The Boy with the Cuckoo-Clock Heart Review

Title: The Boy with the Cuckoo-Clock Heart

Author: Mathias Malzieu

Release Date: 6^th August 2009

Publisher: Chatto and Windus

Edinburgh, 1874. On the coldest night the world has ever seen, Little Jack is born with a frozen heart and immediately undergoes a life-saving operation. But Dr Madeleine is no conventional medic and surgically implants a cuckoo-clock into his chest.

Little Jack grows up different from other children; every day begins with a daily wind-up. At school he is bullied for his ‘ticking’, but Dr Madeleine reminds him he must resist strong emotion; anger is far too dangerous for his cuckoo-clock heart. So when the beautiful young street-singer, Miss Acacia, appears – pursued by Joe the school bully – Jack is in danger of more than just falling in love... he is putting his life on the line.

At birth, Jack is fitted with a cuckoo-clock heart to save his life. As he grows up under the protective wing of Dr Madeleine and her friends he realises he is different to other children. A chance encounter with a pretty girl, Miss Acacia inspires him to start at school.  However, the tick tocking of his clock-work heart means he struggles to make friends and eventually he is driven out by the school bully.  Setting off on a quest to track down Miss Acacia, Jack meets lots of colourful characters and finds himself on the most exciting adventure ever... falling in love!

I picked up this book because I was attracted to its steam punk style front cover and the contents followed this style. Jack is one of a rabble of characters which have been operated on by Dr Madeleine, who many of the townspeople think of as a witch. Her unusual methods of ‘fixing people’ and assisting young ladies with unwanted pregnancies gets her a bad reputation but she cares for little Jack as if he were her own son. It is this caring relationship that makes the ending really distressing and for me, this ruined the entire book.

I don’t want to reveal the ending to anyone who is going to give this book a go but it is rather sad and involves a huge deception which changes your entire perceptions of all the events in the book. The characters are brilliantly constructed and have wonderfully vibrant personalities . The style of the first person narrative (written from the point of view of Jack) is similar to Lemony Snicket’s Unfortunate Events series. Drifting between a black comedy and a fairy-tale, the narrative is more mature that Snicket’s  but still offers some of the dry humour and witty style that Snicket is so good at. This style is also captured in the wonderful chapter titles.

I did enjoy the story and the relationship between Jack and those he cares for,  Dr Madeleine, his surrogate mother, Georges Melies, his best friend and Miss Acacia, his one true love, are beautiful as well as haunting in the way they develop and end.  Set in 1874, Jack the Ripper makes a brief appearance and the beautifully described Edinburgh, Paris and an Extraordinarium in Andalusia really captured my imagination.

4/5 An absolutely lovely book but with a harrowing and disappointing ending.

My Mad Fat Diary Review

Title: My Mad Fat Diary

Author: Rae Earl

Release Date: 23^rd August 2007

Publisher: Hodder paperbacks
 
It’s 1989, and Rae is a fat, boy-mad 17-year-old girl, living in Stamford, Lincolnshire with her mum and their deaf white cat in a council house with a mint off-green bath suite and a larder Rae can’t keep away from. This is the hilarious and touching real-life diary she kept during that fateful year.

My Mad Fat Diary evokes a vanished time when Charles and Di are still together, the Berlin wall is up, Kylie is expected to disappear from the charts at any moment and it’s £1.30 for a snakebite and black down the Vaults pub. It will speak to anyone who has ever been a confused, lonely teenager who clashes with their mother, takes themselves VERY seriously and has no idea how hilarious they are.

Rae Earl is a teenage girl growing up in the 80s. Just realised from a psychiatric hospital, she is trying to fit in again with society. But between her mum’s new boyfriend, fancying almost every boy she meet, keeping up with a hectic social life down the pub and revising for her exams, Rae is finding life stressful. Luckily she has her diary to confide in!

I was inspired to read this after watching the hilarious tv show on E4 based on the book. I was not disappointed. Rae Earl summarises what it is to be a teenage girl without a boyfriend (when everyone else is in couples) and who feels insecure about her image... believe me, we’ve all been there. What I thought was hilarious was the way she  got very mixed messages about whether guys were ‘into her’ or not ... it was very very true to life! But I don’t want to put anyone off if they think this is just one girl’s rant about how hard her life is... far from it. Rae appears to experience the highs and lows of growing up just like any teenage girl (although she has just come out of a psychiatric ward) and eventually finds friends that she fits in with, not those who cannot accept the way she is.

