Tag Archives: England

Review: The Snowman Code by Simon Stephenson

Book Review and Content, Fantasy, Middle Grade 8-12, , , , , , , , ,
The Snowman Code by Simon Stephenson

The Snowman Code
Simon Stephenson
Simon & Schuster
Published December 16, 2025

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About The Snowman Code

A beautifully hopeful, funny and heartwarming tale about the lasting power of love and friendship, from the critically-acclaimed and award-winning screenwriter behind Pixar’s Luca and Paddington 2.

In London, in a winter which shows no sign of ending, a unique friendship begins.

This is the story of Blessing, aged ten-and-a-half, and Albert Framlington, aged six hundred – an eccentric snowman who has seen many winters in many cities, and who is duty-bound by the Snowman Code to help any child in need. Together, Blessing and Albert must find a way to defeat Blessing’s bullies, win back Albert’s long-lost love Clementine, and even overcome the never-ending winter itself…

Perfect for fans of The Christmasaurus, A Boy Called Christmas, The Snowman and Paddington, The Snowman Code is a heartwarming, hilarious and unforgettable modern classic for families to curl up with on frosty winter nights.

My Review

This is the kind of book that people will either love or feel pretty indifferent about, I think. Through the whole story, Albert Framlington “educates” Blessing about the way the world works. Africa, a land of glaciers, is where penguins live. When people go to the hospital, appendix problems are generally the cause. Blessing tries to correct him, but he persists in his way of thinking.

It’s cute, and it keeps the story away from the snowman serving as a magically wise mentor, and makes Blessing the decision-maker and chief problem-solver.

Blessing’s mother has what appears to be seasonal depression (it’s never labeled in the text). The longer the winter drags on, the more severe her depression becomes, and Blessing worries that her mom will be hospitalized and Blessing will have to live with a foster family. Blessing understands that her mom is sad and that she can’t fix it, but the story doesn’t delve deeply into her mom’s experience or show many interactions between Blessing and her mom. This does help to keep the story age-appropriate.

I can definitely see younger middle grade readers enjoying this playful story. The chapters are pretty short and feature frequent illustrations, making this a good choice for readers transitioning from the shorter chapter books to middle grade novels.

This would be a great reading choice for that moment when winter seems like it will never end, and we all wish for a little sunshine and magic.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 11.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Reference to adults in love.

Spiritual Content
Snowmen are alive and can move and talk. They adhere to a strict set of rules called “The Snowman Code,” which keeps them discreet.

Violent Content
Three kids have been bullying Blessing (mostly off-scene).

Drug Content
Having a pipe is a big deal for a snowman, especially a real one. One snowman has a pipe so new it still smells of tobacco.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review of Sense and Sensibility and Happy Birthday Jane Austen

Blogger's Favorites, Book Review and Content, Historical, Romance, , , , ,

Sense and Sensibility
Jane Austen
Puffin Books
Published February 13, 2024 (Orig. 1811)

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Sense and Sensibility

Marianne Dashwood wears her heart on her sleeve, and when she falls in love with the dashing but unsuitable John Willoughby, she ignores her sister Elinor’s warning that her impulsive behavior leaves her open to gossip and innuendo. Meanwhile Elinor, always sensitive to social convention, is struggling to conceal her own romantic disappointment, even from those closest to her.

Through their parallel experience of love– and its threatened loss–the sisters learn that sense must mix with sensibility if they are to find personal happiness in a society where status and money govern the rules of love.

Happy Birthday, Jane Austen!

Today (December 16) is Jane Austen’s birthday. She was born 249 years ago on this day in 1775 and was the seventh of eight children in her family. Sense and Sensibility was Austen’s debut novel and was first published anonymously.

Her books have inspired many movies and reimagined stories, including Northranger by Rey Terciero, The Jane Austen Murder Mysteries by Tirzah Price, and For Darkness Shows the Stars by Diana Peterfreund.

