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<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. [https://ewritingservice.com/ Ewritingservice.com] is the custom writing service thousands of students trust all over the world.
[https://ewritingservicemyhomeworkdone.com/ My Homework Done] is your best choice among those websites that do homework for you.
There are currently '''{{PAGESINCATEGORY:Reviews}}''' reviews at TheBookbag.
'''Read [[:Category:Features|the latest features]].'''<!-- Remove -->
{{newreview
|author= Jonathan StroudDK|title= Lockwood My Encyclopedia of Very Important Animals|rating=4.5|genre=Children's Non-Fiction|summary=The animal kingdom is a diverse one, full of creatures that do all sorts of things. The number of animals out there is so vast that even vets need to do a quick google when something strange appears in their practice. For budding vet-to-be animals are a constant source of fascination and they will absorb as much knowledge as you can give them. It is not practical to visit the zoo every day, but getting an educational and Coentertaining animal encylopedia is.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0241276357</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=DK|title=DK Children's Encyclopedia|rating=4.5|genre=Children's Non-Fiction|summary=More than sixty years ago my grandparents bought me an encylopedia: it was a major purchase for them as they didn't really ''do'' books, but it was a treasure trove for me and I still have it today. It didn't just teach me facts - it taught me how to find out information for myself and how to use an index. It opened my eyes to subjects I'd never considered and widened my knowledge on those I already loved. In format, in size and content it was very similar to ''DK Children's Encyclopedia'' and I can imagine a younger me hunched over it and begging just to be allowed to finish this bit before I went to bed.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0241283868</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author= Kelly Barnhill|title= The Empty GraveGirl Who Drank the Moon|rating= 54
|genre= Confident Readers
|summary= In Every year the people of the Protectorate leave a world that takes baby as an offering to the best and worst of Victorian times (atmospheric fogs, candles, mudlarks witch who scavenge along lives in the banks of forest, in the Thames for treasures) and hope that this sacrifice will keep their town safe. Little do they know that the modern day (leggingswitch, skinny jeansXan, cabs and concrete underpasses) absolutely anything can happen – and it does. For fifty years ghosts of all kinds have infested Britain, and as only is a kind soul who rescues the children and young people can see finds them, theirs is new homes with families on the task other side of protecting the adults and ridding forest. She feeds the country of the menacesbabies on starlight to keep them nourished throughout their journey, but one by painful oneyear she accidently feeds a baby moonlight which fills the child with a powerful magic. Lucy, George, Holly and Lockwood are the members of Xan names the smallest baby Luna and most ramshackle independent agencyrealises she must raise this magical child as her own, but their constant success (and survival despite forever lengthening odds) is a thorn in locking away her magical abilities until her thirteenth birthday. But as the flesh of day approaches where Luna's magic will emerge, she will have to learn to protect the elite Fittes Agency, which safe and loving world she has acquired almost total control over the whole ghost-bashing businessalways known.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>05525757981848126476</amazonuk>
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{{newreview
|author=Kenneth StevenRobin Jarvis|title=Winter TalesTime of Blood|rating=4|genre=Short StoriesTeens|summary= Upon opening this book you are presented with Travel back over a hundred years into Whitby's past to see two witches battle an eclectic collection of twelve short stories centred around a common theme of Winterancient evil. You are taken around the world Follow young Lil as you read stories set in a variety of places from Helsinki she tries to New York, Germany to Russia. Kenneth Steven cleverly utilises a key component of short stories - that you can read each story in one sitting - to his advantage as he gives each story an individual focal subject, such as bullying, ensuring that you are reading a distinct story every time you open the bookavoid spoilers and find her best friend.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>19106745081405280255</amazonuk>
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{{newreview
