Bit disappointed really....

I bought this book for my son for Christmas. I put it in his stocking as it was such a thin little book. After all the hype I think we had both hoped for a little more. The stories are fine but really nothing that hasn't been written before. Having read every Enid Blyton book going as a child (and as a parent!) I can see several of her stories are alarmingly similar. Personally I would rather read Enid Blyton! I know her books are patchy but there are jewels amongst her short stories (The Land of Nod, The Magic Sea...) (and that's before we even start on the Wishing Chair or the Enchanted Wood.)

I think what I am saying is, if you are looking for fairy tales for children there are many better ones to be found. I have a feeling this book will appeal more to the adult Potter readers/collectors than the children. My son (11) is a HUGE Potter fan and an avid reader and he was disappointed really.
Check out the magical stories in Enid Blyton's Red/Blue/Green/Yellow/Bedtime story books and also Mr Pink Whistle! :)

Twilight

After reading Twilight, i was already hooked- i bought the next two sequels and started and finished reading New Moon in a day. The sympathy you feel for Bella once Edward abandons her is great- but the fact that he's going to return, or more likely he HAS to return to just make the book what it is intended to be- a romance with Edward Cullen as the heart throb for all the readers. I'm still wondering how many of the eager fans awaiting for the movie release of New Moon will handle the majority of the storyline with out Edward Cullen (or the ridiculously good-looking Robert Pattinson). The story was still thrilling nevertheless, and i constantly felt pity for Jacob Black who would never be able to mean as much to Bella as he'd want. I'm completely addicted to the Twilight Saga now, but I am putting off reading Eclipse to keep the suspense up for myself just a little longer. I'm also widely anticipating the movie release of New Moon, as Twilight was everything I'd hoped.
Twilight and New Moon have both just enveloped me in the storyline; I feel enthralled when reading the books, I am easily able to connect with the storyline and character- a must read for anyone who wants to just escape from real-life for a day.

Not the best, but not the worst

I consider myself a fan of the Twilight Saga, however found Eclipse to be tedious to read.

As another reviewer mentions, I'd like to point out that it took me about 3 days to read Eclipse and I refused to put it down unless absolutely necessary and I drove my friends crazy by quoting it. But, as with each of the books in this saga, I'm not ashamed of admitting it is not perfect. It was a good addition, as each book (Breaking Dawn being a debatable subject) was to the story line of Bella and Edward's impossible love, but can hardly be called the best in the series.

Spoilers below.

So Edward is back - and he's as controlling and lacking-in-personality as before. I'm sure most people will argue, but I fail to see why his every single waking thought and moment has to include Bella. We get it. He loves her. That's all well and good. But where's his 100 year long life gone? Now that Bella's around, he seems to do nothing but fall all over her. It begs the question of what he did before she was around? Nothing? Obviously...

Bella has Edward back, fantastic; New Moon was pretty poor in his absence so he's pretty much a God send. Bella, who goes from being half-likeable in Twilight to totally unbearable in New Moon, becomes semi-genial again, which, in my opinion, saves the book. You can actually read Bella's diary entries without wanting to throw the book across the room. She still whines. Constantly. She's still rude with Charlie, still refusing to call him Dad, and fails to understand that by not letting her see Edward too much he is being caring. I'm sure, if my boyfriend left me for 6 months and then came back, that my mother would be pretty unsure of me spending my every conscious second with him.

Jacob, a once dislikeable character in many, many ways, finally receives some positive attention. At last, he develops a spine and confesses his love for Bella, however, and it's a great shame, goes about it the wrong way and obtains a totally negative image with the rest of the characters - except for Charlie, of course, who would much rather Bella date Jacob than Edward. I feel that, even though New Moon was all about Jacob and Bella, you actually get to know him in Eclipse. Because you're not so preoccupied trying to ignore Bella who is `holding [her] stomach because the pain of losing Edward is so great', you actually learn something about Jacob as a person - essentially that he has more of a back bone than Edward could ever wish for. Jacob has pride.

The plot (a recurring theme when it comes to these books) was a hell of a lot thicker than present in any of the other books. It gets introduced quite early on and I don't feel that it is drawn out at all. Victoria is creating an army of ravenous newborns in order to kill Bella in vengeance for Edward's family murdering her sole-mate, James. There is actually some sort of mystery in this plot as the family don't realise that the vampire in Bella's room, the killings in Seattle and Victoria's occasional reappearance in Fork's surrounding forests are linked together until later - I feel this plot line is sufficient. You finally get to know Jasper as a character also, as his past intertwines with the plot twists and becomes necessary - finally you are introduced to an interesting and remarkable character.