My Review

It took me far too long to read what is perhaps arguably Austen’s most sister-focused novel, which is only weird considering how much I love sister books. As I’m writing this, I’ve only ever read Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen, so I don’t know how her other four novels are structured. This one follows both Marianne and Elinor’s points of view in a narrative that often keeps both girls’ thoughts and actions close at hand. Pride and Prejudice, by contrast, focused almost exclusively on Elizabeth Bennet’s point of view.

What Happens to Those Wild Women

A few things about this book stand out to me as very interesting. One is in the way that Austen treats characters who behave differently than the roles the society of the day expects. For example, Marianne doesn’t hide her emotions or her affection for a particular man. For much of the story, her strong feelings about ideas and people determine how she behaves, even when that behavior departs from the norm.

Two very minor characters, who never appear on scene, have babies while unmarried. In one case, the woman lives a hard life and dies of an illness. Someone cares for her at the end of her life. The second person, a girl of fifteen, is abandoned by her lover, but cared for by a family member who does not appear to blame or shame her for her situation. Instead, the family member blames the lover who abandoned her. Even the lover’s family blames him for leaving her. I found this interesting since so often historical stories focus on women being shamed and “ruined” when they behave outside of the conventions of their society and often consequences seem to ignore the men involved.

The story still generally reflects the values of its time. For example, Marianne and Willoughby treat one another familiarly, which people take to mean they are secretly engaged. A man declaring his intention to marry a woman without social standing or fortune is cut off from his inheritance. Another man is cut off from his inheritance for not marrying a young woman who has had his child.

Subtle Storytelling

I’m not sure if it’s because I’ve seen the movie version of Sense and Sensibility so many times, but I found the storytelling in the book to be a little more subtle than I expected. Sometimes, what constituted a pivotal moment would be related in a sentence or two. For example, Marianne becoming ill after her walk through wet grass to continue grieving over a lost love begins a pretty intense chain of events. But it’s kind of related in passing.

I found myself having to read closely in several passages because the specific words Austen used to convey emotional progression really mattered. I didn’t mind this, but it’s something that we’re not used to doing with modern fiction.

Conclusion

Pride and Prejudice is still a favorite of mine, but having read Sense and Sensibility convinces me that I need to read more Austen. I love the idea of publishing a review of one of her books to remember her birthday, so maybe I’ll keep that up until I’ve read all six of her novels.

Content Notes for Sense and Sensibility

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Reference to love and marriage.

References to sex outside of marriage. Two young women have babies while unmarried. In one instance, the girl’s lover has abandoned her, even after promising to return. Neither of these women appear on scene.

Spiritual Content
One character becomes a clergyman at a small parish.

Violent Content
Very brief (like, one line) reference to a duel fought between two men who both survive.

Drug Content
References to social drinking.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. All opinions are my own.

Review: A Place to Hang the Moon by Kate Albus

Book Review and Content, Historical, Middle Grade 8-12, , , , , ,

A Place to Hang the Moon
Kate Albus
Margaret Ferguson Books
Published February 2, 2021

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About A Place to Hang the Moon

Set against the backdrop of World War II, Anna, Edmund, and William are evacuated from London to live in the countryside, bouncing from home to home in search of a permanent family.

It is 1940 and Anna, 9, Edmund, 11, and William, 12, have just lost their grandmother. Unfortunately, she left no provision for their guardianship in her will. Her solicitor comes up with a preposterous plan: he will arrange for the children to join a group of schoolchildren who are being evacuated to a village in the country, where they will live with families for the duration of the war. He also hopes that whoever takes the children on might end up willing to adopt them and become their new family–providing, of course, that the children can agree on the choice.

Moving from one family to another, the children suffer the cruel trickery of foster brothers, the cold realities of outdoor toilets, and the hollowness of empty tummies. They seek comfort in the village lending library, whose kind librarian, Nora Muller, seems an excellent candidate–except that she has a German husband whose whereabouts are currently unknown. Nevertheless, Nora’s cottage is a place of bedtime stories and fireplaces, of vegetable gardens and hot, milky tea. Most important, it’s a place where someone thinks they all three hung the moon. Which is really all you need in a mom, if you think about it.

