Books Catch Up

I’ve read quite a few books in the last few days. I seem to be reading exclusively children’s books. Mainly because I can’t decide which of my own books to read next.
The last few I have read are: Vampire’s Assistant by Darren Shan, Savage Stone Age by Terry Deary and Martin Brown, Harvey Angell by Diana Hendry, and I’nm currently reading The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot.
Darren Shan - Vampire's Assistant
This book is the second in the ‘Saga of Darren Shan’ series, which I’ve borrowed from Thom. I have to say, I quite enjoyed it. If anything it was better than the first. I don’t think it tried too hard to be scary, instead the story seemed to be less stilted. Recommended for older children.

Terry Deary, Martin Brown - Savage Stone Age
This book is one in the Horrible Histories series which tries to get over the pertinent facts about history to kids without seeming boring. Jamie absolutely loves these books. She owns several of them, borrows them from the local library, the school library, and from her friends. She also is collecting the magazine series they started this year. I can understand why she loves them; the various historical facts are put over in a conversational kids speak style, with funny illustrations and quizzes. I found myself a little frustrated, because I wanted to go into depth about some of the stuff. These would work great online, with the same words, illustrations, but with perhaps some little animations and sound effects. In that format they could then also include links to more factual information, perhaps still written in a converational style. Recommended for a great succinct overview.

Diana Hendry - Harvey Angell
I’d not heard of this one when I picked it up. It is a nicely written, fairly short story, with a good moral to it. It only took me one day to read on the journies to and from work. Prety good.

Meg Cabot - The Princess Diaries
I am now in the middle of reading this book. I’m quite enjoying it, but it not a book for someone of Jamie’s age (although she has read it!). It is written from the perspective of an American high school teenager (14 years old), with all that goes with that period in a young girls life. I think in some ways it is a shame that they toned down the story for the movie, because Jamie went to see the movie which was suitable for her age, and then was naturally (for Jamie) drawn to read the books. Not finished yet, so no verdict.

2 thoughts on “Books Catch Up

  1. I loved the first book. after i had finished i ran to the computer to check if the secound book the vampires assistant had come out and it had so i spent several days trying to buy it but couldn’t.

  2. I love that book! I love it a lot more than the movie. I really like books 1-3 but 4 and 5 (not sure if UK or anywhere besides US and Canada has it) aren’t as good, but still a nice read!!!

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