Lyn Loates

Two little mice named Raisin and Rice live in the storeroom of Zanzibar's Deli. With food galore, the two create a long list and plan a great feast. They mix and bake and brew and stew. Next they clean and polish until everything sparkles. They even trim a huge tree. Christmas morning arrives with fresh snow and quiet, but, alas, it seems that it's much too quiet. Something is not right. Something is missing, but what could it be? So they check their list and can't believe what's not there. How could they have missed it, the most important ingredient of all? Read this delightful book and discover for yourself what the missing ingredient is for a perfect Christmas celebration.

The Bottom Line: With catchy rhymes and festive, yummy illustrations, "Christmas Delicious" is sure to please even the grumpiest little readers. This picture book demonstrates the values of friendship and sharing. Also, a yummy recipe for Raisin and Rice Christmas Treats is included. Highly recommended for the young (kids in grades 1 - 4) and the young at heart.

This review also appears at the Mini Book Bytes Book Review Blog: http://minibookbytes.blogspot.com/… (meer)

Butterscotch is part historical, part mystery and part family saga with an obsessive event at its core - the 1954 Parker Hulme murder case in Christchurch.

Helen Mainyard was eight years old when her father suddenly moved the family from their Christchurch, NZ home to Melbourne, Australia and she always believed that this move was in response to the high profile murder. When she is twenty-one she discovers the real reason which causes her to revisit her childhood.

Set largely in Christchurch, but also in Melbourne, London & Cambridge, and covering mainly the years 1952-1984, this impressive work is peopled with a large array of characters, likeable and not, all wonderfully drawn.… (meer)

Very intriguing work which becomes compulsive reading. It starts as a young woman, Helen, searches for the truth about abuse inflicted on her and the family history. This is interwoven with a real murder [as in Peter Jackson's "Heavenly Creatures'] and the possible motives for that one - which have been explored copiously in New Zealand - this is a different and plausible explanation. The story and Christchurch undercurrents get darker and darker and ultimately even more tragic. Excellent but probably wouldn't recommend it for teens even though a lot of the characters are children and teenagers.… (meer)