==Confident readers==
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{{newreview
|author=Carlos Ruiz Zafon
|title=The Prince of Mist
|rating=5
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=During World War Two, Max's father decides to move the whole family to a seaside retreat he knows of - a wooden house far away from the city he's grown his family up in. Nobody seems too keen on the idea, neither of Max's sisters, his mother, nor he - and Max is gifted a pocket watch by his loving, talented mechanic cum engineer cum watchmaker of a father, enscribed as "Max's Time Machine". But the house they move to, and its surroundings, are full of more successful time machines - a stash of early home videos, a public clock that runs backwards, a sunken shipwreck, a yard full of statues of a stone circus... And let's not forget the mysterious, spider-eating cat that joins in with proceedings.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0297856421</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=James Rollins
|summary=Lisa's best friend has moved away. The neighbourhood bullies, Truls and Trym Trane, are causing havoc. Her dad is getting ready for Norway's Independence Day celebrations. Oh, and there's an anaconda on the loose in the sewers. Then Nilly moves into her street, and the two of them meet Doctor Proctor and discover his amazing fart powder.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847386539</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=K A S Quinn
|title=The Queen Must Die (Chronicles of the Tempus)
|rating=4
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=In this historical time-travelling extravaganza, Katie Berger-Jones-Burg (I know, it's a mouthful, but stay with me) is the daughter of Mimi, an ex-girl band member who has been married three times, so far, hence Katie's hyphenated name. Katie has come home from school to find that Mimi has gone off with another man, Dr Fishberg, and as she begins to stress about the potential new addition to her surname she crawls into her hidey-hole space beneath her bed to escape for a little while. Here she keeps her diary and her stash of books, and she curls up to read her latest book, a compilation of letters from Princess Alice, Queen Victoria's youngest daughter. She starts to feel a bit sleepy, but is suddenly startled awake by a flash of light. She finds herself in Victorian England, underneath a sofa and staring into the eyes of Princess Alice, who is just as startled as she is.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848873700</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Joanne Owen
|title=The Alchemist and the Angel
|rating=4
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=When Jan's parents die of the plague, he is sent to the great city of Vienna to live with his aunt and uncle. His uncle is a distinguished alchemist, and, hoping to take the boy's mind off his grief, hires him as his apprentice. Jan loves the work, learns quickly, and soon the two of them are on the verge of perfecting a serum said to bring the dead back to life. But then his uncle is found dead, and Jan is being whisked off to Prague by his vain and calculating aunt. She has her own plans for the serum, and she will stop at nothing to accomplish them.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444001507</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick
|title=Timecatcher
|rating=4
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=Jessie Minahan is a pretty average fictional twelve year old girl: she has a dog side-kick named Duff and she craves adventure. One day, when her scatty mother has an urgent need for buttons Jessie discovers the abandoned Dublin Button Factory in an old mill, now inhabited by two detectives, who have a big, big secret. She also meets G who is not your average fictional twelve year old boy - for one, he's dead. His worst enemy is Greenwood – a large ghost who lives in the mill and is full of rules. Greenwood is also involved in this big secret which Jessie and G soon discover is the Timecatcher. It opens every seven years for three days and reveals the past - 'shadow days' and 'shadow people'. It is about to open again and there is a ghostly villain named Sullivan Ellz'mede who would do anything to have the power source at its heart...