|author= William SuttonJ M Barrie and Robert Ingpen|title= Lawless Peter Pan and the House of ElectricityWendy|rating= 54|genre= Crime (Historical)For Sharing|summary= Campbell Lawless is back, this time tasked with solving It's a series childhood staple - the story of terrorist attacks across Wendy, John and Michael Darling and their beloved nurse, Nana the nationNewfoundland dog who took them to school each day. Is it It's George Darling, their father, who makes the work of mistake when he locks Nana in the French, as police yard and public the children are being led to believe, or someone closer whisked away to home? Who can be trusted Neverland by Peter Pan and what does RoxburyTinkerbell. There's a wonderful mix of characters, an innovative inventor previously disgracedfrom Peter Pan, have to do with the bombs used boy who never wants to cause chaos across grow up, Tinkerbell, the country? Employing rather unpleasant fairy, Captain Hook, Tiger Lily, the services lost boys and - of Mollycourse - Wendy, but then it wouldn't have been a classic since the effervescent ragamuffin from his previous adventures, he sets original stage production in motion a campaign of subterfuge which uncovers long held secrets, skulduggery 1904 and the desperate yearnings beneath Roxbury's constant inventionnovel of 1911 if it were otherwise.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>17856501301786750856</amazonuk>
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{{newreview
|author=K J LawrenceEmily Winslow|title= The CossackLook For Her|rating=54|genre=ThrillersCrime|summary=Daniel Brooking is not what you'd think of as hero material: he's a photographer of some merit In 1976, Annalise Wood disappeared on her journey home from school and in his fifties he has instantly became a settled lifelocal celebrity. It was For decades the town of Lilling tried to solve the mystery of Annalise's disappearance of his assistantuntil, Ivan Shevchenkoalmost twenty years later, which disrupted everythingher body was discovered. It wasnAnnalise't unknown for him to disappear occasionally, but missing an exhibition s body was a first for him. He'd been distracted for a few days - badly decomposed and then there were was lack of DNA available, the only trace on the strange papers which arrived, to be kept safebody was found in her skirt and does not match anyone on record. The authorities, in chances of finding her killer were extremely low and the form of murder soon becomes a shadowy senior member of 'cold case' – but still the security services, confirmed the view that Ivan was probably dead, because of some supposed connections with organised crime and drug dealingmost famous Lilling has ever seen.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>19997827040749022663</amazonuk>
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{{newreview
|author=James Goss and Russell T DaviesGrady Hendrix|title=Doctor Who: Now We Are Six HundredPaperbacks from Hell: A Collection History of Time Lord Verse (Dr Who)Horror Fiction from the '70s and '80s|rating=4.5|genre=Children's Rhymes and Verse Horror|summary=Consider the Doctor. Just how many birthday and Christmas gifts must he have to hand out each yearDemonic possession, murderous babies, were he to keep in touch with even half of his companions? He would certainly need a few novelty gifts man-eating moths… for some of themthese books, sayno plot was too ludicrous, for exampleno cover art too appalling, whimsical books of verse that pithily encapsulate the life of a Time Lord and that of some of no evil too despicable. Now horror author Grady Hendrix risks his friends soul and enemies. As luck would have it, he has the space in his TARDIS sanity (not to stock up in advance, so my advice mention the reader's!) to him – sorryrelate the true, her – would be to pop along to his local Earth-based book emporium untold story of a fascinating and get himself readyoften forgotten era in publishing. Read the synapse-shattering story summaries!<br>See the horrific hand-painted cover imagery!<br>And if you're working on a shorter timescalelearn the true-life tales of the writers, with a shorter lifespanartists, and thinking perhaps just publishers who gleefully violated every literary law but one gift season ahead, well my advice is pretty much the same– never be boring.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>17859427191594749817</amazonuk>
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{{newreview
|author=Zillah BethellLuke Dittrich|title=The Extraordinary Colours Patient H.M.: A Story of Auden DareMemory, Madness and Family Secrets|rating=4.5|genre=Confident ReadersPopular Science|summary=Auden has a condition called achromatopsia, which means that he can't see colours. He likes Luke Dittrich seeks to pretend that it doesn't matter but it does. And shed light on the older Auden gets, man behind the more it seems to matter. Mind youinitials, and in doing so does everything else...... because Auden lives in a near-future Britain in , uncovered quite a world where climate change has taken root. It never rains any bit more. Britain, an island with plenty of coastline, is doing better than many countries thanks to its desalination plants. But water is still rationed and the Water Authority Board is now a quasi-government as the most important and powerful body in the land. Water wars have broken out worldwide and Auden's father is away fightinghe expected.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>18481260850099571862</amazonuk>
