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Marine Rules & Signals
Navigation and Sports
App
The reference guide to rules and signals at sea. Part of a series of Marine Navigation apps, Rules &...
iReadArabic
Education and Entertainment
App
*** Learning to read Arabic was never so playful *** "IReadArabic" and the reading of Arabic...
Chii Shona Language App
Education
App
The Chii? Shona Learning App is a beautifully illustrated word learning and reading app designed for...
Galactic Genius with Astro Cat
Education and Games
App
***From the award-winning developer of Professor Astro Cat’s Solar System*** Hold onto your space...
My Way West: Real Kids Traveling the Oregon and California Trails
9.0
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For kids who want to learn about what life was like on the Oregon and California Trails between...
Picture Books Children HIstory American History Oregon Trails Califorina Trails
Forex Hero – trading game for beginners
Education and Finance
App
Yes! You can learn forex trading basics and secrets in 3 days. For Free. Forex Hero will teach you...
Lee (2222 KP) rated A Monster Calls (2016) in Movies
Jul 26, 2017
A Monster Calls is based on an idea by writer and activist Siobhan Dowd, who sadly died from cancer in 2007 before she could develop her story to print. Her ideas were developed into a book by Patrick Ness in 2011 and illustrated by Jim Kay where it went on to receive a number of childrens literary awards.
The story is set in a very dreary looking England and features a boy called Conor struggling to cope with his mother’s terminal cancer. His father is divorced from his mother and is living in the States with his new family. He’s bullied at school and he’s troubled by nightmares. And then he starts being visited at night by a monster who tells him 3 stories. It’s a bleak tale about the harshness of life, and I was kind of worried about how my 11 year old daughter might take to it when she said she wanted to see it with me.
J.A.Bayona, director of The Orphanage, handles the subject matter well, showing us how a child’s fantasy can make sense of the world and their feelings. The stories told by the monster occur over a number of days and are beautifully depicted in watercolour animation. Each one providing its own lesson to be learned in life. Liam Neeson is the monster, the large yew tree that Conor can see from his bedroom window, giving his best Aslan voice. Felicity Jones is the mother, gradually dying as each cancer drug fails. Sigourney Weaver is the grandmother who Conor reluctantly goes to stay with while his mother is receiving treatment.
The monster itself, the great yew tree, is a real triumph. Beautifully rendered and realistically interacting with its surroundings. When you consider the films meagre budget of 43 million dollars, it’s breathtaking what they’ve managed to achieve.
As expected, the movie really packs a punch with barely any humour or lightheartedness. There are times it’s a little too slow and gloomy, but it’s hard hitting thought provoking and intense. I don’t mind admitting that both me and my daughter found ourselves in tears towards the end too. Along with most of the cinema!
The story is set in a very dreary looking England and features a boy called Conor struggling to cope with his mother’s terminal cancer. His father is divorced from his mother and is living in the States with his new family. He’s bullied at school and he’s troubled by nightmares. And then he starts being visited at night by a monster who tells him 3 stories. It’s a bleak tale about the harshness of life, and I was kind of worried about how my 11 year old daughter might take to it when she said she wanted to see it with me.
J.A.Bayona, director of The Orphanage, handles the subject matter well, showing us how a child’s fantasy can make sense of the world and their feelings. The stories told by the monster occur over a number of days and are beautifully depicted in watercolour animation. Each one providing its own lesson to be learned in life. Liam Neeson is the monster, the large yew tree that Conor can see from his bedroom window, giving his best Aslan voice. Felicity Jones is the mother, gradually dying as each cancer drug fails. Sigourney Weaver is the grandmother who Conor reluctantly goes to stay with while his mother is receiving treatment.
The monster itself, the great yew tree, is a real triumph. Beautifully rendered and realistically interacting with its surroundings. When you consider the films meagre budget of 43 million dollars, it’s breathtaking what they’ve managed to achieve.
As expected, the movie really packs a punch with barely any humour or lightheartedness. There are times it’s a little too slow and gloomy, but it’s hard hitting thought provoking and intense. I don’t mind admitting that both me and my daughter found ourselves in tears towards the end too. Along with most of the cinema!
Rachel King (13 KP) rated Economic Meltdown: A Family Preparedness Plan for Disaster in Books
Feb 11, 2019
The purpose of this book is quickly understood to motivate and aid the reader to prepare for a "man-made disaster" of the magnitude that is illustrated through a fictional story that the author, Karen McHale, apparently believes is impending for the U.S.A. I won't address whether or not I believe such a disaster is imminent or not. The story takes up the first 132 pages of the book, and the remaining pages is a quick guide to self-sufficiency, with a step-by-step guide and divided by Pantry and Utilities.
What I will address is the text of the book itself, which, frankly, could use some work. I can be a stickler for grammar, and it is obvious to me that the author used the spelling and grammar check function that is found in your typical text-formatting program, such as Word. Simply having someone read over the book before publication could catch these errors. For example, starting on page 50, the word "panty" has replaced what should have been "pantry," not every time, but often enough to be obvious. Other things showed up in the text to show the author's weakness in writing fiction, such as this: "...the unspoken thought hung unspoken in the air..." (pg. 11).
The story itself is a thinly veiled attempt at teaching the reader what is already listed in the section at the end of the book. Much more of the book is devoted to detailed descriptions of these preparations than to the development of the different characters. Towards the end of the book, time speeds up as the author skips ahead several times to fast forward the plot to 2012, with snapshots of plot to show the progress of the fictional family in its preparations for the economic disaster.
