Newest Confident Readers Reviews
The Adventures of Shola by Bernardo Atxaga
You can approach Bernardo Atxaga, one of the most renowned Basque-language writers currently working, from two ways. Either start at the literate end, finding out if his voice is unique, his content exotic or universal enough for your tastes, and see if his Basque roots make him special in any way. Or you can just approach him as a wordsmith, and enjoy him enjoying himself, such as with these small children's stories put into this most handsome anthology. From the original, where the title character is spelled Xola, Atxaga has himself translated them into Spanish – even if the fourth is yet to appear there – and this is a fine English language version of all four tales. Full review...
How to Betray a Dragon's Hero (How To Train Your Dragon) by Cressida Cowell
Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third is on an impossible quest: He needs to be crowned King of the Wilderwest before the Doomsday of Yule, but has a plethora of obstacles to overcome before his mission is complete. He needs to collect together the Ten Lost Things, which have unfortunately fallen into the hands of the evil Alvin and his mother, the witch Excellinor. To do that, he will have to find out the location of their secret lair and overcome thousands of Alvinsmen guards. The Alvinsmen are not Hiccup’s only enemies, however. The dragons of the rebellion, headed by the formidable Dragon Furious are also seeking Viking blood. Hiccup’s obnoxious cousin Snotlout has also appeared on the scene, claiming to be a friend, but can he really be trusted? Full review...
A Slightly Jones Mystery: The Case of the Hidden City by Joan Lennon
Miss Slightly Jones is a thoroughly likeable young person. She is courageous and determined (although her Granny Tonic, who adopted her when her parents died, might use other, less charitable words like foolhardy, impulsive and stubborn) and her quick wit enables her to get out of many a difficult situation. Her hero, needless to say, is the celebrated Sherlock Holmes, and she often seeks inspiration from his cases when she is unable to decide what to do next. Full review...
100 People by Masayuki Sebe
If I told you this was a book in which every double page spread features exactly 100 people, and there’s no real story to go with it, you might be underwhelmed. You might wonder what the point would be. But I can tell you in one word: fun. Full review...
The Lost Journals of Benjamin Tooth by Mackenzie Crook
It's the 1760s, and young Benjamin is starting his diaries to record his path from a smart eleven year old to a noted scientist. It would, he thinks, be a very relevant document. And so it proves, in the light of what it eventually yields us. But before then there is his domestic matters to get over – the great-granddad who seems to have run out of words to say in this life, and his horrid mother and her frequently odd menus, and frequent, odder diseases. And the small matter of a harassing old/young man, Farley Cupstart, and his desperate search for something within Benjamin's household – something that looks a bit like a dragonfly, but just a bit more human… Full review...
Stick Dog Wants a Hot Dog by Tom Watson
Time magazine were very perceptive when they put Jeff Kinney on their most influential people lists. Many have been the people to take his snappy, over-illustrated young readers format and sense of humour to produce a franchise of witty, short novels about endearingly self-dismissive Average Joes. But with the signs that the whole thing has branched away from endearing Joes to hopefully endearing dogs, the message is getting clearer and clearer – just too many mimics are now on the shelf. Full review...
Penguin Pandemonium - Christmas Crackers (Awesome Animals) by Jeanne Willis
Penguins do not celebrate Christmas we learn from this book, so when Santa's Grotto turns up next door to the Zoo's penguin enclosure one particularly snowy Christmas, all that can occur is jealousy. Some of the many penguins are just too determined to enter into the spirit of, er, receiving things. And you can guess just how well that will go down in the moral universe of a primary school book… Full review...
Where's The Penguin? by Sophie Schrey
Where’s The Penguin? is a find-the-character book with a difference. The penguin family are fed up with living in the zoo so have plotted their escape and are now en route back to Antarctica. There are ten members of the gang, but they’re not entirely identical. Muffy has a wool hat, Brian has specs, Snowflake has a bow that wouldn’t be out of place on a Cheer floor, and Amelia is channeling her namesake, the Earhart, and has on flight goggles. It’s a good thing they have their own style, because in this book you’re not searching for one person, you’re searching for 10 across each double page spread. Full review...
