Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Stars by Gervase Phinn

This is the perfect "cheer me up" book, especially if you work with or have a love of those things children say!
Once again Phinn has produced a witty book compiled of short tales about children and all the hilarious comments they come out with. Whilst working as a school inspector, Phinn collected anecdotes and tales told to him by children and teachers, and has brought them together into another terrific success!

Out in the beginning of November, this book will definitely bring laughter and smiles to anybody's Christmas Day, for both young and old alike.

Due to the short stories and quick poems, it is a book that you can dip in and out of and return to over and over again. As a trainee teacher it had tears rolling down my cheeks, and will be recommended to everyone in the staffroom as well as my fellow students to prepare us for those 'innocent' comments we will all come across!

The Story of Forgetting by Stefen Merrill Block

Having been intrigued by not only the cover and title of this book, the story continued this need to read on and on until reaching the inevitable end. 


This novel has various strands to it, narrated by different characters throughout the pages, the two main characters being Seth, a teenager suffering a family breakdown as is mum is taken over by an awful disease, and Abel, the hunchback brother of another sufferer who managed to avoid receiving the damaged genes but inevitably causes him to live in his own man-made hell. The book also allows us an insight, through another strand, into the history of the the disease which helps the reader to understand more deeply how the characters in the novel are suffering.
Although from the onset it may appear a little confusing to have so many different stories being told in one novel, the chapter titles and writing styles allow us to seperate them, yet at the same time combine the information to allow a fuller understanding. The novel grips the reader through the breaking points in each characters story so that you need to read through the next one to return to the original.


Overall a very clever masterpiece, that is thought provoking, however keeps just enough distance from being overly sentimental.