'''Read [[Features|new features]].'''
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{{newreview
|author=Ernest Cline
|title=Ready Player One
|rating=4.5
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=A short while ago, I stumbled across a highly enjoyable film called ''Fanboys'', about a bunch of ''Star Wars'' fans trying to break into George Lucas' mansion to get a sneak preview of the new film. I didn't pay much attention to the name of the writer, until I came across Ernest Cline's author bio in ''Ready Player One'' and realised it was written by the same person. This immediately gave me high hopes.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846059372</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Christina Courtenay
|summary=Carmen Bianchi plays the violin; in fact she might well be the best young violinist in the world. She plays a Stradivarius worth $1.2 million, provided by the grandparents who otherwise have little to do with her and she's managed by her mother, whose word is law. Schooling is provided by a home tutor – and she doesn't even get to knock on doors because of the possible damage to her hands: she kicks instead. So far she hasn't really minded that she doesn't have a life outside of violin, but then she meets Jeremy King – a fellow competitor in the world's most prestigious violin competition – and she has to think about her priorities.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857072846</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Eric Carle
|title=The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse
|rating=4.5
|genre=For Sharing
|summary=Eric Carle's latest story consists of just 50 words, 10 animal paintings and two pictures of the young artist at work. Simply, a child creates a series of vibrant paintings of animals in unusual, striking colours, including a blue horse, a green lion and a multi-coloured, polka-dotted donkey. My own favourite is the purple fox. The child says, I am a good artist.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0141340010</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Mick O'Hare
|title=Why Are Orangutans Orange?
|rating=3.5
|genre=Popular Science
|summary=Another year has passed, and once again we're treated to another offering from New Scientist's Last Word column. We've been here before, with [[Why Don't Penguins' Feet Freeze? by Mick O'Hare|Penguins]], [[Do Polar Bears Get Lonely? by Mick O'Hare|Polar Bears]], [[How To Make A Tornado by Mick O'Hare|Tornadoes]], [[Why Can't Elephants Jump? by Mick O'Hare|Elephants]] and [[How To Fossilise Your Hamster by Mick O'Hare|Hamsters]]. Now it's time for the orangutan to find out why he's orange.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846685079</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Mia James
|title=Darkness Falls
|rating=4
|genre=Teens
|summary=April's not had the best time of it lately. First her family up and moved her clear across the country and sent her to an exclusive college full of the smartest (and apparently most beautiful) kids in the country. Then, while April was struggling to fit in, she discovered Ravenwood school's terrible secret - it's run by vampires.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780620411</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Victoria Hislop
|title=The Thread
|rating=4
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=I read and enjoyed Hislop's 'The Island' so I was looking forward to reading this book. The Prologue is May 2007 and readers are treated to a vivid coastal description of the area which is to play such a big part in the novel. Lines such as 'With the lifting haze, Mount Olympus gradually emerged far away across the Thermaic Gulf and the restful blues of sea and sky shrugged off their pale shroud.'
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0755377737</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=David Borgenicht
|title=WCS Ultimate Adventure: Mars! (Worst-Case Scenario Ultimate Adventure)
|rating=3.5
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=
How many endings do you prefer your books to have? This claims 24, is the reason I ask. I can't be sure that the original Fighting Fantasy books of old didn't have a lot more, as well as the combat process, but in this style of choose-your-own-adventure franchise, two dozen isn't too bad at all. It's a younger-styled decision-making read, for the under-thirteens, and follows Borgenicht's seeming lifelong plan to get all sorts of survival info, either vital or trivial, into as many books as possible.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>081187124X</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Gladys Mitchell
|title=Watson's Choice
|rating=3.5
|genre=Crime
|summary=Sir Bohun (that's pronounced 'Boon', in case you're wondering) Chantrey is not the brightest or most sensitive of men, but Sherlock Holmes is one of his great passions in life is Sherlock Holmes. To celebrate the great man's anniversary he throws a party at which the guests are invited to come as characters from the stories. Our heroine, Mrs Bradley, and her secretary Laura Menzies are among the guests but not everyone there is interested in Sherlock Holmes. Quite a few are interested in Chantrey's money and his announcement that he is to marry his poverty-stricken nursery governess provokes anger in certain quarters. Then the Hound of the Baskervilles makes an unscheduled appearance...
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099548593</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Penelope Lively
|title=A Stitch in Time
|rating=5
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=Hunting for fossils on the Dorset coast is a pleasure which has delighted generations of families. And when Maria is taken by her father and mother to Lyme Regis for the summer holidays, she quickly becomes fascinated by the myriads of long-dead creatures which are still visible, fixed forever in the local grey-blue stone. Her interest in the history of the area leads her to make a friend – a rare occurrence for Maria, who can be painfully shy at times, and it involves her in a mystery. What sad event prevented Harriet from finishing the sampler? And how is it that Maria is aware of a dog barking, when no one else can hear it?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0007443277</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=David Borgenicht
|title=WCS Junior SurviveoPedia HC (Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook Junior Editions)
|rating=4
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
|summary=You probably recall all the Worst-Case Scenario books that were a big publishing phenomenon about a decade ago. They itemised things that might be a cause for concern, whether in the office, or the dating world, or the jungle. And then they seemed to run out of info, and vanish. But worry not, for the main instigator, David Borgenicht, is back, with a range of similar books for the junior audience. And here he offers a large format encyclopaedia pictorially warning us about dangers in the world around us, and offering advice for us to memorise so we can escape as best we can.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>081187690X</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Alistair MacLeod
|title=No Great Mischief
|rating=5
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=No Great Mischief is a novel which captures the essence of belonging and the need to be a part of one's history. This is the story of a small part of Clann Calum Ruadh, the people of Red Calum, emigrants to Canada. It sweeps from contemporary Toronto to evoke Cape Breton in the fifties and back to the clearances of Scottish history. MacLeod tells the tale with the dignity and stature of an ancient myth, holding up to our gaze what it means to be a part of a race, a family and a place.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099283921</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Sarah Mlynowski
|title=Ten Things We Shouldn't Have Done
|rating=4
|genre=Teens
|summary=April doesn't want to move to Cleveland with her dad and his new wife. She doesn't want to move to Paris with her mum either. So April decides the best thing to do is to move in with her best friend Vi, and Vi's mum. But, Vi's mum has recently landed herself the role as Mary Poppins in a travelling theatre, so she's not going to be home. That's not going to stop April from staying in Westport, armed with a couple of fake emails addresses the plan is set.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1408309793</amazonuk>
}}
