March - April: Wonder by RJ Palacio

This month's book was Wonder by RJ Palacio.

This is from the dustjacket:

"August Pullman wants to be an ordinary ten-year-old. He does ordinary things. He eats ice-cream. He plays on his X-box. He feels ordinary - inside.

Born with a terrible facial abnormality, Auggie has been home-schooled by his parents his whole life, in an attempt to protect him from the cruelty of the outside world. Now, for the first time, he's being sent to a real school - and he's dreading it. All he wants is to be accepted - but can he convince his new classmates that he's just like them, underneath it all?

Narrated by Auggie and the people around him whose lives he touches forever, Wonder is a funny, frank, astonishingly moving debut to read in one sitting, pass on to others, and remember long after the final page."

So does the book live up to this recommendation? A resounding YES! Funny, sad, thought-provoking and up-lifting - Wonder is a refreshingly different children's book, with a whole host of well-rounded and memorable characters.

The book group ALL loved Wonder. Everyone enjoyed reading from the different characters' points of view and seeing how there are always at least two sides to every story! The language and cultural references are very up-to-date. The group liked that Auggie and his friends read the same books as they did!

The very short chapters and compelling nature of the story make it extremely hard to put it down - it's always easy to read "just another chapter". Just a warning for any adults reading Wonder - make sure you have a box of tissues handy, you may need them on more than one occasion!

Here are some comments from the group:

"It's an amazing book and it really makes you think. I lent it to my friend because I thought it was such a good read." - Ana

"It's a book that really makes you realise other people have problems." - Lilah

"It was really good. I liked everything about it." - Willow (who liked it so much she read it twice!)

"I always say this, but I really couldn't put it down!" - Tabitha

"Go and buy this book, read it, then pass it on!" - Emma (!)

Can't recommend this book highly enough. Fantastic.

Page Turners rating for Wonder: 5/5

Feb/Mar 2012 - The Brilliant World of Tom Gates by L Pichon

Last month's read was Roald Dahl Funny Prize winner The Brilliant World Of Tom Gates by Liz Pichon.

This is the story of Tom; his friends, family, trials and tribulations. Dire camping trips, mean teachers, annoying classmates, crazy excuses for not handing in homework, and tips for winding up your big sister - they're all here; interspersed with Tom's doodles which decorate every page.

This was a big hit with the book group - the first unanimously postive reception we've had for a while! Here are some of their comments...

"The Brilliant World of Tom Gates is amazing. I would recommend it to anybody. It is very, very funny." - Poppy

"If you like funny books then you'll love this." - Tabitha

"It's really funny." - Freya

Everyone thought they'd read the other Tom Gates books; in fact Tabitha and Poppy have read all three and Ana has also read the second book!

Here are the book group's Tom Gates inspired doodle pictures:

Page Turners' rating for The Brilliant World of Tom Gates : 4.5/5

Loving Liz Pichon's website!
http://www.lizpichon.co.uk/home.htm

That's a not-so-subtle hint at our next book...! ;o)

December '11/January '12: The Salt-Stained Book by Julia Jones

Our last read was The Salt-Stained Book by Julia Jones, volume 1 of her Strong Winds trilogy.

Here's the blurb from the back of the book:

"In 1945, two brothers die in the icy Barents Sea and a book is all that survives of them. More than sixty years later Donny and his mother set out for Suffolk to meet his mysterious great aunt.
There is an accident and Donny is taken into care. But are the officials all that they seem and why won't they believe Donny's story? Soon he discovers that his life has been built on a lie. Only the new friendships he makes and an unsuspected talent for sailing help him steer his way through dangers that he cannot understand towards a knowledge of his own identity - and the secrets of a salt-stained book."

It made for good reading, but the group had several criticisms. They felt there were too many sailing terms used, and that you probably needed to have experience of sailing to be able to fully enjoy the story. The group thought that a glossary would have been helpful.
There were some interesting characters in the book, namely Donny's new friends "Awful" Anna, and sisters Xanthe and Maggi, but the "baddies" were not so convincing.

Overall, a good but not a great read.

Here are some comments from the group:

"If you like sailing and Swallows and Amazons you'll probably like this book." - Ana

"There are lots of good, strong, girl characters." - Tabitha

"A good book for budding sailors." - Lottie

Page Turners rating: it's another 3.5/5

Ana's treasure map

Book of the Year 2011

As we've come to the end of another year of book group, we did our annual vote for our favourite read.
The group found it particularly hard to choose between some of them, and as we have such wildly differing tastes within the group, the results were sometimes quite surprising. Several books were rated top by one or two members, and bottom by others!

Anyway, here are the results...

With the same number of points were four books- Sally Gardner's I, Coriander; JRR Tolkien's The Hobbit; Caroline Lawrence's The Case of the Deadly Desperados; and our last read, Debi Gliori's Pure Dead Magic.

In 2nd place was Gill Lewis' fabulous debut novel Sky Hawk. This heart-warming tale of friendship, hope and an amazing journey deservedly scored very highly with nearly everyone in the group.

And in 1st place was our read from way back in December last year to January of this year, Wilma Tenderfoot and the Case of the Frozen Hearts by Emma Kennedy. Wilma won everyone over with her adventures, and some of the group have gone on to read the following books in the series, which is always a good sign!

Looking forward to another year of discovering great books and new authors.

November/December: Pure Dead Magic by Debi Gliori

Our latest read was Debi Gliori's funny fantasy Pure Dead Magic.

Pure Dead Magic tells the story of The Strega-Borgia children, Titus, Pandora and baby Damp, and their efforts to rescue their father, kidnapped by his evil half-brother who wants to get his hands on the family fortune.

A new nanny with a big secret, an array of magical creatures living in the basement and Tock, the crocodile, who patrols the moat are just some of the larger than life characters we meet in this riotous mix of traditional fantasy and modern technology with a large dollop of madcap humour thrown in for good measure.

Again, we had some major differences of opinion over this book - some loving it, some hating it and the rest somewhere in between! Here are some quotes from the group:

"A very good book. I liked the animals." - Poppy

"It's alright, but I probably wouldn't recommend it." - Lilah

"I would recommend it - I really liked it." - Willow

"It's a really good book and I recommend it, but make sure you check the Dramatis Personae because there are a lot of long and complicated names to keep track of!" - Lottie

                                Tabitha's picture of Tarantella

Page Turners Rating: 3.5/5

Another catch-up!

I've been very bad and missed posting about our last two book group meetings, so I'm going to do a brief catch-up, then I can get on with a full post about our latest book. Sorry!

So, back in September/October we read The Sword in the Stone by T.H.White.

It wasn't the most popular of our choices, but some members of the group really enjoyed it.

Lottie said: "If you read it you should persevere, because it gets quite good."

Poppy said: "It's quite long, but it's a good book and worth reading."

The Sword in the Stone Page Turners rating: 3/5

In October the group voted for A Tale Dark and Grimm by Adam Gidwitz for our spooky Hallowe'en read.

This was a book that really polarized opinion! Willow liked it so much she read it twice, Lilah also loved it, but Lottie hated it. Funny and gory, it wasn't quite as scary as it made out, but it seems a love it or hate it kind of book.

A Tale Dark and Grimm  Page Turners rating:  4/5