Crenshaw's Books & Decks

The Lorax is a metaphoric tale about the dangers of aggressive economical practices and consumerism done at the expense of the environment. The Lorax is also a call to bring forward common sense and tp respect Mother Nature as the only Mother Nature we have. If we destroy it, there is nothing left but devastation. The message of the Lorax is as relevant as ever in our world, and kidos and adults will benefit from reading the book or using the application.

The application is great. Kudos to Oceans and Hay House for doing such a great job with Seuss' books. The app is a sort of animated mini-movie. From the main menu, you select the way you want to read the book, on your own, using the narrator's voice, or you just to leave it on auto-play. The app automatically uses the landscape setting and rotates your screen, and uses the original illustrations of the book, closing up and down to focus on the action and speeches of the characters. Background noises and musical notes have been added to enhance the experience. You can browse the pages on your own using your fingers and the pages flip as if they were the ones in a real book.

Moreover, the app is interactive if you choose the read yourself option; you can click on any image on the page and the word will pop up on your screen and will be pronounced. This being the case, the app is perfect for small children learning to read.

The narrator's voice and interpretation are wonderful, and he uses different voices and intonations for each character, so the whole book is really enjoyable.

A few things that I would have liked to have available in this app are:

1/ Option of female and male voice.

2/ Unlike other books by Seuss, the vocabulary he uses here is more fanciful and creative, not as simple. Some of the words are invented and part of Seuss' wonderful world. A sort of Seuss Wiki would have been a good addition as an appendix section or extra added to the app.

3/ I agree with other reviewers that the application could be more interactive, but Dr Seuss' books are wonderful for the message they convey and, to be honest, I would not want the app to be turned into a video-game either.

I rarely buy or own non-digital books any more. This book was recommended to me in a way that I felt I had to have it in my hands to physically squeeze it. I couldn't resist the cover, that was a decisive yes-buy-it moment - most of my "judge the book by its cover" moments actually work for me.

I am glad that I did because no digital edition would make merit to a book that is sensorial and sensually enjoyable. The texture of the paper, especially of those pages painted in colours, the brightness of the colours and the smell of the pages are invigorating, inspirational and even evanescent. The font is a handwriting sort of font, not the usual printing ones, and the book is full of little funny drawings and sketches made by the author - like a children book for adult women.

The book is structured in different areas of interest, as a personal diary that Sark shares with the reader. All the themes and subjects are very much ingrained into the female psyche and femininity for different reasons (genetic, cultural, social, religious, whatever). Some of the subjects are universal worries, fears or thoughts that most woman have, will have or have had. Despite the lightness and humour of the writing, there is a lot of wisdom, compassion, daring, aha! moments, and, in my case, many moments of mirrored recognition in this book. Each chapter finishes with a list of recommended readings, and soundtracks that go well with the theme. The book has quotes scattered through it, but the ones I would quote come from Sark herself.

Despite being published first in 1977 (I've got the 1997 edition) the book is still so fresh that one cannot but splash oneself with its words and feel it smells of mangoes.

I recommend this book to any woman with W. out there, or any girl who wants to become a woman with W. Men are welcome as a "gifters" to their beloved women with a W.

I just love this book. I have always felt succulent, wild and womanly, but I thought that being too imperfect, too perfect, too matter of fact, too green, too ripe, too much of "me" was far from acceptable. It turns out that the succulence is in the "me", whohoo!, but also in the "we" of us the "xx" chromosomal human beings.

Just a wish - The bibliography at the end of each chapter could be easily updated, and the music tracks too.

I hurried up to my local bookshop to buy this book as soon as it came out, as there were some autographed stickers and a bag given as a token, and I am a fan of Tan's artwork.

