Book Review: A Salad for All Seasons by Harry Eastwood

I was sent a copy of "A Salad for All Seasons" By Harry Eastwood to review, along with some lovely Florette salad to go with it. 

Being one of those people for whom "a salad" is "some lettuce and whatever's in the fridge," this book was a bit of a revelation! The first revelation was that Harry Eastwood is in fact a woman. She was a co-presenter on the Channel 4 show Cook Yourself Thin and has published a couple of other recipe books.

The book begins with a dictionary of leaves for each season - a photo of what they look like, their name, and how they taste. This is especially useful for those of us who tend to stick mainly to iceberg when we're picking our salads! 

After this, the book is split into sections by season, with each boasting several recipes for salads. What I like about these recipes is that they're not just a bunch of greenery to go with your meal, but a meal on their own. They include fish, bacon, cheese, fruit and dressings - everything you need to make a delicious meal.  At the end of the book, there are recipes for glazes, dressings, pestos and vinegars. Each one has a photo above it, so that you can see what your concoction is supposed to look like - always a bonus!

I love the way this book is set out - each recipe has its own page, with a large photo of the finished dish to tempt your taste buds. There's a little blurb at the top of the page, about the salad, what it goes well with and other notes.  Many recipes also have a note at the bottom to say what you could swap in - for example, how to make the salad vegetarian, different fish etc you could use.

This is one of those gorgeous books that you could happily just sit and look through for a long while. The recipes are simple and easy to follow, and don't call for outlandish ingredients you couldn't easily find on the shelves of your local supermarket.  I'm definitely looking forward to trying out some more of the recipes in the coming weeks!

Our Fabulous Summer Activity Bags

Shortly before S's nursery closed for Summer holidays, S's keyworker L asked me if I'd like a little book bag put together for us to borrow over the holidays. I jumped at the chance - S loves books so much she often cuddles one to sleep!

At the end of term, we were presented with two bags. I had been expecting a couple of books in a bag, but what we actually got was bags stuffed with resources. 

The Dear Zoo bag had the Dear Zoo book, a mask of each animal in the book, stick puppets, play dough mats ("can you make play dough tusks for the elephant?"), a pair-matching game featuring the animals from the book. There was a list of activities, and a list of questions to go with the masks ("can you roar and prowl like a lion?") Oh, and a Dear Zoo cuddly toy - a naughty monkey in a bag marked "Too Naughty!"

The Gruffalo bag had a copy of The Gruffalo, but also a copy of The Gruffalo Touch & Feel book, a Gruffalo peg puzzle, a Gruffalo word mat, a "Gruffalo describing words" sheet (with a picture of the Gruffalo surrounded by adjectives), a woodland background and characters from the Gruffalo to use on it.

Both bags came with a little note pad and pen so that you could write down how you got on.

S really enjoyed playing with the contents of these bags. She enjoyed the Dear Zoo one the most I think, and has asked to play with it several times. She loves to wear the masks and had proper giggles when she realised she could see me through the eye holes. They were mainly used to play Peekabo:

Here are some photos of her playing with the resources:

My favourite photo though, is this one: 

We also played with the Gruffalo bag, but S only seemed interested in the peg puzzle; she did this over and over and over again!

I was so pleased with these resources; S had a great time playing with them. Dear Zoo is her all time favourite book so she really loved all of the extras surrounding the book.

When I looked closely at the resources, the play dough mats and stick puppets etc, all came from Twinkl Resources. I had heard that name before, but I didn't recall when - so I Googled them, and found the sort of website one could get lost in for hours. They don't just do resources for playing with the Gruffalo and Dear Zoo; they have... pretty much anything you could ever want to print out. There are resources for teachers and parents, from S's age right up through the key stages. 

Twinkl say: 

Twinkl Resources is your first choice for easy to use, trusted and high quality teaching materials for educators and parents worldwide - professionally crafted materials with a personal touch.

The website is amazing; I have spent hours going through all the resources lately. One of my favourite parts is the Create page where you can essentially create your own worksheets and flash cards using the templates provided. There's also a great Primary Teaching Forum where you can chat to other users. The forum is split into sections for different subjects or different types of user, for example nursery nurses or childminders. It's a great place to swap ideas and get advice.

Most of the resources on Twinkl are free, however there are paid membership options where you can have access to even more! Gold membership is £24.95 a year, and Platinum membership is £39.59 per year. 

I love the fact most of the resources are free; it means that anyone with a printer can have access to fabulous worksheets, flash cards and games for their children. The paid option is an important one though; without subscribers to the site, they would not be able to continue offering such a wide range of resources. 

I was delighted to be offered a Platinum membership to Twinkl in exchange for writing about my experience and opinion of the site. All opinions are my own.

Book Review: In The Light Of What We Know by Zia Haider Rahman

For my 16th birthday, I was given a copy of Franny and Zooey by JD Salinger. It was an amazing book which I loved, but one of those books that makes you feel like you must be terribly uncultured, perhaps a bit dim. I read it with a notebook beside me, making lists of all the things I needed to look up. I have read that book several times now; it has the corners of pages turned down, quotes underlined, all sorts. This was in the days before universal internet access (remember those days, boys and girls?) so I would use the encyclopaedias in the library to try and figure out all of the cultural references. Yes, I really am that much of a geek. 

I have not had that feeling with a book until the lovely people at Picador sent me a copy of In the Light of What We Know to review. It's a massive tome of a debut novel; the size of a house brick, with long chapters filled with references to things I had never heard of. Instead of a notebook next to me, I had my mobile or laptop with Google open!

