Day 357: 'Flip' by Martyn Bedford

I first saw this book in Mr B's Bookshop in Bath and was captured by it's tagline:

Even wake up in someone else's body?

Sold. It sounded really exciting. A boy wakes up someone else's room, with someone else's family and has to go to someone else's school as Philip, or Flip to his friends.

But I really struggled to get into it. Is it because I find it hard to identify with a 15 year old teenage boy? I mean, I've never been one and never will be. I managed to get into the character of Lucas in Finding Violet Park and the character of Martyn in Martyn Pig, so it can't be that...

The blurb describes it as a phycological thriller, but to be honest, it's just not that thrilling. Apart from the fact Alex is living in Flip's body, nothing particularly out of the ordinary really happens. There's a lot of theory about what's happened to him and description of how he feels about it and...that's it. It kind of just went on in a loop of emotion and reaction, emotion and reaction.

Until the end. I finally got into Alex's story about two thirds of the way through and wanted to know how he was going to figure this all out. Is two third' too late?

Like I said, I'm not a teenage boy, so give it a go. It's always best to make up your own mind about books and film or any creative media for that matter.

Check out the trailer too...

Day 316: David Gatward

So, I've written an article about David Gatward, the horror writer who is judging my competition at Ralph Allen Secondary School. It's on this website called blogcritics. Check it out if you want to know what being a published writer is really all about...

Day 298: Jenny Valentine's 'Finding Violet Park'

You know sometimes you think you've done something and then you realise you haven't? Well that's exactly what I've done with the last book I read. It was so good I thought I must have told you all about it, but, no, I haven't!

Scatty, as ever...

Finding Violet Park by Jenny Valentine follows a boy called Lucas who gets concerned about an urn left in a taxi cab office for over five years. Lucas has a real quirky voice which I really enjoyed getting to know.

The evidence of reading a good book:
You think about the characters way after you've finished, like you want to visit them again or wonder what they're doing.

Lucas' story twists and turns as you get to know all about his family and their dysfunctional dynamics. Can Violet, the dead lady in the urn really link in any way to his strange family? I mean, what do you do with the urn of a lady you never knew?

For me the best part was the ending. I'm usually disappointed with then, but this one was really affective. You'll have to read it to find out why...

Jenny Valentine won the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize for this story and she's written more since, so check her out.

My cover doesn't have the teeth on it - weird!

Day 75: Me and my book(s)

Whenever I read a book that's really good, I get really excited about writing. I'll barely finish a page without having a new idea for a story I'm working on. I stop, quickly scribble it down and carry on reading.

Sometimes (if it's really good) it gives me ideas for old stories I've already 'finished' (a story is never really finished in my opinion, you just chose to stop writing/tweeking/editing it) I want to add an extra chapter, a whole new ending, another character...

Reading makes writing exciting!

Of course, it can have the opposite affect on me too. If I think a book's rubbish, I'll lose all passion for writing. Now the question is, should you see it through to the end, or just chuck it?

I'm a fan of writing in books. Some people are totaly against it, but it helps me remember where the good bits are. The book I'm reading at the moment is a hard back, so I've decided to only write in pencil. If it's a charity shop jobby, then pens fine (a little fact I thought you needed to know!). Do you write in books?

I'm reading My name is Mina at the moment by David Almond. Have you ever read Skellig? Well ,he wrote that too and I think they are both brilliant. He has inspired a lot of my writing with his subtle tone and moving characters. It looks like he's going to influence a lot more stories yet to be written. My name is Mina is FULL of creativity, imagination and wonder (I think these are the right words). This is not a book review, but I DO encourage you to read it if you can. It looks like this:

In September, I am going to a talk by David Almond (as part of the Bath Kid's Lit Fest) and I'm SOOO excited! In case you haven't guessed already, you can expect a quote or two from Mina in the coming weeks. After all, it is my inspirational blog, so I feel it only appropriate to include what inspires me to be creative too!

Watch this space...

p.s. check out this review if you're interested.

Day 54: Spinebreaker

I have decided that today is the day to tell you about a really great website. If you are into writing and reading of any kind Spinebreakers is just for you.

It's especially for teenagers with book reviews, interviews, short stories and lots more. If you look at the back of your books at home and it might have their logo on the back. If it does, it means it's reviewed on their site!

There's also loads of competitions for script writing, story telling, poetry writing..

It's even got music and videos to explore too!

Check it out and see what you will find...