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<metadesc>Book review site, with books from most walks of literary life; fiction, biography, crime, cookery and children's books plus author interviews and top tens.</metadesc>
<h1 id="mf-title">The Bookbag</h1>
Hello from The Bookbag, a site featuring books from all the many walks of literary life - [[:Category:Fiction|fiction]], [[:Category:Biography|biography]], [[:Category:Crime|crime]], [[:Category:Cookery|cookery]] and anything else that takes our fancy. At Bookbag Towers the bookbag sits at the side of the desk. It's the bag we take to the library and the bookshop. Sometimes it holds the latest releases, but at other times there'll be old favourites, books for the children, books for the home. They're sometimes our own books or books from the local library. They're often books sent to us by publishers and we promise to tell you exactly what we think about them. You might not want to read through a full review, so we'll give you a quick review which summarises what we felt about the book and tells you whether or not we think you should buy or borrow it. There are also lots of [[:Category:Interviews|author interviews]], and all sorts of [[:Category:Lists|top tens]] - all of which you can find on our [[features]] page. If you're stuck for something to read, check out the [[Book Recommendations|recommendations]] page. We can even direct you to help for [https://www.easywritingserviceewritingservice.com/custom-book-review/ custom book reviews]! Visit [http://wwwEwritingservice.everychildareader.org www.everychildareader.orgcom] to get free is the custom writing tips and service thousands of students trust all over the world. [httphttps://www.genecaresearchreports.com www.genecaresearchreportsmyhomeworkdone.com/ My Homework Done] will help you get is your paper written best choice among those websites that do homework for freeyou.
There are currently '''{{PAGESINCATEGORY:Reviews}}''' reviews at TheBookbag.
'''Read [[:Category:Features|the latest features]].'''<!-- Remove -->
{{newreview
|author= Martha Batalha and Eric M B Becker (translator)DK|title= The Invisible Life My Encyclopedia of Euridice GusmaoVery Important Animals|rating= 4.5|genre= Literary Children's Non-Fiction|summary= On the surface, young housewife Euridice Gusmao has it all. A nice-enough, parent-pleasing husband with The animal kingdom is a steady banking jobdiverse one, two young children upon whom to dote, an immaculate home complete with maid. That's full of creatures that do all anyone could ever want, isn't it? Not Euridice. She has an inexplicable ache inside her for something more, like many sorts of usthings. Yet each The number of her pet projects, from a desire animals out there is so vast that even vets need to publish do a recipe book quick google when something strange appears in their practice. For budding vet-to starting -be animals are a cottage sewing industry in her living room, are met with scorn from her stern husband Antenorconstant source of fascination and they will absorb as much knowledge as you can give them. He wants a wife who doesn't draw attention It is not practical to herselfvisit the zoo every day, whose only domains are her house but getting an educational and her familyentertaining animal encylopedia is.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>178607298X0241276357</amazonuk>
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{{newreview
|author=Jakob Wegelius and Peter Graves (translator)DK|title=The MurdererDK Children's ApeEncyclopedia
|rating=4.5
|genre=Confident ReadersChildren's Non-Fiction|summary=Sally Jones is in clover More than sixty years ago my grandparents bought me an encylopedia: it was a major purchase for them as a mechanic on a cargo ship – when, that is, there is cargo to actually ship. Having needed emergency repairs, the two-strong crew of her and the Chief are idling in Lisbon, and are given a mysterious and mysteriously overpaid job – a job that shouldnthey didn't go wrongreally ''do'' books, but does. Unfortunately it was a treasure trove for the Chief, taking even the first step at writing the wrong sees him arrested for murderme and I still have it today. Sally Jones is forced into hiding, which she manages It didn't just teach me facts - it taught me how to do with a lovely, kind woman with a hidden talent find out information for singing, myself and her landlord, who makes and repairs accordions and other musical instrumentshow to use an index. Life with them seems It opened my eyes to be a new form of cloversubjects I'd never considered and widened my knowledge on those I already loved. In format, then, but hints of that past nastiness keep coming back in size and content it was very similar to haunt Sally Jones, especially when there''DK Children's Encyclopedia'' and I can imagine a suggestion that the alleged murder victim might still younger me hunched over it and begging just to be alive… Oh, and did allowed to finish this bit before I say that Sally Jones is actually a gorilla?went to bed.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>17826916180241283868</amazonuk>
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{{newreview
|author= David BergenKelly Barnhill|title= StrangerThe Girl Who Drank the Moon
|rating= 4