Fans of The War That Saved My Life and other World War II fiction will find an instant classic in A Place to Hang the Moon.

My Review

I have so many things to say about this book I’m having a hard time figuring out where to start. I love the way it’s written from the perspective of all three children. In the beginning, I wasn’t sure that would work, but it actually truly does. It makes them feel like a unit and yet the narrative zooms in on one child’s thoughts or feelings at critical moments in the story.

The book feels firmly anchored in WWII England, and not in a romanticized way. William, Edmund, and Anna face hunger, see families affected by missing family members serving in the military, worry about German invasion and air strikes.

Yet the story also celebrates a love of literature and mentions several beloved children’s stories. In particular, Anna finds comfort in The Little Princess, which holds some parallels to the children’s lives and experience. It also celebrates found family and the power of sibling bonds in a beautiful way.

A Place to Hang the Moon is the first book by Kate Albus that I’ve read, but it absolutely won’t be the last. Fans of historical fiction or sibling stories will not want to miss this one.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Representation
Main characters are white.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Two boys bully the main characters, using a slur to describe them. Some characters use a slur meaning German people.

Romance/Sexual Content
A girl has an obvious crush on William. Her attention makes him uncomfortable.

Spiritual Content
The children participate in a Nativity play at Christmas at the local church. They celebrate Christmas together.

Violent Content
The opening scene is a funeral wake for the children’s grandmother and former guardian. References to war. The children are aware of other places being bombed and invaded by the German army. In some scenes, children worry that bombs will fall on the place they’ve been evacuated to. Brief reference to an internment camp in which Germans living in England have been imprisoned. Another character dies (offscene).

At one point, the boys go to a farm to participate in a rat extermination event in which a group of boys use sticks, clubs, and other weapons to strike and kill rats. They earn money for each kill. William and Edmund feel pretty disturbed about the whole thing.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. All opinions are my own.

Review: In Want of a Suspect by Tirzah Price

Blogger's Favorites, Book Review and Content, Historical, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, Romance, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , ,

In Want of a Suspect (A Lizzie and Darcy Mystery #1)
Tirzah Price
HarperTeen
Published November 12, 2024

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About In Want of a Suspect

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that London’s first female solicitor in possession of the details of a deadly crime, must be in want of a suspect.

The tenacious Lizzie Bennet has earned her place at Longbourn, her father’s law firm. Her work keeps her busy, but luckily she often has help from (and steals occasional kisses with) Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy, a stern but secretly soft-hearted solicitor at Pemberley.

Lizzie is hired to investigate a deadly warehouse fire, and to find the mysterious woman who was spotted at the scene moments before the flames took hold. But when the case leads her to the sitting room of a woman Darcy once proposed marriage to, the delicate balance between personal and professional in their relationship is threatened.

Questions of the future are cast aside when the prime suspect is murdered and Lizzie’s own life is threatened. As the body count rises, and their suspicions about what was really going on in the warehouse grow, the pressure is on for Lizzie and Darcy to uncover the truth.

Lizzie and Darcy are back for more suspense, danger, and romance in this first in a duology spinoff of the Jane Austen Murder Mysteries!

My Review

It turns out that a cozy mystery was a great pick for me to read this month. I enjoyed the early 19th-century London setting and the investigatory prowess of Lizzie and Darcy. The murder mystery had just the right number of twists and turns for me.

Also– if you asked me before I read this book whether I needed a book in my life in which multiple heroines of Jane Austen novels appeared, I probably wouldn’t have had an answer. Now, I realize it’s something I absolutely needed in my life. My favorite scenes from the book were the ones in which characters from other Austen novels appeared. Lizzie, Elinor, and Marianne solving a mystery together?! YES!! With my whole heart, yes.

