April Wrap-up and May TBR

Another wrap-up! yay!

As you might know I haven't read many books this month. I'm focussing so much on school I kinda have a hard time finding some extra time to read and review books.

The book I read this month is 'A royal disaster' by Meg Cabot. It's the 2nd book in the princess diaries series.

The book I'm currently reading is 'the Heir' by Keira Cass, and I just hope to finish this soon! The books I want to read in may are:
- The heir by Keira Cass
- de krijtjes staken door Oliver Jeffers

- vader en dochter door Michael Dudok de Wit

- Code M door Ineke Mahieu

- Princess in the Middle by Meg Cabot

- Crown of midnight by Sarah J. Maas

I know the list is long but hoping to read these never harms :) At least I already started 'The Heir'!

Which books will you be reading in May?

#FridayReads 29-04

Happy weekend all!
This weekend I'll be reading several books. At the moment I'm still reading 'The Heir' by Keira Cass but I also want to start Princess in the Middle by Meg Cabot and also Vader en Dochter door Michael Dudok de Wit. So yep, my list is long!
So far I'm loving the heir, it's kinda different than I had expected but I just love to be in the Maxon and America world, and now their daughter's as well. The final book 'The Crown' will be released on May 19th so I want to finish 'The Heir' before :)

I also can't wait to get the 3rd and final book from the 'Miss Peregrine's home for peculiar children' series by Ransom Riggs in the mail. I ordered it on Sunday so I hope this weekend it will come in the mail or else coming week :)

I shall spend my weekend doing schoolwork, coloring and reading of course!

Which books will you be reading?

Coloring book Review: Enchanted forest by Johanna Basford

It's time for another review, but this time I posted a review of a coloring book! This is my 1st coloring book review :)

I recently bought this coloring book by Johanna Basford on thebookdepository.com for 12 Euros. I got this in the mail 2 weeks ago now and I have to say I'm loving it. Her coloring books are very popular and I just had to try out her newest one.

This book takes you into this magical world with castles, animals and beautiful mythical patterns to color. I just love it so much because the drawings inside are breathtaking!
When you look to the outside of the book it looks stunning as well. The outside has black and white on it with golden accents. Also the material of the book is really good. The paper is really heavy so you can color extra accurate on it and also the quality of it in general is amazing.

I can't wait to color more of the drawings! so far I've colored 2 of them :) The fox and the Castle you see I love most of all! They look so magical!

The YalFest 2016 disappointment...

You probably are wondering at the moment why I made this blogpost with this pretty harsh title. Well you're going to find out now!

Yesterday was YalFest 2016 in Utrecht (The Netherlands). This was a young adult literature festival organised by the Best of YA team. Of course I went there with pretty high expectations because the publisher who publishes like most of the young adult novels in our country organised this! 400 tickets were sold and oh yea.... those 400 people didn't go unnoticed.

When I arrived in Utrecht we walked to the Winkel van Sinkel, where the event would be held. Literally all 400 people showed up and waited outside. It was really lovely to talk to so many people with the same interests while standing in the line.

11:00 a.m, the doors opened and everyone rushed in! The first thing I noticed.. 400 people were going to this event and there barely were 200 chairs for the 1st activity. Conclusion: half of the people had to stand for 2 hours, during the author discussion talk. I however was very lucky to have a chair. The author talk started at 11:30. Everyone was so excited because the authors who came to this event were pretty big. All authors were seated on couches in front of the audience, and they had to answer questions about themselves and about the other authors. The questions however didn't came from the fans in the audience but were made by the Best of YA team.. The authors who were at the festival were: Ransom Riggs, Tahereh Mafi, Stephanie Perkins, Arwen Elys Dayton, Becky Albertalli, Tom Ellen & Lucy Ivison.

Then at 13:00 there was lunch which we could pick up upstairs. The lunch was okayish, however we only got milk to drink in the bag and actually many people don't like milk.. so they had nothing to drink. Also there were 2 sandwiches and an apple in the bag. They were okay. 

At 14:00 group 1 had their workshop and group 2 (Me!) had the photo moment with the authors. When I came back down the row was immense long but went really quickly. However, I kinda was sad to see you couldn't go on a picture with all authors seperately.. noooooo, all others were seated on the same couches and you had to sit in between them.. We weren't allowed to talk to the authors and also we weren't allowed to let a book signed. AKA there were no signings and also no contact with any of them... By the end of the photo moment there was half an hour of time left before the other group would come, so yay small talk to authors! but no.... the authors had quickly to go away to a special area and weren't allowed to have any interaction with fans.. like 0! I really really was sad because for this event I paid huge money and we couldn't even have our 'moment' with the authors...

At 15:30 groups were being switched, group 2 would get their workshop (me!) and group 1 had the photo moment.. I had workshop C, vlogging. Sanne from the youtube channel BooksAndQuills would do the workshop. We came into the room and guess what, after 10 mins of trying they came to the conclusion the wifi connection wasn't working and our workshop got cancelled... So yep, no vlogging workshop. Suddenly they sent in a Dutch authors who no one knew and he had to answer questions from us about himself or his book. This really was annoying because everyone came to listen to Sanne and not to this author. He was nice though and I did listen to the things he had to say, unlike many others I thought it to be interesting but not anything I had learned from him.