|genre= Literary Fiction Confident Readers|summary=''Stranger'' tells Every year the story people of Íso, the Protectorate leave a young Guatemalan woman, and her affair with baby as an American doctor. When an accident forces him to return offering to the Stateswitch who lives in the forest, she is left pregnant and lonelyin the hope that this sacrifice will keep their town safe. Her anguish becomes even more profound when her daughter Little do they know that the witch, Xan, is abducted, a kind soul who rescues the children and taken to live finds them new homes with families on the other side of the doctor and his wifeforest. What followed - tales of She feeds the babies on starlight to keep them nourished throughout their journey Íso embarked upon in , but one year she accidently feeds a baby moonlight which fills the child with a powerful magic. Xan names the hope of finding baby Luna and realises she must raise this magical child as her own, locking away her magical abilities until her baby - was an amazing story of thirteenth birthday. But as the lengths a mother day approaches where Luna's magic will emerge, she will go have to in order learn to save her childprotect the safe and loving world she has always known.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>07156524191848126476</amazonuk>
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{{newreview
|author= Marianne TaylorRobin Jarvis|title= Owls: A Guide to Every SpeciesTime of Blood|rating= 54|genre= ReferenceTeens|summary=I feel like I am being watched. A huge pair of piercing orange eyes are staring right at me, locking me Travel back over a hundred years into their gaze. In contrast with the hardness of the deep-amber eyes, soft grey feathers fan out into the surrounding area, intricate, detailed and beautifulWhitby's past to see two witches battle an ancient evil. An enigma; harsh and gentle at the same time, the owl is beckoning the reader Follow young Lil as she tries to turn the pages avoid spoilers and take a closer look inside..find her best friend.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>178240404X1405280255</amazonuk>
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{{newreview
|author=Orlando WeeksJ M Barrie and Robert Ingpen|title=The GrittermanPeter Pan and Wendy|rating=54|genre=Graphic NovelsFor Sharing|summary=ThereIt's a man who has an ice cream van. In summerchildhood staple - the story of Wendy, what there is of summerJohn and Michael Darling and their beloved nurse, he uses it Nana the Newfoundland dog who took them to sell ice creams, school each day. ThatIt's not his vocation thoughGeorge Darling, but it does keep him going whilst he waits for wintertheir father, who makes the mistake when he locks Nana in the van becomes a Gritting Van yard and the children are whisked away to Neverland by Peter Pan and our narrator becomes a GrittermanTinkerbell. The fibreglass 99s on There's a wonderful mix of characters, from Peter Pan, the roof light boy who never wants to grow up and rotate, playing a tuneTinkerbell, the rather unpleasant fairy, Captain Hook, Tiger Lily, whether the van's gritting or selling ice creams. Tonight lost boys and - Christmas Eve of course - will be the van's last trip. The council has sent the letter about his services no longer being required. Global warming. Dying professionWendy, they say. Therebut then it wouldn's even t have been a tarmac now that can de-ice itself, but classic since the Gritterman isn't sure that he wants to live original stage production in a world where 1904 and the B2116 doesn't need grittingnovel of 1911 if it were otherwise.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>184614955X1786750856</amazonuk>
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{{newreview
|author= Adam SilveraEmily Winslow|title= They Both Die at the EndLook For Her
|rating= 4
|genre=TeensCrime|summary= ''No matter how we choose In 1976, Annalise Wood disappeared on her journey home from school and instantly became a local celebrity. For decades the town of Lilling tried to live, we both die at solve the endmystery of Annalise's disappearance until, almost twenty years later, her body was discovered. Annalise' The year is 2017s body was badly decomposed and there was lack of DNA available, the place is America, but this is only trace on the body was found in her skirt and does not a place we recognisematch anyone on record. A company called Death-Cast know The chances of finding her killer were extremely low and the exact date of everyonemurder soon becomes a 'cold case's death and make it their mission to inform Deckers that they will be dead within – but still the next twenty-four hours. Many have tried to cheat death, all have failedmost famous Lilling has ever seen. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>14711662010749022663</amazonuk>
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{{newreview
|author= K J WhittakerGrady Hendrix|title= False LightsPaperbacks from Hell: A History of Horror Fiction from the '70s and '80s
|rating= 4.5
|genre= Historical FictionHorror|summary=CornwallDemonic possession, 1817murderous babies, man-eating moths… for these books, no plot was too ludicrous, no cover art too appalling, no evil too despicable. Now horror author Grady Hendrix risks his soul and his sanity (not to mention the reader's!) to relate the true, untold story of a fascinating and often forgotten era in publishing.