The TV show was slightly different from the book as some of the things which happen to the characters are slightly different. The TV series definitely has a more definitive ending than the book; I felt the two complemented each other wonderfully. I couldn’t read the book without picturing Sharon Rooney who plays Rae Earl in the series writing down those thoughts (She is a brilliant actress).

Rae refers to a lot of songs/artists within the diary. I wasn’t around in the 80s (being born in 1991) and I thought that (by listening to a lot of the tunes on youtube) I was able to get a feel of the music scene in the 80s and I really enjoyed it!

I would recommend this book to anyone who fancies a laugh. It was really enjoyable and I think boys may even appreciate the humour (and they also get to see inside the mind of a teenage girl!).  This brilliant book offers an insight into life in the 80s, Rae has to use a public phone box because she doesn’t have a home telephone and she records songs of the radio and makes mixed tapes, and I thought many people, whether they were around in the 80s or not, would appreciate this. I think that everyone will get something different from this book as it has so much to offer on many levels, humour, history, culture, relationships and a fascinating teenage life.

5/5 An absolute riot!

For more information on the tv series check out http://www.e4.com/mymadfatdiary/

Series 2 to follow in 2014... I can’t wait!

Barrington Stoke Reviews

So many books that are for people with reading difficulties, ranging from dyslexia or a low reading ability etc, do not have engaging content for young adult readers. Barrington Stoke are brilliant publishers that produce books of a suitable reading level but are also entertaining for YA readers. This is why I thought I would introduce some of their stories to you ... if you don’t know of them already. They are well worth a read, even if you usually go for more complex tales, as they are enjoyable but also quick reads and the good thing is... you can give them a go whatever your reading age or ability! These reviews are literally short and sweet because the stories themselves aren’t too long but I wanted to try and give people a taster of what the stories are like.

Title: The Dying Photo

Author: Alan Gibbons

A strange man takes a photo of Jimmy’s family. As the camera flashes, Jimmy’s parents vanish. The only clue is a picture of his mum and dad screaming.

Jimmy is alone. Nobody believes him. Is he going mad? Or can Jimmy find the man who took his parents from him – and get them back?

The idea for this story was produced for a competition by a young man named James Pybis with Luke Gates producing the cover design. This just proves how Barrington Stoke really care about their readers and what they want to read! I enjoyed this book which follows Jimmy’s story when his parents disappear. The man who takes the photo has a creepy story behind him which was really interesting and added depth to such a short story.

4/5 A short story but with plenty of content

 

Title: Bad Day

Author: Graham Marks

Rob’s going to meet Tessa.

Like, for real.

In person.

For the first time.

Then rob starts to think twice.

And what should have been a great day begins to fall apart, big style...

Rob is going to meet a girl he has met online. But all day long he has doubts, what if she isn’t who she said she was, what if she doesn’t turn up at all? I enjoyed this story as I thought it was quite realistic. Rob’s emotional rollercoaster, doubting who Tess might be but also feeling excited to meet her was really interesting but also created his character. This story is quite funny at the end, although I can’t tell you why without revealing the story! Give it a go, it will surprise you!

5/5 An interesting story with an unexpected ending.

Title: Thing

Author:  Chris Powling

Black button eyes.

Zig-zag moth.

Stiff body.

Thing.

Once it was Robbie’s best friend.

Now it’s become his enemy...

Thing goes everywhere with Robbie... which is fine, until Robbie wants to go somewhere without Thing. Can they ever be parted?

I found this story quite unnerving. I wasn’t terrified but it was a bit scary. It reminded me a little of Coraline by Neil Gaiman, not in terms of plot but because of the button eyes that really freaked me out when I was reading both stories.  The illustrations are brilliant but eerie and the one on the last page is particularly shocking. The story has a really simple plot with a climactic ending that added more horror to the rest of the tale.

4.5/5 Really eerie and well worth a read.

 

Please comment with any views on your favourite Barrington Stoke stories!

If you want to find out more about Barrington Stoke and the work they do, check out:-

http://www.barringtonstoke.co.uk