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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 , the charity shop 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.

<!-- Jo Spain Linda Jones -->

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===[[The Boy Who Fell (Inspector Tom Reynolds) Deadwood Hall by Jo SpainLinda Jones]]===

[[image:45star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]] In late December Dylan Beaumont and his sister Emily were on their way to spend the week before Christmas at their grandfather's house. It was snowing heavily and you could sense that their parents were becoming annoyed at the bickering in the back of the car. Emily was rather brusque with her nine-year-old brother's behaviour, but then that's your prerogative when you're a grown-up eleven year old. The snow was getting heavier and the journey longer when Emily opened the car window just a couple of inches. There was a dreadful smell and Dylan saw a horrible, snake-like figure clawing at the car window. [[Deadwood Hall by Linda Jones|Full Review]] <!-- Denzil Meyrick -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1846974755.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.5staruk/dp/1846974755/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[A Breath on Dying Embers (DCI Daley) by Denzil Meyrick]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] Few government trade missions arrive by luxury liner, but the cruise ship ''Great Britain'' is berthed in Kinloch harbour and on board are high-powered international delegates. It's hard to avoid the suspicion that it's not ''entirely'' about work as the billionaires, entrepreneurs and their civil service minders tour the country, golfing and sightseeing with their entourage of security personnel. It's an event which DCI Daley hopes will pass quickly, particularly as his formal uniform is far too tight for comfort, but it's not long before one of the crew members and a local bird watcher go missing. [[A Breath on Dying Embers (DCI Daley) by Denzil Meyrick|Full Review]]

There were six friends: four men and two women. They're all about eighteen and they've known each other since they started school. Both girls - Hazel Brophy and Charlotte Burke - have been in relationships with one of the boys, but Charlotte was determined that it would not be sexual. Hazel's views were so dramatically opposite that you wondered how they could be friends. They were all partying in a derelict house when Luke Connelly was pushed to his death from a third floor window and Daniel Konaté Jones was charged with rape and murder. Daniel was loosely associated with the group but never felt himself one of them. He didn't come from a wealthy background, is of mixed race and openly gay. Targets don't come much easier than that, except for one thing. [[The Boy Who Fell (Inspector Tom Reynolds) by Jo Spain|Full Review]]<!-- Webb James -->

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===This is a dyslexia-friendly, science fiction novella for young adults. It tells the tale of Hugo, an unwanted and rather lonely android, who makes a living for himself mending time-travel watches. When one of his clients demands that his broken watch be mended, Hugo realises there is a mystery to be solved, and is only too ready to help. An exciting journey of discovery unfolds, which takes Hugo out of his drab attic workroom and into a scary adventure with some amazing new friends, exploring regions of the planet never before known to exist. [[Disbelieved: Skin and Bone CSIs The Starlight Watchmaker by Beth WebbLauren James|Full Review]]===

<!-- Stuart MacBride -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0007419449.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0007419449/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Cold Granite (Logan McRae) by Stuart MacBride]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:TeensCrime|TeensCrime]]

Anelise - Annie - has been living with her cousin Joe and her aunt, an eminent forensic scientist, since her mum died and her naturalist father went abroad on DS Logan McRae is just back from a year's sick leave after he was attacked by a research tripkiller. So she does wonder sometimes whether the minor premonitions she has - who He's just about OK and he's on supposed to be easing himself back into the other end swing of the ringing phone, or at the door when therejob in a gentle way - until three-year-old David Reid's body is discovered in a knock - are in her imaginationditch. But to foresee a serious accident He'd been missing for some time and then for it came as no surprise that he was dead but he's the first of several child murders. To add to actually happen? And the dreadful headachescomplications the police even have a body but no child reported missing. Something's going on. Luckily for Annie A serial killer, a child killer and abuser, Joe is convinced on the loose in Aberdeen and also willing the press are missing no opportunity to helpbay for blood. So they start As if that wasn't bad enough there seems to investigate the accident..be a leak from within Force Headquarters: a local journalist, Colin Miller, quickly finds out everything that's happening. [[Disbelieved: Skin and Bone CSIs Cold Granite (Logan McRae) by Beth WebbStuart MacBride|Full Review]]

<!-- Mick Herron Angela Marsons -->

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===[[Joe Country Child's Play (Jackson Lamb 6D I Kim Stone) by Mick HerronAngela Marsons]]===

