Blue Wolf Reviews

Tag: baby

  • The Only Child

    The Only Child

    Between 1945 and 1973 one and a half million babies were given up for adoption in the USA; the young single mothers were often coerced into giving up their babies within a few weeks of birthing them. The practice, known more recently as forced adoption, was reportedly common in Australia between the 1950s and 1980s, with authorities failing to gain free and informed consent from thousands of young, unwed mothers before their newborns were removed.

    Award winning author Kayte Nunn in her latest book ‘The Only Child’, intertwines the story of the treatment of these women in the late 1940s with an intriguing mystery murder plot set in 2013. 

    After a five year absence Frankie Gray, returns to the US and joins her mother, Diana, who is restoring the derelict Fairmile House, on an island in Puget Sound, which had served as a Catholic home for unwed mothers in the 1940s and 1950’s. She is looking forward to reconnecting with her teenage daughter, Izzy, before taking on a less stressful job as deputy sheriff on this normally sleepy island. 

    When the death of an elderly retired Nun in the Island’s nursing home where Frankie’s grandmother resides is deemed suspicious and then a tiny skeleton is discovered in the backyard of Fairmile House, Frankie can’t stay out of the murder investigations; there are questions which need answers.  Her informal investigations lead Frankie to discover the dark secrets behind the grand home which her mother is renovating.

    ‘The Only Child’ is in part an historical fiction and in part a crime mystery, with a touch of romance in which the narrative spans a dual timeline; 1949/50 Seattle and 2013 on a fictional island in Puget Sound.

    Readers will find this a fast but worthwhile read.

  • Baby’s First Train Robbery

    Baby’s First Train Robbery

    Baby’s First Train Robbery will bring a smile to the face of the reader. Written in verse, which is quirky and amusing, the illustrations are wonderfully complementary to the story. From the beginning we know that this is a fantasy story. We see Frank in his cot surrounded by animals such as hippos, penguins’ monkeys and birds. You see together with his Mum and Dad, Frank lives in a zoo. He spends his days “brushing manes and shining hooves.”

    Running a zoo can be exhausting and so Frank’s parents decide to get Grandma to look after the zoo while they take Frank on a seaside holiday. The boy is worried that Grandma won’t cope with the animals so decides to go back home and check. While Mum and Dad are relaxing on the beach, Frank crawls away and finds an empty train. Then the real adventure begins.

    The double page spreads are punctuated with two pictures on each page. This divides the text up into small chunks which are easy to follow and read. The humour in the illustrations gives the story much more detail and meaning. This is a colourful book to look at as well as a charming story to chuckle over. “One day after falling in a pile of Yak manure, Dad said, we need a holiday.” Frank was not so sure.” This follows the stories “Baby’s first Bank Heist” and Baby’s first Jailbreak.”

  • Arabella and the Magic Pencil

    Arabella and the Magic Pencil

    Built around the arrival of new baby into the home, this gentle and so very true story Arabella and the Magic Pencil will ensure parents of a young child and new born, will find something to smile at when the gloves seem to be off between the new arrival and the already entrenched toddler.

    Life somehow, with the addition of a new baby, has just become a war zone with the rules being written by the older child, minute by minute!

    Arabella is the only daughter of the duke and duchess, who thought she was just perfect. Because she was ‘royal’ and on one day each year, she was granted a special wish. She did not wish for a baby brother, he just arrived! Master Archibald Vermillion Remington XV or Avery for short, was very noisy, the master of mayhem and very, very often, annoying. And, he wrecked all of her games. Arabella was not happy, not happy at all.

    Now Arabella loved Avery, of course she did, but and it was a very big but, she did not always like him so when her next special wish arrived, she wished for a magic pencil, one that could make anything she drew become real.

    Can you guess what it was she drew? And what happened when one of her drawings became very, very real. Oh dear, what a mess!

    Stephanie Ward has, along with Shaney Hyde and her magical illustrations, dressed up in fairy story clothing this gorgeous look at sibling rivalry, creating the perfect picture book story to read to children once their new baby brother or sister arrives at home, and things in their world as they once knew it, begin to change.

  • The Monster Who Wasn’t

    The Monster Who Wasn’t

    Have you ever wondered where all the creatures that inhabit the very real fantasy world of monsters, fairies, gargoyles and witches and all the other creatures come from? Well, T.C. Shelley has written a completely wonderful story around all the strange and unique creatures, or should one say characters, because they are, who live their very intriguing lives in the ‘vast underground’, a place that everyone thinks they know about, but really do not.

    Just in case you did not know, fairies are born from a baby’s first breath and monsters also come into being when a person breathes their last breath. As to gargoyles and the like they also come from a creator’s handiwork but more on that as you read through the book.

    Imp is born from the breath of Kavanaugh, a man who is missing his wife terribly and is very old. He has a new granddaughter, who is definitely a newborn fairy. Kavanaugh feels that he is ready to leave this world and enter into the next life.

    From the beginning ‘Imp’, who is different as he looks like a human baby, is adopted by the gargoyles that live on the rooftops, who while grumpy, try to do their best. They love chocolate and of course as he is a human ‘gargoyle’, they teach him how to get them endless supplies of chocolate; something they simply adore.

    But while ‘Imp’, who does not get his real name until later, is growing up, the King of the Ogres, Thunderguts, the terrible and feared ruler of the underground, has other plans for this most unusual child monster. You guessed it, it is certainly nothing good, nothing good at all!

    The Monster Who Wasn’t is a fresh, different and unusual take on fantasy fiction aimed at 10 – 12-year-old readers who love a story that is fanciful, funny, contains enough horror to offer some seriously scary moments and so many wonderous characters threaded throughout the story line, to keep them on their mettle.

    If you ever truly wondered what does go on in that nebulous place known as the ‘vast underground’ after reading The Monster Who Wasn’t you will have pretty good idea!

  • Wrestle!

    Wrestle!

    The cover of Wrestle, ahis hardback Picture Book jumps out at the viewer. There is the face of a very fierce boy who is just waiting for a wrestle. In fact, the central theme of this story is celebrating different family groupings and how parenting is the same, whether there are two Mums or two Dads. This is an issue that would challenge any family.

    Gus just loves wrestling. He watches it on TV and knows all the names of the wrestlers. He also knows all the moves and holds. However, when he tries to show younger siblings they get hurt. His family are not sure how to handle this problem and explain to him that there are other ways to be strong other than having muscles.

    The family wish to march in the Mardi Gras and Gus is adamant. He wishes to dress as a wrestler. It takes a great deal of planning and thinking to satisfy everybody’s needs to have a happy march.

    It seems that this was based on a true story by one of the authors. It is an exposition of normal family issues within a family not comprised of the usual Mother and Father as head of the house. The illustrations by Tom Jellet are perfect for expressing the character’s feelings and bringing the story to life. They are detailed and colourful and add wonderfully to the text.

    Soon, reading books where two Mums or two Dads are the head of the house will become much more common and children will have access to a broad range of values and ideas.