What if your worst mistake changed Read the course of history? Napoleon has crushed synapse-shattering story summaries!<br>See the Duke of Wellington at horrific hand-painted cover imagery!<br>And learn the Battle true-life tales of Waterloo, and his ex-wife Josephine presides over French-occupied England. Cornwall erupts into open rebellion, and young heiress Hester escapes with Crow, Wellington's former intelligence officer, a half-French aristocrat haunted by his part in the catastrophic defeat. Togetherwriters, they become embroiled in a web of treachery and espionage as plans are laid to free Wellington from secret captivity in the Scilly Isles and lead an uprising against the French occupation. In a country rife with traitorsartists, Hester and Crow know it is impossible to play such a game as this for long..publishers who gleefully violated every literary law but one – never be boring.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>17866953401594749817</amazonuk>
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{{newreview
|author=Cynthia Ryland Luke Dittrich|title= Patient H.M.: A Story of Memory, Madness and Mary BlairFamily Secrets|rating= 4.5|genre= Popular Science|summary= Luke Dittrich seeks to shed light on the man behind the initials, and in doing so, uncovered quite a bit more than he expected.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099571862</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Sita Brahmachari and Jane Ray|title=Walt Disney's Cinderella: Illustrated by Mary Blair (Walt Disney Classics)Worry Angels
|rating=4
|genre=Emerging ReadersDyslexia Friendly|summary=I'm sure almost all my readers are au fait with Amy-May was devastated when her parents split up: she and her mother left the story of Cinderella, and of how she went from delightful seaside cottage where the gutter waves had sung her to the stars in one romantic swoopsleep and moved into a 'garden flat'. ItThat didn's only t mean that it had a good thing garden, just that it was on the relevant people ground floor. They didn't have foot fetishes or phobias, for then a lot of possessions as the tale would have been utterly differentbailiffs had taken most of them. Disney made it slightly different, of course, when they made the animated classic based on the legend, Her father was living in another old cottage now and this bookhopefully he'd be able to set up his kiln, complete with art from the time but he wouldn't be able to home-school Amy-May. The alternative was Sandcastles Secondary School but the film rather nervous Amy was being made, is evidence of just how considered to be too ''anxious'' to start at the look and the emotion of the piece were intended school full time. As a gentle introduction to schooling she went to beGrace's art school instead.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1405286997178112695X</amazonuk>
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{{newreview
|author=Jon Scieszka and Mary BlairCassandra Parkin|title=Walt DisneyThe Winter's Alice in Wonderland: Illustrated by Mary Blair (Walt Disney Classics)Child|rating=4.5|genre=Emerging ReadersParanormal|summary=''A modern Gothic tale of twisted love, secrets and hauntings'' it says on the cover. I'll take is as read you have some knowledge of the story of Alice go along with that. Suzannah Harper doesn't believe in Wonderland – certainly when she got life after death or gypsies being able to be 150 years old tell the future, but that hasn't stopped her spending a couple of fortune on psychics and fortune tellers in the desperate hunt for her son. Joel has been missing for five years back there were no end . He skipped out of editions school one day after an argument at home and has not been seen since.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1785079034</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Clare Foges and Al Murphy|title=Bathroom Boogie|rating=4|genre=For Sharing|summary=Every day I leave the house with the feeling that I left it in a pretty tidy state, but on my return some things always seem out of her storyplace. And as you know, 150 years This is a heck especially true of my bathroom. Why is there toothpaste on the mirror, or a lot of unbirthdays. flannel on the floor? But her story got It would appear that I may not actually be to be slightly different, blame and if anything only more lovedthat when I'm at work all the bathroom items come out for a boogie. Will I ever catch them in the act?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0571337317</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author= Mark Alder|title= Son of the Night|rating= 4|genre= Fantasy|summary=In [[Son of the Morning by Mark Alder|Son of the Morning]], courtesy of author Mark Alder plunges the Disney cartoonreader into a chaotic, dangerous world, taking them back to the turbulent reign of Edward III and the fact that this book features artwork that was generated during dangers of the production Hundred Years War. Adding elements of that film fantasy and theology to the mix, Alder created an intriguing read which is continued in ''Son of the Night''. With Lucifer, Satan, God, Devils and Angels interacting with a cast of real and well researched characters, Alder continues his exploration of the unique selling pointHundred Years war whilst rather incredibly keeping his readers as educated as they are entertained.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>14052870040575115203</amazonuk>
