Newest Confident Readers Reviews
The Truffle Mouse by Holly Webb
Alice is going through a tough time right now. Even though her mum and dad split up two years ago, she'd always hoped that they would eventually get back together. But when dad introduced his new girlfriend and her daughter and announced that they would be moving in, everything changed. School isn't any better, either. She's always getting told off in class and is jealous of her best friend Lucy, who seems to have the perfect family, but doesn't appreciate it. When mum sees how withdrawn Alice has become, she takes her to the pet shop to buy a hamster to take her mind off things. However, it's not a hamster that catches Alice's eye, but a sweet little mouse, with fur like cocoa powder. The trouble is, mum is terrified of mice! Full review...
Pugs of the Frozen North by Philip Reeve and Sarah McIntyre
When Shen finds himself stranded in the middle of a frozen sea, with 66 shivering pugs for company and no food, he’s desperate to find help. Little does he suspect that this is just the start of their adventure in the frozen north: with his new friend Sika, and the pugs pulling their sled, he’s suddenly part of a race to the top of the world. Will they make it in time to meet the Snowfather or will one of the other contestants beat them to it? Full review...
Poppy Pym and the Pharaoh's Curse by Laura Wood
Poppy Pym is leaving the only home she's ever known (in Madame Pym's Spectacular Travelling Circus) to become a boarding school student at Saint Smithen's School. And, if starting school for the first time at age 11 isn't enough, Poppy and her new friends – Kip and Ingrid – find themselves in the middle of a mystery. Dangerous accidents start to occur at Saint Smithen's the moment a temporary exhibition of Egyptian artefacts enter the school. While everyone else attributes these to the Pharaoh's curse, Poppy and her friends are determined to discover who is really causing the accidents. Then, when the priceless ruby at the heart of the collection is stolen, their investigation broadens as they try to uncover the thief. Full review...
The Blackthorn Key by Kevin Sands
Seventeenth century England isn't always a comfortable place to live. Apart from the obvious differences from the modern day – no National Health Service, no laws to protect orphans like Christopher from cruelty and exploitation, and a constant foul smell from poor sanitation - fear and suspicion are a daily fact of life. In 1665 Charles II has been back on the throne for several years, but not everyone is happy about his extravagant and luxurious life-style, even among those who found the Puritan rules of Cromwell's time excessively strict. There are spies everywhere, and rumours of conspiracies fill the streets. It's a time to keep your head down and avoid attention from the authorities. Full review...
Honey and Me by Karen McCombie
Most girls starting out Brook City School are hoping for something new and different, but Kirsten just wants things to be normal. Even good things seem to come with a sting in the tail and worst of all, Mum and Dad are really not getting on. In fact Kirsten is happiest at school and does all the after-school activities she can manage just to keep away from home for as long as she can. Her elder brother, Finn, who's at sixth form college, is struggling too: what used to be thought of as cheeky at school has turned into disruptive. When things get really bad Kirsten is suddenly reminded of her old friend Honey and wonders if she can get in touch with her. Full review...
Nick and the Glimmung by Philip K Dick
Meet Nick. He lives on a future Earth, where multiple large classrooms are taught by just one holographic teacher, which might sound impractical but can actually help with advice when you declare to the class that you are breaking the law. Nick, you see, has a pet cat, and in this massively over-populated and under-resourced world, pets are illegal. There's a simple solution – wait for the anti-pet man to turn up with his weaponry and armour and dispose of it, but the family have decided to take the other way out – emigrate to an entirely different world. Hence they embark on the trip to be pioneer farmers on Plowman's Planet, even when they're forewarned of a host of different and most unusual animals already resident there. That advice still doesn't really prepare them for the battle whose crossfire in which they immediately get caught… Full review...
The Ghosts Who Danced and other spooky stories by Saviour Pirotta and Paul Hess
Ghosts are all over the world, don't you know. I don't know of any as of yet but I dare say that people have fixed ghost stories to be set on Antarctica; they're certainly common on all the other continents. York has 500 spectres to itself allegedly, all corners of all civilisations claim to know of spirit world entities – and people even go as far as being so undignified they see them in Auschwitz. The lesson from this excellently put-together book is that ghosts are worldwide, and any one from just about anywhere can have a very interesting story to tell. Full review...
