Making It Up

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Read 52: Unbored – review and giveaway.

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A reading challenge from https://liveotherwise.co.uk/makingitup

A book with a bit of a difference this week – instead of a novel or picture book, I’m reviewing a sort of activity book: Unbored: The Essential Field Guide to Serious Fun by Joshua Glenn and Elizabeth Foy Larsen (amazon link. Other links are provided below)

I’ve gone through loads of these over the years. One of the drawbacks of being a home educator (yes, there are some) is that you don’t get to (easily) outsource your children for others to entertain. Meaning that you are forever seeking new ways to shoehorn a bit of education in, while being fun. Or at least I am. So I’ve got lots of books titled 101 activities to do without television, or things to do when you’ve nothing to do. That sort of thing. They’re usually fairly predictable, and tbh, a bit pointless.

Unbored the essential field guide to serious fun

Unbored is different. Very different. Instead of opening it and going yeah, yeah, I opened it and went Ooh! To begin with, the introduction is subtitled Use the world or the world will use you. It goes on to say

Unbored… the first kids’ book to truly encourage a hands-on approach to creating a personally meaningful life. To live any other way is to swallow whatever pap the world doles out to you ‘on the end of that long newspaper spoon’, in the words of William S Burroughs. This book is a powerful antidote to those forces that constantly try to shape us into passive consumers of pre-made reality.

I think you may be beginning to see why this book appeals so strongly to someone who goes by the online name ‘liveotherwise’ 🙂

Does it live up to the introduction though? So far I haven’t read it cover to cover (there are over 350 pages!) but it certainly seems to. There are book excerpts eg Anne of Green Gables and South. There are comics, lots of suggestions on training your grownup (the grownups might want to check these out first 😉 ), games, experiments, sections on exploring, saving the planet and expanding your horizons.

Your child, following these suggestions might become a yarn bomber, or start reading banned books. (given some of the books that have been banned around the world for the most ridiculous of reasons, this seems like an excellent start to a reading list.) They might save the planet – you could discover they’ve started taking stuff apart and fixing it. (Good luck. I suggest you hide anything you’re particularly fond of in its current state.)

There’s a fantastic article on unschooling and how it worked out for one girl in the Do it Yourself section of Chapter 1 – You. And a well argued article on why and how to train your grownup (that’s probably you) to stop saying you’re brilliant. (If you aren’t sure why this is a good idea, may I recommend the writings of Alfie Kohn and some self education on the terms intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.)

You may be getting the idea that this really isn’t just another activity book. It’s subversive, entertaining, thought provoking and generally a bit brilliant. I’d like to recommend a copy for every family in the country, and if you can’t spring for that, I’d definitely recommend that you head over to the website, Unbored. Or you could enter my competition to win a copy…

Competition – win Unbored!

To enter to win your own copy of Unbored, just leave me a comment telling me your favourite activity to keep yourself from boredom. The competition closes next Thursday 25th July at midnight so that I can announce the winner next Friday. And you can have an extra entry for sharing this post, using the badge or joining the linky with your own Read52 post – but you must leave an extra comment for each thing you’ve done, telling me what it is. I’m afraid it’s only open to UK and you must be happy to have your details passed on to the publishers for prize fulfilment. Draw will be made using the lovely plugin and the winner is, which relies on separate comment entries.

Previous winners of the After Iris competition were Beth and Ceri – congratulations!

To buy your own copy of Unbored or other activity books to keep you or your offspring out of mischief this summer, why not visit your local independent book shop? Or if you don’t have one, click through to Hive – independent bookshops online. Save 40% off Selected Craft & Hobbies Books Use code SUNNY at the checkout to get an extra 10% off before the end of July where valid.

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Enter the linky.

disclosure: I received a copy of this book free for review. Book and hive links are affiliate links – if you use them I get a few pence.

The background: I’ve challenged Big to read 52 books this year. She will probably be mentioning them over here on her blog. I’m also going to have a crack at reading at least 52 books myself, and more importantly, I’m going to keep track of what books I’m reading to the little ones. I’m going to do all of that in a weekly post, and I’ve also set up a google plus community which you’re very welcome to join. (If you need an invitation, leave me a comment using relevant email address – which will stay hidden.)

Summer SALE hive.co.uk

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The Diaries of Bluebell Gadsby: After Iris. Review and giveaway.

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TDOBG_BlogTour_GraphicI’m really pleased to be coming back from our time travelling break to take part in the The Diaries of Bluebell Gadsby:After Iris (Natasha Farrant) blog tour, and host a giveaway today.

Blue’s twin sister Iris died three years ago and her family is going off the rails. Drama queen Flora changes her hair colour on an almost daily basis, Jasmine and Twig are obsessed with their pet rats, their mother spends her weeks flying round the world and their largely absent father is becoming alarmingly trendy. Enter Zoran the male au pair and Joss the troublemaking boy next door – and life for the Gadsby family takes a turn for the more chaotic. From fragmented to fully dysfunctional to ultimately reunited, Blue films her family and tells their story in a sequence of film transcripts and diary entries which will make you cry, laugh and give thanks – sort of – for the gift of families.

The style of this book made it a little difficult to get into, written as it is partly in transcripts of video diary entries filmed on a camera phone. I’m not sure about that as a device tbh, and it was too offputting for Big, who gave up on it about 40 pages in. In some ways, although she’s the target age for this book, it’s just not her kind of thing. When I picked it up today though, it was just perfect for the slightly hazy state of mind I’m in, and I raced through it.