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{{newreview
|titleauthor=MoonriseKenneth Grahame and Robert Ingpen|authortitle=Sarah CrossanThe Wind in The Willows|rating=54|genre=TeensConfident Readers|summary=Joe is seventeen Kenneth Grahame's ''The Wind in the Willows'' was one of the defining books of my childhood and he hasnmore than sixty years after I first read the book I't seen his brother for ten yearsve just recently passed it onto another young reader. And Since the reason book was first published in 1908 there have been some notable illustrators: Paul Bransom provided illustrations for that is brutal - Ed is on Death Row in Texasthe 1913 edition, convicted Ernest H Shepard (perhaps better known for his illustrations of ''Winnie the murder of a police officer. Ed says hePooh's innocent. Aunt Karen doesn't believe him. And Mum is long gone) in 1933, no-one knows where. When Arthur Rackham (possibly the leading illustrator from the execution date comes through, Joe passes up on his job golden age of book illustration) in 1940 and a spot on a summer athletics scholarship and treks from New York across Robert Ingpen who illustrated the centenary edition of ''The Wind in the country so that Ed is not alone. He is determined to spend these last weeks with his brother no matter what anybody else thinksWillows''.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>140886780X1786751062</amazonuk>
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{{newreview
|titleauthor=I am TraitorSimon Jenkins|authortitle=Sif Sigmarsdottir Britain's 100 Best Railway Stations|rating=4.5|genre=TeensReference|summary=Alien ships have arrived in In the mid twentieth century the skies above London. The Prime Minister appeared on TV railway was something which harked back to announce this ominous visitation the Victorian age with trains being supplanted by cars and order a curfew. After thatplanes, but steam was being replaced by oil, he went AWOL even then and took all reliable information with him, leaving in the army twenty-first century oil is giving way to patrol the streetselectricity. Not that It's cleaner, more environmentally friendly and the army has any answer stations which we'd all rushed through as quickly as possible, keen to the long pipes that snake down from the ships escape their grime, were restored and gobble up teenagersbecame places to be admired, possibly even lingered in. To where, nobody knows Simon Jenkins has chosen his hundred best railway stations.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444934473024197898X</amazonuk>
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{{newreview
|titleauthor=Charlotte SaysSarah Baker|authortitle=Alex BellEloise Undercover|rating=4.5|genre=TeensConfident Readers|summary=''Charlotte saysEloise has a wonderful life with her two best friends, Albert and Maddie, until the German soldiers start to arrive and everything changes. Nazi-occupied France is not a place Eloise wants to be.Maddie and her family are taken away and Albert starts to act very strangely.Then her father disappears. don't open Eloise is lost until she discovers her father has been working for the door.'' Jemimaresistance and there might, if she is brave enough, be a way to rescue him before he's mother died in an awful fire not long ago and that is why Jemima decides deported to leave London Germany. She now has hope and take up a job as a teacher on the Isle of Skyeplan. But leaving the place doesn't mean escaping will the memories and Jemima is tormented by second-guessing what actually happened on that terrible night. It doesn't help that Miss Grayson, the mistress at the school, is resistance let a strange, forbidding sort, while the school itself is a thoroughly creepy twelve year old building.schoolgirl join them?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>18471584041910611131</amazonuk>
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{{newreview
|author= J Jefferson FarjeonNalini Singh|title= Seven DeadSilver Silence A Psy-Changling Trinity Novel
|rating= 4
|genre= Historical FictionParanormal|summary=Ted Lyte was petty criminal, but not usually the housebreaking type. He lacked the courage. However, needs must, Jump straight into a rich and whilst feeling down diverse universe at this designated jumping on his luck he decided to try his chances at an isolated house with a shuttered windowpoint. ''...he might find Visit a bit world of alright behind those shutters! Wot abart it?'' Ted does indeed find something interesting behind the shuttershumans, but it definitely isn't what he'd hopedchangelings and Psy. In The world the books have set in has faced a locked room he finds seven dead bodies; six men dramatic change and a womannew world-order of peace has been declared. Fleeing the house in horror, he The peace is pursued painful and caught by a passing yachtsman, Thomas Hazeldean, who also happens to be a journalistnot universally loved. Fascinated by Ted's story (and a possible scoop), Hazeldean decides to investigate Into this curious case and its assortment of odd clues, including world a portrait shot through the heart, bear falls in love with an old cricket ball and a mysterious note written by one of the victims.emotionless Psy – how'd ya reckon it'll turn out?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>07123568861473217571</amazonuk>
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{{newreview
|author= Chris ColferColin Thubron|title= The Land of Stories: Worlds CollideMirror to Damascus
|rating= 4.5
|genre= Confident ReadersTravel|summary=FinallyDamascus today is a monument to her past, after much anticipation, the grand finale to all the best-selling ''Land of Stories'' is herepeople and civilisations that helped shape her. The previous book [[The Land In this enthusiastic piece of Stories: An Author's Odyssey by Chris Colfer|The Land of Stories: An Author's Odyssey]] left us dangling on an almighty cliffhangertravel writing, as well as leaving many plot threads unresolved. We have been with Collin Thubron tells the Bailey twins from the very beginning; tale of a city that has seen them grow empires rise and mature from awkward pre-teens to confident young adults. Orson Welles famously said: ''If you want a happy endingfall, that depends, of course, on where you stop your storyconquerors come and go and has lasted for over two thousand years.It'' Is the fact that the s rich in impressive history and this book begins with this quote an ominous warning that the Bailey twins may not get their 'happily ever after' after all?is rich in impressive detail.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>03163558950099532298</amazonuk>
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{{newreview
|author= Brian MastersFearne Cotton and Sheena Dempsey|title= Killing for CompanyYoga Babies|rating= 54|genre= True CrimeFor Sharing|summary= Killing for Company is a detailed criminal study of Dennis NilsenRadio host, unique in that it was produced with Nilsen's full cooperation and includes material from Nilsen's prison diaries. Covering Nilsen's early lifeTV presenter, his career and subsequent murdersfashion designer, this author – is a detailed analysis there anything Fearne Cotton can't do? Based on the content of this book, we can undoubtedly add Yogi to the man behind the murder and an attemptongoing list of talents, on Mastersbecause it' part, s hard to understand what shaped Nilsen and what could have caused such apparently senseless violenceimagine any other way in which this came into being.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>17847594221783445645</amazonuk>
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{{newreview
|author= E V HarteClaire Freedman and Jane Massey|title= The Prime of Ms Dolly GreeneFlorence Frizzball|rating= 4.5|genre= CrimeFor Sharing|summary= I love reading full stop so I was excited to have the chance to read Florence Frizzball has the first crime novel from establishedfrizziest, well-regarded author Daisy Waughcurliest, writing under a pseudonym. Butmost out of control mop of hair you've ever seen! And she longs for smooth, as a self-confessed chicklit fansleek, who's never read a crime novel before, I wasn't sure if I was going to brushable locks like it...all her friends.turns out I absolutely loved it!|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1472124243</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Vicky Hayward|title=Juan Altamiras' New Art of Cookery: A Spanish Friar's Kitchen Notebook|rating=4|genre=Cookery|summary=In 1745 As a Spanish friary cookkid, Juan Altamiras, published I remember being chased round the first edition of his ''New Art of Cookerygarden by my mother, Drawn From the School of Economic Experience''. It contained more than two hundred recipes for meat, poultry, game, salted brandishing a hair brush and fresh fish, vegetables trying to get me to sit still and dessertshave my frizz sorted out. The style was informalTo say I identified with Florence would be an understatement. As the tale goes on, chatty and humorous on occasions and it was aimedthough, not at those who could afford we see another side to cook on a grand scalethe story. Florence gets what she wants, but at those with more modest budgetswhen her dream comes true she quickly learns that maybe she was wanting all the wrong things, who sometimes needed to cook for large numbers. Whilst the ingredients were - for the most part - modestly priced there is a stress on the careful combination of flavours and aromas. Spices are used conservatively and the bluntness of some Moorish cooking that actually her frizzball is eschewed in favour part of something much more subtle and we see influences from Altamiras' own region, Aragon, the Iberian court and the New Worldher identity.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>14422794191471144542</amazonuk>
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{{newreview
|author= Clar Ni ChonghaileStuart Maconie|title= Rain Falls On EveryoneLong Road From Jarrow
|rating= 5
|genre= Literary FictionTravel |summary= ItI cancelled my 's 'Country Walking'' magazine subscription about a cliché that year ago and the Irish have a picturesque turn of phrase, but clichés only exist because theything I miss is Stuart Maconie're trues column. Roddy Doyle put it differently in His down-to-earth approach and sharp wit belie an equally sharp intellect and a recent interview with soul more sensitive than he might be willing to admit. Let''Writing'' magazines be honest, when he said that ''With Irishthough, thereI picked this one up because of someone else's another language bubbling under the English''review, in which I spotted names like Ferryhill and Newton Aycliffe. However you express it, that art of expression is woven into every other line of Clár's prosePlaces I grew up in. Pick a page at random and you'll find something like ''the sickness Like Maconie I have no connection (that had come I know of) to roost in her home like a cursed owl'' or the Jarrow Crusade but when he talks about it being ''a whole matrix of events reducible to one word like he was GodAberfan, Hillsborough, Jesus and Justin Timberlake rolled into one'' or Orgreave''a low sobbing, slow and inevitable as rain on a Sunday'': expressions that catch your smile unawaresthen somehow it does become part of my history too. Tangentially, or tear at your heart in their mundane sadness. Or sometimes bothleast.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>17850790181785030531</amazonuk>
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{{newreview
|titleauthor=Salt CreekKieran Larwood|authortitle=Lucy TreloarThe Gift of Dark Hollow|rating=4.5|genre=Historical FictionConfident Readers|summary=This is the second marvellous book featuring the rabbits of Enderby, and the delightful young rabbit hero, Podkin One Ear. I love the format of a story within a story. The first chapter adventures of Podkin in ''Salt CreekThe Gift of Dark Hollow'' opens in Chichester, Englandare told by an old rabbit who has been a Bard all his life - a teller of stories and legends from the rabbit world. The Bard has an apprentice, Rue, desperately eager to learn his trade. He hangs on every word spoken by the Bard as they travel together to a festival. Rue is hungry to learn the art of story-telling, but also wants to know all about Podkin One Ear, in 1874and what better way to do this than to hear from the Master himself. Hester Finch The tale he tells Rue (and us) is a respected gripping and reasonably wealthy member of her community. But she can't stop her thoughts wandering back to her adolescencescary one, spent on Salt Creek Station featuring Podkin and his friends in their ongoing battle to overturn the remote South Australian Coorong region. Hester feels ''has never felt so alive as thenruthless Gorm, and their cruel leader, when we had so little''Scramashank.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>19107094170571328415</amazonuk>
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{{newreview
|author= Bali RaiPhil Allcock and Richard Watson|title= Tales from IndiaClumpety Bump
|rating= 4
|genre= Confident ReadersFor Sharing|summary=Fairy storiesClumpety Bump likes apples. Nothing wrong with that, folk tales after all: they're tasty and fables are a rite full of passage for an inquiring mindgoodness. They open the door to enchantment, magic and moral lessons. Many European collections existBut you don't get delicious, some of the most notable being juicy treats like that of Aesop, Hans Christian Andersen, the Brothers Grimmunless you deserve them, Andrew Lang and Perrault. Tales naughty Clumpety is a bit too keen on saying ''I can also originate from exotic climes't be bothered'' when his friend Wally asks for help. An endless source of delight for me as a child was my great grandmotherSo, after several disasters, Wally decides he's much cherished copy of The Arabian Nightsd be better off leaving Clumpety at home and using his tractor instead. Full of mysteryUnfortunately, imagination and charmthings don't turn out too well, it communicated to me the power of storytelling and transported me our two heroes learn that if you want to different worlds. This is what Bali Rai aims be properly happy, other people need to do for young readers with his latest offeringbe happy too. Inspired by the collected tales of the C19th Sydney-born English folklorist Joseph Jacob, Rai has lovingly created a tribute to the traditional stories of IndiaSelfishness just makes everyone sad.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>01413730671848862458</amazonuk>
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{{newreview
|author=Lucy AdlingtonRoger Moore|title=The Red RibbonA Bientot...|rating=4.5|genre=Confident ReadersAutobiography|summary=Ella is rushing to her audition for a job The news of the death of Sir Roger Moore in fashion, May 2017 came as are several other young womena great shock: he was one of those people you knew would go on for ever. Thrown There was just one small glimmer of light in at the deep end in sadness - the high-pressure workplace, she is tasked with creating news that a dress from scratch for an important client matter of days before four pm that day. But she manages it, even working through his death he'd delivered the non-existent lunch breakfinished manuscript of his book, to design a silk wonder worthy of any environment. But this is no typical make-or-break-'em fashion design house'À bientôt…'', and this is no normal environment for the recipient to be wearing the frockhis publishers. This is Birchwood – or Auschwitz-Birkenau Just a few months later a copy landed on my desk and I didn't even bother to you and look as though Icould resist reading it straight away.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>14714062881782438610</amazonuk>
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{{newreview
|author=Andy BellJonathan Stroud|title=Lockwood and Co: The DIY Investor: How to take control of your investments and plan for a financially secure futureEmpty Grave|rating=5|genre=Business and FinanceConfident Readers|summary=Investments are confusing. They're also rather frightening unless you have In a background in finance: you could invest in equities which seem likely to make your fortuneworld that takes the best and worst of Victorian times (atmospheric fogs, candles, mudlarks who scavenge along the banks of the Thames for treasures) and the modern day (leggings, skinny jeans, only to find that you've lost all your moneycabs and concrete underpasses) absolutely anything can happen – and it does. On the other hand you could put For fifty years ghosts of all your savings into a nicekinds have infested Britain, safe building society or bank account and as only to find that children and young people can see them, theirs is the task of protecting the interest is so derisory that your capital doesn't actually have adults and ridding the same buying power that it did when you opened country of the accountmenaces, one by painful one. You couldLucy, George, Holly and Lockwood are the members of course, spend the moneysmallest and most ramshackle independent agency, but what about when you want to buy their constant success (and survival despite forever lengthening odds) is a housethorn in the flesh of the elite Fittes Agency, replace which has acquired almost total control over the roof or retire? The roof might be relatively cheap but the other two are going to need a substantial investment potwhole ghost-bashing business.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>08571960140552575798</amazonuk>
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{{newreview
|author= E LockhartKenneth Steven|title= Genuine FraudWinter Tales|rating= 4|genre= TeensShort Stories|summary= I'm going to straight up say that I'm not going to mention Upon opening this book you are presented with an eclectic collection of twelve short stories centred around a common theme of Winter. You are taken around the plot world as you read stories set in this reviewa variety of places from Helsinki to New York, because I Germany to Russia. Kenneth Steven cleverly utilises a key component of short stories - that you can't without inevitably spoiling something read each story in this twistingone sitting - to his advantage as he gives each story an individual focal subject, turningsuch as bullying, great suspense of a novel. All I will say is ensuring that I felt like I was watching a proper thriller movie while I was you are reading it; I feel like I might see this advertised as a film on distinct story every time you open the side of a bus any time soon, and if that happens, then it will have an excellent female lead that kicks some serious backsidebook. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>14714066281910674508</amazonuk>
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{{newreview
|author= Jackie Morris and James MayhewWilliam Sutton|title= Mrs Noah's PocketsLawless and the House of Electricity
|rating= 5