16:30, YalFest was over... You had a chance to stay till 17:00 to buy some stuff and talk to others they said but they already started cleaning everything at 16:30. They also placed everything back and all 'stands' who were there selling stuff closed and started packing. I thought to would have had a chance to buy some books or so but no that wasn't possible.

Conclusion to this all, I really really am disappointed on the way they handled this event. Every author was in Utrecht for 3 days, having spent time with the Best of YA team and publisher. Signed tons of books for them, had hours and hours of talking with everyone selected to be part of that team (like 20 people). But the team made sure none of the authors had time on the day itself to talk to fans or sign books. This really makes me angry because 400 people paid 40 euros (55 dollars) for almost nothing. We had to create the fun time ourselves with everyone around us because it certainly wasn't possible during the workshop or the author photo moment. 

Next year they will organise the event again, but after having had this experience I will not go again and also will tell about this bad experience.

I did however buy some goodies this day because I didn't want to go home empty handed! :)

As you can see I bought 6 pins related to books etc and also I bought a book related mug! :)

At the festival we also got a goodiebag with goodies and stickers in, on these stickers all authors wrote their autograph. I still am happy to have these, but an autograph in a book would have been a dream!

Hope you enjoyed the article! also, Did any of you go to YalFest and what's you opinion on it? :) I'd love to know!

Recensie: De gele olifant door Loes Riphagen

Titel/Auteur: De gele olifant door Loes Riphagen

Jaar gepubliceerd: 2012 door de Fontijn 

Genre: kinderboek, prentenboek
Hoe heb ik dit boek verkregen: bibliotheek

Waarom las ik dit boek: Het boek zag er zeer leuk uit!

Rating: 3.5 van de 5 sterren 

Tekstloos prentenboek over een olifant en een muis. Ze zijn dikke vriendjes, tot olifant opeens fan wordt van de kleur geel. Hij verzamelt alle gele dingen (en dieren) ... Helaas is muis niet geel..

Recensie
Dit boek gaat over een gele olifant. Op een tijdens een ijsje eten in het park ziet de olifant een man voorbij lopen met een gele banaan. Dan besluit de olifant dat hij vanalles wil sparen dat geel is van kleur. Hij spaart dieren, schilderijen, ballonnen, potten, auto's en nog veel meer. Zijn vriend de muis vindt het maar allemaal niks. Op een gegeven moment krijgt de olifant een obsessie met de kleur geel, hij wil zelfs de zon hebben. Als hij die niet kan pakken besluit hij de route de soleil af te gaan om zo de zon uiteindelijk ook aan zijn collectie te kunnen toevoegen.

Dit boek vond ik best leuk. Ik snapte alleen niet precies waar de schrijfster heen wilde met de gedachte achter het boek. Koopverslaafd? verslaafd in het algemeen? verzamelen? Ik vond het niet duidelijk naar voren komen. Wel vond ik de afbeeldingen zeer mooi vormgegeven en het boek had een fijne grootte om vast te houden. Dit boek is een tekstloos prentenboek waardoor ouders een eigen verhaal kunnen verzinnen bij het voorlezen van het boek. Ook jonge kinderen kunnen eindeloos fantaseren over de avonturen van de olifant.
Dit boek vond ik zeer vermakelijk om te lezen, daarom geef ik het 3.5 sterren van de 5!

Yalfest 2016

So, some of you might know this already but next weekend (april 24th) I'm going to YALfest in Utrecht (The Netherlands).  The day excists out of workshops, photo moments with the authors and buying books of course! unfortunately the authors don't sign books and won't have time to talk to you :S
however, I'm so excited because this is the 1st time this event is being organised, and already several famous authors are coming!
Becky Albertalli (Simon vs the world), Arwen Alys Dayton (seeker), Tahereh Mafi (shatter me), Ransom Riggs (Mrs Peregrine's home for peculiar children), Tom Ellen & Lucy Ivison (Lobsters) and not to forget Stephanie Perkins (Anna & The french kiss).
I mean look at that list of authors! It's amazing. Stephanie Perkins, Ransom Riggs and Tahereh Mafi are really in my top 10 favourite authors list. I can't wait to meet them because authors rarely are coming to the Netherlands.

Any of you who are coming as well? It would be amazing to meet!

#FridayReads 08-04

Yay! It's friday again! As you might have noticed I was away for a week. This happened because I had some very heavy tests and exams at school and also I went to paris last weekend. Had no time to write blogposts.

Paris was great though! I went visiting a friend and together we had a great weekend! I went to chateau de Versailles on my own and the day later we did things together. We went to place des vosges, notre dame, sacre coeur, eiffel tower, place de la concorde and to the Cognacq-Jay museum. 

