[BOOK REVIEW] The Tale of Benjamin Bunny by Beatrix Potter

Title: The Tale of Benjamin Bunny

Author: Beatrix Potter

Genre: Animals / Classic / Mischief

Year Published: 1904

Year Read:  1994

Publisher: Warne

Source: Library

Content Rating:  Ages 3+ (One intense situation, but nothing too scary for small children)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository

“The Tale of Benjamin Bunny” is the fourth book made in Beatrix Potter’s “Peter Rabbit” books and it is about how Peter’s cousin Benjamin convinces Peter to come to Mr. McGregor’s garden to get Peter’s clothes back.  “The Tale of Benjamin Bunny” is a truly memorable follow up to the classic tale “Peter Rabbit.”

The book starts off with Benjamin Bunny watching Mr. and Mrs. McGregor going out for the day and he decided to get his cousin Peter to come along with him to Mr. McGregor’s garden to get Peter’s clothes back.

Oh my goodness!  Beatrix Potter has certainly outdone herself in this classic follow up to the ever popular children’s book “The Tale of Peter Rabbit.” Beatrix Potter’s writing is extremely cute and interesting as it details Peter and Benjamin’s adventures in Mr. McGregor’s garden.  I loved how the role of “mischievous little troublemaker” is switched to Benjamin Bunny instead of Peter Rabbit as Peter is constantly shown as being afraid in ever image.  Since I have read “ The Tale of Peter Rabbit,” I cannot really blame Peter for being so jumpy after the scare he had when he went to Mr. McGregor’s garden and I personally would have been scared too if I went back to a place that scared the daylights out of me.  It was interesting seeing another character who was as naughty as Peter was and what made Benjamin into such an endearing character was that he remained optimistic about the situation.  Beatrix Potter's illustrations are extremely cute as most of the main characters are animals.  My favorite illustrations were of the mice cracking cherry stones as they look extremely realistic yet cute at the same time as they huddled up next to each other and looked so adorable eating the cherry stones.

Overall, “The Tale of Benjamin Bunny” is a truly cute and wonderful classic tale from Beatrix Potter about the consequences of being naughty!  I would recommend this book to children ages three and up since there is nothing inappropriate in this book.

[BOOK REVIEW] Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

Title:  Anne of Green Gables


Author:  L.M. Montgomery

Genre: Middle Grade / Friendship / Childhood


Year Published: 1983


Number of Pages: 382 pages


Date Read: 2/14/2015

Publisher:  Grosset and Dunlap

Series: Anne of Green Gables #1


Source:  Library


Content Rating:  Ages 7+ (Some Mischievous Behavior)


Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 

“It's been my experience that you can nearly always enjoy things if you make up your mind firmly that you will.”

Now, I will admit that I was actually introduced to “Anne of Green Gables” through the animated TV series that used to come on PBS and I remembered liking this TV series when I was little.  Now, I finally had the chance to actually read L.M. Montgomery’s all-time classic book “Anne of Green Gables” and I was surely not disappointed with the results!

Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert wanted to have a child who could help them around the house, so they decided to adopt a child from the orphanage and they wished that the child was a young boy.  Unfortunately, when Matthew went to the orphanage, he realizes that the owners of the orphanage had made a mistake and gave him a young girl named Anne Shirley instead of a young boy.  Even though at first, Matthew and Marilla tried to take Anne Shirley back to the orphanage, they soon grew to love the young girl as Anne Shirley is unlike any other little girl they had ever came across.  It turns out that Anne Shirley has a vivid imagination and she expresses her love for life through her poetic statements that would make anyone fall in love with her instantly.  The town of Avonlea will never be the same again!

