Creepy Kitchen by Lee Newman

 This guest post is by Heidi Angell, author of Creative Exercises to Inspire and Royal Prince Vince. For more on Heidi, visit her website at http://angellslife.com/

Genre: Children's book

Synposis: The narrator takes us on a tour of his creepy kitchen where we get to meet such fun characters as Count Spatula, The Crummy, Dr. Forkentein, and the Phantom of the Garbage Disposal. (those were MY favorites! Can't give away ALL the fun characters you will meet!)

Review: I have been waiting for almost a year for this book to come out! I am friends with the author on Facebook and knew from the early mock ups that my kids would love this story. I didn't realize how much I would love it. I don't mean as a mom who loves things that her kids love, but as an adult! The style is reminiscent of There is a Monster at the End of This Book (the one from Sesame Street) but whereas I felt the compulsive desire to hide that book from my kids after about the 1,000 time reading it, this one will tickle adult's funny bones as much as the kid's. It will remind you of that first year you didn't live at home. (Or my house, whenever I'm too busy to clean the kitchen. All I can say is when I read about Dirty Dish Peak, I LOL'ed and thought of my husband XD We had to stop reading so I could get back under control!)

 Some of the characters I had to help my kids make the connection with because they aren't really fans of horror... yet. At the end, I asked my boys who their favorite character was and my 8 year old said "the narrator. I can totally relate!" My 11 year old  said "the Crock Mess Monster. I hate eating food from the crock pot!"

Needless to say, we read it three times and I'm still giggling even as I write the review!

Author: Lee Newman is a comic guy, having produced the highly entertaining series Burdened Vessel and working with the team at Swampfox Media.  He is also the author of Hollis Magoo and the Hot Air Balloon and you can see lots of his fun short stories for free on Figment. Currently Creepy Kitchen is available in PDF but hopefully he will have physical copies soon!

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Collin's Corner: Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle by Betty MacDonals

Paperback, 144 pages

Published June 3rd 1994 by HarperCollins (first published 1947)

Genre: Children Chapter Book

Synopsis: Mrs.Piggle-Wiggle is a funny little woman who has very long hair, loves children and lives in a house she had built upside down. She wanted it built upside down because when she was a little girl she wondered what it would be like to live in an upside down house. She had the baths and kitchen put in the correct way but everything else is upside down. The chandelier in the dining room is imagined to be a fire by all the children. The children of the neighborhood love to go to her house and play because she has a child-like personality and a big imagination that the children thrive and respond to. She is also the woman everyone calls on for parenting questions. She has a creative cure for all the problems the children have. Here is a list of some of her cures: The Won't-Pick-Up-Toys Cure, The Answer-Backer Cure, The Selfishness Cure, The Radish Cure, The Never-Want-To-Go-To-Bedders Cure, The Slow-Eater-Tiny-Bite-Taker Cure, and The Fighter-Quarrelers Cure. This book was first published in 1947 and it is fairly obvious in the way people lived in the story, to me. My kids didn't notice anything nor ask any questions. :)

My Thoughts: This was a fun read. After each chapter Collin and I took some time to discuss the choices the children were making and if he ever does, then the consequences Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle came up with for the children and what consequences would work in our home. It was really very fun. Collin squealed, "May we please read Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle today?" Really, how can a mom possibly say no to that? My 4 year old daughter even joined in our readings. They were fun to listen to for her as well. My son said that he gives this book five stars because it was so fun and I must say, I agree with him, too. :)

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Matched by Ally Condi

Good news!! My semester is over and I get to read fun books again!! Hooray!! Bad news is that my new semester starts in a week so I'm trying to read as many books as I can. hehe! ;)

Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction, Dystopia

Synopsis/Review: The society in this book reminds me a lot of The Giver by Lois Lowry. The society has completely taken away all types of agency and independence. No one has a chance to learn who they are by breaking out of the "norm" because there is nothing but "norm". If you don't fit in then you are transferred somewhere else. They watch everything you do, even monitor your dreams. At the age of 17 you are matched with the person you are going to marry. Matched begins on the night of Cassia's matching. She is surprisingly matched with her best friend (most are matched with people from other cities whom they have never met) Xander. She is given the microcard with the dating rules and info on Xander but when it displays the face of her match she sees a different face. Not Xander's, but Ky's! Another young man from her area who has been marked for a crime his father committed and is banned from ever being married or having any type of fulfilling life. Even his career the society has chosen for him is basically a dishwasher. That is all he will be. As Cassia begins to pay attention to Ky and the way his life is handled because of decisions of other people, she begins questioning the society and the importance of having a choice.

This is another love triangle young adult novel. It is fun though because of the society. It adds a new depth to it that most of the other young adult love triangle novels lack. The author uses a lot of description in her writing as well which is really fun. It is written in first person, present tense. Anytime a book is written in present tense instead of past tense it takes me a couple of chapters to get used to. I'm not really sure why. Overall, this was a fun book!! The ending bugged me because it didn't end how I wanted it to but thankfully, I waited long enough to start it that the second book is out and the third one will be out in November. Woot!! I'll have to get my hands on the next one soon. ;)

Rating: **** Four Stars

Author: Ally Condie received a degree in English Teaching from Brigham Young University and spent a number of years teaching high school English in Utah and in upstate New York. She lives with her husband and three sons outside of Salt Lake City, Utah.

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