xabbeylongx's reviews
168 reviews

Skellig by David Almond

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adventurous emotional funny inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

Spoilers Ahead: 
This book is a whirlwind and I loved every minute of reading it. 
We follow Michael as he moves into a new house. His parents have recently had a baby girl, and they need more space. They uproot their lives and move into a house where someone was found dead, and it has a garage that is so rickety and a hazard. Michael is not allowed to go in there, but he does. And when he goes in there, he spots on old man. 
He feeds the old man Chinese, aspirin and brown ale, but the man won’t leave. One of his new neighbours, Mina, who is homeschooled, teaches him a lot of things, and he eventually opens up to her. 
Because his baby sister was born prematurely, she was having troubles with her heart. In and out of hospital with his mum, Michael spent a lot of time decorating the house with his dad, or visiting Skellig (the old man) with Mina. 
One day, his sister has to have an operation. During it, he can’t feel her heartbeat in his anymore, and he gets worried. But Skellig saved her, before growing his wings and flying to somewhere else. His mum dreamt of someone holding the baby, and when Mina drew a photo of Skellig, she was absolutely shocked, but said nothing. 
This book was short and snappy, and easy to read. There was a very dry sense of humour to it, which is one of my favourites to read about, and I managed to finish it in two sittings. I thought it was so unironically funny, and I love the characters and all their quirks. This read is just absolutely bizarre, but it’s one of things I love most about it. I resonate with this book quite a lot, and it’s such a good read. I would definitely recommend it! 
Six Times We Almost Kissed (And One Time We Did) by Tess Sharpe

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hopeful lighthearted slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Spoilers Ahead: 
This is a sapphic enemies-to-lovers book… need I say more? I was hooked from the blurb. 
We follow Penny and Tate, whose mothers are best friends. A bit of context for our main characters: Tate’s mum is extremely ill, and has been battling different illnesses for a while, and Penny’s mum has been disregarding Penny’s mental health after the accident with her father, in which he sadly passed. She drew away from Penny, and instead went to Tate’s mum, as they’ve always been that close. 
When Penny’s mum drops the bomb that she is going to be giving Tate’s mum part of her liver, Penny is shocked, because she wasn’t involved with the decision, and there was not a lot of time to think it through. Penny and Tate have to be there for each other, which is difficult as they both get on each other’s nerves. Tate’s mum suspects something between them, and Penny goes along with it, because otherwise it would mean one of her secrets getting passed on to her mother, and Penny can’t have that. 
The mums make it through, and they all move in together to save money. Penny is worried, as she hasn’t live with her mum for ages, as she’s quite difficult. As soon as she comes home, Penny finds one of her paintings (that she was going to sell) about their accident. 
She was going to profit off Penny’s grief. 
Penny stood up for herself, though. She had such a good character arc, and she’s a better person than me, because I would’ve snapped longgggg before that. 
Eventually Tate’s mum comes home, but not before Penny and Tate argue because she finds out about Penny not telling Tate’s mum the truth to save herself. She’s very angry. They do make up in the end, and Tate helps her to get through everything that she’s been going through mentally. They help each other, as they always do. 
Like the name suggests, they’ve always been drawn to each other, and there has been plenty of times in which they could have kissed, but they didn’t. This time, however, outside a truck they broke down in, they did. They kiss, and they finally admit their feelings, and they start to take control of their own lives. A very sweet ending, honestly. 
I thought this book was a little dry. I’m biased, as I absolutely adore sapphic novels, and enemies to lovers? Yes please. However, I felt the hatred was half-hearted. Obviously, a lot better than them being toxic (although arguably, they still were) but like where is the spice? Why am I not jumping for joy at the thought of them talking? It just felt a bit meh to me, so it was okay, but not the best. 
I have a personal hatred for Penny’s mum… she has no redeeming qualities. She deserves to never be forgiven, and nothing can make what she did okay. Just all of her actions, not even just her paintings. 
There’s a few things that I thought were a little unnecessary, like their friend’s relationships (where did it come from, and why is it there?) and honestly, it felt like the right pieces to a puzzle but they didn’t fit. I don’t know what was missing. I guess it missed that exciting spark I need to have to really love a book. It was okay, but nothing special - hence why it took me absolutely ages to finish reading it (it was such a relief when I’d finished). 
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Northern Lights by Philip Pullman