This book is... hard to explain. It's written from the point of view of one man, of Pakistani origin who has always been very well off. A friend he made at university, Zafar is from Bangladesh and grew up very poor, until his education afforded him well-paid employment. Zafar has been out of touch for some time, but one day arrives at his friend's London home, and they sit down together to talk - for days, weeks, perhaps even months.  This book is presented as a record of their discussions, in which Zafar tells his story, but also veers off on tangents often. As I progressed through the book, I couldn't help thinking, this can't possibly be made up; nobody could make this up! It feels very much like the account of a conversation between two old friends. When I had finished the book, I read the bio on the press release and found that Zia Haider Rahman shares a lot of biographical details with his characters... but then, why wouldn't he? Fiction or not, we write what we know, right?

The novel itself is set during the start of the financial crisis and the Afghanistan war at the beginning of this century - but the stories Zafar tells go back and forth in time. It covers a lot of ground: everything from the formation of Pakistan and the war in Bangladesh, to the origins of the financial crisis, commentary on Western presence in Afghanistan. Along the way there are thousands of asides containing random information and cultural references such as why flags are flown at half mast, the New Colossus - a poem inscribed at the base of the Statue of Liberty, childhood poverty, mental illness, mathematical theory. There are references to writers, to pieces of music, to people and places. Geographically, it goes from London to Princeton to New York to Kabul, Islamabad, Oxford, Sylhet.

With all of this information crammed in, you could be forgiven for thinking it must be something akin to reading an encyclopaedia - but Zia Haider Rahman writes eloquently, weaving a story I was quickly sucked into. I was infuriated the book was too big to fit into my handbag, as I wanted to take it everywhere with me - to read whenever I found myself with a few spare moments. 

I've spent a long time trying to figure out how to explain the story, but even now, a week after I finished reading it, I cannot tell you what it was ultimately about, or what actually happened in it. It's one of those books where nothing happens, but at the same time everything happens. It's a story of friendship, love and betrayal. I think I probably need to read it again in a month or so to pick up all the parts of the story I missed the first time around.

Like all great books, there is that moment where the reader stops and thinks, No! I did not see that coming! The expert way the book is written means that this, along with many other parts of the story, is not explicitly discussed, but rather skirted around, alluded to - the author assumes you can grasp what he's talking about, without his having to go into detail. And because the story is so far-reaching and covers so much ground, that particular part of it is not really so much of a twist - about as far as one can get from the usual "it was her brother all along" type of plot twist. 

I love to read a book where I feel like I'm learning something. I studied history for GCSE and A Level and even began a degree in history, but our education system focuses so much on Europe that I must admit I had little clue as to the formation of East and West Pakistan, Bangladeshi independence, or the bloody war that ensued. With this book, I felt that I learned something almost on every page. Perhaps I am just terribly uneducated, but I loved finding out all of these random things. Because it's a novel, it's entirely possible everything has been made up though, so Google was used a lot to check - did that really happen? Did that person really say/do that?

One thing I found difficult about this book was that there are very few speech marks. When Zafar is telling his story, he's often interrupted by the narrator with nothing but a line break to tell you a different person is speaking. Conversations within Zafar's story also lack speech marks, and in both instances I often found myself confused as to who had said what. I really think that is the only criticism I can conjure up for this book though.

This is a beautiful, epic book. It is fantastically well written Like all great books, it leaves you wanting more. Despite being so long and packed with information, there are whole areas of the characters that have been barely touched upon - for example the time Zafar spent in Bangladesh as a teen, or the things he found out about his Bangladeshi family after the fact (sorry for being so vague; don't want to let any details slip!) To me these warranted more detail and I find myself intrigued as to that side of the story.

Unlike some of the books I have reviewed recently, this is not a quick, easy Summer read. This is a Winters evening with a blanket and several mugs of hot chocolate kind of a book. Oh, and Google. You'll need Google.

Note: I was provided with this book for the purpose of a review, but all words and opinions are my own.

Can You Boil an Egg?

British Lion Eggs sent us an electronic egg boiler so that we could test out some recipes. Do you know how many calories are in an egg? Possibly not as many as you think.. I can't boil an egg - hard or soft - for toffee, so I was excited to try this baby out!

Turns out, it's a genius invention. There's a dial with pictures on it to show how hard or soft you want your eggs boiled, so you just pop the eggs in, fill it with water using a handy measuring cup provided and off you go! The measuring cup also has a pin on the bottom with which to pierce a hole in your eggs, so that they don't crack while they're cooking. Love it!

S is not a massive fan of boiled eggs, but I like to hard boil them and hide them in meals that involve sauce. I think that started with what is apparently a weird family tradition of putting hard boiled egg in curry. Mmm, chicken curry with hard boiled eggs! Yum!

Seeing as I am giving up sugar for September, I like the idea of using this egg boiler to hard boil a stash of eggs to keep in my fridge for snack-type emergencies! 

I know a lot of people tend to eschew the humble egg, and many will eat only egg whites because the yolk is apparently where all the fat is... but who doesn't love a gorgeous, runny yolk in an egg? And did you know that the yolk of an egg contains all the enzymes we need to digest it properly? 

Right, my eggs are cooked - I'm off to cut myself some soldiers!

Review: The One Plus One by Jojo Moyes

I was really pleased to be chosen by Mumsnet Book Club to review The One Plus One  by Jojo Moyes. When it arrived in the post, and I realised how big it was, my heart sank a little. I'd just finished reading a massive brick of a book that had taken me a month to get through, and had been looking forward to something a little lighter.

