back soon!

i'm sorry i haven't been posting much! i'm going away now for 4/5 weeks so my blog will be on hold, but keep checking after that for more posts!

Love, 

Lily x

Caddy Ever After by Hilary McKay

Indigo Casson has turned into Cupid with a twist. Rose just needs to keep a promise, but when nobody seems to understand how important it is-she might not manage. Saffy, well she doesn't think she can ever face Sarah again. How could you, when your best friend needed you and you ran away? All because of a stupid balloon. Caddy thinks she's found 'the one'. So she's getting married...but not to Michael. Leaving Rose heartbroken, she needs to find out how to stop them before it's too late.

I love this book. It's written like a journal, so you get to see each child's point of view: Rose, Indigo, Saffron, Caddy, then back to Rose. All of their lives have become so different, but they all intertwine and connect, joining up like the family they are. I love the relationship Caddy and Rose have, because I can relate to how Rose feels about Caddy so much-an sister much older than you, who rushes around going through life that makes you feel left behind. Then they come back and everything's alright again.
i love this series so much, you have to try it!

Permanent Rose by Hilary McKay

Permanent Rose. A clear, warm colour that glows with its own lively brightness, no matter how thinly spread. A colour that does not fade. Just like Permanent Rose Casson. (By the way, that is her real name). Tom has left for America-but why hasn't he called? And Caddy doesn't know if she can marry Michael. Saffy just wants to know who her real dad is. But when the truth comes out, was it really any better knowing? Indigo's becoming friends with enemies. Not good. No matter how friendly they act. Eve, she's still in the shed. But crying a whole lot more. Then comes Bill...well, he's found Samantha. And finally Rose. 


Oh, this book. It started off a bit typical. But this was definitely the most emotional one so far. Here you really get a sense of everyone and how much their lives depend on each other. It's really hard to talk about it without spoiling, so sorry for being vague! And Hilary McKay, her writing is so good. She hints throughout every single book, so gently that by the time Rose knows, you have only just figured it out. You don't know before the characters. And I haven't really talked about Sarah, Saffy's best friend who is one of the family (not literally). She's so amazing and funny and amazing. 
i thought i'd put in one of the emotional scenes, because i dont normally put in extracts of books.




"Where is Rose?" demanded Indigo, coming in at that moment.
"You had her!" said everyone, "Have you lost her again?"
Before Indigo could reply the telephone rang.
"You gave it away!" said Michael. 
"You are being totally unreasonable!" snapped Caddy, banging the phone down."Saffron! There is disgusting chocolate goo all over this table!"
"Moan, moan, moan," said Saffron. "No wonder Michael dumped you! Mind that box!"
"Michael hasn't dumped me!" shouted Caddy, not minding the box which fell to the floor just as Eve came through the door carrying the carbonated swap (now cool).
"Everybody fine?" she enquired affectionately, seeming not to notice that Caddy and Saffron were angrily collecting letters and photographs from all over the room, and that the kitchen was in a state of chaos remarkable even by Casson standards. "I found this lovely cake outside, Sarah. You are so clever!"
"Eve," said Sarah, "it is hideous beyond belief."
"I always think that about mine too," agreed Eve cheerfully, "but then I ice then and they are somehow transformed...Oh."
All at once Eve realised what the papers were that lay strewn all about. She stooped and picked up a photograph. "Darling Linda," she said.
She was still looking at it when Rose came in, followed by David, who immediately trod first in a puddle of raw chocolate cake and next on a letter that had strayed across the room.
"Rose!" said Eve, kissing her. "And MarcusJoshPatrick...Which is it? I always forget."
"David," said David.
"David. Look where you are walking, David darling! Those things are very special."
"They are not," said Saffron loudly, over the sound of the telephone which had begun again. "They are not remotely special! David can walk over them as much as he likes. There was nothing in the box worth saving for so long! They made me feel like I was no one at all!"
"Oh Saffy!" exclaimed Eve. "After darling Daddy saved them so carefully for you!"
"HE IS NOT DARLING DADDY!" shouted Saffron. "Answer that telephone someone, for goodness' sake!"
David, feeling tremendously important, picked it up and said, "Hello, hello! This is David! To whom do you want to speak?"
"To Caddy of course," snapped Michael on the other end of the line. "Where is she?"
"She's here," said David. "Shaking her head. Saying no no."
Caddy rested her head on a sticky patch of table and moaned.
"Ask her what she has done with her ring!"
"What ring?" asked David.
Caddy grabbed the telephone from him and banged it down.
"What ring?" David asked again, goggling at her in surprise.
"My ring!" shouted Caddy, irritated beyond endurance. "My diamond and platinum engagement ring! That's what ring!"
"I've always liked the look of Michael," remarked Sarah to no one in particular. "I'll have him if you like, Caddy!"
"Oh no you won't!"
"Well, you don't want him! Saffy doesn't want him! Rose is still getting over that loser Tom..."
Rose picked up the plastic bowl of cake mixture (double quantities of everything, beaten egg white just stirred in) and dumped it upside down on Sarah's head.
Caddy ran upstairs.
"If anyone wants me," said Eve, "I shall be in my shed. I am tired of being a single parent and I'm not surprised Bill left."
Sarah wiped chocolate cake mixture out of her eyes and said, "Sorry, Rose."
"I'm not," said Rose.
"Come on," said Saffron to Sarah. "I'll help you wash your hair."
Indigo made tea and took it out to Eve.