[[image:5star4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:ThrillersCrime|ThrillersCrime]]

I'd like to say that all the old crew are in Slough House but the rate of natural (or unnatural) wastage is such as to have Health and Safety worried. Roderick HoThere's there though, narcissistic as ever, a prologue and so's Louisa Guy. She's getting over the death of Min Harper to the extent we know that shewe's not ''too'' concerned when she gets a phone call from Clare Harper, Min's wifere dealing with someone who is very disturbed. River Cartwright has got death on his mind tooThe descriptions are horrifying, but in his case it's the impending demise worst of his beloved grandfather and former spook, all is the OB. Diana Taverner has taken over from Claude Whelan as First Desk at Regent Park and she's going to make changes: one coldness of the first is a shock. An argument with Emma Flyte sees the head dog departing the service. Meanwhile at Slough House, Catherine Standish is buying booze again, Jackson Lamb is offensive as ever and Shirley Dander and J K Coe do their best to remain unnoticed, the latter by saying nothingkiller. [[Joe Country Child's Play (Jackson Lamb 6D I Kim Stone) by Mick HerronAngela Marsons|Full Review]]

<!-- Laurain Chiang -->

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===[[Vintage 1954 Exhalation by Antoine Laurain, Jane Aitken (translator) and Emily Boyce (translator)Ted Chiang]]===

[[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Science Fiction|General Science Fiction]], [[:Category:Short Stories|Short Stories]]

Vintage 1954 starts by thrusting several completely different characters upon us, before deciding to run with them and formulate a plot. So we have an American biker, just landing in Paris but unfortunately not with Over the wife who shared his dream of visiting the city togetherpast twenty-eight years Ted Chiang has published fifteen science fiction short stories. We These magnificent stories have won twenty-seven major science fiction awards so if you are a goth girl who everyone recognises from an American crime show, but actually science fiction fan it is a humble restorer likely that you have already come across some of antiques. We have a cocktail barman, infatuated with the goth girlwork by Ted Chiang. We also have a man ruling the roost over a whole suite I cannot speak highly enough of this collection of individual apartments fabricated from the Haussmann-era mansion his family once owned. Finally something conspires to get them togethershort stories, they are so wide ranging in their themes and drinking from the same bottle so beautifully written, Chiang has written an absolute masterpiece of a rare 1954 red winecollection. OnlyIf you come across Chiang's work before, one of them has a bizarre incidence in his family history that also features the same plonk – where a grandfather imbibed, and walked out the door one rainy morning, never take this opportunity to be seen againdo so now. But of course nobody Trust me; your imagination will be doing any disappearing now, though – will they? grateful. [[Vintage 1954 Exhalation by Antoine Laurain, Jane Aitken (translator) and Emily Boyce (translator)Ted Chiang|Full Review]]

<!-- Ford Lawrence -->

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[[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] ==[[:Category:Thrillers|ThrillersRose, Interrupted by Patrice Lawrence]]===

As the title suggests, this book is all about a girl, Teagan Frost, who has psychokinesis[[image:4star. Forced to secretly work for the government along with a few unique (and shady) individuals, Teagan has to use her power for unimaginable tasks. All of this whilst under the pretence of working for a moving-company. After her latest job goes wrong and her and the team escape by the skin of their teeth, Teagan finds herself as a murder suspect when the victim is found in such a way that only she could have committed the crime. The rest of the story unfolds in a fast-paced race against time to clear Teagan's name and find out exactly what has happened. Is it possible that someone with a gift like Teagan's has managed to fly under the radar? jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t With Her Mind by Jackson Ford:Category:Teens|Full ReviewTeens]]

Rose and her brother Rudder have recently escaped from cult-like fundamentalist Christian sect, the Pilgrims, along with their mother. While Mum works endless hours at agency cleaning jobs trying to keep the rent paid on their tiny flat, Rose and Rudder are trying to navigate the worldly world. It's not easy when everything is new and the rigid rules you've always lived by are suddenly missing. [[Rose, Interrupted by Patrice Lawrence|Full Review]]<!-- Caro Ramsay Kate Atkinson -->

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===[[The Suffering of Strangers Started Early, Took My Dog (Jackson Brodie) by Caro RamsayKate Atkinson]]===

[[image:4star5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]]