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challenging mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

Spoilers Ahead: 
I had to read this book for university, and I didn’t realise how meaty the book is! The audiobook is like 12 hours long, and it’s a big read, but definitely one I enjoyed. A little shocked it’s classed as a children’s book, even towards older children, because some of the stuff in it was difficult for even me to comprehend, but I did really enjoy it. 
We follow Lyra as she’s spying on an important meeting. They’re investigating ‘dust’, which is something that people are scared of in the North. When Children start to go missing, there are lots of rumours about what it could be, but they all decide on one name: the Gobblers. 
When the Gobblers take Roger, one of the kitchen staff and Lyra’s friend, she decides she wants to go and find him. The mayor puts her in the care of a woman, whom she quickly becomes attached to, on their trip to the North, but she finds out that the woman is actually part of the Gobblers, and so she has to escape. 
The whole of their journey around the North is to find the Gobblers and to bring the children back to their parents. She joins a group of Gyptians on their quest. She finds out that the woman who is in charge of the Gobblers and who was looking after her is actually her mother, and her uncle is actually her real father. He has plans to use the dust to gain power. 
I feel a little indifferent about this book, to be honest. It was good, but it went on too long. There were a lot of names to remember, and they’re all quite difficult or a mouthful to say, so I often found myself getting confused. The plot was good, and I was really intrigued by the idea of dust, but I don’t feel that the ending answered all the questions I needed answering. My concentration sort of dwindled towards the end. The plot is so good, but I think it could have definitely been broken down into more books (I know it’s already part of a series), or just have had some of the parts taken out, especially towards the end. All of the characters were a bit insufferable, I can’t lie, I didn’t bond with them as much as I normally like to in a book, and I think that’s where the problem started. I was a massive fan of Iorek Byrnison, he was a great, loyal character and I thoroughly enjoyed reading about him. Other than that, this book was okay, not my favourite, though I understand I’m not the desired audience for it. 
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Where The World Turns Wild by Nicola Penfold

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adventurous hopeful tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

