I Read, Therefore I Blog

The Blurb On The Back:

Inspiring poems to connect with nature

This collection of 50 poems will spark a love of nature, bring calm and happiness and let the outside in.

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

Daniel Thompson is a poet, storyteller, filmmaker and musician. This collection of 50 poems for readers aged 7+ (beautifully illustrated by Julia Murray) themed around nature all show Thomson’s enthusiasm for the subject, with several poems working well. However the majority use rhymes that are overly strained and threw out the rhythm and I thought it was a shame that other forms of poetry weren’t used to show young readers the variety of forms.

OUTSIDE IN: NATURE POEMS was released in the United Kingdom on 11th April 2024. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.

The Blurb On The Back:

The boat sways and rocks.
Bodies pressed against bodies.
Holding on for our lives.

Natalie’s world is falling apart. She’s just lost her mum, and her brother marches the streets of Dover with a far-right gang. Swimming is her only refuge.

Sammy has fled his home and family in Eritrea for the chance of a new life in Europe. Every step he takes is a step into an unknown and unwelcoming future.

A twist of fate brings them together and gives them both hope.

But is hope enough to mend a broken world?

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

Manjeet Mann’s YA novel pitches the plight of refugees against increasing anti-refugee sentiment within the UK. It’s told in verse and very well written with Mann effortlessly switching between Sammy and Nat to emphasise their common experiences and emotions. Sammy’s experiences make it a difficult read at times while Mann shows why people are attracted to racism without excusing it. This will be on the 2021 awards lists and it deserves to be.

THE CROSSING was released in the United Kingdom on 3rd June 2021. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.

The Blurb On The Back:

Do you know what a Onecan is? Have you met a Gofongo or the Bald Twit Lion? Can you guess what the Wiggle-Woggle said?

Another collection of goonish poems and zany drawings by Spike Milligan.

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

This is a collection of illustrations, verse and one short story for children aged 8+ by Spike Milligan that drips with his trademark silliness and unique way of thinking about creatures and the world in general. The book ends with a short story about a foolish lion who goes bald, which I enjoyed but might be a little too unstructured for kids. Sadly this book is out of print but is worth checking out for Milligan completists.

The Blurb On The Back:

From the lengendary author of Things Fall Apart comes a long-awaited memoir of coming of age with a fragile new nation only to watch it torn asunder in a tragic civil war.

The defining experience of Chinua Achebe's life was the Nigerian civil war, also known as the Biafran War, of 1967 - 1970. The conflict was infamous for its savage impact on the Biafran people, Chinua Achebe's people, many of whom were starved to death after the Nigerian government blockaded their borders. By then, Chinua Achebe was already a world-renowned novelist, with a young family to protect. He took the Biafran side in the conflict and served his government as a roving cultural ambassador, from which vantage he absorbed the war's full horror, immediately after the war, Achebe took refuge in an academic post in the United States, and for more than forty years he has maintained a considered silence on the events of those terrible years, addressing them only obliquely through his poetry. Now, decades in the making, comes a towering reckoning with one of modern Africa's most fateful events, from a writer whose words and courage have left an enduring stamp on world literature.

Achebe begins his story with Nigeria's birth pangs and the story of his own upbringing as a man and as a writer, so that we may understand both the young country's keen sense of promise, which too quickly turned to horror, and Achebe's view of the particular obligation of the artist, especially in a time of war. For Chinua Achebe, to be a serious writer is to be a committed writer - to speak for one's history, one's beliefs, and one's people, especially when others cannot.

A marriage of history and memoir, vivid first-hand observation and decades of further research and reflection, There Was A Country is a work whose wisdom and compassion remind us of Chinua Achebe's place as one of the great literary and moral voices of our age.

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

Chinua Achebe discusses his childhood, Biafra and the Nigerian Civil War in a fascinating, beautifully written book that's part memoir, part history and includes his poetry from the period as he covers the hope of Nigerian independence to the bloodiness of Civil War and the negative impact on the country's prospects but it's a highly partisan read and Achebe is hazy on his involvement in the Biafra government, which is a weakness.

Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.

The Blurb On The Back:

A brilliant collection of poems about everything that goes on in school.

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

This collection of poetry is based on the school year and although some of the poems seem a little old-fashioned, the rhymes and humour are bound to appeal to younger children.