Changes

[[Category:New Reviews|Confident Readers]] __NOTOC__<!-- Remove -->{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Rachel Renee Russell1836285493|title=Dork Diaries: Once Upon The Double Life of a Dork (Book 8)Wheelchair User|author=Rob Keeley|rating=3.5

|summary=There Will is wishing you had a fairytale relationshipkeen player of video games, a conscientious student, a slightly annoying brother and/or having the chance to change your life drastically – and then there a supportive friend. But most of all, he is being able to see what would actually happen if either wish came truean aspiring writer. Nikki wakes up on a typical English is his favourite lesson at his school day with a hellish start – no alarm clock, due to her younger sisterMarlowe Park, sandwich all over her jumperand one at which he excels. This hasn't gone unnoticed by his headteacher, again due to her younger sisterMrs Howarth, and so on, and so she can only wish for something has suggested to take her out of it Will and give her his mum that he spends a dollop couple of fantasy. That something is dodgeball, which bangs her on the head so much she wakes up in afternoons a week at a sheer fantasy world, where her BFFs are Goldilocks and Red Riding Hood, the world is peopled by other folk from different school, but her hunky friend Brandon is still Prince CharmingStation Road, and her enemy Mackenzie Hollister is still able to make her life hell…|amazonuk=<amazonuk>147114383X</amazonuk>where his ability might be better extended.

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Lincoln Peirce1836282028|title=Big Nate Lives It Up (Big Nate, Book 7)The Fighting Spirit|author=Rob Keeley|rating=4.5

|summary=Life at school might actually be interesting for Big Nate, for once. Even if the building is so old it's falling down, an ancient student's journal much Would you like his has been discovered, peppered with to adopt a girlghost?'' 's cartoons from a long'Young spirit, born 1887, long time ago – proving even he can have a connection seeks kind home to haunt. Gentleman by birth. Good company. Gets on well with something other children. Jokes and shocks a century oldspeciality. (And I don't mean ' ''If interested, place outside your home three twigs, in the connection made when bits shape of the place actually fall onto his head.) Unfortunately for Natean arrow, another connection has been forced on him – he has had pointing to buddy up with the new boy in classyour front door... ''He 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 newadventure that is both a reboot and a continuation. Just like Doctor Who, dorkyEdward Fitzberranger, our incorrigible Victorian ghost boy, has some new companions. Ruby and Jayden respond to this intriguing advertisement and Edward, who has a name that sounds like a British boarding school''broken the rules as usual and absconded from his manor house home, we're toldis adopted by them and takes up residence in.... But what exactly is it about Breckenridge Puffington III that gives Nate a strong sense of déjà vu…?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0007581270</amazonuk>wardrobe!

{{newreviewFrontpage|author= StrefRob Keeley|title=J.M. Barrie's Peter PanChildish Spirits: The Graphic Novel10th anniversary special edition

|genre=Graphic NovelsConfident Readers|summary=HereAround here, we're big fans of children's author Rob Keeley. He's a quiz question ball of happy positivity, he understands children, and he writes for you – despite the uniform seventy year copyright ruletheir pleasure and enjoyment, which work has been the sole recipient of an endless extension of it, courtesy of an ex-Prime Minister? not to lecture or hector.  The answer is obvious now at least, as this ''Childish Spirits'' series is one such volumeof his greatest achievements. It's a very readable and pleasant variant sequence of ghost stories centring on J M Barrie's original stage version Ellie, a stalwart young girl who can cope with anything the spirit world throws at her, and novel regarding Peter PanEdward, which of course helps a spoiled lordling and always will now help the Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital. And for a boy who never grows up, at 111 years old he's in spritely good health.first spirit Ellie encounters|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1780272901</amazonuk>1783064617

