Smelly Peggy by Helen Stephens - #bookreview

 

Hello, I'm Pie.

This is my doggie, Peggy.

She is a rescue dog and when we first got her she was scared...

***

This is a book about a very real life, very naughty dog called Peggy. Peggy loves to leap on the bed in the morning, sticking her hairy bottom in Dad’s face. Peggy that loves to roll around on everything stinky and smelly she can find: stinky seaweed; soggy, washed-up old wellies; and worst of all? POOP! And that’s not even the naughtiest thing she does… Do you think her family loves her anyway? Well, look at that little face – how could they not? A happy, big-hearted celebration about our much-cherished dog members of the family, despite their messy, noisy and very (very) smelly flaws.

***

This book is a funny and delightful picture book which pet loving adults and children alike will adore.

Having a puppy myself, I could readily identify with Peggy's antics. She is mischievous and full of life, and whilst she might sometimes try the patience of her owner, they love her just the same.

The illustrations complement the book very well. They mimic a child's drawing in style and are perfect for the text.

The book posses questions concerning love and acceptance and demonstrates that we do not have to be perfect to be loved.

I found this to be an utterly charming book and I highly recommend it for young children.

ISBN: 978 1529507133

Publisher:  Walker Books

Formats:  Hardcover

No. of Pages:  40

About the Author:

Helen graduated from Glasgow School of Art in 1994.

She says she has no idea how to survive as an illustrator. Her father was a car salesman and he told her that if you throw enough mud at the wall, some of it will stick. So she did just that. She started creating work and banging on doors. It was only later she was told there are particular rules around approaching publishers. 

(book courtesy of Walker Books)

(media courtesy of the author's website https://www.helenstephens.)com/about)

(all opinions are my own)

In Sickness and In Health/Yom Kippur in a Gym by Nora Gold - #bookreview

 

This flipbook comprises two novellas by the talented author, Nora Gold. 

***

Sickness is a foreign country. You are lost there, you don't know the language, no matter how many times you've visited before. Nothing is familiar. You are alone...

In Sickness and In Health   - Lily had epilepsy as a child, so her most cherished goal has always been to be “normal”. By age 45 she has a “normal” life, including a family, friends, and an artistic career, and no one, not even her husband, knows the truth about her past. But now some cartoons she drew threaten to reveal her childhood secret and destroy her marriage and everything she has worked so hard for. A moving novella about shame, secrets, disabilities, and the limits and power of love.

***

I am not new to the work of this author. In 2017 I read her book, The Dead Man, which was excellent and you can read my review here. With In Sickness and In Health, she has created an intelligent and mature novella that I was gripped by. 

The main character, Lily, suffers from an undiagnosed illness and the prose begins with her describing her symptoms and the effect that they are having on her life. In addition, we learn that as a child she suffered with epilepsy, but this is something that she has kept secret, even from her husband.

Lily's childhood was devastated by her disability and the way that those around her reacted to it. But more importantly, as an adult, she feels great shame about her past and carries this secret with her.

My heart broke for Lily.  It was an emotional read for me, and I wanted to reach into the text and hug her. She has much to come to terms with in order to ever find a level of self-acceptance.

This novella was a five star read for me. I felt profoundly moved by the author's beautiful writing. Every word is considered and perfectly placed. She writes with intelligence, compassion and sensitivity. She clearly understands Lily very well, and she has created a character who is both compelling and engaging. This is a fantastic novella and Lily is a character who will remain with me.

***

The gym is filling up with people in their finest, fanciest clothes. No, they have not come to work out in their suits, ties and dresses. They're here for Yom Kippur.

Yom Kippur in a Gym  - Five strangers at a Yom Kippur service in a gym are struggling with personal crises. Lucy can’t accept her husband’s Parkinson’s diagnosis. Ira, rejected by his lover, plans to commit suicide. Ezra is tormented by a mistake that ruined his career. Rachel worries about losing her job. Tom contemplates severing contact with his sisters. Then a medical emergency unexpectedly throws these five strangers together, and in one hour all their lives are changed in ways they would never have believed possible.

***

This was quite a different read to In Sickness and in Health but it was equally as good.

The narrative moves between six different characters at a Yom Kippur service. We briefly hear from the rabbi, and then the focus moves to five of the congregants. Whilst the service progresses, each has their own inner thoughts; it's a time of introspection and soul searching. 

Anyone, who has ever fasted for the twenty-five hours required for Yom Kippur will recognise themselves in one or other of the characters. It was easy to identify with how the minds of the characters could wander before coming back to the more serious aspect of the service. Added to that, an event happens during the service which throws these characters together in a life-changing way.

