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[[Category:New Reviews|Confident Readers]] __NOTOC__<!-- Remove -->{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Jane Kerr1836285493|title=The Elephant ThiefDouble Life of a Wheelchair User|author=Rob Keeley

|genre= Confident Readers|summary= In 1872 Maharajah the elephant was sold at auction in Edinburgh to Will is a keen player of video games, a conscientious student, a slightly annoying brother and a zoo ownersupportive friend. But most of all, he is an aspiring writer. Shortly after boarding the train to English is his favourite lesson at his new home school, Marlowe Park, and one at which he destroyed the train carriage excels. This hasn't gone unnoticed by his headteacher, Mrs Howarth, and she has suggested to Will and his new owner then decided mum that they would walk to he spends a couple of afternoons a week at a different school, Station Road, where his new home in Manchesterability might be better extended. }}{{Frontpage|isbn= 1836282028|title=The journey was Fighting Spirit|author=Rob Keeley|rating=4|genre=Confident Readers|summary=''Would you like to adopt a ghost?'' ''Young spirit, born 1887, seeks kind home to take them ten dayshaunt. Gentleman by birth. Good company. Gets on well with other children. Jokes and shocks a speciality. Jane Kerr has used this event as '' ''If interested, place outside your home three twigs, in the inspiration for her debut novel for children that tells shape of an arrow, pointing to your front door...'' Hooray! Bookbag favourite Rob Keeley is celebrating a decade of his wonderfully entertaining [[Rob Keeley's ''Spirits'' series in Chronological Order|Spirits]] series with a story new adventure that is excitingboth a reboot and a continuation. Just like Doctor Who, Edward Fitzberranger, our incorrigible Victorian ghost boy, has some new companions. Ruby and Jayden respond to this intriguing advertisement and Edward, compelling who has broken the rules as usual and ultimately very movingabsconded from his manor house home, is adopted by them and takes up residence in.... |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1910655759</amazonuk>a wardrobe!

{{newreviewFrontpage|author= Joshua KhanRob Keeley|title= Dream MagicChildish Spirits: 10th anniversary special edition|rating= 54|genre= Confident Readers|summary= ItAround here, we're big fans of children's author Rob Keeley. He's great to welcome our old friends back in thisa ball of happy positivity, he understands children, the second of and he writes for their adventurespleasure and enjoyment, even though we know it means theynot to lecture or hector.  The ''Childish Spirits''ll be going through all sorts series is one of terrors and dangers once more as they battle not one but two enemies bent on destroying Gehennahis greatest achievements. Lady Lilith Shadow may be the sole heir to her country, but sheIt's still just a sequence of ghost stories centring on Ellie, a stalwart young girl and therefore expected to do nothing more useful than marry some feeble-witted prince to forge an alliance who can cope with a stronger kingdom. Her friend Thornanything the spirit world throws at her, on the other handand Edward, is a peasant boy from a neighbouring country with a talent for getting into scrapes spoiled lordling and an absolutely wonderful giant bat he uses to travel round on (when the bat's in the mood to be helpful, that is). Together they make a great team. first spirit Ellie encounters|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1407172093</amazonuk>1783064617

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Elena Favilli and Francesca CavalloMax Boucherat|title=Good Night Stories for Rebel GirlsThe Last Life of Lori Mills

|genre=Children's Non-Fiction Confident Readers|summary=ItWe meet Lori on the first evening she's been said very often that 'history is told by got the winners'. Wellhouse to herself – no neighbour to pop in, babysitter poorly, too often historymother at work, the news and even destinies are written by menjust an avidly rule-breaking eleven year old, and the proof is between these coverson her lonesome. I didn't know anything about this before reading itWhat could possibly go wrong? Snuggled in a blanket fort, even if it she has become the most richly-backed crowd-funded book ever. I'd never heard of the Hollow Flashlightone main intention, powered purely by body warmth – which and that is rich if you're old enough to remember log on to Voxminer, the brouworld-habuilding, critter-ha when collecting game that is a maverick British bloke did a wind-up radiohit in Lori's world. I'd never read about the Niger female who But first Lori has successfully made a stand against forcedtiny inkling that this stormy night doesn't find herself entirely on her own, arranged marriage, rejecting a cousin for a fate and then she wishes to write for herselffinds something even more spooky. My ignorance may, perhaps, show me up to be a chauvinist of sorts, but I think it is further evidence that 'For the gaze is male' server she and her bestie and that the media are phallocentric. I hope too that this book doesn't turn any nobody else should be able to enter shows signs of its readers into a feminist, for that would be as bad as the chauvinist charge against metampering. If anything it is designed to create equalsWhen malevolent eyes spark up on her phone screen, and that is as it should beher safe place in the game has been doctored – well, even if there where is still a long way girl to go…turn?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>014198600X</amazonuk>0008666482