{{newreviewFrontpage|author= Helen MossMax Boucherat|title= Secrets The Last Life of the Tombs 2: The Dragon PathLori Mills|rating= 4.5|genre= Confident Readers|summary= They donWe meet Lori on the first evening she't actually intend s got the house to herself – no neighbour to have pop in, babysitter poorly, mother at work, just an adventure: quite the opposite, in fact. As far as fifteenavidly rule-breaking eleven year-old Ryan and his friend Cleo are concerned, being chased by bad guys on her lonesome. What could possibly go wrong? Snuggled in a blanket fort, she has one main intention, and falling down deep holes that is seriously overto log on to Voxminer, the world-building, critter-ratedcollecting game that is a hit in Lori's world. But theyfirst Lori has a tiny inkling that this stormy night doesn're t find herself entirely on their way to China with their parents anywayher own, so they can hardly refuse when Cleo's grandmother asks them and then she finds something even more spooky. For the server she and her bestie and nobody else should be able to put a jade bracelet she's had for eighty years back where it belongsenter shows signs of tampering. Where's When malevolent eyes spark up on her phone screen, and her safe place in the harmgame has been doctored – well, where is a girl to turn?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1444010417</amazonuk>0008666482

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Kjartan Poskitt Kieran Larwood and Philip ReeveJoe Todd-Stanton|title=Borgon the Axeboy and the Whispering Temple (Borgon the Axeboy 3)Dungeon Runners: Hero Trial|rating=3.54

|summary=''The middle's nice and crunchy but the squishy bits are horribleMeet Kit.'' NoLike most of the people in his world, it seems, that's not he is an avid fan of Dungeon Running – the sport where a predator in prehistoric times discussing team of warrior, mage and healer enter specially prepared, century-old, magical mazes, and race to the exit, perhaps bothering with the treasure or the big bad and the points they grant you along the eating of us humansway. InsteadUnfortunately for Kit, itthe only thing he's Borgon seen of the Axeboy's motherlatest race on the inn TV equivalent is that one team has been retired, discussing peaches. Yeseaten, even in and a world where a lot new trio of nasty animals are still around to potentially eat the likes of Borgon, there are still things for people to learnquestors is needed. Borgon Possibly very unfortunately indeed for one, in this third adventure in the seriesKit, he has a lot taken to learn about religion – the goading from the token bully of his world and stumbled into declaring he scoffs at the idea there's ll enter as a god resident in a temple he and his friends have discovered, even if his friend Hunjah insists otherwiseteam. The lesson is forced and the truth comes outWhat chance does this friendless, howevermuscle-free-zone have in actually managing that, when some thieves turn up, having pegged the site as a location of many earthly riches…and how could he possibly hope to succeed?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>057130737X</amazonuk>1839945184

{{newreviewFrontpage|titleauthor=Dead End Kids: Heroes of the Blitz James Sherwood Metts|authortitle=Bernard AshleyPlanet Storyland

|genre=TeensConfident Readers|summary=It's London in 1940. Most of the men Things have been conscripted and a bit sticky for the East End is populated mainly by women and childrenEarthlings. Josie AI and her friends are carrying on much as usualautomation have been proceeding apace, though, grouping into little gangs often replacing jobs they're paid to do and arguing over turf via mud fights along the Thamesother tasks that took time to accomplish. But then comes a terrible night of bombing. It's the start of the Blitz Just as they were beginning to get used to all this technological change and 57 consecutive nights starting to think of bombing for the East Endother, new ways to spend time, along came an awful pandemic. The fire service is stretched way beyond its capacity Life was pretty much shut down and the lucky ones make , along with it out of the shelters in the morning, while all the unlucky ones don't see another sunrisemany daily social interactions on which they depend so heavily.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1408338955</amazonuk>1736128426

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Emma CarrollTom Percival|title=In Darkling WoodThe Wrong Shoes

|summary= In the early hours of the morning Alice’s mum receives the phone call they have been waiting for. The long awaited heart transplant that may save her sick brother, Theo’s, Will's life is now possible. Alice finds herself sent to stay with difficult, in a grandmother she doesn’t know, miles away from her friends and the life she knowsmultitude of ways. There He is no TVbullied because he has 'the wrong shoes', no phone signal he has the wrong shoes because his dad can't work and no internet but Alice feels drawn to the mysterious Darkling Wood surrounding the house despite her grandmother’s wish to doesn't have it chopped down. Meanwhile back in 1918 a young girl desperately waits enough money for news even the most basic of her brother’s safe return from the front. Her mother doesn’t things like her playing in the nearby wood but it is there that she discovers secrets food, and magic that give her hope for his dad can't work because he lost his job at the future. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>057131757X</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|title=The Potion Diaries|author=Amy Alward|rating=4|genre=Teens|summary=Samantha is a mixer of potions extraordinaire. Which is just as wellcollege, because someone has to save was working a princess who has fallen cash-in love with herself-hand job on a building site and had an accident. Yes, you heard right! You might not think this is Throw into that mix the most enormous problem - princesses fact that his mum and dad are so spoiled separated, and pampered, is it any wonder they fall in love with themselves? But this isn't whatWill's happenedlife seems bleak in every direction. Princess Evelyn And yet, he still has taken a love potion meant to make someone else fall in love with ''her''tiny amount of hope. And the resulting havoc caused by the wrong person taking the right potion leads He is good at art, and clings to some very unstable magic that could threaten the very kingdom itself. Hence the ''Wilde Hunt''moments of joy when he is drawing, that feel like a national quest to find light at the ingredients for end of a curelong, dark tunnel.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1471143562</amazonuk>1398527122

