WONDER

WONDER by P.J. Palacio    (LW)


This is a very touching book about a little boy named Auggie who was born with a terribly deformed face. His mum has home schooled him up until now but this year he is going to school, into fifth grade. The book is very easy to read as it has very short chapters and the whole story is divided into eight parts, each told by a different character. As Auggie reluctantly starts school he has many challenges to face including coping with bullies. Finding 'true' friends isn't easy when you are deformed so much that you make others stare, scream, and run away in fright.


Auggie's sister Via is a tower of strength to him but at times she feels she is brushed over by her parents who are always spending time with Auggie and tending to his needs. She is also going through lots of changes and at times feels left out. As each character tells of their experience and their feelings towards Auggie you are taken on a insightful journey. The overall theme of the story is that we should all try to be kinder to each other. I really enjoyed this book.

THE WRONG BOY

THE WRONG BOY  by Suzy Zail   (LW)


What a fantastic read. Although the story is fiction, some of names, places and events the author has written about are based on fact. The concentration camps were indeed real.


This story tells of Hanna Mendel who wanted more than anything else to be a concert pianist, but she wasn't to know that within days her life would be turned upside down. Forced to live in a ghetto, being rounded up into a cattle train and taken to a concentration camp, then falling in love with a German boy who had saved her life.


At times it was heart wrenching to read what Hanna and her sister went through to survive. This story was written so we will never forget what happened during WWII and how the Jews and others were treated. Everyone should read a story like this to keep their stories alive.


The author Suzy Zail's own father was an Auschwitz camp survivor and she has written another book titled "The Tattooed Flower: A Memoir" which tells of his time in the concentration camps and the Nazi occupation.

THE HOUSE OF SILK

by Anthony Horowitz  (LW Kindle)


The game is afoot! How much fun was this book to step back into the life of Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson. I grew up reading Encyclopaedia Brown and then onto Sherlock Holmes and that started my love of  'mystery murders'. Whether it's Agatha Christie, Poirot, or one of the thousands of detective stories I love them all. 


Little did I realise that Anthony Horowitz had been the screenwriter for Midsomer Murders, Foyles War and Poirot, featured on ABC television, all of which I adore.
This book, however, was a first Holmes novel for Anthony, which took 8 years to write. His research and description of the characters and places were excellent and I could picture each scene just like the original Sir Conan Doyle stories. It was hard to put down this book and as always I wanted to find the clues at the same time as Holmes.


Unlike other Holmes novels I have read, this story is written after the death of Sherlock Holmes, Dr Watson is elderly, and he is recounting a story, which is most sinister and shocking. After he had written it it was held at his solicitor's vaults until 100 yrs had passed. It is one last portrait of the great Sherlock Holmes. I think he pulled it off very well. 

TO CALM MY DREAMS: Surviving Auschwitz

by Kazimierz Tyminski   (LW)


I know..I know... the cover looks scary and I must admit I picked this book up a couple of times before I actually decided to read it. However, it was a great book and very easy to read, having a little larger print, and I was able to read it in one day and really enjoyed it. 


It's the story of Kazimierz, a young Polish Uni student, living in Krakow, recently married, had studied engineering, and had a love for music. Unfortunately for him he was arrested and sent to prison and then onto a concentration camp.


Kazimierz's children translated this book to fulfil his wishes of telling his story of his time in the notorious Auschwitz concentration camp, along with other camps, and how he survived the Holocaust, at all odds. He wanted to make sure the events that happened in these camps during WWII will never be forgotten and that the next generation will learn from the past. 


At times it was his ability to play music that saved him from being killed or tortured and he often wondered how he survived when so many of his friends weren't as fortunate. This is a powerful true story written from camp notes he had made at the time, which Kazimierz hoped would help to rid himself of some of the memories that still haunted him many years later.

MISS PEREGRINE'S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN

by Ransom Riggs  (LW-not in CCB lib)


What an amazing book. I didn't have any preconceived expectations with this book. I'd seen the cover a few times and passed it by, but something drew me back to it. I was glad I gave in... it was amazing but strange! I downloaded it to my Kindle and thought I'll just flick through a few pages... a couple of hours later I still couldn't put it down. Lucky it was on my Kindle cos I even had to read it late into the nights.

I'm not writing any more about it because it will spoil the experience and besides I've included the book trailer and the making of the book trailer to tantilise you.

 Enjoy it my peculiar friends!

This short film is fascinating look at the abandoned houses and castles that author of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, Ransom Riggs and his Dutch urban explorer guide found while scouting locations for the book trailer.

(Taken from 'The Book Slooth' blog:  http://thebookslooth.blogspot.com.au/2011/12/miss-peregrines-making-of-trailer.html)