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{{newreview
|author=J Saxena Sita Brahmachari and J ZimmermanJane Ray|title=Basic WitchesWorry Angels
|rating=4
|genre=Spirituality and ReligionDyslexia Friendly|summary= Before I started this book I Amy-May was expecting devastated when her parents split up: she and her mother left the delightful seaside cottage where the waves had sung her to be thrown sleep and moved into a 'garden flat'. That didn't mean that it had a garden, just that it was on the world ground floor. They didn't have a lot of magic and would know how to levitate by possessions as the end bailiffs had taken most of the first chapterthem. Unsurprisingly Her father was living in another old cottage now and hopefully he'd be able to set up his kiln, I was wrongbut he wouldn't be able to home-school Amy-May. However, what I The alternative was met by Sandcastles Secondary School but the rather nervous Amy was considered to be too ''anxious'' to start at the school full time. As a book that explores the origins of witchcraft, teaches you how gentle introduction to dress and act like a witch and contains spells ranging from accepting compliments schooling she went to conjuring up a relaxing Netflix bingeGrace's art school instead.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1594749779178112695X</amazonuk>
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{{newreview
|author=Maja Lunde and Diane Oatley (translator)Cassandra Parkin|title=The History of BeesWinter's Child|rating=45|genre=General FictionParanormal|summary=Bees are a handy symbol ''A modern Gothic tale of the planet's environmental degradationtwisted love, as yousecrets and hauntings'll know if you've read anything by [[:Category:Dave Goulson|Dave Goulson]] – whose endorsement is featured proudly it says on the cover of this U.K I'll go along with that. release of Norwegian childrenSuzannah Harper doesn's writer Maja Lundet believe in life after death or gypsies being able to tell the future, but that hasn's first novel t stopped her spending a fortune on psychics and fortune tellers in the desperate hunt for her son. Joel has been missing for adultsfive years. The creatures also provide subtle links between the book's three story lines He skipped out of school one day after an argument at home and has not been seen since.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>14711627451785079034</amazonuk>
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{{newreview
|titleauthor=Greta Zargo Clare Foges and the Death Robots from Outer SpaceAl Murphy|authortitle=A F HarroldBathroom Boogie|rating=4.5|genre=Confident ReadersFor Sharing|summary=''No one knew Every day I leave the house with the feeling that only three things stood I left it in the way of the complete and utter destruction of the Earth: one elderly parrota pretty tidy state, one eleven-year-old spelling mistake and one intrepid young newspaper-reporter-cum-schoolgirl in search but on my return some things always seem out of a Big Scoopplace.'' Oh This is especially true of my word! What a prospect! Let me break it down for you. The parrot has only ever learned to speak one sentencebathroom. The spelling mistake Why is between great and Greta. Both these things point there toothpaste on the alien danger to Earthmirror, or a silvery robot, in flannel on the direction of Greta Zargo, who is floor? It would appear that I may not actually be to blame and that when I'm at work all the wannabe reporterbathroom items come out for a boogie. Will I ever catch them in the act?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>14088694700571337317</amazonuk>
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{{newreview
|author= Yaba BadoeMark Alder|title= A Jigsaw Son of Fire and Starsthe Night
|rating= 4
|genre= Literary FictionFantasy|summary=Sante was In [[Son of the Morning by Mark Alder|Son of the Morning]], author Mark Alder plunges the reader into a baby when she was washed ashore in a sea-chest laden with treasure. It seems she is chaotic, dangerous world, taking them back to the turbulent reign of Edward III and the sole survivor dangers of the tragic sinking Hundred Years War. Adding elements of a ship carrying migrants fantasy and refugees. Her people. Fourteen years on shetheology to the mix, Alder created an intriguing read which is continued in ''s a member Son of Mama Rosethe Night''s unique and dazzling circus. ButWith Lucifer, Satan, from their watery graveGod, Devils and Angels interacting with a cast of real and well researched characters, Alder continues his exploration of the unquiet dead Hundred Years war whilst rather incredibly keeping his readers as educated as they are calling Sante to avenge them. A bamboo flute. A golden bangle. A ripening mango which must not fall... if Sante is to tell their story and her ownentertained. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>17866954800575115203</amazonuk>