{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=1805141872|title=Thirteen Days of MidnightThe Teacher Who Knew Too Much|author=Leo HuntRob Keeley

|summary=We've 'Seventeen banks and a jeweller’s have been here beforeraided. The lovely children whose name is in police are baffled, but only Ben knows the title of all these books truth – handy when they make time to try his Maths teacher, Miss Judson, is really a safecracker! With police and her gangster boyfriend Al on their trail, Miss Judson and check if they're in this Ben go on the run. But Al needs them for one or not – are woken up in a ridiculous way by a blackbird making his usual cameolast job.. The Army of Great Kerfuffle is asleep – all single cat of it. The King '' Goodness me, that Miss Judson is wearing a badge that allows him terror! How on earth did a nice teacher like her manage to pretend to not be the King – this time heget mixed up with a bad 's thinking of keeping bees, although he has four animals that go un like Al? We'quack' in a hive insteadll find out. Oh yeahLuckily for Miss Judson, and the evil badgers are in prison having been naughty. But they will never follow pupil who discovers her terrible secret is Ben, the pattern and be evil and naughty and break out in order son of a famous magician who has ambitions to be eviller as good as his father some day, and more naughty, will they?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0192742736</amazonuk>who thinks Miss Judson is worth saving

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Julian SedgwickChristopher Edge|title=Ghosts of ShanghaiBlack Hole Cinema Club

|summary=ShanghaiLucas and his friends are all booked in for a movie marathon at their local cinema, 1926a place that has the nickname of 'The Black Hole'. The city is heavily divided between the naturalAll big movie fans, national areasthey're looking forward to lots of exciting films, and the enclaves of the foreigners – Russian, French, Americanmany, British. many snacks! Several of the younger international youths have formed the Ghost Society gangHowever, after as the principal charactermovie starts, Rubythey very quickly realise that something about this new film format is very different, found another divide cleaving Shanghai in two – that between the living and the dead, the they are swept up into an adventure they couldn'real world' and the Otherworldt even imagine. Her brother dead, she seemed But as they lurch from one film genre to become the conduit for a poltergeist in her apartmentnext, and recently the gang have even managed to lock a spirit into a bottle and cast it down a well. But the gang can they figure out what on earth is immediately falling apart – the lad she loves, Charlie, and his sister are diverting themselves from, or have been warned off, any further such activity. going on? Rose knows she has Will they ever get back to find the source of the problem – cinema, and cross any untold divides in her city to find the truth…their real lives?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1444923900</amazonuk>1839942738

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Guillermo del Toro, Daniel Kraus and Sean MurrayAdam Stower|title=TrollhuntersMurray and Bun

|summary=A boy genius Murray is supposed to be a humble, tidy and friendly cat, one who speaks Mandarin is able to sleep and Latin eat and eat and sleep and, well, whatever takes his fancy next of the two. But he's a criminal who’s just robbed bad magician's cat, so his favourite bun has been turned into a bank hyperactive sticky rabbit called Bun, and stolen a car: it’s an unusual pairing butthe catflap they both use can chuck them out, it turns outnot into the regular back garden, but into a perfect team. ‘‘Car-Jacked’’ leads us through the twists and turns world of 12-year old Jack’s frightening adventure when his parents’ car and whiffs. This time round it drops them into a Viking land, where a troll hunter is hi-jacked with Jack still inside.expected – well, one much bigger than Murray was, to be honest, but he's turned up and he'll have to do…|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>019273346X</amazonuk>0008561249

