'''Read [[Features|new features]].'''
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{{newreview
|author=Nicole Snitselaar and Coralie Saudo
|title=Little Grey Donkey
|rating=4.5
|genre=For Sharing
|summary=Little Grey Donkey lives on a small island in the middle of the big blue sea. As he is the only inhabitant on the island things could possibly get quite lonely for him. They do not, however, because he has a friend called Serafina, a small girl who rows across the ocean every day in order to play with him. One day though, the little girl does not come and visit and little Grey Donkey is sad. He waits all that day, and many more days to come, but she does not appear. Eventually he is so worried about his friend that he decides to go and find her even if that means going on a tricky journey. The path is narrow and terribly steep; he is scared of going in a boat and he is worried that the rusty brown lift might fall or get stuck. However, each time that he feels afraid, he thinks of Serafina and that spurs him on until eventually he finds her and realises that she has been ill. She is so pleased to see him and that makes everything that he has been through worth while.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1849562458</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Benjamin Mandelkern
|summary=Alex is worried about Grandad. So is the rest of the family. It started with a lot of small things, things that Alex can help him with, like lost keys and glasses. Last night though, Grandad set fire to his pillow. Alex has hidden it, but knows that this is dangerous, and it can't stay a secret for long. Grandad has Alzheimers, and Mum and Dad are thinking of putting him in an old people's home. He is also worried that 'big brother' Leonard knows what has happened and will give them both away.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1407120522</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Philip Ardagh
|title=Grubtown Tales: When Bunnies Turn Bad
|rating=4.5
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=This book is a lesson in never assuming anything you shouldn't. Just because Jilly Cheeter and Mango Claptrap are on the cover, don't assume it isn't about a lad called Failing Toucan instead - because if you did, you'd be wrong. While on the subject of the noteworthy names used throughout Grubtown, never assume to know the gender of someone called Asphalt Nosegay. And just because it's called When Bunnies Turn Bad, and has lots of rabbits on the cover and throughout, don't assume it isn't about the dangerous and tangled task of taking a chimp back to the old folks' home where he lives.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0571272363</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Andrew Miller
|title=Pure
|rating=4
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=I've read Miller's ''Oxygen'' and ''The Optimists'' so I was looking forward to reading this novel. The story opens in the opulence of the Palace of Versailles. We are given vivid descriptions of both the scale of the palace and its grandeur. Jean-Baptiste Baratte, the young engineer, seems completely over-awed by the whole occasion. Even although he's not entirely sure what is expected of him in Paris, he accepts. He needs to eat, after all.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444724258</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Franny Billingsley
|title=Chime
|rating=3.5
|genre=Teens
|summary=Briony is a witch. She's ready to be hanged 'now, please.' She's an engaging and captivating central character struggling to cope with the death of her beloved stepmother and looking after her slightly deranged twin sister Rose. And she can talk to the Old Ones, a crew of supernatural spirits who are best compared to ghostly rejects from 'Cold Comfort Farm'. Chime is in turns beguiling, frustrating, enjoyable and annoying.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0747583811</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Anne Enright
|title=The Forgotten Waltz
|rating=4
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=Anne Enright's 2007 Booker prize winning [[The Gathering by Anne Enright|The Gathering]] addressed the gloomy subjects of the three D's; death, depression and dysfunctional families. Her latest book, ''The Forgotten Waltz'', set in Dublin in 2009, sees her turning her attentions to a love affair. A more uplifting subject you might think. Well only up to a point. The affair in question you see is that of her narrator, Gina, who is already married to the generally good, if undynamic, Connor, while on the other end, the subject of the affair is the older, Seán, also married and neighbour of Gina's sister. In case your moral compass isn't stretched quite enough by this, Seán and his wife Aileen, also have a young daughter who suffers from epilepsy.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>022408903X</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Gordon Volke and Fenix
|title=Hullabaloo!
|rating=5
|genre=For Sharing
|summary=In 'Hullabaloo!' the reader meets a host of animals that all seem intent on making a huge amount of noise. First, there is a donkey named Drew who is soon joined by a cockatoo who squawks out 'Boo!' There are also twin chimps called Daisy and Maisy enjoying their tea as well as hopping bunnies, a calf called Cassie (who moos a lot), downy ducklings, a kangaroo with her little joey, as well as many many more. As you can imagine, when they all get together they make an incredible hullabaloo as they get up to their varied antics. It's a great deal of fun and is a story that builds in such a way that it will really appeal to young children.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1849563055</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Alison Weir, Kate Williams, Sarah Gristwood and Tracy Borman
|title=The Ring and the Crown: A History of Royal Weddings 1066-2011
|rating=4
|genre=History
|summary=The Ring and the Crown is a look at almost a thousand years of royal weddings, at how they've changed and how, in many ways, they've remained the same. Generally the weddings are of kings, queens or heirs to the throne but sometimes there's a glimpse of how the minor royals have managed their nuptials. The book is lavishly illustrated and is probably as un-put-downable as anything which is basically a history book.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0091943779</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Leila Aboulela
|title=Lyrics Alley
|rating=4
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=The front cover photograph is eye-catching and lovely and has the appeal of saying to potential readers - read me. The book's title is both poetic and enigmatic. I was keen to get reading but before I could, I'm faced with a page listing the ''Principal Characters'' and another page setting out the Abuzeid family tree. It did put me off slightly, I have to admit. I tend to think that with a modern, average-paged work of fiction a list of characters is well, a list too far. So, yes, for the first couple of chapters I was constantly flicking back and forth to remind myself who everyone was. Not so good for those lazy readers out there, I'm thinking.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0297860097</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Isaiah Berlin
|title=Enlightening: Letters 1946 - 1960
|rating=4
|genre=Autobiography
|summary=Isaiah Berlin wrote in tribute to the memory of Dorothy de Rothschild of her personality, '…overwhelming charm, great dignity, a very lively sense of humour, pleasure in the oddities of life, an unconquerable vitality and a kind of eternal youth and an eager responsiveness to all that passed…' Reading this second volume of letters, now available in paperback, covering Berlin's most creative period, these same characteristics might be aptly applied to Sir Isaiah himself. However, as this most self-aware of intellectuals recognised, his loquacity and compulsive socialising were driven by a persistent need to escape a sense of unreality, an inner void. In these letters he writes, 'my quest for gaiety is a perpetual defence against the extreme sense of the abyss by which I have been affected ever since I can remember myself…'
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1844138348</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Moira Young
|title=Blood Red Road
|rating=5
|genre=Teens
|summary=
Saba has lived in the desolation surrounding the dried-up Silverlake for all of her eighteen years. The family has just one neighbour - a chaal addict, so not exactly sociable - so Saba's only companions are her father, her twin brother Lugh, and younger sister Emmi. Saba worships Lugh, resents Emmi for their mother's death in childbirth, and is confused by her father, who believes he can read the future in the stars. But it's all she knows and as long as Lugh is close, she's happy enough.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1407124250</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Gill Lewis
|title=Sky Hawk
|rating=4.5
|genre=Teens
|summary=Rob and Euan want to chase Iona McNair off Callum's farm. She's newly returned to the village, staying with her grandfather, her mother nowhere to be seen. It's a close community and rumours abound - and Iona is a bit of a pariah amongst the children. But something about her draws Callum in and Iona returns the favour by trusting him with her deepest secret: she's found an osprey's nest high above the loch and she's desperate to protect the endangered birds. And so the two of them forge a friendship as they try to keep Iris and her mate out of harm's way.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0192756230</amazonuk>
}}
