Newest Dyslexia Friendly Reviews
The Wickedest Witch in the World by Kaye Umansky and Gerald Kelley
Everyone knows the story of Hansel and Gretel. At least we thought we knew. But as the saying goes there are always two sides to every story and this one is told from the perspective of Old Maggit, The Wickedest Witch in the World. You see Maggit really wasn't so wicked after all. It was the children who were wicked. Well, maybe they were not exactly wicked, but they were most certainly obnoxious, and old Maggit's no nonsense manner and just a bit of attention may be exactly what these children need to turn them around. Maggit really has built a house of gingerbread to lure children into as a means of finally winning the Wickedest Witch in the World title. But once she has the children - she has no idea what to do them and ends up teaching them manners. As to the whole cannibalism story - that was all made up of course. The children decide the only way for Maggit to win is to lie - and they come up with a whopper. It was so good people have been repeating it for centuries with the original tale thought to have originated in the 14th century. Full review...
Mary's Hair by Eoin Colfer
Mary hates her hair. It has black bits and brown bits, curly bits and straight bits and Mary feels that it looks very much like a bush. Her Daddy says if you don't like something, you should change it (instead of whining about it to your parents when they want to relax with a cup of tea). Mary's Daddy, like many others, should watch what he says to children. Mary follows his advice with hilarious results. First she cuts her hair, but when that doesn't go to plan she decides to dye it. She has learned something from the whole hair cutting experience though, this time she plans to try the dye out on someone else first. Full review...
Dead Brigade by James Lovegrove
Sergeant Jonah Hammond's career has been at a standstill in the years since he launched a complaint against a reckless commanding officer whose arrogance resulted in the massacre of British soldiers. Now that same officer is offering Hammond another chance. This time Hammond won't have to worry about some idiot getting his men all killed - because they are already dead. Hammond has been given the task of training a crack squad of reanimated soldiers, immune to pain, disease and capable of fighting with massive injuries. These living dead are reanimated by nanobots. They are capable of learning, following instructions, and meant to be incapable of independent thought. However, it soon becomes apparent that things don't always go the way they are meant to. These are not mindless killing machines; a part of them is still human, still the soldier they once were, trapped within a decaying corpse, kept refrigerated until ready for the next mission. They have no life, nor do they have the luxury of death. Full review...
Sweetness and Lies by Karen McCombie and Jessica Secheret
Starting a new school is always tough, and when Tilly is the only girl from her primary to win a place at the more exclusive Beech Cliff School, her old friends abandon her as being too posh. She quickly makes friends with Mia, but when a new girl Amber Sweet tries to join the group Mia definitely feels that two is company and three is a crowd. Amber is torn between loyalty to Mia and her own conscience as Tia is openly cruel to Amber. Tilly soon begins to question Mia's jokes and put downs. There doesn't seem to be any way Tilly can be friends with both girls, Mia won't allow it. Can she find the courage to stand up to Mia and risk having no friends? And would Amber even want to be her friend any more if she did? Full review...
Cheesemares by Ross Collins
Every time Hal eats cheese he has terrible nightmares. Hal's mother suggests drastic measures - no more cheese before bed. Hal loves his cheese though so he sets off on a quest for clues to solve the Case of the Cheesemares. He is accompanied by his canine sidekick, Rufus. He stumbles upon his first clue very quickly. All of the cheese that has been giving him bad dreams has come from Contessa Von Udderstein's (not at all evil) House of Cheese in Bovina. Hal follows the trail to a spooky castle ruled by the evil Contessa Von Udderstein, a very mad cow who looks quite a bit like a bovine version of Cruella De Ville. The irate cow wants revenge on humans for stealing their milk for years (it's a good thing no one mentioned hamburgers or roast beef) Hal and Rufus must escape from the clutches of the mad cattle and make cheese safe to eat again. It's a good thing cows don't have hands to clutch with. Full review...
Cherry Green Story Queen by Annie Dalton and Charlie Adler
At first glance, I expected this to be a fairly typical girl's story for tweens. I certainly was not expecting a story of such beauty or depth. This is a very enjoyable read, but is it much more than light fiction. I enjoyed it so much, I wanted to share the book with my sons, but I had to be very careful to hide the cover. Being typical boys, they are not going to want to hear a story that looks so much like a girl's story. This book has something in common with 'The Arabian Nights, Tales of 1,001 Nights'. In fact it shares a direct link with the ancient book. But this story will only give us three nights of magic. Still three nights might just be enough to change the lives of six children in foster care. This also shares the basic message of 'The Allegory of the Long Spoons' a well known parable by the Rabbi Haim which has passed into the folk lore of many cultures. The basic message is that the difference between heaven and hell is not so much a difference in physical circumstances, but rather is the result of how we treat one another. Full review...
