Book Reviews From The Bookbag

The Bookbag

Hello from The Bookbag, a site featuring books from all the many walks of literary life - fiction, biography, crime, cookery and anything else that takes our fancy. At Bookbag Towers the bookbag sits at the side of the desk. It's the bag we take to the library and the bookshop. Sometimes it holds the latest releases, but at other times there'll be old favourites, books for the children, books for the home. They're sometimes our own books or books from the local library. They're often books sent to us by publishers and we promise to tell you exactly what we think about them. You might not want to read through a full review, so we'll give you a quick review which summarises what we felt about the book and tells you whether or not we think you should buy or borrow it. There are also lots of author interviews, and all sorts of top tens - all of which you can find on our features page. If you're stuck for something to read, check out the recommendations page. We can even direct you to help for custom book reviews! Visit www.everychildareader.org to get free writing tips and www.genecaresearchreports.com will help you get your paper written for free.

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The Favourite by S V Berlin

General Fiction

Siblings Edward and Isobel Vernon haven't spoken in years and live on opposite sides of the Atlantic. When their mother Mary dies unexpectedly, they are thrown together to sort through the family home. With Edward's diffident but devoted girlfriend, Julie, making an awkward threesome, each stumbles through the practicalities of funeral preparation and house clearing, trying to make sense of their emotions and their feelings toward one another. Isobel makes a disturbing discovery and her fateful decision has consequences for all of them, challenging their beliefs about the past, hopes for the future and understanding of Mary's role in keeping them at once apart and together. Full review...

Be Frank with Me by Julia Claiborne Johnson

General Fiction

In June 2009 Isaac Vargas sends his assistant, twenty-four-year-old Alice Whitley, to Bel Air, California to help Mimi Gillespie produce her long-awaited second novel. Under the name M.M. Banning, Mimi issued a wildly successful novel back in the 1970s, Pitched, which quickly became a modern classic on every American adolescent's list of assigned reading for school. She's the sort of figure Harper Lee was for decades: a one-hit literary wonder and an infamous recluse. But there's one key difference here: Mimi has a nine-year-old son, Frank. Full review...

Freshers by Tom Ellen and Lucy Ivison

Teens

Away from home. Away from friends. Leaving behind parts of the person that you were growing up, in the hopes of finding more of the person that you want to become. Going to university is a monumental transition. For some, it's an escape. A chance to start anew. A freedom of the sort that you'll rarely have at any other point in life. An opportunity to make lifelong friends and memories that will stay with you forever. However, student life can also be a double-edged sword. There's a fine line, after all, between the opportunity to meet new people and the pressure to make new friends. With great freedom comes great responsibility. In the hands of new young adults, just leaving the nest, it's something that can get very messy, very quickly. Phoebe and Luke went to the same high school, but never really floated in the same circles. But when the two collide in the madness of Fresher's week, little do they realise that they're about to get pulled into each other's worlds for a messy, intense and hilarious term that neither of them will ever forget. Full review...

Henry and the Hidden Treasure by B C R Fegan and Lenny Wen

For Sharing

Henry is a careful young man. He has a lot of treasure and he keeps it very well hidden. We might not call it 'treasure': like his parents we'd probably call it 'pocket money' and suggest that what he's not going to spend he should put in the bank. But Henry's worried and he knows that only he can keep his treasure safe. But what, or who, is he keeping his treasure safe from? Well, he has a little sister called Lucy and despite the fact that his parents think he should be nicer to Lucy, Henry knows that she's really a secret ninja spy sent to steal his treasure. Isn't that true of all little sisters? Full review...

Operation Goodwood: a Mirabelle Bevan Mystery by Sara Sheridan

Crime (Historical)

In this, the fifth novel in the Mirabelle Bevan Mystery series, we have reached 1955. There is less emphasis on rationing now: time has moved on from the post-war privations we saw in our first encounter with Mirabelle and her warm, cheery companion Vesta in 1951, a time when tearing a stocking was a disaster of the first order. Various types of prejudice are still rife, however, and Sara Sheridan is a real expert at dropping in that small, lightly sketched detail which tells us we are still in a Britain overshadowed by the aftermath of conflict. A woman who walks alone into a bar will not be served; the British Empire is still front-page news, and the colour of a person's skin is still an almost insurmountable barrier to equality of opportunity. Full review...

Festivals and Celebrations by Sandra Lawrence and Jane Newland

Children's Non-Fiction

Every day is a feast day, if you follow the Christian calendar very closely – there are probably enough saints now for each day to have about three people attributed to it. But that's just one religion, one way of thinking, one culture – the world is host to a whole lot more, and in every corner they have their own way of celebrating. Some poignantly light small fires and set them afloat to guide the visiting spirits of the deceased back to their post-life homes; some rejoice in the return of spring, or the bounties of the summer's harvest; some just throw crap like tomatoes or coloured water over each other. But the world has a ritual calendar of events such as these, and this is a brilliant book for the young that shows how diverse our celebrations can be. Full review...