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Joan Aiken Alex Bell and Quentin BlakeTim McDonagh|title=Arabel’s RavenThe Glorious Race of Magical Beasts|rating=4.5|genre=For SharingConfident Readers|summary=It’s been manyEli is a busy lad – by day an apprentice in the wondrous library we start by visiting with him, many years since I first met Arabel and her pet ravenin the evening a helper at the dessert cafe his gran owns and runs. Eli lives with his lovely gran, Mortimer, whilst watching Jackanory on children’s televisiontoo – for there is a generation missing in the family. Bernard Cribbins used A few short years ago, Eli's parents were both lost to read the storiestitular race, and they became firm favourites a globe-trotting adventure where all entrants have to navigate the world in the company of minea magical beast. Here I am returning This has made the race anathema to the first book in pair – but when a bad incident at the serieseatery leads to a confession from gran, wellEli knows his only hope is to dare to enter what he most hates, just a handful with the sole aim the prize of years later, and magic at the end – the story has lost none of its charmonly thing to possibly save his gran.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1847806910</amazonuk>0571382231

{{newreviewFrontpage|author= Philip CaveneyHelen Cooper|title= One For SorrowThe Taming of the Cat|rating= 3.5|genre= Confident Readers|summary= You'd thinkOnce again, mice are pitched against cat. In this case, principally, we have Brie the mouse, wouldnup against Gorgonzola the cat – and in case you't youre seeing a connection, that Tom Afflick would move heaven they live in a cheese shop and earth therefore all the names used here seem to avoid leaving Manchester to go to Edinburgh: on his last two visits there he ended up tumbling into be the past, where he met all manner names of scary folkcheeses. But parents tend to be pretty determined to get their own way about such things Anyway, Brie is shunned, scorned and no , if you must, mous-tracised, for the way are they going to swallow some mad tale about him being chased by plague doctors and his habits don't match the other assorted murderersmice he lives with. So, off They nibble up paper wrapping from the cheese for bedding – he has to go, displays it as art and yes – he's barely set foot makes stories based on the visuals on it. And that story-telling will come in ''Auld Reekie'' handy one night, when hefeels all alone and cast out. It's time travelling againalmost 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, in a wondrous mix of dramathough, real live people and deadly perilas all the others had the chance to half-inch some cheese while the cat was distracted. But will the story have the successful sequel it needs when that cheese runs out?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1905916957</amazonuk>0571376010

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Dave CousinsLauren St John|title=Charlie Merrick's Misfits in I'm a Nobody, Get Me Out of Here!Finding Wonder

|summary=What is Roo's life has become almost impossibly difficult. Her mum died when she was young, and now she finds herself awoken in the middle of the night by the police banging on her door to tell her that sayingher dad has dropped dead on his way to the corner shop to buy a lottery ticket. When asked what other family she has, about the best laid plans she can only name her aunt, Joni, who she knows her dad didn't think very highly of mice . But she has no one else, and misfits gang aft agley? so off she goes to live with her unreliable aunt. Charlie Things continue to get worse for Roo, as when she and his fondly thought of friends Joni leave London in the soccer squad we met [[Charlie MerrickJoni's Misfits old campervan, it breaks down in Fouls, Friends, the middle of nowhere and then bursts into flames! Poor Roo!|isbn=0571376169}}{{Frontpage|author=Adam Baron and Football by Dave CousinsBenji Davies|title=Oscar's Lion|rating=3|genre=Confident Readers|last time]] are summary=We start incredibly bluntly, with Oscar hoping for to have his mother – or father, but mother is more likely – read him his very favourite book a simple trip couple of times before he has to a summer camp be ready for school. But when he enters his parents' bedroom, all he sees is a weekmahoosive male lion on their bed, looking sheepish, and admitting that he won's educative trainingt be hungry for another two days. But no, their dopey manager has booked them in there are benefits to having a survival camp by mistake. Instead of hitting lion around – it can be shown as an unspoken threat to the back of bully that ruined a birthday party for Oscar the net they're building tarpaulin sheltersother month. They And it can't set any watching footie-heads ablazeshapeshift, for they have so he can take it to spark their own fires at nightschool and it can get him out of a problem. They can still score, however, as thereAnd it's a points-based competition wonderful to handhave around the house – not limiting his biscuit intake, but now that Charlie has dropped his team in being much more lax about the proverbialrules, theyand so on. OK, it can're once more really up against it…t work a dimmer switch but it can give Oscar a wonderful time.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0192738232</amazonuk>0008596751

