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{{newreview
|author=Michael Morpurgo and Emma Chichester Clark
|title=The Best of Times
|rating=4.5
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=Most children enjoy a good traditional tale and this lovely book by Michael Morpurgo seems to have all the right ingredients – a handsome prince and a beautiful princess who fall in love, get married and live happily ever after. Or do they? Sadly, not long after Prince Frederico marries the lovely Princess Serafina, she becomes very sad. Nobody knows what has caused such great sadness, but poor Prince Frederico is desperate to find a cure for his wife's misery. He tries everything in his power and eventually decides to offer his kingdom to anyone who can make her happy again before she dies of a broken heart. Lots of people come to the palace to try and help but in the end the solution is a simple one provided by some very kind travellers.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1405232552</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|summary=London 1601. Elizabeth I is getting on in years. Her capital city is a busy, bustling place. Boats fill the river and people fill the streets. Jack is happy because it's his birthday and his present is his heart's desire: an excitable black puppy named Max, who's a ''licking and a running and a leaping and a jumping and a tummy in the air and a tail wagging and a barking, racing, braking, spinning energy dog of delight''.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>140880042X</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Jean Ure
|title=Love and Kisses
|rating=4.5
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=Tamsin and Katie were just thirteen and worried that they were boring. They'd been best friends since forever and were the good girls. Neither missed school, skipped her homework nor had boyfriends. Well, that is, not so far. Up until then Tamsin had been the boffin head – consistently strong academically and looking forward to going on to university. All that seemed to change when she met Alex. Well, when I say 'met' I should perhaps clarify and say that Alex pushed his wheelbarrow into her, from the building site where he worked. Oh, and did I mention that he was seventeen, Polish and spoke very little English?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0007281722</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Henry Mintzberg
|title=Managing
|rating=5
|genre=Business and Finance
|summary=''Study after study has shown that managers work at an unrelenting pace''
How true, though it always makes me wonder why, as a result, there's such a market for bulky management and leadership and general business books like this one. How does anyone who needs or wants to read one ever find the time to do so? This title actually has an answer to this, by providing two books in one, and it is such a simple yet effective solution that I have to start there. You can read this book in one of two ways. Option one is to read every word, chapter by chapter, cover to cover. If you have the time I would recommend this approach because the book is very readable, not too repetitive, and quite thought-provoking.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0273709305</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Kathryn Fox
|title=Blood Born
|rating=4
|genre=Crime
|summary=To give support to a vulnerable gang-rape victim, forensic pathologist Anya Crichton offers to drive Giverny Hart to the courthouse on the day she is due to testify against the notorious Harbourn brothers. But when Anya arrives at the house she finds Giverny close to death and faces a battle against time to save her. In the panic, Anya fails to take note of an important clue which might help tell whether it really was suicide or a cleverly staged murder. Worse still, in trying to save the girl's life, Anya has interfered with a crime scene and the case falls apart. She blames herself for the Harbourn brothers being allowed to walk free and only hours later there is news of another attack. A pair of sisters have been stabbed and raped resulting in the death of one, while the other clings to life.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0340933097</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Leah Fleming
|title=Remembrance Day
|rating=4
|genre=Women's Fiction
|summary=In the year 2000 an old lady in a wheelchair watches the unveiling of the new war memorial in the village square. There's pride in what has been achieved, in the family who are gathered around her and there are memories too. Some are good but many are not.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847561039</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Neal Layton
|title=Surf's Up (Mammoth Academy)
|rating=3.5
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=Having successfully seen off the rather unpleasant humans in earlier volumes, our favourite junior mammoths Oscar and Arabella have nothing much else to do apart from return to Mammoth Academy for lots more double periods of Difficult Sums. They're supposed to be making presentations about what they did during the holidays too, but Oscar hasn't done any preparation and, frankly, he can't really remember what he actually did do with all that free time other than no Difficult Sums.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>034098967X</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Ursula Jones and Sarah Gibb
|title=The Princess Who Had No Kingdom
|rating=4
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=The princess who has no kingdom wanders around in a cart pulled by her horse Pretty. She's very polite, friendly, and kind-hearted, but she feels like something is lacking because she doesn't have a kingdom of her own. The other royals she meets treat her nicely enough, but there's always a feeling that she's not quite as good as them because she isn't the princess of anywhere.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846160421</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Mij Kelly and Louise Nisbet
|title=The Happiest Man in the World or the Mouse Who Made Christmas
|rating=4
|genre=For Sharing
|summary=Mouse doesn't like anyone and keeps herself to herself. Her things are her things and she is too selfish to share them with anyone else. One day, an old man moves in to Mouse's house. He used to be the happiest man in the world, but now he's sad. He's fed up of having given, given, given all his life and never got anything back. He just sits quietly and mopes. This makes Mouse miserable, so one day she decides to cheer him up by giving him a clementine...
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0340931558</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Nick Bland
|title=The Very Cranky Bear
|rating=4
|genre=For Sharing
|summary=Moose, Lion, Zebra and Sheep head into a cave to get out of the rain, but little do they know that Bear is fast asleep in there. When they wake him up, he roars at them, chasing them outside, so they decide to cheer him up somehow. Zebra paints stripes on him, Moose fashions antlers for him and Lion sticks a mane of straw on him. Unsurprisingly, this makes Bear even crankier, so it's down to Sheep to save the day...
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0340989424</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Kes Gray and Lee Wildish
|title=Mum and Dad Glue
|rating=4
|genre=For Sharing
|summary=A young boy's parents are splitting up. He's going through the usual emotions that children of divorce go through: worry, feeling unsure, blaming himself, anger, denial, and then trying to get them to stay together. His method for this isn't the usual response though: he looks for glue to stick his mum and dad together. Thankfully, he finds some wise and kindly advice in the process.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0340957107</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Clara Vulliamy
|title=The Bear With Sticky Paws Won't Go To Bed
|rating=4
|genre=For Sharing
|summary=It's Pearl's bedtime, but she says she's really busy and isn't going to sleep. She just wants to play and play and play. When the bear with sticky paws rings the doorbell, he whisks her away on an amazing adventure - although as you might expect, the bear has a little more energy than Pearl and eventually she does get a little sleepy.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1408300648</amazonuk>
}}