As with Pride and Premeditation, I struggled when the two main characters did something that seemed decidedly different than something either would do in the original story. Once I invested in this mystery enough to imagine these as different versions of Lizzie and Darcy (more a multiverse representation than a reimagining, if that makes sense?) then I deeply enjoyed my reading of the book.

If you like a good, cozy mystery set in London during the Napoleonic Wars (I love that Price included this detail), I recommend this one. If you’re new to Tirzah Price’s reimaginings of Jane Austen novels, Sense and Second-degree Murder is my favorite.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Representation
Lizzie and Darcy are white. The story delves into prejudice against the French, with whom England is at war during the story. There is some xenophobia and anti-French comments and behavior.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
References to murder. Lizzie and Darcy see a warehouse on fire from a distance and learn that someone perished in the blaze. They see the body of a murdered woman in a park.

Drug Content
References to alcohol.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

Book Review and Content, Historical, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , ,

Wuthering Heights
Emily Brontë
Viking Classics
Published November 22, 2022 (Orig. 1847)

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Wuthering Heights

“Whatever our souls are made out of, his and mine are the same.” -Catherine

Emily Brontë’s 1847 gothic novel is set on the windy moors of Yorkshire and depicts the tragic and ill-fated love between Catherine Earnshaw and her father’s adopted son, Heathcliff.

Using vivid imagery to portray their volatile, passionate relationship, Brontë has crafted a timeless masterpiece that honestly depicts the pain and anguish felt from love, hatred, and revenge.

For over 150 years, millions of readers have found Wuthering Heights to be a must-read of the greatest classical novels in English Literature. It has been translated into stage, film and television for decades. Completed as her only novel before her death, Emily Brontë is generally considered one of the most talented and gifted storytellers to have ever lived.

About My Review

This is one of the books I am sure I read in school, and my only surviving memories of it are how much I didn’t like it. Because I want to read the Remixed Classics version, WHAT SOULS ARE MADE OF by Tasha Suri, I wanted to reread the original to give me a grid for the remix and how things changed. I’m not a literature expert, so this definitely won’t be a technical review.

Why I Reread Wuthering Heights

My memories of this book before this reread were pretty thin. I remembered Heathcliffe as an unpredictably violent person and Cathy as a lovesick girl. I did not remember the abusive behavior by so many of the characters in this book, including Catherine. So much yikes.

My Review

Honestly, by the time I hit chapter ten, I felt like Heathcliffe, who’d been found as a very young child and dragged home by perhaps a well-meaning man, was the person I sympathized with most. He didn’t ask for all the bananas behavior of the Earnshaws, and he certainly didn’t ask to place himself in the center of a group of people who treated him so abominably. And then.

He ruined it. I love that he went away and made his fortune and educated himself. Good for him for breaking away. Then, he comes back and vows to destroy the people who harmed or betrayed him in his youth. That was such a waste of his time.

Catherine continues to be terrible to him and pretty much anyone around her. Heathcliffe continues his plot to ruin the lives of the Lintons and Earnshaws. For a while, he’s completely successful. He abuses his wife, his son, and his daughter-in-law. Eventually, near the end of his life, Catherine’s daughter and nephew seem to find their way past the animosity they’ve been raised to feel for one another, and the story ends with a possibility of hope.

Racism in Wuthering Heights?

Again, I’m not a literary expert by any stretch of the imagination. I do want to point out that multiple times, especially at the beginning of the book and the end, characters refer to Heathcliffe using the G-slur used against the Romani people. At multiple other times, characters use words that suggest a darker complexion to label him as a bad person. The narrator, Ellen, also refers to Heathcliffe’s son (who is white-passing) as a “monkey.” It’s unclear whether she meant to insult his behavior alone or was referencing his heritage.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 16 up.

Representation
Characters describe Heathcliffe as having darker skin and several times refer to him with the G-slur used against Romani people.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
The G-slur is used multiple times. Mild profanity used somewhat infrequently. Cathy uses cruel language to label her cousin, Hareton, who can’t read, as Heathcliffe barred him from learning.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl.

