Kekula

Posted: May 11, 2011 | Author: Mika | Filed under: Book of Sand | Leave a comment

by Jahcolyn Russell Neiman

{ 2011 | AuthorHouse | 32 pgs }

Kekula is the story of a girl who’s born with the mark of a zebra. It has been foretold that she will be taken away from her village, and can only be returned by another who has the zebra mark.

Unfortunately, the book falls awkwardly between a picture book and a very short chapter book. The full-page illustrations add nicely to the story, but the accompanying text sometimes takes up 3 solid pages top-to-bottom – much too dense for a kid who would really be interested in the large pictures. What’s more, the dialogue isn’t broken up into paragraphs, making the conversations hard to follow. It’s not very aesthetically pleasing, either. And I did find several typos.

That being said, I did enjoy Kekula. The story was interesting, even if parts were a little cliche. Kids don’t mind, right? While I definitely wouldn’t buy a copy, it’s not a waste of time to read it if you should see it somewhere.

One last note – I can only find two other reviews of this book. Read them here and here (although, like most books given to bloggers to review, most of what you’ll see is a cover blurb followed by “It was a fun book to read.”).

Disclaimer: I received a review copy of this book from the publisher, but there was no other compensation and the opinions contained here are my own.

Buy Kekula on Amazon

No Frills

Posted: May 10, 2011 | Author: Mika | Filed under: Bartleby the Scrivener | 2 Comments

I don’t know why I thought of this the other day, but when I was little I had a bear called the No Frills Bear.

I loved that it had a barcode on its foot. And, you can still find this bear – plenty on eBay and even one on Amazon for about $13. I’m not much of a sentimental person, but I admit, I really want to have this bear again.

Then I got thinking about other toys I had as a kid.

You remember My Little Ponies, but did you know they had a Big Brother line? I had this pirate pony, which Google has informed me is named Barnacle:

For Christmas in 1991 I got this Happy Holidays Barbie, and although her dress started out as a nice deep green, it faded over the years to an indescribable brownish-red color.

My sleep-deprived brain can’t think of any other specific toys at the moment. What about you? Are there toys you remember loving as a kid? Thanks to the vast reaches of the internet, I bet you can find a lot of them still.

Like I said, I’m not usually one to feel sentimental about “things,” but I do want that No Frills Bear!