The author has such a good understanding of people, and this is excellently reflected in her characters. With different chapters being devoted to one or other of them, they became engaging and compelling. My sympathies were raised as they considered their hurts, heartbreaks and disappointments that life has thrown their way.

Ms. Gold writes with insight, and she excellently portrays the immersion and oft vulnerability required in the analysing and self-immersion of our own lives that Yom Kippur demands.

Both of these novellas deserve the rare five stars that I have given them. Both are truly worthy of them. 

ISBN:  978 1771838658

Publisher:  Guernica Editions

Formats: Paperback

No. of Pages:  200

 

About the Author:

Dr. Nora Gold is the prize-winning author of five books and the editor of the prestigious online literary journal Jewish Fiction, which has readers in 140 countries. 

Gold’s first book, Marrow and Other Stories, won a Vine Canadian Jewish Book Award and was praised by Alice Munro. Her novel Fields of Exile won the inaugural Canadian Jewish Literary Award for best novel and was acclaimed by Ruth Wisse and Irwin Cotler. The Dead Man was honoured with a Canada Council for the Arts translation grant and published in Hebrew. 18: Jewish Stories Translated from 18 Languages, an anthology of translated works, received glowing reviews from Publishers Weekly, Cynthia Ozick, and Dara Horn. Gold’s fifth book, In Sickness and In Health/Yom Kippur in a Gym (two novellas), was published just last week, and is already receiving international praise. 

For more information about Nora Gold, visit noragold.com.

(ARC and media courtesy of the author)

(all opinions are my own)

Stitch by Padraig Kenny and Illustrated by Steve McCarthy - #bookreview

Stitch wakes up, just as he always has done for the past five hundred and eighty-four days he has been waking up.

Five hundred and eighty-five now, he thinks as he makes a mark with a piece of chalk on the wall by his bed. He says the words "five hundred and eighty-five" to himself because he can count, and saying the words makes the idea of waking up so many times more real - "more understandabubble", as Henry might say.

***

Stitch is not a monster – he’s a creation.

He and his friend Henry Oaf were brought to life by the genius Professor Hardacre, and have spent all their days in a castle deep in the woods, far from humankind. But when the Professor dies and his pompous nephew comes to take over the laboratory, they soon find out that his sights are set not on scientific discovery, but personal glory. And Henry is his next experiment.

Can Stitch and Henry escape his clutches and make their way in a world they were never built for – and may never be ready for them?

***

This is an utterly delightful book that was a joy to read. It is aimed at an audience of approximately nine years plus, and will be enjoyed by children, young people and adults alike. 

The book has been compared to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, but the similarity ceases at the fact that Stitch and Henry have been created from parts of the recently deceased. It has been many years since  read Shelley's book and therefore cannot remember the details.  However, this does not feel like a children's adaptation of her book but is in fact much more a story in its own right. It is much more about the creations than the creator.

Stitch is a delightful character, as is his friend Henry. Their original creator has himself passed away and his nephew inherits his research papers and decides to develop and improve upon his uncles research.

However, it is through Stitch that we observe a humanity that does not appear in his human creator. We witness how he responds when he discovers he is a created being, and the book has much to say about identity, self-acceptance and the acceptance of those who perceive us as different. 

It is thought provoking in that it will ask children to consider the idea of difference and acceptance of others, and even reading this as an adult it remains a good reminder to show tolerance and kindness to others.

It is a charming and heartwarming story that was a delight to read. I highly recommend it.

ISBN: 978 1529517781

Publisher:  Walker Books

Formats:  e-book and paperback

No. of Pages:  208 (paperback)

About the Author:

Padraig Kenny is an Irish writer from County Kildare, now living in Limerick. Previously an arts journalist, a teacher and a librarian's assistant, he now writes full-time. His first novel Tin and recent The Monsters of Rookhaven were both Waterstones Books of the Month. He has twice won the Children's Books Ireland Honour Award for Fiction, has been nominated for the Carnegie Medal and shortlisted for the Irish Book Awards. This is his first book for Walker.

About the Illustrator:

Steve McCarthy is an Irish designer and illustrator. His style is bold, colourful and inspired by humour and wit. Steve's first picture book, The Wilderness, won the Honour Award for Illustration at the Children's Books Ireland Awards. His poetry anthology with Sarah Webb, A Sailor Went to Sea, Sea, Sea, was the 2017 Children's Book of the Year at the Irish Book Awards,

(book and banner courtesy of the publisher)

(author/illustrator photo info courtesy of Walker Books)

(illustrator photo courtesy of The Soho Agency)