{{newreviewFrontpage|titleauthor=Evie's GhostKieran Larwood and Joe Todd-Stanton|authortitle=Helen PetersDungeon Runners: Hero Trial

|summary=Evie Meet Kit. Like most of the people in his world, it seems, he is not happy. Not only has her mother disrupted their hitherto happy duo by getting marriedan avid fan of Dungeon Running – the sport where a team of warrior, mage and healer enter specially prepared, century-old, magical mazes, she has flown off on honeymoon with new husband Marcus and sent Evie off race to stay the exit, perhaps bothering with a godmother she hasnthe treasure or the big bad and the points they grant you along the way. Unfortunately for Kit, the only thing he't s seen for years and can barely remember. And if of the latest race on the inn TV equivalent is that weren't bad enoughone team has been retired, godmother Anna lives in a creaky old mansion miles from anywhereeaten, without such necessities as internet access and a mobile phone signalnew trio of questors is needed. Anna doesn Possibly very unfortunately indeed for Kit, he has taken to the goading from the token bully of his world and stumbled into declaring he't even own ll enter as a televisionteam. What chance does this friendless, for heavens sake.muscle-free-zone have in actually managing that, and how could he possibly hope to succeed?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0857638424</amazonuk>1839945184

{{newreviewFrontpage|author= Sarah DriverJames Sherwood Metts|title= The Huntress: SeaPlanet Storyland|rating= 4.5|genre= Confident Readers|summary= Feisty heroines who refuse to accept Things have been a bit sticky for the limitations set on them by men abound in literature at the moment – which is all to the good – Earthlings. AI and thirteen-year-old Mouse is no exception. She lives a precarious but happy life on the ''Huntress'' with her one-eyed grandmaautomation have been proceeding apace, who is the shipoften replacing jobs they's captain, re paid to do and her little brother Sparrowother tasks that took time to accomplish. Their tribe worships the whales Just as godsthey were beginning to get used to all this technological change and starting to think of other, new ways to spend time, protecting along came an awful pandemic. Life was pretty much shut down and working together , along with them to defeat the vicious and bloodthirsty terrodylsit, and despite her young age Mouse is already a gifted diver for all the pearls many daily social interactions on which they trade for fooddepend so heavily. |amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1405284676</amazonuk>1736128426

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Tom Percival|title=The Wrong Shoes|rating=5|genre=Confident Readers|summary=Will's life is difficult, in a multitude of ways. He is bullied because he has 'the wrong shoes', he has the wrong shoes because his dad can't work and doesn't have enough money for even the most basic of things like food, and his dad can't work because he lost his job at the college, was working a cash-in-hand job on a building site and had an accident. Throw into that mix the fact that his mum and dad are separated, and Will's life seems bleak in every direction. And yet, he still has a tiny amount of hope. He is good at art, and clings to the moments of joy when he is drawing, that feel like a light at the end of a long, dark tunnel.|isbn=1398527122}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1805141872|title=Stargazing The Teacher Who Knew Too Much|author=Rob Keeley|rating=4.5|genre=Confident Readers|summary=''Seventeen banks and a jeweller’s have been raided. The police are baffled, but only Ben knows the truth – his Maths teacher, Miss Judson, is really a safecracker! With police and her gangster boyfriend Al on their trail, Miss Judson and Ben go on the run. But Al needs them for one last job...'' Goodness me, that Miss Judson is a terror! How on earth did a nice teacher like her manage to get mixed up with a bad 'un like Al? We'll find out. Luckily for BeginnersMiss Judson, the pupil who discovers her terrible secret is Ben, the son of a famous magician who has ambitions to be as good as his father some day, and who thinks Miss Judson is worth saving}}{{Frontpage|author=Jenny McLachlanChristopher Edge|title=Black Hole Cinema Club

