Book Review #780 - The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White

Like the rest of his family, Louis is a trumpeter swan. But unlike his four brothers and sisters, Louis can't trumpet joyfully. In fact, he can't even make a sound. And since he can't trumpet his love, the beautiful swan Serena pays absolutely no attention to him.

Louis tries everything he can think of to win Serena's affection -- he even goes to school to learn to read and write. But nothing seems to work. Then his father steals him a real brass trumpet. Is a musical instrument the key to winning Louis his love?

My Rating: 2/5

This is my third E.B. White children's book that I have read and definitely my least favourite of the three. The other two are obviously also more well known being Charlotte's Web and Stuart Little.

Firstly, this book was published in 1970 and has not aged as well as his other books. Whilst none of his stories told through animal protagonists are realistic in any way this book went way too far in making anything plausible. 

Louis as a protagonist was something I loved. He was always the underdog in every situation and you couldn't help but hope he achieved everything he wanted.

Book Review #779 - Wreck by Fleur Ferris

Tamara Bennett is going to be the first journalist to strictly report only good news. Finished with high school, Tamara is ready to say goodbye to her sleepy little town and part-time job at the local paper. O-weeks awaits, which means parties, cute boys and settling into student res with her best friend Relle. Things take an unexpected turn, however, when she arrives home to find her house ransacked and her life in danger. What is this mysterious note? And why does it mean so much to one of Australia's most powerful media moguls? Caught between a bitter rivalry and dangerous family secret, who can Tamara trust? Or should she trust herself?

My Rating: 4.5/5

This is my third Fleur Ferris book and each one of them have been equally unique and amazing.

This book is more like her previous novel Black than it is Risk in that it is a mystery thriller.

This book has split narration which is something that is new to Ferris' books and I found it worked especially considering that Tamara and William's voices sounded different from one another which is something that so many authors struggle to achieve.

I definitely preferred William's narration to Tamara's simply because I found his storyline was much more intriguing for me along with his whole family drama.