Spoilers Ahead: 
I had to read this book for university, and it was a very meh story for me. 
We follow Juniper and her younger brother, Bear, in this story. Basically, after a pandemic that causes ticks to spread deadly diseases, and because of that Portia Steel, the Governess, rids the world of all nature. Juniper and Bear, who were adopted by their Aunt BLANK, originally came from the wild, intending to go back to their parents some day, but they never did. 
Ju soon finds out that they are trying to make a cure against the disease, but it involves the immune’s blood. Immune’s as in Ju and Bear. They are running out of time, and Aunt BLANK isn’t immune, so she must stay, but she sends the other two off into The Wild. 
They struggle to survive at first, trying to find food and water and fight the cold, all the whilst staying away from the drones sent out to find them. Bear gets lost one of the nights, and a woman tries to save him, but then they find out she can’t be trusted, and they have to run away from her. All the whilst there is a Lynx, whom they name Ghost, who follows them, warning them of any danger and occasionally finding them food to eat. 
Ju gets her foot caught in a trap, but luckily they go past a travelling group, and they feel safe again. The drones think they’ve probably passed away in a fire (thanks to Ju’s clever thinking) and they help to heal Ju up, whilst taking some of the stress of looking after Bear off of her. 
Their whole plan was to go to Ennerdale to be reunited with their parents, but both of them don’t want to leave. They do, however, and when they get to Ennerdale they find that their mother isn’t even alive anymore. They are welcomed in by a woman who’s actually dating their father, and pregnant with his son. They join their community, which Juniper is named after, and they finally feel like a part of society. 
There’s a lot to this book that didn’t make sense to me. For one, where on earth did the drones go, and why did they just stop hunting? We got halfway through the book and it was like there wasn’t any threat any more? And I don’t get what BLANK has to add to the story? Like, we get it, they were close once, but why aren’t they close now? The storyline didn’t make sense, and I would have liked it to either have contributed to the plot a bit more, or just not been there at all, because, in my opinion, it achieves nothing. It hits a little too close to home for me! COVID days are a rather un-fond memory, although thank god we never had any nature banned. The ending was very abrupt for me, and very anti-climatic, and the characters themselves I wasn’t the biggest fan of. I can’t lie, I found Bear absolutely insufferable. I know it’s probably quite a realistic portrayal of these children, but come on. Why are you showing off again? I wasn’t a fan of Ju, but I did feel sorry for her throughout almost the entirety of the book. 
I thought it was a very cool concept, but I think it would be even cooler to know about what happened whilst going through it! That could be a whole other book, and I would like to hear more about it, especially more about Ju’s relationship with her mother. 
Ooh, that’s another thing: It’s SUCH a pet peeve of mine when dialogue overuses a characters name. In every sentence at one point, Bear was saying ‘Ju’ or ‘Juniper’, and it almost made me put the book down (but I need this degree, aha). 
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Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Spoilers Ahead: 
We follow Mal and Michael as their separate journies turn into one. 
Mal was given a special coat, that made her have the ability to fly. She would spend her days soaring about in the Archipelagos, the land where humans couldn’t get to and where the mythical creatures lived. There are 14 different islands (I think?), each one with a different species living on it. 
One day, Mal is at home with her great-aunt and she hears a scream. Someone is coming after her with a knife, and her great-aunt gets struck down. She has a tiny friend, Gelaphin the Griffin (god, spelling this was an absolute shit-show) and they both had to escape, but they ended up losing each other when they had to jump off a cliff to escape the killer. 
Michael finds out that he is actually a Guardian of the Archipelagos, where Mal is from. and so he follows Mal back there, trying to save her and help her figure out what’s going on. 
Their whole journey is very long and very eventful, so I’ll give little snippets of what happens. They gain a crew, thanks to having to jump off a cliff to avoid the killer (who springs on them, after killing Mal’s great-aunt the second they arrived back at Mal’s house from the human world) and Nighthound introduces his crew to them. He doesn’t want much to do with them at first, but they grow on him. They figure out that someone is killing the creatures in the Archipelagos, and that is because someone has been able to infiltrate the Archipelagos. They make some new friends along the way, and they have to befriend some of the creatures to get what they need. They eventually find the infiltrator, and take him down, but there are some losses along the way, and others are touch-and-go too… 
This book was so beautiful to me. All the creatures, all the descriptions, the absolutely gorgeous friendship between Mal and Michael. I think showing friendship, pure friendship, between a young boy and a young girl is so important, especially these days when there’s often a lot of romanticisation of children’s relationships with each other. When Mal’s little Griffin died, I think part of me died too. I wasn’t expecting it, and it broke my heart. And the message behind Mal being gone but her spirit lives on, and she will find him again?? ABSOLUTELY BAWLING! 
I can’t lie to you, I was so disappointed with the villain. I had all my money set on it being Michael’s dad, I have no idea why I had that thought in my head. I’m still a little miffed it was someone we didn’t know, it would make perfect sense him being mentioned but us not actually seeing him, and then BOOM, he’s the villain. It would be brilliant, and I think I would have probably given this book 5 stars. 
Nighthound was one of the best things about this book, no questions asked. His humour is so dry and I love it, and he has an unexpected (but definitely expected in my knowledgeful writer mind). He just made things so funny, it was definitely childish humour, but it worked so well. And him and Iryan? Yes please! In fact, all of the characters are very real and very beautiful and lovely to read about. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone and everyone, definitely read it!! 
Good Talk by Mira Jacob

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informative reflective slow-paced