Roberta (please call her 'Bobby') Chisholm is sleep deprived. Six-week-old Sholto doesn't ''ever'' seem to sleepI guess that most of us have made the odd impulse purchase but Tracy Waterhouse, security chief at the Merrion Centre in Leeds, so Bobbyblew most people's like a robotideas of an impulse purchase out of the water one morning. There's Seeing a known prostitute dragging a little light on toddler through the horizon, though: shopping mall whilst cursing at her husband James is up for a new job, which could mean quite a bit more money. When he rings to tell her that he's got it he's obviously over Waterhouse followed the moon woman and tells Bobby to go to bought the local shop and get a bottle of champagne so that they can celebrategirl for £3000. For once Sholto has dropped off The difficulty of a purchase like this is knowing what to sleep do next and when Bobby gets to the shop sheTracy's reluctant to disturb him: surely there won't be a problem if she dashes into the shop to get the bubbly? She can keep humdrum life is replaced with one of stress, fear and an eye on the car through the shop window, but when she comes out, the car has gone..overwhelming love for four-year-old Courtney. [[The Suffering of Strangers Started Early, Took My Dog (Jackson Brodie) by Caro RamsayKate Atkinson|Full Review]]

<!-- Christopher Edge Chloe Daykin -->

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| style=''"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;''"|===[[The Longest Night of Charlie Noon Fire Girl, Forest Boy by Christopher EdgeChloe Daykin]]===

[[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category: Confident Readers|Confident Readers]]

Maya has to escape. She's on the run in a country she doesn'If you go into the woods, Old Crony will get yout know and has no idea who to trust.'' SecretsRaul is escaping too - travelling back to his home where a terrible tragedy happened, spies or maybe even a monster.ready to stir up trouble.. What lies When their paths collide in the heart middle of the wood? Charliejungle, Dizzy and Johnny are determined the sparks begin to discover the truth, but when night falls without warning they find themselves trapped in a nightmarefly. Lost in As modern world corruption meets the woods, strange dangers magic and impossible puzzles lurk in the shadows. As time plays trickslegends of ancient times, can Charlie solve this mystery and Maya draw on her hidden light to find a the way out of through to the woods? But what if this night never ends...truth? [[The Longest Night of Charlie Noon Fire Girl, Forest Boy by Christopher EdgeChloe Daykin|Full Review]]

<!-- Rachel Lynch Angela Marsons -->

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===[[Bold Lies Child's Play (DI Kelly Porter 5D I Kim Stone) by Rachel LynchAngela Marsons]]===

It was the smell which announced the presence of the body in the wheelhouse of There's a boat prologue and identification wasnwe know that we't going to be easy as the man was stark nakedre dealing with someone who is very disturbed. There were all the signs of a brutalThe descriptions are horrifying, cold-blooded execution but gradually worst of all is the man was traced back to Allendale House, the estate coldness of the former Lord Allendale, and then to London, where two more bodies, naked, in a staged setting in a garage, were discoveredkiller. Senior Investigating Officer DI Kelly Porter had to go to London and was shocked to discover that the SIO for ''that'' case was DCI Matt Carter, her manipulative and untrustworthy ex-lover. It was going to be anything but easy to work alongside Matt the Tw... Ah, well let[[Child's not go there. [[Bold Lies Play (DI Kelly Porter 5D I Kim Stone) by Rachel LynchAngela Marsons|Full Review]]

<!-- Jonathan Meres Gregory -->

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[[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] ==[[:Category:Dyslexia Friendly|Dyslexia Friendly]], [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident ReadersI Hold Your Heart by Karen Gregory]]===

How do you explain to children about dementia? Injuries or illnesses are obvious, but when the problem is the brain which isn't functioning quite as it used to it isn't as easy to grasp[[image:4. Frank was a normal nine year old and like many nine year olds what he wanted was a new bike5star. He'd had his for about seventy-eight years and he didn't want to raise the seat any more. Mum pointed out that it wasn't his birthday or Christmas any time soon and bikes cost a lot of money, which didn't grow on trees. His sister Lottie had a solutionjpg|link=Category: Frank could help her with her paper round. Frank agreed despite thinking that it would take him a thousand years to save up the money for a bike AND he had to get up at six o'clock in the morning. {{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[Special Delivery by Jonathan Meres:Category:Teens|Full ReviewTeens]]