Now, I had heard about this book for years now, but I never had the chance to really read this book due to me spending so much time reading other middle grade books.  Now, I finally got the chance to read this book and I will admit that this book has been nothing but pure love and creativity!  L.M. Montgomery had done a brilliant job at writing this book as the narrative is extremely poetic and flowery and I just find myself falling in love with all of the characters from Avonlea!  I honestly think the best part about this book was the characters themselves as they all brought something different and interesting to the story.  Anne Shirley is honestly one of my most favorite young heroines of all time as she is constantly shown as being optimistic in her goals and the fact that she always makes everything in her life seem so dramatic in a good way really made her into a truly interesting character.  I also connect so much with Anne Shirley because I used to have a vivid imagination when I was little and I would usually try to reenact my imaginations in real life, just like how Anne has often done so in this book. I loved Anne’s relationships with her fellow students, especially with Diana Barry as it shows how close Anne is towards Diana and I love how they are willing to be together throughout their lives as it shows how inspiring their friendship is!  I also enjoyed Anne’s rivalry with Gilbert Blythe as it was interesting seeing Anne still harbor resentment towards Gilbert when he called her “carrots” and pulled on her pigtails early on and yet as the story goes on, you start seeing Anne going from hating Gilbert Blythe to having some feelings for him.  It really makes me excited to see where Anne and Gilbert’s relationship will go after this book!  I loved how L.M. Montgomery made the narrative so beautiful to read as I really felt a connection with Anne’s journey from being an imaginative young girl to being a grown and mature young woman and there were so many quotes in this book that were so memorable, such as this little gem:

“Kindred spirits are not so scarce as I used to think. It's splendid to find out there are so many of them in the world.”

Overall, “Anne of Green Gables” is easily one of the most beautiful books I had ever read and I definitely cannot wait to check out the rest of the “Anne of Green Gables” books in this wonderful series!

   

[BOOK REVIEW] The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe

Title:  The Raven

Author:  Edgar Allan Poe

Artist:  Ryan Price 

Genre:  Classics / Poetry / Horror / Animals

Year Published: 2006

Year Read:  2014

Publisher:  KCP Poetry     

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 10+ (Some Scary Imagery)

Buy or Add on:  Amazon  //  Goodreads

 

Now, I have been dying to read some of Edgar Allan Poe’s works for a long time and now I finally got the chance to reread Edgar Allan Poe’s classic poem called “The Raven” in graphic novel format!  The eerie atmosphere and haunting artwork by Ryan Price really made this story enjoyable to read!

Basically, this story is about a scholar who starts remembering many things from his past, including losing his lover, Lenore.  Suddenly, a knock is heard at the door and a mysterious raven flies into his home.  When the scholar keeps asking the Raven questions about his life, the Raven would only reply:

“NEVERMORE!”

This constant response from the Raven then causes the scholar to go a bit insane as the Raven constantly reminds him of the horrors and deep layers of humanity.

Now, I will admit that when I first read this book, I was a bit confused about what was really going on because of how the language of the poem tend to be pretty old fashioned (just like how you try to read William Shakespeare’s works, but have a hard time understanding the work due to the language being written from a much older era).  But, once I read the summary at the back of this book that detailed what this poem was really all about, I started to understand this poem and its much deeper meaning of madness and grief.  Edgar Allan Poe had done a beautiful job at detailing the scholar’s descent into madness after the death of his lover Lenore and when the Raven comes in and starts driving him insane by constantly telling him “NEVERMORE!”  It really brought in so much fear to the story and I was seriously sitting on the edge of my seat in seeing the scholar go insane from the Raven’s constant “NEVERMORE” statements. Ryan Price’s artwork complements well with this poem as they are dark and spooky and I really loved the images of the raven looking menacingly at the scholar as it keeps yelling out “NEVERMORE!”  I also loved the black and white colorings of the artwork as they really bring out the spookiness of this poem and the madness that the scholar is going through.

This book might be a bit too creepy for some readers, especially whenever it delved into the madness of the main character and the Raven constantly bothering the main character through its endless usage of “NEVERMORE!”  Also, Ryan Price’s artwork might be a bit too scary for some readers, especially the images of the Raven taking up most of the pages and looking pretty menacing towards both the readers and the scholar.  Also, since this book was written during the 1800s, the language of the poem might be a bit hard to understand for modern audiences.

Overall, “The Raven” is truly one classic poem from Edgar Allan Poe that fans need to read over and over again! I would recommend this book to children ages ten and up since the language might be hard to understand and some of the imagery is pretty scary.