Imagine my surprise then, when despite its size, I finished this book within a couple of days! 

The One Plus One is a story about a single mother called Jess. Her husband has had "a breakdown" and disappeared off to his mother's house at the other end of the country, and she works as a cleaner at the posh holiday homes on the other side of town. 

Then there's Ed. He's a geek whose software company has grown sufficiently that he and his friend can float it on the stock exchange and live the life of luxury. Then things go a bit wrong for him, and he ends up spending a lot more time at his holiday home at the coast. Guess who his cleaner is...

The book is written from four perspectives: Ed, Jess, and each of Jess's children, Nicky and Tanzie. To me, it's a story about people who don't fit in: Jess is a cleaner surrounded by rich people; Nicky is bullied by the kids at school for not fitting in; Tanzie is some sort of maths prodigy who loves to wear the clothes her mother has made for her. Ed was a massive geek at uni who nobody spoke to. 

This book probably falls into that ridiculous "chick lit" genre. It's not high-brow, and you're not likely to learn much or have any life-changing philosophical discussions off the back  of it. Then again, not all books need to be that way, do they? It's well written and the story weaves fantastically; you start off thinking, oh right, cleaner meets rich bloke whilst cleaning his loo as if it's entirely predictable - but actually, that's not how it goes at all. The story is something entirely unpredictable, from beginning to end. 

I loved this book; parts of it made me laugh out loud, and parts made me get a bit teary-eyed. It was so easy to read and a real page turner. Being an easy read, although the story was engrossing, it didn't require a lot of concentration. There were only four main characters so you didn't have to keep trying to remember who someone was referring to, or some long back story that explained the current situation. Because it was so unpredictable, I found that I kept saying to myself "just one more chapter" to find out what happened next - and have spent a lot of time reading! I can definitely see why this was a number one bestseller.

I've never read a book by Jojo Moyes before, though she is apparently very popular as an author - and I can see why. According to her Wikipedia entry, she's one of very few authors to have twice won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award. I have to say, this is not a book I would ordinarily have picked up off the shelf in my local book shop. That said, now I've read it I may well go and hunt down a few more of her books! 

Note: I was provided with a copy of this book free of charge in exchange for a review. All words and opinions are my own.

Review: Aveeno

The lovely people at Aveeno sent S and I a couple of their products to try out.

This was super exciting for me, because I've seen how awesome Aveeno is.

When I was pregnant, I had the mother of all nasty rashes on my sides and belly.  Here's a photo of me two days before S was born:

It was so bad that people (midwives etc) were commenting on it during my labour, and took a good few weeks to die down after she was born.

It wasn't just horrible to look at though; it itched like absolute... itchiness. I went back and forth to the doctor, with all manner of lotions and potions - but none of them worked. I slathered myself in this gloop every morning, and during my last weeks at work I was sneaking off to the toilets to put some more on and hopefully alleviate the itching. It was driving me up the wall - and then, once I'd gone round the bend and come back again, a friend asked me, "have you tried porridge?"

Porridge?

What?

My friend told me she'd had a similar complaint when she was pregnant, and her midwife had suggested putting some porridge into a flannel and fastening the corners like a tea bag, then putting it under the running water when running a bath. I thought she was bonkers, but was willing to give anything a go. It worked, and I ended up buying porridge and flannels specifically for this - but cleaning up afterwards was horrendous - imagine cold, gloopy porridge in a flannel. Sticky, nasty, gooey. It got everywhere.

My friend later asked me, "have you heard of Aveeno? It's made from porridge!"

It's not made from porridge as such; it's made with "colloidal oatmeal" and is suitable for dry and sensitive skin as well as those prone to eczema. I found out about Aveeno too late for it to be of use during my pregnancy, but since I know how amazing porridge can be for itchy skin, I was keen to try it for the dry skin I tend to get quite often. 

S also gets dry skin from time to time, and in the last two years we've gone through an entire medicine cabinet of lotions and potions in attempt to relieve it. Aveeno is now a part of our daily routine: at bed time, I rub a little Aveeno into her left leg, and sing Baa Baa Black Sheep. Then her right leg, and more Baa Baa Black Sheep.  Then her left arm, and... well, you get the idea. There's a lot of singing, and a lot of Aveeno. It helps keep both of our dry skin at bay.

What I really like about Aveeno though, is that it's not scented or full of a load of rubbish. A lot of skincare products - even for babies - are scented and have all manner of added ingredients but Aveeno seems a lot more natural. It's very rich, so a little goes a long way and it lasts ages.

Note: We were sent some Aveeno but that was not dependent on my writing a favourable review. All words and opinions are my own.

Book Review: I Quit Sugar

I've been interested in the concept of giving up sugar for years... ten years, to be precise. I know that I have a real issue with the amount of sugar in my diet; I know I need to do something about that, sooner rather than later.

I follow Sarah Wilson on Instagram and through her found the I Quit Sugar account. After a while of seeing these tasty, sugar-free meals on my timeline I decided to buy the book.

Sarah Wilson is Australian; she used to have some medical issues, a thyroid problem and what have you. She gave up eating sugar as a New-Year experiment four years ago, and has gone from strength to strength. In fact, you might have seen her recently in the UK press; she's done a lot of interviews in food magazines about this crazy idea of giving up sugar. She eats around 6-8 teaspoons of sugar per day now - the equivalent of a couple of pieces of fruit or a can of fizzy drink.