Where's Will? by Anna Claybourne and Tilly
Taking 10 of the best known stories, this book neatly summarises the plots and highlights the must-know elements of each. That's just the start, though, because after you've read what's going on, you get to see it in another form. Each story is followed by an illustrated two page spread, highly detailed and bursting with activity and characters. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to find the stars of the play among the many other people on the page. They're hidden, but can you find them? Full review...
Danny Dread by Ben Davis
Meet Danny Dread. He's a pupil at Demento's Academy for Young Evil Geniuses, where classes range from bank robbery and 'applied superhero torture' to creating flying craft and machines with which to do the most dastardly deeds, and where the head mistress is only too pleased to see bullying happening in the corridors. Now meet Mynah Boy – freshly costumed, and talented inasmuch as he can mimic lots of people and things. He might not be the world's best superhero, but neither is Danny Dread the world's best villain – the Dread family have slowly been getting worse at being evil, and Danny is so hopeless he can't even kill a fly. You might think they'll be set up for the most clumsy, calamitous adventure against each other, until you learn that actually they're one and same lad – but things will still get clumsy and calamitous enough… Full review...
Thunderbirds are Go Official Guide
It's time to admit that I am old. I remember the first series of Thunderbirds from Saturday morning kids' cinema – an episode of that, then a second-run film, both for a quid. They were only ten years old or so then, but at least that proved the franchise was durable. Nothing did that quite as much, however, as the news a couple of years ago that the Anderson estate was to allow a CG updating, bringing a new generation of people to the massed audience. Amid the usual worries about it losing everything that made it special, it actually did pretty well when it aired in 2015 – even with a breakfast time transmission slot. This small(ish) format hardback is, bar the annual, the very first chance to look at an official book concerning the series, and inasmuch as it inspired me to research the return, and certainly accept it as looking a worthy addition to the canon, it succeeds on all fronts. Full review...
Nelly and the Quest for Captain Peabody by Roland Chambers and Ella Okstad
Nelly's father, Captain Peabody, sailed away when she was a baby. He remembered her birthday once or twice sending her a gift of painted snails and an egg which hatched into a visionary turtle. This turtle, Columbus, has grown to become Nelly's closest friend and companion as her mother sits silently knitting and nothing more has been heard from her father. There may be a lesson about parental inadequacy and unreliability here but if so it's understated. I have rarely met a less angst-ridden heroine than Nelly though she can give a firm lecture about keeping one's promises. Full review...
Brain Twisters: The Science of Thinking and Feeling by Clive Gifford and Professor Anil Seth
Meet the brain. We all have one. We all use it (and by 'it' I mean a heck of a lot more of it than the 10% of urban myth) every second of the day. We engage with different parts of it for balance, catching a ball, memorising a list of moves in controlling a video game character, or understanding things ranging from written instruction to body language. It's such a vital part of the body, taking up 20% of our glucose fuel intake as well as of oxygen, that understanding of it cannot come at too young an age. But in this varied and complex book, looking at a varied and complex subject, I do wonder if the right approach has been taken at all times. Full review...
The Wonder Garden: Wander through the world's wildest habitats and discover more than 80 amazing animals by Jenny Broom and Kristjana S Williams
Is it any wonder that this book calls the outside world The Wonder Garden? I know things in fiction books, on TV and in games can be fabulous, but can they compete – really – with what nature has presented? You only need a gate through which to go, and a willingness to explore. This book provides those gates – there they are, shining luxuriously on the cover of this jumbo-sized hardback. And in five easy-to-take steps, the rest of the book provides for that exploration, taking us down south in Amazonia, down below the waters of the Great Barrier Reef, and up – to deserts and mountains, via Germany's own Black Forest. And the trip is nothing if not spectacular to look at. Full review...
City Atlas: Discover the world with 30 city maps by Martin Haake and Georgia Cherry
It's not every time I mention the feel of the book I'm reviewing, but this time it's worth a mention. This volume has been lavishly presented in a roughened card cover, as opposed to the gloss of others in this format from this publisher, and so looks and feels like an old stamp catalogue. The title image is indeed a stamp, stuck on the centre of the cover. And just as all stamps the world over are practically the same yet completely different in design, so are the world's cities. The point of this book is to bring the common elements as well as the unique features of all the world's capitals to the fore, to show that while a city may be a city is a city, their constant variety is what makes each and every one worth a visit. With that being on the costly side, this is a decent enough substitute. Full review...