Of course I also went bookshopping at the Shakespeare and Company bookshop next to the Notre Dame. My friend lives a street from the bookshop away! There I bought the book 'Emma'by Jane Austen! :) 

So now I've updated you all it's time to talk about this weekend! I am almost finished  reading the 2nd book in the princess diaries series and also planning on reading a children's book, although I haven't quite looked for reading which one hehe! 

At this very moment I'm watching outlander as well, re-watching it! Just this series is so amazing! 

Voila! evidence picture! 

Have a great weekend! 

Recensie: Feestmaal voor de Koning Door Marlies Verhelst en Linde Faas

Titel/Auteur: Feestmaal voor de Koning door Marlies Verhelst en Linde Faas. 

Jaar gepubliceerd: 2016 door Lemniscaat. 

Genre: kinderboek, prentenboek
Hoe heb ik dit boek verkregen: bibliotheek

Waarom las ik dit boek: Het boek vond ik er mooi uitzien en dieren zijn een geweldig thema. 

Rating: 5 van de 5 sterren 

Dit boek is een boek over dieren. De koning van de Jungle is jarig: de leeuw. Iedereen helpt mee met het bouwen van zijn prachtige vleestaart tot oppeens er stukken weg zijn. De vogelspin gaat op zoek naar wie de dader is. Eerst gaat hij langs gorilla, dan de slang, de giraffe, de olifant, de neushoornvogel, de krokodil, de vleermuis en dan de Leeuw. Wie heeft het gedaan? Dit kun je allemaal lezen in dit leuke prentenboek van Marlies Verhelst en Linde Faas.

De afbeeldingen in dit boek vind ik heel mooi. Ze hebben mooie kleuren en zijn duidelijk en vrolijk getekend. De personages in het boek zijn ook mooi vormgegeven en zien / klinken er super uit!
Het boek is best kort waardoor je er door raast! Dit kan een voordeel of een nadeel zijn. In mijn geval was het een nadeel want vond het boek veel te leuk om te stoppen!

Dit boek is perfect om voor te lezen in groep 1/2 als je een dierenthema, verjaardagsthema of een jungle thema hebt. De kinderen zullen smullen van de mooie afbeeldingen en spannende tekst!
Uiteindelijk geef ik dit boek 5 van de 5 sterren, want vond hem echt super!

Recensie: Winterdieren door Bibi Dumon Tak

Titel/Auteur: Winterdieren door Bibi Dumon tak

Jaar gepubliceerd: 2011 door Querido

Genre: kinderboek, informatieboek
Hoe heb ik dit boek verkregen: bibliotheek

Waarom las ik dit boek: Het boek vond ik er mooi uitzien.

Rating: 4 van de 5 sterren
De dieren in dit boek houden best van zon, maar dan moet het wel een koud zonnetje zijn. Eentje waarvan je haren rechtovereind gaan staan. Ze wonen op de noordpool en de zuidpool. Het is er altijd koud. Niet gewoon koud, maar ijskoud. Zomers en winters staat de diepvries aan. Als de sneeuw eens niet over de velden jaagt, kun je de bewoners horen: De roep van de sneeuwuil, de krakende knietjes van het rendier, het zingen van de beloega, het gebrul van de zuidelijke zeeolifant en het geschuifel van de keizerspinguïn. Maar als je de reis naar deze winterdieren te lang en te koud vindt, kun je dit boek lekker bij de kachel lezen.

Recensie:
Ik kan niet meer zeggen dan dat ik dit een zeer leuk en informatief boek vond. In het boek komen allerlei dieren aan bod, deze dieren zijn allemaal dieren die leven in koude gebieden op aarde. De dieren zijn allemaal vormgegeven met mooie afbeeldingen en de informatie erbij is aantrekkelijk verteld. Enkele dieren die in het boek voorkomen zijn: de Lynx, Noordse Stern, De zee-luipaard, de walrus, de sneeuwuil en nog veel meer. Zoals je leest komen er verschillende soorten dieren in het boek voor: landdieren, zeedieren, maar ook vogels. Dat vond ik zelf heel leuk aan het boek, de auteur heeft er voor gekozen werkelijk alle verschillende dieren te bespreken en zich niet te beperken tot één categorie.

Bij ieder dier is er een klein stukje tekst met informatie over het dier. Dit is in 'kindertaal' geschreven wat het zeer aantrekkelijk en makkelijk begrijpbaar maakt. Bij ieder dier is er ook een 'wist je dat?' stukje. Hierin vertelt de auteur leuke weetjes over het dier. Toen in dit boek las moest ik qua niveau direct denken aan de middenbouw. Dit boek is vooral leuk om kennis op te doen van deze dieren. Vooral voor groep 4/5/6 zou dit een leuk boek zijn. Er wordt op een kindvriendelijke en aantrekkelijke manier omgegaan met informatie. Het boek heeft ook geen lopend verhaal, het is echt informatie dat de kinderen aangeboden krijgen op een leuke manier.

 

In 2012 is het boek bekroond met een zilveren griffel, wat ik helemaal begrijp. Het boek is zodanig goed dat het geweldig is om in de klas te gebruiken, maar ook thuis. Het boek heb ik 4 van de 5 sterren gegeven. Ik vond het heel goed!

