Whoops, it’s been a while since I put in a post.
I won a couple of great books by Aleesah Darlison, books 1 and 2 of her League of Llamas series. They are hilarious and a great inspiration for us as a group.
Book Review by Jill Smith©Mar20
Title: League of Llamas – The Golden Llama
Author: Aleesah Darlison
Illustrator: Simon Greiner
Publisher: Puffin Books / Penguin Random House Australia
Phillipe Llamar is LOL (League of Llamas) agent 0011. He’s handsome and has a magnificent head of beautiful hair and a fringe he constantly combs to dazzle everyone around. He also has a terrible memory. He’s at General Bottomburps’ party to steal some secrets. The General along with his Badger buddies are renowned for their potent very smelly bottom burps. He’s up to no good and Phillipe intends to find the evidence. With the aid of his sidekick Lloyd Llamanator, aka agent 0013, (who has a good memory), Phillipe breaks the General’s computer code and gets hold of the incriminating evidence. He burns this to a USB and swallows it to escape. Fortunately, they have a hidden Llamaborghini to drive away in.
They leave with more questions than answers. Such as: Who is the lovely lady llama in red? How are they going to get the USB out of Phillipe? The answer to this comes with the Turbo Llama Lax Incident (which needs to be read to understand the sheer hilarity). Mama Llama explains the USB shows that General Bottomburp has committed the utterly unthinkable crime of stealing The Golden Llama, (a symbol of the nation and the freedom for Llamas to spit.) Phillipe and Lloyd set out to recover the statue to avoid a spitting war by returning the statue to the Musee du Llama.
This Bond parody has all the elements kids love, such as farting and spitting together with lots of cleaver gadgets (that almost work) and dramatic twists and turns.
The illustrations by Simon Greiner of Phillipe in disguise, the lovely Lady 
Llama in red, the Llamaborghini and General Bottomburp, and the all-important League of Llamas logo to name a few, enhance the book. Particularly the very James Bond, (I’m a handsome Phillipe with gorgeous fringe on the front cover image), together with the Llama play on words which makes the whole book one ready to capture the imagination of youngsters worldwide.
I chortled through this book from the first sentence to the last. I look forward to reading the whole series including League of Llamas – Llama impossible, League of Llamas – Undercover Llamas and League of Llamas – Rogue Llama. Then I’ll be happy to pass these books onto my granddaughters to enjoy.
Book Review by Jill Smith©Mar20
Title: League of Llamas – Llama Impossible
Author: Aleesah Darlison
Illustrator: Simon Greiner
Publisher: Puffin Books / Penguin Random House Australia
Action-packed from the first sentence. A runaway train, an unconscious train driver, and speed building as the train hurtles through one station after another. Luckily Phillipe Llamar LOL (League of Llamas) agent 0011 is cruising overhead in his Llamaborghini and he decides to jump on board to stop the train. He jumps out landing on the roof of the train and is met by a gecko in singlet and jeans who has a resemblance to Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Geckoson with freaky eyeball licking action. After a near-death experience Phillipe gets to the front of the train to save the day.
When he gets back to Mama Llama’s office eleven floors underneath Mount Killamanjaro he discovers there’s more trouble in New Llama City. The train brakes had been cut at the same time as a massive robbery. Mama Llama sends her top agents Phillipe and Lloyd to investigate. She’s also sending Agent 0077 with them, Elloise is the Llama in red. They all go to the bank to see what happened. Phillipe and Lloyd cause a mess while investigating, (this is another laugh out loud moment among many in the book). Mama Llama gets an emergency call from the New Llama City Fire Chief. A fire had been deliberately lit. Were all these things coincidences?
All the evidence from the speeding train, bank robbery and dazzling diamond heist points to General Bottomburp. Is this a setup? At the bank, they meet Mr Itchee Kneebone, a property developer and fine art collector. This plump guinea pig was making sure his money was safe. He also invites them to his home to give them information. Bottomburp had gone into hiding, Kneebone tells Phillipe they might find him in Papua New Guinea Pig. On the island, they are captured and put in a pot by guinea pigs. Captain Archie the leader told them they weren’t vegetarians. Itchee Kneebone arrives and scolds his brother Archie and they are released. Phillipe finds Bottomburp and he goes to talk to the villain. He says he’s innocent and that he has bodyguards coming. They must rethink what’s been happening. Could a cuddly, kindly guinea pig with money and a mansion, be the real culprit? When all three agents work together, they discover the truth.
This is the second book in Aleesah Darlison’s League of Llamas series. And equally hilarious as the first with her play on words and crazy Llama antics. I can’t wait to read the rest of the series and then deliver them to my granddaughters to enjoy.
- Jill
What other writings have you done?
Book week still continues as today, Jill and I made a visit to Surfers Paradise State School, for a mini workshop with some of the kids. We had a fun and made crazy bookmarks but ran out of time to take photo’s of the kids creations. These are a couple of my example ones. You can make them into many different faces, animals of all sorts, or stick a moustache on for fathers day, maybe a Dracula or witch for Halloween. The sky is the limit. Give it a try!
The Ten Penners represented by Marion and Jill will be at Surfers Paradise State School on the 27th August.
On the 2nd May, Marion and Jill went to Burleigh Heads Primary School and were delighted to be able to share our experience of being part of a group writing for children with such inquisitive minds. They asked great questions and were happy to see Plinko sitting in the corner of the room on the day.
We offered the students the opportunity to win a copy of our latest anthology through a colouring competition.
Plinko has been preened and fixed up to look her beautiful best for The Ten Penners visit to Burleigh Heads Primary school tomorrow.
As a member of The Ten Penners adults writing for children subgroup of Gold Coast Writers, we’ve been planning more school visits. We launched our children’s anthology called Mystery, Mayhem & Magic last year. Our next school visit is next Wednesday to Burleigh Heads Primary School.
Onwards and upwards, today IS the first day of the rest of my life! There is life after 20 employment in one place. Watch out world, I’m on my way. The Ten Penners meet today and I’ve done my homework for March and April, taking a short story I wrote for a competition I entered recently. I’ve put together a pitch for my book that I’m working on for Camp NaNoWriMo this month. The sky’s the limit! Cheers all my friends.