Birthmarked by Caragh M. O'Brien

It seems as if the flood of teen fiction about the either vampires, zombies or werewolves is starting to ebb, and dystopian fiction is all the rage. Usually there has been some cataclysmic event in the past and a new society has emerged. The society is usually ruled by a government who is ensuring that the past doesn't repeat itself. Once good, often the ruling party becomes entrenched in enforcing rules and regulations. Until someone, usually the protagonist, begins to question the rules. The choices the main character make effect both their lives and the lives of those around them.

Birthmarked is set in a future after some catastrophic environmental event has left the world harsh and dry. A society has been established within a walled city called the Enclave. Gaia Stone and her parents live in a town which as assembled outside the walled city. The city provides them with some food, limited water and basic healthcare. Without this, those outside would not survive. In return the walled city asks for a quota of babies to be “advanced” into the privileged society within the walled city. Gaia is starting to learn her mother's trade, that of a midwife, in helping the women in her sector deliver babies and 'advancing' the first 3 babies she delivers each month into the walled city. After delivering her first baby, Gaia comes home to find that her parents have been arrested and taken to prison within the Enclave. Wanting to find her parents, who have been so loyal to the Enclave, Gaia finds a way into the Enclave. She discovers that the society that she believed to be ideal and wonderful is not all it appears to be, and that the Enclave is genetically damaged. She hold a key to deciphering the genetic problems of the Enclave. Gaia needs to decide whether the answer will help society or give the Enclave further opportunities to restrict the society they have created.

Loved the book and the dystopian society it creates. Gaia is a strong-willed heroine who will do all she can to right what wrongs she sees in the world. However, the world is never black and white, throw a love interest into the mix, and decisions become harder for her to make. I could relate to the book as it reflected how I was as a teenager and some of the decisions that I had to make. As a teenager I was very 'black and white', things and situations were either wrong or right. This created lots of tension as not much in life is 'black and white' and I had to learn to make decisions in a grey world.

8/10

Dr Seuss Day - 2 March

Today is Dr Seuss Day! He was born on this day 1904. Unfortunately this genius of a man, who's really name was Theodor Seuss Geisel, died in 1991. My childhood was made richer for reading Dr Seuss books and now I am sharing them with my children.
I love 'Green Eggs and Ham' and the 'Cat in the Hat' but these books are a more recent appreciation. As a child my bookshelf included 'Horton Hatches the Egg' and my all time favourite 'I Can Lick 30 Tigers Today and Other stories'. My favourite was one of the other stories 'The Glunk that got Unthunk' which is a great story about how powerful the imagination is and what can happen if you let your imagination run away with you.
Today, I had the spare of the moment need to celebrate all things Seuss-ical and the way I celebrate is with food! I prepared a very easy Dr Seuss inspired afternoon tea for my kiddie-winks.

Green eggs and ham inspired green curried eggs. 

We had Hop on Pop(corn) flavoured with icing sugar and cinnamon.

 And a pink ink drink. (inspired by One fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish where there is an Yink who likes to wink and drink pink ink).  

So we spent the afternoon eating and reading Dr Seuss books.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DR SEUSS!

What is your favourite Dr Seuss Book?

Parsley Rabbit's Book about Books – Frances Watts

I LOVE books, and I love sharing about books (why else would I have this blog). I particularly love reading books with kids. Yesterday was the launch of the National Year of Reading, and being Valentines day the slogan is “Love 2 Read”. I LOVE to read, I Love books and I LOVE sharing about books. This is one of the reasons why I have this blog to share some of my reading experiences, perhaps inspire you to read a new author, or to select a great kids book I recommended when you are at your local library.
My other love is working in a library, being around books and information, linking people to information, and helping people to find new authors to read. One of my favourite books that is both a good read and informs kids about books is Parsley Rabbit's Book about Books. Before the book even begins, Parsley Rabbit is making comments and drawing kids attention to the important parts of the book such as the end pages, title, author, illustrator, publisher and the imprint page. After discussing the books come in all shapes and sizes, and where to find page numbers the concept of flaps is introduced. The book then makes great use of lift-the-flaps.
One of the funniest pages is a lift the flap when Parsley has been talking about information books and under the flap has him reading about dinosaurs. The book he is reading is placed in such a position that his profile matches with a dinosaur face. My son called him a dino-rabbit. Another really good use of flaps is when Parsley talks about where people read books and under a flap his little brother is reading on the toilet (No ewws please – who can say that they have never read something while sitting on the loo!)
The painted illustrations by David Legge are gorgeous. I never realized how many expressions you could put on a rabbit.
It is a great book to read aloud to kids and generates lots of discussion about books and reading. My 5 year old son and I talked about: where you read books, favourite books, giving books as presents, sharing books, learning to read, page numbers and what publishers do.
It is a book that really appeals to the librarian in me, and it such a fun book!
Highly recommended for ages 4-8

Hush, Little Dragon – Boni Ashburn

I have been reading the cute book to Daniel this week just before he goes to bed and we are loving it. He is my little dragon and I am his Mama. It can be read or sung to the tune of “Hush, little baby” It begins....

