Two books to recommend… I’m going to try and do this every month, but if you’ve been coming back to the blog regularly I’m sorry I haven’t been getting round to it! The same old pages must seem a little dull by now! So let’s add a little splash of colour.
I have my reasons for reading these two books at the moment, but I’m not going to share for now… I still have more to do before I’m comfortable telling the wide world. But I felt that I had to share these in particular.
“Diary of a Wimpy Kid” by Jeff Kinney
I’ve sort of been picking this up on and off for months, reading the back, looking at the first few pages and then thinking about whether it’s more a cartoon strip or a novel… But clearly it is neither – the title makes it obvious!
The long and short of it is that this book is funny. I read it in pieces over a weekend – it’s very easy to read in short chunks as it is in diary format, so might help out people (probably especially boys) who aren’t that keen on sitting and concentrating on a book for too long.
Here’s the blurb (I can’t think of a better way of describing it!):
“Greg finds himself thrust into a new year and a new school where undersize weaklings share the corridors with kids who are taller, meaner and already shaving. Desperate to prove his new found maturity, which only going up a grade can bring, Greg is happy to have his not-quite-so-cool sidekick, Rowley, along for the ride. But when Rowley’s star starts to rise, Greg tries to use his best friend’s popularity to his own advantage. Recorded in his diary with comic pictures and his very own words, this test of Greg and Rowley’s friendship unfolds with hilarious results.”
Really, really worth keeping an eye out for. There are two more in the series, which I’ll pick up at some point, but the first volume is always the easiest place to start!
”Clarice Bean, Don’t Look Now” by Lauren Child
I’m in a strange position, I suppose. I’m a dad, so inevitably come into contact with children’s TV on a similar level to your average student… but I’ve found the odd show I absolutely love… Charlie and Lola is one of those (the eagle-eyed among you may have noticed that’s where this post’s title comes from), and the Clarice Bean series is written by the creator of those two wonderful characters.
And this book is lovely. With this character, there’s a completely different voice that comes through, which has the same sense of lively fun, but deals with altogether more serious things than Charlie and Lola. Here she deals with the worry of her parents arguing, her best friend moving to America, a new girl who she’s convinced hates her and who to take to the Ruby Redfort film premiere…
It reminded me really strongly of one of my favourite childhood books – The Eighteenth Emergency by Betsy Byars, which is certainly no bad thing! I’m now determined to work my way back through the other Clarice Bean books, and there’s certainly no reason why other “grown-ups” shouldn’t too!
So there you go – two recommendations. Off you go now – to the shops!
