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...
The Starman and Me by Sharon Cohen
He wasn't an alien, I was sure of that. It was more like he'd walked in through an ancient door from the past... except he was here, in my bedroom and his misty forest was somewhere real on Planet Earth.
Twelve-year-old Kofi thought he was seeing things when he spied a tiny human on a roundabout near to his house. But he wasn't. Rorty Thrutch is as real as you or me. But how did Rorty come to be hiding out in the middle of a roundabout in Bradborough? And why is he so insistent that he'll soon be bad dead? Full review...
Eye Spy II by Tessa Buckley
Fresh from the success of solving its first case, Eye Spy Investigations is certainly up for another. So twins Alex and Donna jump at the chance to investigate the strange things happening at the Priory, home to school friend Jimmy Devlin. Alex doesn't believe in ghosts and he is very keen to persuade Donna that they don't exist. Full review...
Escape from Planet Bogey (Pet Defenders) by Gareth P Jones and Steve May
Mitzy the cat and Biskit the dog are Pet Defenders – perhaps some of the creatures best suited to defend the planet from alien invasion, seeing as they have inbuilt animal instincts, and live alongside some of the strangest critters out there, in mankind. But when they're thinking life is too quiet, only for a rat to come along with a tale of being enveloped in snot and taken to a different corner of the universe entirely, they're only too keen to investigate. That's especially true of Biskit, when he learns that the adventure may allow him clues to solve the disappearance of his previous partner… Full review...
Detective Nosegoode and the Music Box Mystery (Detective Nosegoode 1) by Marian Orlon, Jerzy Flisak and Eliza Marciniak (translator)
The lovely village of Lower Limewood is coming awake as it usually does, and people are happily going about their business. Business for the stately, well-known but happily retired Detective Nosegoode is merely idling his time on a park bench reading the newspapers to his dog – a dog that can talk to him in human language, if not read. But not all people welcome the new day with joy – a clockmaker, who had been working for a week now at repairing a music box with a porcelain dancer on top and a clockwork mechanism, finds it – and only it – has been stolen from his business. It's only a step to find the owner was under the illusion it was a clue to some long-lost treasure, but who could have burgled the workshop and taken it? And what place to play in the mystery does a strange man have, what with his avidly watching the Detective from behind a giant and clearly fake beard? Full review...
A Storm of Strawberries by Jo Cotterill
Darby lives on a strawberry farm with her mum, big sister, step dad and step brother. She loves music, dancing, chocolate egg hunts and her big sister Kaydee. She is warm and funny, and she has Down's syndrome. The story looks at the events of one weekend in Darby's life when the farm is threatened by a tornado, and her family is threatened by the revelation of a closely-guarded secret. Full review...
Piggy Handsome: Guinea Pig Destined for Stardom! by Pip Jones and Adam Stower
Meet Piggy Handsome. He is a very bequiffed guinea pig, and he is frustrated that everyone in his long line of Handsome guinea pigs has become famous for something, except him. Annoyed that he has not even got his face in the local newspaper, he has complained to his friend Jeffry the Budgie more than once. But on this day, Jeff has a chance to solve the issue and get some peace and quiet for himself – there is a chip eating contest in town. But can Piggy get there in time, can he down a bowl of chips quickly enough to win, and what about the pair of idiot thieves that also have something on their mind? Full review...
Captain Firebeard's School for Pirates: The Sneaky Sweet Stealer by Chae Strathie and Anna Chernyshova
The Rusty Barnacle is set to sail again, with a second term for the wannabe pirates and their teachers and crew. Tommy, despite being late, is the keenest pupil there – after all, he has great friends, enemies he can easily vanquish, and a very good novice parrot for company. But everyone on board has reason for concern when they set sail – the prize sweets from the tuck shop are going missing in great quantities. Who could possibly be behind this mystery? Full review...
The Valentine's Day Kitten by Cathy Hopkins
Marcie is distraught. On Valentine's Day last year she'd didn't receive a single card and her parents could see that she was upset, so when she came home from school there was a box on the kitchen table and in it was the most gorgeous fluffy silver kitten. Misty and Marcie were soon inseparable until the day that Misty went out without a collar on - and didn't come home. Marcie blamed herself: Misty's collar had broken and she'd never got round to buying a new one. Mum has put notices up everywhere she can think of and rung the local vets and animal rescue centres, but there's no sign of Misty. Then Marcie starts having dreams, about a boy, a hotel, a painting - and Misty. Will there be a happy ending? Full review...