Miss Peregrine's home for peculiar children Movie!

A couple of days ago they released the Miss Peregrine's home for peculiar children trailer! I've seen it so many times now and I'm so excited. Being one of my favorite books I of course can't wait to see the movie in cinema! To share my happiness here's the trailer and movie poster :)
Who's as excited as I am?

If you haven't heard of the book nor the movie I recommend you to check it out because it's amazing. The book is written by the one and only Ransom Riggs! :D

And you know what? They even filmed this movie close to where I live, In Brasschaat (Belgium)! They used the Brasschaat castle to be the home of miss Peregrine :D

Talk Bookish With ...... Joana! (4)

Hi everyone =) I am Joana and I am from Luxembourg. I am originally from Portugal, so I currently have double citizenship in those two countries. I recently graduated with a Bachelor in Communication, which I received in the United States. Upon graduating, I returned to Europe and I am currently working as a Database Editor, but will soon be switching jobs =)

A big part of my life centres on books. I love to read and try to make that a priority (as much as it is possible). I also have a BookTube channel and a Bookstagram account, which I am focusing the most attention on at the moment. Reading is so important to me and I decided to create these two main social media channels to talk about books and the things that I love most.

When I am not reading, I am spending time with friends, family and, most importantly, my husband. We love to watch TV series and movies together, but we also love to travel (when the money allows it). Some of our favourite shows are Arrow, The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., The Shannara Chronicles and Game of Thrones.

If you have ever seen Gilmore Girls, then you can have a glimpse at the relationship that I have with my mother. We are the European version of Lorelai and Rory, and my mother is also the person who made me the booklover that I am today.

Questions:

1.      What is or are your all time favourite book(s)?

This is a tough question for a book lover, but I think there are some books that are near and dear to my heart and will stay that way for a very long time.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is a book that I have been considering as my “favorite book” for 2 years now. I love WW2 novels, whether they are fiction or not, and this book is simply stunning. I love that it is narrated by death and I love the emotions it evokes and the tone of the story. It is simply stunning.

Another one of my favorite books (and series, even though I have yet to complete it) is The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson. I fell in love with the characters, the world, Sanderson’s writing and how daring he can be. He creates these huge worlds and something that is completely and utterly his own, and there are not many authors who can do that successfully.

Some of my other favorite series and books are (I predominantly read fantasy and historical fiction): The Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas, The Falling Kingdom series by Morgan Rhodes, The Remnant Chronicles by Mary E. Pearson, The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater, The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton, An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir (and so many more).

2. Who is your favorite author and why?

I think that Sarah J. Maas, Morgan Rhodes, Mary E. Pearson and Brandon Sanderson are a safe bet. I love everything I have read by those authors so far and they have become “auto-reads” for me.

3. Do you have any signed books?

Sadly, I don’t =( Not many authors come to Luxembourg xD

4. What’s your favourite reading spot?

I used to read on my bed, but now I love to read on our couch. It is comfortable enough to stay there for hours, but not as comfy as a bed, which slowly lulls you into a tight sleep.

5. Show us your bookshelf or bookcase!

Most of my childhood books are stored away, but these are the books that I currently have on my shelves! I am in the process of rearranging them though haha.

6. What are your favourite book blogs?
I don’t read many book blogs, but I am more into Bookstagram accounts and BookTubers. I do read some blogs every once in a while, but it is rare. Some of my favorite BookTube channels are Thoughts on Tomes, Peruse Project, Riley Marie, Elisabeth Paige, and WellDoneBooks. There are others, but those are my auto-watch a well =)

So that, is me =) If you want a new bookish friend, you can either follow me on Instagram (myreadingspace) or on YouTube (Joana Sousa). I love discussing books and other random life things =)

Thank you so much Claire for  this interview =) =) =)

Joana

#FridayReads 18-03

Happy friday!

It's time for a new #FridayReads again. I'm so happy to finally having weekend :D past week was exhausting!
This weekend I'll be studying a lot because the next 2 weeks I have exams and tests at school.. But I also want to make some time for reading.
This weekend I want to finish the 2nd book in the princess diaries series by Meg Cabot called 'A royal disaster'. I've read about 50 pages today and I'm loving it so much! Meg's writing style is amazing!
I also want to read and finish a picture book I have to read for school and want to start in a book I got for review. I'm more than excited to read a bit again.
When having time I also want to write and plan some blogposts for the following weeks because my time will be minimal.
Hopefully the weather will be as good as we've had this past week. I just love the spring season!

Have a great weekend!

Top 10 books I can't believe I've never read

Of course as a reader I read many books and even want to read more than I'm capable to do. I have a huge list of book on my TBR and add new ones daily. So far I try to read as many books as I can but of course will never find the time to read my entire TBR list. I actually have many books on my list who almost everyone has read so far, but I'm still to. You may say I haven't jumped on the bandwagon yet. Here's a list of 10 books I can't believe I've never read before!

