Newest Confident Readers Reviews
The Land of Stories: Worlds Collide by Chris Colfer
Finally, after much anticipation, the grand finale to the best-selling Land of Stories is here. The previous book The Land of Stories: An Author's Odyssey left us dangling on an almighty cliffhanger, as well as leaving many plot threads unresolved. We have been with the Bailey twins from the very beginning; seen them grow and mature from awkward pre-teens to confident young adults. Orson Welles famously said: If you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your story. Is the fact that the book begins with this quote an ominous warning that the Bailey twins may not get their 'happily ever after' after all? Full review...
Tales from India by Bali Rai
Fairy stories, folk tales and fables are a rite of passage for an inquiring mind. They open the door to enchantment, magic and moral lessons. Many European collections exist, some of the most notable being that of Aesop, Hans Christian Andersen, the Brothers Grimm, Andrew Lang and Perrault. Tales can also originate from exotic climes. An endless source of delight for me as a child was my great grandmother's much cherished copy of The Arabian Nights. Full of mystery, imagination and charm, it communicated to me the power of storytelling and transported me to different worlds. This is what Bali Rai aims to do for young readers with his latest offering. Inspired by the collected tales of the C19th Sydney-born English folklorist Joseph Jacob, Rai has lovingly created a tribute to the traditional stories of India. Full review...
The Red Ribbon by Lucy Adlington
Ella is rushing to her audition for a job in fashion, as are several other young women. Thrown in at the deep end in the high-pressure workplace, she is tasked with creating a dress from scratch for an important client before four pm that day. But she manages it, even working through the non-existent lunch break, to design a silk wonder worthy of any environment. But this is no typical make-or-break-'em fashion design house, and this is no normal environment for the recipient to be wearing the frock. This is Birchwood – or Auschwitz-Birkenau to you and I. Full review...
The Wizards of Once by Cressida Cowell
Xar and Wish only meet because they are both where they are not supposed to be. Xar is an impetuous young wizard keen to prove his magical prowess. Wish is a young warrior desperate to demonstrate her worth. They live in a world in which Iron vanquishes Magic - and the Magic of the witches is pretty evil stuff. Thankfully, the warriors have used Iron to keep the witches at bay. And now, they are turning their attention to the wizards. But what if not all Magic is bad? What if the witches are a threat to warrior and wizard alike? What then? Full review...
Pug-a-Doodle-Do! by Philip Reeve and Sarah McIntyre
I was reading a book so utterly different to this the other day, it has to bear mention. It was an exceedingly academic book about graphic novels and comics for the YA audience, and it featured an essay picking up on the way books like the fill-in-bits-yourself entries in the Wimpy Kid and Dork Diaries series (such as this one) let you interact with the franchise, and also to create your own content. There was some weird high-falutin' academic language to describe such books – but you know what? I say (redacted) to that – let's just hang it and have fun. And this book, spinning off from the four books this partnership has so far been responsible for, is certainly a provider of that. Full review...
Life on Earth: Dinosaurs: With 100 Questions and 70 Lift-flaps! by Heather Alexander and Andres Lozano
I was a big fan of dinosaurs when I was a nipper. Since then the science regarding them has evolved leaps and bounds. We've got in touch with them perhaps being feathered, and have assumed colours and noises they made – we can even extrapolate from their remains what their eyesight, hearing and so much more may have been like. But science will never stop, and the next generation will need to be on board with the job of discovering them, analysing them, and presenting them to a world that never seems to get enough of the nasty, superlative beasties of Hollywood renown. As you're the kind of person to ask questions, you may well ask 'how do you get that next generation ready for their place in the field and in the laboratory?' I would put this as the answer – even if it is made itself of a hundred questions. Full review...
Life on Earth: Jungle: With 100 Questions and 70 Lift-flaps! by Heather Alexander and Andres Lozano
We're constantly being asked to save something. Save the hedgerows, save the elephant, save our seas. There's absolutely nothing wrong with any of those goals – some of them are larger than the others, and more demanding, but they are all worthy. But seeing as it's (a) the largest land feature we need to save, and (b) it's the most worthwhile to save, why not just go for the jugular – and try and save the Amazonian rainforest? Forget jugular, you'll be saving the jaguar; you'll be protecting the source of a lot of our food, spices and medicines – and when did a hedgerow near you have almost fifty different species of ant on a singular tree? The first step to saving anything is to understand it, to let us appreciate it, and this primer is how we get in touch with what's important about jungles so we can deem them worthwhile. Full review...
