Blue Wolf Reviews

Tag: amazon

  • Sleepy the Sloth

    Sleepy the Sloth

    Sleepy is a Sloth and his family go back a very, very long time, 35,000 years to be exact; which is a very many great, great, great ,parents over the centuries.  The problem now is the Sleepy and his family are beginning to get very worried about the world they live in, the rainforests of South America, a place that humans are slowly changing from forest to farming. If this destruction of the rainforest  keeps on happening, they will no longer have a home and become extinct, like so many of their friends who used to live in other rainforests of the world.

    Sleepy and his family are amazingly different animals and can live as long as 46 years and his cousins can live up to 30 years; they love to hang upside down, which for them is the best way to be, and have a very important role to play in keeping the rainforest healthy.

    Sleepy and his family introduce themselves to you in this lovey book filled with great photographs of Sleepy and his friends, as they go about their daily work in their rainforests.

    There are two and three toe sloths with big long claws, which help them as they live upside down! That’s right upside down and they can move their heads like an owl, which allows them to see everything going on around them. They move very slowly and curl up in a ball so they can sleep in the fork of a tree, just like koala’s do when they sleep during the day. They love to eat hibiscus flowers and only go to the toilet once a week!

    Sloths have funny little faces but love to smile all the time, look really cute but are very strong and because it rains a lot where they live their fur often grows algae, making them look slightly green, but also acts a great raincoat.

    Jan Latta, a noted wildlife photographer and author, has created a series of books for children on endangered species, which will help them understand the dangers to wildlife species. The last few pages of the book has a facts page, a ‘ Did you Know’  section, how to create your own Sloth book, a wonderful maze puzzle and a list of sites to find out so much more.

    Bright and colourful with easy use of language Sleepy the Sloth is a lovely way to introduce young readers to wildlife conservation and the importance of the environment.

  • The Explorer

    The Explorer

    Four children board a small plane leaving the Brazilian jungle, each with a different destination. Fred is in his school uniform, a young girl with long blond hair is looking very uncomfortable and the other two, a brother and sister who had said a long goodbye to their parents at the airport.

    Fred is fascinated by flying and watches every move the pilot makes from his position in the cockpit of the plane.

    As the flight wore on the pilot, a rather older man with a grey waxed moustache became ill, turning as grey as his moustache, coughed, fought to breathe but managed to switch off the plane’s engine before he died.

    The plane crash-lands in the Amazon rainforest, leaving the four children frightened and stranded and so begins a wonderful adventure that has Fred struggling to come to terms with the fact that the others seem to think he should know what to do in this dire situation.

    Fred has always wondered what it would be like to be an explorer, an adventurer, but always thought it would be something he could find out once he grew up, not right now, lost in the Brazilian jungle!

    Once the shock wears off the children decide to camp for the night and try and sort something out in the morning, which was a plan that seemed pretty safe to them all. Once the morning arrived they began to realise no one would come looking for them and they really did have to work together to get out of the mess and out of the jungle, which turned out to be a very tall ask indeed!

    Setting off on what appears to be a reasonably clear pathway, they soon come to realise that perhaps they are not alone, perhaps there has been someone here before them, and that if this is the case, all they have to do is follow the pathway and things will be alright. Or so they thought!

    As the journey continues into the unknown each of the children has to learn to face their fears and work together, to overcome what turns out to be some horrendous situations, before they can find their way home.

    Katherine Rundell has created a wonderful, totally enjoyable adventure, with a touch of Dr Doolittle, Sherlock Holmes and Indiana Jones in the mix, which has great appeal, as well as addressing some of the issues faced by all children as they grow into adulthood.

     

  • The Bedlam Stacks

    The Bedlam Stacks

    Merrick Tremayne was injured while working as a smuggler for the East India Company. He now resides, with a malevolent brother, at his family home in Cornwall.  His father and grandfather had been to Peru and lived among the locals, and have left some evidence of their trip at the home.

    The time was 1859, and Merrick had been persuaded to go back to the tiny village of Bethlehem, or Bedlam, in Peru, to steal some cuttings from the cinchona trees as they were needed for quinine to treat malaria, and were guarded by violent criminals who had the sole rights to the wood.