|genre=TeensConfident Readers|summary=Meg loves spaceLucas and his friends are all booked in for a movie marathon at their local cinema, a place that has the nickname of 'The Black Hole'. And when we say Meg loves space All big movie fans, they're looking forward to lots of exciting films, and many, many snacks! However, as the movie starts, they very quickly realise that something about this doesnnew film format is very different, and they are swept up into an adventure they couldn't quite explain how much Meg loves spaceeven imagine. Meg loves all things space But as they lurch from one film genre to the exclusion of almost everything else. She has a space mural in her bedroom. She belongs to a stargazing club with her grandfather. She next, can they figure out what on earth is determined going on? Will they ever get back to become an astronaut one day. And she dreams of winning a competition that will earn her a place on a trip the cinema, and to NASA in Houston. their real lives?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1408879751</amazonuk>1839942738

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Ryan Tubridy Adam Stower|title=Murray and P J LynchBun|titlerating=4.5|genre=Confident Readers |summary=Patrick Murray is supposed to be a humble, tidy and friendly cat, one who is able to sleep and eat and eat and sleep and, well, whatever takes his fancy next of the two. But he's a bad magician's cat, so his favourite bun has been turned into a hyperactive sticky rabbit called Bun, and the Presidentcatflap they both use can chuck them out, not into the regular back garden, but into a world of frightening adventure and whiffs. This time round it drops them into a Viking land, where a troll hunter is expected – well, one much bigger than Murray was, to be honest, but he's turned up and he'll have to do…|isbn=0008561249}}{{Frontpage|author=Alex Bell and Tim McDonagh|title=The Glorious Race of Magical Beasts

|genre=Emerging Confident Readers |summary=Meet PatrickEli is a busy lad – by day an apprentice in the wondrous library we start by visiting with him, and in the evening a helper at the dessert cafe his gran owns and runs. Such a direction Eli lives with his lovely gran, too – for there is a little facetious heregeneration missing in the family. A few short years ago, because itEli's who ''he's'' going parents were both lost to the titular race, a globe-trotting adventure where all entrants have to meet that's navigate the world in the keycompany of a magical beast. He lives in New Ross, County Wexford, and his school This has been chosen made the race anathema to perform as the pair – but when a choir for bad incident at the much-anticipated arrival of President J F Kennedyeatery leads to a confession from gran, Eli knows his only hope is to dare to enter what he most hates, as with the man traces sole aim the path prize of his Irish ancestry, in what (in addition to stop-overs in England and Italy on magic at the end – the same trip) was only thing to be possibly save his last state visit abroadgran. But surely just being one among three hundred on such an auspicious, yet brief, occasion is not enough for such an enterprising lad? Well, no, for his connected parents have got another trick up their sleeve for him…|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1406366927</amazonuk>0571382231

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Matt ForbeckHelen Cooper|title=Star Wars: Rogue One: Junior NovelThe Taming of the Cat

|summary=The bad thing about bad people is they keep on getting worseOnce again, mice are pitched against cat. The Empire has done so much evilIn this case, principally, we have Brie the mouse, but theyup against Gorgonzola the cat – and in case you're finding new depths – seeing a connection, they've managed live in a cheese shop and therefore all the names used here seem to get enough be the names of a special kind of crystal to power a new planetcheeses. Anyway, Brie is shunned, scorned and, if you must, mous-shattering weapontracised, for the Death Starway his habits don't match the other mice he lives with. The Rebel Alliance, such They nibble up paper wrapping from the cheese for bedding – he displays it as art and makes stories based on the visuals on it is. And that story-telling will come in handy one night, have found when he feels all alone and cast out this is no mere rumour. It's almost as if there were another character from fable who had had to tell stories to keep themselves alive. This makes Brie the top dog in the mouse community, though, courtesy of word from as all the others had the chance to half-inch some cheese while the cat was distracted. But will the story have the horsesuccessful sequel it needs when that cheese runs out?|isbn=0571376010}}{{Frontpage|author=Lauren St John|title=Finding Wonder|rating=4|genre=Confident Readers|summary=Roo's mouth life has become almost impossibly difficult. Her mum died when she was young, and now she finds herself awoken in the shape middle of an escaped Imperial pilot, and news the night by the police banging on her door to tell her that her dad has followed it that could inspire them dropped dead on his way to the corner shop to fight backbuy a lottery ticket. When asked what other family she has, she can only name her aunt, Joni, who she knows her dad didn't think very highly of a potential set of plans showing a flaw in the weapon's construction. But she has no one else, and so off she goes to live with the search her unreliable aunt. Things continue to get worse for the plans going to be so dangerousRoo, as when she and with anything that might result from them going to be such a hare-brained responseJoni leave London in Joni's old campervan, how dare they possibly commit any it breaks down in the middle of their limited resources on even getting them?nowhere and then bursts into flames! Poor Roo!|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1405285680</amazonuk>0571376169