The Pongwiffy Stories 1: A Witch of Dirty Habits and The Goblins' Revenge by Kaye Umansky
Meet Pongwiffy. She must be the smelliest, ugliest, most slurpy, non-house-cleaning and all-round disgusting witch out there. She's forced to live alongside the noisiest, most stupid Goblins around, and it's with great reluctance that anyone ever comes to visit – and when they do they get acclaimed as her best friend. And she doesn't even have a familiar, either. She is a hopeless person. But when said 'best friend' forces her to advertise for a familiar, nobody could expect what turns up… Full review...
The Boy With One Name by J R Wallis
Jones is the boy with one name, snatched as an infant from his loving parents by a Badlander called Maitland, he only longs to be a normal boy and have his family back. One night, he and Maitland are on patrol and come across an ogre 'moon-bathing.' Things don't go quite to plan; enter: Ruby, a foster child on the run, who is desperate to be part of the Badlander's world, despite its dangers and terrors. Along with a talking gun, a miniature fire breathing black dog, an old camper van, and a hefty sprinkling of magic – you're sure to be taken on one hell of a ride. Full review...
Dominic by William Steig
Meet Dominic – a character that the text very belatedly gets round to telling us is a dog. He is in a nice place with nice friends, but is seeking something – his destiny, his calling, his adventure. And so, when he's been shown the right path for excitement by a witch-alligator, and once he's been gifted a spear by a catfish, he can go off and see what he can find. That turns out to be a major fortune, which seems to be a little bit too much of a burden – particularly when, no matter what Dominic does, the nastiness that is the Doomsday Gang can always sniff him out… Full review...
Here Come the Superheroes by Neal Zetter and Chris White
I'm quite sure you're well aware of the spate of superhero movies doing the rounds these days, with any and every star of the comics page seemingly on the big screen – and the small. They're everywhere, and their numbers are only growing. But here is a unique chance to meet a few more – Mega Slug, Micro Girl, Magnetic Me, Sister Speed – even one calling himself the Ultimate Superhero. But we're not meeting them in a well-established comic universe, or with some horrid and convoluted back story. No, we're being introduced to them all in the format of verse – and for the young superhero and/or poetry fan this clearly has an instant appeal. Full review...
Where is Grandma? by Peter Schossow
Meet Henry. He's a young lad being taken by a nanny to hospital to check up on his grandma, who's in having had an accident. It's a shame, then, that said nanny is so busy yacking into her phone to look after him, for he ends up going off on his own adventure to find his gran. And what an adventure – babies being born, people with stomach problems, chemo, beans stuck up their nose… all life is here in this hospital, and both that and the lad's mishap are clearly and very pleasantly conveyed. Full review...
Iggy Peck's Big Project Book for Amazing Architects by Andrea Beaty and David Roberts
Out of all the things I wanted to be as a child, an architect was not one of them. Which is a shame, perhaps – I might have had a few Prince Charles-friendly ideas under my belt, and even if I hadn't exactly progressed at that I might have been more at ease at those stupid team-bonding 'build-a-this-or-that' exercises you are sometimes forced to undergo as an adult. I never knew I would ever hold any importance in my ability to draw buildings, conceptualise towns and create model structures of my own creations – partly because I knew I had no ability. But for the likes of Iggy Peck, the whole idea is never in doubt – he spends his entire time thinking of buildings and how to improve on the ones he knows. And so, for the duration of your engagement with these pages, will you. Full review...
The Warrior in the Mist by Ruth Eastham
Fracking is a big issue in some parts of the country, particularly in the north, and for Aidan, it means not only the destruction of the countryside he loves but a huge change in his life. Once they start blasting, his dad will lose his job caring for a rich landowner's horses, and he and Aidan will have to leave their home and their friends to live seventeen floors up in a tower block. But despite the protesters' determined efforts the blasting is going ahead, and there is only one small, faint hope – find the tomb of the warrior queen Boudicca, reputedly slaughtered nearby by the Romans in AD 61, so the area can be declared a World Heritage Site. Full review...
