Book Report: DEAR OLLY

This book is called, ‘DEAR OLLY’ written by Michael Morpurgo. It is about a litle girl named Olly and her older brother named Matt. Olly is an ordinary girl living with Matt and her mother. She is fond of and passionate about a few different things. Matt’s talent is to be a clown and make people laugh. He also has a passion for taking care of swallows. Since Matt’s mother is a vet and because he has a love of swallows, Matt’s mother assumes that Matt will be a vet after graduating university. One day, Matt sees pictures of dejected kids from Africa who are hurt and helpless. Matt’s delicate heart cracks as he sees this. He tells Olly that he is going to Africa to cheer up the sad children there. His family are shocked at his decision. His family members try to dissuade him but nothing works. One day, Matt just leaves. Olly and mother grieve and Olly tries to comfort mother but nothing works. The joy in the house is gone. By and by, Olly gets closer and closer to the swallows and loves their elegant agility and fancy aerobatics. One day, she finds a swallow weak with a crooked wing. Olly and mother work on the bird and treat him. They warm him near the fire and give him a few drops of glucose. When he finally recovers, the two put a ring around him so they could recognise him when he flies back from Africa. They name him Hero. So, Hero flies off with his flock but loses his flock in a storm. He has two close calls with death but saves himself and gets back with his flock in Africa. There, he meets Matt who is just finishing his clown hour with the kids. Matt had reached Africa and started to take care of over two hundred scared children. He had also transformed a scared, shy boy named Gahamire into a happy, friendly boy who became quite close to Matt. Matt is a second father to all the sad but now happy children in the orphanage. One disastrous morning, Gahamire’s gone. Matt drives to the mountain and finds him. A landmine breaks Matt’s leg and he finds himself saying goodbye to his orphanage and hello to his old London. By and by, Matt recovers from his broken leg and get’s it replaced with a wooden leg. Although his leg is healed, his heart is not. Leaving his life in Africa where his children were, was tough. To console himself, Matt finds a father swallow with a slightly crooked left leg. He shows it to Olly. Could it be Hero?

What I like about this book:

• The significance of the title is that it tells a reader who hasn’t read the book that a character named Olly is away from someone. It also tells the reader that there is a certain batch of letters in the book.
• There were three parts to the book but the biggest part was Olly’s story. All the events in the book happened in Olly’s story and were seen through Olly’s eye but Hero and Matt’s Stories each gave a little more description on each of the events and situations.
• Michael Morpurgo’s stories always have a kind of tragedy in them and I like this because if a story has a tragedy to it and it’s touching, there can be a very deep meaning to. In this, its to persevere, do what your heart and instinct tell you and have faith in yourself. Another lesson was: if someone really wants to do something and has a particular talent, let them do it and don’t give them pain over it. These are the two big lessons and meanings I found in the book.
• The author uses Hero the swallow as an analogy and example to express perseverance, faith and the will to keep doing something. It reminded me a little of Jonathan Livingston Seagull and the way Richard Bach also used JLS as an analogy for perseverance and following your dreams. Here is the link to my book report of Jonathan Livingston Seagull.
• Fun time! Here is a little quiz for kids who have read the book:

1.    What tragic but good event happened to the hobby falcon so that he couldn’t chase Hero anymore?

2.   Did Olly have a father? If so, what happened to him?

3.   What color did Olly paint her toenails at the start of the story?

4.   Which hospital did Matt go to for his broken leg?

5.    What was the name of his broken leg?

I WOULD GIVE THIS BOOK A 10 OUT OF 10 RATING!

FIND OUT WHAT I MEAN BY READING ‘DEAR OLLY’!

YOU CAN BUY IT HERE ON AMAZON FOR $7.99!

YOU CAN BUY IT HERE ON GUARDIAN BOOKSHOP!