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{{newreview
|author= Martha Batalha Kenneth Grahame and Eric M B Becker (translator)Robert Ingpen|title= The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao|rating= 4.5|genre= Literary Fiction|summary= On the surface, young housewife Euridice Gusmao has it all. A nice-enough, parent-pleasing husband with a steady banking job, two young children upon whom to dote, an immaculate home complete with maid. That's all anyone could ever want, isn't it? Not Euridice. She has an inexplicable ache inside her for something more, like many of us. Yet each of her pet projects, from a desire to publish a recipe book to starting a cottage sewing industry Wind in her living room, are met with scorn from her stern husband Antenor. He wants a wife who doesn't draw attention to herself, whose only domains are her house and her family.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>178607298X</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Jakob Wegelius and Peter Graves (translator)|title=The Murderer's ApeWillows|rating=4.5
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=Sally Jones is Kenneth Grahame's ''The Wind in clover as a mechanic on a cargo ship – when, that is, there is cargo to actually ship. Having needed emergency repairs, the two-strong crew Willows'' was one of the defining books of her my childhood and more than sixty years after I first read the Chief are idling in Lisbon, and are given a mysterious and mysteriously overpaid job – a job that shouldnbook I't go wrong, but doesve just recently passed it onto another young reader. Unfortunately for the Chief, taking even Since the book was first step at writing published in 1908 there have been some notable illustrators: Paul Bransom provided illustrations for the wrong sees him arrested for murder. Sally Jones is forced into hiding, which she manages to do with a lovely1913 edition, kind woman with a hidden talent Ernest H Shepard (perhaps better known for singinghis illustrations of ''Winnie the Pooh'') in 1933, Arthur Rackham (possibly the leading illustrator from the golden age of book illustration) in 1940 and her landlord, Robert Ingpen who makes and repairs accordions and other musical instruments. Life with them seems to be a new form illustrated the centenary edition of clover, then, but hints of that past nastiness keep coming back to haunt Sally Jones, especially when there's a suggestion that 'The Wind in the alleged murder victim might still be alive… Oh, and did I say that Sally Jones is actually a gorilla?Willows''.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>17826916181786751062</amazonuk>
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{{newreview
|author= David BergenSimon Jenkins|title= StrangerBritain's 100 Best Railway Stations|rating= 45|genre= Literary Fiction Reference|summary=''Stranger'' tells In the mid twentieth century the railway was something which harked back to the story of ÍsoVictorian age with trains being supplanted by cars and planes, a young Guatemalan womanbut steam was being replaced by oil, even then and her affair with an American doctor. When an accident forces him to return to in the States, she twenty-first century oil is left pregnant and lonelygiving way to electricity. Her anguish becomes even It's cleaner, more profound when her daughter is abductedenvironmentally friendly and the stations which we'd all rushed through as quickly as possible, and taken keen to live with the doctor escape their grime, were restored and his wife. What followed - tales of the journey Íso embarked upon in the hope of finding her baby - was an amazing story of the lengths a mother will go became places to be admired, possibly even lingered in order to save her child. Simon Jenkins has chosen his hundred best railway stations.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0715652419024197898X</amazonuk>
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{{newreview
