Anti-Bullying Week: #ChooseKind & GIVEAWAY!

I’m really excited about today’s blog post!

Anti-Bullying Week starts today, the seventeenth, and runs until the 21st. It’s celebrated in schools across the UK to raise awareness of bullying, and how to prevent and solve it. (Last year, I made a blog post for Sophie’s themed week.)

Penguin Random House are the publishers of the fantastic WONDER by R J Palacio, and they’ve teamed up with the Anti-Bullying alliance to bring the #ChooseKIND campaign to schools (find out more here). It’s a brilliant scheme to raise awareness of bullying and promote kinder behaviour, especially in youth – and inspired by Wonder, which is a beautifully written tale of bullying, bravery and kindness.

I read Wonder at the start of 2013, and was completely blown away by its raw emotion and beautiful narratives. It’s marketed as a Middle Grade book, but can be read and adored and treasured by anyone of any age. It’s a novel about a boy called Auggie, who’s just about to start middle school after years of being home-schooled, and his ups and downs of navigating a new life while being labelled as different because of the way he looks. It’s unforgettable, moving and inspiring.

365 Days of Wonder is a tie-in gift book that was released earlier this year. It was inspired by precepts and quotes given by Mr Brown, Auggie’s teacher in Wonder – and all of the inspirational quotes readers sent in response, to R J Palacio. There’s a quote for each day of the year – it’s such a beautiful book to treasure.

To coincide with Anti-Bullying Week, and the #ChooseKIND campaign, I’m running a giveaway! One person will win Wonder & 365 Days of Wonder. Entry by the Rafflecopter link below…

click on the link below to go to the Rafflecopter widget!

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Bibliomaniac/330168953761504?sk=app_228910107186452

T&C’s, etc.: Unfortunately I can’t cover the cost of sending the prize overseas – this is a UK only giveaway. The giveaway prize was provided for me by the publisher, and I will be posting it myself: I’ll let the winner know when it’s been posted. The giveaway will end on Monday, 24th November. To be completely fair, I’ll pick the one winner through Random.org. I’ll try to post it before December 10th, so it doesn’t get lost in all the Christmas-post madness!

Good Luck! You can check out more about #ChooseKind by using the hashtag on Twitter or clicking here.

Book Review: The Sleeper and the Spindle by Neil Gaiman, Illustrated by Chris Riddell

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Published October 23rd 2014 by Bloomsbury.

Goodreads Synopsis: On the eve of her wedding, a young queen sets out to rescue a princess from an enchantment. She casts aside her fine wedding clothes, takes her chain mail and her sword and follows her brave dwarf retainers into the tunnels under the mountain towards the sleeping kingdom. This queen will decide her own future – and the princess who needs rescuing is not quite what she seems. Twisting together the familiar and the new, this perfectly delicious, captivating and darkly funny tale shows its creators at the peak of their talents.

My Review: Chris Riddell and Neil Gaiman are a brilliant storytelling pair – as I knew from reading Fortunately, the Milk, their children’s book. Neil Gaiman’s writing is always gorgeous and Chris Riddell’s illustrations always bring to life his characters in an unforgettable way. Consequently, when I found out about The Sleeper and the Spindle, I was really excited about reading it!

The book is one of the most beautiful editions I’ve ever come across. The cover made me want to start reading straight away (Which I did!) and the minimalistic colour palette of black, white and gold makes the beautiful illustrations stand out. I fell in love with the look and feel of the book before I’d even started the story! I know it’s a book I’ll treasure.

I’ve been a fan of Chris Riddell’s work for years but I think his illustrations in The Sleeper and the Spindle are my new favourites – especially the two-page spreads and the endpapers! The character depictions are all so beautiful.

I was aware the story would be a retelling of Sleeping Beauty – but didn’t realise that the clever twists would draw in Snow White too. The only reason I was a little nervous about reading it was that I wasn’t sure how I’d find it because it was a rewritten classic – would it stand out enough? There’s quite a big market in fairy tale re-tellings. I’m not sure why I thought that; Neil Gaiman’s spin on the well-known stories was fantastic, and I didn’t want to pull myself out of the story.