Book Report: HAROUN AND THE SEA OF STORIES

This book is called, ‘HAROUN AND THE SEA OF STORIES’, written by Salman Rushdie. It is about a little boy and his father. They are called Rashid (the father) and Haroun (the son). Rashid is a great storyteller. Haroun’s mother, Soraya, runs away with their unimaginative neighbour, Mr. Sengupta. Haroun and Rashid are very dejected. Meanwhile, Rashid’s creativity and story writing ability vanishes when Haroun asks a question that Mr. Sengupta used to ask Soraya, “What’s the point of stories that aren’t even true?”. After his mum left, he starts to believe in the dangerous question too. However, Haroun immediately regrets this when he sees how it affects his father and tries to restore his father’s creativity. That night, Haroun hears a sound in his bathroom and ventures off to the Land of Gup (gossip) assisted by a water genie named Iff and a mechanical bird named Butt. He goes there in search of The Leader, The Walrus, because he has been told by Iff that The Walrus may be able to help restore his father’s loss of imagination. Apart from the lack of confidence his family is showing in him, Rashid feels cut off from his supply of Story Water as the evil Khattam-shud (the end of a book in Hindi) who ruled over the Land Of Chup (silence in Hindi) had been polluting it. In his desire to rule the world, Khattam-shud had polluted the Sea of Stories as he himself had no imagination and couldn’t control it. Haroun, Iff and Butt figure out that Khattam-shud’s shadow is plotting how to destroy the Sea of Stories once and for all. They learn that Khattam-shud can be killed by melting his shadow. So Haroun and his friends fly over to his land and use light to melt his shadow and destroy him. They all rejoice in the Land Of Chup and all is well. Haroun and Rashid are then granted a wish and they wish their city is happy again. It is happy indeed, when they return, as Soraya is back home again. More importantly, Rashid restores his creativity.

What I like about this book:

• A story is like a movie in a reader’s mind. This story was so gripping that I couldn’t stop reading it. I devoured the book and took it to the kitchen, and to other places in the house until such time that I finished the book. I hope you will feel the same when and if you read this amazing book.
• Salman Rushdie uses puns in this book. Each character’s name may seem like a normal name to readers who don’t know the Hindustani language but when actually learnt, it opens up another door in their brains as to what he meant and why. For example, Khattam-shud means ‘The End’ when we read books written in English. Once, you know this, you can relate to the connection between Khattam-shud and the land of Chup (silence)
• The Walrus or The Leader of the Eggheads, brings references to 2 things. One, is the highly popular book, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. If comparing The Walrus and The Blue Caterpillar, what is the difference other than in their species? They are both leaders and somebody that the land looks up to for help. And two, there is a song by the Beatles (a very good and popular band) called, ‘I Am The Walrus’ in their Magical Mystery Tour album.
• At the time when Salman Rushdie wrote this book, he was in hiding from a death threat. He had been a target after an incident and this book is all about having the right to talk freely and this message develops in the Land of Gup. Salman Rushdie feels that he has the right to produce whatever thoughts he believes in and is confident about. This is the beauty of free speech. However, there is a time when free speech can get harmful and the beauty of silence shines through. Free speech may hurt other people very deeply. Although, Silence has its own beauty, Salman Rushdie encourages free speech over silence for creativity to prevail.
• I think even though the story finishes, I want to add a little bit of an epilogue to it. Just five lines maybe. Here goes:

Haroun walked down in his new clothes and hugged his father and mother.

“Thank you for my great presents.”

As he opened the purple wrapped present with silver ribbon on it, it burst open itself and Iff the water genie popped out and said, “Happy Birthday my friend Haroun. Have you seen  Butt anywhere? We need to be on our way!”

Haroun knew exactly what this meant: another adventure.

‘But, but, but..,’ ends Butt without moving its beak. ‘A story never ends!’

I WOULD RATE THIS BOOK 10 OUT OF 10!

FIND OUT WHAT I MEAN BY READING HAROUN AND THE SEA OF STORIES!

You can buy it HERE on Amazon for $10.43!