Rules of Summer is a book about the summer in the life of two young boys. Tan depicts what a summer feels, underline feels, to these two kids. The illustrations are not about what they did or what happened to them, although that is also clear in some of them, but is more about how these kids felt and interpreted what happened to them, and what the highlights of their summer in their memories were. If you depart from this principle, the book immediately makes sense and the narrative pops up. For example, this is perfectly clear in the images associated to: "Never eat the last olive at a party" and "never leave the back door open overnight". The rest of the illustrations work in a similar way, but some of them are more difficult to understand or decipher than others.

The images in the book are wonderfully painted, with Tan's great sense of lighting, chiaroscuro and colour, and the use of the same to create wonderfully simply but evocative atmospheric images that require little words to be appreciated. The landscape of his native Perth WA is perfectly captured in this book: blind white light, quiet neighbourhoods, over-present crows, the always crooked power lines, among others, which are incorporated into his wondrous magic world.

I love everything that Tan does, but this is, perhaps, his less inspired book. My opinion. It is still wonderful, but way too short and not as original or fulfilling, to me

Matilda is a modern tale that has many elements of the old folk European stories, with angelical vs evil people who you immediately love and hate, and an air of defiance of the adult world that hooks up children. What separates Matilda from old fairy tales is that, despite the character being a female heroine, the story doesn't want to turn her into a princess,  into a girlfriend, or into a male character's attachment. Matilda is brilliant because she is an individual and knows what she wants.

The book speaks about the importance of family values and being brought up properly, and about the importance of your willpower and education to overcome any struggle and become your best self. Also, you get in life as much as the effort you put in achieving your goals, you get what you focus on, your willpower moves mountains.

The book reads effortlessly and fast, and it is truly enjoyable. A classic of children literature, and very important to reinforce positive female roles in a world that wants to turn little girls into little empty dolls.

I like Quentin Blake's illustrations style but they don't resonate with me with regards to Matilda, perhaps because I imagine Matilda very different from the character we find drawn in the book. This is a personal preference of course.

I read this book when I was about 13-14y.o. and is still one of my favourite fiction books ever. It is supposedly a book for children, but it is not. It is a book that looks at the world from the point of view of adults and children at the same time. The story might be simplistic, but it is actually embedded with so much wisdom that one needs to be blind or deaf not to hear it.

The Little Prince is about the hidden magic hidden within ourselves, and I agree with other reviewers that it is very Zen, in the "ridiculous" nonsensical meaning of its wisdom. If you read it to a child be ready to the surprise, the multitude of questions, or perhaps none, as a child will get it more easily than an adult. As the Little prince would say, perhaps you have to explain it to an adult, as adults need anything explained to them otherwise they don't understand anything.

Especially in books like this the translation really makes the difference, not at translating what the book says, but what the book oozes, the feeling, the lyricism. I think the translation is decent, and the reading enjoyable the same. If you can read French, well, grab you Kindle copy instead of this.

There are other versions of the Little Prince in Kindle format, but I find this great for the quality of the translation, the quality of the illustrations, and the bargain price it has.

A classic of the World Literature

22 Books, 660 Illustrations, Peter Rabbit, Benjamin Bunny and Many More!

What is not to like about this collection? Having Beatrix Potter's 22 books all in one, in electronic format, with the original illustrations is just a treat for any reader, child or adult might be. One of those authors that you want to read to yourself to remember your childhood, or to read to your own children, or anybody else's.

The stories are charming and adorable, but without the illustrations the book would lose a bit of its soul. You will enjoy them if you have a Tablet, Kindle Fire or you read your books in your computer, therefore the illustrations display in its original wonderful colours.

Each story starts with the cover of the original book in it.

To the delight of the reader, the book offers the possibility of downloading a narration of the stories in mp3 audio-book format (thanks to Timeless Reads). What at treat!

Mind

+ If you have a normal Kindle, the images display in black and white, not as neat as the colour ones, but acceptable in neatness and quality image.

+ The downloadable audio-book is compressed in zip format. Therefore, you will need to have a Zip app in your mobile device to extract the files and listen to them.

Price of the book (plus audio-book) not even 4 bucks. Go and grab your copy!