UNCLE MONTAGUE'S TALES OF TERROR

Uncle Montague's Tales of Terror by Chris Priestley

Reviewed by Milly, 12yrs. old - Teen Book Reviewer and Sometimes Baker

Uncle Montague's Tales of Terror by Chris Priestley is a horror book about a young boy called Edgar [I have never heard of the name Edger before, but mum told me that he is named after a famous writer of horror tales - Edgar Allen Poe]. Edgar liked to visit his uncle's house to hear his scary stories. But if these are just made up stories, why does Edgar start seeing items from the stories in his uncle's study?

What I liked most about this book is it is a collection of stories within the story. That's good because each story is quick to read and gets straight to the point. These stories are horrifying, and I loved it, they made me shiver.

I've now found out the author Chris Priestley has also written other Tales of Terror books with different main characters. I want to read the rest now. If you get scared easy, do not read this book!

I give this book:

This week we made Bannana and Macadamia Nut Muffins!

2cups self-raising flour

a dash of cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

3 ripe bananas mashed (the riper, the better)

1/2 cup chopped macadamias (I let mum chop them)

3 eggs (I like to whisk them with a fork first)

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1/3 cup buttermilk.

We spray a flexible muffin tin with canola oil, the mix all the ingredients in a big bowl with a wooden spoon till the flour and liquids are mixed well. I use an ice-cream scoop heaped to measure the same amount into each muffin hole and it's less messy than a spoon. Fill them, they don't raise very much. Then bake them for about 20minutes at 200 degrees Celsius (Fahrenheit is 400). Our measurements are rough, you don't have to be fussy. Then eat while warm!

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THE FLOODS

The Floods by Colin Thompson

Reviewed by Tilly, 8yrs. old - Tween Book Reviewer and Sometimes Writer

The Floods is a series of books all written by Colin Thompson. You can always tell a book by Colin Thompson because he does his own illustrations and they are weird - but in a good way. The picture are like the story, which is also weird, in a good way.

The Floods is about a weird family called... The Floods. The family has a father, mother, children and dogs, this sounds like a normal family but this family is all witches and wizards. Even weirder, the dogs can talk, maybe because they used to be children. One of the dog-kids was created out of electricity. On top of all that Valla (the oldest child) drinks blood.

I think there are 9 books in the whole series, I've read 5 so far. They are chapter books but have lots of great pictures throughout the story. These books are creepy but funny and I will read the whole series. Each book is titled from a popular TV shows, the first one is Neighbours.

Out of five dolls, I rate this series...

I'm also going to read Colin Thompson's new series called The Dragons.

The cover AND the title are different in America! They've also changed the names so they aren't names of TV shows anymore! This is what the Amazon book looks like:

And here is a paper doll link, if you click on it, you can print it and cut it out!

http://thelongthread.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/paper-dolls1.jpg

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THE 39 CLUES - THE MAZE OF BONES

The 39 Clues - The Maze of Bones by Rick Riordan

Reviewed by Milly, 12yrs. old- Teen Book Reviewer and sometimes Baker

The Maze of Bones is the first book in a series called The 39 Clues. This is an awesome book about orphaned brother and sister, Dan and Amy Cahill, who have to make the biggest choice of their lives. Through their grandmother's will Dan and Amy are asked to either take a Million Dollars now or take burn the money, take the Clue, and go on an adventure which could mean certain death or lead them to the most important treasure in the world.

This book is full on action. The edition I got also came with some cool game cards so you can play the 39 Clues online (I'm not sure if all the copies come with these cards). I really liked the beginning of every chapter, it always starts with an exciting sentence like:

"Five minutes before she died, Grace Cahill changed her will." and "Amy Cahill thought she had the most annoying little brother on the planet. And that was before he almost got her killed."

The author of the first 39 clues book, Rick Riordan, is also the author of my favourite series Percy Jackson and the Olympians (which I did a review on the first book earlier).

A negative thing about this book is the series it belongs to. I started to read the second book but I found it boring, that's when I found out the books in The 39 Clues series were written by different authors so I didn't read any after book 2. Plus I don't know how many books are in the series, but if it's one clue for each book...

I rate this book out of 5 dolls:

Click on the picture below to bake these yummy Gingerbread Men - when my sister and I make Gingerbread, we like to use dinosaur cookie cutters to get Gingerbread Dinos!

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AUDREY OF THE OUTBACK

Audrey of the Outback by Christine Harris

Reviewed by Tilly, 8yrs. old - Tween Book Reviewer and Sometimes Writer

Today I'm introducing the book Audrey of the Outback by Christine Harris.

