Category: Book reviews by Kobe

REVIEWED BY KOBE, 9, WA

Littlelight by Kelly Canby, Fremantle Press, ISBN 9781925815764 

Kobe received a review copy of this book.

Littlelight is a very enjoyable book for everyone to read. Although it’s a picture book, it’s still good to read because it has a valuable lesson in it. This book is also a great way to teach kids to use their imagination, like you don’t have to be scared of being yourself because you are yourself, and this book shows exactly that.

The story is about town that is called Littlelight that lost some bricks from the walls, which the mayor was really mad about. So Littlelight’s people started looking for the culprit. After that, all the towns people lived together happily. The rest of the details are in the unique book.

In my opinion, the moral of this story is that different people have different opinions. (A moral is something in a book that teaches you a lesson or good tip.) In the story, the Littlelight  people agreed with the mayor’s choices until the end, where they disagreed.

Some people may think that picture books are just for babies, but they can be for anyone. Even for adults. So please read this absolutely charming book.

Take a sneak peek inside Littlelight.

Kobe is a regular book reviewer for Alphabet Soup. You can read all her reviews here. To send us YOUR book review, check out our submission guidelines. Happy reading!

REVIEWED BY KOBE, 9, WA

Alice-Miranda in the Outback by Jacqueline Harvey, Puffin, ISBN 9781760891039

The publisher provided a review copy of this book.

Alice-Miranda is an unforgettable fantastic series of outstanding books that is fabulously written by the amazing author Jaqueline Harvey, who is the great writer of the Clementine Rose series as well as Kensy and Max. This book is so utterly amazing because it is filled to the brim with funny characters and weird animal friendships. Think about what it would be like to see a big, giant, fat cat sleeping undisturbed with a teeny weeny, wet, floppy goldfish, that’s exactly what type of crazy action she exclusively includes in this exciting book!

The overall story is that Alice-Miranda and her friends are off to the Australian outback! They’re going to help an old family friend who’s found himself short-staffed during cattle mustering season. The landscape is like nothing else — wide open and dusty red as far as the eye can see. It’s also full of quirky characters, like eccentric opal miner Sprocket McGinty and the enigmatic Taipan Dan. As the gang settles in at Hope Springs Station, mysteries start piling up. A strange map indicates treasure beneath the paddocks, a young girl is missing and there are unexplained water shortages.

My most favourite part of this book is that Alice-Miranda and her friends and family go on lots and lots and lots of mysterious and exciting travelling in this book which brings me to the last stage of explaining why this awesome book is so unbelievable! Lastly, this book has the funniest characters in the world’s history! It is so because Jacqueline Harvey has made funny names and hilarious characters like Muz and Col. That is the most convincing thing I can say to you that you have to buy this glorious book right now! Now you have to!

Read a sample chapter of the book on the publisher’s website.

Check out Alphabet Soup’s Q&A with the author, Jacqueline Harvey.

Kobe is a regular book reviewer for Alphabet Soup. You can read all her reviews here. To send us YOUR book review, check out our submission guidelines. Happy reading!

REVIEWED BY KOBE, YR 4, WA

Deadly! by Morris Gleitzman and Paul Jennings, Puffin, ISBN 9780143300243

Kobe reviewed her own copy of this book. This review was longlisted in Alphabet Soup’s 2020 Young Book Reviewers’ Competition. 

Deadly! is a story about a boy named Sprocket, who has lost his memory and a girl named Amy, who has lost her dad. Two of them are on a quest that will take them to the weirdest nudist colony in the world – a hidden community whose dangerous experiments are keeping the nudists alive artificially. Now their secret is out, are Amy and Sprocket’s lives in peril?

Read this Young Australians Best Book Awards 2001 and 2002 award-winning book to find out! This book is a really funny one that will make you laugh for a long, long time! So I don’t see why you should not buy this hilarious book and have a little chuckle or a big laughing party!

Morris Gleitzman and Paul Jennings have worked brilliantly to create such an amazing book! They have both made a lot of details about the story, for example, when Sprocket and Amy were in a room, Paul Jennings and Morris Gleitzman said that insects SLOWLY crawled over them and crawled into a blue fart cloud made by Sprocket. They have also completed it by so much humour, such as, Sprocket fainted in a nudist woman’s arms during a hug and found out that people were tugging him in all directions! I am sure they spent a lot of time writing this book to make it full of fun!

I hope you get to read this book over and over again, just to cheer yourself up by laughing your head off if you’re upset from a bad situation. I encourage you to buy this book and pass it on to relatives, friends or even just bring it to the bus with you because it is always nice to have a smile on your face, so that the whole world will have a glamorous smile on it! I really like the bit where Sprocket finds out what his real name is.

A moral is included in many books, for instance, ‘The Tortoise and the Hare’ has a moral that slow and steady wins the race.

For me, the moral of this story is that everything can be worse than you think, so don’t think your life is a wreck or a disaster, but always try to look at the bright side.

This really helps me because sometimes I worry too much. Like last time I left my bathers at the swimming pool and I thought it was the end of the world. But the next morning, I found them still lying there untouched, and that frightened feeling helped me to remember to bring them back on that day, and never lose them again.

I hope it’s useful to you, too!

During May and June Alphabet Soup will be posting all the book reviews by those longlisted in our 2020 Book Reviewers’ Competition. 

REVIEWED BY KOBE, 9, WA

Kid Artists: True tales of childhood from creative legends by David Stabler, ill. by Doogie Horner, ISBN 9781594748967, Quirk Books

Kobe reviewed her own copy of this book

This book is my favourite book in March because you can learn about famous artists’ lives from childhood to adulthood, even Leonardo da Vinci! The most important part is that it tells you how they work hard to become famous artists.

In the book you can learn how Frida survived polio in her right leg, how Dr Seuss made super funny books and how Leonardo da Vinci made such a scary shield. It’s so interesting reading this FABULOUS book.

I am certain that you should at least take a look at this picture-filled book and your mind will be lost in time and the past. It was a very interesting inspiration. I hope you’ll enjoy reading this amazing book.

Kobe is a regular book reviewer for Alphabet Soup. You can read all her reviews here. To send us YOUR book review, check out our submission guidelines. Happy reading!

REVIEWED BY
KOBE, 9, WA

Arabella and the Magic Pencil by Stephanie Ward, illustrated by
Shaney Hyde,
EK Books,
ISBN 9781925820010

Kobe received a copy of this book from the publisher.

This AMAZING AND INCREDIBLE picture book is the most wonderful picture book that I have ever seen! So the story is mainly about a girl who was born from a duke and duchess who doted on their delightful child Arabella until … her new born baby brother, Master Archibald Vermillion Remington XV or Avery for short. He just destroyed everything, so she used her magic pencil from her wish to erase him! But does that make Arabella’s freedom? You have to read this book to find out!

The words might not be much but they are very important to learn from.

I admit Stephanie Ward is a great writer and that Shaney Hyde is a great illustrator! WOW! GREAT BOOK! I’m going to read it to myself every day!

This should be a popular book soon and be an award winning  book too! THIS BOOK IS THE BEST EXAMPLE OF A PICTURE BOOK!

Kobe is a regular book reviewer for Alphabet Soup. You can read all her reviews here. To send us YOUR book review, check out our submission guidelines. Happy reading!