|author= Marianne TaylorSarah Baker|title= Owls: A Guide to Every SpeciesEloise Undercover|rating= 54|genre= ReferenceConfident Readers|summary=I feel like I am being watched. A huge pair of piercing orange eyes are staring right at me, locking me into their gaze. In contrast Eloise has a wonderful life with the hardness of the deep-amber eyes, soft grey feathers fan out into the surrounding area, intricateher two best friends, detailed and beautiful. An enigma; harsh Albert and gentle at the same timeMaddie, until the owl is beckoning the reader German soldiers start to turn the pages arrive and take everything changes. Nazi-occupied France is not a closer look insideplace Eloise wants to be.Maddie and her family are taken away and Albert starts to act very strangely.Then her father disappears.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>178240404X</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Orlando Weeks|title=The Gritterman|rating=5|genre=Graphic Novels|summary=There's a man who Eloise is lost until she discovers her father has an ice cream van. In summerbeen working for the resistance and there might, what there if she is of summerbrave enough, be a way to rescue him before he uses it to sell ice creams, That's not his vocation though, but it does keep him going whilst he waits for winter, when the van becomes a Gritting Van and our narrator becomes a Grittermandeported to Germany. The fibreglass 99s on the roof light up She now has hope and rotate, playing a tune, whether the van's gritting or selling ice creamsplan. Tonight - Christmas Eve - But will be the van's last trip. The council has sent the letter about his services no longer being required. Global warming. Dying profession, they say. There's even a tarmac now that can de-ice itself, but the Gritterman isn't sure that he wants to live in resistance let a world where the B2116 doesn't need gritting.twelve year old schoolgirl join them?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>184614955X1910611131</amazonuk>
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{{newreview
|author= Adam SilveraNalini Singh|title= They Both Die at the EndSilver Silence A Psy-Changling Trinity Novel
|rating= 4
|genre=TeensParanormal|summary= ''No matter how we choose to live, we both die Jump straight into a rich and diverse universe at the end'' The year is 2017, the place is America, but this is not designated jumping on point. Visit a place we recogniseworld of humans, changelings and Psy. A company called Death-Cast know The world the exact date of everyone's death books have set in has faced a dramatic change and make it their mission to inform Deckers that they will be dead within the next twentya new world-four hoursorder of peace has been declared. Many have tried to cheat death, all have failedThe peace is painful and not universally loved. Into this world a bear falls in love with an emotionless Psy – how'd ya reckon it'll turn out?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>14711662011473217571</amazonuk>
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{{newreview
|author= K J WhittakerColin Thubron|title= False LightsMirror to Damascus
|rating= 4.5
|genre= Historical FictionTravel|summary=CornwallDamascus today is a monument to her past, 1817to all the people and civilisations that helped shape her. What if your worst mistake changed In this enthusiastic piece of travel writing, Collin Thubron tells the course tale of history? Napoleon a city that has crushed the Duke of Wellington at the Battle of Waterlooseen empires rise and fall, conquerors come and his ex-wife Josephine presides go and has lasted for over French-occupied Englandtwo thousand years. Cornwall erupts into open rebellion, and young heiress Hester escapes with Crow, WellingtonIt's former intelligence officer, a half-French aristocrat haunted by his part rich in the catastrophic defeat. Together, they become embroiled in a web of treachery impressive history and espionage as plans are laid to free Wellington from secret captivity this book is rich in the Scilly Isles and lead an uprising against the French occupation. In a country rife with traitors, Hester and Crow know it is impossible to play such a game as this for long..impressive detail.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>17866953400099532298</amazonuk>
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{{newreview
|author=Cynthia Ryland Fearne Cotton and Mary BlairSheena Dempsey|title=Walt Disney's Cinderella: Illustrated by Mary Blair (Walt Disney Classics)Yoga Babies|rating=4|genre=Emerging ReadersFor Sharing|summary=I'm sure almost all my readers are au fait with the story of CinderellaRadio host, TV presenter, fashion designer, and of how she went from the gutter to the stars in one romantic swoop. It's only a good thing the relevant people didnauthor – is there anything Fearne Cotton can't have foot fetishes or phobias, for then do? Based on the tale would have been utterly different. Disney made it slightly different, content of course, when they made the animated classic based on the legend, and this book, complete with art from we can undoubtedly add Yogi to the time the film was being madeongoing list of talents, is evidence of just how the look and the emotion of the piece were intended because it's hard to beimagine any other way in which this came into being.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>14052869971783445645</amazonuk>
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{{newreview
|author=Jon Scieszka Claire Freedman and Mary BlairJane Massey|title=Walt Disney's Alice in Wonderland: Illustrated by Mary Blair (Walt Disney Classics)Florence Frizzball|rating=4.5|genre=Emerging ReadersFor Sharing|summary=I'll take is as read you have some knowledge Florence Frizzball has the frizziest, curliest, most out of the story control mop of Alice in Wonderland – certainly when hair you've ever seen! And she got to be 150 years old a couple of years back there were no end of editions of longs for smooth, sleek, brushable locks like all her storyfriends. And as you knowAs a kid, I remember being chased round the garden by my mother, 150 years is brandishing a heck of a lot of unbirthdayshair brush and trying to get me to sit still and have my frizz sorted out. But her story got to To say I identified with Florence would be slightly differentan understatement. As the tale goes on, and if anything only more lovedthough, courtesy of we see another side to the Disney cartoonstory. Florence gets what she wants, and the fact that this book features artwork but when her dream comes true she quickly learns that maybe she was generated during wanting all the production of wrong things, and that film actually her frizzball is the unique selling pointpart of her identity.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>14052870041471144542</amazonuk>
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{{newreview
|titleauthor=MoonriseStuart Maconie|authortitle=Sarah CrossanLong Road From Jarrow|rating=5|genre=TeensTravel |summary=Joe I cancelled my ''Country Walking'' magazine subscription about a year ago and the only thing I miss is seventeen Stuart Maconie's column. His down-to-earth approach and sharp wit belie an equally sharp intellect and a soul more sensitive than he hasnmight be willing to admit. Let's be honest, though, I picked this one up because of someone else't seen his brother for ten yearss review, in which I spotted names like Ferryhill and Newton Aycliffe. And the reason for Places I grew up in. Like Maconie I have no connection (that is brutal - Ed is on Death Row in Texas, convicted I know of ) to the murder of a police officer. Ed says Jarrow Crusade but when hetalks about it being 's innocent. Aunt Karen doesn't believe him. And Mum is long gonea whole matrix of events reducible to one word like Aberfan, Hillsborough, no-one knows whereor Orgreave'' then somehow it does become part of my history too. When the execution date comes through Tangentially, Joe passes up on his job and a spot on a summer athletics scholarship and treks from New York across the country so that Ed is not alone. He is determined to spend these last weeks with his brother no matter what anybody else thinksat least.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>140886780X1785030531</amazonuk>
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{{newreview
|titleauthor=I am TraitorKieran Larwood|authortitle=Sif Sigmarsdottir The Gift of Dark Hollow|rating=4.5|genre=TeensConfident Readers|summary=Alien ships have arrived 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 adventures of Podkin in ''The Gift of Dark Hollow'', are told by an old rabbit who has been a Bard all his life - a teller of stories and legends from the skies above Londonrabbit world. The Prime Minister appeared Bard has an apprentice, Rue, desperately eager to learn his trade. He hangs on TV every word spoken by the Bard as they travel together to announce this ominous visitation and order a curfewfestival. After that Rue is hungry to learn the art of story-telling, he went AWOL and took but also wants to know all reliable information with himabout Podkin One Ear, leaving the army and what better way to do this than to patrol hear from the streetsMaster himself. Not that the army has any answer The tale he tells Rue (and us) is a gripping and scary one, featuring Podkin and his friends in their ongoing battle to overturn the long pipes that snake down from the ships ruthless Gorm, and gobble up teenagers. To wheretheir cruel leader, nobody knowsScramashank.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>14449344730571328415</amazonuk>
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{{newreview
