My Book Reviews

Category: Humor

This category contains any posts published in reference to books of Humor genre.

  • The Tale of Angelino Brown by David Almond

    The Tale of Angelino Brown by David Almond

    Angelino

    The Tale of Angelino Brown by David Almond, Alex T. Smith (Illustrator)
    Release: February 28th 2018
    Format: Hardcover
    Publisher: Candlewick Press
    Source: Amazon

    Angelino


    Tale of Angelino Brown Synopsis:

    Bert and Betty Brown have got themselves a little angel. Bert found him in his top pocket when he was driving his bus.

    Their friends think he’s lovely. So do Nancy and Jack and Alice from Class 5K. What a wonder!

    But Acting Head Teacher Mrs Mole is not so sure. Nor is Professor Smellie. Or the mysterious bloke in black who claims to be a School Inspector.

    Then there’s Basher Malone – big, lumbering Basher Malone. He REALLY doesn’t like Angelino. And it looks like he’s out to get him..

     

    Review:

    “The Tale of Angelino Brown” tells the tale of an adorable angel who shows up in the pocket of a bus driver, and changes the lives of people around him. This was such a cute and charming book to read!

    My favorite aspect of this story is the positivity that seamlessly flowed from this story. Most of the kids and adults were not scared of Angelino at all when they meet him! They immediately considered him as one of their own, even though he was different. Betty instantly took to caring for him. It gives a perfect moral to just be yourself and people will like you for who you are. True, there were also some schemers in the book who took advantage of Angelino, but every story needs a villain. However, even the villains are written in such an appealing manner that you realize why they are behaving that way, and feel sympathetic towards them.

    Most of the characters are charming and quirky in their own manner. It’s so hard to choose one special character because I was fond of all of them. Angelino is so cute with the way he talks and farts. Bert and Betty are the parents my heart went out to because they accept and take care of Angelino. Alice, Nancy and Jack are inspiring for befriending and supporting Angelino. Moreover, Ms. Monteverdi is so delightful, that I wish she taught in my school when I was young. Even Mrs. Mole and Professor Smellie are hilarious at times with their mannerisms.

    Is David Almond the new Roald Dahl? The author tells the story in such a beautiful childlike way that you just get immersed in the story. In a way, his writing style made me feel the same way I felt when I read ‘Matilda’ by Dahl as a child. Suffice to say, I loved his style of whimsical writing and hope he continues writing such stories. Alex T. Smith has added beautiful illustrations to the book. To be honest, the illustrations made the book even more light-hearted that how I imagined. For example, when I first read about Mrs. Mole and Alice, I thought Mrs. Mole was going to be mean and Alice was a snob. However, the illustrations portrayed Alice as cute and smart, and Mrs. Mole as stern but kind. I feel the illustrations made the book story more fresh and interesting.

    The only negative part for me was not knowing more about Angelino. Can the author make a sequel to the origins of how Angelino came to being? I would love to read more about them! Overall, I adored “The Tale of Angelino Brown” and give it 4.5/5 stars.

  • My Life in Smiley (Book 1 in Smiley series): It’s All Good by Anne Kalicky

    My Life in Smiley (Book 1 in Smiley series): It’s All Good by Anne Kalicky

    Smiley

    My Life in Smiley (Book 1 in Smiley series): It’s All Good by Anne Kalicky
    Release: April 3rd 2018
    Format: Ebook
    Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing
    Source: NetGalley

    Smiley



    My Life in Smiley Synopsis:

    Follow the middle school misadventures of Max, as recorded in his hilarious Diary of a Wimpy Kid–style journal that is unconventionally illustrated with the internationally recognized emoticons of the SmileyWorld brand.

    Warning: Do not read before 2126! My Life in Smiley: It’s All Good is meant strictly for people of the future, chronicling the life and times of Max, an average eleven-year-old. Annoying siblings, stage fright, love at first sight—can you believe what kids in the 21st century had to deal with? Follow his illustrated diary as has embarks on a great journey—the first year of middle school in France. Max’s journal entries, humorous drawings, and colorful smileys recount his adventures in making new friends, dealing with bullies, and surviving a ruthless P.E. teacher. Along the way, Max starts to figure out how to interact with his peers, and he realizes that at the end of the day, no matter what life throws at him, it’s all good!

     

    Review:

    A BIG Thank You to NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for providing me a copy of “My Life in Smiley (Book 1 in Smiley series): It’s All Good” by Anne Kalicky in exchange for my review. This is a book similar to the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” series where it covers the adventures of an average boy over the period of one year in middle grade. However, I felt this book did not have the same charm or humor that the Wimpy Kid series has.