Granddad Bracey and the Flight to Seven Seas by Michael Roll
Sally and her brother Peter are staying at their grandfather's house because their father has died in a car accident. Granddad Bracey (named after the accessories for trousers) is the perfect person for the grieving children at such an awful time. He's kindly and loving but also funny and entertaining - as a retired merchant navy captain, he has plenty of stories to tell. But then a second catastrophe occurs: their mother, Mary, decides to remarry. Sally distrusts her new stepfather, Ned, and his daughter, Mona, immediately. But even Sally doesn't realise the extent of their villainous intentions. Until, that is, Mary is rushed into hospital with a mysterious illness. Full review...
Happenings at Hookwood by Michael Roll
It all begins when a pair of newlyweds move into their first home, observed by the local wildlife with varying grades of alarm. But Startup the rabbit isn't alarmed. While his mother scarpers at her first glance of the ginger cat the couple have brought along and his father watches worriedly from deep cover, Startup finds it all very interesting and exciting. Startup has a lot to learn... Full review...
The Land of Stories: The Enchantress Returns by Chris Colfer
This sequel to The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell sees twins Alex and Conner Bailey once again magically transported to the fairy-tale realm, this time with the hope of rescuing their mother. She has been kidnapped by the evil Enchantress, the powerful and wicked entity who cursed Sleeping Beauty. The Enchantress is spreading a dark curse over all of the kingdoms and the fairies seem powerless to stop it. Will Alex and Conner find a way to stop her and save their mother before time runs out? Full review...
Ninja: First Mission (Ninja Trilogy) by Chris Bradford and Sonia Leong
If you are looking for adventure, Ninja First Mission will certain come up trumps. This book never has a slow moment. But even as the story races along at breakneck speed, there is plenty to think about as well. This book has as much to offer the deep thinker as the adrenaline junky. Tata, a young Ninja in training, is desperate to prove himself. He has failed the test for his black belt three times, but this was just a simple test. The sacred scrolls of his clan have been stolen, and all of the fully fledged Ninja but one are away on another mission. Tata faces another test, but this time the stakes are life and death, not only for himself, but for his clan. In order to succeed Tata must learn to find victory in failure. Most of all he must learn to believe in himself. Full review...
Football Crazy by Tony Bradman and Michael Broad
Football Crazy is about a group of friends who play on the worst team in the league. It can be difficult when your team loses every time you go on the pitch, but Danny, Jamil and Lewis love the sport and they stick with it - win or lose. They keep hoping the next game will be the game in which they finally win, or at least get on the scoreboard, but it never happens - not as long as Mr Perkins is coaching. When the coach finally packs it in - it looks like curtains for Rovers FC. But, luck seems to be on the children's side when a new coach, Jock Ramsay, with some history in the pro leagues is found. The new coach is tough, but he quickly gets the team into shape and the Rovers start climbing the league tables. Parents are delighted, the stands are full, but the children find they no longer love the sport. Everything is about winning. Things come to crisis point when Coach Ramsay orders Danny to take a dive. Full review...
Secret FC by Tom Palmer
Unlike many children, Lily, Zack and Khan can't wait for the school year to begin. They live in an overcrowded part of London with no room for outdoor sports and the school ground is the only place they can enjoy a friendly game of football. But their hopes for the new term are dashed when a new Head Teacher decides ball sports are too dangerous for children. Surprisingly, with an overly safety-conscious Head, while football is prohibited there is a wooded waste ground inside the school grounds - which just happens to be the perfect spot for the children to clear and create their own football pitch. But will they be able to keep the secret? Or will Mr Edwards blow the final whistle on all of their sports? Full review...
Diary Of Dorkius Maximus In Egypt by Tim Collins
Having enjoyed the first book in this series we were quite keen to try the sequel. Although this is part of what I hope will be a very long series, it is not necessary to have read the first book to enjoy this one. This book sees Dorkius Maximus rewarded for his activities by being asked to accompany Caesar on an important visit to Egypt. Ceasar hopes young Dorkius may be able to help negotiate a deal with the odious King Ptolemy, who happens to be about the same age as our hero. Full review...
Looking for Bear by Holly Webb
Young siblings Ben and Cassie have just moved into a new house with their dad. Their new world is exciting to explore, but they wish that dad wasn’t so busy all of the time. They have lots of things that they want to tell him, like how Ben is being excluded by his friends at school, how they discovered that the new builders are actually pirates, how Ben designed his own football comic strip and best of all, how they both discovered a bear living at the bottom of the garden... Full review...