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=John McNallyJudith Eagle|title=The Forbidden City (Infinity Drake, Book 2)Stolen Songbird

|genre=TeensConfident Readers|summary=Finn may be only 9mm tall and still a teenager, but heCaro's already saved the mother, a world once-famous whistler, has failed to return home from 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. Accidentally shrunk by his mad scientist Uncle Al So who is going to look after Caro? Sent to stay with Gam, someone Caro has heard her mother despises, he joined a crack military team she feels frustrated and confused and helped foil the threat worried. All her summer holiday plans of building herself some equipment to practise her gymnastics are brought to a lethal bio-weaponhalt whilst she is stuck inside this staid old Victorian lady's house, along with an orphan boy, Albie, the Scarlatti waspwho is living there too. But thereshe soon finds herself caught up in a mystery, as she discovers a painting of a bird hidden away inside her mum's no let-up for Finn. Before Al can restore him to normal sizeold suitcase, and all across London a new threat emergesfearsome gang called the Snakes are thieving artworks and terrorising people. Is the painting somehow linked to the gang? And what has happened to Caro's mother? Is she somehow involved in the mystery too?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0007521650</amazonuk>0571363148

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Tom PalmerTania Unsworth|title=Rugby Academy: DeadlockedNowhere Island|rating=4.5|genre=Dyslexia FriendlyConfident Readers|summary=It's Meet Gil. Just twelve, he is so determined to escape the third story in care system – the ''Rugby Academy'' series and so far we've heard from Woody system that constantly puts him in [[Rugby Academy: Combat Zone by Tom Palmer|Combat Zone]] futureless places that are not homes – and Rory in [[Rugby Academy: Surface to Air by Tom Palmer|Surface to Air]]find a home for himself. In thisHe is en route to yet another fosterer, the final book in this brilliant serieswhen he jumps into an anonymous car, we hear from Owenand lets it ride him to his future. We left That future seems to be in jeopardy when someone steals his one bag of belongings – but that someone lives with his brother in a camp on an island between the team at the end two directions of ''Surface a motorway, a place inaccessible and definitely ignored enough to Air'' when Borderlands had got through to the World Championship in New Zealandprovide for their safety and seclusion. Despite the elation of doing Them, and a mute girl also finding a home there, albeit so Owen isn't entirely comfortable with Jesse, the team captainmuch more successfully. He has no doubts that he was Over a brilliant player - the best on the team - but he few weeks we see if their oddball destinies can't respect him combine, or if this is one place where life as a person.we would want it just would not work…|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1781123993</amazonuk>1804540080

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=E L KonigsburgHelen Peters|title=From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs Basil E FrankweilerFriends and Traitors|rating=43

|summary=Eleven-year-old Claudia Kincaid is tired of being taken for grantedEngland, WW2. As Two young girls are new at the oldest of four childrencountry pile called Stanbrook. One is Nancy, she suffers many an injusticedestined to be in service all her life it seems, and like the interplay of 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 home life if we hadn't guessed that then their behaviour with each other over their first encounters would only prove it so. But something is becoming monotonous. She decides to run away from her home in Greenwichamiss, Connecticut to live and first separately and then in combination they realise the New York City Metropolitan Museum Lord Evesham must be a rum 'un. Midnight deliveries are received under cover of Art. Middle brother Jamie, 9secrecy, talk is her chosen companionmade of meetings with Germans, and not least because he can fund their venture. By cheating his friend Bruce at card gamesonly that, Jamie a local Spitfire factory has accumulated more than $24 – whichbeen attacked. But surely the girls are wrong, in 1967 when this classic children's novel first appeared, was not an insignificant amount.and the upper class could never be so underhand?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1782690719</amazonuk>1788004647