The marriage thing is sweet. Being a hopeless romantic, I fail to understand how Bella could turn Edward down in the first place. The conversation could be considered to be mentioned too much, always resulting in Bella turning him down again, but the whole idea of compromise I think is another entity that saves the book.

Fundamentally, this book aims to show that Bella, selfish and immature, has a decision to make. The choice of either Jacob or Edward. If she wants Edward, then she must accept that she will lose half of her life - that half consisting of Jacob (who would rather she be dead than undead), her parents and her friends. However, if she chooses Jacob, she would keep her human form therefore keeping her family and her friends, but she would lose Edward, her `only love', and his family, to whom she is incredibly close. This idea is great and develops to show that Bella actually does have some sort of organ warranting the name `brain'.

To summarise, the plot and the introduction to interesting characters saves this book. I would recommend reading Eclipse, but I would will you not to be too hopeful. It is not the best book in the series, but it is by no means the worst. In my opinion, Meyer should have stopped after Eclipse. Eclipse serves as a much better Breaking Dawn. Create your own ending for them after Eclipse and you need not carry on.

Fantastic New Vampire Story

My eleven year old daughter bought this book during the summer holidays. She admitted to me she had no idea what it was about and she wouldn't normally read a book like it but apparently it was meant to be really popular in the States. She put off reading it for a few weeks but when I woke her up one morning this book had been read in one sitting. She was lying under the covers completely zonked out but looked really happy. For the rest of the day she babbled about how good it was and how it was the best book she'd ever read. In the next sitting, she finished the next book and had completed the four book series in four days reading them at night! My elderly mother and her went to see the film and my mother loved it so much that she borrowed the book off my daughter and has now almost completed it and has produced glowing reviews about it whenever we speak! Twilight Saga is a series that draws people in. I have started to read it and concluded that it is worthy of the praise that my mother, daughter and critics give it. Below is one reason for every age group why it should be read.

Girls aged 11+ - It is very emotional and beautiful story. Don't read because your mum tells you to. Read it because it will change your outlook on things and gives you an insight into different things.

Mums - Your daughter should read this book because it will teach about many things yo are perhaps awkward to talk to her about. Love and life. It portrays innocence and yet makes a thoroughly enjoyable story.

OAPs - Because you granddaughter is reading it and you wonder what it is like! Also because it reminds you of the 'old-fashioned' values that seem to have disappeared.

This book deserves to be read. I haven't revealed anything about the actual plot but in a nutshell: it is a vampire romance. If it's not your usual choice of genré, don't let that stop you. You will never forget this book.

Breaking Dawn - The Most Amazing End to these Amazing Books

Breaking Dawn is an amazing end to this series of books. The whole series is full of action, romance and adventure and they are the most hardest books to put down. When i was reading Twilight for the first time i couldn't put the book down at all, i read it all within a day and couldnt wait to get my hands on New Moon. It was all very irritating, not owning the books and having to take them out of the library and i was over the moon when i got the first three books for Christmas this year. Of course i had to get Breaking Dawn because the little previews at the end of the books had left my hanging, waiting to see what happened.
Breaking Dawn was the hardest to put down. It is very action packed and at no point in the book was i bored.
At first the 'mini-book' from Jacobs point of view annoyed me a bit but once i had got my head around who was telling the story it made the whole book more realistic. I think its quite good to hear the story from another perspective.
These Books are highly recommendable for ages 13+ and are a great way to get Teens back into reading.
Enjoy Reading :)

PS. Even if you have seen the film...do not skip the first book as the film skipped out a few things and there is alot of important infomation that you would miss out on and you would find understanding the books a lot harder later :D

Not a favourite, even with my young boys

Uninteresting story, poor rhymes, no humour. First time I read it, my boy thought that the"underpants" in the title were funny, but he has never since chosen this book and we all much prefer anything that Julia Donaldson has ever done. She can churn out better stuff than this in her sleep.

nice quite a young read really

I bought this for my 14 year old niece, who LOVES Top Gear, and I'm a bit disappointed. The book's very colourful, but it's full of word searches and `mazes', so really is far too young for anyone over the age of 8 or 9. I've just seen the Big Book of Top Gear, which is really funny, and I'm going to get that for her instead.

