Tag Archives: journalism

Book Review: Jonny Jakes Investigates the Hamburgers of Doom by Malcom Judge

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Published June 2015 by Curious Fox.

25726092Publisher’s Synopsis: Meet Jonny Jakes, undercover reporter for banned school newspaper The Woodford Word. Nothing will stop his pursuit of the truth. Not teachers. Not parents. Not double detention.

When a new head teacher arrives halfway through term, Jonny smells a rat. Teachers handing out sweets? All-you-can-eat hamburgers? He’s determined to get to the bottom of it, because Jonny Jakes investigates the same way he eats his hamburgers: with relish.

My Review: I haven’t read many middle grade books so far this year – so when I was emailed about this book, I jumped at the chance! Also, if the title is THE HAMBURGERS OF DOOM, there is no way I’m missing out on reading it.

I can definitely see why this first book in the Jonny Jakes Investigates series is one of Curious Fox’s leading titles of 2015. It ticks all the boxes for a brilliant children’s book, and more. From the witty illustrations of the characters, to the hilarious dialogue and fictional school setting, it was a delight to read!

The story opens with an introduction to Jonny Jakes, the mastermind behind his school’s newspaper, which has been garnering a lot of attention with its many articles mocking the headmaster. When a mysterious new head teacher turns up, Jakes is determined to get the first scoop on it, but he finds out that it’s not just any old head teacher. It’s an alien, and matters are about to get a whole lot more complicated – because despite his nice personality, is this alien headmaster up to something wicked?

The plot felt like a classic story, though original, and I can tell this is going to be a very popular book with younger readers. I did not expect to laugh as much as I did. The plot is a hilarious blend of Sci-Fi and school drama.

The voice of Jonny Jakes is undoubtedly one of the best child narratives I’ve read in a long time. There was just something about the voice, how the diary entries by Jonny were written – it felt so realistic and I loved it! I’m confident Jonny Jakes has the potential to be one of those iconic book characters children are going to grow up loving.

The dialogue was sharp-witted and I loved the relationships between all of the characters. I didn’t expect to become so attached to such brilliant characters in this book, either!

Overall, I was really pleasantly surprised with The Hamburgers of Doom. A quite frankly ridiculous story about a schoolboy reporter investigating evil hamburgers and an alien headmaster… t’s a fantastically silly read that’s bound to make you giggle a little bit, no matter what your age. I enjoyed it a lot more than I anticipated. I think it’ll appeal to a lot of reluctant young readers, too. I’m really looking forward to seeing more from this series!

My Rating:

four

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

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Bookish Careers…

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This post is about all the career options I’d love to do when I’m older. All bookish, of course!

I never really write very personal posts on my blog. However, I thought I’d write this, as it does quite largely link in to Why I Blog, too. The main reason I started a blog was because I liked sharing opinions on books and writing reviews, though I also thought it would be a good way of getting a little bit of work experience, too. Through blogging, I’ve gotten to meet lots of publicists and authors! I’ve always wanted to be a writer since… I can’t even remember when. I still have the most embarrassing stories written from when I was younger… E.G., this thing about a fairy party with a gate-crashing alien.

theauthorsI still definitely want to be a writer! I’m actually writing a bit less frequently now, as I’m reading more and blogging more. Also, obviously, Twitter. Which I blame for all my procrastinating. Though, I have a short novella that I wrote for NaNoWriMo a while ago which I’m hoping to make longer and edit very soon- as well as a thriller I’m planning too.

theauthors

Through blogging, though, I’ve also had so many more ideas of jobs I’d love to do that are bookish. I write at least two reviews a week, and I really love doing it! I’ve found so many book magazines that I didn’t know existed- like Newbooks, and We Love This Book. I think it would be really fun to be a book critic for a magazine, too, or to be a journalist for a literary magazine of sorts! Thanks to Dad, I’ve started doing that, though not as a paid job yet… Most weeks, I have a little book review space in our local paper. It would be really great to do that for a living, right? Blogging’s the perfect experience for it, too!

Lastly, I’d love to work in a publishing company- actually being a part of the process that gets books on the shelves in stores. I’d never actually considered it until I went to my first blogger’s event, which was at the Hot Key Books offices. That was one of the first times I got to meet people working in publishing, and see behind the scenes, in a way. I think that brunch was probably the decider for me! I got really interested in working as an editor, or in marketing and publicity… It seems like a really fun job!

Or if not working on the content or spreading the word about a book, I’d really love to take part in designing book covers or illustrating books. I enjoy drawing a lot, and I like making things digitally- like the review-graphics I sometimes publish on here- even if that’s only fiddling around with photo editors I find online…  Another link to Hot Key here- on their blog recently they’ve posted some design processes for their books. This one’s by Jan Bielecki, and goes through the design for Ellen Renner’s Tribute. And this post is about the illustrations by Isobel for the Isobel Journal. I really loved reading those, and they’ve gotten me even more interested about that kind of job!

So, that’s a summary of all the jobs I’d really love to do. I hope you enjoyed that post! If you’re a blogger especially or generally just a bookish person- would you go into the same kinds of careers, or what else? I’d love to know! (: