Love To Read? Book Reviews with Amber at The Mewton-Clawson Library #167 featuring **A Friend Like Ben** by Julia Romp PLUS Friendly Fill-Ins

Hello gorgeous library guests 

and 

Welcome to the Mewton-Clawson Library at BBHQ 

Thank mew for joining me in the stacks today and,

Paws Up, Who Loves Books?

Mew know, I just don't understand why some cats don't love books.

The other day I overheard somepurrdy - who shall remain nameless - saying that books were about as useful as a hat full of spiders. Needless to say, I set them straight about that in under 3 seconds! MOL 

Today the P.A. is also joining in Friday Fill-ins Blog Hop with the pawesome 15 & Meowing and Four-Legged Furballs.

1. My day is not complete until I _________.

2. It is time to _________.

3. _________ made me change my mind about _________.

4. I simply refuse to _________.

The P.A.'s answers are...

1. My day is not complete until I've done all my jobs/chores, cleaning, blog post writing, the day job etc... and with a house full of cats, there's always something to be done, washed or cleaned! LOL

2. It is time to write; in fact, it's always time to write, but a lot of the time other things get in the way - see #1.

3. Reading books made me change my mind about a lot of things; there's nothing like getting educated on a subject.  

4. I simply refuse to get swept away in the social media world, and the last few months I've removed Facebook and Twitter from my phone as I don't want to engage on those platforms. I now only share 3 or 4 pictures a week on The B Teams Instagram account, as I want to spend my valuable time doing things that enrich my life and bring me joy. A lot of social media is a rabbit hole of misery, where pretty much everything is staged, curated and photoshopped, and what you're seeing is not a true reflection or even real; it's a combination of lies, deceit and fantasy. But sadly, a lot of peeps don't realise the deception and get caught up in the facade of trying to compete with these phoney, confidence-destroying notions. No wonder there are so many younger people suffering from mental health/anxiety/depression etc... in today's society, it is truly awful.

Let's see what I've got to show mew this time!

This week's top book pick is...

Mewton-Clawson Library Copy

A Friend Like Ben

by 

Julia Romp

       Here's a little snippet of the book blurb:      

The heart-warming true story of a little boy and the cat that changed his life.

Nine-year-old George was severely autistic; quiet and withdrawn, he appeared lost in his own world most of the time. His mother Julia despaired as she couldn’t bring George out of his shell. But when a black-and-white stray cat appeared in their garden, everything changed.

George’s new four-legged friend, Ben, had a wonderful and unexpected side-effect. George and Ben bonded and George began to open up, making up stories about their adventures together to recount to Julia. Finally, Julia could communicate with her son – and Ben had made it possible.

Now this book came to me several months ago via my monthly subscription box from Feline and Fiction. And if I'm honest, it's not a choice that I would have made if I was looking to buy a new cat book, but as it was in the library I thought I'd give it a go as mew can't expand your horizons if mew never read things mew wouldn't normally be attracted to. 

Basically, the book premise is a true story about a boy and his cat, and while mew may think; well, that sounds a little dull, it's actually so far from the truth it's quite astounding.

Stray kitty Ben is the catalyst; pardon the pun, who helps severely autistic George become more communicative, mew know I'm not big on spoilers, so that's as much as mew're getting.

If mew're looking for a heartfelt, feel-good story, this could be it, although I did knock a star off as it could have been a tad shorter in places; mew'll know exactly what I mean if mew read or have read it.

• Publisher: Harper Element
• Paperback: 288 pages

My Ratings Scale

Ratings of:

A Friend Like Ben

Overall Enjoyment

I really hope mew enjoy the book if mew decide to read it.

It's time fur me to say BFN or bye-fur-now as mew know the drill, so many books, so little time and I'll be back next week with another specially paw-picked book just for mew, and don't furget that all my previous reviews can be found on my Book Review page.

Don't forget that Smooch's 10th Birthday Pawty is still raging in the bunker, and if mew want to enter the giveaway, there's still time.

Until next time...

Keep calm and read more books

Amber 

Follow me at angry_amber_badtemperedkitty

& @BionicBasil® on Instacat

Don't furget to subscribe and never miss another review! 

 graphics created with paid licence www.canva.com