Great book!

This is one of the best books I read all year and I read quite a bit. I couldn't put it down. It is easy to read and goes quickly. The story is amazing. I would reccomend this book to anyone!

Stick Man

I felt compelled to review this book because my 4 year old boy loves it so much. Since we discovered"Room on the Broom" 5 years ago with our daughter we have always read and loved JD/AS books in our house. "Snail and the Whale" being another favourite. I can't explain why he loves this book so much (other than the catchy repetitive text and typically beautiful and descriptive pictures)but he insists on having it read to him every night and then reads it himself (well- tries to) and brings it in our room first thing in the morning to be read again! DEEP JOY....

Very Harry Hill!!!

I bought this for my 9 year old son for Christmas and had a quick look to check suitability and couldn't put it down!
There are dodgy cracker quality jokes, old favoiurites and many I had not heard but all made me chuckle. A must for Harry Hill fans. Perfect for age 8-80!

If i coul I'd rate it 6 stars

Not in discworld
there aren't any humurous twisted magical beings
there anren't any cynical knowlegeable old man
It's an adventure story in an island, with the usual multi level depth of pratchett and it's a FABULOUS book

For some reason, it appears to have become a"classic"

Everyone's got a copy haven't they ? or knows it. But it's just not that great is it ?
Certainly my two boys have never been that interested in it. They have always preferred 30-odd year old copies of Basil Brush books from my youth with no colour pictures but at least a good story, well written.
My only guess is that it's popular with parents because it only takes 2 minutes to read it cover to cover. Goodnight.

snore...

I got this book for christmas sadly, and right now i seariously hope my mother doesn't read this... i don't have the heart to tell here the book sucks.

I'm sorry to any fans of the series, but this is one of the most poorly written works i've ever read, and i've read books by three year olds. Not only does he go into excessive detail on the tiniest most irrelavent rubbish, but not even very well.

Trying to read this book gave me a literal headache, it really did upset me. not because it sucks, but because it was a christmas gift and i'm terrible at hiding the fact of when i dislike something.

Classic Beano Fun

This is for my 9 year old son for Christmas (I'm very organised this year!) I've read it just in case. Classic!

fantastic

Well once again Mr Horrowitz has outdone himself.I read to the middle then finished it off in 2 days. I couldnt wait to get my hands on this and as the others have said I wasnt disapointed either.
Now I have to wait for the next installment.Im a mature woman and love this series of books.

If you like Doctor Who, you'll like this annual

Once again, the BBC have put together an excellent Doctor Who annual for all television fans of the programme, young and old. Gracing the front cover is the Doctor and the Red Dalek Supreme and Davros on the back cover, all on a silver foil backing which makes the annual 'stand out' amongst the rest!
Readers of BBC's Doctor Who Adventures comic will instantly recognise the format inside the annual. Every page is covered with facts and features on Series Four and readers are re-introduced to Donna, Martha, Sarah Jane, Rose and Jenny, as well as the Ood, Adipose, Master, Hath, Sontarans and, of course, Davros and his Daleks. With a mix of text story, comic strips and puzzles, this annual is a worthy accompaniment to the Doctor Who StorybookDoctor Who Storybook 2009 (Dr Who).

The Gruffalo

I bought this for my newphew (who is only just a month old!) I had never read this book before but really liked the sound of the description and reviews!
I read it when it came through the post and i really enjoyed it. I love the rhymes and the pictures and i know that my sister and brother in law will enjoy reading this to their son :)

Worth buying and never gets old! Made me smile!

A Great Calendar

I discovered this calendar last year whilst searching for something that had enough space for each day. I must say that I have been pleasantly surprised with how my husband has managed to actually keep track of where the kids are and what appointments are when using this calendar!! The only downside is I would like more spaces, with seven members to our family it still gets a little overcrowded, still I guess I could always invest in a second one!

Gripped, gripped, gripped

Review by Daniel Patterson Age 12
I loved this book as it was full of shocks and things that make you go,"what the...!" The main characters follow on from the last book, Checkmate, with the introduction of one more main character, Toby. Totally gripped, couldn't put this book down, it is now doing the rounds of my friends, I even had to fight my mum for it! A must read for all teens.

