'''Read [[Features|new features]].'''
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{{newreview
|author=Linda Press Wulf
|title=Crusade
|rating=4
|genre=Teens
|summary=The Children's Crusade is one of those extraordinary stories of the Middle Ages which have caught the imagination of historians and preachers. A young shepherd, who believed he was called by God to save the city of Jerusalem, managed to collect together an enormous horde of children and lead them all the way to the southern coast of France. There, he assured them, the seas would part; they would march straight to the Holy Land and take back the city where Jesus had died. It is hard to say how much or how little of this story is true as records are sketchy — after all, the children concerned were mostly illiterate — but the spectacle, hardship and faith of the enterprise make for a dramatic tale.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1408804840</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=D E Meredith
|summary=The very first sentence concerns the sudden discovery of a body. Judging by its dreadful state, not only some form of foul play but also some form of torture has been used. No one locally knows anything at all. Looks like a tough investigation looms for local Prosecutor by the name of Chacaltana. He is the central character in the novel. He comes across as a bit of a plodder, a bit of a dullard, someone who is methodical to a ridiculous level in his line of work. His line of work is also low-level. But, even so, he is a man who takes pride in what he does. So when he becomes involved in this macabre body incident, he gives it his full concentration. It becomes obvious he will leave no stone unturned to try and solve this crime.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1843548313</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Rhoda Janzen
|title=Mennonite in a Little Black Dress: A Memoir of Coming Home
|rating=4.5
|genre=Autobiography
|summary=Even although the obliging blurb on the back cover tells the reader a little about being Mennonite, I couldn't resist looking it up in the dictionary. I was intrigued to start reading. And emblazoned across the front cover is 'No 1 In The US'. Great praise indeed, I thought. But how would it go down across the pond? Time to find out ...
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>085789031X</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Paolo Bacigalupi
|title=The Windup Girl
|rating=3.5
|genre=Science Fiction
|summary=Although only recently released in paperback in the UK, Paolo Bacigalupi's The Windup Girl has been gaining considerable critical acclaim across 'the pond'. Set in a future version of Thailand, it's an interesting take on the environmental meltdown scenario that has garnered it a couple of science fiction awards (the Hugo and Nebula awards) and was named as the ninth best fiction book of 2009 by Time magazine. No less than three of the review extracts used by the publishers in this edition liken Bacigalupi to William Gibson. High praise indeed. Does it rise to these expectations?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0356500535</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Sally Prue
|title=Ice Maiden
|rating=5
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=Franz isn't popular in the village. It's 1939, and the German boy is on an extended holiday in England. Unsurprisingly, the local boys don't appreciate an enemy in their midst. Franz isn't happy at home either - he mistrusts his Nazi parents and he remembers the rounding up of the disabled, the gypsies and the Jews, and the smashing glass at night. Lonely, Franz spends a lot of time on the common, observing the natural world and the wildlife, in all its beauty and cruelty.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0192729659</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=M T McGuire
|title=K'Barthan Trilogy: Few Are Chosen
|rating=4
|genre=Teens
|summary=The Pan of Hamgee is a relatively inconspicuous fellow living in the world of K'Barth, the setting of the battle between the overbearing, alien Grongolian settlers and the fanatic Resistance, described aptly by The Pan as being 'The lesser, but only very slightly lesser of two evils, possibly.' Naturally, The Pan wants nothing to do with this political conflict but due to a number of unfortunate cases of wrong place, wrong time and disastrous luck, he has somehow been drafted in as the getaway driver of a group of bank robbers, and somehow come into possession of a magical thimble with the power to allow teleportation, an object greatly desired by K'Barth's despot ruler Lord Vernon.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1907809007</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewplain
|title=Amazon Kindle
|rating=4
|summary=Are ebooks the future of books? Is it the right time to get an ebook reader? We thought about it long and hard. Yes we did. We don't often think about things this long or this hard, because it hurts. But sometimes, cogitations are necessary. We wouldn't be here at Bookbag if we didn't love books but we knew that more and more people were enjoying ebooks. It was time to find out what it was really like to have up to 3,500 books in your pocket or your bag. 3,500! Yikes!
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>B002LVUWFE</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Philip Threadneedle
|title=The Astronaut's Apprentice
|rating=4
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=Bradley is as normal as any boy could be. He lives on a farm with his father and grandma and loves all sorts of boy things. But it's at this point that things begin to get a little bit, well, odd. His grandpa is an alien and his mother is in the attic, but she's dead. Grandma's not your normal cuddly version, either. She's of the opinion that childbirth is much over-rated, both from the point of view of the mother and the child and she's not above calling her husband a love rat and a womaniser. Still, even the best of families have their little oddities…
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1453843809</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Michele Jaffe
|title=Rosebush
|rating=5
|genre=Teens
|summary=Firstly, I've got to say this book was incredibly hard to put down. The plot is so absorbing I found myself trying to read a page at every opportunity I got. I was late for work on a few occasions because I couldn't pull myself away. This is one of the best books I have read in the last few months.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1907410384</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Charles Dickens
|title=The Christmas Books
|rating=5
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=I'd just like to say at the outset that after reviewing mainly contemporary authors, it's a refreshing change to have the chance to review one of 'the classics'. (I hope I do the great man justice). Personally, I love the classics and I've read a number of Dickens' - including 'Bleak House' and 'Hard Times' but I haven't actually read 'A Christmas Carol.' I couldn't help but smile when Michael Morpurgo (who writes the short introduction to this book) says 'It is very difficult to sit and read Dickens' Christmas Books in a Devon garden on a sunny day ...' Well, would you believe my luck when I say that, as I'm writing this review, it's snowing hard outside? Everything is, well, Christmassy.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>095626686X</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Teresa Solana and Peter Bush
|title=A Shortcut to Paradise
|rating=4
|genre=Crime
|summary=The characters are introduced to the reader one at a time. The main ones have a whole chapter or two to tell their story, including a bit of background information but aside from all of this, they all seem to have some sort of connection to a swish, literary event. So, for example, there's a young, rather frazzled husband called Ernest. You can tell that he's a kindly, mild person. He takes his role as father, husband and (although meagre) breadwinner very, very seriously. He's a translator. He's had some bad luck to contend with lately and the household bills are piling up but he spares his wife the sorry details of their current financial state. But all he's doing is piling on the pressure for himself. Something's got to give ... and it does. Big-time. And without wishing to spoil the plot in any way, I think I can safely say that he ' ... decided to put himself into the shoes of the heroes he translated and, for the first time in his life, he took the bull by the horns.'
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1904738559</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewplain
|title=Amazon Kindle
|rating=4
|summary=Are ebooks the future of books? Is it the right time to get an ebook reader? We thought about it long and hard. Yes we did. We don't often think about things this long or this hard, because it hurts. But sometimes, cogitations are necessary. We wouldn't be here at Bookbag if we didn't love books but we knew that more and more people were enjoying ebooks. It was time to find out what it was really like to have up to 3,500 books in your pocket or your bag. 3,500! Yikes!
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>B002LVUWFE</amazonuk>
}}