|titleauthor=Charlotte SaysPhil Allcock and Richard Watson|authortitle=Alex BellClumpety Bump|rating=4.5|genre=TeensFor Sharing|summary=''Charlotte saysClumpety Bump likes apples... don't open the door.'' JemimaNothing wrong with that, after all: they's mother died in an awful fire not long ago re tasty and that is why Jemima decides to leave London and take up a job as a teacher on the Isle full of Skyegoodness. But leaving the place doesnyou don't mean escaping the memories get delicious, juicy treats like that unless you deserve them, and Jemima naughty Clumpety is tormented by second-guessing what actually happened a bit too keen on that terrible night. It doesnsaying ''I can't be bothered'' when his friend Wally asks for help that Miss Grayson. So, after several disasters, the mistress Wally decides he'd be better off leaving Clumpety at the schoolhome and using his tractor instead. Unfortunately, is a strangethings don't turn out too well, forbidding sortand our two heroes learn that if you want to be properly happy, while the school itself is a thoroughly creepy old buildingother people need to be happy too. Selfishness just makes everyone sad.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>18471584041848862458</amazonuk>
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{{newreview
|author= J Jefferson FarjeonRoger Moore|title= Seven DeadA Bientot...|rating= 4|genre= Historical FictionAutobiography|summary=Ted Lyte The news of the death of Sir Roger Moore in May 2017 came as a great shock: he was petty criminal, but not usually one of those people you knew would go on for ever. There was just one small glimmer of light in the housebreaking type. He lacked sadness - the courage. However, needs must, and whilst feeling down on news that a matter of days before his luck death he decided to try 'd delivered the finished manuscript of his chances at an isolated house with a shuttered window. book, ''...he might find a bit of alright behind those shutters! Wot abart it?À bientôt…'' Ted does indeed find something interesting behind the shutters, but it definitely isn't what he'd hopedto his publishers. In Just a locked room he finds seven dead bodies; six men and few months later a woman. Fleeing the house in horror, he is pursued copy landed on my desk and caught by a passing yachtsman, Thomas Hazeldean, who also happens to be a journalist. Fascinated by TedI didn's story (and a possible scoop), Hazeldean decides t even bother to investigate this curious case and its assortment of odd clues, including a portrait shot through the heart, an old cricket ball and a mysterious note written by one of the victimslook as though I could resist reading it straight away.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>07123568861782438610</amazonuk>
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{{newreview
|author= Chris ColferJonathan Stroud|title= Lockwood and Co: The Land of Stories: Worlds CollideEmpty Grave|rating= 4.5
|genre= Confident Readers
|summary=FinallyIn a world that takes the best and worst of Victorian times (atmospheric fogs, after much anticipationcandles, mudlarks who scavenge along the banks of the grand finale to Thames for treasures) and the best-selling ''Land of Stories'' is heremodern day (leggings, skinny jeans, cabs and concrete underpasses) absolutely anything can happen – and it does. The previous book [[The Land For fifty years ghosts of Stories: An Author's Odyssey by Chris Colfer|The Land of Stories: An Author's Odyssey]] left us dangling on an almighty cliffhangerall kinds have infested Britain, and as well as leaving many plot threads unresolved. We have been with only children and young people can see them, theirs is the Bailey twins from task of protecting the very beginning; seen them grow adults and mature from awkward pre-teens to confident young adultsridding the country of the menaces, one by painful one. Orson Welles famously said: ''If you want a happy endingLucy, that dependsGeorge, Holly and Lockwood are the members of coursethe smallest and most ramshackle independent agency, on where you stop your story.'' Is but their constant success (and survival despite forever lengthening odds) is a thorn in the fact that flesh of the book begins with this quote an ominous warning that elite Fittes Agency, which has acquired almost total control over the Bailey twins may not get their 'happily ever after' after all?whole ghost-bashing business.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>03163558950552575798</amazonuk>
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{{newreview
|author= Brian MastersKenneth Steven|title= Killing for CompanyWinter Tales|rating= 54|genre= True CrimeShort Stories|summary= Killing for Company is Upon opening this book you are presented with an eclectic collection of twelve short stories centred around a detailed criminal study common theme of Dennis Nilsen, unique Winter. You are taken around the world as you read stories set in that it was produced with Nilsen's full cooperation and includes material a variety of places from Nilsen's prison diariesHelsinki to New York, Germany to Russia. Covering Nilsen's early life, his career and subsequent murders, this is Kenneth Steven cleverly utilises a detailed analysis key component of the man behind the murder and short stories - that you can read each story in one sitting - to his advantage as he gives each story an attemptindividual focal subject, on Masters' partsuch as bullying, to understand what shaped Nilsen and what could have caused such apparently senseless violenceensuring that you are reading a distinct story every time you open the book.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>17847594221910674508</amazonuk>
