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Walls by Emma FischelWhen Ned's parents decide they can no longer stay together they come up with what they think is an ingenious plan, which is to divide their house in two, so that there will be a mum side and a dad side, and the children can spend a week on either side at a time. Whilst his parents hope this will be less disruptive, Ned is incensed by the walls that spoil his beautiful home and stop him from moving through the house as he used to. The walls make him angry, and that anger grows and grows until one day, Ned suddenly discovers that the walls are no longer important because he can walk through them! Full Review |
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Kat Wolfe Investigates (Kat Wolfe 1) by Lauren St JohnKat Wolfe lives with her mum, a vet, in London and following a break-in they decide that the time has come to move out of the city. Kat, a confirmed animal lover, is delighted when her mum accepts the offer of a job on the idyllic Dorset coast as the job comes with one special condition. They must agree to adopt the previous owner's cat. However this presents a problem that Kat had not foreseen for the cat is a wild Savannah who resists all Kat's attempts to sooth and tame him. Furthermore when she starts a pet-sitting agency to make pocket money Kat's problems mount up. The owner of her first charge disappears leaving a series of mysterious clues behind him. What started out as a promising escape from city life quickly escalates into a mystery that deepens and becomes steadily more dangerous. Luckily Kat has her new friend Harper to support and help her. Although Harper is laid up with two broken legs thanks to a horse riding accident she is not about to let that stop her getting involved. Harper is a language and coding whizz and she and Kat are determined solve the clues and make people listen to them. Even if they can't do that by themselves they know that they have their animal friends to help. Can the team work together to save the day? Full Review |
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The Silver Hand by Terry DearyAimee like languages. She's particularly keen on Latin and enjoys a sparring session or two with her teacher. Aimee would like nothing better than to have her head stuck in a book all day every day. But that's not possible when it's 1918 and you live in the town of Bray - captured and recaptured by the Germans and the British during WWI. The Germans are advancing and Aimee's mother decides it's finally time to tell her daughter that she is part of a secret spy ring, helping the British. Aimee is desperate to help. And help she does, soon uncovering a traitor in the British camp. Full Review |
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The Sand Dog by Sarah LeanGrandfather had been gone for two years but I never thought it would be an ordinary day he'd come back, like a Monday or a Tuesday... I always knew he'd return across the water, triumphing over a few monsters on the way, I just didn't known when. Azi lives on a Mediterranean island. Since his grandfather left, he has been living with his irascible uncle who owns a busy tourist restaurant. Azi helps out as much as he can and he goes to school and works hard at his lessons. But he isn't really interested in Uncle's restaurant or playing with his classmates. Azi is interested in two things: the sea, and the return of Grandfather. Full Review |
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The Colour of the Sun by David AlmondThis book... explores what excites and mystifies me about the nature of being young, and dramatises the joys and excitements of growing up. And I guess it embodies my constant astonishment at being alive in this beautiful, weird, extraordinary world. This is what David Almond says about his latest novel for young people, The Colour of the Sun. And, having now read it, I see what he is saying so clearly. This is a story of being young - both older than you used to enjoy being and younger than you aspire to be. And it's a story of finding strangeness in ordinary things. Full Review |
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The Company of Eight by Harriet WhitehornFourteen-year-old orphan Cass lives in the Magical District, but as she hasn't the slightest ability in that direction she doesn't exactly fit in. She takes after her dad, and she hopes desperately that she'll pass the upcoming auditions for acrobats and join the Circus Boat as it tours to give performances on all the islands of the Longest World. Her guardian Mrs Potts, however, does not approve: her hope that Cass will demonstrate magical abilities like her mother's (and make Mrs Potts very rich) has been disappointed so she is determined her ward will take on a sedate, genteel job instead: governess, maybe, or draper's model. So poor Cass is reduced to practising her routines in secret, using an old book her father left her. Full Review |
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Humanatomy: How the Body Works by Nicola Edwards and Jem MaybankGet under your own skin, pick your brains, and go inside your insides! That's what Humanatomy invites you to do and honestly, I don't see how you could resist. This informative book provides a wonderful primer about the human body to curious children- from the skeletal system to the muscular system via circulation, respiration and digestion, right up to the DNA that makes who we are. Full Review |
