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Writer's pictureKirsty Whitlock

In My Toaster by Paul Guy Hurrell. Review


Book Blurb

Ten-year-old Tracey Birdsall is missing her father who is stranded in New Zealand due to travel restrictions in the midst of a pandemic. Her brother hardly speaks or plays with her now that he is fifteen and has his own friends. Her mother is too busy trying to run the house by herself, so life can be lonely for Tracey – that is until she decides to make toast one morning and suddenly gets sucked into a magical world inside of the toaster!

She is guided by Sam the Titfur, a bird like creature that can change its size and carries a Needed Bag. On the journey she has to cross through a vertical river using only an umbrella, then over the Stone Bridge of Nowhere and hide from the Chatterings under a picnic blanket. She must take part in the shortest and slowest car race ever, were she gets stopped for speeding by a virtual police officer, before going down the biggest slide to meet Peter Smith the wizard.


“In My Toaster” is the second story in a series of fantasy adventures. The first book, “What’s In My Fridge?” tells the story of Tracey’s brother Terry, who encounters a very different world inside of his fridge! Each book holds a moral to the story. Terry must find the courage to stand up to the school bully and Tracey must learn to cope with her loneliness.







BLOG TOUR REVIEW




Review for 'In My Toaster' by Paul Guy Hurrell.




Read and reviewed for John Paul Guy Hurrell, Blossom Spring Publishing and ZooLoos Book Tours.





Publication date 14th March 2023.




This is the second book I have read by this author. It is also the second book in this series but can be read as a standalone. I have also read 'What's In My Fridge?' which is the first book in this series.




This is a lovely children's book all about bravery, loneliness bullying. I absolutely hate bullies in any form!!! It is just so unnecessary and so many children and adults are affected by it and it has even ended lives. I just wish there were more book like this available for children to read and hopefully understand the consequences of how much words can hurt and learn to become kinder people. Loneliness is another important topic which this book deals with and is especially important in this generation after the effects of the pandemic (which this book also includes) and technology where children are spending more times on their consoles and less time in the playground. These are such important topics to talk about and the younger the better as children need to realise the importance of kindness and empathy from a young age as well as the effects of loneliness on children and adults alike and Paul does this with this lovely and funny children's book so a HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to Paul on weaving such an important topic into such a great children's book! Paul's fantastic imagination and evocative writing skills brings the story to life around the reader and listeners. This is the second book that Paul is written and it is just as good as is debut book 'What's In My Fridge?' which is another great children's book that deals with the topic of bullying. It is also another great adventure book which follows Terry (Tracey's older brother) when he gets pulled into his fridge when he was younger. You can read about that book in my review for it. This book takes us on an adventure with Tracey who is struggling with loneliness and bullying. Tracey lives with her mum Mrs Birdsall and her brother Terry. Terry is constantly out playing with his friends or on his games playing with them online. Mrs Birdsall is constantly busy looking after the house and her children. Terry and Tracey's dad Mr Birdsall is working in New Zealand and has been stuck there since COVID struck. She gets to FaceTime him over the phone but hasn't seen him for months and is really struggling not seeing him in person and misses his hugs and bed time tuck ins. When Mrs Birdsall asks Tracey to make her own toast one morning she gets sucked into the toaster and taken on an exciting adventure. She meets Sam the Titfur bird in a tree the toaster dropped her onto. She tells Sam she wants to go home and they go off to find Wimpole the Wizard who is also known as Peter Smith. On the way she enjoys a game of Pooh sticks on a bridge over grass, has fun seeing what comes out of Sam's Needed Bag, goes on the slowest and smallest car race, gets dizzy on a spinning pavement, has to hide from the Chatterings, travel through a river with an umbrella and avoid the purple rings after going on a huge slide!!!! She does all this and much more while wearing her pyjamas and unicorn slippers!!! However, will Sam manage to get her to Wimpole The Wizard? Can Wimpole The Wizard get her home? When will she see her Dad again? Well, you'll have to grab your copy to find out!! My heart went out to Tracey, nobody deserves to be bullied or to feel so lonely and thinking about my own children going through this absolutely broke my heart and it really impacted with me.I absolutely loved the ending of this books as did my eldest son Malaki who is ten years old. I absolutely adored this book and genuinely believe that there should be at least one copy kept in every doctor's surgery, nursery, playgroup, school, hospital, library and just, well everywhere!! This book should be read by every child, adult and to every child by an adult!! It is such a simple read but with such an absolutely VITAL message!!! I absolutely love seeing more books like this on the shelf that encourage children to be kind to others. This is such an important message to promote to children at a young age so they can continue to share this message with their friends. This book is recommended for children ages 8 to 18 to read but I think it is suitable for younger children. The only thing that I would have loved to see included in this book and which would make it more attractive to younger children would be some illustrations. The book is filled with amazing adventures and it would be amazing to see some of them illustrated!!


Another great book from this fantastic author who weaves such important morals, topics and lessons into fun filled and imaginative adventures!! I am looking forward to reading more books by this great author!




❤️ Overall another fantastically imaginative adventure book which tackles loneliness and bullying💜



Genres covered in this book include Children's Fantasy & Magic Adventure, Literature & Fiction For Young Adults, Children's Sword & Sorcery Fantasy eBooks,

Fantasy & Magic for Children, Action & Adventure for Children, Literature & Fiction for Children and Children's Fiction amongst others.




50 pages.




This book is just £2.50 to purchase for kindle and £7.13 to purchase in paperback via Amazon at time of review which I think is an absolute bargain for this book!!!




Rated 4/5 (I enjoyed it ) on Goodreads, Instagram, Amazon UK and Amazon US and on over 30 Facebook pages plus my blog on Facebook.




Feel free to add me on Goodreads or follow me on my website or Facebook for more reviews.





@InMyToaster @PaulGuyHurrell @paul.hurrell.35 @BlossomSpringPublishing @blossomspring3 @blossom.spring.publishing @ZooLoosBT @ZooloosBookTours @Bookworm1986 @bookworm86 @Bookworm1986 @bookworm86 @Goodreads @Amazon @AmazonKindle @Bookstagram @BookBlogger


























Author Bio


I was born in Leeds, Yorkshire, England in 1960 to a single parent family. I am the youngest of five sidling’s 4 boys and a girl. I was brought up on a council estate and my family had very little, just like many other family’s on the estate at the time.


I attended two schools as I grew up Bentley Lane infants/junior School and then onto Stainbeck High School. For me school was always hard, mainly because of my absenteeism. I wasn’t ill, it was just my mum didn’t send me (empty nest syndrome). Looking back at my school years there is a good chance I spent more times at home, than I did in school.


I officially left school in 1976 and my first full time job was making special mirror, the ones you see in pubs. I didn’t last long there before I got bored. I had a number of other jobs after that, which I didn’t stay long in any of them. One job I stayed a full day before not going back, but my record for the shortest stay was 4 hours, I walked away from this job after the hourly rate was cut from 90p an hour, down to 70p an hour.


The following year I was forced to take a job, back at Stainbeck High School repairing school desks. While here I met my wife, Beverley. We are still together and have two wonderful grown-up children and three grandchildren.


I worked for Leeds City Council, in the Housing section for 22 years, before retirement. Since retiring I have the time to carry out one of my first loves, writing stories.





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Zoe O'Farrell
Zoe O'Farrell
Jun 28, 2023

thank you so much for supporting the tour and sharing your review x

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