A runaway pram + an artsy alien + a cereal monster +a word-stealing curse + one dancing dad + three feral fairies + an evil genius + a hairy birthday + a super-duper pig = one hilarious book.

I really enjoyed these stories! I thought they were all quite funny, and sometimes silly, and they reminded my of the Paul Jennings books I loved as a kid, which added a lovely bit of nostalgia to my reading experience.

I thought for my review I could talk a bit about my favourite story from the collection, but in the end it was too hard to chose! My favourites included the feral fairies and  the super-duper super hero pig (we are a comic books & super heroes house, so this one really hit the spot!). There was also one about an evil genius (mum) who comes up with a creative way to get the kids to behave while on a family roadtrip - I loved it!

Apart from the fantastic writing, I also really liked the illustrations - by Andrea Innocent. They are scattered throughout the book and really add to story by showing some of the funniest bits of each story.

I think this would make a fantastic Christmas present for the kids in your life, from middle to upper primary, The stories are short enough and fun enough to engage even reluctant readers, and the hardcover format makes it that little bit more special. I have a 10-year-old bookworm friend who I thought might be a bit too grown up for this one (her favourite books this year were The Hunger Games books) but she was absolutely delighted to get her hands on it when I passed on my copy, which I think really speaks to the broadness of its appeal.

I'll be adding this series to my lost of books to keep an eye out for when my daughter is a little bit older!

xo Bron

*** Laugh Your Head Off 4 Ever***
Out now from Pan Macmillan Australia
Source: This one was a lovely surprise in my mailbox when Pan Macmillan Australia sent it to me in exchange for an honest review
Ages: Middle to upper primary. 
Read it if you loved... Paul Jennings, funny  Aussie authors

The past three months I've had so much fun working with The Bookish Escape Crate, writing reviews for their blog of the books they include in the box each month. This week I'm sharing my reviews for those first three books, starting with Lexi Freiman's Inappropriation, which was included in the August box. 



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I was thrilled when I found out that Lexi Freiman’s Inappropriation was the book being included in the August box - I’d heard a bit of buzz about it and that cover caught my eye every time I saw it in a book shop. What I didn’t know was how hard it would be to write a review of haha! It is tricky to describe even what Inappropriation is about, so here is the description from the publisher’s website to get us started…

Starting at a prestigious private Australian girls' school, fifteen-year-old Ziggy Klein is confronted with an alienating social hierarchy that hurls her into the arms of her grade's most radical feminists. Plagued by fantasies of offensive sexual stereotypes and a psychotherapist mother who thinks bum-pinching is fine if it comes from the heart chakra, Ziggy sets off on a journey of self-discovery that moves from the Sydney drag scene to the extremist underbelly of the internet to the coastal bohemia of a long-dissolved matriarchal cult.

As PC culture collides with her friends' morphing ideology and her parents' kinky sex life, Ziggy's understanding of gender, race, and class begins to warp. Ostracised at school, she seeks refuge in Donna Haraway's seminal feminist text, A Cyborg Manifesto, and discovers an indisputable alternative identity. Or so she thinks. A controversial Indian guru, a mean clique of blondes all called Cate, and her own Holocaust-surviving grandmother propel Ziggy through a series of misidentifications, culminating in a date-rape revenge plot so confused, it just might work.

OK, so, right up front I just want to say that there are a lot of potential triggers in this one, as well as some characters speaking or dealing with situations in problematic ways, so if you have any concerns in that regard then definitely read up more, and in any case be prepared to be a bit uncomfortable! I found it just as squirmy and cringey as the cover promised, but overall I am pretty sure that I liked it!
In case you can’t tell already, I think this was kind of a unique read. Although there is a plot running through the novel, for me it very much takes a back seat to the satire and societal analysis that is really the driver of the book - so much so that while I felt like I cared about Ziggy I wasn’t really that worried about how the story played out. This wasn’t a problem for me at all – I love a good, observational novel every bit as much as a plot-driven page-turner, and the satire and observations in this are so sharp and spot on.

The story is told from Ziggy’s point of view, and she is by far the character we get to know best, since we see everyone else through her eyes, and a key theme throughout the book is her struggling to figure other people out. Ziggy is one of the quirkiest characters I’ve come across, but mostly her feelings and experiences still had something at their centre that I felt like I could relate to. The portrayal of the confusion she feels as she tries to figure out who she is and where she belongs on the spectrums of both sexuality and gender, felt authentic even though it was at times super over the top.
One area I thought was especially relatable was the struggle Ziggy faces between trying to say the right thing and fit in with her friends, but at the same time wanting to stay true to herself – there are times when she goes along with what the other girls say at the same time as she is questioning whether it is really right. I think this is probably a feeling most of us have had, and which I thought was so well described in the book.