3.0

Spoilers Ahead: 
I can’t lie, I really enjoyed this book. As a white woman, I think there’s so much that I’ve learnt from this book, things I didn’t even think to think about before. It’s definitely an eye opener. 
We follow Mira, as it’s an autobiography of her life. We are shown how she has gone through her life, been with both men and women and found her husband, how they had her son, and, more importantly, how racism has impacted her life. She is very honest, and transparent, and it’s a very poignant read. There’s discussion on how scared they were when Trump was in power, how the elections affected their mental health and their lives, the impact of 9/11, the importance of skin colour. I would definitely recommend reading it. I really like how it’s written for her son (her son is a very comical character, and he has my entire heart), and I love the support of her husband, who told her to write truthfully and from her heart, and they will deal with the consequences later. I really love this book, and I really liked learning about Mira’s story. 
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Eight Winter Nights by Liz Maverick

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funny lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Spoilers Ahead: 
Another fantastic read from Maverick, who is quickly becoming one of my favourite authors. After reading ‘Still Hung Up on You’, I was so impressed, and I desperately wanted the rest of her books to not disappoint, and, luckily, this one gave me again exactly what I wanted! 
We follow Rachel and her friend Tamara as they head to a party together. Rachel’s mother has been trying to set her up with a partner for ages now, and she tells Rachel that there will be an extremely attractive guy at the party. When she spots the said ‘hot guy’, and they get stuck on the balcony outside. Her and Oz quickly bond, and Rachel thinks she might fall in love with him. However, Tamara starts talking to him, and Rachel thinks she has no chance, and so leaves, even though her heart is breaking. 
One year later, Tamara and Oz have broken up, and Tamara is headed off to Bali on the holiday they were supposed to go on together, but Oz has broken his leg. Tamara messages Rachel and asks her to look after Oz. Now, she doesn’t say no, but it’s complicated, because she’s been harbouring feelings for her best friend’s boyfriend since they first met him. When she gets there, he asks her to help him win back Tamara, because they’re ‘supposed to be together’, and it ‘makes sense’. Rachel uses love letters from her own journal to write ones from Oz to Tamara, in an effort to win her back, even though she hasn’t sent a message since she left. 
The whole week is Rachel trying to ignore her feelings for Oz, and Oz trying to ignore his feelings - the fact that he doesn’t love Tamara, but he does indeed love Rachel. And things are very complicated as they both like each other but both think that it’s unreciprocated, until tamara returns, and she tells them they were supposed to get together while she was gone, and it was all part of her genius plan. They end up kissing, and then they get together, and Rachel’s family loves him, and it’s a happily ever after ending! 
I thought that, although nothing can ever top ’Still Hung Up on You’, it was still great fun to read. I thought Oz was a bit of a twat at times, which sometimes grated on my nerves, considering he’s the only one at fault (if there was someone we had to blame) and I thought he got a bit angry at times, for no reason. And Rachel acts a bit silly at times, and there is a massive issue with communication in this book, especially between these two, and it gets to a point where it’s infuriating. There was also a few cases of repetition, especially towards the end - I think one of the last chapters, the word ‘cold’ was mentioned quite a few times, which was funny. 
I can’t quite work out what it is, but Tamara does my absolute head in. I just think she’s quite a shit friend. I mean, even after her admitting it was all a ploy to get Rachel and Oz together, I still think there were other ways around it? But she somehow made it about her, and worried everyone for a week, and for what? It doesn’t make any sense. Plus, how can they go through one year of a relationship, only to say they’re not right for each other? And how can Oz not know that he wasn’t in love with her, and the reader can? I wanted to shake him most of the time. And, the million-dollar question, how did Tamara even know that Oz liked Rachel? It doesn’t make any sense to me!!! 
There was a lot that didn’t make sense to me, but it was still a very good, very fun read. I really liked the chemistry between the two main characters, even if they do act like twats about it, and I would definitely recommend the read. Will be happily looking into the other 2 left in the series. 
Still Hung Up On You by Liz Maverick

