Me And My Big Mouth

Martha Reviews: I am Not a Loser

Please welcome my 10-year-old daughter, Martha, who wants to tell you about I am Not a Loser.

The book is about a boy called Barry Loser who is quite popular until a bit in the story when a boy called Darren makes him unpopular. I can't tell you how he does it but it is quite funny.

Barry spends most of the rest of the book trying to become popular again by doing lots of weird stuff to get himself noticed but it doesn't work.

It's a really funny and weird book with cartoons and text a bit like Diary of a Wimpy Kid. If your kid liked that book then I reckon they'll like this one.

I'd give it 4.5 out of 5.

Martha Reviews The Clumsies

My daddy was given this by a friend at work who hoped that I would read it. I did and it was quite funny and silly.

It's about some mice who are living in a man's office which is very messy. His angry boss tells him to tidy up but the mice do it for him but they just shove it all in his cupboard and when the angry boss comes back the man opens the cupboard door to get something and the stuff all falls out.

The man enters his dog into a contest for the dog with the waggiest tail. The prize is a life's supply of dog biscuits. I'm not going to tell you if he wins or not.

Oh and there is a page about not eating sausages in the office.

I liked it because it was very silly and the writing is often in funny shapes. So when the author is writing about a cup the words might be in a cup. That's cool.

The Clumsies Make a Mess by Sorrel Anderson is really good and I think anyone under 10 will like it.

Ethan Interviews Kate Forsyth

Kate Forsyth is an Australian author who has written loads of books for kids. She is doing a big blog tour at the moment so I have asked her a bunch of tricky questions for her visit to my dad's blog.

Her latest book is called The Puzzle Ring and it is really cool. It is all about a girl called Hannah whose father has disappeared. She finds out that there is a curse on her family and she travels from Australia to her ancestral home in Scotland to try to solve the mystery.

Yesterday Kate was at Steph Bowe's Hey Teenager blog and tomorrow she will pop up at Tales of Whimsy. Check her out there if you can.

EP: I am 11 years old. What books did you read when you were my age?

KF: When I was your age I loved reading so much, I read my way through the entire library at my primary school. My favourite writers were Susan Cooper and the Dark is Rising, Ursula le Guin and the Wizard of Earthsea, J.R.R Tolkien and the Hobbit, Lloyd Alexander and the Prydain Chronicles, Elisabeth Goudge and The Little White Horse, plus lots o mystery and adventure books – the Famous Five, Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden ...

EP: I really like the cover of your book. Does the book have different covers in different countries?

KF: No, its the same cover – and this si the first time that ahs happened. All my other books have different covers in all the different countries. Sometimes they even have different names!

EP: Hannah is a cool heroine. Is she anything like you?

KF: Well, I don’t have red hair, nor am I left-handed, and I can’t sing or play guitar either. I’d like to! I do like making up rhymes though, and solving secret codes, and I do like reading fantasy books, so in some ways we’re similar.

EP: What do readers in Australia think of the Scottish storyline?

They think its fascinating! Kids here don’t know much about Scottish history, but they all like stories with battles and bloody murder and betrayal in them – and the tales of the Fair Folk are just fantastic!

EP: Do kids over there know much about the history you are playing around with in the book?

KF: Kids in Scotland didn’t know it either! When I was in Scotland last year talking to lots of kids about the book, they were all amazed that an Australian knew more about their history than they did.

EP: When you finally made it to Scotland where your family come from what did you think of it?

KF: I loved it so much. It was just how I imagined it would be – which happens so rarely! I’d love to buy a castle there ... maybe one day ...

EP: Did you try some tablet?

KF: Not sure I know what you mean ....

EP: Are all the books you have written in Australia published over here?

KF: No, not at all. I’ve written 23 books all up, ranging from picture books to poetry to books for adults. I hope one day all will be published in the UK, though...

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The Puzzle Ring by Kate Forsyth is published by Scholastic and is out now in all good bookshops. If your bookshop doesn't have it then it is obviously rubbish and you should shop somewhere else. So there.

Oh, and tablet is a bit like fudge and you get it from Scotland. My gran is from Scotland and we have some when we go round her house.

Ethan's Song For Sunday

2 Atoms in a Molecule by Noah & the Whale.

Martha's Song For Sunday

Dead by They Might Be Giants.

Ethan: My Favourite Manga

Here are my five favourite manga series. If you haven't heard of manga they are Japanese comic books that can go on for several volumes. I like them because they are usually funny and you can read them quickly and they have lots of action. I often read them in between normal books.