This could well be a future Classic!

In a nutshell: A fine read primarily aimed at the junior reader, but with enough maturity to be able to be enjoyed by all. The Graveyard Book has the potential to be a future classic in the same vein as the one that inspired it, The Jungle Book (and other greats such as Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard in Oz and The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe etc.), and for that reason alone I consider this novel unmissable.
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In his acknowledgments Gaiman credits more than a passing nod for this novel to Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book, a childhood favourite of his, and while the chief protagonist of the novel Bod, can certainly fit into Mowgli's loin cloth, I didn't really feel that there was much of a relationship between the two, other than a child growing up in a unique environment. Then again I read Jungle Book with child eyes many years ago, and this I read as a mature adult, so my perspective is somewhat different. More delightful for me perhaps (mainly because of the romantic notion it throws up), is the author's revelation that the inspiration for The Graveyard Book came after watching his two year old son pedaling his tricycle between the gravestones of a church one summer.

So from the outset I think I've established that The Graveyard Book is a title primarily aimed at the more junior reader, and fundamentally it is. That said the narrative is certainly more than mature enough to be read by all ages and I certainly didn't feel at any point that I was reading a book that was too young for me. In fact the publishers have seen fit to release this title in both a child's and adult's version so it's accessible for all. Being frugal I actually bought the child's version (it was available at a discounted price :o)), and I'm glad I did because it's got some really nice illustrations throughout from accomplished artist Chris Riddell.

On to the story itself and The Graveyard Book is hugely fantastical (what story about a baby being adopted by ghosts wouldn't be?), but that's The Graveyard Book's quality - pure unadulterated escapism. The story is well-paced, tight and easily read and with this novel at least (because it's the only one I've read) Neil Gaiman shows himself as a great storyteller. If he were around in times of lore then he would undoubtedly be the one wandering the medieval countryside with his lute, entertaining the townsfolk with his tales of wonderment :o). Gaiman's put a lot of cleverness into this story with some neat plot twists that ensure the pages keep turning.

Aside from the plot twists I loved following Bod's interactions with the ghosts of the graveyard, and his attempts to adopt the ghostly attributes which would prove useful to him in his unique position. Undoubtedly however, the main success of the storyline comes from Bod's growing angst at being kept from the world outside the graveyard. It's a problem that increases as Bod grows older and its fundamentally an exploration of growing up, but it's growing up in a wholly unique environment, and that's what makes the story so compelling.

As anyone who has read any of my former book reviews would know, my biggest passion is for good characterisation. I'm not so bothered about story or plot (although they help of course) but good characters mean everything to me; so much so that this aspect on its own can often make the difference between a novel being good or bad for me. Well, I'm happy to proclaim that Gaiman has created a really well-rounded charismatic character in the chief protagonist Bod, and if he were looking to create an equal to rival Kipling's Mowgli then I think he's succeeded, admirably. Silas, Bod's vampiric guardian, is another well realised character in this novel. He's a character that comes across with a great deal of enigmatic depth, and the phrase `still waters run deep' comes to mind when I think of him. I also think that this is the first time ever that I've been so endeared to a character who is traditionally considered to be an icon of horror.

Sadly however that's where the good characterisation diminishes somewhat for me, and with the possible exception of `the man Jack', all of the other characters come across as being somewhat flat and mere `players' in the story. Don't get me wrong, the portrayal of the other characters is certainly adequate, more than enough to ensure the novel keeps its gleam, but given the richness of character that could have been realised with such an imaginative cast of ghostly figures, I would have liked to have seen some of the other characters being better developed, at least up to the same standard as Silas.

In closing then the main question remaining is whether this is a novel that I recommend reading? Well if you're a junior then absolutely. It's a fantastic novel with a flowing, interesting storyline that juniors are certain to love. I promise! :o)

What about the more mature reader? Well as I've said above it's marketed towards all ages and the story has enough maturity to make it a novel for all ages. It's certainly a light read so if your expecting something as deep and engaging as a Tolstoy or Murakami then you're going to be disappointed. However, if it's a light read you're after then I can think of no better. It entertained me completely and as a reader who normally gets his kicks from the more dense prose of writers such as Steinbeck, Doestovsky and Hamsun etc. that's a big achievement. Bearing that in mind I'm confident that The Graveyard Book will entertain just about anyone. Go buy it!