Hush, Little dragon, don't make a sound,
Mama's gonna bring you a princess she found.
If that princess runs from you,
Mama's gonna bring you a knight or two”

Ashburn has included lots of traditional dragon delicacies such a princesses, knights, kings, queens and musketeers, added lots of fire breathing and clever rhymes such as magician/nutrition and queen/cuisine. Kelly Murphy's illustrations of the google-eyed dragons with blue and white striped horns are quirky and not at all scary for little ones.

Dragons are different from humans, but in the story Mama dragon does what any mother does....feeds her children, defends them, keeps them safe, and protects them through the night. A lovely book to be memorized and cherished.

Highly Recommended for ages 3-6.          8/10 

Yarning Bombing: The Art of Crochet and Knit Graffiti - Mandy Moore and Leanne Prain

In the area where I live yarn bombing is becoming quite popular. Fences, bike racks, poles, parking meters and trees are all being decorated by yarn graffiti. It has even come to the attention of the local newspaper. Being an occasional knitter, and having some extra time up my sleeve the idea of beautifying the council with knitted handiwork is appealing.

Yarn Bombing by Mandy Moore and Leanne Prain is just what I need to get some inspiration and get started. Like regular paint graffiti, yarn graffiti has different purposes from activism, to tagging and decoration and this book gives lots of examples of these purposes. The book includes interviews with prolific yarn bombers, their reasons for engaging in yarn art and their styles of graffiti.

For me the most important part is how to get a crew together and take my yarn into the street. There is a chapter on how to decide on patterns, measuring your tagging targets, attaching your yarn and what to do if you are caught! Although patterns and tags differ depending on your target the book gives loads of patterns. There are patterns for basic rectangular tags for those new to knitting/crocheting or new to yarn graffiti and they progress to master tagging patterns such as hanging shoes (as seen on the cover) to mushrooms and elf stockings.

The book is full of colourful photographic examples of yarn graffiti to inspire creativity and appreciation of this art form and I can't wait to get started.
8/10

There are cats in this book – Viviane Schwarz

This little treasure is my families favourite find so far, this year. It is of course about cats. Now I am not a cat person, I'm not a dog person either. If anything I am a chicken person. Chooks are so gorgeous and useful...they eat leftovers and make eggs for us to eat....however I digress. Cats!
Actually, now that I think about it, since Geelong, the (not so mighty) Cats won the Australian Football League (AFL) grand final this month it is probably quite a fitting book to blog about this month.
The three cats in this book are friendly and are looking for nice people to play with them and help them. There are lift the flaps and half pages to turn which bring surprises both to the cats and to the reader. The cats interact with the reader, getting the reader to help them to find wool, cardboard boxes, pillows and fish and to divert disaster.
Viviane Schwarz reads this book on her website so click here to preview the book. But it really is a book you need to hold and turn the pages, so look for it at your local library
Highly recommended for ages 2-8.        9/10  

Maudie and Bear – Jan Ormond

This book reminds me of the picture books that I read when I was young and I found that unsatisfying.  I think that picture books have evolved since I was a child, they are brighter, more educational, more fun.  I love today's version of the picture book. Don't get me wrong there were some great picture books back in the day, such as Morris Sendak's 'Where the Wild Things Are'. Perhaps I wasn't exposed to good picture books as a child. We did have a very large collection of Little Golden Books! Maudie and Bear reminds me of books such as 'Noddy'; and 'Frog and Toad' and I did enjoy these as a child but I think that my children have a much better selection of books to choose from.
Maudie and Bear is a collection of short stories about a little girl called Maudie and a bear that she lives with. Bear is an interesting character who is somewhere between a parental figure and a friend. Maudie takes bear a bit for granted (like children do they parents), she makes him do all the work, makes unrealistic demands of him, and has tantrums.  The book contains short stories of adventures and outings that Maudie and bear do together. Each little story could be a book in itself. It is a long book to read in one session for small children but it is targeted at them and their identification with Maudie.
The illustrations by Freya Blackwood are delightful with sketchy ink outlines filled with water colour. Although not sepia, it has a brown/orange tone to the illustrations that is reminiscent of an old fashion book but it still manages to be light and breezy.
Overall I found the book disappointing. My children have better than average attention spans but Maudie and Bear couldn't hold it for long.

Recommended for ages 5-7.                       6/10