Book Review: Gone to the Woods by Gary Paulsen

Gone to the Woods

by

Gary Paulsen

 

A TRUE STORY OF GROWING UP IN THE WILD

 

Publisher: Pan Macmillan  

Imprint: Macmillan Children's Books 

Publication date: 12th January 2021

Genre: Children's / Teenage / Memoir

Pages: 224

RRP: $16.99AUD

Format read: Paperback

Source: Courtesy of the publisher

 

About the book

 

From the author of the bestselling Hatchet comes a true story of high-stakes wilderness survival!

At the age of five Gary Paulsen escaped from a shocking Chicago upbringing to a North Woods homestead, finding a powerful respect for nature that would stay with him throughout his life. At the age of thirteen a librarian handed him his first book, and there he found a lasting love of reading. As a teenager he desperately enlisted in the Army, and there amazingly discovered his true calling as a storyteller.

A moving and enthralling story of grit and growing up, Gone to the Woods is perfect for newcomers to the voice and lifelong fans alike, from the acclaimed author at his rawest and realest.

 

My review

 

I'm finding it hard to know where to start with this story. My son, when young, was a huge Hatchet fan. He read the book over and over and talked of it often. This is how I came to know the name Gary Paulsen, so when I heard he had written a memoir of his childhood I jumped at the chance to read it.

Gary Paulsen writes with stark reality, there is no softening around the edges. He writes about life exactly as he lived it and some scenes are quite gruesome. The story contains vivid descriptions of a train load of injured soldiers and also a frenzied shark attack on the passengers of a plane crash. What I found most distressing is that these are actual real events witnessed by Paulsen as a young child.

The story is narrated in third person with Paulsen referring to himself as 'the boy', so it reads more like a fiction novel than the usual memoir with first person narration.

Paulsen takes moments from his life and weaves a story around that event introducing history and education into the narrative.

The boy, at age 5, after living a life of neglect with his mother, is sent to live with his aunt and uncle on a farm. Here he learns to work hard and to live off the land but mostly he learnt how it felt to  belong. Every sight, sound and smell the boy experiences comes alive on the page. These few years are what set him up to survive life when he was taken back by his mother. What followed  was years of neglect, poverty, bullying and hunger.

The story isn't all bleak as Paulsen interjects humour into even the bleakest events.

 

When he discovers the library and the librarian who gently encourages him to read more and more books that broaden his mind a whole new world of hope is opened up to him.

 

Paulsen's writing starts out soft and gentle when he is a young child naive and fragile, as his life moves on you can feel the writing is more jaded, edgy. Then as a teen, 16 - 17, the writing is angry, disillusioned. I find this type of character change through words and sentence structure unique and engaging.

 

Gone to the Woods is a harrowing and moving true life story of resilience, perseverance and the healing power of books. Narrated with warmth and humour it is touching and informative.

This book is being marketed as middle grade but I would recommend 12+ as there are some quite horrifying and descriptive scenes of war and a shark attack.

5/5  ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

About the author

Credit: Pan Macmillan

Gary Paulsen has received great acclaim and many awards for his novels written for young people. HATCHET, and its sequel, THE RETURN, are among his best-known works. He has sailed the Pacific and competed in the gruelling 1,049 mile Iditarod dog-sled race across Alaska. He lives with his family in New Mexico, USA.

 

 

 

 

 

Challenge entered: Non Fiction Readers Challenge 

#2021ReadNonFic

 

 

Spotlight and Giveaway: The Schoolboy Sherlock Holmes (Books 1-5 Boxed Set) by Cenarth Fox

The Schoolboy Sherlock Holmes Box Set

by

Cenarth Fox 

 

 

The Schoolboy Sherlock Holmes is a 5 book series staring Nicholas Twit aimed at middle-grade readers aged 8 - 12.

