The Bad Guys Episode 4 Apocalypse Meow by Aaron Blabey

I love this series of early readers so very, very much.

It's clever. It's fun. And it's a little subversive. It also follows the golden rule that a truly great, entertaining children's book is a truly great, entertaining book for adults as well.

Apocalypse Meow is the fourth book in Blabey's Bad Guys series.

We last saw our wannabe good guys facing off against the advancing kitten apocalypse unleashed by the evil genius Dr Marmalade.

In Apocalypse Meow our team of Sort-Of-International-League-Of-Good-Guys-Guys divides to conquer.

Mr Wolf, Legs and Snake venture forth with Agent Fox to find an antidote, while Mr Shark and Piranha head off to find Dr Marmalade's hideout.

As per usual, nothing quite goes to plan. A meeting with an ageing Granny Gumbo almost leads to the untimely end of Mr Snake. Dr Marmalade reveals that the zitten apocalypse was merely phase one of his plans. And his sudden disappearance in a rocket ship, shifts the action to a much higher plane.

Laughter, terror and ridiculous disguises keep the action rolling along nicely. Mr Wolf also finds time to do a little flirting with Agent Fox, as our good guys continue to escape from one crisis only to land in the next!

The promise of interstellar mayhem in Episode 5 might see our favourite Sort-Of-Good-Guys become the Intergalactic-League-Of-Good-Guys-Guys!

The Bad Guys are perfect for early readers who are gaining confidence with form and font or as a fun, fun read aloud with your favourite four year old.

Episode 1 The Bad Guys
Episode 2 Mission Unpluckable
Episode 3 The Furball Strikes Back
Episode 4 Apocalypse Meow

The Tragedy of the Korosko by Arthur Conan Doyle

I first discovered that Arthur Conan Doyle had written books other than his Sherlock Holmes ones earlier this year when Carol @Journey and Destination reviewed The Tragedy of the Korosko.

It's a contemporary (for Doyle) fiction full of high drama and tension with political undertones. Global communities, religious freedom and personal responsibility are debated by Doyle's characters, with the fairly predictable 'winner' being good old England and Christianity.

First published in 1898, it follows the trials and tribulations of a group of very Victorian tourists cruising down the Nile who suddenly find themselves kidnapped by a group of 'desert warriors'.

Doyle captures the fear of the kidnapped group as they are led through the desert on camels perfectly. You can almost taste the sand and feel the heat and thirst.

Some reviewers have commented on the offensive racial stereotyping that Doyle's characters resort to, making allowances for the attitude of the times but calling it dated.

However, as I was reading these comments I couldn't help but note that the comments were far from dated. Yes, they were offensive and ignorant, but similar comments have been spouted in much more recent times by US Presidential hopefuls, Australian senators and too many newspapers and shock jocks to mention. These stereotypes and racial profiling comments are all too modern, and sadly, only serve to highlight how little the world has actually changed in over a hundred years.

The Tragedy of the Korosko is a quick, easy read with a fabulous cover!

18/20 Books of Summer (winter)

Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick by Joe Schreiber

For some reason I was confused about this book at the start.

I thought it was chick lit and for the first couple of chapters I thought the protagonist was a chick too.
Maybe it was the yellow cover, the silhouette of the chick or the set-up...talking school, friends, family life, foreign exchange students.

I was so wrong.

This was an action-packed, explosive, assassin fuelled romp through the streets of New York. Perry (the protagonist) quickly discovers that the family exchange student is more than she first appears.

There is absolutely nothing believable or plausible about the story. I can't even tell you if it's well written as I raced through it so quickly. But it was fun in a short attention span kind of way.

I've now handed it over to my 15 year old stepson to see if it's the boys own adventure that I think it really is.

P.S. I often get caught up in the different covers that appear for certain books and what it might say about the various countries concerned. The UK and Australian cover is the yellow one. The NY cityscape is the American cover and the German cover is red.