Reviews: Books and Magazines

Kids’ Party Cakes is a one-stop-shop for children’s birthday cakes from birth upwards. If I were to sum up the book in one word, I would use ‘uncomplicated’. This is a book where you will genuinely be able to produce a result that looks like the picture, and your child will be suitably impressed. You may not have to hone your cake decorating prowess using ‘Kids’ Party Cakes’, but everything you use will be readily available, relatively easy to put together and consequently, the cake will not add undue stress to your birthday party preparations.

All of the cakes in the book are built from packets of buttercake mix, the cupcakes have recipes – and a few icing recipes are provided. The emphasis is on quick and simple.

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Giraffes can’t Dance is a young children’s book about Gerald the Giraffe who can’t dance at the annual dance party

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Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to lead is a brave book and an important one.

Sheryl Sandberg has led a challenging career and a successful one. She’s worked in groundbreaking companies. She has also often been the only woman in the room, the only woman at the table, or the woman to say- something’s not quite right here, and something has to change. She writes to champion women and to start that change.

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Adventures in Vintage Needlecraft

In With Bold Needle and Thread, Rosemary McLeod takes the reader through the 1920s to the 1950s with projects, a bit of history and wonderful excerpts from women’s magazines of the time.

The projects are taken from items in Rosemary McLeod’s collection or from projects she found in the magazines, but she has written new instructions.

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The Silly Goat Gruff is a new twist on the classic tale of The Billy Goat Gruff and is written by kiwi Scott Tulloch. As an adult I think this book is brilliant, funny and witty. I’m slightly hesitant to recommend it for all children, however those who enjoy it are sure to request it over and over.

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Paddy and Flynn’s dog Coco is outside when she is suddenly swooped off by a dragon! The boys mount a rescue mission to the dragon’s lair, making sure they have the right supplies for the journey.

The book has rhyming text and full-page colour illustrations.

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“Love Your Hair” promises 24 easy-to-follow “recipes” for effortlessly sexy hair.

I put my name down to review this book in November and when it arrived in March, I had just taken part in Shave for a Cure! Oops. As a result, I don’t have a lot of hair to experiment with and I will review the book based on reading the instructions and imagining myself trying to follow them. I hope that’s still helpful!

The book starts with an introduction to the power of a good haircut/style, a guide to hair and hair products, a list of “hardware”, thirteen basic “recipes” and some more complicated styles. It has some general advice that could be useful for men, but it is aimed at women.

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At the Beach is a delightful introduction to the natural history of the New Zealand seashore. The stage is set with beautiful, factually correct illustrations (including detailed cross-sections) of three familiar habitats – the sandy beach, rockpools and mudflats

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Good Food Made Simple is all about cooking food that brings warmth to a kitchen, laughter and pleasure to a home. It’s about new twists on old standbys and delicious meals made easy for the everyday cook.

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What if you had the chance to live your life again and again, until you finally got it right? That’s the premise of Life After Life – the new novel from Kate Atkinson. When the central character, Ursula, dies, she doesn’t really die; life continues, but not in the way that it was happening. This is not a ‘Sliding Doors’ premise where there is one possibility or another – every choice in Ursula’s life has possibilities. One reviewer I heard talked about Ursula’s lives as like the fingers on a glove. It sounds sort-of ridiculous when you say it like that but in the masterful hands of Atkinson, it’s utterly plausible.

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