Georgia Byng

I quite enjoyed this. It's a refreshing fantasy-adventure tale in that our young, parent-less heroine isn't trying to save the world from the ultimate evil (aren't you getting a little sick of that worn-out plot?) but instead escaping an awful life and having her every wish fulfilled. Until, of course, she realizes that having your every wish fulfilled is never all it's cracked up to be. True, it's a little cheeseball with the moral, but, like I said, I enjoyed it, and I don't doubt that show more many kiddos will too.

Side note: I honestly thought for a long time that this was a book about a dog named Molly Moon because there's a dog on the cover, but the dog is actually a pug named Petula who (also refreshingly) is pretty much a normal-acting dog and not a talking one.

Additional side note: There's an ice cream shop in Seattle called Molly Moon's that has a dog in its logo. Coincidence? I don't know, but the ice cream there is bomb. show less

This is not the sort of book I would've chosen to read, favouring the fantastic storylines of Percy Jackson et al, but I was assigned this for my book group so I figured I would give it a go. I managed a whopping fifty pages before the choices flashed before my eyes:

1. continue reading and forget any ideas of individuality or genuine conviction about anything I may have harboured;
2. abandon this book before my brain turned to mush and spend my time reading something that wasn't the literary show more equivalent of i-Carly;
3. suicide.


I opted for the second option, and just in time! I was beginning to see my friends as 'chubby' or 'totes uncool' instead of people with personalities and feelings that I wanted to spend time with regardless (or in spite) of whether they're sporting the latest One Direction t-shirt.

The characters in this book are shallow, one-dimensional and dull. I couldn't care less what happened to any of them. Frankly, the only good ending would've been for Molly to have got the main part in the play she so desired only to subsequently fall off stage and break her neck halfway through the performance. But I don't think I could've stomached another 200 or so pages to find out.

If this is what girls my age are perceived to think about all day then I wonder why no one has heard of this book and why books with substance and interesting characters like the Harry Potter series are so well regarded. Frankly, it's insulting to me that I was asked to waste spend my time reading this with a view to seriously discussing it afterwards.

Describe this book in four words? I literally can't even. show less

Molly Moon, Rocky and Petula are off on special adventure to find Molly's twin brother and bring him home. Molly has recently found out that she has a twin that she has never met. His name is Mickey and he was stolen from the hospital. Molly has made a promise to find her twin and bring him home. With her abilities of hypnotism and time travel this should be a piece of cake. Instead it turns out to be a dangerous adventure that could leave Molly living in the far future in a world completely show more different and unkind.

When Molly finds Mickey it is in the far off future and the world has she knows it has completely changed more for the bad than the good. The land is now ruled by a Princess Fen Fang Feng Yang Yong Yin Ying Kai-Ying — a six-year-old spoiled brat that is a genius! The climate is hot and dry and the citizens of the country all walk around mindless, doing what the princess wants when she wants. Mickey is found to be living in the palace under the control of the princess and has no knowledge of his past.

Rescuing Mickey is no easy feat and almost costs Molly her special powers for life. Enlisting the help of some unusual inhabitants Molly works to rescue Mickey and Rocky from the control of Princess Fen Fang Fen....

An exciting read that keeps you going. show less

Lovely story based on a false nose and spectacles in a London museum. Alice was born without a nose as as a result in teased and bullied and shunned as a child in Victorian England. A chance encounter with a clown at a circus causes her family to come up with the false nose that makes her life easier and eventually she grows up to be a secretary in an office. Her treatment though has made her alert to the plight of others and she uses her kind nature to help those less fortunate and the show more story has a beautiful "happy ever after" ending. Nice illustrations. One for students who are fans of Wonder. show less