Book Review - You Have my Heart

You all know I love books. I love to read, I love having rooms filled with shelves heavy with books, I even love to smell books (but that's another quirk for another day.) So I always get excited when I am asked to do a book review for someone, because then I get to talk about books, and the happy just gets even bigger.

Today I am reviewing a brand new book that has just been published called You Have my Heart. This beautiful little hard cover gift book was written by Corinne Fenton and illustrated by Robin Cowcher. Corinne Fenton is a well established, award winning children's author, having already published a whole slew of books for Australian children including The Dog on the Tuckerbox and Queenie the Elephant. Robin Cowcher is an award winning illustrator whose work can also be found in the Age newspaper, where she has worked as a designer, illustrator and art director, as well in the children's book Little Dog and the Christmas Wish where she again worked with Corinne Fenton.

You Have my Heart is a sweet little book celebrating love and the strength we can draw from it. The illustrations were beautifully done in watercolour in simple reds and greys giving each page a striking effect. This book was initially conceived as a Mother's Day gift, however it works as a great gift for other occasions too.

Miss K and I both loved reading this book. For us it gave us a good chance to discuss each emotion displayed on each page, and some of the situations that could cause each emotion.

It was a great way to start a dialogue with her about her feelings just to let her know that each of the six emotions that the book explores were all OK. And then we'd read it again just to enjoy its sweet message.

Pyjama pants are optional when reading this book.

This book is available for purchase now through Five Mile Press. If you have someone special in your life and you want to let them know how you feel, I definitely recommend buying this as a gift for them today.

*Disclosure: I received a free copy of the book You Have my Heart in return for this review. All opinions given in this piece are entirely my own.

Book Review - Catch that Cat

So it has been a long time since I have reviewed a product, but I was contacted with an offer I couldn't refuse a couple of weeks ago, so here we are again.

Now I preface this review by saying I love reading. I remember weekly trips to the library being a special occasion when I was a child, and I have passed that love of reading on to Miss K, as the two bookshelves that take up her bedroom wall will attest. Every night I MUST read her a story before she goes to bed, then she MUST take five books with her to bed. So when I was asked to review a new children's book by Australian author Melina Mallos I jumped at the chance. I was not disappointed.

When I agreed to review the book I was told it was an exploration of Greek culture as well as the rich history of the country, a subject I would have thought difficult to sell to children, but this book just showed how little I know about selling a subject to kids.

The story follows Elesa, a little girl whose cat Aphrodite has run away from home. Her and her Yiayia (grandmother for anyone who has never met a Greek person) must travel around the Greek island of Kythera, passing many historic locations as well as places of cultural importance while searching for their lost cat. Now because this is a children's book and not Marley & Me the cat does end up returning home, but not before you learn all about this beautiful island and it's amazing history.

The story was very easy to read, and more importantly it was easy for Miss K to understand. Before we started reading the book I explained how the story was set in a totally different country to Australia, and we looked at a map of Greece, and the island of Kythera which was included inside the front cover of the book. This part fascinated Miss K, and she spent ages pouring over the map, following the cat's footsteps around the island.

The books illustrations, drawn and painted by a talented Athenian Tety Solou were simply spectacular and only added to the total appeal of this book. Miss K and I spent ages staring at each page, simply trying to take in as much of every scene as we could. It took us about ten minutes to read the book the first time around, not because it was too wordy, but because we had to stop every page just to stare.

One of Miss K's favourite pages

After we finished the book the first time, Miss K insisted we go back to the beginning and read it again, discussing everything we noticed on each page as we went. I have never seen Miss K this excited about a book, which is saying something. She even insisted this book be read to her again that night at bedtime. To date I have had to read it to her another three times, and my sister has had to read it to her once. It is definitely a new favourite.

The beautiful thing about this book is that Melina's pride for her home country is evident in every page, so much so that you can't help but feel you are right there with Elesa and her Yiayia. Her reverence for the culture and historical significance Greece holds comes through strongly, and helps bring Greece into your home. It is excellent for teaching children about the world around them in a relatable and fun way.

My favourite page

So if you're looking for a new book to buy for a little one in your life, I definitely recommend Catch that Cat by Melina Mallos. You can find it for sale here.

100 books you must read

So just to show that I haven't just been spending all my time wallowing in self pity lately, I'd like to talk to you about a little project I have started with mum this week.

I'm sure you've all heard of the BBC's list of 100 books, of which the average person has only read 6. I don't have the energy to post the entire list of books, but here is a link to someone else who has done all the hard work for me. (This is not where I got the list from originally, I found it on Facebook, which is probably where most people first heard of this list.)

Now I have read more than six of the books listed here (I have actually read 14 of the books) but this number is still incredibly unsatisfying for me given my absolute love of books. Unfortunately, a lot of this list seems to have come straight from a high school's English literature reading list, and given that I never took English Lit as I hate having to dissect books to find hidden meanings and metaphors in every sentence, I missed out on a lot of awesome books it turns out. So mum and I have written our own lists from this one of the books we haven't read but would like to, and we're going to start making our way down it at our own pace until we have read every book on our lists. Already this week I have read two from the list (Miss K gave me The Bell Jar for Mother's Day and I finished it that night, and this evening I finished reading Atonement) so I am well on my way to becoming better read, and more familiar with the classics. This is also an excellent excuse to start making regular excursions to our local library, something that I am looking forward to sharing with Miss K, as she is being taught the importance of reading, and has developed a love of books already.

So that's my exciting project of the moment, I'll update you with my progress as I go along, and hopefully any of you out there with a love of reading will feel compelled to read or even re-read some of these classics too.