Gemma has just started her A levels at school. She's a keen student and she has a good, close set of friends. Gemma loves country music and in her spare time she enjoys writing and singing country songs. She's pretty good at it too. Home life is busy - Gemma's brother Michael has a chance at a football career and the whole family, propelled by Gemma's rather over-invested dad, is supporting him with everything they've got. Gemma hasn't had a serious boyfriend yet, so when the handsome Aaron appears and an instant attraction fizzles between them, Gemma is keen to see where romance could lead... [[I Hold Your Heart by Karen Gregory|Full Review]]<!-- Vivian French Davis -->

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===[[The Spectacular Revenge of Suzi Sims What's That in Dog Years? by Vivian FrenchBen Davis and Julia Christians]]===

[[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Dyslexia Friendly|Dyslexia Friendly]], [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]]

Suzi Simms loved running George and it Gizmo have been together ever since George was her ambition to win the 100 metres race on sports day at the end of term - and that was next weekborn. We're going to read about what happened in her diaryGizmo has always been a fun, adventurous dog and a loyal friend, but just recently, although thereGeorge has noticed that he's starting to slow down a warning little. A visit to the vets leaves George worried that we really shouldn't Gizmo might not be reading itaround for very much longer, particularly as itand so he begins to write Gizmo a bucket list, of all the adventures that they can still have together in Gizmo's about Barbie Meeklast days. To say that the two girls don't get on at all well is a bit of an understatement. But are they his last days? Suzi wouldn't actually do anything about it, but Barbie And who will help George to stay calm when Gizmo is a troublemaker and she wants to win the 100 metres race too - by fair means or foul. gone? [[The Spectacular Revenge of Suzi Sims What's That in Dog Years? by Vivian FrenchBen Davis and Julia Christians|Full Review]]

<!-- Pye Hlad -->

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===[[The Adventures of Harry Stevenson Long Flight Home by Ali PyeA L Hlad]]===

[[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident ReadersHistorical Fiction|Confident ReadersHistorical Fiction]]

Meet Harry Stevenson. He's a typical guinea pigSeptember 1940 - as WWII rages on, bombs rain down on Britain, except he's perhaps a bit more ginger than normal. And more lazy than usual. And his appetite is possibly bigger than destroying the norm. Apart from that he's homes and lives of a regular guinea pig. But people on the stories in which he features are nothing likeedge. In the first one hereEpping Forest, Susan Shepherd and her grandfather Bertie live together raising homing pigeons with the lad who owns and looks after him is being forced to move house. It should be birds proving a simple journey comfort for HarrySusan following the loss of her parents. These pigeons are more than just birds to Susan though – in each one, safe and especially in his cage from all the predators that watching nature documentaries have put into his imaginationDuchess, but he gets distracted she sees a distinct personality and – shock horror – left behindforms a close bond. It takes some bravura slapstick Meanwhile, young pilot Ollie Evans leaves Maine to head to Britain and a charming contrivance for him to be found againjoin the Royal Air Force. In Working with the secondNational Pigeon Service, for we get two fullhe soon meets Susan and is tasked with air-dropping hundreds of homing pigeons into German-length stories in this volumeoccupied France, where many will not survive. As the mission is planned, the bond between Ollie and Susan grows stronger, therebut when Ollie's a party being held to get the lad used to his new schoolmatesplane is downed behind enemy lines, it may be Duchess who provides an unexpected lifeline and Harry used to life in ensures that hope of a garden hutch. And one more wonderful conceit that drives high drama. reunion for Susan and Ollie remains… [[The Adventures of Harry Stevenson Long Flight Home by Ali PyeA L Hlad|Full Review]]

<!-- Angie Kim Peter Wohlleben -->

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| style="''vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"''|===[[Miracle Creek Walks In The Wild by Angie KimPeter Wohlleben and Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp (Translator)]]===

[[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:ThrillersAnimals and Wildlife|ThrillersAnimals and Wildlife]], [[:Category:Politics and Society|Politics and Society]]

The Yoo family originated in Seoul. Yoo Young and her daughter Meh-hee came on ahead of ''An instruction manual for the father of forest'' is how Wohlleben's publisher described the family, Yoo Pakidea for this book, as a couple in Baltimore offered to provide accommodation for Young and Meh-hee in exchange for assistance in their grocery store. What Young had not appreciated was that she was to work from 6 a.m. until midnight, seven days a week. For years she hardly saw her daughter except when the Kangs brought Meh-hee to see her 's basically what it is – although right at the store. Meh-hee became Mary and struggled at school: her fellow pupils were no exceptions to end the rule author says that children can it is not intended to be cruel and Mary was a reference book, but an easy targetappetiser. [[Miracle Creek Walks In The Wild by Angie KimPeter Wohlleben and Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp (Translator)|Full Review]]