 

About the books

 

Book1: The Cat Burglar / Fifi and the Angels

In Book 1 Young Nick uses the detection methods of Sherlock Holmes to expose a scam and catch a very clever cat burglar. Later in Book 1 the young sleuths solve mysteries with a little help from a friendly policewoman, Detective Sergeant Les Trade. A simple observation turns into a tale involving illegal immigrants, blackmail and lazy dog-owners. But who will be the boss detective? And is Doctor Watson smarter than Sherlock Holmes?  

 

 

 

Book 2: The Garden Gnome Mystery / The Goldfields Ghost Adventure

Nick’s new partner is Felicity Heywood-Jones who is 13. So there are two detectives—Holmes and Watson. But will they co-operate? And is Watson smarter than Holmes? In Book 2 Nicholas investigates a mystery about garden gnomes. It reminds him of a famous mystery solved by Sherlock Holmes. Felicity meets a girl who works from home and is being ripped off by a cruel person. Can Felicity help the girl and expose a nasty businessman? Strangely Nick’s gnomes and Felicity’s rip-off are linked. But how? Then Nicholas goes for a weekend trip to the country where he meets a ghost and an escaped convict. It all happens in an old gold-mining town

 

Book 3: The Mystery of the Awful Painting / The Mystery of the Terrible Twins / The Ned Kelly Adventure

Nick investigates a strange case and notices something unusual in the house next door. A man is stealing garbage. Nick follows and gets kidnapped twice! Felicity has to work at a creepy old house and accidentally pushes one of the owners off an upstairs balcony. More trouble. But things get really explosive when Nick tackles a mystery starring Ned Kelly. He was a famous outlaw and getting caught in the crossfire means Nick is seriously in danger. There's a map of where all the mysteries are located, word puzzles, Twit-Speak words including the fabulous sotov and edhen, a mini mystery and tips on how can write your own mysteries.

 

Book 4: The Clayton's Murder / The MCG Bomb Mystery / The Stinging Mystery of Jeremiah's Ghost

In this book, Felicity has some serious personal problems. Her father's girlfriend is missing presumed dead and Flick's dad is in the frame. Can Felicity help her father? And in the meantime Nick gets a really silly case of stolen roses. Ah but it involves two ladies of the theatre and boy can they act. One of the women has some rotten food and cobwebs on her dining-room table as she's mad about Charles Dickens-or is she just mad? But things hit overdrive when Nick 'n Flick get involved with a would-be terrorist at a major sporting event. Nick discovers schizophrenia and learns heaps. But suddenly it looks to be all over for the Schoolboy Sherlock Holmes. He gets tricked into saying he saw a ghost when it was a set-up, a sting to catch him out. How can the boy detective survive?

 

Book 5: Mr Hawthorn's Hedge / The Tallest Women in the World / The Bee & Bee Cottage / Cranley Glasspot's Newspaper

When we first meet them in this book, Nick and the others are facing a possible disaster. Nick has been tricked. A sneaky journalist has set up a trap and Nick has walked right into it. Nick is about to be exposed as a sham. How can he survive? And Felicity is investigating some strange sights and sounds happening at midnight behind a nearby hedge. Then for something special, we take a step back in time to Victorian England with a story featuring the real Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson. It's the adventure of The Tallest Woman in the World. And finally there are two mysteries with one each for Nicholas and Felicity.

 

About the Author     

 

Cenarth Fox has written plays and musicals, novels and non-fiction books. 

As a long-time fan of Sherlock Holmes, Fox has written three stage shows and a novel about the famous detective and given over 200 performances of his one-man show, G’day Sherlock.

The five books for young readers make up the rest of his Sherlockian canon. 

His other novels include an 8 book crime series The Detective Joanna Best Mysteries and a series about a young English actress during WW2.

Fox has turned his plays about the Brontes, Agatha Christie and Shakespeare into novels and his play about Dickens is now a film. 

 

His books are at www.cenfoxbooks.com and his stage shows at www.foxplays.com 

 

The inspiration behind the Nicholas Twit series.