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Spirit by Sally ChristieMatt Barker has seen something strange. Something extraordinary that no one would normally see. That wouldn't usually matter but Matt accidently tells the rest of his class when they're playing the 'truth game' on the school bus. Now most of the class think he's either mad or a liar. To make matters worse, his classmate and new next-door neighbour, Jazzy O'Hanlon, believes him and she's determined to find a way to share his experience, even if that means losing her best friend. Full Review |
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Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker RhodesHow small I look. Laid out flat, my stomach touching ground. My right knee bent and my brand-new Nikes stained with blood. Danny was playing with a toy gun his friend Carlos had lent to him when he was shot by Officer Moore, who claims he was in fear for his life, that Danny, a five foot tall, twelve-year-old boy, was a threatening thug whose menace was such that Officer Moore had no choice but to reach for his gun and eliminate the threat. Full Review |
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How to Bee by Bren MacDibbleImagine a world without bees. Not just how nice it would be to eat jam sandwiches in the garden without having the little yellow and black torpedoes attacking you - really imagine it. No bees, no pollination. No pollination, no new plants. No new plants, no food. Simple. So, if those pesky chemicals we use kill off practically every bee in the world, humans will have to take over their work. Children, in fact, because you need small, nimble fingers to work those tiny feathers full of pollen into the flowers and turn them into delicious fruits. Full Review |
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The Chocolate Factory Ghost (The Dundoodle Mysteries) by David O'ConnellArchie McBudge is sitting in the of Honeystone Hall with his mother. And a lawyer called Mr Tatters has some important information for Archie. A great uncle he has never heard of has died and Archie is his sole heir. This means that Honeystone Hall now belongs to Archie. But that isn't all - this young boy is now sole owner of Scotland's premier sweets giant: McBudge's Fudge and Confectionery Company... Full Review |
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The House with Chicken Legs by Sophie AndersonMy house has chicken legs. Two or three times a year, without warning, it stands up in the middle of the night and walks away from where we've been living. Ok. I dare you to tell me that you don't want to read a story about a house with chicken legs. There is no way anyone could resist. I certainly couldn't! Marinka lives in this chicken-legged house with her grandmother, Baba Yaga, whose job it is to guide dead people through The Gate. But Marinka is lonely. The house, her grandmother and Marinka never stay anywhere long enough for Marinka to make any friends. And Marinka is determined to change this. But the chicken-legged house has its own agenda... Full Review |
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When the Mountains Roared by Jess ButterworthMy fingers come away deep red. My breath catches. Blood. I wipe my shaky hands on my trousers. There's a leopard out there, injured. And I have to find it before they do. Two months earlier, Ruby's dad had dropped a bombshell. They were moving from Australia to India, where her father had got a job at a hotel in the mountains. It was to be a new start and it would help both Ruby and her father get over the death of her mother. Ruby wasn't so sure about that and didn't get more optimistic on arrival - to find a rundown building full of scary corners in a place where the dark is really dark and the wildlife includes scorpions, bears and, well, you get the picture. Ruby has struggled since her mother died and it pretty much feels as though her father has brought her a place that makes everything worse... Full Review |
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Rory Branagan Detective by Andrew Clover and Ralph Lazar
Ten-year-old Rory Branagan isn't just a normal kid. He's a detective and he has a mystery to solve – why did his dad disappear when he was three? Rory doesn't know where to start but, then, Cassidy moves in next door and he discovers he has an accomplice who is full of ideas. This is just as well as they soon discover a very serious crime: Corner Boy's dad has been poisoned and is at risk of dying but no-one else will believe he's in danger. It's up to Rory and Cassidy to uncover the truth and save a life. Full Review |
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To the Edge of the World by Julia GreenJamie loves his new island home. He likes the school and he has even made some friends. But, with his history of being bullied, Jamie knows that he has some fears to conquer if he wants to follow his grandfather in the traditional island occupation of boat builder. His fear of the sea in particular. And this is what draws him to Mara, a strange, wild, independent girl who can handle a boat with aplomb. But Mara has her own demons and an approaching show down with the island authorities because of them...Full Review |