Do You Speak Chocolate? by Cas Lester
When a new girl arrives at Jaz's school she is delighted and warms to her immediately. The only problem is that Nadima does not speak any English at all. However Jaz is the type of girl who is not going to let this get in her way and in her typical straightforward manner determines to make sure that this friendship blossoms. Initially this appears to have worked and the girls bond through a shared love of music, movies and food, especially chocolate! But then difficulties, misunderstandings and past traumas get in the way and Jaz struggles to cope with the consequences. Full review...
Storm Cloud by Jenny Oldfield
Kami Miller was invited to stay at Wolf Ridge Farm, the home of her best friend Macy Lucas, for the summer. They were both going to be working as real cowgirls and there was a herd of 300 cows to be brought back from the mountains to the ranch. It wasn't going to be easy work, particularly as Macy's father was recovering from an accident and couldn't ride. All the pressure of running the ranch has fallen on Macy's brother, Wes - and he's not coping well. Kami's upset that he's taking it out on one of the young colts, Storm Cloud, but what can she do about it? Full review...
Vlad the World's Worst Vampire by Anna Wilson and Kathryn Durst
Meet Vlad. He's a vampire. You know the type, the characters that live practically the opposite to us – at night and not by day, in the dark and not the light, drinking fresh blood as opposed to making black pudding out of it first. But Vlad is not like one of those, for he can't fly, can't remember his roots that his family are teaching him, and can't turn into a bat. He also – shock, horror – is interested in the world of the humans, having turned away from monster stories that give him daymares and found a novel about human school life. This, then, is the drama that unfolds when he does break away from the spooky nocturnal world even he finds scary, and takes himself and his pet bat off to the world of the human child. Full review...
The Matilda Effect by Ellie Irving
When you're wronged, and you know you've been wronged, it's the worst feeling in the world. When someone takes credit for something you have done, claiming a prize that is rightfully yours, it's a horrible, horrible injustice, and that's the same whether it's a Nobel Prize or simply the blue ribbon (and excessive amounts of dog food) given away at a school science fair. Now parents might tell you that life's not fair, you win some you lose some, or any of a number of clichés, but if your name is Matilda you just can't let it lie. And, when she finds out that her granny was side-lined for a much bigger award, for work she did 50 years ago, she makes it her mission to right the wrong and let the world know exactly what happened. Full review...
Sky Thieves by Dan Walker
Zoya Delarose never quite fitted in at the orphanage and she's about to learn why. Abducted at the end of a school trip, Zoya is knocked unconscious and wakes up in a creaking sky ship in the dead of night. She attempts to escape but when she's caught and brought in front of the ship's captain, Zoya discovers a history and a threat that will change her life forever. Full review...
High Spirits (Spirits 4) by Rob Keeley
Millions of people will die in the war, Ellie. And it's our job to make sure it happens. That's why our work isn't easy.
And if that's not ominous, I don't know what is.
It's been two years since Ellie's last adventure in the spirit world or talked to her friend, the ghost of Edward Fitzberranger. She has tried to do what Viewpoint asked her to do and live a normal, boring, human life. Mum is still working for the Journeyback historical re-enactment company but it looks as though her job won't last much longer. Money is tight and Mum, as ever, is stressed. Dad got compensation for his accident, so he is living the life of Riley. He's eager to help out but Mum won't hear of it. And Ellie has a romantic interest in Luke. All in all, things could be better but they could also be worse. No more spirits. No more corrupting of timelines. Full review...
Libby in the Middle by Gwyneth Rees
Twelve-year-old Libby has an older sister, Bella. Bella used to be a real confidante to Libby but things have changed since she got a boyfriend. Now, Bella makes Libby feel childish, foolish and unwanted. The close friendship they had shared has gone and Libby worries that it will never come back. Libby also has a younger sister, Grace. Grace is lovely but it seems to Libby that Grace, as the baby of the family, commands all the parental love and attention. Libby is well and truly stuck in the middle, without a role of her own. Full review...
