Category: Book reviews by Aashi

Posted in Book reviews by Aashi, Book reviews by kids

Book review: Positively Izzy

Posted on by Alphabet Soup
The cover of a children's novel

REVIEWED BY AASHI, 9, VIC

Positively Izzy by Terri Libenson, HarperCollins Publishers, ISBN 9780062484963

Aashi reviewed her own copy of this book.

Positively Izzy is about two girls – one named Brianna and the other named Izzy. It is a beautiful story that takes you through the ups and downs of two interlinked stories.

Izzy is a girl who loves drama but isn’t the best at other subjects. She has been preparing for a talent show for months. Her mum is a nurse who works weird shifts so Izzy and her sisters must do lots of chores. Lately, Izzy has been getting bad grades and since her mum is all about grades, it is not going well for her.

Brianna, on the other hand, enjoys academics and always gets good grades. Both her parents are teachers, her dad works at a local high school while her mum works at Brianna’s school! Her mum is a fabulous drama teacher who everybody loves. She is always encouraging Brianna to join the Drama club.

Positively Izzy is a fun book to read as it provides the reader with a good sense of humour and gives two different but linked stories. It could improve on giving a bit more information about Brianna.

The age group I would recommend this book for is 9–10-year-olds. They will enjoy it and cherish it. I rate it 4.5 out of 5.

Aashi is a regular book reviewer for Alphabet Soup. You can read more of her book reviews here. To send us YOUR book review, read our submission guidelines. Happy reading!

Posted in Book reviews by Aashi, Book reviews by kids

Book review: Queen Narelle

Posted on by Alphabet Soup
the cover of a children's book: Queen Narelle

REVIEWED BY AASHI, 9, VIC

Queen Narelle by Sally Murphy, illustrated by Simon O’Carrigan, Walker Books Australia, ISBN 9781760655334

Aashi received a review copy of this book.

Meet the Queen, her name is Narelle. Her subjects shall bow to her, whenever they greet her. She’s the keeper of the kingdom, ruler of the domain, and, most importantly, Maddie’s best friend.

Narelle is a cat and is the queen of her household. The household includes Narelle (The Queen of the household), Will (The Noisy Person of the household), Mum (The Court Counsellor of the household), Dad (a respected subject) and Maddie (Narelle’s princess and best friend).

Narelle is wise and caring. She loves all her subjects and makes sure they are happy. However, when Maddie’s friends, Nicole and Samira, become bullies because of a silly fight, Narelle is Maddie’s only friend.  Nicole and Samira were writing mean and nasty notes in class about Maddie. When a subject is sad it is Narelle’s job to make them happy, but, in this case, Narelle is not sure what to do. Poor Maddie!

I rate this book 5 out of 5. Sally Murphy once again wrote a fabulous book. The book was detailed covering different opinions and perspectives. I recommend the book for 7 to 9-year-olds, they will truly love it. I loved it because it had a beautiful ending. It also showed that love is very important and that someone will always love you no matter what happens.

Once again, I enjoyed reading this book and I hope you will read it too.

Aashi is a regular book reviewer for Alphabet Soup. You can read more of her book reviews here. To send us YOUR book review, read our submission guidelines. Happy reading!

Posted in Book reviews by Aashi, Book reviews by kids

Book review: Ghosts

Posted on by Alphabet Soup

REVIEWED BY AASHI, 9, VIC

Ghosts by Raina Telgemeier, Scholastic Inc, ISBN 9780545540629

Aashi reviewed her own copy of this book.

Ghosts is a graphic novel written and illustrated by an outstanding author Raina Telgemeier. The main character is Catrina who doesn’t want to move to the coast of Northern California. They move because of Catrina’s little sister, Maya, who has Cystic Fibrosis. Cystic Fibrosis is a breathing and digestion condition, so they move to Bahia de la Luna which is on the coast of Northern California for cleaner air.

When Catrina and her family get to Bahia de la Luna they move into a little green house.  Wild Maya wants to go on the ghost tour run by their next-door neighbour, Carlos. Catrina can’t say no.  Will this end well … ?

I rate this book four out of five stars for it uses more perspectives of what other people think besides Catrina, though overall the book was great. It would make a spectacular read for ages 8–11.

Ghosts was a fabulous book, so in 2017 it won an Eisner Award for Best Publication for Kids (ages 9–12), and the Dwayne McDuffie Award for Kids’ Comics.

I hope you read Ghosts.

Aashi is a regular book reviewer for Alphabet Soup. You can read more of her book reviews here. To send us YOUR book review, read our submission guidelines. Happy reading!

Posted in Book reviews by Aashi, Book reviews by kids

Book review: The Third Form at St Clare’s

Posted on by Alphabet Soup

REVIEWED BY AASHI, 9, VIC

The Third Form at St Clare’s by Enid Blyton, Hachette Children’s Books, ISBN 9781444930030

Aashi reviewed her own copy of this book.

School days at St. Clare’s are never dull for Patricia and Isabel O’Sullivan.

When the mistresses announce that the third form shall be running their production, trouble starts. However, that’s only the beginning of their problems! Will the show still go on? But despite all the chaos pranks are still being pulled on poor Mam’zelle, the French mistress.