The Princess in Black by Shannon Hale, Dean Hale and LeUyen Pham
Princess Magnolia has a double life. On one hand she has a perfectly prim, proper and pink castle turret to live in, on the other she has a secret escape tunnel. On her head she has a tiara, on her finger a monster alarm. Her life is also full of threats – on one side a horrid, blue, goat-eating beastie, on the other a prim and proper visitor intent on finding out if the perfect Princess has any secrets. Well we know she has, but will they be discovered – and which is the greater threat? Full review...
Katy by Jacqueline Wilson
Eleven year-old Katy Carr is a tomboy who, despite her best intentions, is always getting into trouble. Lively and adventurous, Katy is very much the leader of her five younger brothers and sisters until an accident damages her spine and she finds herself confined to a wheelchair. Suddenly Katy's life is turned upside down and she has to learn the most basic things all over again, to redefine her role in the family, and find a new meaning in life. Full review...
The Red Shoe by Ursula Dubosarsky
They may be quite far apart, but three houses in a row in the rural suburbs of 1950s Sydney contain some incredibly unusual people. In one, a solitary old man of very few words, shuffling to the end of his days, but brandishing a Japanese sword he's purloined after WWII, and with a gun in the corner of his lounge. In the middle, a family of five, with a father figure suffering from PTSD due to the same war, a mother feeling friendless and alone in the isolated time and location, and their three daughters – one of whom has given up on school after an alleged nervous breakdown, the middle one who barely speaks more than the neighbour, and Matilda, our key interest, who likes the idea of spies, and has an imaginary friend who came out of the radio. The third house however might be where the most interesting people live – after all, it had been empty, but now the luxurious building is home to several shady men in suits, who turned up out of the blue in luxury cars, and with at least one gun of their own… Full review...
The Land of Stories: Beyond the Kingdoms by Chris Colfer
The last Land of Stories book left readers on a cliffhanger with a shock revelation about the identity of the antagonist, the villainous 'Masked Man'. Since then, fans, myself included, have been waiting desperately for the next book in the series in order to see how our twin heroes Alex and Conner deal with this surprising twist in the tale. The waiting is over; the new book is here and ready to transport us once again to the magical Land of Stories... Full review...
Clever Polly and the Stupid Wolf by Catherine Storr
Polly opens the door one day to find a large black wolf standing on the doorstep. With no preamble whatsoever, not even a cursory hello, the wolf informs Polly that he intends to eat her up. Incredibly Polly invites the wolf into her home and even into the kitchen! What can she be thinking of? Well, young Polly is clever, resourceful, independent and charming. The wolf is a wolf of very little brain. Therefore it is not long before she is able to outwit the wolf and send him packing. This first story is very short but sets the scene for the ongoing battle of wits between Polly and the wolf that will continue for the remaining twelve short stories in this charming and entertaining book. Full review...
All Sorts of Possible by Rupert Wallis
When the sinkhole opened, there was no time to break or turn the wheel, and the old green Land Rover was snatched off the dirt road over the smoking rim.
Somehow, Daniel makes it out of the sinkhole and emerges to safety with just a few scratches and bruises. But his father isn't so lucky. While he lies in hospital in an induced coma due to a severe brain injury, Daniel is released into the care of his aunt, a woman he has never met. There had been a family falling out after Daniel's mother died when he was just a baby, and since then it's just been Daniel and his dad. Although his aunt seems nice enough, Daniel finds it difficult to trust her or open up to her...
... and there's a lot to open up about. Full review...
Fuzzy Mud by Louis Sachar
Tamaya isn't allowed to walk home from school on her own. And Tamaya doesn't like to break any rules. So when walking partner Marshall insists on taking a "shortcut" through the woods one day, she goes with him, even though she isn't really supposed to walk through the woods. Unbeknownst to Tamaya, Marshall has chosen the route in order to avoid school bully Chad, who has threatened him with a reckoning. A reckoning for nothing at all - but you know, that's how school bullies work.
But lying in the woods is an even greater threat than Chad... Full review...