Having written so much about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and his most famous creation, writing crime fiction for children seemed the next step. Nicholas Twit (aged 10) is the schoolboy Sherlock Holmes and has turned his bedroom of today into the sitting-room of Mr Holmes in London in 1890. The mysteries he tackles with Dr Watson (Felicity aged 14) – Nick ‘n Flick - use the methods the great detective used. The printed books are in a glossy magazine format copying The Strand Magazine which published 59 of the 60 Conan Doyle tales. They are a great way to introduce young readers to mystery fiction.

 

 

Giveaway:

 

Cenarth Fox has generously offered 2 x hardcopy box sets to Australian addresses.

 

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED AND THE WINNERS WERE LIZ D & HEATHER

Book Review: The Women and the Girls by Laura Bloom

The Women and the Girls 

by

Laura Bloom

 

 

Publisher: Allen & Unwin

Publication date: 19th January 2021 

Genre: Contemporary Fiction  

Pages: 344

RRP: $29.99AUD

Format read: Paperback

Source: Courtesy of the publisher

 

About the book

 

Three friends. Three marriages left behind. Life begins in earnest.

It's 1977, and warm, bohemian Libby - stay-at-home mother, genius entertainer and gifted cook - is lonely. When she meets Carol, who has recently emigrated from London with her controlling husband and is feeling adrift, and Anna, who loves her career but not her marriage, the women form an unexpected bond.

Their husbands aren't happy about it, and neither are their daughters.

Set against a backdrop of inner-city grunge and 70s glamour, far-out parties and ABBA songs, The Women and The Girls is a funny, questioning and moving novel about love, friendship, work, family, and freedom.

 

My review

 

The Women and the Girls was everything it promised to be; A funny, probing and moving novel filled with the music, clothes, hair and food of the time, encapsulating everything that made the 70’s unforgettable. A truly nostalgic trip for those of an age to remember the era.
 

Three women all at a cross-roads in their lives, unhappy in their marriages for varying reasons come together to support each other when each decide to leave their husbands on the same night.
 

The Women and the Girls is not only a story about marriage and the importance of female friendships it also highlights the constraints on women during the 70’s and reveals it as a time of great social change for women and a step closer to equality.
 

Laura Bloom has created three very different women from different backgrounds and thrown them together by the fact that their daughters are in the same class at school. To begin with the women don’t even like each other. 

I loved how Bloom threw these women together into one house and left them to work through their differences. Add in one conniving husband bent on destroying the friendship and four tweenage girls, and lets see how the women deal with this.
 

Libby, Carol and Anna were strong women for their time. A time when women were just learning to be assertive and most could only dream of leaving a troubled marriage. I know this was meant to be a lighthearted look at women, marriage and the 70’s but I personally think it came across as a little too easy and convenient for the women to leave, having ready accommodation and babysitters.  

 

4½ / 5  ⭐⭐⭐⭐½

 

About the author

 

Photo: Goodreads

 Laura Bloom is the author of eight critically acclaimed novels for adults and children, including The Cleanskin, which was described in The Australian as 'a masterpiece of drama and characterisation'. Her novels have been shortlisted for many awards, including the NSW Premier's Awards. Laura is also an award-winning screenwriter, and many of her novels have been optioned for film and TV. She is based in the Northern Rivers region of NSW.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Challenges entered: Australian Women Writers challenge #AWW2021

and Aussie Author Challenge #AussieAuthor21

 

Other books I've reviewed by Laura Bloom

 

 

Storybook Corner Book Review: I Know an Old Lady by Edward Miller

 I Know an Old Lady

Written & Illustrated 

by

Edward Miller

Publisher: Fox Chapel Publishing

Publication date: 5th January 2021

Genre: Children's Picture Book

Pages: 20

RRP: $12.99AUD (Board Book)

Format read: eBook

Source: Courtesy of the publisher via Netgalley

About the book

An updated and slightly different take on a classic folk song “There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly” with a new, kid-friendly ending, I Know an Old Lady is a humorous picture book for children featuring the iconic old lady that can’t stop eating the strangest things! With memorable lyrics, absurd illustrations, and die-cut elements that gradually build and build upon each other until the old lady’s stomach is filled with bizarre objects, from a small fly all the way up to a horse, this silly children’s book of a timeless tale will delight both kids and parents alike! 

