk.

While I loved the front cover image and it’s part of the reason why I wanted to read this book in the first place there’s no mention in the entire book of a ferris wheel. Funland “featured go karts, an arcade, and mini-golf”. I had really hoped for a clichéd but fun final scene atop the ferris wheel or on some other unseen but amusement type ride. I was quite disappointed in the big reveal and the explanation that followed.

I came across plenty of typos but as I read an ARC I expect/hope they would have been corrected prior to publication. There was a fair bit of time spent recounting information the characters and reader already know. There were also some sentences that didn’t exactly fit well with what followed, e.g., “Sabrina didn’t sleep at all that night.” The rest of the paragraph talks about her waking up from nightmares.

Thank you very much to NetGalley and Capstone for the opportunity to read this book. Had the blurb not given away too much I expect I would have enjoyed it more.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Sabrina Sebastian’s goal in life is to be an investigative reporter. For her first big story, she researches a popular website called Scream Site, where people post scary videos and compete for the most “screams.” While Sabrina’s friends and her sister, Faith, talk nonstop about the creepy viral videos, Sabrina just hopes that covering this trend will get her the internship she’s wishing for. But as she digs into the truth behind the website, she begins to suspect that these aren’t only aspiring actors and videographers at work. Some clips seem a little too real. And when Faith goes missing, Sabrina must race against time to save her sister from becoming the next video “star.”

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The Kiddie Table – Colleen Madden

I’ve read this book so many times over the past couple of months, trying in vain to change my opinion about it. I’m sorry; I just don’t get it. Part of it may be that I come from a small family and everyone fit around one table when we had meals with extended family. We also don’t celebrate Thanksgiving in Australia but I don’t think that has any relevance to the way I feel about this book.

This story recounts the tale of an eight year old girl who is relegated to sitting at the kiddie table during her family’s Thanksgiving meal. She’s surrounded by babies and toddlers. For some reason she’s given a bowl of food and a spoon to eat with, and she’s supposed to be drinking out of a sippy cup. I’m not sure what bright spark thought that was a good idea but possibly her parents as the meal is at their home. Throughout the meal our already cranky eight year old becomes increasingly angry until she explodes at the indignity she’s had to suffer.

During her tirade she makes the argument that she knows how to behave and winds up her tantrum with a defiant, “I DESERVE A SPOT AT THE ADULT TABLE!” Now this may well be an indication of why I should never be a parent but if this little brat was my kid I would quite cheerfully explain to her that her dummy spit had proven exactly why she’s not ready to sit at the adult table yet. Like it or not she’d be apologising to the other guests, including all of the kids she freaked out and we’d be having a long chat about her behaviour and acceptable ways to ask for what you want once the guests left.

This kid’s mother is not me. This kid’s mother empathises with her daughter about how she was feeling (that would have been part of my after dinner chat) but then she lets the tantrum kid sit at the adult table! This kid gets rewarded for her bad behaviour! I’m not okay with that.

I liked the illustrations. They’re colourful and make our tantrum thrower’s discontent very clear from the get go.

The rhymes didn’t work for me as the meter was off, so the rhythm would feel awkward if read out loud.

I’ve put off writing this review because I hate it when books and I don’t connect. Just because I didn’t like it doesn’t mean you won’t though so please don’t just take my word for it. I’d encourage you to check it out for yourself or at least read some 4 or 5 star reviews before deciding if it’s the book for you or not.

Thank you very much to NetGalley and Capstone for the opportunity to read this book. I really wanted to love it.

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

At every Thanksgiving there are two tables — the kiddie table and the adult table. So why in the world would an 8-year-old girl be stuck at the kiddie table? She is NOT a baby. She is NOT a toddler. She is a grown-up! She can do two-digit multiplication and knows how to cut her own food. She deserves to be at the adult table! And after an empowered speech and mini-breakdown, the girl is moved to the adult table. Growing up is never easy, and author Colleen Madden brilliantly tackles that issue in this delightful picture book.

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Far Out Fairy Tales: Ninja-Rella – Joey Comeau

Illustrations – Omar Lozano

Okay, Ninja-rella is really fun! As one of the Far Out Fairy Tales graphic novels, the original gets twisted in some imaginative ways. I love that Ninja-rella isn’t hoping to go to the Prince’s ball because she wants her happily ever after, being saved from her circumstances by the Prince and then marrying him. No, this version of Cinderella wants to save herself and the Prince by becoming his “extremely awesome royal ninja bodyguard”.