I can identify with a character who has lost a sister. However, I did it when I was an adult, and this is a story through a child’s eyes of a family disintegrating due to the stresses of grief. Alongside that there are the tensions of growing up, concerns as to whether absent parents will return or are divorcing, and it’s not surprising that the children aren’t holding it together too well. I didn’t find it laugh out loud, or particularly plausible, but I did enjoy it. It reminded me of something, and it will come back to me what. The Bagthorpes perhaps?

I’d say this is an ideal read for a less worldly tween or early teen, one more like the main character perhaps. And I’m not sure whether the visual aspects of the book lend themselves to someone with a more visual style. I’d love it if competition winners would feed back once they’ve read it 🙂

I’ve got two copies up for grabs, and it’s the usual comment to enter method. I’d like you to tell me your favourite flower 🙂 As usual, the competition runs for a week up until 16 July at midnight, and is UK only. You can have extra entries for daily tweets/ shares/ likes etc, but you must leave extra comments for them. Prize will be supplied direct by the publisher, so you must be happy for me to pass details on.

Good luck!

After_Iris high res

Celebrating cleanliness – a Vosene after swim shampoo giveaway.

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Last night I showered. I washed my hair three times. After ten days of being a tudor it was a really lovely experience. The feeling of clean pjs and my own bed was heavenly.

Vosene are celebrating too. They’ve got a lovely new Facebook page. If you’d like to help them celebrate, pop over and like them. And if you’d like to win a bottle of kids’ afterswim shampoo, drop me a comment telling me what you’re planning on getting up to this summer that means you need it.

Five up for grabs, and competition runs till Tues 9th July at midnight. Extra entries for sharing the competition, but you must leave a comment for each entry. Prizes will be supplied direct by Vosene.

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Read 52 – King of Thorns giveaway with a plug for Felixstowe book festival

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A reading challenge from https://liveotherwise.co.uk/makingitup

I love twitter. I spend far too much time on it. And one of the things I love about twitter is being able to actually chat with authors. Lots of them are lovely people who actually chat back 🙂 Someone I’ve talked with a few times is Mark Lawrence, author of Prince of Thorns, and now King of Thorns. And tonight I spotted this:

He was looking for bloggers to do giveaways, naturally I leapt at the chance, so you lucky people get the chance to win a signed paperback copy of the new UK paperback for King of Thorns. Come on, you know you want it! And as usual, all I’m after is a comment.

While we’re here though, I really ought to talk about what I’m reading. I finally managed to start Half Lives by Sara Grant. I’m enjoying it, though in a way slightly dreading the twist. It’s another of these novels written across two times, so with two distinct sets of characters, and in this case, two separate languages and cultures. It’s slightly disorienting slipping between the two, but I’ve a feeling it’s going to be worth it.

And in other bookish news, it’s just a week now to the inaugural Felixstowe Book festival. I’d really appreciate some help spreading the word particularly about the children’s events which still have plenty of availability. You can see Zoe Palmer, Baden Prince or Julie Hearn on the saturday or Hayley Long or Marita Phillips on Sunday. £2 per ticket (adults free) and I understand that discounts for large families are negotiable. Tickets for children’s events are available at the library, or via eventbrite

The competition closes next Thursday 13th June at midnight. To enter leave me a comment telling me what you’re reading this week. You can have an extra entry for sharing this post, using the badge or joining the linky with your own Read52 post – but you must leave an extra comment for each thing you’ve done, telling me what it is. As Mark is doing the posting direct, you must be prepared for me to pass your details to him – if you’re not happy to do that, don’t enter. UK only. Draw will be made using the lovely plugin and the winner is, which relies on separate comment entries.

Grab the badge

Enter the linky.

disclosure: Above book links are affiliate links to Hive. Support this blog and independent booksellers at the same time!

The background: I’ve challenged Big to read 52 books this year. She will probably be mentioning them over here on her blog. I’m also going to have a crack at reading at least 52 books myself, and more importantly, I’m going to keep track of what books I’m reading to the little ones. I’m going to do all of that in a weekly post, and I’ve also set up a google plus community which you’re very welcome to join. (If you need an invitation, leave me a comment using relevant email address – which will stay hidden.)

I'm still celebrating: £100 Zalando voucher giveaway.

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zalando

I’ve really enjoyed celebrating my 10 year blogaversary over the last couple of weeks. I loved giving away a microwave – my winner was Vita and she appears to be suitably happy.

I’ve made a conscious decision not to put my competitions on any forums. I know I could boost my traffic by doing that, but I want my winners to be people who actually read the blog every once in a while, rather than just drive by hits. Just seems nicer that way somehow. So I do give out extra entries for sharing around, but it’s more of an organic growth hopefully.

I’ve got another fabulous competition now, hopefully to keep everyone happy. This time it’s for a £100 voucher to spend at Zalando, which was described to me as “a young, new e-commerce boutique with a diverse range of products”. Certainly the website looks very interesting – I keep going back to look at the cowboy boots 😉 Fashion, as you may be able to tell, isn’t really my thing. But I was impressed that when I signed up to the newsletter, I automatically got sent a £5 voucher, which I thought was friendly.

So, how shall we do this? I think I’d like you to tell me what is your favourite item of clothing. Stick it in a comment, and that’s your first entry. You can have extra entries for sharing this post (once a day, no more often thanks!) but you *must* leave an extra comment for each extra entry method or it won’t be counted. (I use And the winner is plugin, which makes a random drawing from comment entries.) The competition will run for 10 days, because it’s my 10th anniversary, which takes us up to midnight on 3rd June. Competition is open to UK only (sorry international readers, will try to have something for you soon!) and you must be prepared for me to pass your details to Zalando for prize fulfilment.

Disclosure: the prize will be supplied by Zalando, I have not been paid or otherwise recompensed for this post.