This book is an 8-week plan for quitting sugar, as well as a recipe book. What I like about it is that it's something Wilson figured out for herself, through trial and error and through actually giving up sugar herself. The eight week plan doesn't just expect that you should give up all sugar on day one - a surefire way to guarantee failure. Instead, it starts off with paring back on sugar gradually: herbal tea or soda water instead of juice and soft drinks; halving the sugar in hot drinks and increasing the milk instead; swapping to diet soft drinks as a short-term measure.

Each week the book suggests some recipes for you to try and gives you useful information about your diet: where sugar hides; why you should eat "good" fats and where you can find them; swaps you can make in your diet; how to figure out how much sugar is actually in the foods you buy.

The recipes in this book are not rigid, strict lists of exact measurements; they're hard to get wrong in that respect. Although they do call for ingredients you might not have bought before, and there are likely to be a few trips to the health food shop where you're scratching your head and asking for help - but it's not one of those ridiculous things where you're spending a fortune on a bag of weird beans for one recipe that only calls for ten of them. Although some of the ingredients are a bit odd, they're limited to a few staples that are called for time and again in the book.

My favourite recipe in the book so far is the Coco-Nutty Granola. I saw this in a magazine article, and it was making this simple recipe that convinced me to buy the book. It's really tasty, but also simple to make and used mostly ingredients I already had in the house. You can make up a big batch and store it in a pot, and then just throw some over a yogurt and maybe some avocado in the morning. I'm all for simple breakfasts!

I've not had the nerve to actually start the eight week plan yet; I've gone through the book and made a few of the recipes from it though. The last few days though, I've been suffering with really bad headaches that are no doubt linked to my diet (it has been truly awful where I've been so stressed and ill for the last month). I feel like I really want to try it though; this book is really inspiring!

Book Review: My Underpants Rule!

I was sent a copy of My Underpants Rule  to review. I thought it was about a pair of underpants that are so cool, they rule (sort of thing) but it's not; it's actually about a rule for underpants.

Child sexual abuse has been in the news a lot lately - it seems that barely a week passes without one scandal or another. When I was growing up, the subject wasn't really mentioned; I remember watching that Rolf Harris video at school with the song about not letting people touch your body, and I remember being at the park once and being told: if you see a man walking around and he's not got a dog, come and find one of us but other than that, nothing was ever discussed. However, so many revelations have come to light recently, it seems it was rife both during my childhood and earlier. Research suggests that at least one in 20 young adults in the UK experienced sexual abuse as a child, but most incidents are not reported to the police. Three-quarters of children who are abused do not tell anyone at the time. As a mother, these statistics scare the crap out of me.

So how do we protect our children? The truth is, we can't. A lot of predators attack children that are known to them: family friends, relatives, even their own children. They will tell the child it's "our little secret," and frighten them into not telling anyone.

The best thing we can do to protect our children is to talk about what's ok, and what's not ok - and make sure they know it's ok to tell if something happens that they're not comfortable with.

Many people might say "well, you don't need a book for that; you just have a conversation." But a lot of parents find this sort of thing really hard to talk about. I come from a family where even things like periods and sex were never, ever mentioned. Some people come from a background where difficult subjects are just not discussed, and they may find it really hard to find those words when it comes to discussing it with their own children. That is where this book comes in.

The book was written by ex-police officer Kate Power and her husband Rod Power. They've designed a fun and colourful book with a very important message. Kate says:

We've written My Underpants Rule! to help parents talk to their children from an early age about off-limits body parts, inappropriate behaviour and how to recognise if a relationship with an adult is not normal, ensuring these lessons stay with them for life.

The book begins with a note to parents, explaining how the book is supposed to work - that you're supposed to sit and read it with them, ask them the questions in the book and let them answer. The idea is that with repetition they learn the rule - the underpants rule!

The book starts off with an introduction about how the things in our pants have funny names and make funny noises. There's a rhyme about "what's under my pants belongs only to me" which makes a serious subject fun - the whole book is bright and colourful too.

Then it goes on to a series of questions: what if someone asks to take a look, what if someone touches, what if you're having trouble "with your fluffs or poops or wees" or what if someone touches you by accident? It ends by saying that it's about how it makes you feel, and that anything that makes you feel uncomfortable is not ok - and that you should tell someone who wasn't there when it happened.

My Underpants Rule! is aimed at 4-8 year-olds, so S is a little young for it yet. I intend to keep hold of our copy until she is old enough to understand though. 

A personalised copy of the book is also available from U Star Novels.

Note: I was provided with a copy of this book for review, but all words and opinions are my own.

Review: Jas Hairdressers, Salisbury

BEFORE: In this photo you can see my rather dodgy roots & split ends

I don’t usually go to the hairdresser. My daughter is two years old, and you don’t even need the fingers of one hand to count how many times I’ve had my hair cut since she was born! There are always more important things to be doing in my child-free time. I hate the forced conversation, the mirrors where it feels like the whole room is watching  you… while you watch them! I hate ending up with a hair-cut that looks great, but only when they’ve spent twenty minutes styling it, and two weeks later it looks awful and you have to book in for another cut!

Last week though, I went to Jas Hair on New Street in Salisbury. Fed up with my DIY blonde hair, grown-out layers and general mop of a hair do, I decided enough was enough.

