This turned out to be a week of GiveAways… so I gathered them all up in one place for you.
I fell in love with this book before I even had it in my hands… and it goes straight on to my most loved books of the year. It is a book simply packed with the most stunning crafty ideas, plenty of up cycling, which is creating something new from something old. It is absolutely packed with wonderful things to make and do and I fully intend to take a bit of a blog break in a couple of weeks… just so that I can make things from this book. Really. This book is packed with endless crafty ideas to make your creative visit to a summer festival so much more fun… Pretty awnings and buntings; kit bags and garlands; a pocket organiser and crowns; plaited baskets and painted feathers; millions of friendship bracelets;… and the prettiest tent ever. The materials are all easy to find lying around the house, somehow they manage to make the ordinary look absolutely beautiful. The book is packed with stunning photographs and plenty of diagrams to follow along with the directions. There is even a list of festivals to be found all over Europe… just so you know when it is a good time to visit a local town and connect up with their festival. Click through here and leave a comment on the GiveAway Post. Thanks to PanMacmillan South Africa for this GiveAway.
Honestly, The Nutcracker conjures up all sorts of Christmas memories… Chocolates in shiny gift wrapped boxes and long frilly socks for trips to the ballet with my grandmother. Tradition and memories and Christmas… all wrapped up in beautiful music. This book is the most lovely presentation of the story of the Nutcracker, it is a beautifully crafted work of art. The illustrations are full of wonderful details… and amongst the bright colourful layout the main players appear in stark contrast in black, imagine shadow puppets. And then on the final page… as you turn it, it is a beautifully detailed pop-up of the Sugar Plum Fairy’s Ball. I am saving this book for Christmas Eve, there is something magical about it. Not to mention we have two copies of this book to give away… scroll down to the bottom of this post for details… Click on this link and leave a comment to enter this GiveAway. Thanks to PanMacmillan South Africa for this GiveAway.
Well John Boyne of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas fame is back… a completely new story, but also set during World War II and examining the complicated relationships of the time and of war in general. The question is who is good and who is bad, right or wrong, essentially all the players are people with hearts and minds, hopes and dreams. This book review contains spoilers, the nature of the book is one that I would want to know what my kids were reading and there are certainly very sensitive readers that would find this somewhat distressing. This is the story of a young French lad, Pierrot, whose father was a German and fought in WWI. His father’s mind was damaged by the war, the damage and the drinking, lead him to a fatal leap in front of a train. Pierrot is a lonely and troubled child, who lives with his mum in Paris, his best friend is a deaf jewish neighbour… and then tragically his mother dies of TB and he is left parentless and completely alone… a series of events and there is bullying at school and in fact at every turn, Pierrot appears to be “rescued” by his long lost aunt, who works in a secluded house on a mountain top in Austria. And this is where the heart of the book begins… Pierrot must change his name to Pieter, Pierrot must dress a certain way and eventually Pierrot must think a certain way. As an adult reading this book you quickly learn that the house on the hill is none other than the Hitler’s retreat… In essence he is called, for his own protection, to slowly and insidiously, change his world view… a child favoured by Hitler himself, you wonder that he never stands up to him, but instead becomes more and more like him. The change is slow and while Pieter does stop and wonder occasionally, he doesn’t ever do anything about his thoughts about “where he comes from” and ultimately he betrays the people he loves. This is a very interesting read, to see how the mind can be manipulated, even when we don’t want it to be. Sad, very thought provoking and an excellent read, especially for those who enjoy war time reads and those who wonder, how did ordinary citizens let things go so badly wrong. They didn’t they were caught up in it all. Corruption, betrayal and heartbreak… not to mention hope, all packed into this book. It is a great book, that will leave you contemplating things long after you have finished reading it. My middle schoolers would really get a lot out of reading this, plenty of food for thought in this one. Click on the link to enter the GiveAway… Thanks to Penguin Random House South Africa for this GiveAway.
GiveAway’s Galore
Our GiveAways all work in the same way, leave a comment before the end of play on Sunday, 13 December 2015. We will draw and publish the winners in the Fabulous Fun Post after that. I won’t respond to your comments as I do on our other posts because I don’t want to be included in our own giveaway. Our GiveAways are open to everyone: If you have won a GiveAway before never fear – enter away. If you live on the far side of the world – enter away. Postage takes forever from here but eventually it should get to you! Good luck and happy commenting!!!
Count me in!