What I loved the most was how the classic story is there, but the stereotypical stock character’s aren’t. There’s no prince charming. Instead, the protagonist is Snow White, who leaves her land, delaying her marriage, to awake the ‘sleeper’ in her castle, while the sleeping plague sweeps over the land. It’s so fresh and different! I really liked the ending too, which left the story at a point that left me wondering about the character’s unwritten futures.

Overall, The Sleeper and the Spindle definitely lived up to my excitement, though at just under seventy pages I do wish it was a little longer – I fell in love with the story so much. It’s a wonderfully fresh take on Sleeping Beauty – and a clever continuation of Snow White as well! The illustrations that accompanied the writing were gorgeous, and I think they fitted the story perfectly. Definitely recommended – The Sleeper and the Spindle will appeal to readers regardless of age.

My Rating:

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I received a copy of The Sleeper and the Spindle form the publisher, in exchange for a review. In no way at all did this affect my thoughts.

DIVERSITY IN YA: Book recommendations!

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I was sitting at my computer, procrastinating by scrolling through my twitter feed, last Friday night. I was completely stuck for blog post ideas: I’ve been so behind with blogging because the first term at school has been hectic, to say the least!

I’ve been very aware of the inspiring, brilliant #WeNeedDiverseBooks campaign on Twitter since it launched, but seeing tweets from that evening’s #SupportWNDB talk were the deciding factor that led to me making this post. Also, that I haven’t done a infographic post in quite a while. I hope you enjoy it!

There were a lot of books to pick from to fit onto this quick graphic, but picking out of my recently used Goodreads shelves… I honestly didn’t actually find it difficult to narrow it down, to pick only a few titles with diverse characters; of colour, a different cultural background, an LGBT* identity or disability. I think that proves that a) I really must seek out more diverse books, and read those sitting on my TBR, and that b) the WNDB campaign is so necessary: I’m so glad it’s encouraging and publicising books that otherwise wouldn’t be as visible.

Anyway, I’m aware I’ve rambled on a bit, and this post was meant to be just an infographic… (:

I hope you liked the infographic! I would love to take any recommendations on books similar to these (or completely unique ones of course!) and hear what you thought of these titles. There’s a lot of amazing sounding YA/MG fiction that’s out next year also, like Lara Williamson’s The Art of Being Normal (A very hotly anticipated one!) – are there any titles you are looking forward to reading?

Book Review: BREAKDOWN by Sarah Mussi

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Published 2nd October 2014 by Hot Key Books.

22432850 Goodreads Synopsis: It is 2084. Nuclear radiation has poisoned the country. Society has fallen apart. Starvation is rampant, and power shortages have resulted in piles of obsolete gadgetry. Necessity has driven those who’ve survived to complete self-reliance, if they have the means to do so. For Melissa and her Nan, survival is just about possible, so long as they can guard the tiny crop of potatoes in their back garden and find enough fuel to cook on – and as long as they are safely barricaded inside their home by curfew.

For after dark, feral dogs hunt, and violent gangs from the old Olympic Stadium (now a miserable ghetto) roam to loot and plunder. If they catch you, they are not merciful; so when Melissa falls into the hands of Careem’s gang, her prospects look bleak. But Careem soon realises that she might just be more valuable alive, as a ransom victim. However, he hasn’t reckoned with Melissa’s resourcefulness. Soon part of his young gang are completely beguiled by Melissa and her story of a hidden valley in Scotland – a place that sounds like a comparative paradise, if they can get there. But apparently only Melissa knows the way, and only she can lead them there. But Melissa is hiding a secret. She has never been to Scotland in her life, let alone a mythically Elysian valley there. Can Melissa’s stories keep her alive long enough to escape – or will they get her killed?

My Review: I enjoyed Sarah Mussi’s RIOT (review here!) earlier this year – so when I discovered that Sarah’s newest tiels would be out so soon, I was eager to read it! I think I may have even enjoyed this more than Sarah Mussi’s last. It’s an edge-of-your-seat, nail-biter of a novel, with some really clever plot elements.