I adored The Third Form at St. Clare’s, a fantastic book. The book is full of surprises, mischief, jokes, and mysteries. I rate it a five out of five.

However, I wasn’t the only person who thought so. Here are some quotes from other readers …

'A great story with some new characters along the way.'
by Felicity

'A great book. Never bores you.' 
by Phoenix

'I loved this series, it's one of my childhood favourites.'
by Bhavya

I enjoyed this great book and it made for a spectacular read. I hope you read it too and like it.

Aashi is a regular book reviewer for Alphabet Soup. You can read more of her book reviews here. To send us YOUR book review, read our submission guidelines. Happy reading!

Posted in Book reviews by Aashi, Book reviews by kids

Book review: Biscuits, bands and very big plans

Posted on by Alphabet Soup

REVIEWED BY AASHI, 7, VIC

The image shows the cover of a children's graphic novel called Tom Gates: Biscuits, Bands and very big plans by Liz Pichon. The cover illustration shows the title in child-like lettering surrounded by doodles of patterns and pictures like a dog, an arrow, smiley face, stars and a boy with short hair wearing a shirt that says 'Doodling Rocks'

Biscuits, Bands and Very Big Plans by Liz Pichon, Scholastic UK, ISBN 9781743832868

Aashi reviewed her own copy of this book.

Like other Tom Gates books, cheeky little Tom Gates is the star of this book as well. Tom loves to doodle but it’s hard in school when he sits right at the front of his classroom. He can even see through his report through his teacher’s nostrils! Mr Fullerman is basically bald and is a very strict teacher.

Tom, Derek and Norman have a band called ‘dogzombies’. They have a big mission which is to get this band well known.

On the other side is Delia, Tom’s sister. Delia hates Tom and Tom hates Delia. One day when Tom goes snooping into Delia’s room he finds something unusual. What was it? Little did he know that there could be a purple curse coming.

I would rate this book 10/10 because it is funny, interesting and mysterious. It would be a great book for 7–9-year-old kids.

Aashi is a regular book reviewer for Alphabet Soup. You can read more of her book reviews here. To send us YOUR book review, read our submission guidelines. Happy reading!

Posted in Book reviews by Aashi, Book reviews by kids

Book review: Jane Eyre

Posted on by Alphabet Soup
Jane Eyre retold by Mary Sebag-Montefiore and illustrated by Alan Marks

REVIEWED BY AASHI, 7, VIC

Jane Eyre (Usborne Young Reading series), retold by Mary Sebag-Montefiore, illustrated by Alan Marks, Usborne, ISBN 9781409539643

Aashi reviewed her own copy of this book.

Jane Eyre is a classic book about love and friendship. The original book was written by Charlotte Bronte, who was a teacher who loved writing along with her siblings. When Charlotte Bronte died her house was turned into a museum.

She wrote Jane Eyre in 1847. The copy I read was written by Mary Sebag-Montefiore and illustrated by Alan Marks.

Like Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre was a teacher. She became a teacher after abandoning her supposed husband. Jane Eyre’s life flipped and wobbled as kind Jane moved around her home country and all this time she read lots of her favourite books.

Jane was an orphan who lived with her stubborn aunty and her mean cousin. Her aunty always punished her without a reason and not one hour was spent without punishments. One day Jane’s stubborn aunty sent her to a boarding school that made the pupils (students) shiver and whacked canes and rods on their necks and chests. Until one winter day most kids caught bad diseases and most kids in the school died.

This all sounds very sad but the book has a happy ending with lots of kindness. I would encourage reading this book as this gives a view of olden days.

I would rate this book 4 out of 5 stars as it is sometimes scary. I would recommend this book for 7-9 year olds. 

This is Aashi’s second book review for Alphabet Soup. Check out her earlier review of Tom Gates: Ten Tremendous Tales. To send us YOUR book review, read our submission guidelines. Happy reading!

Posted in Book reviews by Aashi, Book reviews by kids

Book review: Tom Gates Ten Tremendous Tales

Posted on by Alphabet Soup

REVIEWED BY AASHI, 7, VIC

Ten Tremendous Tales

Tom Gates: Ten Tremendous Tales by Liz Pichon, Scholastic UK, ISBN 9781760974282

Aashi reviewed her own copy of this book.

Ten Tremendous Tales is a book with ten stories, all of the different ten stories are written by Liz Pichon.

The main character of the book is Tom Gates who likes to doodle. You must be wondering what doodling is. Well, it is practically drawing!

I like the book because there is a whole range of stories to read. Each story is unique and has a different moral, like one of them is about always to have hope. I liked this moral because in Covid times having hope is so important!

After reading this book I feel like I could read many more books where Tom Gates is the main character. He is super-duper at doodling but always gets into trouble. I won’t say more about Tom to keep some surprises for you.

This book is also cool as it is the tenth book in Tom Gates series by the author. The Brilliant World of Tom Gates was the first book and sent out to stores in 2011.

I would rate this book 9/10 because I think that some of the stories could continue a little bit longer. It will be enjoyed by children who are ages 7-11.

I hope you would like to read Ten Tremendous Tales.

This is Aashi’s first review for Alphabet Soup. To send us YOUR story, poem, artwork or book review, check out our submission guidelines. Happy reading!