<!-- Megan E O'Keefe M T Edvardsson and Rachel Wilson-Boyles -->

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===[[Velocity Weapon A Nearly Normal Family by Megan E O'KeefeM T Edvardsson and Rachel Wilson-Boyles (translator)]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Science FictionCrime|Crime]], [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]] The last thing Sanda remembers is her gunship exploding. She expected We're going to be recovered by salvage-medics and to awaken in friendly hands, patched-up and ready to rejoin hear this story through the fight. Instead she wakes up 230 years later, on a deserted enemy starship called The Light viewpoints of Berossus - orthree different people: Adam Sandell, as he prefers to call himselfhis wife, Ulrika and his daughter Stella. Adam'Bero'. Bero tells Sanda s a pastor in the war Church of Sweden and Ulrika is losta lawyer. That the entire star system Stella is dead, well, just difficult. But is You sense that she's always been difficult and there have even been occasions when Ulrika has let slip that she wishes that the full story? After allStella was more like her best friend, in Amina Bešic - and no one has ever said that if they don't think that the vastness of space, anything other person is possible better. We first meet the family on Stella's 18th birthday and we get a sense of Adam's controlling nature. Permission has to be given for a glass of wine for Stella at the celebration meal. [[Velocity Weapon A Nearly Normal Family by Megan E O'KeefeM T Edvardsson and Rachel Wilson-Boyles (translator)|Full Review]]

<!-- Parker Green -->

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===[[The Chessmaster's Secret by Mary Parker]]=== [[image:4star4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]]

Belle Bonnie is growing up on a slightly strange island, living with her grandfather, scavenging for food, and rubbish that has washed up on the beach that she and Joe travel her grandfather can use to London in 1944make things. There is some sort of ban against anyone else landing on the island, towards the end and lots of World War II. Orphaned evacueessuspicion around those who live there, they haven't had including a good time great fear of it - especially Joe, anyone who gets sick. But when Bonnie is a sensitive child on the beach one day and was badly bullied. Meeting them is Uncle Griffdiscovers not only an intact boat, but a kindly manyoung boy cowering beneath, but one without much money. He is more rather than happy turn him in to have the children stay during the school holidays. Uncle Griff owns the ''Shop of Mechanical Marvels'' authorities she takes him home and hides him, smuggling him boiled eggs and blankets in the children love all the old things it contains. Uncle Griff hopes shed whilst she tries to restore it figure out what to profitability and bring some wonder back into London's bombed out streetsdo. [[The Chessmaster's Secret House of Light by Mary ParkerJulia Green|Full Review]]

<!-- Rob Walker Foster -->

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===[[The Art of Noticing: Rediscover What Really Matters to You Check Mates by Rob WalkerStewart Foster]]===

[[image:4star5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:LifestyleConfident Readers|LifestyleConfident Readers]], [[:Category:Teens|Teens]]

The curse put on reviewers In many ways Felix is that we get to read through a book which is really better dipped intotypical boy in Year 7, or read gradually enjoying playing games on his PS4 and thoughts allowed to be provokedhanging out with his friend Jake at the weekend. And so it was with ''The Art of Noticing''However Felix is struggling at school. It's He is not a simple premise: the pace of modern life problem child but he does have a problem. His ADHD makes it hard for him to concentrate, he keeps getting into trouble and rapidity of technological advances means his grades are slipping. When his Mum suggests that we are constantly overwhelmed he spends more time with his grandfather Felix is horrified. Ever since Grandma died his Granddad has been grumpy and distractedmore eccentric than before. Rob Walker All he wants us to do is sit in the dark and play chess. Felix knows that this will be able extremely boring. But sometimes we learn valuable lessons where we least expect to steal our attention back. He gives us his thoughts on various areas of our lives and then provides 131 exercises to perhaps Granddad and Felix can help us recover our attentioneach other. [[The Art of Noticing: Rediscover What Really Matters to You Check Mates by Rob WalkerStewart Foster|Full Review]]

<!-- Lesley Thomson Jane O'Connor -->

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===[[The Playground Murders Needlemouse by Lesley ThomsonJane O'Connor]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]]

