Two Magical Sisters

Namasthe, everybody!
I'll be reviewing Mister Jeejeebhoy and the Birds by Anitha Balachandran today.
When Tara and chip-obsessed Diya move into their aunt Ninamasi's house, they hardly expect strange noises, living photographs, strange mirrors and weird noises coming from all over the house!
But no one in the town wants to be their friend. They have ten thousand excuses and claim that Ninamasi's house is strange.
At least Diya and Tara have Mr. Jeejeebhoy's sweet shop next door, filled with yummy sweets- gulab jamuns, burfis, rasmalai and everything in between!
That's when the sisters find out that they have magical powers!  But when Mr. Jeejeebhoy's sweet shop closes down for a strange reason, will Diya and Tara be able to use their magical powers to help him? And will they ever make friends with all the other kids?
This i a sweet story about two sisters who manage to use their peculiarities to do something good and to help people. The illustrations are very colourful and vibrant as well as beautiful. However, this book may have to be read by parents to younger children as some of the words may be unknown. This book is very creative and the detailed pictures are guaranteed to keep kids enraptured in the story. This is the perfect read-aloud book and can be read young children who have begun to read.
Anitha Balachandran is an Indian author, animator and artist.
I recommend this book for preschoolers and ages 5 and above. 

Want Some Candyfloss?

Hello everyone!
Do you love going to the fair? Raise your hand if you do, because Floss from Candyfloss by Jacqueline Wilson certainly does!
Flora 'Floss' is at odds. The worst news ever has come on her birthday- her mum and stepfather and her baby brother are moving to Australia! Even if it's only for a few months, how will Floss manage without spending time with her father, who runs a cafe? That's when Floss is faced with a tough decision- will she start anew in Australia or will she stay with her father who barely manages his next meal?
When she decides to stay with her dear old dad, she's not at all sure she made the right decision. She arrives at school smelling like chips, with a ruffled uniform and mussed-up hair. Even her best friend Rhiannon and Rhiannon's mum treat her like a charity case. She wants to be friends with Susan, the new girl in school, but she's scared Rhiannon will tease her and break friends with her if she even talks nicely to Susan. Floss is the new joke among her ex-friends. Things get even worse when she betrays Susan and instead goes off with Rhiannon, who teases her and her father.
Somehow, Floss and her dad manage to scrape by, eating chip butties. The one thing Floss really looks forward to is the fair, where she makes new friends and where she feels at home. Maybe things really will be okay. But that's until she and her father become homeless and are forced to live in an old friend's flat.
Will their fairground friends help them? Will they manage to get everything they need? Will everything turn out okay?
Candyfloss is a moving story, though I felt the ending was a bit rushed. Otherwise, I loved it and it is definitely worth a read!
I've reviewed numerous Jacqueline Wilson books. She is a British author who has also written Vicky Angel, Cookie, Sleepovers, The Suitcase Kid, Double Act and many other books as well.
I recommend this book for ages 9 and above.
Have you read Candyfloss? What did you think of it? Let me know in the comments below!

Enter the O Yal Hotel!

Hey fellow bookworms!
Today I'll be reviewing The Bed and Breakfast Star by Jacqueline Wilson.
Meet Elsa, the future comedienne who plans to be famous someday! Only, no one seems to laugh at her jokes anymore... maybe it has something to do with the fact that her family- her mum, her stepdad Mack the Smack, her stepsister Pippa and her GIANT baby stepbrother Hank the Hunk- have had to move out of their wonderful old house into a dump of a bed-and-breakfast hotel- the Royal Hotel.
At first it seems like it couldn't get worse- until Elsa's mum breaks down and she's simply known as 'one of those bed-and-breakfast children' at school, Elsa starts to wonder what will happen to them.
So, of course, when a television crew visits the hotel to record the misery of the children living there, Elsa can't resist grabbing her chance of fame...or rather, pushing her best friend Naomi to take it. But Elsa regrets it when her actions threaten to make Naomi and her family homeless...
Now how will Elsa make up for what she's done? Will she be able to help change her family's situation or is she destined to live in a bed-and-breakfast hotel for the rest of her life?
Jacqueline Wilson is a renowned British children's author. I've reviewed many of her books before.
I think The Bed and Breakfast Star is a heart-touching, humorous story and I extremely like it. I think that this may be among some of the best books Jacqueline Wilson has written.
I recommend this book for ages 9 and above.

Welcome to the World of Shadowhunters!