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{{newreview
|author= E V HarteWilliam Sutton|title= The Prime Lawless and the House of Ms Dolly GreeneElectricity
|rating= 5
|genre= Crime(Historical)|summary= I love reading full stop so I was excited Campbell Lawless is back, this time tasked with solving a series of terrorist attacks across the nation. Is it the work of the French, as police and public are being led to believe, or someone closer to home? Who can be trusted and what does Roxbury, an innovative inventor previously disgraced, have to do with the chance bombs used to read cause chaos across the country? Employing the services of Molly, the first crime novel effervescent ragamuffin from established, well-regarded author Daisy Waughhis previous adventures, writing under he sets in motion a pseudonym. Butcampaign of subterfuge which uncovers long held secrets, as a self-confessed chicklit fan, whoskulduggery and the desperate yearnings beneath Roxbury's never read a crime novel before, I wasn't sure if I was going to like it...constant invention.turns out I absolutely loved it!|amazonuk=<amazonuk>14721242431785650130</amazonuk>
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{{newreview
|author=Vicky HaywardK J Lawrence|title=Juan Altamiras' New Art of Cookery: A Spanish Friar's Kitchen NotebookThe Cossack|rating=45|genre=CookeryThrillers|summary=In 1745 Daniel Brooking is not what you'd think of as hero material: he's a Spanish friary cook, Juan Altamiras, published photographer of some merit and in his fifties he has a settled life. It was the first edition disappearance of his ''New Art of Cookeryassistant, Ivan Shevchenko, Drawn From the School of Economic Experience''which disrupted everything. It contained more than two hundred recipes wasn't unknown for meathim to disappear occasionally, poultry, game, salted and fresh fish, vegetables and desserts. The style but missing an exhibition was informal, chatty and humorous on occasions and it was aimed, not at those who could afford to cook on a grand scale, but at those with more modest budgets, who sometimes needed to cook first for large numbershim. Whilst the ingredients were - He'd been distracted for the most part a few days - modestly priced and then there is a stress on were the careful combination of flavours and aromasstrange papers which arrived, to be kept safe. Spices are used conservatively and The authorities, in the bluntness form of some Moorish cooking is eschewed in favour a shadowy senior member of something much more subtle and we see influences from Altamiras' own regionthe security services, Aragonconfirmed the view that Ivan was probably dead, the Iberian court because of some supposed connections with organised crime and the New Worlddrug dealing.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>14422794191999782704</amazonuk>
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{{newreview
|author= Clar Ni ChonghaileJames Goss and Russell T Davies|title= Rain Falls On EveryoneDoctor Who: Now We Are Six Hundred: A Collection of Time Lord Verse (Dr Who)|rating= 4.5|genre= Literary FictionChildren's Rhymes and Verse |summary= It's a cliché that Consider the Irish Doctor. Just how many birthday and Christmas gifts must he have to hand out each year, were he to keep in touch with even half of his companions? He would certainly need a picturesque turn few novelty gifts for some of phrasethem, say, but clichés only exist because they're true. Roddy Doyle put it differently in a recent interview with ''Writing'' magazinefor example, when he said whimsical books of verse that ''With Irish, there's another language bubbling under pithily encapsulate the English''. However you express it, life of a Time Lord and that art of expression is woven into every other line some of Clár's prosehis friends and enemies. Pick a page at random and you'll find something like ''As luck would have it, he has the sickness that had come space in his TARDIS to roost stock up in advance, so my advice to him – sorry, her home like – would be to pop along to his local Earth-based book emporium and get himself ready. And if you're working on a cursed owl'' or ''like he was Godshorter timescale, Jesus and Justin Timberlake rolled into one'' or ''with a low sobbingshorter lifespan, slow and inevitable as rain on a Sunday'': expressions that catch your smile unawaresthinking perhaps just one gift season ahead, or tear at your heart in their mundane sadness. Or sometimes bothwell my advice is pretty much the same.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>17850790181785942719</amazonuk>
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