Mr Birdsnest and the House Next Door by Julia Donaldson and Hannah Shaw
I love Julia Donaldson's books for younger children. Everyone loves The Gruffalo and Tyrannosaurus Drip is still one of our favourites, but as the children have grown, these books have been read less frequently. I have to admit, I've missed them. Mr Birdsnest and the House Next Door gives us a chance to enjoy this brilliant author for just a little while longer. This is fun story, told in the first person, so we never know the name of the main character. We do know she is lively active young girl, perhaps with an active imagination. I would guess her to be about 10 years old with an equally active and inquisitive younger brother named Elmo. Full review...
Them by L A Weatherly
Kylie and her family had a prosperous upper middle class life - until the day Kylie's stepfather nearly beat her to death. Forced to flee, they ended up in a shelter, and are now trying to start life over with a very different set of circumstances. Kylie's Mom is working and exhausted, they live in a run down flat, and the money barely stretches to covering groceries - and as Kylie's little sister keeps reminding her - this is all her fault. Pressures build up with strange phone calls. Could Kylie's stepfather have found them? And of course there are the usual difficulties of starting a new school and trying to make friends. Full review...
Jon For Short by Malorie Blackman and Vladimir Stankovic
The book begins with a horrible dream of dark footsteps and the flash of knife blade plunging down again and again. Waking up brings no respite to the terror or pain for Jon, because his waking world is even more frightening than the nightmare. He wakes up in a darkened hospital room. There are now windows to the outside, only a small frosted glass window to the hall which lets in a tiny bit of light. The nurses seem cruel and angry. They insist on calling him Joe, No matter how often he tells them his name is Jonathan - Jon for short. The nightmare comes again and again. It starts out exactly the same, but each time it goes on just a little longer and Jon sees a bit more. The dream is not the only cause of his terror. Each time when he wakes up, another part of his body has been removed. Piece by piece he is being dismembered. Soon there will be nothing left of him - and no one will tell him why. Full review...
Read On - Unsolved Mysteries by Keith West
Collins Read On books are not specifically listed as a dyslexia friendly line of books. Instead, these are what is known as hi-lo books. Book developed to motivate and engage older readers, while still being accessible to readers who are reading far below grade level. I would estimate the reading level of this book to be roughly age eight, but the subject matter is apt to appeal to children much older, or even adults. Although not designed especially for children with dyslexia like the famous Barrington Stoke range, this does have several features to make this book more appropriate to children with dyslexia than the average children's book. With the exception of a few small picture captions, this is printed in black ink with a large standard font. The print is double spaced, with short paragraphs and chapters giving the reader plenty of breaks. The paper is thick enough that print and pictures from the other side will not show through. This combined with the easy to read text will help to build a child's confidence. Full review...
Sam's Spitfire Summer by Ian MacDonald and Charlie Clough
'Sam's Spitfire Summer' is billed as a thrilling WW2 adventure. In my opinion it is not. This is not a high octane adventure. Instead it is the story of a rather ordinary boy, homesick, terribly frightened and unsure of himself after being evacuated from London. This book describes the life of a child during WW2 with such realism that I honestly wonder if it might have some basis in fact. It describes Sam's loneliness, and fear, being separated from his parents as his father goes away to fight the Germans, and his Mother remains in London, with the risk of bombing. This book really gives a good glimpse at how Sam feels being evacuated. He misses his home desperately and is frightened by the large animals in the country - such as cows. Full review...
The Smallest Horse in the World by Jeremy Strong and Scoular Anderson
Bella despises the new girl at school, Swan. Swan is always bragging about her rich father, her fancy house, their Ferrari etc... And to make matters worse, she is rude, bossy and much bigger than Bella. Bella has problems at home too. Her parents have split up and she misses her father; her mother is always working and she doesn't seem to have any close friends. Things look pretty dismal after an argument with Bella, but every thing changes when Bella's favourite picture breaks and out steps a real live horse. A very tiny horse, but a horse all the same, and a talking one at that. Bella would love to keep the little horse, Astra, but the horse is desperate to be reunited with her true master, Rufus. Full review...
Ghost Stadium by Tom Palmer
I usually buy Barrington Stoke books for my son to read on his own. He loves the short but exciting stories, and the easy-to-read text. With this book though, the temptation to turn out the lights and read this out loud by torch light was simply too much to resist. It begins as a boy's own adventure. Three boys, Lucas, Irfan and Jack have come up with the perfect plan to start their summer holidays on a high note. Their local football club has been closed for years, but the boys have a scheme to get into the stadium one last time and spend a night camping on the pitch. My son immediately realised the football pitch would be the perfect place to camp out. It is difficult to get into, but once there, it would be like being in a wilderness. The high walls would block out everything, leaving the boys completely alone in the dark. There is only one problem. Places that are very difficult to get into can also be very difficult to get out of... Full review...
