Book Report: JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH

This book is called, ‘JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH’ written by Roald Dahl. It is about a little boy named James who lives with his horrible aunts. Poor James has no choice but to live with them, else, he would land up in an orphanage because his parents were no more. One day, James goes out for a walk. Little does James know that that walk would give him the entrance to a life away from his mean aunts. He meets a man who gives him something magical to drink. In his hastiness to get home, he spills it and it gets sucked into the roots. Oh, how tragic! But, suddenly in the backyard, a gigantic peach starts to grow. James’ aunts get people to see it and earn lots of money. One night when James is cleaning the backyard, he finds a small entrance that leads to the insides of the peach. It seems like a winding lane leading up somewhere. He glances around but his two aunts are nowhere in sight. As he creeps in, he finds a door and inside are insects. No, not teeny weeny insects. Insects who are exactly James’ size. Let me introduce you to these talking insects:

·       Ms. Spider produces lovely silk webs and ropes. She has shiny black skin and is nice to look at.

·       Mr. Centipede has a hundred boots, is quite funny and needs help with taking his boots off.

·       Mr. Old Grasshopper can make lovely, soulful music with his feet.

·       Ms. Glow-worm can produce some light every night.

·       Ms. Ladybug has a majestic scarlet shell- she’s kind and thoughtful and one of James’ favorite crew member.

·       Mr. Earthworm was a long and blind worm who talks a lot and argues plenty. He was also one of the funniest characters in the book.

·       Ms. Silkworm is mostly sleepy and inactive but does play a big role in trying to create silk ropes for James to capture some seagulls.

James and the rest of the insect crew embark on a long journey to somewhere they don’t know and overcome many hurdles before they get to the top of the  Empire State Building- far away from England! When at sea, for example, sharks are trying to peck at the peach and grab a bite of the lush flesh but luckily, James is quick on his feet and asks Silkworm to make some string to wrap around the seagulls legs and then release them so they can all fly away with them. Finally, the people in the US, hear James’ story and consider him  and his companions to be heroes. And all ends happily ever after!  

What I like about the book:

• This book is yet another from the famous author, Roald Dahl. Though it doesn’t have any funny words, all his humour and creativity has gone into the insect characters and their style of talking. Did I mention that Roald Dahl is also an amazing poet? Well, the Centipede comes up with entertaining poems to recite to the crew and those were composed by Roald Dahl.
• Roald Dahl hated punishments and cruelty and so he talks about it sometimes in his books. In this book, it is displayed in Aunt Spiker and Aunt Sponge who locked James up in the cold attic. I too don't like strong punishments!
• This is a fun, feel good book and an easy, quick read. I finished it in a few hours while my mum was shopping!If you are looking for a simple, easy read, James And The Giant Peach is perfect. 
• Finally... FUN TIME! Read the book and answer the questions:

1.    James Henry Brogtrotter is not James’ full name. True or False?

2.   James’ parents were eaten by a Kangaroo in the zoo and James lives with other people. True or False?

3.   Who is the person who got blinded in the story- one of the insects?

4.   James and the Silkworm become writers in the end, don’t they?

I WOULD GIVE THIS BOOK A 7 OUT OF 10 RATING!

FIND OUT WHAT I MEAN BY READING JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH!

YOU CAN BUY IT HERE ON AMAZON FOR $6.00!

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Book Report: THE FARAWAY TREE

This series is called, ‘THE FARAWAY TREE’ written by Enid Blyton. It is a series of three books set in a mystical place called the Enchanted Wood with a  tree that’s called the Faraway Tree. This tree is not just any normal tree, it is home to queer and unique characters. And at the top of the tree, there is a ladder leading to many different worlds. Come, let me introduce you to the residents of this queer tree and to some of the magical lands:

If you were going up this magical tree, watch out for the Angry Pixie! He is a grumpy old pixie who hates anyone peeking into his tree house. He pours water onto passer-byers if they do. Consider yourself warned! Go a little further and you’ll come across the loveliest little pixie called Silky who helps anyone in danger. She stays in a quaint, tidy house in the middle of the tree. Let’s go higher, shall we? You’ll probably come across Dame Washalot. As you might have guessed, Dame Washalot loves to wash! Imagine her with a checkered brown and white dress along with a dark brown apron scrubbing away at her clothes and dishes and draining her soapy water down the tree every single day, drenching those who rest underneath. How terrible must they feel! Then there is funny old Saucepan Man who wears saucepans all over his clothes and is a little bit deaf with all the clanking. He makes the most funny hearing mistakes! And finally  you’ll meet my favourite character, Moon-Face.  Moon- Face is a jumpy little elf with a face like the moon. It’s bright and much bigger than the rest of his body. He lives near the top of the tree in a shady tree house and even has a Slippery-Slide that leads from his house straight to the bottom of the tree! How cool!

Oh, wait! I think some other people are coming up the tree too : its the main characters of the book- Joe, Beth and Frannie - making their way up the tree to see Moonface and Silky. And of course to go on yet another adventure. Let’s join them on their adventure, shall we?

