Two-Minute Christmas Stories
Retold by Elena Pasquali
Illustrated by Nicola Smee
Lion £7.99
ISBN: 978-0745963297
A message of peace and goodwill
at Christmastide runs through every page of this appealing book. As the title
suggests it is a collection of ten short Christmas stories, gently retold,
which includes the Nativity story taken from the Gospels as well as tales and
legends displaying a variety of Christmas traditions from around the world. The
large text and the playful illustrations on every page make this the ideal book
for the young reader to dip into.
Sinead & Martin Kromer
The Snow Bear
Written by Holly Webb
Stripes £7.99
ISBN: 978-1847152558
It is a few days before Christmas
but Sara feels lonely and left out, staying with Grandad as Mum is expecting.
To cheer her up Grandad builds her an igloo in the garden with a snow bear to
guard her. Whilst it is still dark she wakes up in a magical world with a polar
bear cub as companion. What has happened and how will she get back to Grandad?
Another tender and gentle story for young readers from the pen of a
best-selling author.
Sinead & Martin Kromer
The
Hundred-Mile-an-Hour Dog Goes for Gold!
Written by Jeremy Strong
Illustrated by Rowan Clifford
Puffin (eB) £5.99
ISBN: 978-0141339962
Another addition to the plethora
of books with a sporting theme and by the end of the year there will be enough
of them to fill an Olympic Library. But maximising commercial opportunities
does not make a story poor, and Jeremy Strong has created a lively and enduring
duo in 10 year old Trevor and his dog Streaker. They have that special
child-pet relationship that will resonate with those of us lucky enough to have
been brought up with animals in the family (and before people start picturing
that unappealing cousin or pestering sibling, I do mean real animals, not
metaphorical ones). The Animal Games are coming to town, and Trevor wants
Streaker to shine. He has high hopes for the Doggie Frisbee competition, but
Streaker does not have the soul of a dedicated athlete as he would rather play
than train. It is a humorous story with a surprisingly complicated plot: it has
a bully, a criminal hypnotist, and even a bit of (unrequited) love interest in
the form of Tina, Trevor’s close and ever-hopeful friend.
Ingrid Fox
Guinea Pigs Online
Written by Amanda Swift and Jennifer Gray
Quercus (eB) £4.99
ISBN: 978-0857389909
Marianne Adey
Alien Invaders 7: Junket - The
Flying Menace
Written by David Sinden, Guy Macdonald and Matthew Morgan
(a.k.a. Max Silver)
Illustrated by Nikalas Catlow
Red Fox (eB) £4.99
ISBN: 978-1849412360
Everything about this book will
appeal. It has a vibrant, garish cover showing Cosmo, our hero, defeating an
enormous alien robot and inside there are similar black and white sketches to
illustrate the story. Cosmo Santos is an earthling agent who is on a mission in
space and must save the galaxy from Kaos and the metallicon agents. The
chapters are short, the font is large, and the plot is action packed. Inside the cover there are glossy gaming
cards to cut out and keep, or swap, giving information about the aliens. The book is also supported by a “top secret”
website with competitions, games and videos.
Ingrid Fox
Shadows under the Sea
Written by Sally Grindley
ISBN: 978-1408819449
This is Sally Grindley’s second
book about Joe and Aesha who accompany their parents to exotic locations to
help protect endangered species. In this book they travel to the Philippines
where the children’s father has been invited to photograph seahorses in their
natural environment to help raise awareness that these beautiful creatures are
under threat. The Seahorse project is working in the area trying to persuade
the local human population to protect the seahorses and their coral reef home.
While on the island Joe becomes friendly with Dario, a local boy, and together
they try to thwart a gang carrying out illegal blast fishing. There is a lot of
information woven into this story and young readers will learn a lot about
seahorses, life in the Philippines
and the many uses of seaweed. The point is also made that in the poorer parts
of the world people often carry on with illegal fishing practices simply
because they need to feed their families. There is plenty to think about in
this book and it would appear that there are more titles to come in this series,
which is being produced in conjunction with the London Zoo.
Jan Lennon
The Clumsies Make a Mess of
the School
Written by Sorrel Anderson
Illustrated by Nicola Slater
Harper Collins (eB) £4.99
ISBN: 978-0007438679
Although it sounds great fun to
have talking mice and a small elephant living in your office, Howard Armitage
would disagree. The Clumsies; eating-obsessed Mickey Thompson, his friend
Purvis, along with Ortrud the elephant, try hard to keep mild-mannered Howard
out of trouble with bullying boss Mr. Bullerton. Unfortunately for
Howard, their help causes nothing but chaos. In this story, the fifth of the
series, Mr. Bullerton decides to be guest of honour at the local school’s
sports day and sends Howard along to make the arrangements. However, with
the ‘help’ of the Clumsies, by the time Mr. Bullerton arrives, the school is
partially flooded, the children’s lunches have all been eaten and Howard finds
himself taking part in all of the races. In this madcap tale each page is
a joy with amusing illustrations effectively mixed in with photographs. There
is an interesting use of typefaces for specific words - adding emphasis and
often becoming part of the illustration.
Jane Hall
The Sprite Sisters: The Boy
with Hawk-like Eyes
Written by Sheridan
Winn
Sheridan Winn (eB)
£7.99
ISBN: 978-0957164802
Each of the Sprite sisters has a
magical power related to one of the four elements – earth, water, fire or air.