My stylist was called Pippa, and she started by asking what colour I would like in my hair. I suggested one colour, and Pippa politely pointed out that since I’m rubbish at having my hair done with anything approaching regularity, it might be wise to have two colours: one lighter, and one my natural colour, so that I don’t end up with horrendous roots as it starts to grow out. I liked her thinking! I have very thick, long hair and it took around 90 minutes to put foils through my whole head of hair. During this time, I quizzed Pippa on the best way to ensure my hair doesn’t begin to resemble a bale of straw again any time soon. Pippa’s top tips included:

• Always wear a sun hat when it’s bright out - the sun doesn’t only damage your skin, and a hat can help prevent coloured hair from becoming too dry and brittle.
• Use a treatment mask once a week. If you don’t have time (or you’re lazy!) you can put a little in the ends of your hair before you go to bed, and it won’t add any more time to your usual routine in the morning.
• Use hair products that are relevant to your hair type: silverising shampoo for blonde hair to avoid brassiness; treatments for coloured hair; oils and serums to protect the hair.
• One very interesting point Pippa made was that I should buy a “time restore” treatment mask for “older” hair - not because I am old, but because once your hair gets to a certain length, the hair itself is old. This is not something I had considered before, but it made sense!
• If you’re going on holiday, use a protective conditioning spray before and after going in the sea or pool

The most important point I took away from my appointment was that it’s better to protect your hair from damage, than to try and repair it once the damage has happened!

When it was time to have my foils removed, the dye was washed out and a treatment put on - all while I had my feet up! I was offered a massage while the treatment worked its magic - and happily accepted! I had a lovely scalp, neck and shoulder massage which was lovely and really relaxing. Suddenly my trip to the hairdresser was becoming a pampering experience! The treatment smelled amazing too, which helped.

Before cutting my hair, Pippa smoothed some hair oil along the lengths and ends, something I’ve never bothered with before. She explained that because my hair has just been coloured, it’s important to really look after it and ensure it is protected against the heat of a hair dryer, sunshine and any other products we put on it. She also used some volumising spray. We discussed possibilities for growing out my layers, and what I could do in the meantime. Unsurprisingly, I probably need to have my hair cut more regularly, if I want it to look better!

Once the cut was finished and my hair dry, Pippa used more oil on my hair before spraying it. The finished result was amazing, and I’m really pleased.

AFTER: No roots!

What I loved about visiting Jas was the attention to detail: a massage while you’re waiting for a treatment to work; magazines with hard plastic covers so they don’t flop over while you’re reading them. Foot rests that don’t wobble; air conditioning on a hot day; equipment stored in drawers next to work stations, rather than displayed on shelves. A mirror as you go down the stairs after your cut. The music is not whatever the person in charge is in the mood for that day, but clearly something chosen specifically to create a relaxing mood. When they bring you a glass of water, it comes with a small glass of grapes. Staff who engage you in a genuine conversation instead of the standard script of questions you often get in a salon. Also I think this was the first time I’ve been to a hair stylist who has worked practically with me and my aversion to getting my hair done properly, to ensure I have a cut and colour that will last without my needing to go back before I’m ready/can be bothered. Ironically, this very detail makes me want to make a note in my diary to return in six weeks for a trim!

Book Review: Macavity

Last week we were house sitting for a friend on the other side of town. Realising I couldn't possibly bring all of S's toys across town with us for a week, I decided instead to stop at a book shop on our way and treat S to a new book.

We love our local book shop; they have a fish tank and it's a very comfortable place for a toddler to hang out and browse through the books. In the end, we chose Macavity because we were off to look after a cat for the week.

I won't insult your intelligence by telling you that Macavity the mystery cat is known as The Hidden Paw and the Napoleon of Crime; TS Eliot's poem was first published in 1939 so it's a safe bet he is not new to most people.

Macavity the Mystery Cat was one of several poems about cats published in Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, Eliot's only book for a younger audience. The book was the basis for the musical Cats, and I remember learning the song of this poem at school in the 1980s (I know, I can't believe I'm that old either)

The cat himself was modelled on Moriarty from the Sherlock Holmes stories; a perfect criminal mastermind whom the police are unable to catch. 

I loved the poem as a child, and enjoyed imagining all the dastardly deeds Macavity might have committed. This book is a 75th anniversary edition, with illustrations by Arthur Robins, whose work you may be familiar with from numerous other children's books (and cartoons etc).

I have enjoyed reading this with S; each time Macavity's not there she loved to point out where there was a trace of him on the page:

Although obviously a two year old is not likely to understand what lines like his powers of levitation would make a fakir stare mean in the slightest, she understands the general gist of the book and enjoys the illustrations and the rhythm of the poem. It's also a book that will (hopefully) still be fun to read as she gets older, and Eliot's original book is apparently considered suitable reading for 11-year-olds.

I love the idea of introducing her to such old literature by such a great poet. I also love introducing her to the same poem that I enjoyed as a youngster. Plus, with Cats the stage show being such a success, it will be lovely for her to see a familiar poem in a show (even if by then it's finally finished its stint in the West End - it's still a film and a massive part of our culture).

I think considering this is a 75-year-old poem by a man who only produced one book for younger readers, it is still just as much fun for children as it was when first published. S has enjoyed having it read to her, and I even caught her reading it to herself the other night, when she should have been asleep!

Book Review: A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard

I'm sure most of you will remember a vague outline of the story of Jaycee Dugard. She was kidnapped one morning aged eleven on her way to school, and nothing was ever heard of her... until 18 years later, when she reappeared, the mother of two daughters. She had been held captive by a man and his wife, raped and abused. 

