Book reviews by Marley

Book review: Higher Ground

Posted on July 11, 2025July 10, 2025 by Alphabet Soup

The cover of Higher Ground, a children's hardback book.

Higher Ground by Tull Suwannakit, New Frontier Publishing, ISBN 9781922326997

REVIEWED BY MARLEY, 9, WA

The publisher provided a review copy of this book.

Higher Ground is a picture book about a grandma, brother, sister and one rabbit who get stranded on a really tall apartment building in the rooftop garden, because of a huge flood and lots of rain. There’s nowhere to go unless they take a boat. The water is filled to the brim.

Their grandmother teaches them ways to survive with a scarce amount of food. She taught them how to tie knots and how to eat every part of a fish. She teaches them all of the knowledge she has so they can pass it on in the future.

My favourite page is where the illustrations show how they have all grown up over time. You can even see at this point, in their faces, that they have lost hope.

They end up never giving up and have enough hope that something great will happen. The moral of this book is to never give up and keep on pursuing what you believe in.

My favourite thing about this book is that there is always a cliffhanger to keep it interesting.

The book itself feels really high quality with an embossed cover and thick pages of illustrations.

I really enjoyed this book and people that like big cliffhangers and that are into adventure books and like learning new things would enjoy this book too.

Read Alphabet Soup’s interview with Tull Suwannakit, the author of Higher Ground.

Marley is a regular book reviewer for Alphabet Soup. You can read her earlier reviews here. To send us YOUR book review, read our submission guidelines.

Book review: Little Bones

Posted on June 6, 2025June 3, 2025 by Alphabet Soup

The cover of a book: Little Bones by Sandy Bigna

Little Bones by Sandy Bigna, illustrations by Tamlyn Teow, UQP, ISBN 9780702268878

REVIEWED BY MARLEY, 9, WA

The publisher provided a review copy of this book.

Little Bones is about a girl called Bones and she loves collecting animal bones for her collection. She doesn’t have many friends at school and people think she’s a freak. She ends up finding a little skeleton of a bird at the wetlands, she brings it back to her house and wishes the bird would come alive again. And guess what? He came alive.

The book is very different to other books I’ve read. It’s way more heart-warming and has different formatting. And I love the front cover.

I liked how there was always a cliff hanger and you could never stop reading the book without finding out what happened next.

My favourite character was Tenny, because Tenny is really sweet and kind. They are the perfect match for Bones as they are kind of Bones’ happy shadow. I liked the inclusion of diverse characters.

I liked the setting because it has very big home cosy vibes and it makes it feel more realistic.

I found the story very interesting because there aren’t many stories about people dying in kids books, but i think more should because you can’t just hide away what’s sensitive from kids. I didn’t find myself being sad, but intrigued to see how Bones would overcome her own sadness and regret.

I think people that are not super sensitive would enjoy this book. Its a mix between fantasy and adventure and about overcoming your fears. Also people that don’t feel like they belong might be intrigued to find out what’s in this book.

Read Alphabet Soup’s interview with the author of Little Bones.

Marley is a regular book reviewer for Alphabet Soup. You can read her earlier reviews here. To send us YOUR book review, read our submission guidelines.

Book reviews by kids, Book reviews by Marley

Book review: Bigfoot vs Yeti

Posted on March 21, 2025June 3, 2025 by Alphabet Soup

The cover of a picture book: Bigfoot vs Yeti by James Foley

Bigfoot vs Yeti by James Foley, Fremantle Press, ISBN 9781760994983

REVIEWED BY MARLEY, 9, PALMYRA PRIMARY SCHOOL, WA

The publisher provided a review copy of this book.

Bigfoot vs Yeti is about a Yeti and a Bigfoot and how there was a great big mist and rift between their two colonies. The two colonies always hated each other because they didn’t know anything about each other and were trying to protect themselves from what they didn’t understand, and because they couldn’t see them. One night a bigfoot and a yeti were on the edge of the rift on watch duty and they both had the exact same thought at the exact same time, that they wanted to be face to face and put an end to the rift. Back at home, their colonies were in a fight because they thought the other colony were responsible for each other’s lost bigfoot and yeti. While they were fighting, the bigfoot and the yeti were talking to each other and getting to know each other …

Bigfoot vs Yeti is a picture book, but it’s not like other picture books I’ve read. It’s black and white at the beginning and towards the end a little more colour starts to show. I enjoyed this book because it’s different and at the end you get to see the interesting ending (which I won’t give away). I really liked all the illustrations and they pulled the whole book together.

I think kids of all ages would enjoy it.

I think more than bigfoot and yeti, this book also means to not be afraid to show who you are, and that not everything you don’t know or understand is harmful.

Take a peek inside Bigfoot vs Yeti.

Marley is a regular book reviewer for Alphabet Soup. You can read her earlier review (of The Vanishing) here. To send us YOUR book review, read our submission guidelines.

Happy reading!

Book reviews by kids, Book reviews by Marley

Book review: The Vanishing

Posted on February 28, 2025June 3, 2025 by Alphabet Soup

The cover of a children's nonfiction novel: The Vanishing by Mark Greenwood.

The Vanishing by Mark Greenwood, Fremantle Press, ISBN 9781760993962

REVIEWED BY MARLEY, 9, PALMYRA PRIMARY SCHOOL, WA

The publisher provided a review copy of this book.

The Vanishing is a non fiction mystery book about Frederick Valentich going missing in his aircraft. He was a very kind person and his life was going very well for him and he was persistent and dedicated to becoming a pilot. One evening Frederick was meant to fly over Bass Strait but he and his plane vanished after he said he saw a UFO. He described it over the radio in his eerie last transmission as being ‘not an aircraft’.

People have lots of different theories about him going missing. One of them is being abducted by aliens, but his partner, Rhonda, says that he told her he would never board a UFO without her. Another theory is that he crashed into the water, but none of his aircraft pieces were found. There was also a photographer who took a picture that night of the sunset, where Frederick was flying, and it looks like a UFO hovering over his aircraft.

I really enjoyed this book as there was so much information and investigation, and the story itself was really interesting. The cover is also really inviting – if I had seen this cover at the library I would have chosen it. This is the first investigative book I have read and it was a great experience getting to learn about the case and that it actually happened.

I think this book should be for nine or ten years and up because some of the words are really big and hard to read. I think anyone interested in mysteries and cold cases and the paranormal would enjoy this book very much.

Read a few pages of The Vanishing.

This is Marley’s first book review for Alphabet Soup. To send us YOUR book review, read our submission guidelines. Happy reading!