Myths and Legends by Sandra Lawrence and Emma Trithart

Children's Non-Fiction

Mythology is a peculiar realm, when you think about it – not quite legend, and not just the religions of the dead civilisations, but something like a mixture of the two. Certainly some of the entries in this pleasant little read hit on legend – King Arthur, Robin Hood – but we also seemed to believe they were true, even if they didn't fit into any pattern of organised worship. But seeing as it is the gospel truth that people lived by these mythologies, it's vital for the young to have some grounding in the subject, and this book is pretty good at providing such. Full review...

Fighting Fantasy: The Port of Peril by Ian Livingstone

Fantasy

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 Way Back to Us by Kay Langdale

General Fiction

A household revolves around its weakest member and because it's revolving there's always a danger that some people - such as a spouse - will be spun to the outside, whilst other children, loosely attached to the main carer will be at a distance, never completely close, but never escaping either. In the centre are the carer and the person who needs that care, bonded together in such a way that it's actually difficult to offer help or even friendship. So it is with Anna and Teddy, who suffers from Spinal Muscular Atrophy, or SMA as it's generally known. He's five now, confined to a wheelchair or his Whizzybug and not putting on much weight as chewing and swallowing are difficult. Full review...

Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell

Thrillers

One day Ellie went to the library for some last minute GCSE study and she never returned. There are a lot of what ifs?: what if her sister hadn't had a noisy friend over, forcing her to seek out somewhere quieter to study? What if there had been more CCTV on the high street so her journey could have been traced? What if, taking it back a bit, she had never met Theo, never fallen for him, never drifted into competition against him and never felt the need for extra swotting? What if, what if, what if? And what if actually, none of this had made a difference, because what happened was always going to happen, one way or another? Full review...

Counting Things by Anna Kovecses

For Sharing

Little Mouse is learning lots of new things in this series of books by the Hungarian illustrator Anna Kovecses, and here we see the delightful little rodent counting its way through the jungle, the farmyard, the countryside and the town. On every page the same question is asked, beginning with 'How many . . . ?', and the toddler, with the help of an adult or older sibling, will soon learn to touch the named items on the page and under the flap. Full review...

Flight of a Starling by Lisa Heathfield

Teens

Rita and Lo are sisters and best friends too. Their partnership extends to a double act as a trapeze act in the travelling circus that forms a backdrop to their lives. Always on the move, travelling from one place to another, never staying in one town for long is all they have ever known. The sisters are surrounded by the love of their family and the close friends who make up the other circus acts. Their lives are happy and secure. Until one day Lo meets a boy, a special boy named Dean. Their growing friendship, together with a secret that Lo discovers, will change things for ever. Full review...

The Starman and Me by Sharon Cohen

Confident Readers

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...

Dinosaur Detective's Search-and-Find Rescue Mission by Sophie Guerrive

Children's Non-Fiction

This is a horrific world. Monsters leer over all the mountain tops, there's a giant octopus in one building and a green giant's arms coming through the windows of another, and everywhere you look someone has lost something. Luckily the Dinosaur Detective is on hand to help. Yes, despite his paws looking incredibly ungainly on the controls of his flying machine, he is able to visit all eleven zones, and find the five things requested of him in each. But can you? Full review...

The First Atlantic Liner: Brunel's Great Western Steamship by Helen Doe

History

Isambard Kingdom Brunel's enduring seafaring monuments were the Great Britain and Great Eastern. Their forerunner the Great Western, which paved the way and yet is now largely forgotten, at last merits a full account in this book. Ms Doe admits at the front that she is not an engineer, and as a maritime historian her interests are more social and economic than technical. Her aim is to tell the story of the ship, that of the people who travelled on her as crew or passengers, and her influence on subsequent maritime history after an existence of barely two decades. Full review...

Eye Spy II by Tessa Buckley

Confident Readers

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...

Hunted by Geoffrey Arnold

Science Fiction

Tullia learns about survival in the bush when she is taken hostage and later saves a youth's life during a hunt. Adopted into a Bushman family and the tribe, her presence stirs disparate feelings amongst the young men and women, a mixture of awe, desire, fear and hate. Living a very different life, Qwelby, Tullia's twin, is deeply shocked by the violence on Earth. As he is rescued by his four best friends from the Pit of Despair, he experiences his first feelings for Tamina, a girl he has known for years. Feelings which become much stronger for another girl he tries to help during a violent attack from his own world as he and Tullia seek to restore their telepathic link. Forming a connection with the twins during the attack, the girl, Xaala, is charged by her master with monitoring their attempts to mentally reconnect – and to prevent them. Xaala is torn between her mixed feelings for the twins and obeying her orders. Meanwhile, on the planet Vertazia and in secret, Quelby's family and friends build what they hope will be the first ever inter-dimensional transport. On a short test run, the village where he is staying is discovered. When Quelby finds out he is being watched, he flees from the village... Full review...

Blackwing: The Raven's Mark Book One by Ed McDonald

Fantasy

Perfect for fans of Scott Lynch, Joe Abercrombie and Mark Lawrence, this dark adventure is gripping and bloody; it is a twisted story that spins a web of deceit. Nothing is as it seems, as ageless powers manipulate and control the lives of the characters. The world is a staging ground, all leading to one dramatic confrontation that has been a century in the making. Full review...

Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown and Rob Biddulph

Emerging Readers

Stanley was four feet tall, about a foot wide, and half an inch thick.

Yes, there's proof that this is the original text of this classic children's book – at least it's not been updated to metric. So while the illustrations are new, we get the real deal, with the young Stanley squished one night, to such an extent he can limbo under shut doors, get airmailed to America to visit relatives, become a kite for his younger brother to play with, and more. But then you don't need to update perfection. Full review...

The Mermaid's Scream (Wesley Peterson) by Kate Ellis

Crime

In 1884 a wealthy young woman became infatuated with the man who ran a travelling puppet show. We'll follow the story of John Lipton's courtship through excerpts from his journal.

In August 2016 Zac Wilkinson was writing the biography of the reclusive novelist Wynn Staniland. It's not easy work as Staniland isn't inclined to give more away than he has to and is unwilling to discuss the one thing which the public will want to know about: his wife's suicide which seemed to follow a scene from his most famous book. Wilkinson is doing his best to drum up interest in the forthcoming book: he does talks at local libraries which are well attended and he was seemingly on his way to one of these talks when he disappeared. Full review...

Fall Down Seven Times, Get Up Eight: A Young Man's Voice From the Silence of Autism by Naoki Higashida and David Mitchell

Reference

Naoki Higashida was only 13 years old when he wrote the international best-seller The Reason I Jump. The book was popular because it gave a rare glimpse into the workings of the autistic mind, as told from the unique perspective of a teenager with non-verbal autism. Naoki communicates by using an alphabet grid, or by tracing letters on the palm of a transcriber. Despite this slow and laborious method of writing, he has published several books in his native Japan, and manages to give public presentations to raise awareness of his condition. Fall Down 7 Times Get up 8 reintroduces us to Naoki as a young adult in his 20s and explains how his perspectives on life have changed since writing his first book. Full review...

Sweet Little Lies by Caz Frear

Thrillers

In 1998 a girl called Maryanne disappears in Ireland. In 2017 a woman called Alice is found dead in London. In both cases, Detective Constable Cat Kinsella is coincidentally close by, but she's more worried by the fact her father is too. And he cannot be trusted. Full review...

Girling Up by Mayim Bialik

Children's Non-Fiction

Aimed at teenagers, this book focuses on growing up as a girl, or Girling up if you will, and what it means to transition from school girl to grown up, via that hideous detour of teenage years. Full review...

The Ghost in Annie's Room (Little Gems) by Philippa Pearce and Cate James

Dyslexia Friendly

Emma is on a family holiday in an older relative's seaside cottage, where she is to sleep in the room in the attic. Her brother has passed on what he says he has overheard – that it is haunted. But even with the mementos of the person that once lived there all around her, and with a strange feeling of being watched, even with the stormy winds knocking tree limbs on to the window – Emma can sleep through it all. But that's not to say things will forever be that way… Full review...

The Unwomanly Face of War by Svetlana Alexievich, Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky (translators)

History

War, says Svetlana Alexievich, is first of all murder, and then hard work. And then simply ordinary life: singing, falling in love, putting your hair in curlers…. This extraordinary book is a collection of first-hand accounts by Russian fighting women in the Second World War. A million women joined Russian military forces as soldiers of all ranks, medics, pilots, drivers, snipers, cryptographers. Most were very young, little more than girls of 18 or 19. They were passionate about defending their homeland and often extremely keen to join up, returning again and again to recruitment offices until someone could be persuaded to take them. Their ambition was to help their brothers, fathers, husbands to fight the terrible invader. They were trained and sent to the front, where they were greeted at first with disappointment and disgust by fighting men, who had hoped for reinforcements of able-bodied men. The women had to prove themselves. Full review...

Alison Jay's ABC by Alison Jay

For Sharing

At first glance, this is a beautiful but fairly standard alphabet book: one letter per page with a nice big picture of an apple or a panda front and centre - after all, the ABC format is pretty restrictive, isn't it? And truth be told, that's all most small people will see first time round. But look a little closer . . . Full review...

Opposite Things by Anna Kovecses

For Sharing

Rearing a child is not a competition, but have a conversation with a certain type of parent and they won't agree. Their child can speak four languages. Their child wrote their first sonnet at the age of three. Their child can be seen wistfully looking into the middle distance just wanting to play on the bouncy castle. For me, I am happy, if my child is happy; be that doing sums, or eating play-doh. However, even with a relaxed attitude to educating your kid, it can be fun to learn a little, especially when a book is as fun as Little Mouse's Opposite Things. Full review...

Mudpuddle Farm: Hee-Haw Hooray by Michael Morpurgo and Shoo Rayner

Emerging Readers

Two collected stories from Mudpuddle Farm series – Nowt to Worry About and Tickety-Boo. How will the animals react when the sky goes strange and horrifying noises abound? Changes are afoot that could mark the end of Mudpuddle farm; or is it just a new beginning? Full review...