Tuesday 14 May 2013

Teacher's Pest - Charles Gilman


Publication Details

Published by Quirk Books on May 7th 2013
170 pages
20 chapters

(Please note that this book was sent to me for review by Quirk, however, this does not in any way affect my final opinion or rating on the book. Everything mentioned in this review is completely of my own opinion)

This is the third book in the Lovecraft Middle School series. The synopsis below *may* contain spoilers, however my personal review will be entirely spoiler free!

Synopsis

DON'T BE FOOLED by his friendly smile, his perfect manners, or his shiny red apple. Student council president Howard Mergler is actually a sinister bug-monster in disguise—and he's summoning swarms of roaches, wasps, fleas, and head lice into the corridors of Lovecraft Middle School!  Twelve-year-old Robert Arthur is the only student who can stop him--but he'll need help from his best friends: the school bully, the school ghost, and an extremely courageous two-headed rat.
 
This third novel in the Lovecraft Middle School series begins right where Professor Gargoyle and The Slither Sisters ended—with more action, more adventure, and more outrageous monsters!

Review

I loved this book just as much as I loved the first two in this series, possibly even a little more! I still love Robert and Glenn and Karina as main characters, I think they're fun, exciting, lovable and just all round fantastically well-written characters. I feel like these three characters are the perfect fit for a middle grade series such as this one; as main characters, Robert, Glenn and Karina are interesting and brave and care for each other - all of these are characteristics and personality traits that I feel could be really inspirational to readers of a similar age and it could be a really good influence on readers as opposed to characters that would be mean, cruel and rude.

One of my favourite things about this series so far is that each of these books has a different story line and situation for each book to focus on, however all of the books have the one same villain and predominant back story that the individual book plots revolve around. I feel like this makes for a really interesting series overall so far and it should help younger readers get much more invested in each book much easier than if each of the books were based around something entirely different to its predeccesor.

One more thing that I love about this series is that, even if you haven't read the first book, it is entirely possible to read the series out of order. Each book manages to fluently blend in information from previous books regarding characters and minor plot points without giving the reader a huge information dump at the beginning of the book. Information regarding the previous books is carefully slipped in throughout the entirety of each book so that the reader has a decent idea of the characters, character relationships and previous plots and situations. 

Overall, I loved this book and I love this series overall! These books are quick, fun, fast paced, imaginative and action packed reads that you'll read from cover to cover in no more than a few sittings, and you'll love every minute of it! I know I certainly loved every bit of each of the first two books in this series and this book was undoubtedly no exception! I can't wait to continue this series and find out what mishaps and sticky situations these children can wind themselves up in next!

5 out of 5 stars!

PS: If you would like to read my review for the first two books in the Lovecraft Middle School series, a link will be provided below to my written review where you will also be able to find a link to my video review of both Professor Gargoyle and The Slither Sisters!

Sunday 5 May 2013

Disneystrology (What Your Birthday Character Says About You) - Lisa Finander


Publication Details

Published on October 1st 2010 by Quirk Publishing
384 pages

(Please note that this book was sent to me for review by Quirk, however, this does not in any way affect my final opinion or rating on the book. Everything mentioned in this review is completely of my own opinion)

Synopsis

Who’s Your Birthday Character?
 
Disneystrology combines astrology, numerology, and the magic of movies to help readers understand their own personalities. Within this beautifully illustrated volume, astrologer Lisa Finander has identified 366 unique Disney character types—everyone from Snow White to WALL•E—and paired these characters to corresponding birth dates.
 
If you were born on November 9, for example, you’re likely to be exuberant, friendly, and youthful—traits best exemplified by Pinocchio. Readers born on February 22 are often powerful, principled, and determined—the perfect words to describe King Mufasa of The Lion King. Open these pages to reveal your birthday character!
 
You’ll also discover character profiles, keys to personal success, and much, much more. Illustrated with hundreds of stills from more than 90 years of classic animation, Disneystrology is an entertaining tribute to the most delightful characters in movie history.

Review

So basically this book contains 366 Disney characters, 1 assigned to each day of the year. Each Disney character has been assigned to the day of the year so that whoever's birthday falls on a specific day, the character assigned to that day will be used to describe the person's personality etc. With each character comes a personality description, "Magical Gifts" (describing what 'gifts' that specific character bestows upon the person who's birthday falls on that date) as well as "Keys to your Success". 

I love this little book, I think it's extremely creative and fun to find your birthday, discover which Disney character you've been matched with and read how that describes you as a person. It is evident that Lisa put a lot of work and thought into this book in order to get the best possible matches between Disney characters and birthdays in terms of astrology. 

As I said before, I found this book to be really fun and interesting to flick through. It combines two very exciting things; Disney and Astrology. Fun, quick and interesting, I really recommend you pick this up if you're intrigued about which character matches your birthday and what that says about your personality and you as a person.

5 out of 5 stars


Jokes Every Man Should Know - (Edited by) Don Steinberg


Publication Details

Published on April 1st 2008 by Quirk Publishing
143 pages

(Please note that this book was sent to me for review by Quirk, however, this does not in any way affect my final opinion or rating on the book. Everything mentioned in this review is completely of my own opinion)

Synopsis

The Only Joke Book You’ll Ever Need
 
Featuring:
     •  Nine Jokes about Heaven and Hell
     •  Eight Jokes Just for Kids
     •  Nineteen Jokes Definitely Not for Kids
     •  Six Jokes about Lightbulbs
     •  Seven Jokes about Bars
     •  The World’s Only Funny Knock-Knock Joke
 
Plus alternate versions, roasts and toasts, historical footnotes, tips on telling jokes, and much, much more.

Review

As you can probably tell by the title, cover and synopsis of this book, Jokes Every Man Should Know is a simple, small, pocket-sized book full of jokes that are pretty much appropriate for almost any occasion!

I can't really review this as I would normally review books, considering it's merely a joke book and not a full novel. But what I can say about this book is that it's pretty darn hilarious! I read through this in a couple of hours and had some of the best laughs I've had in a long time! There are over 100 jokes packed into this small little book, and 9 out of 10 of the jokes had me laughing out loud. There are also little sections included in random places throughout the book such as; "How to Tell a Joke: Eight Tips Every Man Should Know", "Ten Jokes for Roasts and Toasts" and "Where Do Jokes Come From?" as well as a number of others. These sections were nicely placed throughout the book so that they separated the jokes up nicely and you wouldn't get sick of reading tonnes of jokes at a time because they were split up with these little informative sections.

Also, after a majority of the jokes, there were small boxes that contained additional information about the previous joke including an alternative version of the joke, optional toppers to jokes and bonus jokes!

I found this little book of jokes to be extremely funny and entertaining. I feel like this would be that kind of gift that would work perfectly in a situation where you don't know what to buy someone for a birthday or it could also be used as a great stocking filler at Christmas!

5 out of 5 stars

PS: I understand that it seems like this joke book is targeted mainly towards men, considering the title, however, for any women that would like something like this, there is an alternative version of this book entitled Jokes Every Woman Should Know by Jennifer Worick