5. Zatch Bell

It's about a boy who gets sent a person from another world by his dad. His dad found this person, called Zatch Bell, in a forest. They go on numerous adventures and it is always really exciting. This would be a good series to start with if you are a younger reader or new to manga.

4. Naruto

You might have seen this on the television, the series is based on the manga books. I am up to volume 42 and they are still going. Naruto is the main character and he is a young boy at the beginning of the series. He goes to a sort of ninja school and has to pass lots of tests and fight in loads of battles. Later on in the series he goes away to train for a few years and the books start up again when he is older. This has a lot of proper fighting in it and people die so might not be good unless you are 10 or over. It depends how wussy your parents are.

I like Naruto because there are lots of jokes and plenty of action.

3. Fullmetal Alchemist

Two brothers, Edward and Alphonse, train in alchemy - which is using the elements around you to create things. One day their mother dies so they train to become even better alchemists and when they return they try to use their skills to bring her back to life (something that no alchemist before has ever managed to do).

This all goes wrong and they have to forfeit parts of their bodies. Edward loses and arm and a leg and Alphonse his whole body. Edward uses alchemy to put his brother's soul into a suit of armour that is nearby. They then go on lots of adventures but the only problem is that Alphonse cannot feel emotion and cannot eat.

I think it is a really interesting series as there is so much going on. Sometimes you don't understand what is happening until later on and I quite like that. And they are funny.

2. Bleach

This is all about Soul Reapers who are basically ghosts who fight Hollows (evil spirits). The main character is Ichigo Kurosaki who is human but can see the ghosts. One day he is visited by a Soul Reaper called Rukia who is fighting a Hollow that is about to attack Ichigo's family (Ichigo's mum is already dead having been killed by a Hollow).

The fight goes badly and Rukia half-kills Ichigo so that he can become a Soul Reaper and have half her powers and help her kill the Hollow but the spell goes wrong and he ends up with all of her power. He then becomes the only human Soul Reaper.

He then spends the rest of his life defending humans from Hollows.

This is an action-packed series and some of the Hollows are pretty scary. Don't read it in bed.

1. MAR

This is about a boy called Ginta who dreams of another world and then gets taken to that world by a Dimension Arm which is a kind of weapon. He meets lots of people on his journey through this world which is called Marchen. There are evil people called Chess Pieces who challenge Ginta and his friends to war games which is a war but in a game.

This is my favourite manga because it is really, really funny. There are only (!) 15 volumes and I have read them all three times.

Martha: Moshi Monsters

I want to tell you about a website I like called Moshi Monsters.

Moshi Monsters is a place where you make your own monster character. You can choose his colour and dress him up. There are lots of other people online with their own monsters and you can visit their rooms, rate their room and leave messages for them.

Some of my friends at school also have monsters and we visit each other's houses online.

Your have an owner name which has to have at least three numbers in, mine is Martha424. The names you might type in to start with might have already been taken. You also have to name your monster. I tried to call mine Dave but someone already had taken that so I thought of the name Chunk.

I have 20 friends and I have had 29 visits.

I am 8 and really enjoy playing on the site. There are puzzles and if you get them right you earn rocks which you can use to buy stuff for your monster. You can also print off cards to give to other people so they know how to find you on the site.

Most of the site is free. You can pay to become a member and get more stuff or visit more places but I just use the free version because I want to spend my pocket money on other things.

If any of you have kids and they want to visit me on the site I am usually on Saturday and Sundays just before lunchtime. My Moshi Monsters page is www.MoshiMe.com/martha424.

Ethan & Martha: Nostalgia Menu

Our mum and dad thought it would be fun to feed us the sort of stuff they had when they were kids. Here is what they bought.

 

And here is what we thought.

Golden Nuggets. They were probably one of the nicest things that we ate. 9/10

Salt & Shake Crisps. We tried some without the salt first. They were good with or without. 9/10

Crab Paste. Ethan: I took one mouthful of a crab paste sandwich and couldn't manage any more. Martha: I didn't have any after Ethan told me how horrible it was. 0/10

Sandwich Spread. Ethan: I was the only one to try this, it was quite nice actually, even though it looks like someone has thrown up in a jar. 7/10

Spam. Martha: Ethan wasn't very keen but I thought it was OK. 4/10

Wagon Wheels. Two biscuits stick together with marshmallow and covered in chocolate. Yum. 9/10

Nesquick. Lovely strong strawberry flavour. 9/10

Fray Bentos Steak & Kidney Pie. More kidney than steak. 4/10

Findus Crispy Pancakes. Truly revolting, do not try these at home. 1/10

Angel Delight. We've had this before. Very good. 9/10

Arctic Roll. We both loved this. 10/10

We really enjoyed the day. Some of the food was horrible though. Remember, we did this so that you don't have to.