Having learned to be smart from her mother and strong from her father, Cinderella transforms herself into a kick-ass ninja, now known as Ninja-rella, after her mother’s death. Of course, her father remarries a woman with two daughters and after he too dies, Ninja-rella is relegated to servant by her cliché evil stepmother.

On the evening of the ball the most adorable little fairy godninja rocks up to outfit Ninja-rella in appropriate ninja attire and provides her with her glass katana sword!

There’s no pumpkin or talking animals in this version so Ninja-rella makes her own way to the ball.

Ninja-rella has some brilliant moves and her expressions are priceless. I appreciated that it’s her strength and skills that shine in this story instead of her beauty. I really connected to her and loved her determination and attitude.

The illustrations were fantastic, capturing Ninja-rella’s emotions and moves well. I always enjoy the bonus material at the end of the Far Out Fairy Tales stories: an explanation of the original story, illustrated representation of the main differences between the original and Far Out version, questions to get the reader to think about what they’ve read and a glossary that explains tricky words.

My main nitpick with this story is that I was disappointed Ninja-rella ran from the Prince so he wouldn’t see her rags at midnight. I would’ve thought this Cinderella wouldn’t give a damn about her clothes and what others thought of them. However I concede it’s a necessary evil to move the plot along to the all important search for the owner of the glass katana.

As a side note, I always found it bizarre in the version I grew up with that at midnight all of the fairy godmother magic is undone – except for the slipper the Prince took door to door. Surely the glass slipper should have vanished or transformed back into its pre-magic form like everything else?

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Cinderella’s stepmother and two stepsisters treat her like dirt. Each and every day, they force her to clean their clothes, cook their meals, and only give her rags to wear and crumbs to eat. But each night, in secret and in shadows, Cinderella trains to be a ninja! More than anything, Cinderella yearns to become the Prince’s personal bodyguard. When the opportunity to prove her worth to the Prince finally arrives in the form of an invitation to a royal costume ball, Cinderella’s stepmother won’t let her go! But this time around, Ninja-rella isn’t going to take “no” for an answer …

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Far Out Fairy Tales: Red Riding Hood, Superhero – Otis Frampton

My library ordered more Far Out Fairy Tales and Red Riding Hood, Superhero is one I’d really been looking forward to getting my big teeth into (sorry but I had to go there!). While it was still a fun twist on the original it was lacking the woohoo! factor of some of the others in the series.

Ruby Topper first gained her awesome powers of flight, laser-ray vision and extreme strength when she freaked out an alien by hugging it in Area 54. The poor alien mistook the loving squeeze for attack and accidentally left its magical red hood and cloak behind when it took off in its UFO, possibly never to be seen again.

Since acquiring her new favourite outfit, Ruby has saving the Earth and moon from the nefarious plots and schemes of super-villains, unbeknownst to her mother.

This adventure begins with Ruby and her mother on their way to Camp David to celebrate the granny’s (A.K.A, the President’s) birthday. On their way Ruby/Red discovers that familiar foe, Professor Grimm, is up to his old tricks. Determined to achieve world domination, Grimmy has decided to kidnap granny using his latest invention, the Big Bad Wolf-Bot. It’s up to Ruby to save the day, or else President granny won’t be enjoying any birthday cake this year!

As is standard with the Far Out Fairy Tales series, the story has some cool twists on the original (which is described after the twisted version) and there are wonderful illustrations, along with visual story questions, a guide to the main differences between the original and twisted versions of the tale and a glossary for tricky words.

I didn’t connect with the characters in this tale and unlike a lot of the others, I didn’t find this one funny. I liked the twisted changes that were made, especially Red’s transformation from victim to superhero. However, while this was a decent enough story, I don’t feel the need to ramble on about the wonders of this graphic novel.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

While taking a tour of Area 54 with her grandmother, the President of the United States, little Ruby Topper discovers a mysterious little alien carrying a red hood. When Ruby dons the crimson cape and cowl, it grants her AMAZING SUPERPOWERS! But will her newfound abilities be enough to save the White House – and her grandmother – from the rampaging Big Bad Wolf-Bot?

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Xander and the Rainbow-Barfing Unicorns #1: Magic Smells Awful – Matthew K. Manning

Illustrations – Joey Ellis

Do you believe in magic?

Xander does. He’s been a magic hunter for most of his life. When he was younger his friend Kelly would go on magic hunts with him but no longer does. On the very day that he decides to give up on magic it blasts across the sky in all of its technicolor glory. He doesn’t see fairies, gnomes or a spirit.

Instead he witnesses three rainbows, but there’s no pot of gold at the end of these rainbows. What Xander discovers are three unicorns! But not just your garden variety type. These are zombie unicorns 🧟‍♀️🧟‍♂️🦄 and they barf rainbows 🤢🤮🌈🌈🌈!

”RONK!”

Being zombies they also smell terrible and tend to be accompanied by flies. The unicorns have heard about human adults who no longer believe in magic and will experiment on them if discovered. Xander knows it’s up to him to protect these rainbow vomiters from harm, but how?

Matthew K. Manning has written one of the most entertaining books I’ve read this year. The writing engages the reader from the beginning with this amazing and absurd story (I say that with the utmost respect) that is so imaginative and funny. I wanted these rainbow-barfing unicorns to be real. I wanted to go watch them vomit rainbows into the sky for myself. I wanted to visit Pegasia to witness for myself this magical dimension.

Joey Ellis’ illustrations capture the comedy in this book perfectly! My favourite illustration today is of Xander bathed in a rainbow yet pretending he can’t see anything out of the ordinary. It accurately depicts the humour of a kid obviously caught in a lie, denying it regardless and refusing to make eye contact. I expect my favourite illustration will change each time I open the book though.

I spent the whole book thinking this would make an incredible series and I dreaded nearing the end because I needed more! More unicorns! More vomit! More fun! Then I made it to the very end and lo and behold, what do I see on the back cover? The covers for the next three books in the series! Yippee!!! They look like as much fun as this one and I can’t wait!

I will be buying this book as soon as it’s released (for myself) so I can reread it to my heart’s content and have already recommended it to my favourite librarian for an avid young reader who consistently checks out the same kid’s books I do. I need to read the rest of the series urgently!

Food I craved while reading this book: apple donuts, cotton candy and blueberry strudel.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Capstone for introducing me to this new favourite.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Reread 9 April 2020

From the ‘Why I Call Myself an Alleged Adult’ Files: When asked what I wanted for my birthday last year I requested a series of kid’s books about zombie unicorns that vomit rainbows. I’ve been holding off on bingeing them until now because …

🦄 9 April is Unicorn Day! 🦄

It’s been two years since I first discovered Xander and the Rainbow-Barfing Unicorns and I’d forgotten how much fun they are to read about. This book is a great way to escape from reality for a while.

We’re introduced to Xander, a 12 year old outcast who still believes in magic, and three unicorns who have been banished from Pegasia, their home. Cradie, Blep and Ronk used to be ordinary, everyday unicorns but something happened on Pegasia that transformed them into smelly, rainbow-vomiting, zombie-like creatures.

“The thing is, we were normal unicorns, but then we got a space virus, and we had to walk through the Banish Desert, which is nowhere near as much fun as the Danish Dessert – but that’s another story entirely – and then we dropped through the Western Portal and ended up on this mountain and Ronk can’t stop vomiting rainbows and neither can we, if I’m being honest, and -“

During my second read I wondered how the unicorns were able to speak the same language as Xander. I also noticed the illustrations, which I love, don’t always line up with the descriptions in the text. For example, Ronk is supposed to have two yellow eyes, not one yellow and one white, and Cradie’s hooves are supposed to be greenish, not purple.

Following the story is a glossary, a list of barf words and jokes. This book’s character spotlight shines a light on Ronk – exposed spine, melting skin, hairy ooze and everything else that makes this unicorn unique.

I’m ready to find it out what happens next!

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Xander Stone didn’t believe in unicorns – until one puked on him! In this adventure, twelve-year-old Xander first meets the Rainbow-Barfing Unicorns – stinky, zombielike, upchucking creatures from the magical world of Pegasia. They’ve been banished to Earth for, well, being stinky, zombielike, upchucking creatures. However, Earth presents them with a great danger: HUMANS. Luckily, the dashing, naively heroic Xander vows to protect them and their disgusting secret at all costs.