Goth Girl: and the Ghost of a Mouse by Chris Riddell
It all starts with 'sigh, soft and sad and ending in a little squeak'. But while some mice can end up roaring, so this book soon escalates from just meeting the ghost of a dead mouse to something much bigger. Through exploring the country pile Goth Girl Ada lives in with her father, alongside the ghost mouse, she finds an albatross, a Polar Explorer who might be a monster, and then a compact club of young people her age she had no idea existed. There's even more to be found after that, as Ada discovers how malevolent the party season's plans are going to get, with a nasty indoor hunt having some remarkable prey… Full review...
The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell by Chris Colfer
Twins Alex and Connor Bailey have had it tough recently. Their father was killed in a tragic accident and their mother has to work all hours to make ends meet. They even lost their house, as the family could not afford to live there anymore. Things are not completely hopeless though. They have a wonderful grandmother who always seems to be there when they need her most and a special birthday gift from her is about to send them on an adventure that they will never forget: a trip to the enchanting Land of Stories. Full review...
Oliver and the Seawigs by Philip Reeve and Sarah McIntyre
Children the age of Oliver are supposed to be adventurous, but he just wants to stay at home. He's been dragged across the globe by his explorer parents, but he only wants to settle. Moving into a new home at last, when they retire, he soon finds them vanished, along with lots of small islands that had peppered the bay their house overlooked. Oliver, then, has to turn pioneer, and try and find out what has happened to the rest of his family. Full review...
The Lost Gods by Francesca Simon
Imagine that Christianity didn't end up a world religion. In its stead you have the Norse gods, a bunch of war-mongering, bling-loving, mead-slurping divinities with the appetite and impatience of a toddler in a sweet shop. Mad berserks battle to the death every day in their halls — for fun, that is — and their idea of meaningful communication is a thunderbolt. Only . . . they can't quite manage all that any more. Full review...
Silent Mountain by Michelle Briscombe
Silent Mountain introduces us to the world of Jack Jupiter and his adventures. An ordinary boy with an interest in wildlife, Jack is bullied in school and still grieving the death of his father when, ignoring his Grandmother’s warning, he heads to the frozen lake and gets drawn into a life changing adventure in another world. Full review...
The Surprise Attack of Jabba the Puppett: An Origami Yoda Book by Tom Angleberger
What is out there that can make a wimpy kid less, er, wimpy? Why, a paper finger puppet of the Star Wars universe's Yoda character, that's what. One kid in school has taken the Origami Yoda persona on through several other books and adventures, and he's going to be useful here, as he, our chief narrator Tommy and all their friends despair at changes in the school. In a rash move, the principal has banned all the semi-educational but fun classes, like music, drama and, er, Lego Robot Club, and replaced them with horrendously boring and patronising, shrill TV programmes and rote filling-in of worksheets, just so collectively the school's exam marks bounce back from a one-year dip. But how can one little paper Yoda inspire such a large scale retraction, and get the changes reversed? Full review...
Star Wars Jedi Academy by Jeffrey Brown
Roan has dreamed of going to pilot school his whole life, so it comes as a bit of a shock when he doesn’t quite make the grade. The next best alternative, unfortunately, is Tatooine Agriculture Academy, and a life as a farmer on his dusty, desert homeworld. Luckily, fate steps in and Roan receives a letter from Master Yoda, inviting him to train at the Jedi Academy on Coruscant. It may not be pilot school, but Roan realises that it may be his ticket to a better life. He just needs to get to grips with the Force, lightsabers and of course...girls... Full review...
The Ghost Prison by Joseph Delaney
Meet Billy Calder. The young orphan has got a job, which is lucky as he's nearly too old for the Home for Unfortunate Boys. Unluckily it's a job at the local spooky castle, which is the town prison. It's sat looming above everyone and has generated a whole host of legends and ghost stories among the people below. More unluckily, the truth behind those ghost stories is even worse than the public imagination. Even more unluckily, Billy has been singled out for the night shift. And we find out just how Billy's luck runs out completely when we learn who requested him to work nights… Full review...
