Sunday, July 31, 2016

[BOOK REVIEW] Anansi and the Talking Melon by Eric A. Kimmel







Title:  Anansi and the Talking Melon

Author:  Eric A. Kimmel

Artist:  Janet Stevens

Genre:  Animals / Folktale / Africa / Trickery

Year Published: 1994

Year Read:  2016

Publisher: Holiday House


Series: Anansi #2

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 4+ (Some Mischievous Behavior)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 


 

Now, I have been reading the “Anansi” series ever since I was little and I was always so amazed at the gorgeous artwork and the hilarious writing in each book!  So, when I stumbled upon another “Anansi” story that was written by Eric A. Kimmel along with illustrations by Janet Stevens, I was pleasantly surprised by how this story turned out to be as entertaining as the previous “Anansi” stories!


The story starts off with Anansi looking down on Elephant’s melon patch from the trees and he wanted to have a melon.  But since Anansi was always too lazy to do any work, he decided to wait until Elephant went off on break to eat a melon.  So after Elephant left the melon patch, Anansi took a thorn from a tree and started digging a hole inside the melon to jump inside and eat the melon from the inside out.  Once Anansi was done eating inside the melon, he tried to get out from inside the melon, but he become too fat to get out and he had to wait until he got thin again.  Elephant then comes back to the melon patch and picks up the melon that Anansi was inside of and Anansi decided to play a little trick on Elephant by pretending to be the melon and successfully convinces Elephant that the melon is really talking.  Elephant is so excited about this development that he decided to tell his friends and the king about the talking melon.



Will the King be impressed by the talking melon or will he realize that it is Anansi playing this trick?


Read this book to find out!


Wow!  I must admit that I was quite surprised that I have not read this book yet since I have been reading the “Anansi” series ever since I was a child!  Eric A. Kimmel has once again done an excellent job at writing this story as the story is highly creative and hilarious at the same time and I really loved the scenes where Anansi tricks the other animals into thinking that the melon is actually talking to them.  I like the fact that in this story, Anansi does not actually steal anything like he did in the previous book “Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock” since it makes him into a less amoral character (although he still did dig inside one of the Elephant’s melons without Elephant’s permission) and the fact that he is just playing tricks on Elephant and the other animals just for the fun of it, makes him less malicious in nature.  Janet Stevens’ artwork is as usual gorgeous to look at and I loved the way that Janet Stevens is able to convey the emotions on the characters’ faces, especially whenever the melon seems to insult each animal character and you get to see the animals’ angry expressions really close up.


Overall, “Anansi and the Talking Melon” is a truly hilarious book that is another great addition to Eric A. Kimmel and Janet Stevens’ “Anansi” series!  I would recommend this book to children ages four and up since there is nothing inappropriate in this book.




The Sunday Post Meme (53)




Hey everybody! I am participating in a book meme called the Sunday Post which is being hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer! The goal of this meme is to share news you have on various books and things you’ve read or received and also talk about what is coming up for your blog! Book hauls can include library books , yard sale finds, arcs and bought books and you can share these finds with other book bloggers!
Hello everyone! Well, it's the end of July and I must say that I did get a lot of reading done this month!  I've read a lot of good reads for this month and I hope to read more books for the month of August!  I'm also getting along fine with my reading challenges, especially my Comic Book Bingo Challenge and I hope that I can complete at least 2 challenges this year!



Book Reviews
 
 

 
 
Miscellaneous


 
 

Recommend This! Wednesday 

 

Looking for New Guest Posts! 

 

 
 

 

  Sign Up for Happy Indulgence's "Aussie YA Blog Hop!"
☆  Check out Nick and Nereyda's "8 Books I Wish I Could Re-Rate!"

 
  
 
Well, that's the Sunday News for today and I will have more news for the various books I've read in the near future!




Posted on Sunday,  July 31, 2016.

 

Friday, July 29, 2016

Feature and Follow Friday #31: The End of July



★the Changes:☆
  • Weekly Features will be chosen from LIKES on the linkylist and not as random.
  • Bloggers and Authors will get to have ONE spot a quarter (90 days) as the feature. But, you can still participate.
  • The reason we are switching to this method is because we had issues with contacting people. This way we just choose them.
  • We have also switched to THUMBNAIL link list – use a graphic that you want us to use when we showcase you as the feature.
  • Weekly questions have been changed to Post Prompts. Very similar just a little more open ended.
  • We are asking for ideas submitted by participants.
  • We will have the post schedule available so you can schedule in advance.

HOW DOES THE #FF WORK?

  • The goal is to increase blog followers, make friends and have something to post.
  • You create your own post using the post prompt.
  • You leave your link and thumbnail in the linky list that links back to your post prompt.
  • Once you have your post up and linked, visit other posts and tell them hi. The point is to FOLLOW them not just comment.
  • If you see a post that just hit it to the moon, or just want to show appreciation to a fellow blogger friend, like their name on the linky list to show some appreciation.
  • The person with the most likes gets chosen as the next Feature (you can be chosen every 90 days unless we are in need of features)
  • It is required that if you participate that you have to follow the FEATURE. It is a big no-no to participate and ignore the feature. They are the special snowflake in this little blizzard.
  • As a participant it is up to your discretion on how you want people to follow. Please post RSS, GFC etc if you have a follow of choice.

specific rules

  • Put your Blog name & URL in the Linky thing. You can also grab the code if you would like to insert it into your posts.
  • Grab the button up there and place it in a post, this post is for people to find a place to say “hi” in your comments and that they are now following you.
  • If you are using WordPress or another CMS that doesn’t have GFC (Google Friends Connect) state in your posts how you would like to be followedFollow Follow Follow as many as you can, as many as you want, or just follow a few. The whole point is to make new friends and find new blogs. Also, don’t just follow, comment and say hi. Another blogger might not know you are a new follower if you don’t say “HI”
  • Follow Follow Follow as many as you can, as many as you want, or just follow a few. The whole point is to make new friends and find new blogs. Also, don’t just follow, comment and say hi. Another blogger might not know you are a new follower if you don’t say “HI”
  • If someone comments and says they are following you, be a dear and follow back. Spread the Love…and the followers

What's been going on?

Hello everyone! well, i can't believe that it's the end of july already!  it seems like summer's about to come and go and it's sad to see it go since i still have a lot of places to go to. oh well, i still got next year!

THE POST prompt:

 
What is your take on DNF books. Do you review them? Choose not to review them?

My answer


I rarely DNF books since I at least try to read through the whole story, even if I hated it.  I feel like if I review books that I DNF, than it wouldn't really be a fair review because I would only be reviewing half of the book instead of the whole book and I might miss out on a few things in the book if I stopped reading it at a certain point. Usually with books I DNF, I don't say anything about the book and I just leave it alone for a few years.