Rose began to doodle in a patch of spilled flour. David groped in his mind for words that might do. He was dreadfully hot.
"It's the weather," he said, and was immediately surprised that the words he had wanted had somehow found themselves.
"Yes," agreed Rose.
"I wonder what will happen next."
"I don't know," said Rose. 

On My iPod: Pumped Up Kicks by Foster The People

The album cover

i heard this and then i was like
dhfjkash fjkhsadfkhskdfh sdkfhsjdfhjdksfhjkdshfjkdshfkjdshjkfdshfjdshfjsdfjk hdskf hdsjkfhdskjfhdsjkfhdjkshfajkda jkdjkdhsfjk hsjkfhdskjf hjksdhf jkdshfjkdshfjdshfds j

amazing

Because you hear this type of thing rarely, and when it comes on you know that it is pure genius. Here's the lyrics. And a link to where you can watch in on youtube. Please listen. And it will amaze you. I swear. Listen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDTZ7iX4vTQ
LISTEN

The E.P. cover

Robert's got a quick hand
He'll look around the room
He won't tell you his plan
He's got a rolled cigarette hanging out his mouth 
He's a cowboy kid
Yeah, he found a six-shooter gun
In his dad's closet hidden in a box of fun things
And I don't even know what
But he's coming for you, yeah, he's coming for you

All the other kids with the pumped up kicks 
You'd better run, better run, outrun my gun
All the other kids with the pumped up kicks 
You'd better run, better run, faster than my bullet
x1

Daddy works a long day
He be coming home late, yeah, he's coming home late
And he's bringing me a surprise
Because dinner's in the kitchen and it's packed in ice
I've waited for a long time
Yeah, the slight of my hand is now a quick pull trigger
I reason with my cigarette
And say your hair's on fire
You must have lost your wits, yeah

All the other kids with the pumped up kicks 
You'd better run, better run, outrun my gun
All the other kids with the pumped up kicks 
You'd better run, better run, faster than my bullet
x1

All the other kids with the pumped up kicks 
You'd better run, better run, outrun my gun
All the other kids with the pumped up kicks 
You'd better run, better run, faster than my bullet
x3 

And this person wrote on a forum about what it means:

'its about a disturbed kid going on a killing spree.

1st verse: he is just about to start shooting, and is hanging around with a shifty look and a revolver and no one suspects a thing. and the cowboy stuff means he's having fun with the idea of how cool it will be (probably to have that power). Cowboys are also lone figures which is important. 

Chorus: pumped up kicks are probably like Nike airs and stuff, which probably means all the trendy popular kids, and hes going to shoot them. by telling them to run (even if not literally) he is playing with them and enjoying this, because you cant run faster than bullets.

second verse: it says "daddy works a long day" which i think has an ironic innocence in assuming he's working that whole time. i think whats actually happening when dad's coming home late and bringing a surprise is he's coming home late drunk and beating him. dinner on ice is neglection. dinner reference and "ive been waiting a long time" suggests that he is at the dinnertable waiting for his dad to walk in. on top of that i think it also means he has been waiting along time for the opportunity of revenge. now reasoning with the cigarette is entertaining himself while he waits. the cigarette is probably acting as his conscience he personifies it but also dismisses its opinion "And say your hair's on fire, you must have lost your wits".

^Reading that, and figuring out what the song meant, creeped me out. But don't be put off by that, ITS STILL AMAZING.

Indigo's Star by Hilary McKay

Saffy's found her angel, and now her and Sarah are the 'it' girls at their school and are not to be messed with. Caddy has the perfect boyfriend (who, she is now engaged to) but she's still testing other guys just to compare. Rose knows some of what Indigo is going through, so she is worrying too much, and writes 'scary' letters to her father to try and make him come home. And Indigo is back at school after being sick for so long-but he doesn't want to go back.

This story was such a good follow on from Saffy's Angel. I always loved Indigo, and it was nice to see his point of view for a change-he really loves his sister and that's so easy to see. I love all the extra characters (especially derek-from-the-camp). it took a while for me to like tom, but i got there in the end!

1/2

Saffy's Angel by Hilary McKay

Saffy Casson's life changed forever, when she discovered that her name wasn't on the colour chart in their kitchen. The other children had their names there. Caddy (Cadmium), her oldest 17 year old sister had her name there. Indigo, her younger (but not that young) brother was on it. And finally Permanent Rose, her baby sister, joined everyone else on the chart. So when Saffy realises the secret Eve and Bill (her parents) have kept a secret from her, her world turns upside-down. And when her grandfather passes away, but leaves her a note 'To Saffy-her stone angel, in the garden' she knows that she has to find it.

I love this book so much. You just get sucked into their world, and want to stay there forever. This family is so crazy and lovable (I mean, Caddy and her hundred guinea pigs) and Eve, who paints all day in the shed with her 'brain juice' or Indigo, whose 'pack' (eg: sisters) are the most important thing to him in the world. This story really is adorable, and i'm so glad because each child in this series has their own book! (and Rose has 2). so yeah, give it a try!