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Rachel Renee RussellJamie Littler|title=Dork Diaries: Drama Queen (Dork Diaries 9)Arkspire

|summary=Meet Mackenzie Hollister. She's a typical American tweenager – concerned in popularityTwo sisters, looksJuniper and Elodie, the hot guys like Brandonborn fifteen minutes apart, are growing to be chalk and getting one over on all those around hercheese. That's made a lot more easy by her parents being spoilingly rich – if MackenzieJuniper is an eager hunter and trader in illicit magic, say, wants a new cover for her diary she will just rip up a new $220 leopard print designer blouse and use thatincluding relics from prior major wars left out in the Badlands. But Elodie is intent on getting closer to power in one of the problem isreligious districts of Arkspire, what she's reading back over, and what she's writing perhaps even to become the child inline to inherit the power of the Watcher, isn't ''exactly'' her diary – it's the diary belonging closest to our beloved heroine, Nikkia ruler the district has, and Mackenzie has managed to purloin it for evil deedsone of the five major victors in said earlier war. Can Nikki get it back – or live at all without her beloved journal? Being trained in the magic that only five people can use would definitely change the status of the whole family. And could there actually But in finding something oddly magical, Juniper might just be something worse than able to gain some power of her biggest enemy ofown – for good, likeor for very, all time, being the person reading it?very bad…|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1471117707</amazonuk>0241586143

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Lewis Carroll and Sir John Tenniel024162343X|title=Alice's Adventures in Wonderland Stolen History|author=Sathnam Sanghera

|summary=It can hardly have escaped anyoneMeet Trixie. Forever getting into scrapes, larks and adventures involving flooding the school aircon with fart powder, she could almost be thought a young goddess of nuisance. But just when she's attention being told that 2015 is by her one-last-chance-giving headteacher, the 150th anniversary world changes. Suddenly, practically everything electronic stops working – a power-out, even of electric cars, hits not just the town the publication of Lewis Carrollschool's ''Alicein but the entire planet (apart from mobile phones, and all that powers the Internet, just for our convenience's Adventures sake). Trixie, luckily, realises what has happened – the ancient Gods have taken the power of power from us. And so she begins her epic quest, to gather all the people that can steal it back – namely the characters from myth that have past form in Wonderland'' stealing from the Gods, ie the semi-deities, giants, half-gods and we've seen numerous anniversary editionsso on known as the tricksters.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1447287118</amazonuk>178845295X

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Guy Bass Hannah Gold and Pete WilliamsonLevi Pinfold|title=Finding Bear|rating=4.5|genre=Confident Readers|summary=[[The Beast Last Bear by Hannah Gold|Last time]], April had been on Bear Island, a lot further north than many people would venture, and finding a ridiculously unexpected but delightful friendship with a polar bear – that she called Bear. Back home, things on the domestic and family front are a bit advanced, but not perfect for her, and so can easily be ignored when word comes through from the islands Bear was last left on. For a bear doing very Bear-y things has been shot and wounded. Desperate to make sure he's OK, she and her father return to the Arctic and hope that in a world of Grubbers Nubbin (Stitch Head)very white and very dangerous things, she can find one specific white and dangerous thing – and that the friendship can continue.|isbn=0008582017}}{{Frontpage|author=Simon Fox|title=Deadlock|rating=4.5

|summary=It's all wrong in Castle Grotteskew. The very walls should be terrified by Late one night Graham Blake is late back from his shift on the monsters the Mad Professor in the basement is creatingforce, out of various body parts and different animals. But nothen suddenly rings Archie, the clamour of noisedemanding he fetch something from a secret place, and join him on the unlikely activities and horrendous appetite for food come from something else entirely – a hundred rescued human orphansrun. That appetite needs feeding – so it’s perfect timing for They get together, but barely begin to smell the village below whiff of Southern trains when the castlefather is arrested, Grubbers Nubbinleaving Archie on the late express to Brighton, to have their annual podge-toting a-thon feast. But when Stitch Head and tin his human friend Arabella go father was determined to purloin some human food – there being no decent alternative – they're horrified to find something even worse than keep away from his colleagues, and the monsters trapped in the castle above…bearer of a whole heap of questions.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1847156096</amazonuk>1839944420

