Winiata’s Blog

TITLE: Bloody Kings and Killer Queens ofLondon Natasha Narayan – Author  ISBN: 190415316 Historical Non-Fiction 96 pages A book all about the evil Monarchs from England. 1       Like Henry VIII, husband from hell? Or just a man with a big heart?2       Richard III, murdering uncle or misunderstood softie?3       Elizabeth I, vengeful harpie, or brilliant babe?4       Bloody Mary, say no more!! Or a mixed up kid?5       King John, rotten ruler? Or just a shortie with a height complex? This book is about London’s bloodiest kings and queens. It has all the baddest rulers and all the horrible evil things they did when they were the rulers. My favourite one in the book was Lethal Liz who is Queen Elizabeth the first. She did some pretty strange things like once when thousands were dying of this sickness plague in London,Elizabeth escaped and gave orders that anyone coming from affected areas would get hanged. Then she got the soldiers to set up gallows in the marketplace to show people she meant business. Some of them killed their wives and husbands and even killed other people in the family. They even plotted to kill each other. Like Henry the eighth who had 6 wives, he divorced one, beheaded one, then one died. Then he divorced the next one, beheaded the one after that, and the last wife survived after he died. All the rulers were cruel and tortured prisoners. The book has examples of all the ways they tortured people, and which rulers were really good at it. Look at “Twisted Tortures” on pg 48 it has some really sick ways to torture people to death.  They used to put people in cages too small to fit in, and hang them a bit but cut them down before they died, and burn them, stretch them, and after the prisoner finally died they cut the body up into little bits and put parts on display for others to see. Some prisoners would cry out to be killed right away rather than go thru the pain of torture. I enjoyed this book because it had interesting facts and it was written with humour and easy-to-read language. It describes the kings and queens with detail about them and all the good and bad things they did to other people.  Other people will enjoy this book if they want to read about how mean the monarchs inEngland really were. It has some weird and scary parts, like skeletons under staircases.  

Title: Sucked In Author: Paul Jennings Illustrator: Terry DentonThe jar has something floating around inside it. Something awful. Something grey and fleshy. Something foul. Something not alive, but not dead either.A shiver goes down my spine. I wish I could stop peering at the thing in the jar.But I can’t.Everyone else in the class is staring at the jar.The teacher has an idea. He tells our class to make up a story about the little slushy monster. Everyone lets out a groan. The others don’t know what to write, so the teacher starts them off.This is a book about a teacher who has a jar on his desk. The jar contains an unknown thing that the class cannot identify. The teacher challenges the students to write a story about the thing in the jar.No-one knows what to write, so the teacher starts them off by telling them his version of what the jar contains. His story is that it’s an appendix and it belongs to a boy called Trevor.Trevor has his appendix removed in hospital, but he asks the surgeon to not destroy the appendix, but to put it in a jar so that he can keep it and never be apart from it.The next day Trevor brings the appendix in a jar to school and everyone is staring at it. The teacher asks Trevor to go somewhere and while he is out of the room, the appendix jiggles up and down inside the jar.The teacher and the Principal are very worried about this strange behaviour of the strange looking thing in the jar, so they confiscate it. Eventually the appendix escapes, eats up a cat and a dog, and then finally it eats up………..well, if I TOLD YOU, then that would ruin the story, so read it yourself!!!I think this book is intriguing because it is a little bit disgusting and also a bit fascinating. The reader will be captivated by the way the Author set out this book. Paul Jennings puts a story within a story.The title “Sucked In” is a clever remark because the students get sucked in by the teachers story, and Trevor gets sucked in by the appendix.I recommend this book for those who want a story with an unusual outcome. It is different because it is a twisted plot.

Book Title: Enna Hittims Author: Diana Wynne Jones Illustrator: Peter UttonThis story is about a girl named Anne Smith, and she was sick. So she makes up stories about Enna Hittims.Enna’s a brave hero who did good things with her magical sword that cuts through anything. She starts drawing pictures of Enna.Anne has fun with her little game until she finds out that her felts aren’t called ‘Magic Markers’ for nothing.This book has real deep thoughts and details that bring it to lifeI recommend this book to those who enjoy mystery, adventure and a little bit of humour