1. The percy Jackson series. Out of this series I've only read the 1st book, which is several years ago now. I thought it to be okay but never picked up the other books in the series. I actually do want to read them because the idea of mythology is amazing!

2. Song of ice and fire series (Game of Thrones). I love the TV series so much! and I've even read the 1st half of the 1st book called 'a game of thrones' but I came into a reading slump and never picked it up again.

3. Maus by Art Spiegelman. This book being a graphic novel I think it looks amazing. It has been smiling to me ever since I bought it in the shakespeare and company bookshop in Paris. This book is about the jews and Nazis during the 2nd world war.

4. Jane Austen books. yes yes, I've only read pride and prejudice, but being one of my favorite books I never picked up other novels by her. 

   5. The Divergent series. Again, only read the 1st book but never picked up the others.

   6. The lord of the rings series. Shame on me!

7. Any Colleen Hoover book. I've heard nothing but good things about them!

8. Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson. I do own them though, hehe.

9. Almost any John Green book. People have been raving about all of them. So far I've only read The fault in our stars and An abundance of Katherines. I didn't like the last one though. That's why I'm scared to pick up any of his other books.

10. Seraphina by Rachel Hartman. Also, this book has amazing reviews and ratings and I even own it, I've just never picked it up..

The Random Tag

So, lately I find not much time to write blogposts. I just am so busy with school that I hardly have time to read anything. I wasn't tagged in this but I would like to do it anyway.
This tag basically are some random questions and you have to answer these. Many book bloggers did them before me, so it's time to jump on to the bandwagon. Here we go!

1. What is your favorite food?
This question really is a hard one. I love so many things! I really like deer steak, spaghetti, lasagne, hamburgers, mussels, a dutch dish called Kapsalon, bearnaise sauce haha. As you can see, many random things!

2. what are you having/ did you have for dinner tonight?
I honestly don't know. I'll be eating at my dad's girlfriend's place so wouldn't know! I hope on spaghetti!

3. Who was he last person you emailed?
uuuhmmm, let me check! .... I emailed a woman called rebecca, she's a student coach and I hope to make an appointment with her soon!

4. What sports do you do?
haha damn, I feel ashamed to admit but, I don't do any sports. I just don't find the time to do it and I'm lazy as hell!

5. Do you have any pet hates?
well, let's put it this way, I feel a strong hate against terrorists, rapists and people who think to know it all.

6. Do you play any musical instruments?
not a thing!


hope you all liked this tag! Here are the people I tag to do this:
- Kwante from KwanteInWonderland
- Mariëlle from Duntax.nl
- Lisa from LeaveNoStoryBehind

#FridayReads 11-03

Hi to you all! happy weekend!

Quick update on what I did this past week! Past week I had internship at the primary school, which was nice. I learned a lot and had quite a good time. I also have had the flu for a couple of days. I have it for over 3 weeks now and I am seriously hating it. First I get ill and then couple of days doing better again, until a week later I get ill again... This past week I haven't read any book, unfortunately. I was just so busy for school that by the time I came home it was so late and I was so tired..

This weekend I hopefully have time for reading. I'm going to stay at my dad's for couple of weeks so I can be fully focused on studying for the tests and exams coming soon. I still am reading the 2nd book in the Meg Cabot princess diaries series called 'A royal disaster'. I do hope to finish the book 'winterdieren' by Bibi Dumon Tak this weekend.

Which books will you be reading over the weekend?

Recensie: Meneer poot zoekt werk door Nathalie Slosse

Titel/Auteur: Meneer Poot zoekt werk door Nathalie Slosse en Rocio del Moral

Jaar gepubliceerd: 2014 door Abimo

Genre: kinderboek, prentenboek
Hoe heb ik dit boek verkregen: bibliotheek

Waarom las ik dit boek: omdat ik toekomstig lerares zal worden sprak mij dit zeer aan 

Rating: 3.5 van de 5 sterren'

Meneer Poot, Flappies papa, verliest plotseling zijn werk als graver. Hij is zo verdrietig dat hij Flappie zelfs niet meer achter de oren kriebelt. Hoe moet het verder met het gezin als papa geen wortels meer verdient? Kunnen Flappie en zijn beste vriend Snuiter ergens anders werk vinden voor meneer Poot?

Recensie
Het boek gaat over een familie konijnen. Op een dag komt papa konijn thuis en is hij een beetje sip, hij is zijn baan verloren. Dit vertelt hij aan zijn zoontje. Samen met mama konijn besluiten ze te reageren op zoekertjes om een nieuwe baan te vinden en aan het einde van het verhaal heeft hij eindelijk iets gevonden!

Dit boek was goed geschreven. De situatie komt ook in het echte leven voor en werd naar mijn mening zeer goed verwoord in dit prentenboek. Zelf heb ik dit prentenboek voorgelezen aan groep 1/2 en zag toch dat de leerlingen het een moeilijk boek vonden. Er staan voornamelijk begrippen in als CV en zoekertje, de kleuters begrepen er niet veel van. Na het uitgelegd te hebben snapten ze het nog steeds niet helemaal. Waarschijnlijk zijn ze net iets te jong voor dit boek. Wel was het een goed boek om bij na te denken. Wat als er gebeurt als je werkloos raakt? en hoe los je het op? Vooral dit was goed geschreven.