Honestly, this book would have been much better written had the author spent more time developing the different characters and made them unique and interesting to the reader, as well as gotten a few extra people to read the text before publication. McHale does not even bother with last names for this "typical American household." Sadly, except for the eight page guide at the end, it is all very forgettable.
What I will address is the text of the book itself, which, frankly, could use some work. I can be a stickler for grammar, and it is obvious to me that the author used the spelling and grammar check function that is found in your typical text-formatting program, such as Word. Simply having someone read over the book before publication could catch these errors. For example, starting on page 50, the word "panty" has replaced what should have been "pantry," not every time, but often enough to be obvious. Other things showed up in the text to show the author's weakness in writing fiction, such as this: "...the unspoken thought hung unspoken in the air..." (pg. 11).
The story itself is a thinly veiled attempt at teaching the reader what is already listed in the section at the end of the book. Much more of the book is devoted to detailed descriptions of these preparations than to the development of the different characters. Towards the end of the book, time speeds up as the author skips ahead several times to fast forward the plot to 2012, with snapshots of plot to show the progress of the fictional family in its preparations for the economic disaster.
Honestly, this book would have been much better written had the author spent more time developing the different characters and made them unique and interesting to the reader, as well as gotten a few extra people to read the text before publication. McHale does not even bother with last names for this "typical American household." Sadly, except for the eight page guide at the end, it is all very forgettable.
Lilyn G - Sci-Fi & Scary (91 KP) rated Gregory and the Grimbockle in Books
Feb 11, 2018
Such a fun, imaginative read!
Gregory and the Grimbockle was one of the funniest and cute books that I’ve read with my child in a long time. It was so imaginative and fantastical. We loved the adorable illustrations, but were very glad that the Grimbockle was never illustrated going into or out of his temporary home. The sheer grossness of how that happened was so at odds with the cuteness of everything else, but it worked really well together strangely.
Melanie Schubert has enormous talent that Abigail Kraft complemented perfectly. This story of a boy who doesn’t quite fit in, who is teased and sometimes bullied, and is from a home that is neither loving nor abusive will resonate with a lot of younger readers, I believe. His situation isn’t one of extremes and as a result he’s more easy to relate to. The adventures that he goes on with the Grimbockle are pure fiction, but the truth he learns along the way about the large impact that small gestures can have means is not. As a parent, that truth – that our actions have much more an impact that we might think – is one that I enjoyed having a chance to talk about with my child through the lens of Gregory and the Grimbockle.
The only thing we didn’t like about Gregory and the Grimbockle was the way it ended. It just felt like it ended too abruptly. The transition from childhood to “okay, he’s growing up now” happened so quickly that we had to re-read to make sure we hadn’t accidentally missed a few pages. While I can see why the author did it the way she did, by the time closed the book, we were both already mourning the exiting of the Bockles from our world.
Gregory and the Grimbockle is a book that any parent should delight in picking up to read with their children. It’s an easy read, a short one, and it helps reinforce an important lesson. You’ll be missing out if you don’t give it a try.
This review appeared first at Sci-Fi & Scary.
Melanie Schubert has enormous talent that Abigail Kraft complemented perfectly. This story of a boy who doesn’t quite fit in, who is teased and sometimes bullied, and is from a home that is neither loving nor abusive will resonate with a lot of younger readers, I believe. His situation isn’t one of extremes and as a result he’s more easy to relate to. The adventures that he goes on with the Grimbockle are pure fiction, but the truth he learns along the way about the large impact that small gestures can have means is not. As a parent, that truth – that our actions have much more an impact that we might think – is one that I enjoyed having a chance to talk about with my child through the lens of Gregory and the Grimbockle.
The only thing we didn’t like about Gregory and the Grimbockle was the way it ended. It just felt like it ended too abruptly. The transition from childhood to “okay, he’s growing up now” happened so quickly that we had to re-read to make sure we hadn’t accidentally missed a few pages. While I can see why the author did it the way she did, by the time closed the book, we were both already mourning the exiting of the Bockles from our world.
Gregory and the Grimbockle is a book that any parent should delight in picking up to read with their children. It’s an easy read, a short one, and it helps reinforce an important lesson. You’ll be missing out if you don’t give it a try.
This review appeared first at Sci-Fi & Scary.
ZebraLily (5 KP) rated The Usborne Complete Shakespeare: Stories from all the plays in Books
Mar 21, 2018
MY FAVORITE USBORNE BOOK!
This book is absolutely breathtaking! In most schools, children are not introduced to Shakespeare until at least late middle, if not high-school, and by then, it’s in his original language. By providing children, and adults even, with a book such as this, in a readable language relavent to today, we are able to fully enjoy Shakespeare’s stories in a way that we can comprehend before diving into his original works. By providing books such as these, our children will better appreciate his work when they approach it in school in later years because they will already be familiar with his plays. Each play is labeled as a comedy, tragedy, or historical play, and then provided with a one-page synopsis of the play, along with beautiful illustrations of the characters and how they relate to the other characters. Then you’ll dive into 7-8 pages of text that are written in plain-English that relay the story! This is brilliant! There are a handful of his lesser-popular works that are provided in a simple one-page summary with illustrated characters, but they are still included, as well as a brief section of Williams Shakespeare’s life. This book is also hard bound with extra padding to protect the cover, and a ribbon bookmark to save your place. It will definitely be a treasured book in your family’s library for years to come! My 6yo daughter has absolutely fallen in love with is works because of this...and I must say.....she’s SIX and already knows Shakespeare!!!! All thanks to Usborne Books and More! This is why I do what I do! You can find this book on my website at: https://k6798.myubam.com for only $24.99 and it’s well worth it! Happy reading!