The girls’ magic must be kept secret and used only for good. In this book, the sixth in the series, Ariel
harnesses her power of Air to learn to fly and uses it to save her family
threatened by an invasion from insect-like creatures. This is a book for those who enjoy mystery,
fantasy and adventure. The story is pacy
and the characters – 21st century Famous Fivers.
Ingrid Fox
Shrinking Violet
Written by Lou Kuenxler
Scholastic £5.99
ISBN: 978-1407130040
Violet has just achieved her
life’s ambition because, at last, she is tall enough to ride the Plunger!!
However, just as she reaches the head of the queue, she shrinks to fish finger
size! Sadly, the family don’t actually see this happen and are totally
mystified about where she has gone. After some frightening encounters with an
earthworm, a rat and a rubbish bin, Violet finally returns to her normal size.
As she is quite unable to control either the shrinking or the re-growing, this
is a skill that Violet would definitely prefer NOT to have! However, when her
Granny is accused of stealing from the other residents in her care home, Violet
desperately wants to find out the secret of how to control her shrinking, so
that she can uncover the real thief; and finally, she does! This is a really
good, fast moving story, very funny at times, but with moments of pathos. It is
full of memorable characters, good, bad and all shades in between and it
certainly has a very satisfactory ending.
Pat Thompson
Dark Lord: A Fiend in Need
Written by Jamie Thomson
Illustrated by: Freya Hartas
Orchard (eB) £5.99
ISBN: 978-1408315125
A Fiend in Need is the
second in the devilishly funny Dark Lord series. The first book ended
with the Dark Lord (now in the body of Dirk, a 13-year-old boy) trying to
return to “the Darklands”, but the spell went wrong, sending his Goth friend
Sooz there instead. This book opens with Sooz settling into her new role as
Dark Queen, redecorating the Dark
Tower
Jane Hall
The World of Norm: May contain
nuts
Written and illustrated by Jonathan Meres
Orchard (eB) £5.99
ISBN: 978-1408313039
The World of Norm: May cause Irritation
Written and illustrated by Jonathan Meres
Orchard (PB) £5.99
ISBN: 978-1408313046
Norm thinks the world is against
him! In the first two of this hilarious new series, nearly 13 year old Norm gets
up to all sorts of scrapes and scams, but usually falls flat on his face. Even his 7 year old brother can out-scam
him! Norm uses his best friend and naïve
perfect cousin to his advantage, but comes a cropper against the devious girl
next door. Meres is a multi-talented
author, script writer, stand-up comic and actor. His Norm books are very entertaining and
infectious for their pace and wit. Text,
fonts, and illustrations are creatively deployed on every page. Even the most reluctant reader will be drawn
to the world of Norm.
Dave Chant
What Holly Did
Written by Joan Lingard
Catnip £5.99
ISBN: 978-1846471568
Joan Lingard triumphs again with
this sequel to her story “What to do about Holly”. Holly’s parents have
separated, with Mum living in Glasgow and Dad living in Edinburgh . Mum, together with her scary
boyfriend, are far from responsible and reliable and so Holly has come to live
with dependable Dad, but that doesn’t stop her worrying about her Mum. This is
a heart-rending story about a young girl suffering separation and loneliness
whilst longing for security and stability.
Sinead & Martin Kromer
Kensuke’s
Kingdom
Written by Michael
Morpurgo
Egmont (R) £5.99
ISBN:
978-1405264259
The stage and screen adaptations of War Horse may have brought Michael
Morpurgo to a global audience, but this story of a boy shipwrecked at sea and
washed up on a Pacific island still ranks as one of his best books. The complex
relationship between the young lad and Kensuke has been compared to Crusoe and
Friday in Defoe’s masterpiece. Kensuke (pronounced Kensky) teaches the boy how
to survive so that he too becomes part of a paradise with its orang-utans,
gibbons, palm trees, shells and caves. But where did the old man come from and
why is he so afraid of leaving the island? Also, if the boy cannot abandon the
thought of ever finding his parents again is he condemned to a life waiting for
a ship to rescue him? Perhaps the message of the book is best summed up in
Kensuke’s words “Life must not be spent always hoping, always waiting. Life is
for living.”
Richard
Monte
Raven Mysteries 6:
Diamonds and Doom
Written by Marcus Sedgwick
Illustrated by Pete Williamson
Orion Books
£9.99
ISBN: 978-1842556986
The story starts
with an extract from “Solstice’s completely secret and totally private diary”
and from this we learn that Edgar the Raven has gone missing and, totally
horrifyingly, Castle Otherhand is up for sale as the family has run out of
money. Thankfully, Edgar does return, but saving the castle is not easy and
Solstice’s attempt to find the fabulous lost treasure by casting a spell
doesn’t actually seem to help at all. In fact, Solstice’s spell has a series of
hilarious consequences such as a snowstorm appearing in the gallery above the
small hall, all the stairs from the first floor to the ground floor turning to
raspberry jelly and all sorts of strange creatures appearing inside and outside
the castle. It seems Marcus Sedgwick’s imagination knows no bounds! Obviously
fans of this series will love this book, but even if you haven’t read the
earlier stories, this is still a hugely enjoyable read and Pete Williamson’s
wonderfully gothic black and white illustrations add yet another dimension to
the fun. I am sure that any reader new to the series will want to go back and
read all the earlier books having laughed their way through this one.
Jan Lennon
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