Wat mij het meest aansprak aan het boek was de manier waarop de afbeeldingen getekend waren. Dit vond ik zeer mooi gedaan. Een hele andere stijl dan anders!
Ik geef dit prentenboek een 3.5!

February wrap-up & March TBR

It's finally time for a wrap-up!
In february I read some great books.. For school I read 2 children's books and 2 books I chose myself. The books I read are:
-The princess diaries by Meg Cabot
Review
- through the woods by Emily Carroll
Review
- Meester Jaap houdt van iedereen door Jacques Vriens
Review
- Meneer Poot zoekt werk door Nathalie Slosse

Overall I think  I did a good Job with reading, thinking I have so much schoolstuff to do! My favorite book of the month was 'The princess Diaries' , I think Meg Cabot's writing style is absolutely amazing and just can't wait to read the whole series!
I also was amazing by how good Through the woods was.. The story was so creepy, but so good as well!

Now it's March I want to read some more books. I am currently reading 2 books and want to finish them of course :) The books I'd like to read this month are:
- Winterdieren by Bibi Dumon Tak
- de gele olifant by Loes Riphagen
- A royal disaster by Meg Cabot
- Passenger by Alexandra Bracken
- I wonder by Jane Altman

I also am going to Paris March 31st, so hope I'll be able to read a bit when I'm in the bus :)

Which books will you be reading this month?

#FridayReads 04-03

Hello Hello,
Happy Weekend!

This weekend I'll be reading a great book by Meg Cabot called 'A royal Disaster'. It's the 2nd book in the princess diaries series and I already love it! I also will be reading the book 'winterdieren' by Bibi Dumon tak.
This weekend I'll also be working for school, because on monday a teacher is coming to my internship to see how I'm doing and will be giving advice.
Also my dad's company has open days, which means others can come and look how the company runs and they also can buy stuff. I'll be semi-helping.
And at last I'll be doing some work for school from last year, I still need to get my Propedeuse and need 8 studypoints for it. 4 things I need to make and 1 test. I'm working on it but it just goes so slowly, and  I only have till May to do it all, which means I'm stressing a lot about it.... :o

Hopefully your weekend will be less stressful than mine haha.
have a great day!

Where do I buy my books? (Bol.com, Thebookdepository.com, Bruna, etc ... )

I got this question quite a lot and I have to say it's quite a good one. Because I live in the Netherlands I'm kinda limited on where I buy my books. I mainly read English books and normal bookstores actually don't sell them over here.
Here I have a list of websites and bookstores where I buy most of my English or Dutch books:

1. Bol.com
Bol.com is a Dutch website where you can basically get anything, you can compare it to Amazon.com. over the years I have bought many things there, from make-up to perfumes and books. Books are however pretty expensive on bol.com, around 2 to 4 euros more expensive than for example thebookdepository.com, which brings us to number 2!

2. Bookdepository.com
I have to say this is my most used website for buying books. Around 80% of the books I own I have bought on this website. They have a really good customer service and the good thing is you can pay with paypal, which is great for when not having a credit card. paperbacks cost around 6,7,8 euros a piece, which I find a great price! hardcovers are more expensive. They cost around 16,17 euros a piece. When buying hardcovers I always compare bol.com and thebookdepository.com, sometimes bol.com has hardcovers which are little cheaper :) When having problems with your order it is easy to mail the customer service at thebookdepository.com, they reply to answers very fast and when something is wrong or if your order hasn't been delivered they just give you back your money!


3. Bruna
In our village we have 1 shop called Bruna. They sell magazines, pens, things for your printer and books as well. Bruna has tons of stores across the Netherlands. Our Bruna sells paperback books and sometimes hardcovers as well. Most paperbacks vary from 10-20 euros, this because they have been translated to Dutch. Dutch books or translated books always are more expensive than the English ones. Our Bruna also has a section of German books, which I find great. The area I live in is very popular among German tourists, so that's why this shop sells also German books. I never bought a German book in there but I'm planning on doing soon.

4. Waterstones
I go to Brussels several times a year (I live close to the Belgian border). Brussels has a waterstones shop which is pretty huge and they sell tons of English books over there. Every time I visit brussels I make sure to have some time to stop by :)

5. Betterworldbooks.co.uk
Betterworldbooks is one of my favorite websites to buy books on. They only sell 2nd hand books and they ship them to Europe for free! The money they get for the books go to literacy funds and high schools to support libraries. In the past I've had some pretty good deals on there. At least once a month I check if they have new books added to their YA section and when I found one I like I also buy them straight away. Their prices vary on the condition and the popularity of the book. And now comes the bonus point for them : You can pay with PayPal as well!

These were the places I buy most of my books. Sometimes I wish that I could support independent bookshops more, but the stupid thing is we don't have any close to where I live. I also really want to buy books on amazon, but because I have no credit card I can't :(
Where do you buy your books mostly?

