If you watched and loved Captain Planet as a child, I know you will feel as warmly about Magnus Fin and the Moonlight Mission as I did. When I watched the heroism and drama of Captain Planet, I loved the idea of people getting together to save the world. This book feels something like that. The downside of the book is how it begins, though. When I started reading it, I found it rather painstaking. As I went on, though, I realised how much of a problem I experience with first chapters. Sometimes, however hard I work them, first chapters are not perfect. I may edit, rewrite and edit again, but still not feel happy. I may force myself to be satisfied, but somehow, the punch is lacking. Magnus Fin and the Moonlight Mission waslike that. The beginning was dull. I wondered if I would finish it. Then, just two chapters later, I felt the characters grow on me. I felt the story become close to … [Read more...]

I never stay up reading. I love books and I enjoy reading, but staying up beyond my bed-time? No, that's not me. I remember when I was reading the fifth Harry Potter, I had one chapter left to finish and I went to sleep, to the horror of some of my friends. Maybe that was because I wanted to hold on to my fictional friends a little longer. Esty's Gold forced me to stay up reading. I read page after page. Just one more chapter. And one more. This chapter was too short to count. So just one more. And I stopped when I finished the book. The characters grew and changed. The story was layered with unselfconscious girlish giggling and the singularly quirky humour. I experienced each of the class struggles and felt the starkness of life in Ireland and Australia. It is difficult to create a character like Esty. In some ways, she is a shadow of Scarlett from Gone with the Wind. Yet, she is … [Read more...]

When I started reading Tilly's Moonlight Fox, I did not quite like it. Both the story and the writing style seemed outdated. The kind of finish that so many new books have was not there. But the book grew on me. It's the kind of book that you should read when you are eight or nine years old, growing up on books like Anne of Green Gables and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. There are no complex twists in the plot. There is nothing that keeps you waiting with bated breath. But it is a charming book nonetheless. The story of a girl who finds it difficult to fit in, Tilly's Moonlight Fox is one that is perhaps easily forgotten, but charms you while you are reading it. Just like a fairy-tale. … [Read more...]

When crossword puzzles, triplets and magic come together, the combination is a delightful mixture of commonsense, logic and madness. Small Change for Stuart is about a very short boy with slightly crazy parents.  The parents do not realise that their short son is going to be traumatised through life because his first initial and surname invite a nickname that he has to live with - S. Horten. Moving to the tiny village of Beeton, Stuart is lost. He has no friends yet because he cannot count the irritating triplets next door called April, May and June. Stuart does, however, have the prospect of a great-uncle who disappeared during the second world war. Stuart follows his great-uncle Tony's treasure-trail and discovers many things. The reader - especially the adult reader - winces at his mistakes and then marvels at his triumphs. Full of puns, wordplay and wry humour, Small Change … [Read more...]

When a little girl called Jill is told that she has to meet Jack, she begins a wonderful journey of stories with Mother Greenwood and a few Jacks here and there. The Famous Adventures of Jack by Berlie Doherty is a collection of new tales that have the same charm, predictability and comfort of well-loved classics. With Jack the Giant-Killer, Jack's magical snuff-box and Daft Jack, the book is packed to the brim with familiar, old-world stories that are utterly new. It's almost like taking a quilt you love and stitching it into different patterns that are just as beautiful! … [Read more...]

"Where are you, Varsha?" "I'm not here!" I call back. "It looks like you are." "No, I'm inside here." (pointing to my book) That's the way it was with The Story of Cirrus Flux. I enjoyed the ride through 18th century England, with Matthew Skelton's small liberties with historical facts. I wondered again at how far science has come, but how cruel the human race is. We're such a bunch of contraries. We are capable of great kindness and great cruelty. We are capable of infinite selflessness and inhuman selfishness. We want revenge, but want to forgive. We go to any lengths for people we love. The Story of Cirrus Flux, while making you gasp and shiver, also has all these contraries melting together. … [Read more...]