Frannie and Beth look very excited and Joe looks very brave. Today, they are going to The Land of Dame Snap- bad luck! She runs a school for naughty brownies and pixies! She comes up with such terrible punishments such as, no supper before bed or locked up in the very dark cupboard. Who in the world would do that? Next, it’s Beth’s birthday. They’ll certainly be coming with us to the Land of Birthdays! It’s a glorious place full of treats and balloons. I wish I could be there too! Where are we off to today? The Land of Spells, you say? Oh, oh. We better be prepared. The Land of Spells is a land where witches and wizards live.  I do think this is just a bit scary.

I have really enjoyed going on the adventures with the Folk of The Faraway Tree and I hope you will enjoy them too!                    

What I feel about this book:

• I like how the book is old-fashioned, but yet so creative and fantastical. Enid Blyton has done a great job depicting all the mythical characters and fun adventures the kids go on. Well done to her for this!But, I still prefer Roald Dahl’s style of writing.
• Enid Blyton moved away to live with George and Emily Hunt and she stayed at Seckford Hall. Seckford Hall was a spooky and mysterious place, probably giving her lots of inspiration to create new lands of her own and to include it in her stories. She got inspiration for The Faraway Tree series because Norse mythology (mythology of North German people) intrigued her. Norse mythology includes tales about heroes and bravery. It was possible that Enid Blyton lived near the woods and one day, found a tree that was tall and suitable for a story.
• While I was reading the book I observed that Enid Blyton was a little biased towards the boy characters: all the great and brilliant ideas came from them while small and foolish ideas came from the girls! I don’t like it when people are biased towards a gender because I think that all of us are equal- no matter how different we may think we are.

I WOULD RATE THIS SERIES 8 OUT OF 10!

FIND OUT WHAT I MEAN BY READING THE FARAWAY TREE SERIES!

YOU CAN BUY THE MAGIC FARAWAY TREE HERE ON AMAZON FOR $0.01!

YOU CAN BUY THE SERIES HERE ON GUARDIAN BOOKSHOP FOR £7.37!

Book Report: THE BFG

This book is called, ‘THE BFG’ written by Roald Dahl. It is about a little girl named Sophie who is taken by the BFG (Big Friendly Giant) because she has seen him. The BFG takes Sophie back to his cave in Giant Land and tells her about himself. He makes her comfortable until the other giants notice that the BFG somehow has a ‘human bean’ and are determined to eat her. Sophie and the BFG take big risks and try t0 hide. The day after the giants intruded the BFG’s cave, Sophie has a terribly great idea. While she went dream-catching with the BFG, she caught a bad dream, which the BFG kept safe. She then decides to create a bad dream about what the giants do at night, swiping children and eating them up, to give to the Queen. The BFG and Sophie go to England to give her the dream. The Queen then helps Sophie and the BFG to pursue these deadly giants and capture them.  

What I like about this book:

• This book is yet another of the fantastic storyteller, Roald Dahl. The words are funny and his style of writing is very creative. This is my personal second favorite- especially because this one is one of the funntiest.
• Some of the funny new words Roald Dahl uses in The BFG are whizzpopping and Frobscottle. Whizzpopping is when someone lets out air or in other words, farts. Frobscottle is a type of drink where the bubbles fizz downwards, causing a whizzpop.
• I learnt one big lesson in the book- it’s to not underestimate people, no matter how terrible their other kind can be. For example, Sophie thinks the BFG is a deadly giant like the other ones and thinks he swipes her so that he can eat her. But actually, the BFG is a kind giant and Sophie build a very close relationship.
• Did you know that every five seconds in the world, a Roald Dahl book is being sold? That is so amazing and it reflects on how popular he is. And, in every country a translator translates all of Roald Dahl’s funny words. How would they be able to translate lets say, whizzpopping in Mandarin?!

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

FIND OUT WHAT I MEAN BY READING THE BFG!

YOU CAN BUY IT HERE ON AMAZON FOR $6.82!

YOU CAN BUY IT HERE ON GUARDIAN BOOKSHOP FOR £5.73!

Book Report: JUNGLE BOOK

This book is called, ‘JUNGLE BOOK’ written by Rudyard Kipling. It is about a human boy named Mowgli whose Father was killed by a tiger. Since then, Mowgli lives with a pack of wolves who treat him like family. One day, Mowgli makes friends with the mischievous monkeys who are up to no good. The monkeys kidnap him and take him to their area, trying to make him their king. Baloo, Mowgli’s bear friend, and his Panther friend, Bagheera, save him and he get’s taken home. But suddenly, when Shere Khan (the lion who killed Mowgli’s father) threatens to kill Mowgli, Bagheera tells him that he has to go back to the human village where he is safest. Mowgli argues but Bagheera takes no heed. That night, Mowgli creeps back into the Wolf Territory with ‘The Red Flower’ or in other words, fire. He wants to use this to fight Shere Khan. Shere Khan laughs it off but then when Mowgli fights like a man with lots of fire, Shere Khan gets defeated. Mowgli is now a proper man.

