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Jackson Saves an Owl by Darren Garwood & Carl Osborne – Blog Tour Book Review
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42141736-jackson-saves-an-owl
Synopsis
Jackson Superhero might not be a real name, but it is a story about a real boy, and as the name suggests, Jackson is far from ordinary. By day, a rare disease limits his ability to move freely, but at night he is far from grounded. When the sleeping hours come around, and weightlessness takes over, Jackson takes to the skies. He knows what it means to need the support of others, which is why when he hears a call for help, he is quickly there to lend a hand.
Author
Darren Garwood is the father of Jackson, a real boy living with a rare and terminal illness called Krabbe disease. Darren came up with the Jackson Superhero series because as Jackson can’t move during the day, Darren wanted to help him dream at night, when he was free to be anything he wanted to be. Jackson Saves an owl is written in lively, fantastic rhyme, and is the first in the Jackson Superhero series.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jacksons_smile
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jacksongarwoodsmile
Illustrator
Carl Osborne
What I Thought
This is an adorable picture book about helping others simply because you can. It is A4, around 20 pages and is set out in rhyme.
Of course I was touched by the story behind this. See more about Darren and Jackson’s story on YouTube – https://youtu.be/xiZ65fP0u3U.
But, what kid doesn’t want to be a superhero though? Your littlest readers will love listening to this, exploring the pictures, making sounds, and when they are ready, reading it for themselves.
The illustrations are stunning and I love that they look so drawn and coloured in. The pencil shading is a retro touch in this age of computerised drawing. I also love the subtlety of the initial drawing of Jackson sat in his beanbag chair with a stomach tube, a slight prompt for children to talk about but not essential to the story.
The heroics are also something very simple, no laser eye beams, showing children that it may be easier to help others than they think.
All in all this is such a cute picture book, created for one special boy but with much wider appeal.
Do check out the other stops on the blog tour. Thanks to Faye and the publisher for my copy for the purposes of this honest review.
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The Truth About Archie and Pye by Jonathan Pinnock – Blog Tour Q&A
Synopsis
Something doesn’t add up about Archie and Pye…
After a disastrous day at work, disillusioned junior PR executive Tom Winscombe finds himself sharing a train carriage and a dodgy Merlot with George Burgess, biographer of the Vavasor twins, mathematicians Archimedes and Pythagoras, who both died in curious circumstances a decade ago.
Burgess himself will die tonight in an equally odd manner, leaving Tom with a locked case and a lot of unanswered questions.
Join Tom and a cast of disreputable and downright dangerous characters in this witty thriller set in a murky world of murder, mystery and complex equations, involving internet conspiracy theorists, hedge fund managers, the Belarusian mafia and a cat called μ.
Author
Jonathan Pinnock is the author of the novel Mrs Darcy Versus the Aliens (Proxima, 2011), the short story collections Dot Dash (Salt, 2012) and Dip Flash (Cultured Llama, 2018), the bio-historico-musicological-memoir thing Take It Cool (Two Ravens Press, 2014) and the poetry collection Love and Loss and Other Important Stuff (Silhouette Press, 2017). He was born in Bedford and studied Mathematics at Clare College, Cambridge, before going on to pursue a moderately successful career in software development. He also has an MA in Creative Writing from Bath Spa University. He is married with two slightly grown-up children and now lives in Somerset, where he should have moved to a long time ago.
(Incidentally I first met Jon on a writing forum Slingink and am happy to have kept in contact to see his success now).
Q&A
What came first, character or plot?
Probably character. My plots tend to be pretty sketchy at first until I find out what’s going on, and it’s definitely the characters – and, specifically, the way they interact – that drives the development of the book.
Who is Tom Winscombe and how is he placed to handle the mystery he is landed with?
Tom Winscombe is a junior PR executive who has lost his way in life, to the point where at the start of the book, he has just set in train a sequence of events that will wreck his career, leaving him with plenty of time on his hands. He is, in pretty much every respect, very badly placed to handle the mystery he is landed with. However, he does have three things on his side at the start: 1) a suitcase containing the clue that will solve the mystery (once he manages to open it), 2) an ability to stumble on solutions to problems without really intending to (although he does also have a habit of creating problems that didn’t previously exist) and 3) a good heart. You can probably think of him as a less furry Paddington.
Why a mathematical mystery?
