Frozen - The Essential Collection - Book Review

The Frozen mania that exists in my house is SO profound that even I let out a shriek of joy when I opened Frozen: The Essential Collection. Embarrassing? Yes but also true.

There is just something about Frozen that little (and some big) girls love!

My own 3 year old has proudly worn her 'Elsa dress' for 2 months straight (in the interests of hygiene we now own 2 exactly the same) and, to be honest, I'm just relieved that it isn't pink.

Anyway, you can understand my excitement when I opened my Frozen package.

The Essential Collection contains 2 Frozen books, lyrics to all the songs (in case you hadn't realised that it is called "Let It Go"), lots of stickers and generally far more information about Frozen than anyone but a small girl could possibly want to know.

 It also has a "Let It Go" sing-a-long clip... for any little girls out there not already singing it continuously on their own.

Is this book MORE about the movie?

Well, yes.

Are we all a bit sick of Frozen?

Quite possibly but our daughters really aren't and there are worse things in life than a movie where the true love is between sisters, and the handsome prince turns out to be WAY less desirable than the nice guy who works for a living!

In all seriousness, if you know a Frozen-loving little girl (and if you know any girls under the age of 10 you probably do), this is the perfect Christmas present for them. Truly!

Who'll love this: All those Frozen-mad little girls out there
Cost: $29.99
Publisher: Penguin Australia

The Lost World Circus: The Last Elephant by Justin D’Ath – book review

The Last Elephantis the first book in a new series by long-time kid’s author Justin D’Ath.

In the series, The Lost Circus, earth has had a terrible pandemic of an illness called Rat Flu. Most of the animals we know today have either become sick and died or been killed to prevent the spread of the infection.

All except the animals in Captain Noah’s Lost World Circus.

It is a clever premise. It leaves masses of room for adventure, goodies and badies, and encounters with exciting animals but it also seems like it could potentially happen.

And if that doesn’t seem exciting enough the hero, Colt Lawless, seems to be developing super powers as a side effect of being infected with rat flu (but saved by his vet mother) when he was a child.

I really liked The Last Elephant. It has really appealing messages about protecting and respecting animals, as well as about government abusing people’s fear and becoming corrupt and powerful and the people’s ability to fight back.

But most of all it is just an exciting adventure story that has you on the edge of your seat until the very end.

Who’ll love it: Kids aged 8 plus, and it will really appeal to boys who love an exciting adventure.

Cost: $14.99

Publisher: Penguin Books Australia  

Eerie by S.Carey - book review

I don't like horror books.

And generally my policy is to only review kids books that I liked - there's only time for so many reviews and why waste them.

But rules were made to be broken, right?

So here is my review of Eerie, a new series published by Penguin Books Australia and written by S.Carey (so, given that when you read out the authors name it sounds like scary I'm guessing it is a pseudonym).

Eerie is a series of very short, reasonably scary novellas. I read Game Over and Hunter and Collector. They're not my kind of thing but they are a clever series and there are definitely kids out there who would love them.

The Eerie books (which have the tag line 'because Goosebumps are for chickens') are only 60ish pages long and are a super quick and easy read. They're definitely on the scary end of creepy, and kids who love things that are a bit dark will lap them up!

Thirteen books will be published this year (yep, somewhere out there a publisher has an amusing sense of humour) and more are on their way.

Who'll love them: kids aged 9-13 who like to be scared
Cost: $9.99
Publisher: Penguin Books Australia
   

Our Australian Girl: Meet Lina by Sally Rippin and Meet Ruby by Penny Matthews - book reviews

 Our Australian Girl is a series of books published by Penguin Australia and written by a variety of well-known Australian authors.

The series is fantastic - each book looks at a different era of Australian history through the eyes of a young girl. It is fascinating to see what every day life was like for the girls, how their families worked, what they thought and what their school was like.

It is also nice to have different authors writing the books as it gives each girl a really unique voice and perspective.

Meet Lina: Lina is a young girl of Italian heritage living in 1956. Her family is different from the other girls at her new posh school and she is desperate to fit in.

Meet Ruby: Ruby lives in 1930s and has a blessed life until the Great Depression changes everything she knows. How will she cope?

Ruby and Lina are so normal, and so many of their experiences with their friends and families are the same as the issues young girls have now, that readers will have no trouble relating to them.

Eight Our Australian Girl books are published each year and there will be four books each about Ruby and Lina so these first books are just the start of their journey.

This is a great series; interesting, engaging and mildly educational.

And if you loved one of the books you are bound to love the rest of the series too making it a very safe birthday present!

Who'll love this: Girl aged 8-12.
Cost: $14.95
Publisher: Penguin Australia