Overall I thought this one was quite the ride. It took me a little while to settle into the pace – at first I felt like the satire was coming at me at the speed of light, with one witty observation after another, and to be honest I was a bit worried I wasn’t going to be clever enough to keep up! But once I got into it I found this a fun and somewhat uncomfortable read, which has definitely stayed with me in the week or so since I finished it! I hope everyone else enjoys it too!

Would you recommend this to someone?
Yes! I would recommend it for fans of sharp satire who are are comfortable getting a bit uncomfortable. A dirty coming of age novel

Similar authors/titles:
Adrian Mole by Sue Townsend, Irvine Welsh (although this book is more coming of age), Nick Earls and Alisdair Duncan

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My review of Inappropriation was originally published over on the Bookish Escape Crate blog.
I received a free Bookish Escape Crate box in exchange for my review.
You can check out Inappropriation on Goodreads here, and find Lexi Freiman online here. 

Next week its December and the first week of advent and can you believe it is here already? As you'll know if you've been following along with my reviews,  I've read a couple of Christmassy books already this year, but tonight I wanted to share a little stack of festive books I've read before and would really like to re-read this year. There are only 3, and 2 are middle-grade-ish novels I might read with Amelia, so I feel like my chances are good =)


The Christmasaurus :: Tom Fletcher
This is a super sweet story about a boy called William who has a magical adventure with a dinosaur on Christmas eve. I'm sure this would be fantastic on audio too.

The Christmas Cookie Club :: Ann Pearlman
I can't remember whether I've talked about this one here before, but I borrowed it from the library a few years ago and loved it so much I bought my own copy. It's kind of like The Fairvale Ladies Book Club - it focuses on women's lives and friendships. I haven't read it since I had that copy out from the library, so I'm looking forward to picking it up and reading it over again.

A Boy Called Christmas :: Matt Haig
I already raved about this one last week - go check this post out if you want to know more - but in brief it's the story of Father Christmas. It is cute and clever and fun - one of those books for kids that has so much for adults to enjoy too. I have heard it is amazing on audio (narrated by Stephen Fry) and I think I'll see if we can start reading this one at bedtime next week.

I also have a bunch of new Christmas books to discover, but I'm hoping to get through one of these a week - I'll keep you posted!

 xo Bron

I wrote a bit about these and how much I loved them last November, when I was lucky enough to have a review copy (from NetGalley) of The Girl Who Saved Christmas and rushed out to borrow A Boy Called Christmas and Father Christmas and Me from my local library as soon as I'd finished it. This year I've bought our own copies to keep. The covers are so gorgeous and have lovely sparkly details on them.

These are probably suited for about middle grade/early chapter readers to read themselves, but I'll be reading them aloud with my almost 5 year old and they are definitely the kind of kids' book that adults can get a lot out of. They are funny and clever and cute, and the illustrations are just perfect. I have also heard that the audiobooks are brilliant, especially the first one (narrated by Stephen Fry).


This year Matt Haig has released a companion book to those called The Truth Pixie. While the Truth Pixie is a character in the other books, her book is a bit different - it's a short story told in verse about how life is sometimes hard, everyone is sometimes sad or lonely, but there will always be happy times too. On his website Matt says: "It’s a book I wrote to be a comfort guide for kids through their more worried moments."


I absolutely adored this sweet little book. I can't wait to read it with Amelia, and I think it might just make the perfect Christmas present for a few grown up friends of mine too.

xo Bron


***The Truth Pixie***
On Goodreads
Source: I adored the Christmas Series so much when I had a review copy and borrowed from the library that this year I have bought our own copies.
Find Matt Haig online here.

After Kingdom of Ash came out a few weeks ago I was inspired to re-read the Throne of Glass series and I am absolutely loving it! These books hold up so well to a re-read, and I'm so happy I decided to do it! So far I've read the first three (I finished the third one - Heir of Fire - a few days ago). I'm keen to keep reading through the series - I actually never read past the fourth book, because when the fifth and sixth books were released I wanted to do a re-read but just never got to it. Books four and five aren't in photo there, but they are also on my list for this month.

The other book from this month's stack that I've already read is A Spark of Light. Here's a bookish confession: until this I had never read a Jodi Picoult book before! Not exactly on purpose - I was just not really reading a lot of contemporary fiction, and if I did it was YA not adult. I have finally gotten around to it now because this was the book in the November Bookish Escape Crate box, and as you might recall I'm blogging for them each month. I finished this one this afternoon and have been thinking about it a lot. I don't want to give away too much here, but keep an eye out for my review over on the Bookish Escape Crate blog soon!

The final title on my list for November is Bridge of Clay - the latest novel by Markus Zusak. I was kindly sent an advance copy of this one by the team at Pan Macmillan Australia, and I'm super keen to get through it before I see him talk about it later this month.

Aside from these guys, I expect I'll probably sneak in a Christmassy read or two. It's getting super close to our big holiday (we take of in 6 weeks!) so I'm keen to get in the snowy US mood!

I'd love to hear what you're reading in the comments =)

 xo Bron