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adventurous funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Spoilers Ahead: 
This book was absolutely gorgeous. Short, sweet, different, and utterly beautiful. 
We follow Hannah as she call her ex, Ethan, after 15 years of no contact. She needs one of her sweaters back, and needs it urgently. He is amused, and he offers to help her. He sends her the keys to his house, but they get lost in Guam. So he tells her there is a spare set of keys in his garden, but they’re broken, so she has to either break in or go through the cat flap. She gets stuck in said cat flap, sets off the alarm, and the security have to help her through. 
Once she’s in, she makes herself at home. She wants to look for the sweater in the attic, but lets herself have a rest. And the next day, also, she rests. She goes shopping, and she buys food and bakes cookies for him for when he gets home, and she seems to be procrastinating the attic. Eventually, when she does go into the attic, she finds the jumper, but it’s been bitten and torn to shreds. Ethan says he will buy her another jumper, but the jumper was Hannah’s last step to getting her parents back together (they’re divorcing). She’s distraught, and thinks that love won’t last. 
All this time, they have been worried about their mothers finding out (they still talk to each other a lot) and that would mean lots of questions and lots of awkward discussions. So, when she turns up not eh drive, Hannah is terrified, but that turns to shock when she realises that it is Ethan. They rush to embrace, and then they realise that they both have to travel for work, and they want to do it together - too sweet! They rekindle their relationship, discussing that he wanted to not drag her down with her ambitions when they were in senior year, and they decide to give their relationship a go. 
All of this book is so cleverly written. Until the very end, they only speak on the phone. In the audio, you can hear the background noise - for instance, Ethan is on a plane in some of them, so you can hear the commotion behind him - and I think that is the coolest fucking thing ever. 
The characters are so lovable, so funny and their relationship has so much chemistry. Their relationship was written with so much love and realism, it’s so incredibly difficult not to love them. Their dialogue is so quick and witty, their tone and humour is literally everything I have ever wanted in a book. The fact they remember the little things about each other, and the little quirks and the relationships they had with each others’ mother, it’s just too much for me to handle. 
I read this book in one day, so if you’re looking for a beautiful romance, a short read or just one of the best books ever written/spoken, I would definitely recommend this one - quickly one of my favourites, I love this book with all of my heart, and has everything I need. 
The Asylum by John Harwood

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dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

Spoilers Ahead: 
So this book was actually not what I was expecting at all. That’s not necessarily a good or a bad thing, I was just a little confused by it all. 
We follow Georgina Ferrers as she wakes up in an Asylum, wondering how she got there. Turns out she suffered a seizure, and was actually brought in as a voluntary patient. However, she was in clothes that she would never wear, and without her mother’s brooch and her writing case, which she would never leave without. She is suspicious, and wants to leave, but Mr Straker won’t let her because he thinks she is not of sound mind. 
Mr Straker tells her that her name isn’t actually Georgina Ferrers. He said that when she came in, she was Lucy Ashton. She has no memories, no recollection of any events, and when a certain Frederick Moordent comes in, they are both infatuated with each other. But, when Georgina acts out, she is no longer seen as a voluntary patient, and is kept under lock and key, with them claiming her officially insane. 
She has moments where her memories come back to her, and she tries to remember what actually happened to her. One time she tries to escape, but they bring her back in, and she finds out it is just a ploy. When she turns up at her house, she is shocked to see someone living there, posing as Georgina Ferrers (whom she is supposed to be). Unfortunately, everyone believes the imposter, and it looks like the real Georgina Ferrers is going to be imprisoned for a very long time. 
When Georgina discovers her writing case, and her journal, she reads over her memories. It turns out, she put an AD in the newspaper for if anyone knew about Rosina Wentworth, and someone called Lucia came forward. Turns out, after much digging, they were cousins, but they had a little soft spot for each other - or so we thought. Because Georgina’s father was actually one of the Moordent men, she would actually inherit the Asylum, because Frederick owned it, and it should have already been passed down to her. Lucia knew of this, and was just trying to take that and the inheritance that Georgina was owed, so she posed as her. Unfortunately, they looked and sounded alike, so not many people could tell them apart. Double unfortunately, Georgina went to the Asylum to figure out the truth by finding one of the Moordent men, and actually got put in there herself by Dr Straker. When she tries to escape, after Frederick convinces Dr Straker to bring Lucia in (the real Lucia, performing as Georgina Ferrers) Dr Straker finds Lucia and he kills her in his contraption. It was him all along! He kills himself, and then the Asylum is set on fire, and although Lucia survives, Georgina doesn’t forgive her. She doesn’t love either one of them, and she moves on with her life, trying to figure out how she can get her money from her inheritance back. 
I can’t lie, I was looking for a book with more of a horror aspect to it, but it was more psychological thriller, I’d say. I was looking forward to being scared. If I thought about it too much, I would probably say that the horror is actually the thought of being trapped in an Asylum with no one to believe that you are the real you, which is quite cool. However, I think the idea of using an inheritance as a way of deceiving someone is so overused, and I recently read a book like it recently, so that put me off a little bit. 
I thought the plot and the concept was very cool, and I like the way it was written, although it was sometimes very confusing, and the stories didn’t match up at some points. I can’t lie (again) but there were a lot of things that didn’t make sense to me. The ghostly apparitions and noises that Frederick was seeing, what were they? Because with that, it made me think that I was going to be reading a horror, but, unless there’s some deeper meaning, it really adds nothing to the plot, and it’s just a distraction. If it had contributed to the story, that would have been an excellent addition to the plot, but it was useless if it didn’t connect to the rest of the story. 
The sapphic part of the story was quite sweet, except when you think about the fact that it’s fake, and they’re cousins; that sort of ruins the mood a bit. 
The characters themselves were just merely meh, I had no sort of attachment to them. I think the realest thing about this book was actually the incestual relationship between Georgina and Lucia, and that wasn’t even real. It’s a shame. Anyway, I would recommend listening to this, especially if you’re into psychological thrillers and the idea of being trapped. 
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Pugs of the Frozen North by Philip Reeve

