Book reviews: Children's books

Reviews: Lauren O’Connor-May

I Hate Everything

Sophy Henn

Simon and Schuster

This is a simple and clever little book that delighted my little ones, especially my four-year-old, who is currently going through a hating-everything phase, but I suspect that my Grouchy Smurf resonated with this book.

The simple book features two characters, the bigger one of which declares: “I hate everything”. The little one then lists all the things they both love asking: “Do you hate …”.

Eventually, when the bigger character has run out of things to hate, and declares, “I love everything.”

This book is unbelievably cute and may be just the tonic for bad-tempered toddlers.

Heidi

Johanna Spyri, retold by Jeanne Willis

Nosy Crow

Nosy Crow is fast becoming one of my new favourite children’s publishers because of their innovative media-blending books.

Heidi is one of my absolute favourite books too, so I had high hopes when these two favourites combined. I was disappointed, however, because this retelling has been washed of the original Christian elements.

The rest of the story is mostly the same, albeit compacted. The classic tells the story of a little orphan girl who finds unexpected happiness in the simplicity of life while living with her elderly grandfather in the Swiss Alps. Her aunt, who had abandoned her there, returns a few years later. She abducts Heidi and takes her to Frankfurt where she becomes the companion of a wheelchair-bound girl, Klara. 

Heidi is miserable in the stuffy and strict household, but she brings light and happiness to the inhabitants. When a mysterious ghost starts plaguing the house, the doctor is called in and his diagnosis surprises everyone. 

The audio link connects to a narration by Juliet Stevenson, which can be downloaded or streamed one chapter at a time.

Brave Like Me

Zulaikha Patel

Pan MacMillan

Human rights activist Zulaikha Patel tells the story of a little girl who fights racial prejudice in the autobiographical Brave Like Me. 

Patel gained national attention in 2016 when her then 13-year-old self and her fellow pupils campaigned against Pretoria High School’s apartheid legacy policies against curly hair and speaking their home languages. 

This book tells that story but also dives into the broader discrimination she faced because of her mixed-race parentage and how those experiences have shaped her activism and advocacy.