I’m not actually sure if it’s intentional, because I haven’t seen it mentioned anywhere – but I found some really bold parallels to Of Mice and Men in BREAKDOWN- a bit coincidental as I’m studying it in class! At first I thought this was some kind of dystopian retelling, because the main character meets a Lenny who she tells stories to about a place they’re headed, away from the hard work… Though the story takes a massive turn of events, I still found similarities to the novel and I’m not sure if they were even intended, if I just over-thought things because I’m studying the Steinbeck novel… but still, pretty awesome. 😀

The dystopian setting was very bold and interesting. England’s completely flipped around – the victim of nuclear destruction, growing slum-like conditions, a controlling army, and mass food shortages. Sarah Mussi gave such great descriptions of the world, building it up so it was a perfectly formed image in the readers head. However, I don’t think it was fully explained how England came to be such a dystopia – I would have loved for the book to delve into the reasons!

Marissa was a likeable main character. I don’t think I ever connected with her on a huge level, but she was a really strong, clever protagonist. I found her relationship with the main characters she meets, especially Lenny, so captivating and memorable. I really enjoyed reading about them!

Overall, BREAKDOWN was a great dystopian read. I really liked the protagonists, and the plot was very clever – there were so many briliant and unexpected twists and developments that made it hard to put the book down! I think Sarah Mussi’s dystopian world in BREAKDOWN is possibly her most unique… and I would happily read another book set there 😀 I think my main issue was that I wanted a more concrete story of the events that lead up to Marissa’s situation at the beginning, and the country’s situation in general too. Definitely recommended!

My Rating:

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I received a copy of BREAKDOWN from the publisher, in exchange for a review. In no way at all did this affect my thoughts.

The Maze Runner Blog Tour: SIGNED BOOK GIVEAWAY

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Martyn Pig stg2 One day to go! It’s the 9th of October – Which means that tomorrow The Maze Runner is officially released in the UK! Today’s blog post is an exciting blog tour one, celebrating the movie’s release.

I read The Maze Runner at the beginning of 2013, and I loved every fast-paced, thrilling second of it. It was such a great book! I loved the mysterious world of the Glade – it interested and terrified me (as did the rest of the trilogy later on in the year…). The main thing I loved about the book, though, was all of the characters. Thomas was such a great protagonist, and I loved reading about the Lord of the Flies-esque community of Gladers too. You can read my review from last year by clicking here.

I can’t wait to see the book brought to life on the big screen. I’m a little nervous because so many YA novels are being adapted – but I’m a big Teen Wolf fan and love Dylan O’Brien’s acting in that… I think he’ll make a brilliant Thomas!:D View the trailer for the movie by clicking here, if you haven’t seen it yet! It looks awesome and the Glade is exactly the way I imagined it when I read it.

Giveaway time!!

The Bibliomaniac Book Blog is teaming up with Chicken House books for this giveaway – and it’s a pretty exciting one! You can win a classic copy of The Maze Runner, SIGNED by James Dashner, the author. Enter using as many methods as you like from the rafflecopter menu below & good luck! AS I can’t get the widget working on my blog, click on the hyperlink below to go to the giveaway page.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Terms / Conditions / etc etc

-This giveaway closes at midnight on the 19th of October: You have ten days to enter as many times as you like!:)

-I will tweet or facebook the winner of the giveaway a few days after the competition ends.

-I, the blogger, will NOT be sending out the book. I will pass postage details from the winner onto the publisher, Chicken House Books, who will post the prize.

-I’ll have to privately message the winner for their address (obvs:P) but as soon as I’ve passed the details onto the publisher I’ll delete them.

Good luck, and enjoy the book and movie!:)

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Book Review: Anatomy of a Misfit by Andrea Portes

Radio Drama Review: The Electrical Venus by Julie Mayhew

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Not a usual review post today! Last week, Julie Mayhew, Carnegie nominated author of Red Ink (which I loved! Review here.), asked me if I’d be interested in listening to and reviewing her new radio drama, The Electrical Venus. It’s a forty-five minute radio play that’s set to broadcast this Friday (October 3rd) at 2:15. Click here to go to the radio programme’s page!