You can buy it HERE on Guardian Bookshop for £22.00!

Book Report: DYING TO MEET YOU #1

 This book is called ‘DYING TO MEET YOU’ Written by Kate Klise. It is about an author called Ignatius. B Grumply who wants to rent a house to write in for the summer. He needs to finish the thirteenth book in the Ghost Tamer series but he doesn’t want any children around him. After a few look throughs, he picks a house on 43 Old Cemetery Road and asks his editor to handle all his paperwork for him. Little does he know that a surprise will be waiting for him at the house. He moves into the house and finds that an 11 year old boy named Seymour and his cat, Shadow, live in that house too and have no intentions of leaving or sharing. (Seymour’s parents left him alone while they travelled to Europe and said they weren’t cut-out to be his parents.) Seymour makes up rumours about a ghost named Olive C Spencer who still lives in the house. But, are the rumours actually rumours??? Ignatius. B Grumply writes back to his editor and asks him to unsign the mess that he’d got into. When his editor can’t do that, Ignatius makes up a few rules that Seymour has to follow in the house. Seymour adds to the rules and the two are all fine. Ignatius has a really bad case of writer’s block. Seymour has his ghost friend, Olive, who plays on the piano and lives in the cupola. One night, Olive invites Seymour and Ignatius to dinner and Ignatius starts to think that Seymour is a genius because he thinks that Seymour coded an imaginary hand to scoop up spoonfuls of food and vanish into thin air. Was Seymour really a coding genius or is Olive really a ghost? Read the book to find out. All I will say now, is that after a few misunderstandings are cleared, Olive helps Ignatius write his 13th book in the series and Ignatius writes the full story with her. In the end, Ignatius buys the house and lives with his new family – Olive, Seymour, and not to mention Shadow the cat – happily ever after!

What I like about the book:

• I love the way the author tells a whole story just through letters . Olive and Ignatius talk to each other through letters that they send to Seymour! And the book is formatted as letters – how innovative is that?!
• I like how Kate Klise who is a real author writes about another author as a character in the book. It was annoying how Ignatius was so arrogant at first but then it is funny and happy how he opened up to Olive in the end.
• I like how the author makes simple but funny connection in the book, like, when she describes the address as 43 Old Cemetery Rd so readers know it’s haunted. She calls the cat ‘Shadow’ to state that he is mysterious and Ignatius is really grumpy at the start, therefore, his last name is Grumply.
• I like that Seymour was a really cool character with a lot of power and punch. He was somebody who stood up for what he believed in. I like that because most of my friends and I are like that.
• Fun time! Here is a little quiz for kids who have read the book:

1.   Which town is 43 Old Cemetery Road in?

2.   Who built the house?

3.   Who played the piano?

4.   What was the name of Ignatius’ editor?

5.    What was the name of the publisher?

6.   What was funny about the name of the publisher?

I WOULD GIVE THIS BOOK A 8 out of 10 rating!

FIND OUT WHAT I MEAN BY READING DYING TO MEET YOU #1!

YOU CAN BUY IT HERE ON AMAZON FOR $5.99!