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The Catchers in Pirates, Thieves, Zombies and Magic by Stuart J KentMeet the Catchers – a mix of young and old, magical and human, smart and, er, less smart. It's their job to round up Fabulous Beasts, and right from the get-go they have a job on their hands in this, the second book to contain their adventures. Colin, the older and magical (if not completely smart) one, is tasked with a recovery mission by a friend who boasted about having a wonderful lion griffin, only for it to vanish. Well, wouldn't you, if you were a lion griffin called Muffin? Either way, we know the adventure is going to include more than that simple task implies, as the extended title of the book suggests, but is it any good? Is it rock bottom on the pile of juvenile fantasy reads, or does the combination of Pirates, Thieves, Zombies (both tame and wild) and Magic make this particular Muffin top? Full Review |
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Elise and the Second-hand Dog by Bjarne Reuter and Kirsten RaagaardWhilst Elise's mum is away in the Amazon, building a bridge, she and her father are struggling to get along in her absence. Elise begs her father for a dog, for company, and in the end he agrees, though the dog that they get is most definitely second-hand, rather ugly, and smelly and, remarkably, he talks! Full Review |
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The Seer's Curse by J J FaulksAlthough The Seer's Curse is billed as a pre-teen novel, I would say that it would appeal to a wide audience interested in fantasy and mythology, as well as just a good tale. Full Review |
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Max and the Millions by Ross MontgomeryTen year old Max likes being alone – it's easier than trying to cope with the feedback from his hearing aid when he's surrounded by loud noise or attempting to swivel his head fast enough to lip read when several people are speaking at once. However, when he discovers a civilisation of millions behind the door of the school janitor's room, Max has to learn to lead a team. Max finds a way to communicate with Luke, the tiny boy who's Prince (and almost King) of one of the three tribes now living on the floor of the caretaker's room. Supported by his roommate, Sasha, Max has to find a way to bring the three feuding tribes together and find a safe place for them to live before the school's Headteacher disposes of the little people for good. Full Review |
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The Children of Castle Rock by Natasha FarrantEleven year old Alice Mistlethwaite used to be brave and adventurous but after her mum died she withdrew into herself and started to live in her own world of stories. Unfortunately her dad is an actor and isn't around enough to help. Instead, Alice is shipped off to boarding school in the Scottish highlands. But she quickly finds that this isn't an entirely normal school – for example, the last student to arrive at the start of term is given the responsibility of waking the rest of the school every morning for the rest of term. Soon, however, the strange school curriculum becomes the least of Alice's worries. She receives a secret package from her dad with strict instructions not to open the parcel and a request to deliver it to a remote Scottish island. Will she be able to persuade her new friends to break school rules and help her deliver the mysterious parcel to her dad? Will she be able to resist opening it? Full Review |
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Planet Stan by Elaine Wickson and Chris JudgeStan is a space freak. He's nuts about it – to the extent of having too many embarrassing experiences in his rocket undies, but that's by the by. He's trying to win a telescope, and diligently do all his science-based homework, but one thing stands in the way. Space. Or, more precisely, the space he has to share with his incredibly snotty, annoying, dumb, messy little brother Fred. Stan has a project on the go, which is to get three helpers and enter a science fair, but Fred has also found something to concentrate his erratic mind on – the local museum is thinking of ditching its T-rex fossil for a huge light-up Earth in a new eco gallery. Fred almost thinks of Rory the T-rex as a pet, and is certainly more friendly to it than he is to Stan (when he's not colouring the poor thing's legs in with crayon, that is). Can Stan get something to take to school without bogies all over it, and will Fred get his way where Rory is concerned? Full Review |
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Night Speakers by Ali SparkesThree young people meet up in unusual circumstances to find that they all share a strange experience: waking at exactly 1.34am, the same time each night. Elena, Matt and Tima try to get back to sleep, but after a few days of broken sleep they are drawn outside into an adventure that tests their ingenuity to the limit. Together and completely sleep deprived, they decide to investigate this strange night waking phenomenon, and their searches take them to a different and scary world where inexplicable things are happening. Full Review |