Good question. It was originally going to be a literary mystery, but I realised that I didn’t really know a lot about literature although I did know quite a bit about maths. So it became a mathematical mystery. Also, there aren’t a lot of those about, which is always good.
Who are Archie and Pye?
Archie and Pye are the Vavasor twins, mathematicians who both died in mysterious circumstances ten years prior to the opening of the book, giving rise to a whole swathe of conspiracy theories as to what actually happened between them.
What does Vavasarology mean to you?
You know what I’m going to say, don’t you? You’ll have to read the book to find out… (Sorry)
I wonder if anyone here got close?
Here was mine:
What are your top 3 editing tips?
Top 3 editing tips: 1) Listen to your editor – mine (Abbie Headon of Farrago) was absolutely brilliant at pinpointing all those bits that I knew deep down weren’t any good, but hadn’t admitted as much to myself yet. 2) If in doubt, cut. 3) And then cut again.
I really enjoyed Mrs Darcy Versus the Aliens and suspect Jon’s wit and humour will shine through again in The Truth About Archie and Pye. If you are a fan of maths, mystery or mirth pick up a copy.
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Dear Mr Pop Star by Derek & Dave Philpott – Blog Tour Book Review
“If you don’t like this book, then you’re no friend of mine.” Ivan Doroschuk, Men Without Hats
Synopsis
A collection of hilarious letters to iconic pop and rock stars with fantastic in-on-the-joke replies from the artists themselves: Eurythmics, Heaven 17, Deep Purple, Devo, Dr. Hook and many, many more…
For more than a decade, Derek Philpott and his son, Dave, have been writing deliberately deranged letters to pop stars from the 1960s to the 90s to take issue with the lyrics of some of their best-known songs. They miss the point as often as they hit it.
But then, to their great surprise, the pop stars started writing back…
Dear Mr Pop Star contains 100 of Derek and Dave’s greatest hits, including correspondence with Katrina and the Waves, Tears for Fears, Squeeze, The Housemartins, Suzi Quatro, Devo, Deep Purple, Nik Kershaw, T’Pau, Human League, Eurythmics, Wang Chung, EMF, Mott the Hoople, Heaven 17, Jesus Jones, Johnny Hates Jazz, Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine, Chesney Hawkes and many, many more.
Authors
Derek and Dave Philpott are the noms de plume of two ordinary members of the public, working with help from a worldwide social networking community.
What I Thought
This is a sizeable tome at just under 400 pages and lays out letters from the Philpotts to various pop stars, some responses in kind and a few shorter ‘postcard’ style quips that have yet to be responded too. This last style was generally more puntastic and therefore appealed to my sense of humour. I think the B52s Love Shack ‘floozy hovel’ letter was my favourite.
A number of the bands or songs I was not familiar with and I did find I responded better to those that I knew. I think perhaps googling the lyrics of some songs might have helped me better appreciate some of the references more.
It was sometimes hard to determine how jokey some of the replies were and there were a few questionable responses so this is not a book for particularly young eyes, and to be fair is really best aimed at music lovers. I’m looking forward to volume two with more recent artists?!
This would make a good coffee table book to dip in and out of and an excellent way to start amusing explorations of what song lyrics might mean.
I decided to have a go at my own letter to the artist in the Philpott style.
Although one response in the book by Wang Chung mentions the song below I wanted to explore it further.
Dear Beyoncé
Re Single Ladies (Put a Ring on it)
I am a little bemused about your premise that ‘putting a ring on it’ is seen as the ultimate goal of a committed relationship and your presumption that doing that will mean that your partner will not stray. As you might be aware marriage is not now the social construct it once was, the ‘til death do us part’ vow should now more accurately be recited as ‘until I get bored and someone “better” comes along’.
If a man is that fickle perhaps making the next one enter into a joint mortgage might make for a more secure relationship. They are notoriously difficult to get out of and may result in the loss of your music awards room as you try to live in the same house but never cross paths.
The tune to Single Ladies and dance moves in the video are however very catchy and I can’t picture what action would accompany ‘got a mortgage with’. Any ideas?
Kirsty Stanley
Although, my query has seemed to turn out less punerific, more feminist argument so I’d suggest picking up a copy of Dear Mr Pop Star for far funnier versions (btw there are letters to female pop stars in there despite the book’s title).
Ooh and my profession got a mention. A pandemic of OTs is what the world needs I think.
Do check out the rest of the blog tour for other reviews, extracts and more.
kirstyes 