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1842556770</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Philip Ardagh
|title=The Wrong End of the Dog (Grubtown Tales)
|rating=4.5
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=If you haven't been to Grubtown before, then feel welcome. It's an auspicious day for the town of grubby and inept people with names like Rambo Sanskrit, and Mango Claptrap, as well. For today is the day of film star Tawdrey Hipbone's gala charity premiere. But there's to be no gala, and little charity either, when a pelican (and not the town mascot either, but a different one) comes and steals - yes, steals - the beloved dog Snooks - yes, Snooks - from where he was living the fine life in Tawdrey's hair - yes, hair.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>057124792X</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=David Grimstone
|title=Gladiator Boy vs The Living Dead
|rating=2.5
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=[[A Hero's Quest (Gladiator Boy) by David Grimstone|A Hero's Quest]] introduced us to Decimus Rex. This seventh book in the overall ''Gladiator Boy'' series (and start of a new sub-series of 6) begins with our hero, Decimus Rex, and his friends all having received messages from their former ally Teo. I say former because they all thought Teo was dead. They're all hoping against hope that Teo is really alive, but there's a nagging doubt that their nemesis Slavious Doom is setting a trap for them...
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0340989270</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Jenny Valentine
|title=Iggy and Me and the Happy Birthday
|rating=5
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=Ooh, hooray! Iggy and Flo are back! We loved their [[Iggy and Me by Jenny Valentine|first outing]], just as we love all Jenny Valentine's books for older readers. Flo's just your everyday run of the mill eight year old. Iggy's a normal five year old (going on six). Iggy's a funny little thing, Flo's sweet. They're sisters who do what sisters do, in a regular family. They learn to swim, they fall ill, they make cakes, they ride bikes. They toddle along with life and have a lovely time.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0007283636</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Gene Kemp
|title=No Way Out
|rating=4
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=Alex and Adam are twins, and they're telepathic to boot. They're very close, but are also like chalk and cheese: Adam's looking forward to their holiday on Uncle Ben and Aunt Sadie's farm, but Alex can't think of anything worse. Adam is always happy to read to their little sister Emmy, but Alex resents the attention she gets (she's disabled, y'see). By and large, they're just ordinary kids, with ordinary grumbles. When the car they're in goes through thick fog and crashes, they find themselves in a town from times past, with inhabitants who don't want to let them leave, and who have an eye on Emmy.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0571244556</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Lindsey Leavitt
|title=Princess for Hire
|rating=3.5
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=Desi is not the happiest of teenagers, although when are teenage girls ever actually happy? Anyway, her ex-best friend Celeste is doing everything possible to humiliate and alienate her from their friends, and to top it all off Celeste is also dating the boy Desi has a huge crush on, Hayden. (He is perhaps a dubious prospect for Desi since he can't even get her name right). Still, she has landed herself summer job working for a pet store and although it involves being dressed in a furry groundhog costume at least no-one can tell it's her in there. Well, not until Celeste comes along and unmasks her. In front of Hayden. Desi finds herself feeling more and more like vapour every day, that she doesn't matter or almost doesn't exist. Cue the fairy-godmother style entrance of Meredith, an agent for Facade which is a magical company that offer jobs to teens with magical potential to work as substitute princesses...
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>140524612X</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Victoria Forester
|title=The Girl Who Could Fly
|rating=4
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=Have you ever wondered what it would be like if you could fly? It would be such a wonderful sensation, soaring through the air, looping the loop, swooping down over your house and garden. But have you also stopped to think what other people might think if they saw that you could fly whilst no one else could? Would children still want to be your friend? What would your family think? The little girl in this story, Piper McCloud, can fly. She lives on her parents farm and was always a little, well, unusual, and after her mum found her floating in the air one day when she was a baby she decided to home school Piper, rather than expose her to the gossips in the village. But one day, at the village picnic, Piper flies during the baseball match as she tries to catch the ball, and suddenly her whole life is turned upside down...
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0330512536</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Marcus Sedgwick
|title=Lunatics and Luck (Raven Mysteries)
|rating=4.5
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=It's obvious really. When an earthquake hits Castle Otherhand, Valevine, the head of the household, decides what the place needs is a machine to predict the future, and a new tutor for his two oldest children. And why not? There are only those children, the suicidal baby twins, Valevine's dreadful failed inventions and experiments, Edgar the raven that narrates this series of books, and a monkey. With bells on. Clearly there is not enough weirdness there already to go around.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1842556959</amazonuk>
}}
