A review of The Minpins by Roald Dahl.. and we have a winner!

Kimbooktu's contest that is in partnership with Eco-Libris has a first winner!

The reader Sulz wrote a review on the great book The Minpins by Roald Dahl and receives the first prize on the contest - 5 of her books will be balanced out by planting 5 new trees! She will also receive 5 Eco-Libris stickers to put on the sleeves of these books.

So, here's Sulz review:

The book in one sentence: Mollycoddled Little Billy listens to the Devil's whisper and naughtily enters the Forest of Sin against his mother's warnings!

Who would you recommend it to: Little boys and girls with a taste for adventure.

OK bits: The Minpins and their houses.

Boring bits: The ending where Little Billy ventures into mysterious places high up in the sky.

Random review quote: 'Roald Dahl's last picture book is as mind-bogglingly wonderful as all the others. This is classic Dahl: the charming stories with that disquieting edge of fear… Patrick Benson's illustrations are vibrant and so full of life that there is water splashing off the page and leaves swirling among the trees yet there's a harmonious gentleness evident too. A superb book' — Books for Keeps

Verdict: The review quote is right in a way. It is a typical Dahl children story, but not quite as classic as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory or The BFG. That said, it still makes a pretty good bedtime story and the illustration is a nice change from the usual Quentin Blake ones. (Not that Quentin Blake's illustrations are boring, they're wonderful!)

Why this book is green: As the book cover above shows, The Minpins is a very 'green' book. The premise of the story is very nature-based, and this is reflected in both the story and illustrations. It's a book based on nature that will interest children and nurture the spirit of environmental friendliness without being boring! thanks!

Thank you Sulz for a great review!

If you are inspired by Sulz and want to send a review of your own, please send it to: k_heijdenrijk [at] hotmail [dot] com. If you win, Eco-Libris will balance out five of your books, you will receive 5 stickers and we'll also post your recommendation right here on our blog.

Yours,

Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: a great green gift for the holidays!

Eco-Libris is collaborating with Kimbooktu in a special contest

Greetings to Kimbooktu!

This great website (we recommended its project site 'Your home library' in the past), which is dedicated to reading, is celebrating its 100,000th visitor today. This is an impressive achievement taking into consideration that the Kimbooktu is less than a year online. To celebrate this event, Kimbooktu is collaborating with Eco-Libris to initiate a special contest to its readers.

It goes like this:

How to win

All you have to do is review a ‘green’ book. You can pick any book you like, as long as you explain why you think the book is ‘green’ in your review. The total review does not have to be longer than three paragraphs. You can see two previous reviews here and here.

The prizes

Eco-Libris has made ten prize packages that two reviewers can win every week. Each winner receives coupons for five trees. These trees will be planted in your name. This is not all. The review of the book gets published on the Eco-Libris blog as a holiday gift suggestion.

Kimbooktu will contact the two winners via e-mail every Monday for five weeks, starting on November 19. We look forward to your reviews! You can send them to Kim, who initiated and run Kimbooktu, via this address.

We hope to see many readers joining Kimbooktu's celebration and enriching us with more recommendations on great green books.

Kudos to Kim and her blog and we hope to celebrate with her Kimbooktu's 200,000th visitor very soon :-)

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: a great green gift for the holidays!

Book site of the week: Your home library

From this week on, we'll recommend you on bookish websites or blogs that we like. My first one is actually a site that is dedicated to home libraries - Your home library.

This is the a great site that gives you the opportunity to check out home libraries from all over the world. I believe you can learn a lot about people, their culture and the place they live in from their libraries. Anyway, it's always fun and interesting to take a glance at someone's house from within :-)

This site is of Kim from the Netherlands, who explains on the site that "It started off as me, wondering about your home libraries. I have always been interested in libraries, big and small. Since most of my readers have a passion for books, I am wondering what your library looks like. It does not have to be a proper library, like you see in fancy houses. It could be just a space in a room that is dedicated to your book collection. Or just the most important shelves. No matter how big or small: I would love to see it!"

So, if you want to show the whole world your lovely library, just send Kim email. She is also responsible for the interesting blog KIMBOOKTU,which is defined as "gadgets to book lovers' site.

Both sites will be the first ones to enter our list of the bookish blogs and sites we like on the right side of the blog.

Enjoy your library and have a bookish weekend,

Raz

Eco-Libris: Plant a tree for every book you read!

p.s. on the picture here, we can see Maggie's library from the site.