I remember seeing a documentary about her disappearance, where they showed the road she was taken from. For a while, the police thought perhaps her step father - who claimed to have seen her being forced into a car, and to have chased on a bicycle until he lost them - had abducted her. Then they thought her real father had abducted her - but both passed a series of lie detector tests and were ruled out. Then they didn't really know what to think, and stopped looking after a while. Her mother never gave up, though - as you wouldn't, if your child was abducted, I am sure.

I also remember the news stories when she was found in 2009. Not much was said about what had gone on, just that she'd re-emerged with two children, that her mother was over the moon, that a convicted sex offender and his wife had been arrested.

The bare facts of the story are enough to make you a little queasy, but I have always been attracted to stories like this. I read Colleen Stan's book several years ago and became completely engrossed in it. When I saw this book at the library I instantly recognised the face and name on the cover, and really wanted to read it. 

Jaycee Dugard (obviously) was not educated past the age of 11. She says in her introduction that the book may be a little confusing in places and hard to follow but actually I found it engaging and hard to put down. A lot of books by people in Dugard's situation are ghost written by professionals, or there is at least some guidance. Colleen Stan's book was written by her with the prosecution lawyer who eventually convicted her kidnapper. For me, though, either there was no ghost writer for this book, or they were so good they managed to go undetected. You can tell Dugard has been writing this herself. It's not perfectly laid out, it mentions things she has yet to explain, and there are frequent "reflections" where she tells you things from her present day perspective. At one point she says she's been trying to write this chapter but was distracted by a smudge on her screen that she suddenly felt the need to clean despite its having been there for a while - a clear sign that she was procrastinating because it was difficult to write. I should imagine the whole book was difficult to write. 

The story jumps from writing in the present tense to past tense, sometimes from one sentence to the next. It is not written in perfect English, and there are few long words. Still, it is utterly captivating and engaging - and not just because of the subject matter. Despite not writing in the tradition, accepted way, Dugard still manages to engage and captivate entirely. The way she describes her situation is horrifying, and I cried more than once. The moment of her release saw me in floods of tears, trying desperately not to wake S as she slept next to me.

The abuse is described from her 11-year-old point of view - she has not really learned what sex is, doesn't know why this man wants to do this, to put these clothes on her, to make her do this or sit in this way. It is utterly heartbreaking - especially when you realise she lived like this for 18 years. Her first experience of sex was with a paedophile who fathered two children by her, then had the children call his wife "mom" (Dugard was known as their sister, and not allowed to say or write her own name throughout the ordeal). He was clearly bonkers, believing angels were making people do things, and telling Dugard he had taken her to help him with his "sex problem" so that he didn't have to hurt anyone else. She talks of knowing better than to disagree with a lot of what he said, of his sulking and moods, the way he would just "explain" away any questions she asked, baffling her with his crazy logic until she just gave in. 

When Dugard was released, there was a lot of speculation; lots of questions were asked. She had internet access where she was kept; after the children were born she was regularly allowed out on shopping trips with her captor's wife; why didn't she say anything? Why didn't she shout for help? This book explains why, and in a way that (hopefully) people who have not been in this sort of situation can understand. 

From a technical point of view, you could say this book is "badly written" - it doesn't follow grammatical rules, jumps between tenses and jumbles up explanations of things (half way through she book she talks about her captor freaking people out with "his Can You Hear Me" and you wonder what she's on about - but it's explained a few chapters later). It was a best seller because everyone wanted to know what had happened to her during her 18 year captivity. To me though, I still think it's a good book. I still think Dugard is a good writer, and would like to see more from her in the future - not necessarily about her reintegration to society; just books. I like the way she words things, and her enthusiasm. 

The subject matter of this book is nothing short of terrifying. There are so many occasions where she makes it abundantly clear just how trapped she is - handcuffed and laid on her side so that even sitting up or standing is a struggle, no toilet, no food, no drink. Not only is she unable to raise the alarm, she doesn't even have control over her basic human needs. The ability to articulate this is not something to be sniffed at.

What I like most about Dugard is that she is not a public face. She did a photo shoot for People Magazine when she was first released, to satisfy the media. She has written this book. But she does not court public attention, and has vowed to remain in hiding until her daughters can fully understand what has happened, and who she is. Throughout the book, her children are known by first initials only. There are no photos of them. This discretion is commendable when she was faced with what must have been very tempting offers for someone who left captivity at the age of 29 with nothing but a vivarium of hermit crabs and the clothes on her back. It's not like she could just go and get a job at her local supermarket, after all - imagine sitting on a checkout with that name badge!

Book Review: The Wrong Knickers by Bryony Gordon

I bought The Wrong Knickers at BritMums Live last month. To be honest, I bought it solely because I'd seen Bryony Gordon speaking, and had liked what she had to say. I had no clue what it was about.

As it turns out, the book is pretty much as if she had crawled inside of my head when I turned twenty. (without the drugs, I hasten to add)

The Wrong Knickers is a memoir of Gordon's twenties. As I read it, I alternated between outright guffaws (sometimes in public) and thinking "omg your mum is going to read this!" This is a very truthful book. In fact, it's so truthful it made me feel very uncomfortable; Gordon has put voice to the way I felt numerous times in my twenties. The way she describes her relationships with men, fawning after them when she should have long since kicked them to the curb, was like reading my own diary - only with better writing. 

