Everything Is Better With Dragons

Audiobook Review: Butcher, Biter, Spy, by Ryan Green, narrated by Steve White

Length: 4 hrs and 1 min
Unabridged Audiobook
Release date: 13-01-23
Language: English
Publisher: Ryan Green Publishing

Summary

On the bloodstained floor lay an array of butcher’s tools and a body without a throat, torn out by Fritz’s “love bite”…

Deemed psychologically unfit to stand trial for child abuse, Fritz Haarmann was locked up in a mental asylum until a new diagnosis as “morally inferior” allowed him to walk free. His insights into the criminal underworld convinced the police to overlook his “activities” and trust him as an informant.

What harm could it do?

When the dismembered and ravaged remains of young men began to wash up on the banks of the river, a war-torn nation cowered under the threat of the man known as the Butcher, Vampire, and Wolf Man.

The hunt for the killer was on, and he was hiding in plain sight.

Butcher, Biter, Spy is a chilling retelling of one of the most brutal killing sprees in German history. Ryan Green’s riveting narrative draws the listener into the real-live horror experienced by the victims and has all the elements of a classic thriller.

TBR Pile Review: “You Just Need To Lose Weight” and 19 other myths about fat people, by Aubrey Gordon

Format: 224 pages, Paperback

Published: January 10, 2023 by Beacon Press

ISBN: 9780807006474 (ISBN10: 0807006475)

Language: English

Blurb

The co-host of the Maintenance Phase podcast and creator of Your Fat Friend equips you with the facts to debunk common anti-fat myths and with tools to take action for fat justice

The pushback that shows up in conversations about fat justice takes exceedingly predicable form. Losing weight is easy—calories in, calories out. Fat people are unhealthy. We’re in the midst of an obesity epidemic. Fat acceptance “glorifies obesity.” The BMI is an objective measure of size and health. Yet, these myths are as readily debunked as they are pervasive.

In “You Just Need to Lose Weight,” Aubrey Gordon equips readers with the facts and figures to reframe myths about fatness in order to dismantle the anti-fat bias ingrained in how we think about and treat fat people. Bringing her dozen years of community organizing and training to bear, Gordon shares the rhetorical approaches she and other organizers employ to not only counter these pernicious myths, but to dismantle the anti-fat bias that so often underpin them.

As conversations about fat acceptance and fat justice continue to grow, “You Just Need to Lose Weight” will be essential to ensure that those conversations are informed, effective, and grounded in both research and history.

Blog Tour Calendar: Trouble, by Katja Ivar

Review: Different, Not Less, by Chloe Hayden

Title Details
ISBN: 9781922616180 | Murdoch Books
Paperback | Embargo 5th January 2023
RRP £14.99

An empowering guide to celebrating and supporting neurodivergence from Netflix’s Heartbreak High star and disability advocate, Chloé Hayden.
Growing up, Chloé Hayden felt like she’d crash-landed on an alien planet where nothing made sense. Eye contact? Small talk? And why are you people so touch oriented? None of it made sense.

Chloé desperately wished to be part of the fairy tales she so dearly loved. A world in which the lead is considered a hero because of their differences, rather than excluded and pushed aside for them.

She moved between 10 schools in 8 years, struggling to become a person she believed society would accept. After years of being ‘weird, quirky, Chloé’ she was eventually diagnosed with autism and ADHD. It was only after a life-changing group of allies showed her that different did not mean less that she learned to celebrate her true voice and find her happily ever after.

Different, Not Less is a moving, at times funny story of how it feels to be
neurodivergent as well as a practical guide, with insights on how autism and ADHD present differently in females, advice for living with meltdowns and shutdowns, tips for finding supportive relationships, communities and workplaces and much more.

Whether you’re neurodivergent or supporting those who are, Different, Not Less will inspire you to create a more inclusive world where everyone feels like they belong.

Review: Kindness for Koalas, by Zanna Davidson, Illustrated by Ged Adamson

When Mala the Koala stomps into the forest, feeling very crummy, a little mouse suggests Mala will soon feel better if she starts to be kind. But how? wonders Mala. Soon she’s sharing her lunch with some emu chicks, helping a baby bat and comforting her friend, Wombat – discovering, on her way, that kindness really is what makes the world go round. This easy-to-read rhyming story, with gentle humour and gorgeous artwork, is a perfect introduction to kindness.

Extent: 32 pages
Dimensions: 250 x 224mm
Hardback
ISBN: 9781474998574
Key Stage: EYFS, KS1
Publication Date: January 2023

Blog tour calendar: Different, Not Less, by Chloe Hayden

Review: 21% Monster – Ice Giant, by P.J. Canning

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Usborne Publishing Ltd (5 Jan. 2023)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 288 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1474984428
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1474984423
Reading age ‏ : ‎ 10 – 13 years

Genetically-modified teens try to bring down the organisation that made them, in this second action-packed installment in the 21% Monster series. The girl put her hands on her hips, cocked her head and answered: ‘My name is Aurora María Ash-Valero and I’m here to kick your butt!” Since Darren Devlin and Marek Masters joined forces, there has only been one thing on their minds – taking down XSP, the secret organisation that transformed them into genetically-modified superhumans. Even with 21% monster Darren’s incredible strength, and 19% alien Marek’s super intelligence, XSP is more than a match for them. But what if there was another survivor of XSP’s experiments? A tall, tough, athletic teen girl able to withstand sub-zero temperatures and track potential predators? A girl who’s 17% sabre-tooth polar bear, and out for revenge. Two’s company, but Three IS UNSTOPPABLE in this high-octane adventure, 21% Monster: Ice Giant.