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adventurous lighthearted slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

Spoilers Ahead: 
I had to read this as it was one of my set texts for one of my university modules. We’ve been researching various different children’s books in order to see what makes a good book. 
Personally speaking, I thought this book was okay - it didn’t really do anything for me, but I wasn’t the target audience so I can hardly be mad about it. We follow Shen as he is in a shipwrecks and there are 66 pugs dropped from the cargo. Shen goes to collect them all, but the captain drives off, leaving him on his own. Luckily, some of the crew members drop a crate of jumpers for him so that he can stay warm, and he uses some of them to make jumpers for the pugs. However, they’re hungry, so he goes off in search some food. 
He comes to a village and meets Sika. She will give him some dog food, in return for a few of his dogs. So, they sled down to the pugs, and Sika is so disappointed. She wanted dogs that were going to be able to pull her sled, and these pugs were too tiny to. However, with all 66 of them, the pugs can pull it along. 
Sika wants to win the race her grandpa entered all those years ago so she can ask The Snowfather for a special wish - to keep her grandad alive for the next big race. They enter the race, and they battle against a kraken, yetis, and even other sledders. Eventually, they end up having to help all the others out, and so they all arrive at the same time. Like finds out The Snowfather can’t grant her wish, but she asks him instead to visit her grandfather one last time. He does, and then Sika’s grandfather passes, knowing that he got one last adventure, thanks to The Snowfather, who mysteriously takes his leave after that. Shen is then asked to stay with Sika, the pugs and her family, and he realises that he got what he wished for all along: a family. 
So, although this book isn’t necessarily aimed at me, I thought some of the concepts were cool, and I think it’s quite likely to be a popular book for children. It’s very innovative, very imaginative, it’s got a lot of childlike humour and also has a lot of good morals being taught - something that we learned in class was that children’s books are there to help shape children with subtle messages that they can learn and apply in their life, and I certainly think that whilst this is a fun book, it has many hidden meanings, such as the importance of helping others, the important of building relationships with others, and also the importance of not always getting what you wished for, but taking it as it comes anyway. In that regard, it’s a very good book, so I would definitely recommend. Only thing I would say is the grandfather’s death is so sudden, and quite tragic - especially for a children’s book! I wasn’t expecting it at all, lol 
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