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Cassie BeasleyCath Howe|title=Circus MirandusMy Life on Fire

|summary=Micah Ren's family home is an orphan who has been raised by his grandfatherdestroyed in a fire. She, her parents, but now Micah’s grandfather is dyingand her little brother lose everything. And if that wasn’t bad enough She doesn't have any of her clothes, his horrible great aunt has arrived to take care or any of himher special little knick-knacks from her cupboard, cutting their limited time together further. But don’t worry all hope and now she is not lostliving at her grandmother's house where they can't touch anything, or do anything, or even eat the foods they normally eat. When grandpa Ephraim was she goes back to school she discovers that the class are doing a child he visited the mysterious Circus Mirandusspecial art project, creating boxes of their lives, where he was promised to display things that are important to them and show who they are as a miracle by the miraculous Man Who Bends Lightperson. All Micah But Ren has nothing to do is get put in a message box, and so she finds herself starting to the Light Bender and his grandfather can have his miraclesteal things. With the help of Jenny Mendoza (the smartest girl in the class) Small things, Micah sets his sights on the circusthings that people might not really miss, a task that requires unconditional love and faithnot when they have so much already. Aunt Gertrudis But what will happen to her if someone finds out what she is wrong, Ephraim’s stories aren’t just stories ... are theydoing?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1101892315</amazonuk>1839942835

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Owen DaveyRob Keeley|title=Mad About MonkeysThe Boy Who Disappeared and Other Stories|rating= 4|genre=Children's Non-FictionConfident Readers|summary=Of all Hooray! Bookbag favourite Rob Keeley is back with a return to the many millions of animals on our planet that deserve a large short story format hardback non-fiction book! The Boy Who Disappeared treats us to eleven new tales, I guess monkeys are one of the ideal places each as fun to start. They are, of course, our distant cousins, with the ancestor we have in common with them walking around our world within the past thirty million years. They have a large range across the planet, they have over 250 variant species, and they have a lot of interesting facts and details regarding their social life, their diet, their diversity and their potential future – all of which makes this an interesting read whatever your species bias may beas his previous offerings.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1909263575</amazonuk>B0BVW69N1G

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Josh LaceyLaura Noakes|title=Dragonsitter TroubleCosima Unfortunate Steals a Star

|summary=You don't need me Meet Number One. Or rather, Cosima Unfortunate. Or rather, just Cos to tell you what it's like when your uncle owns two dragonsher friends. HeThe practice in the home she lives in is for the girls to just be named by the number they correspond to in the ledger, and they's re all Unfortunates – young people with disabilities, uncommon mentalities or suchlike that Victorian society frowns greatly upon. But Cosima bears the pig-headed type who has tag as a mummy and baby dragon living with himsurname because nothing else seems to be known about where she came from, and he must live on a remote island off Scotlandas the first ever inmate, and he must spend half unique in having no known family in the time hunting outside world. During a daring escapade to steal some posh cakes from the kitchen one afternoon, she discovers a plan involving said outside world of dragons in Outer Mongolia, or searching – a devilish Lord Fitzroy seems to want to adopt all the girls for the yetihis Institute. But why, so and what does that trouble starts from body entail? And could it possibly bring Cos closer to the very moment you arrive past she has so little link with your ?|isbn=0008579059}}{{Frontpage|author=Alice M Ross|title=The Nowhere Thief|rating=4.5|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 seaside town. Elsbeth knows this because she has stolen it. She also knows she should be free from worries about being found out, because she has the ability to leave this world, and sister use an unworldly portal of kaleidoscope colours to housesit for him – there's no foodenter other worlds, where the dragons sea levels are pooing everywhere rising dramatically and you can't even use the front door properly because he didn't leave the key in an obvious placebuildings are generally empty of humans and ripe for plunder. StillWith eviction imminent, that's nothing compared can Elsbeth nab anything to when actually generate custom at the neighbouring farmer gets his guns trained on the dragons when he accuses them of stealing his sheep… shop? Or how about when your big birthday party is hereWell yes, and the magician is booked – and the two dragons come to stayanswer, because somebody else with but the talent to care for them has the hots for your mother…fact a mysterious man knows exactly which items come from these different Somewheres only raises more questions…|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1783442972</amazonuk>1839943769

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Jo SimmonsNatasha Farrant|title=Super-Loud SamThe Rescue of Ravenwood