 

My review

 

A new take on an old classic that many readers would have grown up listening to, or reciting themselves.

 

The images are colourful and wonderfully detailed in a cute cartoon style. I enjoyed the depiction of the old lady who always seems to have a cup of tea and a cupcake on the go.

 

With a conservative move away from the original verse of "perhaps she'll die" Miller ends each stanza with a different rhyming match to "fly" such as "It makes me cry" and  "I'd rather eat pie."

It is hard to get the full visual effect with an eBook as the hard copy board book has peek-through die cut holes that show the every increasing animals inside the old lady as you turn the page.

Reading this book was a treat for me as well as the children. The full spread illustrations had many elements to look at apart from the mounting collection of animals in the old lady's belly. I loved that the animal that was next to be eaten appeared on the page previous to it being mentioned and the children could speculate what was coming next. The repetitive nature of the rhyming is conducive of audience participation and it didn't take them long to start joining in.

I didn't particularly like the ending with it's veer away from "She died, of course." I really don't think children take their story books so literally that they think an old lady died. Do we really need to be so sensitive? However this is a good version if you have a child that is sensitive to these things.  Anyway, I liked it enough to seek out a hard copy to add to my home library. It was a lot of fun! 

My rating 4/5  ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 

Dot & Jay 5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

About the author

Edward Miller is the author of many nonfiction children's titles. A prolific graphic designer and longtime art director in children's publishing, Miller lives in New York City.

 

 

 

 

Book Review: The Skylark's Secret by Fiona Valpy

The Skylark's Secret

by

Fiona Valpy

 

 
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing

Publication date: 29th September 2020

Genre: Historical Fiction

Pages: 315

Format read: Kindle eBook

Source: Courtesy of the publisher via Netgalley

About the book

Loch Ewe, 1940. When gamekeeper’s daughter Flora’s remote highland village finds itself the base for the Royal Navy’s Arctic convoys, life in her close-knit community changes forever. In defiance of his disapproving father, the laird’s son falls in love with Flora, and as tensions build in their disrupted home, any chance of their happiness seems doomed.

Decades later, Flora’s daughter, singer Lexie Gordon, is forced to return to the village and to the tiny cottage where she grew up. Having long ago escaped to the bright lights of the West End, London still never truly felt like home. Now back, with a daughter of her own, Lexie learns that her mother—and the hostile-seeming village itself—have long been hiding secrets that make her question everything she thought she knew.

As she pieces together the fragments of her parents’ story, Lexie discovers the courageous, devastating sacrifices made in her name. It’s too late to rekindle her relationship with her mother, but can Lexie find it in her heart to forgive the past, to grieve for all that’s lost, and finally find her place in the world?

 

My review

 

Set in the beautiful Northwest Highlands of Scotland at Loch Ewe The Skylark's Secret is an evocative read. Fiona Valpy's poetic prose bring the setting and the characters alive.

 

Told in multiple time frames. In 1978 we have accomplished singer Lexie Gordon return home, her career in tatters and baby in tow. Lexie has many regrets and one is not visiting her mother more before she passed away. Now she is home she wants to find out more about her father but she worries the tight-knit community won't accept her back. In 1939 a young Flora Gordon lives with her father and brother. Here we see the affect the war has on the community with a naval base being set up on the shores of the Loch. Fiona Valpy highlights the life in these areas during the war years and the great toll on many families losing their sons to war. There are also themes of PTSD which was undiagnosed and untreated and the evacuation of children from London to board with families in country areas. 

 

I really enjoyed Flora's story, the day to day life of the small community and the class system that was relevant at the time. Flora and her friends were a fun lot, they did their part for the war effort but they also had fun flirting with the American sailors.

 

Fiona Valpy has created characters to love and characters to hate which makes for engaging and immersive reading. 

 

The Skylark's Secret is a story of love, loss, hope and new beginnings. 