Hey readers!
Today I'll be reviewing the first book of the best-selling series The Mortal Instruments, The City of Bones by Cassandra Clare. I haven't read the rest of the series, though.
Clary Fray, a fifteen-year-old who lives in New York with her mother, Jocelyn, is noticing things that no one else can see, including her best friend Simon. It all starts when she visits the club Pandemonium and witnesses a murder of a blue-haired boy by a strange group of teenagers...
Then suddenly her mother disappears in a what seems like a vicious attack. What's going on here?
That's when Clary finds out that beneath the world that we know is a dark magical world filled with demons, vampires, warlocks and Shadowhunters- warriors whose mission is to destroy and track down demons. And it seems that Clary's only safe with them.
Their mission? To save Jocelyn and find the Mortal Cup to stop the evil Shadowhunter Valentine who hasn't been seen for fifteen years and stop his horrible plan of turning all humans into Shadowhunters and destroyng those who don't become Shadowhunters.
Follow Clary through the dark world of the Shadowhunters as she unravels secrets and finds out about her mysterious past.
I feel as though this book was fairly predictable and Clare could have developed the characters a bit better so that they are more relatable and interesting. Some scenes felt a bit stretched and unneeded. All in all, though, I feel as though the book could have been better. I didn't like the main character, Clary, much either, and although the characters did not figure out a major plot point till much later in the book, it is obvious to the reader (i.e., me). It is a quick fantasy read though and if you like fantasy you might want to read this book to give it a shot yourself, even if the writing isn't, in my point of view, very good.
Cassandra Clare has written The Mortal Instruments, The Infernal Devices, The Dark Artifices, etc., all part of the Shadowhunter Chronicles.
This book is for ages 12 and above.

The Ancient Mysteries of Egypt

Hello everybody!
Today I'll be reviewing The Egypt Game written by Zilpha Keatley Snyder.
Who likes history? Raise your hand if you do! Well, Melanie and April of The Egypt Game certainly do!
And that's why they start 'the Egypt Game,' a pretend game where they act like Ancient Egyptians. But it isn't as boring as it seems. As new members enter the club, things get more and more interesting. Everyday, the lonely backyard of the shop that the Egypt Game takes place in grows more and more familiar and more and more like ancient Egypt.
But that all crashes down when a horrific murder happens in their neighborhood. Nobody knows who committed the murder, but the main suspect for the townspeople is the Professor, who owns the shop...that the kids play behind!
Stuck inside and always under a watchful eye, how are the kids supposed to play the Egypt Game?
And who committed the heartless murder that has the entire town shocked?
I really enjoyed plunging into the rich story, world and characters that Zilpha Keatley Snider has weaved and the book is great for re-reads as well. This book has also won the John Newbery Medal.
I really like this book and it is perfect for lovers of history and good books. I recommend this books for ages 9 and above.

Dear Dumb Diary

Hi readers!
A reader sent me a book review about the book series Dear Dumb Diary:

The book series Dear Dumb Diary is about a girl named Jamie Kelly from Mackerel Middle School, who writes things down in her diary. She has a best friend named Isabella, and an enemy named Angeline, who is like a life-sized Barbie doll.
Starting each entry with 'Dear Dumb Diary,' Jamie fills each page of her diary with humor, fun and the entries are so interesting, that you just HAVE to read the pages of this book.
The series has many books, the first one called 'Let's Pretend This Never Happened.' The book has also turned into a new movie, which in my opinion isn't that good, but you should definitely try it out.
Slip inside the world of Jamie Kelly!
-Spurthi, age 11, Telengana
P.S.- The book series is recommended for ages 10 and up.

Thank you for the book review! I've also read Dear Dumb Diary and it's a really amusing series! Why don't you send your own book reviews to be published on this site? To find out how, click on the Reviewed by friends button at the top of the page!
By the way, this is my 100th post!!! I've completed writing 100 posts on this blog!

Agatha Christie: A Murder is Announced

Hello fellow bookworms!
Imagine a murder being announced in the newspaper! That would be something, wouldn't it? But who would advertise a murder? After all, a murderer would want everything to go smoothly...right?
In the small village of Chipping Cleghorn, everyone receives the 'North Benham News and Chipping Cleghorn Gazette,' popularly known as the Gazette. After all, that's the best place to find out what's going on in the area. But what's going on in the area may not be completely legal...
The villagers of Chipping Cleghorn are wide-eyed with curiosity when one day an announcement of a murder appears in the Personal Column of the Gazette. The murder is scheduled to occur at Little Paddocks, the house owned by Letitia Blacklock, at 6:30 pm that very day! At first, everyone, including the residents of Little Paddocks, thinks that this is just a joke.
But at precisely 6:30 pm at Little Paddocks, the light goes out and three shots are fired. Two of them are directed at Letitia Blacklock and one is towards the murderer himself...
Who is the murderer and what was his or her motive? What is so special about Letitia Blacklock? And why was that puzzling advertisement placed in the newspaper?
This mystery is a Miss Marple mystery, and I think that it is one of the best Agatha Christie books I have read till date. Miss Marple truly is a great detective!
Agatha Christie is a British crime writer. She has written The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, And Then There Were None, The ABC Murders, etc.
Her other Miss Marple mysteries are The Murder at the Vicarage, 4.50 from Paddington, Nemesis, Sleeping Murder, and many more.
I recommend this book to ages 12 and above as the plot can be slightly complicated.