|summary=Sam This story is loud. Not just loud as in another excellent adventure from the loudest lad in class, and not just loud as in loudest fire alarm in school. No, Sam is author of '''LOUD'Voyage of the Sparrowhawk'' loud. Stop traffic Ravenwood is an old house, in the streets loudNorth of England, where Bea and Raffy have been living for most of their lives. Scary loud. Loud enough to make passing birds forget how to fly loud. There's little rhyme or reason for thisThey are part of a complex, extended family arrangement, just as Bea is there with her Uncle Leo, and Raffy is no real reason why there with his best friend Nina does nothing but knit all the livelong daymum, even when walking to schooland they are living together as a family. It's just something you They have to acceptgrown up swimming in the cove, roaming through the trees, completely at one with all of the nature around the house and loving every inch of the place. But what's this? Their favourite teacher has vanishednow the house is under threat, and as Leo is under pressure from his other two brothers to sell the property to a new one has taken his place – Mrs Mann. Shedeveloper as it's ridiculous with her weirdly large hands, her huge cardigan becoming more and even huger beehive hairdomore expensive to maintain. The biggest thing children find themselves worrying not only about her though is the threat she poses – that of eternal silence in her lessons. How can Sam possibly continue at schoolwhere they're going to live, when but if they'll even him clearing his throat is like a plane crash in your ears?be together, and if Ravenwood itself will be torn down.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1407152300</amazonuk>0571348785

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Christopher MyersRobin Birch and Jobe Anderson|title=My PenSecret Beast Club: The Unicorns of Silver Street

|genre=Emerging Confident Readers|summary=How long does it take you to read Jayden's nose is forever in a picture book? Don't worry counting , which means he knows a lot about mythological creatures – the number phoenixes and unicorns of words, forget totalling the pagesworld, and ignore how many times you may return to bring it off the shelffor example. What matters so much more than how long it takes Aisha is addicted to scan a page her new tablet, where she can see videos of anything that might be how long it lies in the memory, and what it can lead toout there. This exampleThe problem, for instanceas their mothers see it, can be perused in seconds, but creates a vivid and long-standing mental image, and will if it hits the right buttons lead to untold future activities. You canis that they are never 't judge something like this on the value of time.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1423103718</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Cath Senker and Melvyn Evans|title=Ancient Egypt in 30 Seconds: 30 Awesome Topics for Pharaoh Fanatics Explained in Half a Minute (Childrenout there's 30 Second)|rating=4|genre=Children's Non-Fiction|summary=Egypt. It's up there with dinosaursthemselves, space travel and not much else that can hold a young child throughout exploring the length outside world of their school careerHackney, London. Considering But when a lot of them will grow narrowboat turns up declaring they have no interest in, or even carrying a hatred forscience-minded, historyeducational purpose, it all was relevant a long, long time ago – and with Cartera past involving Jayden's finding cousin, they find a magical world they never knew existed. For many of King Tutthose mythological creatures are real, including the one Aisha thinks she's tomb closing in seen on its centenary it won't go away yeta bit of local footage. There The crew of the boat, including a living gargoyle, are indeed books that solely concern themselves tasked with saving the rare critters – and the history of our love affair with Egypt. But I guess it does boil down kids unknowingly have the magical sight needed to it being introduced by a fine teacherjoin in. Whether this latest book will supplant Dare they side with Leila, the human woman on board, and her relative who lives as a figure in giving us all a painting, and become saviours of the lessons we need remains to be seen.unseen?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1782402373</amazonuk>0241573483

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Jonathan MeresB09XWSXSKY|title=The Maestro Orpheus and the World of Norm: 8: May Contain ButsClock|author=Robert Penee and Joanne Grodzinski

|summary=Why is it the only person in Norm's world able to think straight is Norm? His best mate Mikey is clamming up on certain subjects, and blaming mood swings on his hormones Frederick (wellor Fred, he is all of thirteenbut never Freddy, after allplease)couldn't sleep. His dad seems to be mourning A tune, rather like the loss ticking of an antique bottle of aftershave, his mother thinks sorting the recycling is a cure for boredom, clock was playing over and over in his mind. It happened every time he came to visit his grandfather is all full of weird expressions and euphemism thingies. ThatHe hadn's not t really wanted to mention his younger brotherscome; after all, who have it in mind he's ten now and all those old clocks don't appeal to use mumhim anymore. ''s hair straightener on Who needs old clocks anyway? All they do is tell the dogtime. And time isn't good for anything...'' And that's certainly not to mention was why he was looking at the girl next door, who evidently has been incapable of thinking straight since birth, but at least is doing clock beside the good thing by moving housebed. Itwas nearly twelve o's a flipping miracle that Norm can get through a weekend like this without anything disastrous happeningclock but at midnight the clock chimed only six times. Or can There was nothing for it but to go and find grandad - but where was he?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1408334062</amazonuk> And why had all the clocks stopped at twelve o'clock?