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Meurig Bowen, Rachel Bowen Adam Baron and Daniel FrostBenji Davies|title=The School of MusicOscar's Lion

|genre=Children's Non-FictionConfident Readers|summary=I We start incredibly bluntly, with Oscar hoping to have his mother – or father, but mother is more likely – read him his very favourite book a love/hate relationship with musiccouple of times before he has to be ready for school. I love it in that I own several large bookshelves full of CDsBut when he enters his parents' bedroom, and have seen and met quite all he sees is a few noted performersmahoosive male lion on their bed, from Radiohead to Philip Glasslooking sheepish, but I hate it in and admitting that as regards making he won't be hungry for another two days. But there are benefits to having a lion around – it I can only hit things (and be shown as an unspoken threat to the bully that only with my hands, never with my feet at ruined a birthday party for Oscar the same time)other month. Only in the last few years have people been at all appreciative of my singing, for want of a better wordAnd it can shapeshift, so he can take it to school and one it can get him out of those suggested closing my eyes to sound better (I think she also may have plugged her ears when I wasn't looking). That from a kid who was lumbered with something big and brass to lumber about on the school bus with, dammitproblem. But hey, whatAnd it's wonderful to have around the use of my own example being so off-puttinghouse – not limiting his biscuit intake, when there is a world of pleasure, mental and physical exercise and fun to be had from being active in music? This book, dressed as much more lax about the lesson programme of a full-on, proper musical collegerules, is only designed to encourage and informso on. But does OK, it can't work a dimmer switch but it?can give Oscar a wonderful time.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1847808603</amazonuk>0008596751

{{newreviewFrontpage|author= Paul GallicoJudith Eagle|title= Thomasina|rating= 4.5|genre= Confident Readers|summary= A father and his six year old daughter, Mary MacDhui, are struggling to cope with the death of Mary’s mother. They move from Glasgow so that Mr MacDhui can take up a new job as Vet in a small Scottish seaside resort. Burying his head in a job he does not wholly love, Mr MacDhui spares his young daughter little time or attention, and she finds solace in her new friends and her beloved pet cat. Thomasina, a remarkable cat, drives the plot in this story, which Paul Gallico tells with heart breaking and emotional twists and turns.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0007395183</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Hilda Offen|title=Message from the MoonThe Stolen Songbird

|genre=Children's Rhymes and VerseConfident Readers|summary=YesCaro's mother, that is really a 'Message world-famous whistler, has failed to return home from the Moon' you receive courtesy her recent work trip abroad and is now missing. Her other mother, Ronnie, is having to go up North to take care of her sister who is unwell. So who is going to look after Caro? Sent to stay with Gam, someone Caro has heard her mother despises, she feels frustrated and confused and worried. All her summer holiday plans of building herself some equipment to practise her gymnastics are brought to a halt whilst she is stuck inside this bookstaid old Victorian lady's house, along with an orphan boy, Albie, who is living there too. You also get the point But she soon finds herself caught up in a mystery, as she discovers a painting of view of the sea itselfa bird hidden away inside her mum's old suitcase, as well as children seeing and all across London a fearsome gang called the city night from their bedroom window Snakes are thieving artworks and other terrorising people witnessing geese flying over, and you even get a message from a snail. The range of verses Is the painting somehow linked to the gang? And what has happened to Caro's mother? Is she somehow involved in this book is however but one of its many qualities…the mystery too?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1909991430</amazonuk>0571363148