The writing is exquisite, and shows exactly how Gordon managed to hold down a job on the Telegraph while all of this was going on; they would have been bonkers to let her go! Lots of it makes for painful reading. I recognised myself in so much of Gordon's self-destructive ability to choose the one unavailable man, and make a fool of herself following him around. She takes responsibility for her actions, and for having allowed these situations to happen, in a way I've never been brave enough to do, save for in 3am reveries.

Aside from all this honesty, the book is very funny. One chapter is all about being single while all of your friends marry off around you. Her friends tell her they're envious of her living the single lifestyle, "as if your life is one long episode of Sex and the City as opposed to, say, all seven series of Only Fools and Horses." Still, this book is like the thinking woman's SATC; a British, grubby, realistic version.

In my favourite section, Gordon meets an author who spends most of the evening talking about his favourite book, Donkey Oatey. She thinks it's cute, how he seems to love a children's book and collects different copies of it. It is hilarious, and I had to stop reading because my laughing was disturbing S!

This is one of those books where you read it, and it's done exactly what it said it would do - it's an "eye-poppingly truthful" memoir of her twenties, and finishes when she's thirty - but you still want more. I want a memoir of Gordon's thirties, damnit! I know she's only thirty four... but still! Get writing, please!

Review: Wright Works Pendant

This post is not a review so much as an omg look what I got sent to review, isn't it awesome. It's pretty much me just showing off something gorgeous that I feel very lucky to have. 

Emily Wright went to my school, but was a couple of years ahead of me so we didn't really know each other until recently when, through the power of Facebook, my blog and Emily's sister, we got in contact. Obviously though, the fact she attended the same school as me makes her supremely awesome. If you don't believe me, take a look at her website and see for yourself!

Many of my readers will have already seen my wonderful pendant from Wright Works, sporting an imprint of S's hand on one side and her name on the other - because a) I wear it all the time, and b) I posted photos when I first got it, and it made me cry. I absolutely love it; I know that although other parents might have a pendant, ring or other jewellery with their child's hand or footprint on it, none of them have one the same as mine; they are all unique because that's the nature of a hand or foot print.

The process of ordering the pendant was really simple. Emily sends out a special wipe and two pieces of special paper (there's probably a more scientific word than "special" to go in that sentence, but I don't know what it is. Other than "magical" obviously). You wipe the child's hand or foot with the wipe, and then carefully make a print onto the page. This is actually easier if they're either asleep, or a little older and understand what you're asking them to do. You get two shots at it, so if one of them is messed up, it's not the end of the world. The print appears immediately, so you can see how you've done. Then you just pop your prints in the pre-paid envelope and post it back, choose the shape and size of your pendant, and go from there.

I was really surprised: first with how easy the whole process was; secondly with how quickly the finished pendant turned up; and thirdly with how completely bowled over I was by it. 

Wright Works doesn't just offer pendants though; there are rings, dog tags, charm bracelets, ear rings you name it. You can also have items (such as hair, etc) encased in resin and made into jewellery.

There are a lot of companies out there who offer hand or foot prints on jewellery. You should choose Wright Works for yours because Emily genuinely cares that you get something personal to you. She doesn't just do the standard pendants; she does anything and everything. If you can think of it, and she can do it, she will. Actually, looking at the list of products she sells, even if it's never crossed your mind before, she can do it for you! Some of the photos on the website are amazing, and the testimonials all believable.

My pendant came with a polishing cloth, as well as a little information sheet to explain to me that because it's made of silver, it will tarnish - and what I can do to avoid that. This managing expectations is something you don't see in a lot of businesses. I've certainly never been told anything like this when purchasing anything from a high street jeweller. 

You can check out Wright Works' Facebook page here, and Twitter feed here.

Note: I was provided with a pendant in exchange for writing this review, but that was not dependant on my writing a favourable review. All words and opinions are my own.

Review: The Judas Scar by Amanda Jennings

I was sent a copy of The Judas Scar as part of the BritMums Book Club. Luckily enough, it arrived the day before I left for Brit Mums Live so I took it with me to read on the train.

Imagine my joy then, when I got to the venue and found that Amanda Jennings herself was there, signing copies of her book! I did the embarrassing gushing fan thing, whereby I went up to her saying "I just started reading it and I love it but it's not here it's in the hotel, will you be here tomorrow?" What can I say, je suis le dork. I brought my book back the next day and accosted Amanda to get it signed. (this is where I do a stupid fangirl dance. I still have copy of Sean's Book signed by Sean Hughes in the mid-1990s, and I bet half of you have never even heard of him)

The book starts with a prologue that made me think this was an entirely different kind of book. It made me think, oh, this is a blood and guts and gore book about a serial killer or something. I remember being vaguely pissed off because now I'd signed up to review this book that seemed to be something straight out of old school Stephen King, and I am so not into that. But since I'd got it from the BritMums Book Club, I carried on reading - and I'm so glad I did. This book is not about a psycho serial killer!

The book is told mainly from two different perspectives: Harmony and her husband, Will. They lost a baby a little while ago, and seem to have differing feelings about it. Chunks of this book look back at the characters' pasts. Both of them had somewhat troubled childhoods, but in different ways - and they dealt with them in different ways. 

There is a third main character, who I won't name because I don't want to spoil any of the book for you - but that person had a fairly troubled childhood too.

I love the storyline in this book. It's not a subject matter I've come across in a novel before (though granted, I've not read a lot of contemporary fiction lately). It's brilliantly well written and in my opinion covers a difficult subject with sensitivity and understanding. Also, it quotes Larkin, which is always a winner for me.