Audrey of the Outback is the first book in the Audrey series. The book is about a little girl called Audrey who lives in the Australian outback and her family is poor. This does not stop her from having fun, Audrey uses her imagination a lot to go on adventures. 

Audrey has two brothers, but one is too young to play with and the other is a bit too old for games. So Audrey goes on her adventures with Stumpy, a mysterious pet. You have to try and figure out what type of pet Stumpy is, Christine Harris does not tell you until near the end. You will be amazed when you find out what Stumpy is. 

There is a sad bit in this book when Stumpy leaves. I'm not going to tell you if Stumpy comes back, but there is one more surprise to find out about Stumpy by the time you finish the book. It's not what you expect!

One of the things I really liked about this book was the way Christine Harris wrote the characters' voices. I especially liked the way Audrey's little brother Douglas speaks like a toddler. The book has a lot of Australian slang like Fair dinkum, Bonzer, Dunny and Ning-nong. Christine Harris puts the meaning to these interesting words at the back of the book.

This book is funny, in one part it tells you about when Audrey and her big brother Price blow up the dunny (Australian word for toilet).

I liked this book enough to spend my pocket money on the second book in the series, Audrey Goes to Town. Out of five dolls, I give it:

This book teaches you that you can use your imagination to have fun. If you would like to find out more you can go to the Audrey Club website:

www.audreyoftheoutback.com.au 

Click on the paper doll below for a full sized image to print and cut out. :~)

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PERCY JACKSON AND THE LIGHTNING THIEF

Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

Reviewed by Milly, 12yrs. old - Teen Book Reviewer and sometimes Baker

For my first book I'll be doing something a bit different, I'm reviewing an audiobook. I love to read, but I also like audiobooks that I can listen to on my iPod. I've been listening to this story in the car, on my way to school, in bed after I'm supposed to be asleep...

Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief is one of my favourite audiobooks! It is a nonstop action story with a fair bit of humour and it's great for boys or girls. The Lightning Thief is packed full of monsters and gods from the old Greek myths. It is told in the first person by the hero, a 12yr. old 'naughty' kid that has been kicked out of every school he attended. As the book says, Percy is half boy, half god and all hero.

Percy finds out he's a demigod and gets sent on a quest. Along the way monsters are always trying to kill him. There are two questions you'l be dying to find out when you start reading:

1. Which god is his father? and
2. Who stole the lightning bolt?

I knew this book would be good because the author, Rick Riordan, also wrote the first book in the series The 39 Clues (and it was GOOD).

My score out of 5 is:

So, I recommend you read this awesome book, or download the audiobook!

At the end of every post I will leave you with something sweet you can link to and bake!

Click the picture to see how to decorate your cupcakes like this:

My favourite cupcake recipe:

100g unsalted butter

185g caster suger

1tspn vanilla bean paste

2 eggs

200g self-rasing flour

1/2 cup milk (125ml)

Preheat oven 180 degrees Celsius (Australian temperature).

Beat butter, sugar and vanilla bean paste in mixer until pale. Add eggs and beat until well combined. Add flour and milk and beat until smooth. Fill patty pans no more than 2/3rds.

Bake for 15-20mins. Allow to cool before icing.

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CORALINE

Coraline by Neil Gainman

This is the Graphic Novel Adapted & Illustrated by P. Craig Russell

Reviewed by Tilly, 8yrs. old - Tween Book Reviewer and Sometimes Writer

I love reading comics - it's like a cartoon in a book! When my sister told me Coraline was available in a graphic novel, I couldn't wait to buy it. When I had enough pocket money, my mum helped me get on Amazon and order the book. It got delivered all the way from America to Australia!

Ordering books online is fun because it arrives in a package! My own really cool Amazon cardboard box (kids like mail).

P. Craig Russell has done a really good job with the illustrations. I think Coraline is very pretty in this book (I like that she has brown hair instead of blue hair like in the movie).

About this book... it's scary. In a way like The Wizard of Oz. Coraline is like Dorothy because they both started out wanting something other than they already have (for Coraline it's her parents and for Dorothy it was her world).  Coraline does not like her parents because they are always working and they never do stuff with her, so she finds a different world and also finds she has an 'other mother'.  
This book is a horror story (of course because there are buttons as eyes) and also has a quest in it, Coraline must find the eyes of lost souls to free them (not as gross as it sounds).

This is now one of my favourite books and I would rate it at least 4 stars out of 5.

Every post I will leave you with a paper doll and the link so you can find it and cut it out and enjoy!

Find the full sized picture here.

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