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=M G Leonard Tania Unsworth|title=Beetle Queen Nowhere Island

|genre=Confident Readers |summary=A modern Cruella De Vil Meet Gil. Just twelve, he is so determined to escape the care system – only with beetles rather than Dalmatians the system that constantly puts him in futureless places that are not homes – Lucretia Cutter has and find a plan: a plan that will dramatically (home for himself. He is en route to yet another fosterer, when he jumps into an anonymous car, and theatrically) unleash her latest batch of genetically modified and highly intelligent beetleslets it ride him to his future. The consequences will That future seems to be devastating for mankind in jeopardy when someone steals his one bag of belongings – but few realise that someone lives with his brother in a camp on an island between the dangertwo directions of a motorway, a place inaccessible and definitely ignored enough to provide for their safety and seclusion. Luckily firm friends Darkus Them, Virginia and Bertolt have figured out that Lucretia Cutter a mute girl also finding a home there, albeit so much more successfully. Over a few weeks we see if their oddball destinies can combine, or if this is up to something one place where life as we would want it just would not work…|isbn=1804540080}}{{Frontpage|author=Helen Peters|title=Friends and Traitors|rating=3|genre=Confident Readers|summary=England, WW2. Two young girls are determined new at the country pile called Stanbrook. One is Nancy, destined to do whatever be in service all her life it seems, like the female generations before her. The other is Sidney, a girl from a hoity-toity Sussex boarding school that has been removed there away from bomber flight-paths. The girls are chalk and cheese, and if we hadn't guessed that then their behaviour with each other over their first encounters would only prove it takes to stop so. But something is amiss, and first separately and then in combination they realise the evil beetle divaLord Evesham must be a rum 'un. Midnight deliveries are received under cover of secrecy, talk is made of meetings with Germans, and not only that, a local Spitfire factory has been attacked. But surely the girls are wrong, and the upper class could never be so underhand?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1910002771</amazonuk>1788004647

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=W S MarkendaleJamie Littler|title=Owen PendragonArkspire|rating=3.54|genre=TeensConfident Readers|summary=Monsters Two sisters, Juniper and Elodie, born fifteen minutes apart, are slipping through somehow from somewhere growing to kidnap children in Cornwall be chalk and the army seems powerless to do anything about itcheese. 12-year-olds Owen Juniper is an eager hunter and Mary assume they too are therefore powerless as they watch friends and neighbours disappeartrader in illicit magic, including relics from prior major wars left out in the Badlands. Imagine their surprise when they realise that thanks Elodie is intent on getting closer to power in one of the religious districts of Arkspire, perhaps even to become the child in line to inherit the power of the Watcher, the closest to an ancient relativea ruler the district has, they have more influence on what happens than they think and not just on what happens on Earthone of the five major victors in said earlier war. And their distant relative? Being trained in the magic that only five people can use would definitely change the status of the whole family. The former monarch and head But in finding something oddly magical, Juniper might just be able to gain some power of the round tableher own – for good, or for very, no less: King Arthur.very bad…|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1524667579</amazonuk>0241586143

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Charlotte Guillain and Yuval Zommer024162343X|title=The Street Beneath My FeetStolen History|author=Sathnam Sanghera

|summary=It's one thing for a non-fiction book for I was the young to show them something they themselves can explore – the pattern of the stars, perhaps, or the life in their back yardbad company other people got into at school. But when it gets to things that are equally important to know about but are impossible to see I was disruptive in real life, why, then religious education classes because I disputed the game is changedexistence of a 'god'. The artistic imagination has to be key, in portraying Where was the invisibleproof? In history lessons, and presenting what can only come from the pages of a bookit was probably worse still. And this example does it at its best, as it delves into Not too long after the layers end of WWII, I didn't so much want to learn about the soil below said back yard, down British army's successes (and downoccasional failures, through all but we didn't dwell on those) in what came to be called 'the different kinds of rock, until we reach colonies' as want to dispute what right the unattainable centre of army had to be there in the planetfirst place. And there's only one way to go from there – Looking back out , I still believe I was right - but I regret that I lacked the other side, with yet more for us maturity to be shownapproach 'the problem' politely. ItI wish I'd had Sathnam Sanghera's a fantastic journey, then – and a quite fantastic volume''Stolen History''.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1784937312</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Matilda WoodsThiago de Moraes|title=The Boy, the Bird and the Coffin MakerOld Gods New Tricks

