Kathryn's Inbox

By 1995 the Baby-Sitters Little Sister books, a spin-off from the Baby-Sitters Club had become such a hit in their own right that it too developed its own spin-off. And it is a real winner. The Kids in Ms Coleman's Class focuses on the second grade class at Stoneybrook Academy and fleshes out some of the beloved characters and events from the Little Sister series. Book One, Teacher's Pet opens at the start of a new school year. Nancy Dawes is nervous about starting second grade. She doesn't really know any of the other kids who have been assigned into Ms Coleman's class. Worse still, her best friend Karen Brewer who lives next door (well, when she's at the Little House) and she is only in first grade. Nancy's morning doesn't get off to the greatest of starts. All of the other kids are mean or seem to already have friends. And the teacher wants to have a day when the students bring their pets to school. (It's not realistic, but it's an Ann M Martin n...

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When I discovered that Pusheen, the cute feline star of many, many webcomics had her own book, I just had to read it. Featuring Pusheen and her feline family (Storm, Pip, Sunflower and Biscuit,) and, of course a certain sloth, this volume is cuteness overload. It follows the same four frame format of the webcomics, each one designed to inspire a giggle or an aww.  This was an enjoyable enough read. It's fun and suitable for all ages--in fact while it's not marketed specifically to children, I think kids will have more fun than some adults with this one. I did find that it worked best just to read a few of the comics at a time, as it felt a bit too sweet and overdone at times.  Fun and friendly, an ideal read for fans of Pusheen.

Consent Laid Bare is important reading. It is also not terribly comfortable reading as it takes a look at the politics of sexual consent. How is it in a supposedly enlightened era that consent is such a difficult topic?  Contos argues that despite women having achieved equality in so many ways, when it comes to sexuality we are still subjected to an outdated social model, where men's pleasure is considered more important than a woman's humanity. She looks at how women's sexuality has been co-opted by the porn industry and the problems that come with that--especially when teenage boys are accessing porn and assuming that any violent or degrading acts depicted are pleasurable.  As I said at the start of my review, this is not comfortable reading. Many things are uncomfortable, though the points raised are relevant. And while I might not agree with everything the author says (and nor do I have to,) I think she raises an important issue. The chapter at the end, titled Dear Boy...

Green Dot is a book about a young woman reaching that time, that point in her mid-twenties, when she starts to feel insecure about her choices and her place in the world. And then comes along Arthur an older man and suddenly, she finds herself attracted to the ordinariness and security that his life brings. The only catch is that Arthur is married and taking advantage of her, and even Hera herself knows that this so-called romance is doomed to fail. And yet, she cannot give him up, and finds herself trying to change so that he will love her. This was a sadly relatable story of insecurity, infatuation and false promises. This would definitely make for an excellent cautionary tale for young women. Madeline Grey's depiction of Arthur's manipulations are spot on, in particular the way he never tells the whole truth. That said, I did not get as much out of this book as I had hoped--for me, it was the wrong book at the wrong time. I found myself infuriated with the main character on...

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I have been enjoying the Mr Men/Little Miss series for grown ups so much that even though I do not have children, I couldn't resist borrowing this particular volume when I found at at my local library. Full of the series trademark savage humour this volume turns its attention towards Little Miss Busy, who is, in fact, quite busy looking after her three children and being made to feel like an imperfect mother at every turn, whether it is through making costumes for school, her mother-in-law (none other than Little Miss Splendid,) or the annoyingly goody-goody and annoyingly perfect mother of twins, Little Miss Sunshine. Eventually thanks to some good advice and the discovery that others may not be doing quite as well as they pretend to be, Little Miss Busy finds a solution to her problems. This was fun, funny and relatable on one very surprising level. The Little Miss Sunshine subplot almost perfectly mirrors a family (which included identical twins) that I knew for a time during my...

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The top selling Baby-Sitters Little Sister graphix series is back with another excellent adaption. This time Katy Farina turns her attention to one of the classic titles of the series, Karen's Sleepover. And Little Sister fans know what that means. We meet the graphic novel version of Pamela Harding, who becomes a big part of the original Little Sister series and the eventual spin-off The Kids in Miss Coleman's Class. (I wonder if they will ever get a graphic novel adaption?) This one begins with Karen realising that she has never had a sleepover with her friends, though her beloved older stepsister Kristy has them at the 'Big House' with her friends. Karen decides to rectify this important matter. Fortunately her father and stepmother agree to this and Karen soon starts making plans, including mailing out invitations. What could possibly go wrong? Two things. First, everyone receives their invitations except for Karen's neighbour and bestie, Nancy. This leads to ...

Bleak, powerful and strangely beautiful Small Things Like These is a story of cruelty and, ultimately, hope. Set in 1985 in a small town in Ireland that is almost totally controlled by the local arm of the Catholic Church it tells the story of Bill Furlong, a man whose life could have taken a very different path when his mother found herself unmarried and pregnant. Thanks to the kindness of her employer, she was able to keep and raise her son--an unusual circumstance in their small town, where unmarried pregnant girls and women were cast out of their families and sent away. When Furlong (as he is known in the novel) now an adult with a wife, daughters and a respectable job comes across the harsh realities that fall upon pregnant teenagers in Ireland, with many sent away to work in homes for unmarried mothers where they are treated cruelly, and in particular, the ill-treatment of one girl who is roughly the same age as his daughters, he decides to do something about it.  This was a...

Gritty and raw, Invisible Boys is a grim reminder that not every YA LGBTQIA+ book can be like Heartstopper and leave the reader with warm fuzzies. This is a book that is literally for the titular Invisible Boys, the ones that are hidden due to the stigma that would follow them in the small and rough communities where they live. Charlie, Hammer and Zeke are three seemingly different boys living in a rough small town in Western Australia. Zeke is shy, intelligent and very sensitive, the near constant target of Hammer, the town's star footballer whose popularity rests on his sporting prowess and his near constant bullying of others which, as is often the case in hyper-masculine communities mistaken for manliness. But the two have more in common than they think--both are attracted to men and, possibly, each other. Meanwhile, an incident with a predatory married man has left musician Charlie not only outed before he is ready but wrongfully shouldering the blame. (Umm, who was the much ...

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I had so much fun reading the delightfully savage Little Miss Shy Goes Online Dating that when I saw another book in this grown up series of Mr Men/Litte Miss books available at my local library that I knew I just had to borrow it. This one works on a similar premise. It's just like a Mr Men/Little Miss book, except that the concept is a bit more adult and the humour a bit more savage. In this instalment the reader discovers one of the original Mr Men characters, Mr Greedy, realising that he needs to go on a diet (again). This time around he is lamenting his middle aged spread, whilst secretly thinking that the diets that the other Mr Men characters are on are rather silly. (Of course, it helps that the diets are rather silly and that Mr Muddle is making a complete arse of himself posting gym pics, but I digress ...) Anyway, Mr Greedy starts finding health food around the house and starts suspecting that his wife may be having an affair, which leads him to go on a series of ridicu...