Recensie: Meester Jaap houdt van iedereen! door Jacques Vriens

Titel/Auteur: Meester Jaap houdt van iedereen! door Jacques Vriens

Jaar gepubliceerd: 2006 door van Holkema en Warendorff

Genre: kinderboek
Hoe heb ik dit boek verkregen: bibliotheek

Waarom las ik dit boek: omdat ik toekomstig lerares zal worden sprak mij dit zeer aan 

Rating: 3.5 van de 5 sterren

Meester Jaap krijgt een groep 5/6. Als de kinderen voor het eerst bij hem binnenstappen, kruipt groep 5 gauw bij elkaar en gaat groep 6 ook apart zitten. 'Dat wil ik niet' roept de meester en hij zet meteen de hele klas op zijn kop. En als de kinderen denken dat hun meester verliefd is op Myrthe, zegt hij: 'ik hou van jullie allemaal. De ene dag wat meer dan de andere, maar meestal wel'.
Meester jaap zorgt ervoor dat het gezellig is in zijn klas. Hij verzint grappige oplossingen als er problemen zijn, hij komt op voor kinderen die gepest worden en rijdt zelfs in een rolstoel.
Japie is af en toe een beetje gek vindt Quinten.
De anderen zijn het met hem eens, maar ze vinden hem ook keigaaf!

Recensie
Dit boek gaat over een meester, meester Jaap. Dit schooljaar krijgt hij een deelklas, groep 5/6. Dit idee vindt hij vreselijk en spreekt daarom af met de klas dat hij het woord deelklas niet meer horen wil. Dit jaar zijn ze de klas van meester Jaap. Iedere dag maakt de klas allerlei dingen mee en vindt iedereen de meester geweldig. Er zijn regels in de klas waardoor alle kinderen goed met elkaar omgaan. Ook als er nieuwe kinderen in de klas komen worden deze allemaal hartelijk verwelkomt.
Er gebeuren ook vaak grappige dingen in de klas, zoals meester jaap die crepe papier per ongeluk in de fik laat vliegen! :O Dit vinden de kinderen maar al te grappig.

Dit boek las ik voornamelijk omdat het onderwerp van een schoolmeester mij wel leuk leek. Het boek had leuke grapjes en vooral dat de situaties ook soms wel echt in een klas voorkomen.

Er waren ook wat minpunten, daarom heb ik het boek een 3.5 van de 5 sterren gegeven. Wat ik vooral hinderlijk vond waren de korte hoofdstukjes en de constant nieuwe verhaaltjes in het boek. Er was wel samenhang tussen de verhaaltjes maar toch ook weer niet. Het ging telkens over wat anders, een andere dag of een andere les en dat was soms wel wat frustrerend. Het boek op zich was ook wel wat kort wat eigenlijk wel wat langer had gemogen.

De schrijfstijl van Jacques Vriens vind ik wel heel leuk. Hij schrijft de situaties zo, dat kinderen er ook echt plezier aan beleven zo een boek te lezen. Vooral de kinderen in het boek waren echte schatten!

Review: Through the woods by Emily Carroll

                                                  

Title/author: Through the woods by Emily Carroll

Originally published/ year published: July 2014 by Mcelderry Books

Genre: Graphic novels, young adult, horror

How I got this book: bought

Why I read this book: It sounded very mysterious and exciting to me!Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

'It came from the woods. Most strange things do.'

Five mysterious, spine-tingling stories follow journeys into (and out of?) the eerie abyss.

These chilling tales spring from the macabre imagination of acclaimed and award-winning comic creator Emily Carroll.

Come take a walk in the woods and see what awaits you there......

Review

ohmygod! this story was so scary! The first couple of pages already were! this book contains 5 short stories,  following men and women in their lives. In all the stories the woods play an important keyrole. The story I liked most was the one that takes place in the 18th century and is called 'a lady's hands are cold'. Also the title sounded so scary! This story follows a woman who is going to marry a wealthy man and they live happy, until she hears strange sounds and voices. She gets out of bed and follows the sounds she hears, until she walks into a wall. The sounds come from behind this wall. She decides to smash the entire wall into pieces and finds a body, cut in pieces, and a head, of another woman. When she lays all the pieces on the floor in the right order she sees this person was a woman, now dead. She actually now is kind of a ghost and talks as well. The woman finds out it was her husband who did this, and this was his ex wife. He acting nice to her was all a scam. The dead woman also decides to keep haunting the new lady of the house....

yes, I was scared to death when I read this graphic novel. The images are so well drawn and the stories have the right amount of horror, which makes it just perfect!
I enjoyed reading this very much, although it totally was outside my comfort zone. I liked the thrill it gave me. However, this book really is not for the faint hearted! you can easily get nightmares because the images give you a good reality.

The book mainly is colored black, red and blue, which give it the mysterious look. In every story the black and red come back the best, which gives you a dark feeling.
I gave this book 4 out of  5 stars and can recommend this to everyone who dares to read it!