|summary=Alberto is a carpenterMeet Trixie. Forever getting into scrapes, larks and adventures involving flooding the very best in the town school aircon with fart powder, she could almost be thought a young goddess of Alloranuisance. But after just when she's being told that by her one-last-chance-giving headteacher, the plague sweeps through world changes. Suddenly, practically everything electronic stops working – a power-out, even of electric cars, hits not just the town, taking many of the citizens and Albertoschool's wife and children, he turns his skills away in but the entire planet (apart from furniture and toys to making coffins. Wrapped in sadnessmobile phones, and waiting only for all that powers the plague to come and claim his life tooInternet, Alberto lives alone, keeping company with the dead who are delivered to his house to await their coffinjust for our convenience's sake). One dayTrixie, howeverluckily, he realises that he must what has happened – the ancient Gods have a living visitor, as food starts to go missingtaken the power of power from us. He And so she begins her epic quest, to leave scraps of foodgather all the people that can steal it back – namely the characters from myth that have past form in stealing from the Gods, ie the semi-deities, giants, to try half-gods and discover who his mystery thief is…so on known as the tricksters.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1407178695</amazonuk>178845295X

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Brian MosesHannah Gold and Levi Pinfold|title=Lost Magic: The Very Best of Brian MosesFinding Bear|rating=4.5|genre=Children's Rhymes and VerseConfident Readers|summary=For a poet with the very memorable name of [[:Category:Brian MosesThe Last Bear by Hannah Gold|MosesLast time]], I have to admit never having come across it beforeApril had been on Bear Island, a lot further north than many people would venture, nor having knowingly read any of his worksand finding a ridiculously unexpected but delightful friendship with a polar bear – that she called Bear. This collection was Back home, things on the domestic and family front are a bit advanced, but not perfect place for me to come late to the partyher, as it takes and so can easily be ignored when word comes through from the author's own favourites from several previous anthologies of his, and adds new versesislands Bear was last left on. I read them with For a bear doing very little clue as to which was which – Bear-y things has been shot and certainly couldn't tell having finished the bookwounded. There is a lot here that will grab the young schoolchildDesperate to make sure he's OK, but she and her father return to the topics cover so much there really will be a universal appeal, meaning Arctic and hope that in a lot world of people will have a definite favourite from these pagesvery white and very dangerous things, even if she can find one specific white and dangerous thing – and that the author himself cannot decide…friendship can continue.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1509838767</amazonuk>0008582017

{{newreviewFrontpage|author= Bill Nye and Gregory MoneSimon Fox|title= Jack and the Geniuses 1: At the Bottom of the World|rating= 4.5|genre= Confident Readers|summary=It's tough being a genius. There are few, if any, people you can talk about your interests to, and words like ''nerd'', ''geek'' and ''boffin'' get bandied around by folk who somehow think it's your fault your cleverness makes them feel a bit dim. But how does it feel to be the one surrounded by such geniuses all day every day? Fortunately, Jack is a resilient sort, and his common sense approach to life is going to be essential if he, Ava and Matt are going to survive their trip to Antarctica. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1419723030</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Yuval Zommer|title=The Big Book of Beasts (Big Books)Deadlock

|summary=The [[Detective Gordon: The First Case by Ulf Nilsson Late one night Graham Blake is late back from his shift on the force, and Gitte Spee|last time]] we saw the toad called Detective Gordon at work then suddenly rings Archie, demanding he had fetch something from a mouse colleague in the forest police with himsecret place, and in fact the two were so close they often shared a bed in join him on the old prison cells togetherrun. But now Gordon has practically retiredThey get together, and but barely begin to smell the whiff of Southern trains when the mousefather is arrested, Police Chief Buffy, is doing all leaving Archie on the work herself. It's quite scary worklate express to Brighton, too, when something horridtoting a tin his father was determined to keep away from his colleagues, nasty and slightly smelling the bearer of toad is rootling around the police station at night. But when the two are together there's no stopping them, and any crime can be solved – which is probably a very good thing when not one but two whole heap of the forest babies go missing…questions.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1776571096</amazonuk>1839944420

