The Happiness Project, a Review and Reflection

The Happiness Project

I did my little review of “The Happiness Project” as promised- it’s here
check it out and be sure to comment here or there.

For those who hate suspense, I LOVED it and learned loads from it.

We love ‘Toddle Waddle’

Happy world book day! Continuing in the spirit of World Book Day I wanted to write a review about the favourite book in our house currently. It’s no secret that Julia Donaldson is a big favourite in our house, but the love of this book has just pushed her popularity to a whole new level. My 18 month old absolutely adores this book. Anytime from 6.30pm if you mention bed, he’s out shaking the stair gate trying to get upstairs and as soon as he gets up he starts saying ‘tada wada’. To the uninitiated this is ‘Toddle Waddle’ by Julia Donaldson and Nick Sharratt. His 4 1/2 year old big brother usually reads the book to him.

It starts off  with the toddler ‘toddle’ and the duck ‘waddle’ and from then on every new character introduced makes a new sound. From Mammy’s ‘flip flop’ to the apple eater’s ‘crunch munch’ there is lots of sounds for a toddler to enjoy trying to copy. There is also a page with a train ‘choo choo’ is always popular, and a page that just says ‘bye bye’. We all wave at the book and then it is time for bed.

This is an excellent addition to any toddlers library, and is providing hours of fun in this house anyway. If you’re in Gorey it is available in The Book Station, but should be easily found in any good bookshop. Read with your children today to celebrate world book day!

Review of ‘Solace’ by Belinda McKeon

7.75 out of 10

‘Solace‘ – average marks 7.75 out of 10, based on four readers from the book club.

Good points:

‘Beautifully written in simple prose, characters very easy to relate to, felt real.’

‘Beautiful sparse prose – McKeon finds ways to articulate things I’ve thought / felt myself, but could never find such an eloquent way to say them.  Loved how it was about our generation and the Dublin I remember moving to when I finished college – made it easy to relate to.  The characters, even the ones with bit parts, are all very believable and well fleshed out.’

‘It was well written and easy to read , excellent vivid engaging contrasts between urban and rural life.’

‘Loved how it was so everyday and easy to identify with the characters.’

 Bad Points:

‘Struggle to come up with any.  I’m not completely finished but I will be very interested to find out how things end up the way the do from the prologue.  I hope it doesn’t just peter out after already finding out the major reason why Mark, his Dad & Aoife end up alone.’

‘I like a bit of suspense and I knew from first few pages the ending so although a nice read it seemed to be of no avail in terms of what happens next.’

‘Kept me awake to finish! ‘

‘Very slow moving.’

Overall ‘Solace’ was well-liked by everyone and there are a few members still reading it or about to read it.