Library of Clean Reads: Fun books

Showing posts with label Fun books. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 14, 2019

Free Pizza by G.C. McRae

Even though my kids are grown now and I no longer read middle grade books, once in a while I get the itch to do so. Free Pizza was a pleasant surprise. I enjoyed it immensely. Check out my review and then enter to win a copy.

Book Details:

Book Title: Free Pizza by G.C. McRae
Category: Middle-Grade Fiction, 360 pages
Genre: Humorous Fiction
Publisher: MacDonald Warne Media
Release date: May 1, 2019
Tour dates: May 1 to 17, 2019
Content Rating: PG (No sex or drugs, just mild expletives such as "hell" and "damn".)

Book Description:

Brian McSpadden is always hungry. Does he have a disease? Worms? Does it have something to do with his being adopted? He spends his days at his crazy friend Danny’s house, hoping for snacks, but nothing seems to fill the void.

Then Brian receives a mysterious birthday card that says, Free Pizza. He soon discovers the card has nothing to do with food and everything to do with the big questions in his life: where did I come from, why did my mother give me up and is there anyone out there who will like me the way I am?

My Review:

Reviewed by Laura Fabiani

Even though my kids are grown now and I no longer read middle grade books, once in a while I get the itch to do so. Free Pizza was a pleasant surprise. I enjoyed it immensely. The title is catchy too and has a double meaning.

Twelve-year-old Brian is an adopted child. When he gets the chance to meet his birth mother, he is nervous and very excited. It's summer and Brian is bored and always hungry. He is a growing boy and his mother is stingy with food (my Italian motherly instincts kicked in immediately and I felt frustrated every time he was hungry! I wanted to invite the kid over for lasagna.) Brian hangs around with his friend Danny and what an adventure that summer turns out to be. There was never a boring moment in this novel.

There are two things I loved about this book. The first is that the characters were very well developed and jumped off the page, and I mean all of them. They came across as real, flawed and distinct, making them memorable. The author skilfully portrayed them through the eyes of a twelve-year-old boy. The second thing I loved is that there is a gamma of emotions that runs through this book. We get to laugh, cringe, and have our heart strings pulled throughout the story as Brian goes through a very emotional time in his life. Also, the author does not leave out the parents as a lot of MG books do. Instead this book is very much about family life: the good, the bad and the ugly. I loved the ending of this story.

G.C. McRae understands life with kids and does not shy away from laying it all bare and tackling serious issues. He's a talented Canadian author whose writing reminds me of the craziness of that of Robert Munsch's. I look forward to reading more of his works, and hopefully soon!

To read reviews, please visit G.C. McRae's page on iRead Book Tours.

Buy the Book:

Amazon ~ Barnes & Noble

Add to Goodreads

Meet the Author:

G.C. McRae is the bestselling author of two young adult novels, three illustrated children's books and a collection of original fairy tales. His writing is fall-down funny, even when the theme is darker than a coal miner's cough. McRae reads to anybody at any time, in person or online, for free, which probably explains why he meets so many people and sells so many books.

In his latest work, Free Pizza, McRae spins the highly emotional themes from his decidedly unfunny childhood into a brilliantly comic yarn. After being given up for adoption by his teenage mom back when single girls were forced to hide unplanned pregnancies, his adoptive parents didn’t exactly keep him under the stairs but, well, let's just say, there were spiders.

A lot has changed since then. McRae’s own children have now grown and he runs a small farm with his wife, who is herself an award-winning writer.

Connect with the Author: Website ~ Facebook ~ Twitter ~ LibraryThing

Enter the Giveaway!

Ends May 25, 2019

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Saturday, October 27, 2012

Kid Konnection: The Brilliant World of Tom Gates by Liz Pichon

The Brilliant World of Tom Gates by Liz Pichon
Scholastic Canada
ISBN: 978-1443119368
Published Sept 1, 2012
Softcover, 256 pages

Shortly after handing this book to my son, I heard him giggling with glee. He then came up to me and shared what he thought was so funny. This went on throughout most of my son's reading of this book, which delighted me because my son doesn't read too much fiction as he'd rather be reading a book filled with facts on turtles, frogs, lizards, geckos or whatever other creature he fancies that week.