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Kenneth Oppel and Jon KlassenCath Howe|title=The NestMy Life on Fire

|summary=Steven can narrate this book to usRen's family home is destroyed in a fire. She, her parents, but he can hardly ever mention the name of his newborn baby and her little brotherlose everything. ThatShe doesn's not down to a fault with Stevent have any of her clothes, although there are many or any of those – obsessive handher special little knick-washingknacks from her cupboard, nightmares, anxiety attacks. Itand now she is living at her grandmother's because therehouse where they can's something wrong with t touch anything, or do anything, or even eat the new addition foods they normally eat. When she goes back to school she discovers that the family. His parents mutter behind closed bedroom doors of regretting trying for class are doing a new child so late in lifespecial art project, but whatever the reason there is something demanding a lot creating boxes of medical care their lives, to display things that are important to them and attention, even if the child can more or less live in the family homeshow who they are as a person. But hope seems Ren has nothing to be shining a light into Steven from the most unlikely source – angels that come to visit him put in his dreams, from within a pleasant, light-filled havenbox, with full knowledge of the family's troubles and an offer of a way outso she finds herself starting to steal things. ObviouslySmall things, worried for the happiness of his familythings that people might not really miss, and knowing this is just a dream, Steven not when they have so much already. But what will only say yes happen to the offer of help…her if someone finds out what she is doing?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1910200875</amazonuk>1839942835

{{newreviewFrontpage|titleauthor=Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the WorldRob Keeley|authortitle=Rachel IgnotofskyThe Boy Who Disappeared and Other Stories|rating=54|genre=Children's Non-FictionConfident Readers|summary=''Women in Science'' takes fifty prominent women in STEM fields and celebrates their achievements. There are women from the ancient world and women working today. Each of them Hooray! Bookbag favourite Rob Keeley is given a double page spread including a stylised portrait and infoboxes back with factoids on one side and a page of text with a brief biography and outline of her achievements. These intrepid women are inspirational for their work and their discoveries but also for return to the barriers they overcame - barred from classes or employment because they were women or even barred from employment because they were black in racially segregated Americashort story format! The Boy Who Disappeared treats us to eleven new tales, each as fun to read as his previous offerings.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1526360519</amazonuk>B0BVW69N1G

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Heather Alexander and Andres LozanoLaura Noakes|title=Life on Earth: Farm: With 100 Questions and 70 Lift-flaps!Cosima Unfortunate Steals a Star

|genre=Children's Non-FictionConfident Readers|summary=I'm sure I was full of questions when I was a nipper – which means I was too full of questionsMeet Number One. Or rather, Cosima Unfortunate. Parents Or rather, just don't need Cos to her friends. The practice in the home she lives in is for the girls to just be deflecting questions all named by the number they correspond to in the timeledger, do and they? 're all Unfortunates – young people with disabilities, uncommon mentalities or suchlike that Victorian society frowns greatly upon. Living on But Cosima bears the edge of tag as a village surname because nothing else seems to be known about where she came from, as the first ever inmate, and unique in having no known family in the outside world. During a daring escapade to steal some posh cakes from the middle of nowhere as I didkitchen one afternoon, I knew quite she discovers a lot about farms and farming plan involving said outside world – that different animals gave different resultsa devilish Lord Fitzroy seems to want to adopt all the girls for his Institute. But why, that different vehicles meant different things and what does that body entail? And could it possibly bring Cos closer to the crops behind our house changedpast she has so little link with?|isbn=0008579059}}{{Frontpage|author=Alice M Ross|title=The Nowhere Thief|rating=4. But for the inner city child, 5|genre=Confident Readers|summary=At last there is new stock in the impoverished yet over-full antiques shop Elsbeth and her mother run in a chance they have never met a cow or seen a siloseaside town. Elsbeth knows this because she has stolen it. This colourful bookShe also knows she should be free from worries about being found out, bright in both senses because she has the ability to leave this world, and use an unworldly portal of the wordkaleidoscope colours to enter other worlds, will allow where the very young reader sea levels are rising dramatically and the opportunity buildings are generally empty of their own fantasy trip humans and ripe for plunder. With eviction imminent, can Elsbeth nab anything to actually generate custom at the shop? Well yes, is the working countryside.answer, but the fact a mysterious man knows exactly which items come from these different Somewheres only raises more questions…|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1847808999</amazonuk>1839943769

