On My Bookshelf

By Jaimee Felysse A. Reyes, Year 6

Hello there. I am Jaimee Felysse Reyes, a 10-year-old student from Year 6C. I am currently the Head of Pastoral Care in The Winchester School Jebel Ali’s Student Government. I am a responsible, diligent and confident person who has a positive attitude towards learning. I love researching, watching tutorials and making my own videos. I am an art enthusiast, but I also have a keen passion for reading. I read lots of books, both fiction and non-fiction, with various genres like classics, myths, fantasies, sci-fi, humour, mystery, adventure, biographies/autobiographies, reference books, atlases, arts and crafts, and encyclopaedias. I have been reading since I was 4. Growing up, I would collect books rather than toys and would frequent museums and libraries. There is something about reading that transports me to another world. As Roald Dahl said, “If you are going to get anywhere in life you have to read a lot of books.” I am delighted to share with you my analysis, views and recommendations on the books that I have read.

The Kingdom of Fantasy Series

by Elisabetta Dami

"Geronimo Stilton, The Kingdom of Fantasy", a children’s book series in a series, mainly consists of Geronimo’s adventures in the Kingdom of Fantasy, aiming to protect the place at all costs. The book practically explains a part of the main character’s daily life.

Intro

About the Author

You might be surprised to know this, but Geronimo Stilton is actually a woman. Elisabetta Maria Dami (born 1 January 1958) is an Italian children’s book author who became famous for creating the mouse character, Geronimo Stilton. She started as a proof-reader when she was just 13 and wrote her first short stories at 19.

The fictional Geronimo and Thea Stilton books were in fact influenced by the adventures made by the author herself, as she was an adventure lover. She is an aircraft pilot and parachutist and has travelled around the world on her own at the age of 23. The idea of writing "The Geronimo Stilton Books" came to her mind when she found out that she could not bear children. She decided to volunteer in a children's hospital, and to help the sick kids, she thought of writing adventure stories. The series became very famous in Italy and all around the world. It has been translated into 49 languages and have sold more than 161 million copies worldwide.

“For a while I worked as a volunteer in a hospital, and it was there, almost by chance, that I invented Geronimo Stilton… It was at the time when Patch Adams taught the world that children need to laugh to get better. So I started to make up funny stories in which the protagonist was a clumsy mouse called Geronimo Stilton. He would get involved in all sorts of entertaining adventures, full of funny events and twists in the plot, that children found really compelling.” - Elisabetta Dami

About the Series My Observations

The series consists of thirteen books in which Geronimo Stilton, ventures into the unexplored fictional world of The Kingdom of Fantasy. There, he meets many other magnificent creatures like dragons, fairies and mermaids and wonderful new friends.

He first finds a music box engraved with an unexpected message and a strange letter from his attic. Suddenly, there appeared a golden staircase and on top is a magical door which has whisked him to a world no one could ever imagined. Along with his sidekick, Scribblehopper the frog, they set off to save the Queen of the Fairies but had to face many obstacles such as sea serpents, giant scorpions, pixies and other out of this world creatures.

And a whole new adventure begins… Geronimo Stilton has always been a children’s favourite. Whenever I go to bookstores and libraries, I usually notice many eager readers crowding around the Geronimo Stilton section. I, too, am also a fan of the same, because of its dynamic writing and the colourful illustrations. The kids will be totally engrossed of its easyto-read text and will be so interested in deciphering the codes included in the story. Some of the words were written in different colours and fonts, which is a fun way to introduce new vocabulary to kids. Without a doubt, I would quickly rate the books and the series, 5 stars for the story itself. I love how the author incorporated some games to make even kids who are not into reading, be fascinated in its content. It is a unique book full of cool adventures for all ages.