#Fridayreads 19-02

It's time for another #Fridayreads! I had a busy week and did a lot of schoolwork. But I'm proud on myself and the work I did. It's friday, so finally having weekend again! This weekend is pretty busy again, I want to do some schoolwork and also am going out tomorrow evening with friends. It's the last weekend of my best friend, before he leaves to Paris on thursday, so we decided to have a nice last weekend! We'll be going out in Knokke, which is a nice place.

This weekend I'll be reading 2 books:
-The princess diaries, a royal disaster by Meg Cabot

- Winterdieren by Bibi Dumon Tak
I already started both books and like them both so far. I recently read the 1st princess diaries book and totally loved it! The 2nd one is really good as well so far! Can't wait to finish it!
I recently bought the hardcover version of Passenger by Alexandra Bracken on Bol.com, this will arrive tomorrow!

By the way, I have a question to all of you! I always know that I love reading and watching book hauls myself and it occured to me I'm not doing this on my blog. Would you guys like to see a monthly book haul on the blog? I was thinking about doing so :)

Happy weekend!

Review: The princess diaries by Meg Cabot

Title/author: The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot

Originally published/ year published: June 2001 (2015 version by MacMillan Children's)

Genre: young adult, Romance, chick lit, Fiction, Contemporary

How I got this book: bought

Why I read this book: my all time favorite children's movie! :)

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Mia Thermopolis is pretty sure there's nothing worse than being a five-foot-nine, flat-chested freshman who also happens to be flunking Algebra.
Is she ever in for a suprise...
First mom announces she's dating Mia's Algebra teacher. Then Dad has to go and reveal that he is the crown prince of a country called Genovia. And guess who still doesn't have a date for the cultural diversity dance?

Review
As a child I always loved the 2 princess diaries films. Anne Hathaway looked so pretty in them. Who doesn't want to be a princess when they're little right? I think I watched the 2 films over a hundred times each haha.

now, around 12 years later I finally read the 1st book in the book series called 'the princess diaries'. the 1st thing I noticed is that the films are completely different than the books! They made so many changes, but that didn't made me enjoy the book less. differences with the 1st film: Mia's dad is actually still alive in the book and he's the one who tells her she's a princess & Carice (her grandmother) actually is very rude and smokes a lot haha!

Basically this book is about this girl called Mia, who is being told she is the princess of a country in Europe called 'Genovia'. Because her dad can't have any more heirs to the throne she'll have to take the duty on her. Her grandmother comes to New York to give her princess lessons and Mia doesn't enjoy it at all! at some moment the press discovers there's living a princess in New York and they seek her up! also she has her 2 friends Tina and Lilly helping her with it. And oh boy, who does she likes best? Josh or Michael? .......

I looooved this book a lot! Really a lot! It made me all think of the days back when I was a small child. I could imagine all the things in the book and it really was a fun read. Mia was witty and funny but also smart and clever. She clearly has her own mind on things which give her personality a lot of credit.

The book I own in the new MacMillan editions and they are so great to have in your bag. They don't weigh much. However there's also a downside, the book is quite fragile and gets beaten up quickly in a bag. But the new editions overall have a great new look!

The book I gave 5 out of 5 stars. I just loved it!

Top 10 historical settings I'd like to see

So, recently I saw this top ten tuesday post about historical settings in YA books. Many YA books take place in medieval times or fantasy worlds, but there are tons of other settings I'd like to see or see more often.
I've made a little list of the settings I'd like to see most:

1. The 18th century. I'm a total sucker for everything 18th century. The clothes, the manners, the people, the castles etc.... I'm totally in love with this subject!

2. Ancient Egypt. I love the Egyptian civilization a lot and would just love to see this back in ya books.

3. The Roman period. Damn.. how much I would love to read a book about a sexy Roman guy <3

4. Pre-medieval England. how did they live back then and how would this come to it's right in a ya novel?

5. The Napoleontic period +- 1820 France! When I read articles about Napoleon and his battle at Waterloo I clearly can imagine a good ya book in that setting!

6. the Celtic period! woahh vikings and celts! would loooove this!

7. The Dutch golden age! The Michiel de Ruyter times!

8. The 20s. roaring 20s, the age of Jazz music and dance....

9. The very beginning of counting our years, 0! I would love to see a ya novel in the times of Jesus.

10. Books about the stone or iron age.

#FridayReads 12-2

Happy weekend to you all!
It's friday which means we have a new #FridayReads blogpost.

This weekend will again be a busy weekend. Tomorrow I'm going to do schoolwork and better get some things done and on sunday I'm going to the FoodTruck festival in Antwerp (Belgium). Pretty excited about that. What better way to spend valentine's day alone with food? :D yep.
Also this past week was great! On tuesday I went to the Ellie Goulding Delirium concert in Antwerp and yesterday went to see Deadpool in Bruges with couple of friends. Of course I also went to school ;)

Also, I'm going to read some books this weekend. At the moment I'm reading the 2nd book in the Princess diaries series by Meg Cabot called 'A Royal Disaster' & Winterdieren by Bibi Dumon Tak, which is a children's book. This weekend I hope to finish at least one of the 2.

Which book will you be reading?