A Pocketful of Kisses - Sue Hellard, Angela McAllister

Advantages: lovely story and illustrations
Disadvantages: none!

...'Brave Bitsy and the Bear' is a lovely childrens' picture story written by Angela McAllister and ilustrated by Tiphanie Beeke. The main characters in the story are a small toy rabbit called Bitsy and a big brown bear! At first sight, the title might suggest that Bitsy has to be brave and protect herself from the scary big bear, but in actual fact that is not what the story is about at all! It is actually about two different acts of kindness, and because of this, is a good one to share with young children. The story starts when poor Bitsy, who was going through the forest with her little girl owner, falls out of a pocket. She is scared but knows that she needs to try and find her way home so she sets off singing a brave song. This attracts the big brown bear who offers to help her find her way, even though he was just about to settle... Read review

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Advantages: A Colourful, vibrant, rich novel
Disadvantages: the author's lack of moral conduct

...Angela Carter's Wise Children is the life story of show businesses Chance Sisters. Dora Chance, twin sister of Nora, narrates throughout the story. She tells their colourful life tale upon the commencement of the twin's seventy- fifth birthdays. The story is set mainly in England. The twins spend a great deal of their lives based at their childhood home in Brixton, South London. I think Angela Chance has chosen this setting to exaggerate and highlight the twin's illegitimacy. The North and South divide of social London were very clear at the time of the books setting. The "Right side of the tracks is the North and the wrong side, the South. There is to be no overlapping of borders, as the sides are very definitely separated by the river. At the time of the twin's births, there was a huge stigma attached to being illegitimate... Read review

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Advantages: Funny and full of witty humour
Disadvantages: None

...After reading “Angela’s Ashes-A Memoir of A Childhood” by Frank McCourt I found myself intrigued by his description of the story, as told through the eyes of a young Irish child living within an impoverished family. Against all odds he never loses his sense of humour and fight for survival. I would like to examine more closely how Frank McCourt achieves this by looking at the style of his writing and the themes he deals with. The main theme that Frank McCourt looks at is poverty, the way in which families deal with this problem and how people can be changed by money. Looking at this issue from a child’s point of view adds more interest to the book. The idea of having no money scarcely entered into Frank and his brother’s minds. When their house became flooded they enjoyed splashing in the puddles and moving everything upstairs... Read review

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