Martha: My Myth

We had to write some stories inspired by the Greek myths at school. This is my one.

Pieas was the son of Zeus. As soon as Pieas could talk Zeus gave him a guitar. When he played the guitar the world seemed like a happy place again.

The world was not a happy place because an evil witch had cast an evil spell on the village.

One day Pieas was sitting in the forest dreaming of his true love Lester. A few days later Lester's arms came off. Lester scuttled home. Everyone tried to help Lester but she had left her arms behind.

Pieas was blue and mournful. He decided to go on a quest to try and find Lester's arms.

He set off the next day. He went through squelchy bogs with crocodiles in them and one of the crocodiles bit him in the leg but Pieas carried on. He went through fearsome forests and rivers of blood until he came to the Stream of Body Bits.

But guarding the Stream of Body Bits was the Lion of all Lions. Pieas remembered his guitar and started playing. The lion fell fast asleep.

Pieas saw Lester's arms and grabbed them and ran all the way home without stopping.

But when Pieas got home Lester was dead.

THE END

Ethan: My Top 5 Series

I've been reading quite a few good series recently so I thought I would tell you about some of my favourites. Here is my Top 5.

5. The Robber Hotzenplotz by Otfried Preussler

This is a series of three books from the 1970s by one of my dad's favourite children's authors. They are about a really nasty thief who keeps getting foiled by two young boys. Dad read them to us when I was a bit younger.

They are really funny and a bit crazy.

4. The Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney

These are novels told with added cartoons and I have read each of them in less than a day. They are written like a diary and are about a boy called Greg who is in middle school in America and doesn't really like it. They tell about all the funny things that happen to him.

I like them because they are quick to read and are really amusing. My sister has also read them and downloaded the audiobooks. We both fall asleep to them every night.

There is going to be a movie version later this year.

3. The Demonata by Darren Shan

Nearly every book is about a different character but the person who appears in most of the books is Grubbs Grady. In the first book his sister is actually a werewolf but he doesn't find this out till later on. He gets sent to his aunt's because the rest of his family are going to fight Lord Loss who is a demon master of the Demonata which is the demon realm. The reason that they are fighting him is that there is an antidote to cure his sister.

Once you get half way through the first book I don't recommend that you read it in bed because it's super scary. The reason that I really like this series is because it has humour in the most unlikely places. For example, in the second book a boy called Kernel is making a mirror to another dimension so he and his friends can escape and when he is just about to jump through he flips the demons the finger.

2. I couldn't choose between Changeling by Steve Feasey and Holes by Louis Sachar

Changeling is another horror series and is about a werewolf (yes - another one!). I've reviewed it before on here and I also interviewed the author. I am currently reading book three which is called Blood Wolf. So far I don't think it is quite as good as the other two but it is still brilliant so I'm not complaining.

There are two books by Louis Sachar with some of the same characters. I have reviewed Holes before in the sidebar but recently read Small Steps which is the second. Small Steps is about a boy called Theodore who had a minor part in Holes but is the main character in this one. In Holes he is at a detention centre and has to dig holes every day but in Small Steps he is being paid to dig holes.

I really like Holes because it is written really well and Small Steps is the same.

1. Shadowmagic by John Lenahan

I have already talked about the first Shadowmagic book which is my favourite book in the world (so far). It is really funny but you should read my original review to find out more. The second book doesn't come out till next year but as it is published by my dad I have already read the manuscript on my (yes, my!) Sony Reader (my dad gave me his old one because he's now got a Kindle).

The new one is called Prince of Hazel & Oak and sees Conor returning to Tir Na Nog for an even bigger adventure than last time.

In case you think I am choosing this series because my dad has got something to do with it, I am really not. I promise. I have seen John live doing his magic show and in the Firestation Book Swap. He is really great (seriously) and I like the way he writes really exciting adventures but with lots of jokes. Nearly every chapter ends on a cliffhanger.

The Ethan & Martha Takeover

Hello.

It's half term so we are taking over our dad's blog.

You won't find him on here at all this week. It is just us.

We hope you enjoy it.

Ethan & Martha