Newest Confident Readers Reviews
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...
Scavenger 2: Chaos Zone by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell
York is a lad on a mission. So would you be, if your space station habitation was constantly attacked by evolved, mutated and evil robots. Trying to get to the core of things – both the situation and the centre of the giant biosphere carrying the last humans to a future planet to reside on – he's just starting to enter the second level, alongside some surprising companions (surprising, that is, if you haven't read book one) and a lot of gung ho spirit. The next stage is a 'mid deck' level, where all of Earth's habitation zones have been recreated – but nothing, either animal or human, has stayed the same since the ship's launch… Full review...
The Mystery of the Clockwork Sparrow by Katherine Woodfine
This entrancing Edwardian mystery is set in the exotic, sensuous and opulent world of a Department store which draws the reader in with enticing sights, sounds and smells from the start. When the heroine Sophie first steps on to the shop floor she feels like she is "stepping inside a chocolate box". Furthermore there is also something sacred about the experience- "Now, a reverent hush hung in the air, and she found herself almost tiptoeing…gazing around her at the immense chandeliers, the glittering looking-glasses, the glossy walnut panelling. It smelled luscious: no sawdust now, but a glorious fragrance of cocoa and candied violets and some other spicy scent, like the cigars that Papa used to smoke after dinner." Full review...
Danger is Still Everywhere: Beware of the Dog! by David O'Doherty and Chris Judge
Meet Gordon. He's a very safe bet, now you have met him, as he's a source of highly intelligent and descriptive warnings about danger. He and he alone can voice warnings about the Puddle Shark you might get eaten by, the Parp Donkey that might evict you by farting through your letter box, and the Headphones Crab that – well, the illustration here says it all. Now, I know what you're thinking. Advice this intelligent and salient could only really come from Docter Noel Zone, the world's only Level Five Dangerologist. And you'd be right. Gordon is the name Noel gives to his wardrobe. And Noel is currently living in Gordon the wardrobe, as his house has been taken over by a messy, noisy, and incredibly dangerous puppy. Add into the mix a pet contest hosted by the world's most dangerous man and you have a recipe for disaster (when all you wanted was a completely safe recipe for cabbage soup, as well…) Full review...
Shadow Cat by Gillian Cross
When Nolan's effervescent mother suddenly takes him on a surprise journey he is in as much fear and doubt as the reader about what will happen next. Meanwhile music sensation Midir's daughter Feather is tired of being controlled and dreading the next photo opportunity for the press. Then, one night, as her father prepares for a shocking, spectacular event, everything changes. Cross keeps us guessing as Nolan's world is turned upside down and he has to make difficult choices. Why is his mother in the clouds on an exultant high one minute and grey, stressed and in the doldrums of despair the next? Does Feather really want to be his friend or do they just have the serval they have sworn to protect in common? Full review...
The Bolds by Julian Clary and David Roberts
The Bolds, Mr and Mrs and their two small children, live in an ordinary semi-detached house in suburban Teddington. They have jobs; Mrs Bold designs and sells flamboyant hats and Mr Bold writes jokes for Christmas crackers. But they are most definitely not an ordinary family. Oh no! They are in fact hyenas. So far they have managed to successfully pretend to be human beings. Although very hairy and prone to laughing a lot they have kept the truth (and their tails!) a secret from everyone. But their grumpy next door neighbour, Mr McNumpty, is growing suspicious and then a trip to the local safari park has repercussions. Will the Bolds' carefully long kept secret be revealed? Full review...
The Cake, the Wolf and the Witch by Maudie Smith
Max doesn't believe in happy endings. How could he, when lovely, brave, caring Mum got killed climbing a mountain? He doesn't like heights or small dark spaces and he doesn't like silly fairy stories. He absolutely hates being dressed in knickerbockers, silk slippers and a cape for Dad and Ilona's wedding, and in fact, the only thing that's worse, in his opinion, is the fact that once it's over he'll have to share his home with a horrible new brother and sister. I mean, come on, people! Nettle is a total grouch who's clearly never cracked a smile in her whole life, and little Wild is just . . . well, to tell the truth, he's plain daft. He prances about the place like a demented butterfly, and he never takes his baseball cap off, even to go to bed. How's Max supposed to get along with that pair? Full review...
When I Am Happiest by Rose Lagercrantz and Eva Eriksson
If Dani leaves her school for the summer holidays with one souvenir, it will either be the memories of the fabulous friendship she formed with Ella, who struck a chord in book one then moved away, or it will be a book she has written and compiled to remind her of all the happiness she has encountered along the way. That is not quite finished, for the following day is to be the great end of year party, and her classroom decorations are complete and her dress has been bought new specially. But not all of life is happiness and jollity – and Dani is removed from the classroom to face very bad news. What ending is in store, for her book and for ours? Full review...
Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild
Ballet Shoes tells the story of three adopted orphans – Pauline, Petrova and Posy Fossil. Brought to 1930s London as babies by an eccentric explorer (Great Uncle Matthew, otherwise known as Gum), the girls have a comfortable life until the family begin to run out of money. Luckily they are all given places at the Children's Academy of Dancing and Stage Training and soon start to earn their own way as child performers on the stage. Full review...
