Text Messages – DaneCobain.com

Title: Texts from Dog

Author: October Jones

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 122

Rating: 8/10

October Jones – Texts from Dog

Texts from Dog does exactly what it says on the tin – it presents the reader with a collection of text messages between a man and man’s best friend. They’re mocked up as if they’re screenshots from an iPhone, and they’re pretty funny – they made me laugh out loud a couple of times.

Jones actually does a great job of building up a picture of his dog’s personality, and while it’s not really necessary for the book to work, it’s a nice little bonus. It’s also a quick read, and overall I can’t imagine anyone not enjoying it. A novelty, but fun.

October Jones Cartoon

Click here to buy Texts from Dog.

Simon Mayle – Shoutykid: How Harry Riddles Made a Mega-Amazing Zombie Movie | Review

Title: Shoutykid: How Harry Riddles Made a Mega-Amazing Zombie Movie

Author: Simon Mayle

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 400

Rating: 8/10

Simon Mayle – Shoutykid: How Harry Riddles Made a Mega-Amazing Zombie Movie

Disclaimer: While I aim to be unbiased, I received a copy of this for free to review.

I accidentally read the Shoutykid books out of order, which has presented some interesting problems because now I feel the urge to change the score that I gave to the other book that I took a look at. I felt that this was perhaps the weaker of the two, but for a very specific reason – in this book, Harry’s zombie movie almost feels like an anti-climax, because there’s quite a lot of other stuff going on. In How Harry Riddles Mega-Massively Broke the School, there’s a slower build up, and more of the action can be related back to the book’s title.

Other than that, though, this book is actually a lot of fun, and with plenty of elements that modern kids will be able to relate to, from the games consoles that Harry plays to the way that he communicates. As I mentioned in my previous review, each book in the Shoutykid series is written in epistolary format, which means that they’re presented as a series of e-mails, letters and text messages. It’s difficult to get it right, but it’s done well here, mainly due to the layout of the book and the illustrations of Nikalas Catlow.

It’s a little bit weird to read it as an adult if there isn’t a kid around, but it is a pretty quick read and one of the cool things about it is that the chapter lengths are just right for a quick bedtime read. As for me, I got through the whole thing in a day just reading it on the way to work and back, and yet you get a real feeling of completion because it is, after all, quite a long book at 400 pages.

If you’re thinking about taking a look at Shoutykid and you want my advice, I’d suggest you start here first. That way, if I’m right and How Harry Riddles Mega-Massively Broke the School is in fact the better book, the only way is up. I must admit, now I’ve read two of these, I kind of want to know what happens next. Maybe I’ll buy the next book!