Book Report : THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME

This book is called, ‘THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME’ written by Mark Haddon. It is a book about a boy with a condition who is trying to deal with complex relationships in his family. While dealing with them, he experiences mixed emotions and overcomes his awkwardness of talking to strangers and learns to show empathy and trust – which are difficult for him. Christopher likes two things very much: Math and dogs. The book starts with Christopher wanting to solve the mystery of Who Killed Wellington (the neighbour’s dog) and that changes a big part of his personality and also his life. Because, it  leads him to solve an even bigger mystery in his own life. When he tells his dad that Wellington is dead, his dad gets upset and tells him off for mentioning a person called Mr. Shears. Christopher has a lot of problems but doesn’t know yet that they are all related. In school, Christopher has to write a book and he writes about the mystery he is solving. A while ago, Christopher’s mother ran away with another person because she didn’t think that she was a good mother. She didn’t have time to tell Christopher so left Christopher’s dad in charge of that. Christopher’s dad, being very upset, turned the story upside down and said that Christopher’s mother was dead. One thing that Christopher doesn’t like is lies. Christopher didn’t know the truth so he believed his dad until one fine day Christopher’s dad hid his book so he could not find it. Christopher starts to look for it and lands up in his dad’s room. He finds a number of letters from his mom. After reading them, he realises that his mom is not dead. His dad sees Christopher reading the letters and then tells him that he is sorry and confesses that he was the one who killed Wellington in a fit of anger. Christopher thinks that he can no longer trust his dad and that it is not safe for him to be living with him anymore. So, he packs his stuff and heads to London where his mother is. After a long adventure on trains, he reaches his mom’s new house and sees Mr. Shears  with her. That night, Christopher’s mother makes an important realisation and makes a decision that it wasn’t safe for Christopher and her to live with Mr. Shears. So, Christopher and his mom drive back to Swindon where Christopher’s dad lives and went back to the house. Finally, Christopher and his mom move into a new room and Christopher and his father work on an important project: Learning to trust each other again.

What I like about the book is:

• I really like the way this book is formatted. Each chapter is a prime number. How interesting! I also like the way illustrations are used to help express what Christopher wants the reader to know
• One really interesting thing that I find with people who have conditions in books is that they seem to be very fond of prime numbers. In Rain Reign, there was Rose who was obsessed with prime numbers. Prime numbers are special because they are different and can’t be divided by any number except itself or 1. I wonder whether Mark Haddon and other authors who write about autism and other types of conditions may have chosen their characters to like prime numbers because they are different or unique – just like the chracters.
• This book reminded me of Rain Reign and a little bit of Ella Enchanted too. Rain Reign because Rose, the main character, also has a condition and Ella Enchanted because she has to obey whereas Christopher and Rose don’t like to be ordered.
• The author really brought the story to life. I was trying to anticipate what would happen next. I flipped through the pages one day and caught a glimpse of the sentence, ‘Father killed Wellington.’. Even though I knew the solution to the mystery but I clung onto the book to read Christopher’s own description and thoughts.
• This book is also quite tragic. I know that my parents love me, whereas, I think that because Christopher doesn’t like to be touched and doesn’t feel that sense of love that other people feel, he only thinks that his parents love him because he has heard them say it to him before.
• One of the touching part of the books is when Christopher’s mother chooses her son and sacrifices her relationship with Mr. Shears. It was her love for Christopher that made her sacrifice Mr. Shears and help Christopher. I think that that is very brave.
• At the back of the book in one of the paragraphs before the praise, there is a line which says ‘Christopher has no understanding of human emotions.’ I disagree with this statement because at times in the book, he leaves his father alone because he knows that he is angry and might start a fight. Also, he understands those emoji signs and how they make people feel. I really think that that line is being unfair to Christopher! (I am standing up for imaginary characters! Wicked!)
• Finally, FUN TIME! Here are a few questions for young adults who have read the book:

1.    What did Christopher’s father gift Christopher as a present?

2.   What is the name of Christopher’s teacher?

3.   How many prime numbers does Christopher know?

4.   What type of novel is this?

5.   How many letters did Christopher’s mom write to Christopher?

What I think the Author could have done differently:

• I think the author could have put in less swear words. I was almost not allowed to read this book because of the swear words but then my mom and my tecacher had a chat with me before I was allowed to read the book. Since this is a book that is suppsed to be for adults and children, I think that maybe he could have shown more restraint or care on the language used.

I WOULD GIVE THIS BOOK A 9 OUT OF 10 RATING!

FIND OUT WHAT I MEAN BY READING THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME!

YOU CAN BUY IT HERE ON AMAZON FOR $8. 89!

YOU CAN BUY IT HERE ON GUARDIAN BOOKSHOP FOR $12.39!