Five-Stars Book Review
Wild Boar in Victoria Habour
Star Rating:
Best Peer Review
From verses that reminiscence the good old days of kindergarten, to ballads that talk about the virgin queen, this book is packed full of a wide variety of interesting poems that are bound to captivate fellow readers.
I find myself enjoying the peculiar topics of the many poems, such as “Eaten Alive” and “Planet Hungry”. These ideas are not what you’d usually expect to find in a poem book, but it’s also what makes it more interesting to read. One of the most noteworthy things about the poems are definitely the great use of imagery. Florence, the author, is able to handle adjectives to her advantage, using them to describe items, people and events, in way where you can imagine how the things would look, smell, taste and feel. An excellent example of this is the poem,” My Tongue”.
Among all of the poems in this book, my favourites include “ An Old Man’s Face”, because I admire how the author uses metaphors to describe the old man’s face, “The Kitchen”, as I really like how the poem gives a lot of room for imagination and “Praise from an Ordinary”, the reason being that I am interested by the author’s take on what is “ordinary”.
Moreover, I really adored reading this lovely book and I would really recommend this to aspiring poets and people who seek for the unique poems with a cultural twist.
This book is definitely worthy of 5 stars!
Reviewed by Yulia Wong (Year 7)
June 2020
Cupid and Psyche
Star Rating:
Best Peer Review
Elizabeth and Ella were once again pulled into the magical Book of Stories, and this time, the story was the re-work from the tale of the magical Greek god of love, Cupid and Psyche, who desperately needed their help. In order to succeed in their quest and bring back peace and order to the mystical world from the Book of Stories, they must start by creating a special necklace called the Amulet of Love, and only then will their relationship be repaired and their story saved.
From the author, Yulia’s first introduction of Cupid, to when Aquila explained that he had changed his famous love arrows into fart arrows, I had been laughing my head off every time. I really enjoyed how Yulia put humour in the story.
As for the retrieval of the pink star diamond that would appear later on in the story, I like how Yulia put the three main characters’ friendship to the test by having them overcome their anger and resentment to form the pink star diamond. Friends forever!
I also fancy how Elizabeth said "I can already imagine the dazzling jewels calling my name!" from one of lines in the book, as I found that was so funny and dramatic.
In conclusion, I think this book is amazing! To add on to that, it is also quite hilarious and adventurous.
If you find any of the first few books of this series interesting, I definitely recommend you read this one as well!
My rating: I give this book a good 5 stars!
Reviewed by Inez Chung Tsz Man (Primary 6)
March 2020
The Bigger Book of Poem by a Little Girl
Star Rating:
The previous collection of Yulia’s poems is full of her innocent yet playful imitation of and inquiry into the world with her intuitive drawing, showing her eagerness to make sense of herself and the world. This collection, however, is a record of her intricate observation of the almighty nature.
Continuing her passion with the visual way of expression, she meekly and gently starts her journey, like the little girl in the first poem “A Little Girl under the Blanket of Blue and Black,” who timidly reaches out her “small and slim” hand to touch the awesome whales, trying to make contact with the nature. Once Yulia is confronted with it, she discovers the many faces of nature, such as the majesty of “the spiraling sky,” the mystique of the cat with nine lives, the fright of the nighttime when “monsters” all coming out, and the invincibility of fate, all of which drag her in deep contemplation.
Sometimes she is puzzled, but most of the time she is humble, accepting the “impossible chase to capture the sight of” and “the falling of the world.” She then compassionately prays for the blessings of nature for each of us, and of course, for herself, for keeping her away from the milk allergy so that she can eat her ice-cream freely.
In this collection, with both her own paintings and written words, we can see a little girl’s complex feelings of the power of nature, and what is more, her humble wishes of sipping a smoothie and eating an ice-cream on a distant sea with golden sand.
Reviewed by Dr. Cleo Lai
Jan 2018
The Big Book of Poem by a Little Girl
Star Rating:
When Yulia was around 5, she told her parents that she liked poetry because it sounded beautiful with words full of rhyme. They thought she would be inclined to learn and play music with her good sense of sound, just like what her parents have done.
However, it turned out quite unexpectedly that she wrote poetry. It is unexpected as poetry for her whole family, including the one of her mother and of her father, is so foreign, unfamiliar and even alien that they have absolutely no idea of making any connection with it. They have always thought that they know dinosaur better than poetry. Yulia is a mutant in her family.
When poetry is said to defamiliarize all kinds of things in the world, Yulia turns poetry into something homely, ordinary, and funny. The subject matter of her poems can be a banter exchanged with her dad, her beloved books, her puzzle, her idle watching of the cloud, and even her own shadow, not to mention her imaginative love story of her father and mother.
Writing poetry for Yulia is like a game, a game of playing with sound, rhythm, words and imagination, as well as of exploring and constructing the meaning of herself and the world around her.
You will be delighted by the playful yet concrete evidence of life in her poems. As Lawrence Ferlinghetti says, “Poetry is eternal graffiti written in the heart of everyone.”
Reviewed by Dr. Cleo Lai
Jan 2017
The Big Book of Poem by a Little Girl
Star Rating:
When Yulia was around 5, she told her parents that she liked poetry because it sounded beautiful with words full of rhyme. They thought she would be inclined to learn and play music with her good sense of sound, just like what her parents have done.
However, it turned out quite unexpectedly that she wrote poetry. It is unexpected as poetry for her whole family, including the one of her mother and of her father, is so foreign, unfamiliar and even alien that they have absolutely no idea of making any connection with it. They have always thought that they know dinosaur better than poetry. Yulia is a mutant in her family.
When poetry is said to defamiliarize all kinds of things in the world, Yulia turns poetry into something homely, ordinary, and funny. The subject matter of her poems can be a banter exchanged with her dad, her beloved books, her puzzle, her idle watching of the cloud, and even her own shadow, not to mention her imaginative love story of her father and mother.
Writing poetry for Yulia is like a game, a game of playing with sound, rhythm, words and imagination, as well as of exploring and constructing the meaning of herself and the world around her.
You will be delighted by the playful yet concrete evidence of life in her poems. As Lawrence Ferlinghetti says, “Poetry is eternal graffiti written in the heart of everyone.”
Reviewed by Dr. Cleo Lai
Jan 2017