 

4/5  ⭐⭐⭐⭐

 

About the author

 

Photo: Goodreads

Fiona is an acclaimed number 1 bestselling author, whose books have been translated into more than twenty different languages worldwide.

She draws inspiration from the stories of strong women, especially during the years of WWII. Her meticulous historical research enriches her writing with an evocative sense of time and place.

 

Fiona spent seven years living in France, having moved there from the UK in 2007, before returning to live in Scotland. Her love for both of these countries, their people and their histories, has found its way into the books she's written. 

 

 

Challenges entered: Historical Fiction Challenge #HistFicChallenge 

 

 

Mailbox Monday & Life This Week - 25th January

 

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week. It now has a permanent home at the Mailbox Monday blog.

Life This Week is a meme created by Denyse Whelan Blogs where bloggers share snaps of what is currently happening in their lives.

Happy Monday!

I'm still in holiday mode so we have been enjoying lots of luncheons and picnics.

Lunch at the golf club

A picnic by the lake

 

 While the weather was still mild we enjoyed a bush walk

 

I've joined a walking group which encourages me to get out there and walk more

Morning tea in the city

The temperatures have now soared to the high 30s and low 40s so it will be all indoors this week.

Books I've received recently

 

I would love to hear what books you received in the mail recently!

Book Review: Blood Will Have Blood by Thomas H Carry

 Blood Will Have Blood

by

Thomas H. Carry

Publisher: Bad Alley Books

Publication date:  19th January 2021

Genre: Crime

Pages: 223

Format read: eBook

Source: Courtesy of Smith Publicity Services

 

About the book

 

Seven years in New York, and that big break has yet to materialize for struggling actor and inveterate pothead Scott Russo. Performing in terrible, barely attended Off-Off Broadway productions, hopping from one soul-crushing job to the next, Scott slacks away in a pot-fueled haze and contemplates throwing in the towel on his anemic career. The only thing that keeps him going is the humiliation of returning home to Baltimore. That and his current theatrical gig: an idiotically bad production of Macbeth.

Broke and out of a job, Scott jumps at his friend’s offer to work for a pot delivery service, only to get caught in a web of brutal Irish gangsters, a charismatic psychopath, ruthless prosecutors, and clueless actors. As his theatrical and criminal worlds collide in mayhem, murder, and betrayal, Scott finds himself morphing into a bumbling and blood-stained Macbeth, on stage and off.

If he can just make it to opening night…  

My review

I really enjoyed this gritty crime novel. My first book by Thomas H Carry.

Scott is a down and out actor, doped up on pot, wondering where his life is going but not having the motivation to really care. Scott has a disdain for the scrabble for big money. Basically he was lazy! However when friend and pot delivery guy Freddie suggests he join the postmen, a pot delivery service, Scott’s disdain for big money soon diminishes as he sees this as an easy way to make himself some big money.
 

Carry’s writing style is edgy with plenty of dark humour and the setting of New York City with its seedy underworld of territorial crime bosses and the grab for power was easily imagined.
 

What at first looks like easy money soon sees Scott complicit to murder and by the time he realises he needs to get out of this, everything conspires against him to wedge him deeper and deeper into the deadly game.
 

The story had me on the edge of my seat and had me eagerly reading with no idea where the plot would go or how Scott could possibly get out of this situation.

There is plenty of violence and it’s a bit gruesome but I feel it wasn’t overdone.
 

I enjoyed the connection between Scott’s real life dramas and his acting part as Macbeth and how the more his life unravelled the better his acting became.
 

Blood Will Have Blood is a cleverly plotted, gritty noir crime which will appeal to fans of Elmore Leonard, Lawrence Block and Lou Berney.

 

5/5  ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

 

Meet the author

 

Thomas H. Carry's debut novel, Privilege (Koehler Books, 2020), was an Amazon bestseller in satire fiction and named one of the best 100 indie novels of 2020 by Kirkus Review. Carry holds a doctorate in literature and has worked as a professional actor, educator, consultant, and bouncer. He lives in Manhattan with his wife.

 

 

 

 

Challenges entered: Cloak and Dagger challenge