    Here are the reasons that brought down my rating for this book. Firstly, there are some scenes where I felt that the humor is lost in translation. There’s a scene where Max and his English pen pal Conrad share jokes on how they imitate each other’s accents. According to Max, Conrad asks “Where is the Cantine?” with an English accent. Okay, so what? I didn’t understand what was funny. There’s another scene where Max’s dad wants to practice his English on Conrad and asks him “Where is the fromaidge”. What’s that? Perhaps the author should have made a few edits on the jokes for English language readers to enjoy.

    Furthermore, there were some scenes that I just couldn’t connect to. For instance, Max’s mom sends him a text message to come for dinner, even though they are in the same house. Is this a new age trend that people follow by texting their children while staying under the same roof? Then there were other scenes that were just repetitious and annoying. Ironically, Max doesn’t even realize how annoying HE is when repeatedly describes how annoying his sister Marion is.

    However, the main important reason why I didn’t enjoy this book was due to the illustrations. I felt most of the illustrations were mediocre and done in a hurry. The illustrations in the Wimpy Kid series are very neat, with bold outlines that are consistent and strike the reader. The illustrations in this book were squiggly, scratchy, and had a lot of rough shading that looked very haphazard. Perhaps it was to done to show that it is a journal of an actual 11 year old, but I didn’t enjoy it. The author over uses smileys at times and I started skipping them entirely in an attempt to finish the book.

    The only reason I am giving this an average rating is because parts of the book were fun to read. I enjoyed the scenes where Max decides to get coupons as Christmas gifts for his family, and when he sings for the retirement home. In addition to that, I also liked Lisa’s character a lot! I laughed out loud when she obsesses over ‘Ben Didji” and loves receiving appendages as gifts for her birthday. Maybe this book would have been more fun if Lisa was the main character.

    Overall, I didn’t enjoy this book as I thought I would and give it 2.5 out of 5 stars.

  • The Zoya Factor by Anuja Chauhan

    The Zoya Factor by Anuja Chauhan

    Zoya

    The Zoya Factor by Anuja Chauhan
    Release: April 21st 2015 (first published 2008)
    Format: Paperback
    Publisher: HarperCollins
    Source: Amazon

    Zoya


    Zoya Factor Synopsis:

    When the younger players in India’s cricket team find out that advertising executive Zoya Singh Solanki was born at the very moment India won the World Cup back in 1983, they are intrigued. When having breakfast with her is followed by victories on the field, they are impressed. And when not eating with her results in defeat, they decide she’s a lucky charm. The nation goes a step further. Amazed at the ragtag team’s sudden spurt of victories, it declares her a Goddess.

    So when the eccentric IBCC president and his mesmeric, always-exquisitely-attired Swamiji invite Zoya to accompany the team to the tenth ICC World Cup, she has no choice but to agree. Pursued by international cricket boards on the one hand, wooed by Cola majors on the other, Zoya struggles to stay grounded in the thick of the world cup action. And it doesn’t help that she keeps clashing with the erratically brilliant new skipper who tells her flatly that he doesn’t believe in luck…


    Review:

    I recently picked up this book on a friend’s recommendation. I honestly did not expect this book to be good when I started reading it. The style of writing seemed to be very juvenile and contained mostly ‘Hinglish’ dialogues. However, the plot was so quirky and unique that it kept me engrossed and made me like it a lot!

    What’s fun about “The Zoya Factor” is that it brilliantly blends the intensity of cricket with romance of the protagonists. The author has written the cricket parts in a captivating manner that keeps you engrossed even if you aren’t a fan. The author doesn’t focus importance of one over the other. This is a welcome change from reading your usual melodrama soapy stories. Hence, this book is not just a ‘romance’ novel, but has something for everyone to enjoy.

    The author’s strengths lies in her plot, character development and the snarky repertoire of the dialogue. She has a talent for keeping the readers glued to the book and had me laughing out loud during the funny moments, to nearly throwing the book during the annoying moments. She has done a wonderful job for a debut novel, as there is never a boring moment in any page. While the book ended the way I thought it would, I admit there were times where I kept guessing what Zoya would do next.

    Even though I found most of the characters to be likable, my only problem with the book was Zoya’s personality. During the latter part, Zoya comes off as an emotionally, confused gullible clown with low self-esteem. She reacts to situations before even thinking it through. She makes really dumb decisions and falls into ridiculous situations based on her mood-swings. We can sum up the second half as “I love Nikhil”, “I hate Nikhil”, “I love Nikhil”, every other page. Perhaps this was done for more sub plots, but I kept rolling my eyes on the situations she got into.

    Most of the Indian authors pen their stories in the hopes of turning it into a Bollywood movie someday. “The Zoya Factor” is no different and has all the ingredients to turn it into a perfect Bollywood film. The main characters meet through quirky circumstances and fall in love during the first half, and go through various turmoil in the second half testing their romance. The added advantage over such clichéd movies is the gripping sports aspect that gives it a nice touch.
    Overall, this was a fun, breezy read and I am interested on how the movie adaptation turns out.