    The East India Company had requested his help, and his friend, Clem, had also persuaded him to join the expedition. Even though he was severely compromised with his injured leg, Merrick joined the group as a means of escape from his home life.

    After months of preparation, the expedition left for Peru travelling to the tiny village that was nearest to the trees from which they needed to steal cuttings. It was hard going, and they suffered from altitude sickness and the cold. A guide had been arranged to take them to their destination, and they arrived at a small village that had many reminders of pre- Incan times.

    Much of the riverside was covered in obsidian, with the glass from the volcano reflecting the smallest bit of sunlight.   There were many amazing and fantastic elements to this place. The priest they stayed with, Raphael, seemed to know about Merrick’s grandfather, but surely was too young to have met him. The massive stone statues, that Raphael tended carefully and lovingly, seemed to be alive, while the line between the village and the forest was marked with salt; anyone who crossed that line would be shot or murdered.

    As the story unfolds, the reader wonders how the cuttings beyond the forest will be collected, and how Merrick will complete this task, to save the village. There are so many complex and interesting aspects to this amazing adventure story, that to stop reading is not an option. The development of the relationship between Merrick and Raphael, is engaging, while the imagery is vivid and vibrant. Merrick says of the small village, “I felt like I had drawn a door on the wall at home in chalk, and gone through into an imaginary place where the river was a dragon, and somewhere in the forest was something stranger than elves.”

    The scope of the task, the magic surrounding the travellers and the genuine affection that develops between characters, is a joy to follow. Although the writer begins the tale slowly, we discover that she is actually leaving clues, and making later issues meaningful.

    The Bedlam Stacks needs careful reading, and slow appreciation of the wonderful local stories, the adventure, intrigue, and above all, the magic.

  • Being Mrs Smith: A very unorthodox love story

    Being Mrs Smith: A very unorthodox love story

    It is very simple really, when you get down to the very essence contained within this book: simple being the fact that this is a story that needs to be read by one and all; a story which will remain long after the final paragraph, the final words. It is a love story with a real difference.

    Being Mrs Smith is a very personal telling of a time in life when Mrs Smith had to face up to the reality that all was changing and in a way that both she and Mr Smith had never considered.

    This is a story about a relatively conventional couple, who had, over a number of years investigated alternative ways of living, dabbled about the edges of some and adopted other philosophies into their daily life. A couple who had come to know and love each other later in life and after both had already travelled different roads; Mrs Smith with her own children, Mr Smith with none of his own; they became a family and faced all the many issues family life brings.

    Mr Smith was offered a position in Germany, a contract that would give the family financial security, help take some of the stress out of the life they had been leading, perhaps even be a huge step towards creating their happy ending, their happy ever after.

    A routine medical required by the Company found some health issues of concern, but as the medical Doctors were unsure of exactly what was the problem, further tests were required. At this stage the Smiths were largely unconcerned, considering the entire thing a necessity, a means towards an end.

    What they discovered was to change their lives in so many ways, all unexpected, all astonishing, all terrifying, all leading to a journey that would, in the end create an understanding of just what happiness, true happiness, is all about, a love that never ends, a wonderful silver thread that binds eternally.

    A journey was began whi9ch was to take them through conventional medicine, to alternative medicine which led them to move away from their conventional lifestyle to Peru, where they set out on a pathway of discovery into shamanism, a cast of colourful characters, charlatans and true healers, let alone the truly basic lifestyle the encountered, which was there to add to the daily challenge of life and survival.

    There first effort into the ayahuasca ceremony was memorable, and an event which was to become a relatively normal component of everyday life for several weeks. Eventually they found their way deep into the Amazon to a village of true healers in the Shipibo, a place where they immediately found themselves welcomed as family, a village that was to become the very link to survival, a place which taught them both about the never ending thread that binds; the true love that never dies.

    The return back to the homeland where things are the same but different, familiar but changed and the welcome love of family brings this chapter in the life of Mrs Smith to another bend in the road, a new journey waiting to be discovered.

    Not a long story, but one that will change your perspective, offer a different look at the issues in life we all need to face. By sharing this deeply emotional time in her life, Mrs Smith has offered hope and love to all in this, her loving tribute to Mr Smith, the man who showed her true happiness and love.