Darkmouth: Hero Rising by Shane Hegarty
Things seem as bad as they can get for Finn, trainee Hunter of all those nasty things that keep trying to get through to our world from the Infested Side. His dad has been sacked, leaving him practically alone to face the baddies, both monstrous and human, he has no weapons or back-up apart from his friend Emmie, and the family has even been kicked out of the house they've lived in for generations. Of course, in the way of the best stories, you only have to hint that things couldn't get worse for them to do exactly that. And any beastie that's got all the monsters from the other dimension scared is not going to be a doddle to fight. Far, far from it. Full review...
Stunt Double by Tamsin Cooke
Finn wants to be actor but, when his first ever lines in a film are cut, he's happy to settle for stunt-double. He has all the skills for this demanding role: he's a natural dare devil with a karate black-belt (almost). The only downside is the person Finn has to double for: Finn and teen-star Blake have history and a relationship of mutual hatred. Pretty soon, however, this is the least of Finn's worries. The eccentric film director, Novak, pushes him to the limits with increasingly dangerous stunts, manipulating Finn into doing the stunts without safety gear. But that seems tame when they transfer to film on location in a remote part of Papua New Guinea and Finn discovers what Novak really has planned for him. Full review...
My Burptastic Body Book (Dirty Bertie) by David Roberts and Alan MacDonald
Oh, to be young and innocent, and to be full of questions. Questions like 'is eating my bogies good for me', or 'why is poo brown', or 'what makes sweat smell'. You don't have to be a kid like Dirty Bertie to want to know the answers – respectively, no; it's down to dead bacteria; and it doesn't – it's other bacteria again. If you think you have a lad (or, let's face it, a lass) interested in learning such stuff, this book could well be the place to turn. Full review...
Funny Kid for President by Matt Stanton
Max Walburt has a real problem with his teacher and nothing seems to make it better. Running for class president seems like a good way out of his problems but inevitably it doesn't run smoothly. Full review...
Kid Normal by Greg James and Chris Smith
Murph Cooper is fed up. He and his mum have moved house. Again. This means another new home to get used to. This means another new school to get used to. This means another set of friends left behind. And if that weren't enough, this time he doesn't even have a new school to go to. Everywhere is full. Eventually, a place is found - at The School, a strange place hidden away in a back street. The School is a school unlike any other. It caters for children with superpowers. But Murph doesn't have any superpowers and is soon consigned to the socially undesirable super zeroes gang. The kids with superpowers are not kind to the super zeroes... Full review...
Minecraft: The Island by Max Brooks
Max Brooks perfectly captures the experience of playing Minecraft without instructions or assistance from the random punching stage through to building towers that touch the sky. Just as schools around the world are using Minecraft to teach computer science and other skills Brooks uses his novel to demonstrate how valuable life lessons can be learned from this online phenomena. Full review...
The Demon Headmaster: Total Control by Gillian Cross
Lizzie and her younger brother Tyler aren't looking forward to returning to Hazelbrook Academy. However, when they arrive, they find everything has changed. And it's not for the better. Every pupil is now perfectly behaved and suddenly everyone seems to have a special talent. Even the teachers are acting strangely. And, if that isn't enough, Lizzie inexplicably finds herself throwing food around the canteen and being accused of vandalising the school. Lizzie is determined to find out what has caused the sudden change in everyone's behaviour but it's hard because no one seems to be able to talk about what's going on. It's almost as if the Hazelbrook students are no longer able to think and act for themselves. Could it, perhaps, be something to do with the mysterious new headmaster? Full review...
The Last Duchess: a Silver Service Mystery by Laura Powell
Being a Lady's maid doesn't sound like a whole lot of fun. Don't read novels, which will make you dissatisfied with your condition. Be observant and cheerful at all times, and grateful for the benefits you receive from your employment - however difficult it may seem, it is, after all, far better than living in poverty on the streets. And never express your own opinion, even if your mistress asks for it. These are the rules (among many, many others) used to train girls at Mrs Minchin's Academy of Domestic Servitude. There are no rules for what goes on in the privacy of your own head, however, and Pattern, generally considered the Academy's most gifted student, has plenty of opinions which, if she said them aloud, would cause her teachers to faint in genteel horror. Full review...