The Brilliant World of Tom Gates is similar to Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Big Nate in its genre--a kid's wacky journal full of personal and comic stories. It's definitely a book that appeals to reluctant readers. Tom is a fifth grader who loves to draw, skip out on homework, tease his older sister and play his guitar with his friend. The book is filled with his doodles, scribbles and drawings that weave between the text, making reading this book very easy and fun.

This is a funny book filled with silly boy humour. Although Tom is in fifth grade, he could easily have been in third, judging by his actions (he comes across as much younger) and simpleness of the storyline. My son who is in third grade was able to relate to him. No way would my daughter who even in fifth grade was well beyond her years. So even though it's marketed for kids 9-12, I think it more appropriate for kids 7-10 years of age.

We found Tom's glossary of English words at the end of the book useful since this book is written by a British author. My son thought it funny that a jumper is a sweater and that a loo roll is toilet paper. Of course, he would! My son had a lot of fun with this book. Recommended for the reluctant boy readers in your life.

Note: This book is rated C = clean read.

Reviewed by Laura and Son

Disclosure: Thanks to Nikole Kritikos from Scholastic Canada for sending us this book for review. We were not compensated in any other way, nor told how to rate or review this product.

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Kid Konnection: Books Filled With Fun Facts

How Much Does Your Head Weigh? The Big Fat Book of Facts by Marg Meikle (Rated: C)
Scholastic Canada
ISBN: 978-1443100472
Published August 1, 2010
Trade Paperback, 416 pages
Ages: 9-12

This is a great non-fiction book for kids—not only is it informative but it’s fun to read and filled with so many cool facts, almost 400 pages worth!

The layout makes it an easy book to read. It contains wacky cartoons as well as jokes and boxes with additional fun facts interspersed throughout the book. For example, did you know that:

Salt was once such a rare and precious commodity that it was traded for equal amounts of gold.
Sneezing is just an extreme form of breathing. The most chronic fit of sneezing was from an English woman who caught a cold and started sneezing on January 13, 1981… and stopped 978 days later!
The longest word has 1913 letters and stands for a chemical compound.

These are just samples of some of the weird facts taken from the answers to questions that aren’t obvious to answer. My kids particularly liked the intriguing facts about inventions, the fascinating facts about sleep and the strange stories about science. We went through the book and chose the topics and questions that interested us. Some stuff was just plain gross for my daughter or too difficult for my 6-year-old son to understand, so we skipped those and moved on. I especially took an interest in the section about holidays as I have studied their origins in depth. I was pleased to find that the information was accurate.

If you have a kid who loves to learn new things, or who prefers reading short excerpts that explain things, this book is sure to please. Oh, and here's the answer to the question taken from the title of this book: "The average human head weighs about 7.5% of a person’s body weight. So if you weigh about 40 kilos, your head weighs around 3 kilos (6.6 lbs). So when you get tired of holding your head up high, you now know why. It’s heavy!"

Disclosure: Thanks to Nikole Kritikos from Scholastic Canada for sending me this book for review. I was not compensated in any other way, nor told how to rate or review this product.

Dino-Why? The Dinosaur Question & Answer Book by Sylvia Funston (Rated: C)

Maple Tree Press

ISBN: 978-1897349250
Published March 11, 2008
Softcover, 64 pages
Ages 9 -12

When a kid loves a certain subject, he will have lots of questions. My 6-year-old boy loves dinosaurs. I do too. When I was a kid, I read everything I could get my hands on that taught me about dinosaurs. But no book gave me some of the answers I found in this book.