I wasn’t very sure if it was my thing, at first. I don’t listen to radio drama – I haven’t even listened to an audio-book in ages! However, after I read that Julie intended for this play to be directed at teens, a demographic that I don’t think is ever explored by radio drama, I was very interested. Also, of course, I loved Julie Mayhew’s YA novel Red Ink and I’ve been wanting to experience more of her writing ever since.

Though I was excited to try it, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from a radio drama, or if I’d get into the story properly given the unfamiliar format. I plugged in my earpieces and started listening to it while I was doing some art homework… And was completely blown away! It did take me a few minutes to get used to it but once I’d become familiar I started to really enjoy it. The Electrical Venus was simultaneously a new entertainment experience for me, and a great story too, with plot themes I didn’t see coming at all.

I really loved the voice acting. I was really unsure of how I’d be able to connect and relate to the characters, because I’d have no visual and no descriptions to go on. However, I felt like I got to know the characters, especially Nim, so well, even though I only heard the voices and only for a forty-minute listen! The characters were really well developed and realistic, I loved them. Nim, the protagonist, has a great back-story that was explored really well throughout the play.

Another thing I loved about the play was the setting, which was fun but dark and mysterious too. It was really inventive and well-described through the plot. The Electrical Venus is set centuries ago in a travelling circus, and scenes, especially like the opening one (a circus performance), I felt like I was transported back in time… something I really wasn’t expecting.

Overall, The Electrical Venus was a really great play. I’d definitely recommend listening to it once it’s out – whether you’re a regular radio listener, or not, like me. Mayhew’s story was memorable and thrilling; After finishing it I just wanted to listen again! It dealt with things I wasn’t expecting and the story was very cleverly written. The voice actors were brilliant too, and really captured the personalities of the characters. Now I’ve tried listening to radio drama, something I would never have done otherwise, I’d definitely listen to it again. I’d love to see Julie Mayhew (and other writers!) writing more radio plays aimed at younger audiences. It was really fun. (:

My Rating:

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I received a copy of The Electrical Venus from the author, in exchange for a review. In no way at all did this affect my thoughts.

New Books! #53

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I’ve realised it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything aside from book reviews. Starting year ten this month has been pretty hectic, homework and coursework-wise! Since the end of summer I’ve bought and received a lot of books, so here’s my book haul for the last few weeks. I’m also hoping to be posting more often soon, as I’ve got a lot of new blog posts planned. (:

Received in Post:

Thank you to Orchard books, Indigo/Orion, Hodder, Hot Key Books, Harper360/HarperTeen and Doubleday!

The Hit, Skink no Surrender & The Edge of the Water: These were all sent to my dad for review, actually… However, seeing as he no longer blogs frequently and also as these are all YA titles, so they don’t really fit his blog demographic, they were passed onto me to review! I’m looking forward to reading all of these as they all sound like great crime novels.

Breakdown by Sarah Mussi: I enjoyed Sarah Mussi’s RIOT (read my review here!) earlier this year. When I heard about this I was really excited for it, as the premise seemed fantastic! I love the striking cover too, and it’s got me sure the story is going to be a gritty dystopia.

Anatomy of a Misfit by Andrea Portes: From the Harper360 email I received, this sounded awesome. I’ve read a lot of glowing reviews, so I’m very excited about reading it but a little nervous too. I hope I enjoy it. Review up soon, as this is going to be one of my next reads!

Lockwood & Co.: The Whispering Skull by Jonathan Stroud: Squeeee!! I loved Lockwood & Co.: The Screaming Staircase (book one, read my review here) last year, so I was so grateful when this came in the post. I jumped straight into the story, and I’m hoping to finish it tonight – so a review should be up very soon.

Purchased:

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke: This book is one I’ve heard a lot of amazing things about. I’ve always been put off of reading it, though, because it’s just so big… Though I found this really gorgeous box of the novel split into three volumes at a charity store and my dad and I couldn’t not buy it!:D I’d really like to try this soon as the blurb had me really intrigued.

We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler: I’d run out of reading material on a long journey home from a festival – I found this at a service center store and decided to read it on the way home, especially after having read Ruby’s review! I adored it and I’m hoping to write a post soon.

