Tag Archives: Review

Review: ‘One Of Us’ by Jeannie Waudby (YA)

Martyn Pig stg2From debut author, Jeannie Waudby, comes a nail-biting contemporary drama set in a modern society divided by violence, prejudice and distrust. One of Us is a topical YA thriller about young love and religious intolerance – can one isolated girl learn to understand who she is and where she stands in such a world?

(Here is a review from our amazing YA fan, Louise Reilly – Ed)

‘One of us is an amazing story and after reading it I couldn’t stop thinking about it! K is an amazing
character and the storyline is brilliant, the betrayal is unbelievably surprising and the characters’ backstories are really deep and detailed. I enjoy how the characters expand during the story, it almost feels as if I am there with them while I was reading the book! The cliffhangers made me want to read more until it came to a time where I couldn’t put the book down! Definitely one of my new favourites and I highly recommend this book!’

You can purchase One Of Us on Amazon

Review: ‘Bee The Book’

beethebook poster‘Bee The Book’ is a huge hit in our house. Jacob and I were lucky enough to meet creator Debra Tobin at the recent BabyTalk Festival, and we ran home with her book to try it out. What a cool innovation, to not only have fun & educational short stories to read, but to have mammy or daddy’s ACTUAL HEAD in the pages of the book as the storyteller?! FANTASTICO!!

Jacob is a fun-loving kid at the best of times, but he really laughed his ass off when Alan popped his head through the pages of the book to read to him. The photos that we took of him  should be enough to convince you – JUST LOOK AT HIS FACE!!

Debra has been kind enough to offer all readers of Raising Ireland a 15% discount if you’d like to buy the book online. Just use the discount code RAISING when you check out at: The Bee The Book Website

Can’t recommend it enough,

Sharyn x

Review: MikaB Teething Jewellery

MikaB Teething Jewellery

MikaB Teething Jewellery

I tried to like this product even though fundamentally it made me a little uneasy from the get go.. .Teething jewellery…. Hmmm…Encouraging my tenacious little princess that it was okay to gnaw and pull on any jewellery just never sat right with me. I had visions of her licking my engagement ring and shoving my wedding ring over her first tooth (whenever she grows it) to go trick or treating as Madonna with a full grill. However, I admire anyone who is inspired by their little one to invent a product and really wanted to give it a chance.

Sadly, Líadain hasn’t learned compassion yet and wasn’t as enthusiastic. She loves her teething rings and dare I mention a certain long necked, long legged stippled creature that many babies love to gnaw? Rhymes with soapy? Well she ADORES her. So I hid the afore (almost) mentioned giraffe and proffered the bangle. She was having none of it. I tried shoving it in her mouth …ahem.. Encouraging her and she clamped her mouth tight. She did however like using it as an arm hula hoop but that’s where her interest began and ended. I even waited and tried a month later when she was definitely teething and she refused it again.

Sadly this product in our house just wasn’t a winner. I found it interesting that she had no compunction to chew on it whatsoever when all of her toys (and the dogs if they aren’t careful) get even a cursory lick.

PROS: it’s PBA free

CONS: the website says it ‘looks great on mums’.. It leaves out the bit that it looks great if you like the same ‘jewellery’ as an 8 year old.

Sorry mikab… Is a no star rating from team Langford.

Review: ‘Where’s Larry?’

WheresLarryFor years now us Irish, and lovers of all things Celtic alike, have had a fascination with leprechauns. These funny little fellas with mischievous grins and a penchant for divilment have filled us with wonder for centuries, heck there’s even a leprechaun museum. I watched Darby O’Gill And The Little People as a child, and have felt slightly uneasy about these cheeky little chap pies sever since.

Larry the Leprechaun by Philip Barrett (O’Brien Press) is a great book for kids and adults. In the vein of ‘Where’s Wally’, Larry is a lost leprechaun who must be located among a sea of amusing characters – mostly hilarious Irish stereotypes including hurlers and historical figures. There are lots of random characters in the crowd; mime artists, aliens…the list is infinite. Each page sees Larry in a different scene such as the St Patricks Day Parade, and Irish heritage sites such as Newgrange. The illustrations are incredibly vibrant and detailed so huge kudos to the artist.

Rather than have an oul’ wan like myself to solely review the book (or my 2-year-old with the attention span of a goldfish), I gave it to two of my wonderful students from Kidcast Theatre School, Sophie Fagan Barry (9) and Tori Dillon (10). Here are their thoughts on the book:

Our excellent reviewers, Sophie & Tori!

Our excellent reviewers, Sophie & Tori!

Describe the Book;

Well it’s a bit like Where’s Wally but it’s better because it’s more entertaining and there are more characters to find.

What are your favourite parts of the book?

We like the book because if you like finding things, it’ll be good. It’ll keep you entertained for a long time. If you have some free time to fill, this book will keep you amused for ages and well… Because it’s just really good.

Who do you think this book would appeal to?

We think this book would appeal to all ages as there’s something for everybody. If you’re bored just pick up the book and it’ll keep you busy for ages.

What are your favourite characters?

We loved the clown, the witches…who was the fella with the hurling stick…oh yeah, Cuchulainn and of course we loved Larry.

Rate this book out of 10

We rate this book a nine out of ten because it’s just very fun.

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 Well you can’t get more honest than that!

I think that this book would be a great gift to send away to all of those Irish nieces, nephews and loved ones living abroad. It is a warm and humorous homage to all things Irish and all in all, a great book.

 

**You can order this, and other children’s titles from O’Brien Press at: The O’Brien Press Website