Wilfred and Olbert’s Totally Wild Chase by Stephan Lomp
Meet Wilfred and Osbert. They're not only the kind to completely flout the rules of the natural history explorer's club they belong to, but when they both spot an undiscovered butterfly together, they are the kind to fight tooth and claw to be the first to lay claim to it alone, and devil take the other one. What they don't know is that the drama that ensues when they're tailing this particular specimen will involve no end of peril – nearly drowning, almost being eaten by a lion, crashing a hot air balloon one of them just so happened to have in his pocket… This, then, is a fun and silly biology lesson – but that's only the best kind, surely? Full review...
Around the World in 80 Maps by Clare Hibbert
Maps – they're there to make sure you don't go wrong. They might portray one town, and the streets or the canals that feature in it, with proud city walls surrounding the place; they may convey the complex coast of a newly discovered island, or even in the case of Australia a whole continent; or they may just be coloured pink to show off what you consider to be your land. Either way, they have certainly progressed from the early days, getting more and more accurate on the whole, and portraying a more honest look at our world. But what can we learn from scanning back to when they were less informative and allowed you to go very wrong, when they had sea monsters and 'here be dragons', and just plain looked daft? This book is one of the more informative ways to find out the answer to that question. Full review...
Around the World in 80 Maps by Clare Hibbert
Maps – they're there to make sure you don't go wrong. They might portray one town, and the streets or the canals that feature in it, with proud city walls surrounding the place; they may convey the complex coast of a newly discovered island, or even in the case of Australia a whole continent; or they may just be coloured pink to show off what you consider to be your land. Either way, they have certainly progressed from the early days, getting more and more accurate on the whole, and portraying a more honest look at our world. But what can we learn from scanning back to when they were less informative and allowed you to go very wrong, when they had sea monsters and 'here be dragons', and just plain looked daft? This book is one of the more informative ways to find out the answer to that question. Full review...
Thornhill by Pam Smy
Perfect for fans of Neil Gaiman's Coraline, this story is haunting, mysterious and touching. Mary is a unique child; she's introverted and very talented, spending most of her time by herself creating her fantasies through making puppets. She is being severely bullied, but her bully has gone further than most. She torments her, haunts her steps and takes every opportunity to make Mary's life a living hell. Too scared to sleep, too uncomfortable to eat with others, Mary has become an isolated mute stuck in her room at Thornhill. Full review...
Dragon Rider: The Griffin's Feather by Cornelia Funke
The last Pegasus on Earth has three eggs but unfortunately Pegasus eggs need their mother's saliva to allow them to magically grow and their mother died recently. Despite growing increasingly transparent the eggs are harder than diamond and before too long they will become a tomb for the winged horses inside. Our plucky adventurers have to seek out a special feather from potentially the most dangerous creature on the planet, a griffin. That is if griffins even exist! A gorgeous and loving book that just oozes empathy and care for all of nature. This is an utterly brilliant adventure that gripped me from the start and if I was 10 years old this would be one of the most wonderful adventures I could go on. Full review...
Time Atlas: An Interactive Timeline of History by Robert Hegarty and Marcelo Badari
While it's always useful for a child to have access to an atlas, so they know where they are and what there is in every other location, it's equally important that they know when they are, and what has happened at any other place in time. That's the ethos behind this Time Atlas, which only has a few spreads, but takes us right back to prehistory, through the birth of civilisation, and up to today – as well as asking a few questions of what might happen in the future. It is, after all, vital we know not only where we are, but where we may be going… Full review...
Fighting Fantasy: The Port of Peril by Ian Livingstone
As I promised I would when I looked back at the beginning of the 35 year history of Fighting Fantasy gamebooks (here), I took to the brand-new-for-2017 volume with my pen, mapping paper, and most importantly, dice. For the first time in a long, long time, I would not read a book for review. I would play it. And so, armed with healthy stamina, reasonable luck but frankly embarrassing skill, I set off. This is the report of that journey – as well as hopefully being the usual useful book review. Full review...
