|summary=Almost every child dreams about freedom. The idea of being able to make your own decisions about how you live your life is, as anyone who has ever been told to eat up your greens and go to bed will know, a deeply seductive one. Many adults, of course, have the opposite fear: that children are really little monsters dressed up in human clothes, ready to break away and go wild at the slightest provocation. It’s not hard to see, therefore, why both adults and children are so fascinated by the idea of children alone in the wild. From ''Lord of the Flies'' to [[Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak|Where the Wild Things Are]], there’s a pervasive dream in children’s fiction – a dream that’s sometimes closer to a nightmare – about the child gone feral.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1405266430</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Charles Gilman
|title=The Slither Sisters: Tales from Lovecraft Middle School
|rating=4
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=This, if anything, is an abject lesson in the dangers of recycling. The brand spanking new Lovecraft Middle school actually reused bits of an old mansion where arcane experiments were going on, meaning the school to this day serves as a portal to a different universe, one of horrid man-eating demons and other monsters, all with designs on people like Robert Arthur. [[Professor Gargoyle: Tales from Lovecraft Middle School by Charles Gilman|last time round]] Robert had trouble with one teacher, who was not as he appeared - this time it's double trouble with two of the school's most popular, most cupcake-giving girls. How can he in his lowly position find the strength to save everyone?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1594745935</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Ally Kennen
|title=Midnight Pirates
|rating=4.5
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=It's hard to read this book without feeling a sea breeze on your face and sand between your toes, so vivid and so natural is the detail on every page. Pinkie-Sue and Cormac have been running the slightly dilapidated Dodo beach hotel for years, and their children have lived their whole lives in and out of the waves in Dummity Bay. Miranda swims like a fish herself and knows all the local seals and their habits, easy-going Cal talks of nothing but surfing and his girlfriend Doris, and Jackie scrambles over the rocks with his dog Fester whenever he can escape from the irritations of school and chores.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1407129880</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Lou Kuenzler
|title=Shrinking Violet Definitely Needs a Dog
|rating=4
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=Ten year old Violet Potts wants a dog. Her favourite uncle, Max, adopted a Siberian wolf cub for her, but that wasn’t the same as having a real pet dog to cuddle and care for. Her parents think she is too irresponsible to handle a pet, but Violet is determined to prove them wrong by volunteering at the local pet shelter. The only complication is that Violet has a secret; she shrinks to the size of a dog biscuit whenever she gets excited. Will she be able to keep a lid on her emotions and prove to her parents that she can handle a dog of her own?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1407130056</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Faye Hanson
|title=Cinderella's Secret Diary
|rating=4.5
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=Did you know that Cinderella kept a secret diary sharing all her thoughts and feelings about how she was treated by her stepmother and her two ugly sisters? The diary starts when her father returns home from his travels and not long after, she is introduced to Madame Riche who is soon to become her father's wife. When Cinderella finds out about the forthcoming marriage, she is very excited to discover that she will soon have two sisters. Unfortunately, her excitement is short lived as, after the marriage, her father stays abroad for business and Cinderella's stepmother and sisters start to show their true colours. They are mean and nasty treating her no better than a slave. The worst thing is when an invitation comes for the royal ball and Cinderella is not allowed to attend even though she has been invited. Luckily, her fairy godmother appears, waves her magic wand and well, I guess we all know what happens next. Everybody loves a happy ending and it's wonderful to read Cinderella's words at the end of her diary:
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0230742041</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Laura Dockrill
|title=Darcy Burdock
|rating=3.5
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=Darcy Burdock is a ten-year-old girl who sees ''the extraordinary in the everyday''. This is her first book, a story about her life, complete with her own short stories and pictures.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0552566071</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Geraldine McCaughrean
|title=The Positively Last Performance
|rating=5
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=Gracie absolutely loves Seashaw. She has many happy memories of holidays in the faded resort (which bears more than a passing resemblance to Margate) and she is delighted when her parents, who are actors, decide to move there for good. Their plan is to take over the old theatre, which has been abandoned for years, and do it up—as long as they can get a grant or two to fund the work. They are understandably busy with surveyors and town officials, and it's no surprise to Gracie that she's left pretty much to her own devices. Besides, she's just discovered something extraordinary: she can see ghosts.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0192733206</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Sharon Gosling
|title=The Diamond Thief
|rating=3.5
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=Sixteen–year–old orphan Rémy Brunel is the headline act at a small, shabby travelling circus. Her grace and extraordinary ability on the high wire and trapeze ensure that she is highly prized by her cruel master, Gustave, but her skills as a jewel thief are what make her invaluable to him.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1782020136</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Jill Hucklesby
|title=Little Lost Hedgehog (RSPCA Fiction)
|rating=4
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=Grace Fallon was out in her garden one evening, doing what she did every night - making certain that her pet rabbits were fed, watered and safe. When she saw a movement in the flower bed she went to investigate and found a baby hedgehog - or a hoglet as they're correctly called. Wisely she didn't attempt to touch the animal but told her parents and then kept watch from inside the house. When the hoglet reappeared and looked rather distressed her mother rang the RSPCA and was told to give it some food - dog food and crushed dog biscuits (NEVER milk as it can make any hog very sick). Later someone from the RSPCA came round to collect the hoglet and take it to their centre for care.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1407133217</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Mark Griffiths
|title=Geek Inc: Technoslime Terror
|rating=4.5
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=A boy wakes up in a grassy field and discovers that his trousers are on fire, though fortunately it doesn't hurt a bit. A lonely girl wonders why a fully functioning grandfather clock is standing on a patch of wasteland (she also wonders why it seems to move a few metres each day. Grandfather clocks aren't in the habit of wandering round the landscape). Even if you hadn't read the blurb you'd know already that this book is going to be full to the brim with fun, mysteries and oddities. Add to that a large, welcoming typescript and some very funny illustrations, and you have a book that both boys and girls will want to settle down and read.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857075373</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Sally Prue
|title=Song Hunter
|rating=5
|genre=Teens
|summary=A new Ice Age is coming. Winters are getting colder. There are fewer mammoths to hunt and no trees from which to fashion spears to kill them. A small group of Neanderthals is facing starvation this winter. One of them, Mica, is full of ideas to avert the impending doom, but the others simply won't listen to her. If something has never been before then it is ''nothing'' and simply not worth thinking about. Even Bear, who loves Mica, won't hear her. One night, Mica hears strange voices calling in the darkness. They fill her with a deep sense of longing. But to whom do these siren voices belong? And do they hold the key to Mica's future?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0192757113</amazonuk>
}}