Dino-Why? The Dinosaur Question & Answer Book is a perfect non-fiction book for curious kids because it has the answers to common and uncommon questions kids wonder about, such as: Is it possible to clone a dinosaur? Which dinosaur would make the best pet? How do you know where to look for dinosaurs? And check this one: If I stepped on a dinosaur tail, how quickly would it react? Cool questions, huh? I bet it never crossed an adult’s mind to ponder on such things. That’s why this book is so great for the inquisitive kid! Can you see why kids would love to read the answers? These are definitely kid (and sometimes … ahem … adult) questions.

Best of all, the answers are short and to the point—no long-winded explanations, which is not to say the answers aren’t well written or satisfying. They are. They are also intelligent. I had to explain certain terminology to my son. Thank goodness for the glossary of dinosaur terms in the back of the book. If you are a Christian, some of the explanations regarding evolution might not agree with your own knowledge. These can be easily disregarded and your child will still benefit from the scientific discoveries regarding palaeontology.

I also liked that the author uses comparisons with things or situations that a child could easily comprehend or relate to. For example, when answering the question Did long-necked dinosaurs get a neck ache? the author begins by stating: "If the stretched-out sauropod Mamenchisaurus ever tried to board a school bus, its head would hit the back window before its front feet even got past the driver’s seat." How’s that for giving a child an idea of how long that dinosaur’s neck really was!

The book is filled with illustrations, photos and quizzes. It is colourful, informative and the layout simple enough to go through the pages and randomly read the info. This book is a great addition to the many dinosaur books that already occupy our bookshelf and would be an excellent addition to public and school libraries. So if your kid is a dino fan, this is THE book to get.

Disclosure: Thanks to Kendal Gerard from Owl KidsCanada for sending me this book for review. I was not compensated in any other way, nor told how to rate or review this product.

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Kid Konnection: Boredom Blasters: Brain Bogglers, Awesome Activities, Cool Comics, Tasty Treats and More... by Helaine Becker

Boredom Blasters: Brain Bogglers, Awesome Activities, Cool Comics, Tasty Treats and More... by Helaine Becker, illustrated by Claudia Davila (Rated: C)
Maple Tree Press
ISBN: 978-1897066034
Published Sept 15, 2004
Trade Paperback, 160 pages, Ages: 8-12

I hear my kids giggling and talking in the living room, and for over an hour they are occupied without … fighting, whining, complaining or tears… Mmmm… seems too good to be true. I peek in. Ah yes, I see the Boredom Blasters book in their hands. How many times have my kids told me they LOVE this book? Every time I asked what they thought of it!

Being 6 and 9, my kids love exploring, doing arts and crafts, telling jokes, playing games, learning new things, doing puzzles and cooking with me. Well, this book has it all. It's ideal for them. Even though my 6 year-old can't read it, he does the activities with his sister, so the added advantage is that they cooperate and play together.

This paperback book (fits well into a purse or small backpack) is divided into four sections: Awesome Activities, Yummy Things to Make and Eat, Brain Bogglers and Games, Games, Games. The pages are visually stimulating with wacky illustrations and colourful designs. My kids loved the Silly Kid Tricks, the Opticklers, the Cool Comics, the Slapstick Story Time and so much more; 160 pages filled with entertaining, cool stuff.

I found this book unique and got caught up with the kids in exploring it. Most of the brain bogglers and activities were new to me; actually I found them innovative. This is not your typical activity book. It teaches children various things while having fun. It makes children use their brains (math, logic, decoding, language and science games) in ways they probably haven’t before. Are you stuck in finding ideas for your kid’s next party? Do you have a reluctant reader? This is the perfect book to get kids reading and having fun together.

Now, if I see boredom creeping up, I tell the kids to grab their Boredom Blasters book and try out a new activity. Before long, I hear laughter and then, “Hey Mom, look at this!” Highly recommended!

Every Saturday, Booking Mama hosts a feature called Kid Konnection—a regular weekend feature about anything related to children's books. If you'd like to participate in Kid Konnection and share a post about anything related to children's books (picture, middle grade, or young adult) from the past week, visit Booking Mama.

Disclosure: Thanks to Kendal Gerard from Maple Tree Press for sending me this book for review. I was not compensated in any other way, nor told how to rate or review this product.