What I like about the book:

• This lovely book is a very popular book all over the world. I have seen the cartoon movie an innumerable number of times and the book was definitely as good. I would recommend this book to people of all ages as it’s funny and adventurous. It’s also a little bit sad.
• At first, I thought Mowgli was a girl because of his long hair. But when I was reading the book, I finally realised that he was a boy.

• I learnt two lessons in the book. The first one is to know that out there, somebody loves you very deeply and somehow, you will fit in. The second one is to stand up for what you believe in, This is best portrayed in Mowgli, who fights for the wolves, and who fights for himself.
• Rudyard Kipling was sent away to England with his sister, Alice, to attend boarding school. The author was not living with his family and was sent away to live with other people whom he didn’t get along with very well. Doesn’t this connect a little bit to The Jungle Book? He might have gotten a bit of inspiration when he experienced this.
• At the end of the book, there were some tips and prompts for writing your own animal story. One was: How would you feel if you were raised by animals? I found this very interesting and might even write a story on it. Would you?

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

FIND OUT WHAT I MEAN BY READING JUNGLE BOOK!

YOU CAN BUY IT HERE ON AMAZON FOR $4.12!

YOU CAN BUY IT HERE ON GUARDIAN BOOKSHOP FOR £4.09!

Book Report: LITTLE WOMEN

This book is called, ‘LITTLE WOMEN’ written by Louisa May Alcott. It is about the lives of four girls living in poverty and how they grow up. Their names are Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy. Each with their own different personality, they lead a very hard life. Their mum (Marmie) and housekeeper (Hannah) both live with the four girls while their father is away at war. Amy is the youngest and the sassiest one, Beth is the second youngest and the quietest, Jo is the second oldest and sportiest and Meg is the oldest and most romantic. They each encounter many experiences, which better their personalities. First, Beth who is the best in music, impresses their neighbour by playing on their Grand Piano for him. Laurie’s (the neighbour) grandfather, Mr. Laurence, hears the first few notes and is impressed. Beth’s sisters urge her to play to Mr. Laurence and she finally does. From then onwards, Beth and Laurie’s grandfather are great friends. After this, Amy enters the Valley of Humiliation. She buys limes to gain attention and show off in school. She feels very proud of herself. Amy’s enemy tattles on Amy and Amy’s teacher, Mr. Davis, then humiliates Amy, makes her throw the pickled limes into the backyard and delivers many blows with a stick on Amy’s little palm. Amy is outraged and leaves her school ‘forever’ at recess. Her family take her side but Marmie tells Amy calmly that she shouldn’t be conceited. However, not everything is solved. One day, Jo gets angry with Amy for being nosy and Amy gets quite upset. The next day, Jo is looking for her manuscript which she has taken ages to write but realises that Amy has burnt it up. Jo consults Marmie about her hot-temper and takes some advice. Amy and Jo then forgive each other and move on.  Lastly, Meg is embarrassed by going to her rich friend, Anne’s, house where they try to make a fool of her because they give her their clothes and tell lies about her. Meg is in a rage when she realises that Anne’s friends only like her because they believe Anne’s lies. She goes home in embarrassment and confesses what she had experienced. Marmie and Jo tell her to think twice about luxury and not to take chase it. Just then, they get to know that their father is very ill and so Marmie has to go to support him. Later, when father and Marmie come home, all the girls are much more matured and are now, little women.

What I like about the book is:

• My favorite character was Jo because she had a strong personality and was a tomboy. Jo’s life- infact all of the sisters’ lives- consist of experiences from which lessons are learnt and they try their best to fix it. This was one of the things I really liked about the book.
• Louisa May Alcott was trying to show us how life was back in the nineteenth century. One of the main topics depicted in the book was how unfair and differently they treated men and women. Men were allowed to go outside and work but women weren’t and they had to sit at home and sew. They weren’t allowed to be boyish like Jo but they had to do all the housework like how they were expected to do. I feel quite strongly about this so when anyone nowadays is being a bit unfair towards women, I fight back to tell them that it’s not right.
• There were many different lessons I learnt while reading this book. One of the biggest lessons were: out of every bad, comes a good. Some other side lessons were: not to be conceited, which is portrayed best in Amy when she tries to show her limes off. The second one was to try and control your feelings, which is portrayed best in Jo when she consults Marmie about her hot-temper. The third one was not to be too shy because if you are, you may miss out on many opportunities in life. This is portrayed best in Beth and Mr. Laurence as Beth was shy at first but then she overcomes her shyness and builds a strong relationship with Mr. Laurence. And last but not least, you shouldn’t take anything for granted. This is portrayed best in Meg when she wants to live a luxurious life and takes it for granted but then figures out that her friends like her because of false lies.
• Finally.. FUN TIME! Read the book and answer the questions:

1. Laurie and Jo are good friends. True or False?
2. Does Meg marry at the end of the book?
3. Who does Meg marry?
4. What is a little strange about their marriage?
5. What is father’s occupation?

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

FIND OUT WHAT I MEAN BY READING LITTLE WOMEN!

YOU CAN BUY IT HERE ON AMAZON FOR $3.00!

YOU CAN BUY IT HERE ON GUARDIAN BOOKSHOP FOR £7.37!