Tag: journal

Brave Girls Book Club: Subscription Box Review, March 2021

My 10 year old daughter has had a few of these subscription boxes now and has enjoyed them, but this month’s is just so lovely that I wanted to put it on here now!

These boxes are offered by the people at Books that Matter (who do the adult feminist book subscription boxes too) for £17 plus £3 postage in the UK. They still had March boxes available when I last looked here.

WARNING: Spoilers ahead…

The March Box

This box was heavier than usual and I hadn’t seen the theme ahead of when it arrived. My daughter loves getting these boxes and they are always beautifully packed.

The March theme is a collaboration with Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls.

The contents of the box are as follows:

  • ‘I am a Rebel Girl’ hardback journal
  • Two hardback books – ‘Madam C J Walker Builds a Business’ and ‘Dr Wangari Maathai Plants a Forest’
  • A sheet of stickers
  • A copy of the ‘Rebel Times’
  • Two large postcards
  • An activity booklet

The Verdict

This is a fabulous box and my daughter really likes it – even though it doesn’t contain the sweets or snacks that have been included previously!

From my perspective, I’d say this was excellent value for money – the books and journal are beautiful with colour illustrations throughout. The journal has loads of space to draw and write, plus prompts to help the creativity flow!

Even better is the message; this is a box absolutely packed with revolutionary and inspirational women, plus positive messages for girls. It also looks a lot of fun.

I’d whole-heartedly recommend this box for girls aged about 8-12. Each month has had some great books and treats – normally one book and a selection of other items.

If you want to see a previous box, here are my reviews for November and January.

‘Life in Pieces’ by Dawn O’Porter

This book, to be published on 1st October, is a non-fiction journal of the lockdown period in spring/summer 2020 by the journalist, writer and television presenter, Dawn O’Porter.

I really like Dawn O’Porter. Having watched several of her documentaries and read a couple of her novels, I’d say I was pretty much sold on her work and so was very much looking forward to reading this book, a diary of her lockdown experiences. She lives in LA with her actor husband and two small sons so I was fairly confident that her experiences of lockdown wouldn’t be anything like mine!

Saying that though, O’Porter’s experiences are pretty relatable for anyone who has lived with small children. The potty training, the sleep deprivation, the repetitive questions about favourite dinosaurs…I think most people would recognise something there! Add into this pet ownership, navigating the weird new world of lockdown, preparing for a house move, cooking, and the ups and downs of marriage and I expect that something in this book will strike a chord with everyone.

Other reviewers have mentioned that it is a bit soon to be reading about lockdown. As we seem poised on the edge of a second wave of coronavirus, I can totally understand that this book might be a bit too much for some people. As it was, I didn’t particularly focus on the lockdown theme as O’Porter writes engagingly about things not connected to the virus.

Yes, it was lockdown that meant she had to spend more time with her kids, but the anecdotes about family life are funny and entertaining. Indeed, there’s plenty here that’s not corona-themed, such as O’Porter’s grief about the death of her friend, Caroline Flack, or her musings on the death of George Floyd from the centre of LA’s protest-zone (where she lives).

At its best, this book is hilarious and fresh – a funny and lively take on a time that challenged most of us. However, for me, the political elements of the book were slightly less successful and a bit discordant after the candid, confessional style of the rest. It was interesting to hear O’Porter’s views on racism and anti-racism, but it did move the book from something fairly light and entertaining to something more didactic, which wasn’t really what I was after.

Overall. if you like Dawn O’Porter’s writing then there is a lot you will like here. Some of the things she writes about are relatable, some are a bit banal and some are a bit odd (she lost me at the crystals). Some things are very funny and others sad. What isn’t in doubt is O’Porter’s ability to entertain with her writing and it is for this reason that I’d recommend this book.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

If you’d like to pre-order this book (released 1st October), please use my affiliate link below – I’ll earn commission at no extra cost to you. Thanks for supporting my blog.

Header photo with thanks to engin akyurt for sharing their work on Unsplash.