Spiritual Content
A man has a strange dream after reading a sermon about forgiveness. One character, a cold, cruel older man behaves piously and speaks authoritatively about scripture and God.

The narrator warns Heathcliffe that he should get a Bible and read it to see where he should repent and change his ways. She asks him if she can summon a minister of any denomination to speak with him. He refuses.

Violent Content
A man has a creepy nightmare about a child grabbing his hand and demanding that he let her in through his window. A boy physically abuses his adopted brother. A girl hits a servant, shakes a child, and hits her lover. A drunk man threatens to harm multiple people. He shoves a knife into a young woman’s mouth before trying to throw a child off a balcony.

Multiple on-scene deaths from illness.

A man hits more than one woman and locks doors to prevent her being able to leave. He threatens a young woman, forcing her to marry someone. A man shows a woman a gun and tells her to lock herself in her room at night or else he may try to murder the room’s occupants.

Drug Content
One minor character repeatedly gets drunk and violent.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support this blog.

Review: Code Name Kingfisher by Liz Kessler

Blogger's Favorites, Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Historical, Middle Grade 8-12, , , , , , , , ,

Code Name Kingfisher
Liz Kessler
Aladdin Books
Published May 7, 2024

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Code Name Kingfisher

When Liv finds a secret box from her grandmother’s childhood she uncovers an extraordinary war-time story of bravery, betrayal and daring defiance. A story that will change Liv and her family forever…
 
Holland, 1942. The world is at war and as the Nazis’ power grows, Jewish families are in terrible danger. Twelve-year-old Mila and her older sister Hannie are sent to live with a family in another city with new identities and the strict instruction not to tell anyone that they are Jewish.
 
Hannie, determined to fight back, is swept into the Dutch resistance as an undercover agent Code Name Kingfisher.  And though Mila does her best to make friends and keep out of trouble, there is danger at every turn and the sisters are soon left questioning who they can trust…

My Review

I can’t remember if I had this book on my radar for May earlier this year, but when I received a copy from the publisher, I was pretty excited about it. I love the bright colors of the cover and the way it incorporates a kingfisher bird into the image. It also shows the personality of both Mila and Hannie, the sisters at the center of the story.

The book follows four different points of view. It begins with Liv, a girl living in modern-day England who discovers the person she considered her best friend isn’t such a great friend. We also meet Mila, a Jewish girl forced into hiding by the Nazi occupation of Holland. We meet her sister Hannie through the letters she writes to her family about her work with the Dutch resistance movement. Mila’s friend Willem narrates a handful of chapters at some critical moments in the story.

As Liv struggles to deal with the shift in social connections and bullying at school, she discovers some papers in her grandmother’s attic that hint at her grandmother’s past, which she has refused to talk about to anyone. To Liv’s surprise, her grandmother begins to open up to her.

I love the sweet relationship between Liv and her grandmother and the surprising way that it unfolds. I also love the alternating viewpoints and the way Hannie’s, Mila’s, and Willem’s chapters reveal information from the past.

Code Name Kingfisher is perfect for historical fiction fans, especially those looking for more stories about World War II. The contemporary sections will appeal to those readers, too, and I think there’s enough story taking place in the present to keep contemporary readers engaged.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Representation
Mila and Hannie are Jewish. Liv is Jewish on her dad’s side of the family.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
A teenage girl has a crush on a teen boy. It’s pretty peripheral to the story.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
References to oppressive laws passed against Jews by the Nazis. References to arrests and deportations to work camps. Hannie believes her parents are probably dead. Characters experiences heightened fear when faced with Nazi soldiers, but salute and greet them as part of undercover identities.

In one scene late in the book, a boy hears a soldier shoot someone. He sees the person’s body afterward.

Drug Content
Characters, including teenagers, smoke cigarettes.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.