Clash of the Rival Robots (Adventures of the Steampunk Pirates) by Gareth P Jones
We learn a lot about the world of the Steampunk Pirates in this volume of their adventures. While having had references to Britain fighting France before now, we find the location matters more than last time, as we head back to England. The Pirates have been told of a way to get into the Tower of London to steal the Crown Jewels. We also learn a lot about their upbringing, if you can call it that – certainly more than last time, as we see what made them piratical in the first place, which was a surprise to their inventor when it happened. But you never know, they may be about to face a showdown against said scientist – and, worse, his next generation of robots. If only they perhaps had been programmed to avoid temptation… Full review...
Catching Falling Stars by Karen McCombie
It is 1940 and after a year of the phoney war London is suffering in the Blitz. Glory and her younger brother Rich have now been evacuated to a country village far from everything they know and love. When the arrangements made by their mother fall through the children are sent to live with Miss Saunders, a cold and unwelcoming woman who is not popular in the village and Glory wonders if they would have been better off remaining in London despite the danger of falling bombs. The local children appear unfriendly and even in the countryside they are not completely safe from the enemy. All Glory wants is to return home to her parents but she will soon discover that her life is to change in unexpected ways and she will learn that her first impressions should not always be trusted. Full review...
Precious and the Zebra Necklace by Alexander McCall Smith
There is a new girl at Precious Ramotswe's school. Her name is Nancy, and Precious is asked to look after her and make sure she settles into school. Precious, already a budding detective at such a young age, soon sniffs out that there is a little bit of a mystery surrounding Nancy and on discovering that all Nancy has left of her parents is a fading photograph and a zebra necklace she decides that she must try to help Nancy discover the truth about what happened to them. Full review...
Binny in Secret by Hilary McKay
Reading Binny in Secret was rather like that moment when, as a child, I discovered that Noel Streatfield had written a LOT of other shoe books or, just a few years ago, when I suddenly discovered Jeanne Birdsall and her Penderwick stories, and I gorged on them, utterly delighting in their humour and kindness. I don't quite know how I haven't come across Hilary McKay before, but of course now a long list of her books have gone onto my 'to read' pile because I thoroughly enjoyed this story and I immediately wanted more! Full review...
The Disappearing Dinner Lady (Mariella Mystery) by Kate Pankhurst
Mariella has to admit it: the school dinners have been much better lately. When Big G was in charge, vegetable mush was the order of the day, but since the 'Ladies Who Lunch' agency have been supplying the meals, they have been serving up heavenly dishes like 'Monday Munchie Madness', 'Princess Pie' and 'Pirate Pasta Bake'. The mystery girls love the new menu, but even more than that, they love the new dinner lady, Diana Dumpling. When Diana goes missing in mysterious circumstances, Mariella and her friends are on the case to discover what really happened to their favourite dinner lady. Full review...
The Secret of the Blue Glass by Tomiko Inui and Ginny Tapley Takemori (translator)
One problem with being four inches or so tall, as any Borrower-type creature I'm sure will tell you, is getting around. There're the impracticalities of being so small, encounters with cats, and a whole lot more. But with this modern world things can happen – such as an English governess-type taking a married couple of Little People to Japan with her. There they have kids, and she leaves them with her favourite pupil – alongside the most necessary equipment, a small blue glass goblet, that helps the human bond with the Little People by using it to donate milk to them on a daily basis. We're now into the second generation of Japanese people looking after them, but something much more threatening, all-enveloping and worrying than a cat is around the corner – World War Two. Full review...
In Their Shoes: Fairy Tales and Folktales
Lots of books have, in their own way, shown fairy tales to have relied on certain tropes. You certainly don't have to read them all, or indeed many, to see the wily child outsmart the adult again and again, people tricked into changing ownership of magical things, the power of being a stepmother, or the power of doing things in threes. Still, I think this must be one of a very rare few collections to look at footwear as a theme, with a tidy, small selection of fairy and folk-tales to entertain, all with that subject. Full review...
Meet at the Ark at Eight! by Ulrich Hub, Jorg Muhle and Helena Ragg-Kirkby (translator)
An educated penguin, an agnostic penguin and a violent, smaller, young penguin walk into a snowdrift… You might not be able to make a full joke out of that opening line, but this book practically does continue on from there. Three penguins – each a little different from the other, even if they generally look and definitely smell the same, and God, a subject of their conversation when a butterfly comes along, of all things. The young, hot-headed one (well, in the pictures he wears a woolly hat, he's bound to be hot-headed) leaves in umbrage, leaving just two – which is perfectly timed if you're a dove, and come along telling all the animals to get into Noah's Ark in pairs, as an almighty flood is about to happen… Full review...
The Diary of Dennis the Menace: Canine Carnage (book 5) by Steven Butler
I'm sure Dennis the Menace has a hate-hate relationship with school, but the nature of it is relevant when considering these books. The fact he goes at all is the cause for them in the first place – he originally was tasked with writing a journal as homework, and turned it into a menacing manual for us, his readers. But if he paid attention there he might realise £1,000 is not quite enough to build his own, self-aggrandising theme park, even if he manages to employ the bummy, booky, wimpy types behind the scenes. The grand sum is what Dennis intends to win when The Fame Factor TV talent show hits town. That, as we can easily foretell, is going to be very menacingly interesting, but that's not the site of the titular carnage – for that we have to rely on an unusual sleep-over… Full review...