|genre= For SharingCrime (Historical)|summary= The heavy rainsCampbell Lawless is back, Noah building his ark and this time tasked with solving a series of terrorist attacks across the animals going in two by two to be savednation. This most familiar Is it the work of stories has been retold time the French, as police and time again but not like this. This time there is twist public are being led to believe, or someone closer to home? Who can be trusted and someone else quietly takes centre stage. When Mr Noah builds what does Roxbury, an innovative inventor previously disgraced, have to do with the bombs used to cause chaos across the country? Employing the arkservices of Molly, he makes two lists - one for all the animals who will come on board and one for those troublesome creatures effervescent ragamuffin from his previous adventures, he will leave behind. Meanwhilesets in motion a campaign of subterfuge which uncovers long held secrets, Mrs Noah gets out her sewing machine skulduggery and makes a coat with very deep pockets. Lots of pocketsthe desperate yearnings beneath Roxbury's constant invention.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>191095909X1785650130</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Jem VanstonK J Lawrence|title=A Cat Called Dog 2 - The One with the KittensCossack|rating=45|genre=General FictionThrillers|summary=George, Dog the cat Daniel Brooking is not what you'd think of as hero material: he's a photographer of some merit and Eric the stray were indulging themselves with in his fifties he has a philosophical discussion when they heard some strange mewingsettled life. Three kittens had found their way into It was the garden and told the resident cats that their mother had told them to run away when a two-legs cat catcher came for them alldisappearance of his assistant, Ivan Shevchenko, which disrupted everything. Mother couldnIt wasn't run as she had a sore pawunknown for him to disappear occasionally, but Daisy, Maisie and Boo had run and run and runmissing an exhibition was a first for him. TheyHe'd no idea what happened to her been distracted for a few days - or how and then there were the strange papers which arrived, to get back home againbe kept safe. George is getting on The authorities, in years and wouldn't like to upset his two legsthe form of a shadowy senior member of the security services, The Ladyconfirmed the view that Ivan was probably dead, by being away from home for too long, so he appoints Dog as leader because of an expedition to reunite the kittens some supposed connections with organised crime and their Motherdrug dealing.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>17862933901999782704</amazonuk>
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{{newreview
|author= Cressida CowellJames Goss and Russell T Davies|title= The Wizards Doctor Who: Now We Are Six Hundred: A Collection of OnceTime Lord Verse (Dr Who)|rating= 4.5|genre= Confident ReadersChildren's Rhymes and Verse |summary= Xar and Wish only meet because they are both where they are not supposed to beConsider the Doctor. Xar is an impetuous young wizard keen to prove his magical prowess. Wish is a young warrior desperate to demonstrate her worth. They live in a world in which Iron vanquishes Magic - Just how many birthday and the Magic of the witches is pretty evil stuff. Thankfully, the warriors Christmas gifts must he have used Iron to keep the witches at bay. And nowhand out each year, they are turning their attention were he to the wizards. But what if not all Magic is badkeep in touch with even half of his companions? What if the witches are He would certainly need a threat to warrior and wizard alike? What then? |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444936700</amazonuk>}}{{newreview <!-- remove 10/9 -->|author=Stuart Burrell|title=Twelve Times To The Max: One Man's Journey to, and Recollections few novelty gifts for some ofthem, Setting Twelve Verified World Records|rating=4|genre=Autobiography|summary=The first of Stuart Burrell's world recordssay, wellfor example, whimsical books of verse that pithily encapsulate the first two, actually, as he's not life of a man to do things by halves, came about by accidentTime Lord and that of some of his friends and enemies. There had been a plan to raise some money for As luck would have it, he has the Children space in Need Charity and quite late on the people who were his TARDIS to have been the main attraction got a better offer and Burrell is not a man stock up in advance, so my advice to let people down. What could him – sorry, her – would be done to bring people in pop along to his local Earth-based book emporium and raise some money? get himself ready. Most of us would have thought of jumble sales and cake bakesAnd if you're working on a shorter timescale, but Burrell had made with a hobby of escapology shorter lifespan, and idea of a sponsored escape had life breathed into it. On 3 November 2002 he went for thinking perhaps just one gift season ahead, well my advice is pretty much the Fastest Handcuff Escape world record and immediately afterwards Most Handcuffs Escaped in One Hour. Both were successful and more than £300 was raised for Children in Needsame.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>154712251X1785942719</amazonuk>
}}

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