Since You’ve Been Gone & The Giver: I bought these in Waterstones a couple of weeks ago. Waterstones sales are awesome:D I definitely want to read The Giver as soon as possible, because the movie adaptation is out very soon.

White Teeth by Zadie Smith: This was another charity-shop find. I haven’t read any of Zadie’s books but they all sound really interesting so I’d like to start reading her work.

Saved from Dad’s book clearance: xD

The Eden Moore stories by Cherie Priest: My dad often clears out his bookshelves but I always end up re-homing things he’s about to abandon… The covers for these books looked really cool and striking. I totally judged them by their covers and put them on the TBR pile, though I’m not sure when I’ll get around to them…

Purchased from the Library:

Over the summer I volunteered at my local library for the Summer Reading Challenge. The desk I worked at was right next to the shelf of ex-library books on sale… I ended up buying a few from there on my last day!

Forget Me N0 by Anne Cassidy: Anne Cassidy’s Looking for JJ and Finding Jennifer Jones were brilliant, gritty and moving. I don’t really listen to audiobooks but I’d love to change that, and I haven’t read Anne Cassidy’s older books but I’d love to start to… so I had to buy this!:)

Kissing the Rain & The Road of the Dead by Kevin Brooks: My friend from primary school used to be hooked on Brooks’s titles and I remember always being really interested in them, as I used to steal his copies during reading classes to read the blurbs;) I’ve never actually read any of them however. These two sound great!

Everything Beautiful by Simmone Howell: I assumed at first this was a romance and I didn’t pick it up, but when I read the blurb it sounded pretty entertaining:’two rebel teens wreaking havoc in a religious summer camp’ was basically what the blurb suggested. I think it’ll be fun!

That’s it for this (pretty long!) book haul post… *exhales* Have you read any of these books, and if so what did you think? (:

Book Review: Malala: The Girl Who Stood up for Education and Changed the World

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By Malala Yousafzai and Patricia McCormick

Published 19th August 2014 by Indigo (Orion).

23161221 Goodreads Synopsis:

Written by Malala for her peers, this is a brand new look at the girl behind the icon.

Written in collaboration with critically acclaimed NATIONAL BOOK AWARD finalist Patricia McCormick, Malala tells her story – from her childhood in the Swat Valley to the shooting, her recovery and new life in England.

She’s a girl who loves cricket, gossips with her best friends, and, on the day of the shooting, nearly overslept and missed an exam. A girl who saw women suddenly banned from public, schools blown up, the Taliban seize control, and her homeland descend into a state of fear and repression.

This is the story of her life, and also of her passionate belief in every child’s right to education, her determination to make that a reality throughout the world, and her hope to inspire others.

My Review: I was really eager to read this as soon as I heard about it! I knew very vague details about Malala’s story, and I was keen to learn more about it seeing as I’ve seen a lot of coverage of Malala and her education campaigns, but never properly read about it.

This recount of Malala’s life, from she was a child in her home, Swat, right up until her current time in Birmingham, completely blew me away. It really wasn’t what I’d expected and I honestly found it really difficult to stop reading. Malala’s voice captured me from page one; her narration had me entirely engrossed in the story. She and Patricia McCormick (A writer I’ve always wanted to read something from!) are brilliant collaborators: I loved the writing.

At a few points I felt like I was reading a fiction book, instead of an autobiographical work. It’s so, so hard imagine that, just before I turned ten, living in the UK, Malala was watching her home village in Pakistan change so terrifyingly with the growing terrorist powers. Malala’s life story made me tear up so much. It’s heartbreaking and shocking – but also there are so many points that made me smile. I loved getting to know Malala in terms of her education rights work – and also getting to know her personally in the book. Malala is a great insight into the personal life of someone so inspirational and amazing.

Overall, Malala: The Girl who Stood up for Education and Changed the World is a book I’d really recommend to anybody and everybody. It’s such an important read: It’s inspirational, influential and moving – but incredibly informative too, because before I’d seen very little about all of the shocking events that happened in Pakistan. Patricia McCormick and Malala are visibly both incredibly talented writers – and this book will definitely stay with me for a long time. It’s incredibly hard to do this book justice in a review… This definitely isn’t a title you’ll want to miss!

My Rating:

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