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{{newreview
|author=Amanda Taylor
|title=The Chinaman's Bastard
|rating=3
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=I found the title of the book excellent and I was keen to find out more. The blurb on the back cover does its job - until the last bit, which becomes a bit irritating. It claims the book 'is very captivating'. Well, to be brutally honest, it's either captivating or it's not. The word 'very' is not needed. And sadly, no, I didn't find the book captivating at all.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1843865440</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=David Ovason
|summary=The Scallywags, for those who do not know, are a bunch of wolves who in their [[The Scallywags by David Melling|previous escapade]] had to learn a few manners in order to get along with the other animals. This time they're taking part in a play, a fairy tale story along with the other animals, and the wolves are playing the part of the dragon. Of course, things are destined to go badly and inside the dragon costume their tempers begin to fray until finally, as the costume rips, the wolves are sent home in disgrace. On the way home they all start blaming each other until they see, quite by surprise, that waiting by their house is a little sheep...
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0340988150</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Kaye Umansky and Korky Paul
|title=Dodo Doo Doo
|rating=4.5
|genre=For Sharing
|summary=We're big fans of the Winnie the Witch stories in this house, so we were very interested to see this new book with the same illustrator, [[:Category:Korky Paul|Korky Paul]]. He's teamed up here with [[:Category:Kaye Umansky|Kaye Umansky]], who I already like from reading her stories for slightly older children, so we sat, eager with anticipation, to see what sort of story they'd come up with...
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0340950579</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Mwenye Hadithi and Adrienne Kennaway
|title=Running Rhino
|rating=3.5
|genre=For Sharing
|summary=Rhino runs everywhere. And as he runs, he leaves a wake of devastation in his path. The other animals are fed up of this rampant running and so Lion confronts him, telling him he must stop. Rhino refuses and challenges anyone to try and stop him. Out of all the animals it is little Tickbird who takes up his challenge, with interesting results!
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0340989378</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Victoria L Thompson and Ben The Illustrator
|title=Midnight Mischief
|rating=3.5
|genre=For Sharing
|summary=James is fast asleep, when his bear wakes him up and points him in the direction of an astronaut coming alive from one of his posters. James is suddenly whisked away on a trip into deep space, because aliens have stolen Pluto and are using it as a football. Will James be able to save the day or will he fall foul of those pesky aliens?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0956565107</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Lucinda Riley
|title=Hothouse Flower
|rating=4
|genre=Women's Fiction
|summary=In the London Season of 1939 Olivia met the Honourable Harry Crawford, heir to the Wharton country estate in Norfolk and he seemed like the perfect catch. It looked even better when his mother invited her to spend the summer at the estate and before long they were married. There were problems even before Harry went to fight in the Far East, but Olivia was determined that the marriage would work.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0141049375</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Georgie Adams
|title=The Railway Rabbits: Berry Goes to Winterland
|rating=4.5
|genre=For Sharing
|summary=In this story, the young rabbits are very excited when they see snow for the first time. They have great fun sliding, building snow rabbits and falling over. When it is time to go home though, they realise that Berry has disappeared and before long, a search party is set up.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444001574</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Giulio Leoni and Shaun Whiteside
|title=The Kingdom of Light
|rating=3
|genre=Crime (Historical)
|summary=Famous poet Dante is at present the prior of Florence, which gives him responsibility for investigating crime. Several murders occur in quick succession - there must be a connection… but how, why? I approached this book with excitement. The underlying premise seemed to be interesting - take a famous character and place them in situations unknown to us. The portents were good! (Can you feel, a ''but''?)
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099516462</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Colin Bateman
|title=SOS Adventure: Fire Storm
|rating=4
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=This book opens with a breath-taking chase as a young local boy, Joe, flees the bandits who have just murdered his father; they intend to kill him too so they can take over the land owned by his village. The plight of the Joe and the villagers, who have to choose between keeping their land and risking death, or selling it for a few dollars, continues as a theme right through the book and provides a nice counterpoint to the exploits of Michael and Katya.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0340998873</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Elfriede Jelinek
|title=The Piano Teacher
|rating=4
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=Erika is a single woman in her thirties, who, despite the best efforts of her mother, did not succeed as a concert musician, but instead works as a teacher at the Vienna Conservatory. I say best efforts, I mean outright pressure. Erika and her mother make for an unusual relationship - the older relying on the glory, company and complete obedience of the younger, the daughter sharing a bed with her mother even at this stage of her life. All this is until a young student at the school decides he will be a younger lover for Erika, and forces his will into the household. But who, should such a relationship actually form, is going to be the power-maker?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846687373</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Maria Angels Anglada
|title=The Auschwitz Violin
|rating=4
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=In Poland in the early 1990s, a violin sings. The maestro who owns it produces such a music from it, people are forced to take note. They'd be even more amazed if she could bring herself to state exactly how the instrument came to be. For this was the work of Daniel, suffering in a subsidiary camp to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Stumbles, chances, half-lies, all conspire to allow Daniel to take time off his enforced labour and engage in his real-world career. But is there a price to pay in doing something you love, just for a man you can only hate?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1849016437</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Rosamund Bartlett
|title=Tolstoy: A Russian Life
|rating=5
|genre=Biography
|summary=Count Lev Tolstoy came from a privileged family. He was born on 28 August 1828; unfailingly superstitious for the rest of his days, he therefore adopted 28 as his lucky number. Like most young men from a similar background, he joined the Russian army. The Crimean war proved to be the making of him in that it developed his social conscience, opened his eyes to the conditions endured by those born to a less lofty position in the social order than himself, and impressed on him the fervent belief that everybody in Russia ought to have the chance to learn to read and write. As a result he became a born-again repentant nobleman in the light of having seen how the other half (or more than half) lived, he took a long hard look at the world around him, turning into a rebel against organized religion and the authority of the state in the process. All this was exacerbated by his travels throughout Europe shortly afterwards, in which he was impressed with the comparative freedom he saw in other countries and then found the return to his homeland thoroughly depressing in the few years before the emancipation of the serfs.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846681383</amazonuk>
}}