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Heather Alexander and Andres LozanoNatasha Farrant|title=Life on Earth: Human Body: With 100 Questions and 70 Lift-flaps!The Rescue of Ravenwood

|genre=Children's Non-Fiction Confident Readers|summary=I wonder how much time IThis story is another excellent adventure from the author of ''Voyage of the Sparrowhawk've saved '. Ravenwood is an old house, in not being a parent – and therefore not having had to answer such pesky questions as why is the sky blueNorth of England, where did I come fromBea and Raffy have been living for most of their lives. They are part of a complex, extended family arrangement, where does my wee come fromas Bea is there with her Uncle Leo, what and Raffy is earwaxthere with his mum, and why do I have they are living together as a spleen? family. StillThey have grown up swimming in the cove, apart from roaming through the first twotrees, those questions completely at one with all of the nature around the house and loving every inch of the place. But now the house is under threat, as Leo is under pressure from his other two brothers to sell the answers property to them a developer as it's becoming more and more are in this bookexpensive to maintain. The children find themselves worrying not only about where they're going to live, which is a lovely primer for biologybut if they'll even be together, and a great source of quick facts for the very young, all presented with an addictive lift-the-flap approachif Ravenwood itself will be torn down.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1847809006</amazonuk>0571348785

{{newreviewFrontpage|author= Siobhan Dowd Robin Birch and Emma ShoardJobe Anderson|title= Secret Beast Club: The Pavee and the Buffer GirlUnicorns of Silver Street|rating= 54|genre= Graphic NovelsConfident Readers|summary=When JimJayden's family halt at Dundraynose is forever in a book, his heart grows heavywhich means he knows a lot about mythological creatures – the phoenixes and unicorns of the world, for example. A Aisha is addicted to her new Buffer school for this Pavee boy to attendtablet, where she can see videos of anything that might be out there. Jim doesn The problem, as their mothers see it, is that they are never 't like school. He doesnout there't like Buffers. And you knowthemselves, you couldn't really blame him because exploring the distrust and suspicion is mutualoutside world of Hackney, London. Prejudice against the Traveller community is strong and But when Jim a narrowboat turns up carrying a science-minded, educational purpose, and his cousins turn up on their first daywith a past involving Jayden's cousin, they find a magical world they never knew existed. For many of those mythological creatures are real, itincluding the one Aisha thinks she's to stares seen on a bit of local footage. The crew of the boat, including a living gargoyle, are tasked with saving the rare critters – and muttered insults from the pupils and condescension from kids unknowingly have the teachersmagical sight needed to join in. Within days Dare they side with Leila, the woman on board, Moss Cunningham and his gang have accused Jim of stealing her relative who lives as a CD - he did no such thing - and have begun figure in a campaign of threatspainting, bullying and worse.become saviours of the unseen?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1911370049</amazonuk>0241573483

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Clare HibbertB09XWSXSKY|title=Moments in History that Changed Maestro Orpheus and the WorldClock|author=Robert Penee and Joanne Grodzinski

|genre=Children's Non-FictionConfident Readers|summary=One of the problems with presenting humankindFrederick (or Fred, but never Freddy, please) couldn's history as a timeline is that not a lot happened at perfectly identified timest sleep. Of course we can pinpoint when A tune, rather like the US Declaration ticking of Independence a clock was signed, or when Poland was invaded playing over and over in September 1939his mind. It happened every time he came to visit his grandfather. He hadn't really wanted to come; after all, but when (he's ten now and even why) the Maya cities died out? We all those old clocks don't knowappeal to him anymore.  ''Who needs old clocks anyway? How All they do you pin a date to is tell the Renaissance, or time. And time isn't good for anything...'' And that was why he was looking at the invention of clock beside the modern city? bed. This book may aim to be a portrayal of key moments in time, It was nearly twelve o'clock but even at midnight the clock chimed only six times. There was nothing for it admits you have but to be vague in itemising the specific days go and dates. find grandad - but where was he? Get over that, and And why had all the pages are packed with information.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0712356703</amazonuk>clocks stopped at twelve o'clock?