May 2022 Reading

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I do a monthly round up for everything we’ve read each month. Himself focuses on science articles and forums and news, so he’s not getting a section – books only!

Note: terrible light weight reviews this month, sorry.

Large boy

Against All Gods by Maz Evans

Large boy was very pleased to find this at school. He read Who Let the Gods Out in January 2020 and persuaded me to read it too. We both enjoyed it and I think I’ll have to borrow this from him before he goes back to school after half term.

The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell, The Enchantress Returns, A Grimm Warning, Beyond the Kingdoms, An Author’s Odyssey, and Worlds Collide by Chris Colfer

Yep, all six books in the series and some of them are really long (worth 19 points on his reading scheme). One of the girls in his class, who also goes to breakfast club, recommended these. So when we were preparing for our Easter holiday and spotted the box set in The Works, I was quickly suckered into buying them. He has a bit of history of “really wanting” a book, only to change his mind or forget about it. However, he was really taken by this whole series and they kept him quiet for most of the month – major thanks to his friend for the recommendation!

Also read:

• The Search for the Sunken Treasure: Australia by Elizabeth Singer Hunt
• Truckers by Terry Pratchett
• Middle School: From Hero to Zero, Save Rafe!, and The Worst Years of My Life by James Patterson
• All-American Adventure by James Patterson
• The World of Norm: May Be Recycled by Jonathan Meres
• What’s For Dinner, Mr Gum? by Andy Stanton
• Holes by Louis Sachar
• The Boy Who Made The World Disappear by Ben Miller
• Sky Hawk by Jill Lewis
• NERDS: National Espionage, Rescue and Defense Society by Michael Buckley

Small boy

Excellent Excuses (And Other Good Stuff), Everything’s Amazing (Sort Of), A Tiny Bit Lucky, The Brilliant World of Tom Gates, and Dog Zombies Rule (For Now) by Liz Pichon

Gaaaa more bloody Tom Gates.

That was me, not small boy. He really does love them. He says they were awesome and why aren’t there more. Help!

Some of these were part of an epic car boot haul others were from the library, he sped through them very quickly so I’m glad we hadn’t bought them new. The rate he’s ploughing through them is just increasing from month to month.

Sam Wu is Not Afraid of the Dark by Katie Tsang

He laughed along at this one and really enjoyed it. There’s a whole bunch of others, he liked this one so much that he’s borrowed another one in the series from the library.

Mr Penguin and the Lost Treasure by Alex T. Smith

My mum randomly sent a couple of amazon parcels through a few weeks ago. Just because. Small boy got this and another book about penguins. He complained that he doesn’t like penguins so I was a bit surprised that he took this book up so soon. He sped through it and reported that there might be others and we should find them. So I think he’d recommend it to others. I’m afraid he hasn’t told me anything about the story, so you’ll just have to take his word for it that it’s worth reading.

Also read:

• Just Annoying! by Andy Griffiths
• The Return of the Hungry Hamster by Sam Hay
• Horrid Henry and the Abominable Snowman by Francesca Simon
• A Right Royal Disaster by Simon Bartram

Me

Books 4-6 in Dark Yorkshire series by J. M. Dalgliesh

I read all of the Hidden Norfolk series and the first three in this series by this author over the last few months.

I really enjoyed the main character, Caslin is much darker, more troubled and flawed, a real contrast. He breaks the rules, gets himself into all sorts of trouble and none of his superiors seem to like him much. Even more interesting, he doesn’t always get the bad guy, sometimes they wriggle away. All that makes for a sense of realism, as though you’re getting snapshots of what police work might really be like.

How about you?

What books have you and your family enjoyed lately?