'Tis by Frank McCourt
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The most interesting thing about Frank McCourt’s second book was to see what he would do with his life now that he was grown-up. However, having said that, there are a few events that might not have happened to him in the USA if he hadn’t been so naïve. For me this was a most intriguing and beguiling ‘coming of age’ tale, with funny and shocking events in equal measure. Now we read about Frank and his own problems with booze. Never quite as serious as his own father but, nevertheless, affecting his aims and relationships including the one with his mother and even with his desperate love life.

Although it was understandable, there were times in this book that I found the likeable boy growing up in Angela’s Ashes was much less likeable, who needlessly did or said things that reflected a kind of bitterness about his poor Irish roots. McCourt’s style of writing still has its own special kind of immediacy making one hasty to continuously turn the pages for the tale to unfold so uniquely.

It was heart breaking at times when we discover some of Frank’s health problems have stayed with him in America. Encouraged from all sides to ‘stick with your own kind’ and often mocked if he tried to do so, he achieves a measure of success in teaching and writing, but only after a tremendous battle with cynical kids and pompous colleagues.
Highly recommended.


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Felicity and the Scary Bear by Loralee Evans
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the fourth children's book in a series about Felicity, a brave little sparrow, who without doubt will delight her young readers just as much as in the previous stories. It revolves around Halloween and trick or treat night. Felicity and her sparrow friend, Cairn, become frightened at first by their ‘person’ friends who are dressed up in various costumes. They soon become used to the scary appearances and start to find it is fun after all, when the kids start collecting bags of sweets and candy.

But the two sparrows begin to feel threatened by circumstances involving a haunted house and mistaken identity. It is well written because most children reading the story will probably get the idea about what is happening well before the feathered friends. And it’s that which adds to the fun for the young readers.

There are lessons to be learned about loyalty and bravery, as well as a lot of fun about language with the sparrows using words like ‘tricky’ or ‘treaty’ for example. I was pleased to see their special person friend again, Mister Yellow Horse, who appears in previous books. The kids will also be delighted to find a real baby bear called Vincenzo as one of the characters in the tale. Later, the ‘mad scientist’ adds a strong feeling of tension and danger to the mix, when the pace speeds up.

Unfortunately, the book requires some editing as I found a few annoying typos in it but they did not detract from the enjoyment overall. It would be a lovely adventure book to read to very young children or for slightly older ones to read for themselves.



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