National Trust: Complete Night Explorer's Kit by Robyn Swift and Sara Lynn Cramb
There is a misfortune to the modern world, in that we have killed off a common hobby from when I was a lad. Nowadays light pollution is so awful it's certainly not uncommon for people to hardly see any of the stars and to get to learn the constellations, and while I only went out to go 'meteor hunting', it's patently obvious that the chance to lie down and stargaze is a dying one. Elsewhere the nocturnal youth can struggle to have much opportunity to explore the night-time nature as this book suggests – it begins with setting up a tent in your back garden, and too many don't even get that chance, for want of possession of one. Yes, if this book is only read once in the daytime and never referred to again, due to lack of opportunity, it really will be a crying shame. Full review...
The World's Worst Children 2 by David Walliams and Tony Ross
I sometimes wonder if David Walliams gets sick of the comparisons with Roald Dahl that he gets. It's such an easy comparison to make, however, because both wrote very funny, and yet really very dark stories for children. They don't shy away from the nastiness, and ugliness in life and instead face it head on, and flip it around, and make you laugh along the way. This is a rollercoaster ride through a wide range of truly dreadful children who range from being a fussy eater, to a spoiled brat, to Harry, who never, ever did his homework! Yes, their dark deeds vary in despicableness, and along with dreadfulness galore there are fabulous illustrations, a large variety of fonts, unusual page layouts and a Royal introduction from the Queen... Full review...
Stanley and the Magic Lamp (Flat Stanley) by Jeff Brown and Rob Biddulph
It was far too recently that I picked up Flat Stanley and met with a character now fifty years old for the first time, and found out how he got to be flat and what happened as a result. Bizarrely, however, despite the success of that first book it was twenty full years before the author picked up the pen to give Stanley this sequel. Or perhaps it's not such a surprise – without giving too much away, the character had met with a certain change at the end of book one, and therefore wasn't exactly ready for more of the same. Well, over the decades there have been six official books by Jeff Brown, and this was the first instance where I could find out for myself if I was ready for more of the same… Full review...
The Ethan I Was Before by Ali Standish
Ethan and his family are moving to a little town in Georgia from the big city of Boston in a last ditch attempt to help Ethan get over the loss of best friend Kacey. And the move does give Ethan a great deal else to think about. There's living in Grandpa Ike's dilapidated old house and the uncommunicative Grandpa Ike himself. There's a new school with a new pecking order to navigate. There's a new friend in Coralee, who has a great line in tall stories and who likes adventures almost as much as Kacey did. But it's hard to leave grief behind, especially when you feel as guilty as Ethan does... Full review...
National Trust: Go Wild in the Woods by Goldie Hawk and Rachael Saunders
I am a man who likes his creature comforts. Always have been, always will – and creature comforts don't involve snuggling down in a sleeping bag, however comfortable, to watch creatures, as far as I'm concerned. Luckily, however, many people are of another bent entirely – they find no problem in getting out and about, taking whatever weather and wildlife can throw at them, and spending time out of doors for the hell of it. This book is the first stage to that, and needs to be read in full before you step out your front door. And even if it's your only stage, it will still be pleasantly educational… Full review...
Free Lance and the Lake of Skulls by Paul Stewart and Chris Ridddell
Our hero is a free lance – one of the traditional self-employed men, going round the country, jousting when he can, doing fantastical errands when they come up, all with no fixed employer. But the lack of fixed income hits home at times. And at those times, those fantastical errands, however nightmarish they can clearly be, get to be all the more appealing… Full review...
The Ghost in the Bath by Jeremy Strong and Scoular Anderson
Luke has got problems – and just about every school subject qualifies as one at the moment. But none of those are a bigger problem than history – he's been tasked with a research-heavy project for homework, but has no idea. So when he is having a brainstorm in a bath and is interrupted by a ghost, of all things, it might just be the way for him to be connected with the past. But that's ignoring the fact that the girl left as a ghost might be wanting a connection of her own – and perhaps an end to an unusual problem she herself has… Full review...
The Story of the Car by Giles Chapman and Us Now
Dinosaurs… farm machinery… science fiction… trains… cars. I can't think of many other subjects that inspired the young me to have a full non-fiction book about them on my juvenile shelves. Most of course I lost interest in with maturity. But the young child these days won't be much different, for good or bad, and so they will like as not want a book about broom-brooms for the shelf. And this is pretty much the go-to volume for such an interest. Full review...