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Far Out Fairy Tales: Sleeping Beauty, Magic Master – Stephanie True Peters

Illustrations – Alex López

I think this is my new favourite Far Out Fairy Tales graphic novel. I’m almost positive that the photo finish shows Sleeping Beauty, Magic Master just a spindle ahead of Snow White and the Seven Robots.

This Sleeping Beauty isn’t interested in all of that

🎵 One day you’ll awaken to love’s first kiss

Till then, Sleeping Beauty, sleep on 🎵

nonsense. She can save her entire kingdom, thank you very much, and while she’s at it she’ll rescue a prince too. There’s also no way this Aurora will be caught sleeping on the job. She’s got an epic, magical quest on her agenda! I love this story! It’s much more interesting and fun than the original.

Along the way she’ll meet all types of magical folk and she does this by herself, without a clichéd love interest getting in the way of a good story. There’s also a surprise appearance by the most adorable pink dragon 🐉. Aww! 😍

The Good Fairy has a brilliant set of mauve wings and some awesome expressions, the Bad Fairy is certainly in need of their rudely interrupted beauty sleep and the Yeti is, well, a Yeti. What’s not to love about a Yeti?!

Alex Lopez’s illustrations are wonderful! They had plenty of magic to work with and Aurora’s personality is really brought to life in the panels, from her dismal failures to her blech! face after having to touch something icky, through to her woohoo! moments. I particularly loved that the gutters were either white or black, depending on what was happening in the story. [For those that aren’t graphic novel experts, a gutter is the space between panels. See? This graphic novel even taught me something! 😊]

Between the epic quest, the humour, the magic and everything else that you can find out for yourself when you read it, this was ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ fun from start to finish.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

In a faraway land, a princess named Aurora lives in a castle, honing her enchantments amid a slumbering kingdom! When the princess was just a baby, a wicked fairy cursed the realm with unending sleep. But a kind fairy had her own spell to cast – she saved the newborn and granted the girl the gift of magic! Now, Aurora is the only one who can awaken her subjects by concocting a potion made up of the world’s rarest ingredients. Faced with strange places and fantastical creatures, can Aurora succeed in her epic quest, or will the kingdom – and she – be doomed to doze forever?

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Far Out Fairy Tales: Hansel & Gretel & Zombies – Benjamin Harper

Illustrations – Fernando Cano

🧟‍♀️ 🧠 BRRAAINS! 🧠 🧟‍♂️

Hansel and Gretel are The Walking Dead in Hansel & Gretel & Zombies. Along with their parents who have dead boring (sorry!) names of Mr Undead and Mrs Undead, Hansel and Gretel are protein deficient. Their corner of the Magical Forest doesn’t attract many brains these days and in a broken lightbulb moment Momma zombie comes up with a plan – to disguise her undead children as not dead children to trick tourists into helping them find their way home to the cemetery for dinner, Hannibal Lector style.

All dressed up with Gretel’s gaping hole in her skull covered with a bonnet and Hansel’s missing eye still glowing an eerie fluorescent yellow-green, our undead kidlets wander off and wind up at Ms Witch’s newly renovated cottage. The children prove their zombieness (I can make up words. It’s my review! 😜) by their abhorrence of all things sugar. A battle of wits ensues.

Fernando Cano’s illustrations are suitably entertaining. I loved the old cemetery.

My favourite panels show Gretel trying to form an idea. I won’t spoil what it looks like but I’m still amused. On the attention to detail side of things only Mrs Undead’s stitched mouth lines are consistent throughout. All of the other zombies have mouth stitches on some panels but not others.

The storyline was okay but not overly captivating. The twist at the end was a let down for me. Overall I prefer the original fairy tale, which is more far out than this Far Out Fairy Tales version.

So, it’s now time to beg my library to buy the rest of this series! 😃

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

The Undead Family is out of brains to eat! Tourists have stopped visiting their home – a graveyard – for some time now, and the family of zombies is starving. So they venture into the Magical Forest, disguised as tourists, hoping to lure humans to an early grave! Unfortunately, an evil witch has other plans for the crepescular kiddies and sets up her own tourist trap …

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