This is one of those books that, once you get past half-way through you start to try and ration yourself so that it lasts longer. I managed to limit myself to a chapter a night, and dragged it out as long as possible - but when I finally finished it, I was left feeling a bit lost, wondering what I could read next. This is one of those novels that makes you really think about things, about how you would react if this sort of thing happened to you, if your husband or wife did this sort of thing; if your childhood had been like that, how would you have turned out? Like all of the best books, the answers are not easy to come by.

The ending of this book is a bit... normal. There is no explosion or final face-off where someone goes down in a blaze of glory or makes a big heart-rending speech about why they did what they did. In a way that's a little disappointing - but it's also just more realistic. We all know that in real life, you have a massive crisis that threatens to tear your world apart, and more often than not it either happens or disappears without trace and either way, there are no trumpets.

I would definitely recommend this book; it was a great read.

Review: The School Gate Survival Guide by Kerry Fisher

I read this book when it originally came out as The Class Ceiling last year. It's being re-released on Kindle this week as The School Gate Survival Guide and will be released in paperback later in the year.

The new title of this book really tells you what it's about: school gate politics. The protagonist Maia has an unpronouncable surname, which is probably the only thing I didn't like about the book to be honest. She lives in a less-than-desirable place, with a less-than-desirable partner, doing less-than-desirable work but one day finds herself in a position where her children are given scholarships to the local public school. Obviously, she stands out like a sore thumb and seems to instantly make enemies of some of the snobbier mums. 

This part of the story is an extreme version of something we can all relate to. We all feel like one of the parents at the school gate looks down on us or sniffs at our children's breakfast-smudged faces. Maia does meet a nice lady who becomes a good friend though, and muddles on through whilst developing a bit of a crush on one of the teachers at the posh school. This book highlights the distaste the English middle class often seems to feel for those occupying the lower

rungs of the social ladder. Some of the characters are so gloriously bitchy, they woke up my inverse snobbery and I found myself outraged on Maia's behalf! 

There was something about this book that just kept me reading. It's a very easy read, but far from your average, fluffy school gate book; I felt like there was something of an intelligent undertone (if such a thing exists). The storyline was far from predictable, and there's a twist toward the end that I definitely did not see coming. 

There are a lot of "chick lit" books on the market that seem to have been published purely because "this sort of thing sells well" and not necessarily based on any sort of talent or quality. For me, this book stands a mile above a sea of dross. It's well written, brilliantly thought out and expertly assembled. 

Note: I was not asked to review this book; I have written about it because I enjoyed reading it, and thought my readers would too.

Review: The Fairytale Hairdresser

Last weekend, S and I were happily wandering around town, minding our own business, when a lady walking past handed us a flyer and told me there was a Story Time starting at Waterstones in half an hour.

We went along to see what it was all about... imagine our surprise when we realised it wasn't just any old Story Time! Oh, no. This was Story Time with Abie Longstaff, the fabulous children's author. She was reading her latest book when we got there, and then read another book, and then showed the children some photos of her working, and drafts of her new book, explaining how she and her illustrator, Lauren Beard, work together to create the book we'll see in the shops soon. She had even brought dolls with hair accessories for the children to play with, which I thought was lovely.

I bought S a copy of The Fairytale Hairdresser , which was Abie's first book; she told me it's probably the one best suited to a two year old. She's written lots more though: many featuring the Fairytale Hairdresser (there's even one featuring Father Christmas), and many with other characters.

What I absolutely love about this book is that although the story and pictures are very much original creations, they incorporate many well-known  fairytale characters. When I was little, I clearly remember being given a story book where a post man brought letters to the three bears and Cinderella, among others. It was my favourite because it felt like I was catching a glimpse of what happened in these characters' lives after they all lived happily ever after! I watched as Abie read her books to the children, how excited they all were to point out the characters they had spotted in the books. The first page of this book alone has the Giant, Red RidingHood, the wolf (he runs an opticians: all the better to see you with!), goldilocks and the three pigs.

At the moment, S is still a little young to be familiar with fairy stories, or to care much about them. I'm fairly sure she likes this book because she's just discovered she has hair - and thanks to my sister buying her some My Little Pony hair clips while I was away last week, she's also discovered she can play with her hair and have it tied up prettily. 

Kittie the Fairytale Hairdresser is the best hairdresser in all the land and brushes and cuts all of the characters' hair. In this book, she helps Rapunzel to escape the wicked witch keeping her prisoner and to  find her prince by taming her long, messy hair and pulling it into one big plait. 

S loves the bit where Kittie is climbing back down the tower on Rapunzel's hair. I do too; it's a funny take on a traditional fairy story. A sure sign that this is a new favourite is the fact it's been in the house a week, and hasn't found its way to a shelf or book box yet. It's usually on the beanbag or the sofa, ready to be read at a moment's notice!

What I really like about this book is that for the moment, it's a nice story for us to read together - but it feels like a book that will last a long time for her. As she grows older and learns the classic fairy stories that all children learn, the book will take on a different meaning for her as she searches out all of the characters she's seen elsewhere. 

Since S is quite small, I've never had cause to notice when children's authors came to our part of the world. This is the first time I've known a children's author to come, and to me it made a real difference. When you go looking for children's books, you're faced with a sea of brightly-coloured books, and you've really no idea of what your child will think is fun, or what they'll think is boring. S has loads of books she reads, but also lots she doesn't read. I will definitely be keeping my eye out for notices about more visits from children's authors - and hoping they're all as fun to see as Abie Longstaff!

Note: I was not asked to write a review of this book; I have written it because S and I have both enjoyed reading it!