Rachel Cater was having an affair with her boss, Chris Philips, an auctioneer[[image:5star. It was, she told her mother, love at first sight. Her mother was more sceptical and wondered whyjpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]], if it had been love at first sight, it had taken him so long to do anything about it. Still, more than anything, she wanted her daughter to be happy. That was what Rachel wanted too and it was why she went to the Philips' family home, determined to have it all out in the open. Instead she was stabbed fifteen times. Her lover was convicted of her murder. [[The Playground Murders by Lesley Thomson:Category:Women's Fiction|Full ReviewWomen's Fiction]]

We first meet Sylvia Penton on her birthday and her boss, the Prof, is taking her out to lunch. This is her favourite day of the year, not because it's her birthday but because of the special time she gets to spend with the man she loves. He's told her that he and his wife are going to divorce - Martha is apparently having an affair - and Sylvia is convinced that the Prof will then declare his love and they can be together. She hasn't fully constructed 'together' in her own mind - she envisages it as romantic, but her imagination hasn't yet progressed to the sexual part of the relationship. There's time though - she's only been the prof's PA for fifteen years. [[Needlemouse by Jane O'Connor|Full Review]]<!-- Dare Various-->

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| style="''vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"''|===[[Return to Wonderland by Various Authors]]===

[[image:4.5star.jpg|link===Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]], [[The Billion Pound Lie by Bill Dare:Category:Short Stories|Short Stories]]===

In following a young girl called Alice down the rabbit hole a few years ago, when the first book she was in [[image:4star.jpgAlice's Adventures in Wonderland (150th Anniversary Edition) by Lewis Carroll and Anthony Browne|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviewshit 150 years of age]] , I found that I didn't really find too much favour with it. The wacky-for-the-sake-of-it did not gel, and I don't remember loving it more as a child. But I would suggest I am the perfect audience for this book. I had every chance to enjoy these short stories that come at the core from a tangent, that show the benefits of the oblique glance. I've always preferred coming to an author's output through their least obvious, allegedly throw-away pieces, and it's the same with franchises – I'd more likely go for Bree Tanner's short novella than the whole Twilight saga (although that remains just a hunch, for obvious reasons). For another thing, there was every reason to expect some kind of greatness here – with Carroll much loved by millions, surely pieces written with that love in mind could only provide for success after success? [[:Category:ThrillersReturn to Wonderland by Various Authors|ThrillersFull Review]]

Can you imagine what it would be like to win a billion pounds? The UK's biggest ever lottery winners were a couple from Ayrshire, who won a £161 million EuroMillions jackpot a few years ago. That's so much money that it landed them on the Sunday Times Rich List of the UK's thousand most wealthy people. So a billion pounds. That's a lot, right? Can you imagine it? What would you do? Would you try to remain anonymous? And, if you did, how would this affect your relationships with your nearest and dearest? What it would be like? How could you keep your friends and family from knowing that you were now one of the richest people in the country? [[The Billion Pound Lie by Bill Dare|Full Review]] <!-- Vaughn Elphinstone -->

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| style="''vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"''|===[[Across the Void Rumblestar (The Unmapped Chronicles) by S K VaughnAbi Elphinstone]]===

[[image:4star4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Science FictionConfident Readers|Science FictionConfident Readers]]

Sea epics? So 20th centuryRumblestar follows the haphazard adventures of the anxious 11-year-old Casper Tock who timetables his every movement, makes countless to do lists and is hounded by wealthy bullies with the absurdly humorous and appropriate names of Candida Cashmere Jumps and Leopold Splattercash. Try He stumbles across a magic portal by accident just like Lucy of Narnia fame, meets a feisty girl troubled by her past and is plunged into a space epicperilous quest. In a kingdom where the dark mythological forces of Midnights threaten the weather Marvels (equated here to the miracle of nature) conjured by magical creatures, only unlikely heroes can battle against evil. [[Across the Void Rumblestar (The Unmapped Chronicles]) by S K VaughnAbi Elphinstone|Full Review]]

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[[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] ==[[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]], [[:Category:General Fiction|General FictionThe Evil Occupants of Easingdale Castle by Ray Filby]]===

When Tikka Molloy was eleven and one-sixth years old, the Van Apfel sisters disappeared. In the long hot summer of 1992, in an isolated suburb of Australia surrounded by Bushland, the girls vanished during the school's Showstopper concert at the riverside amphitheatre. Did they run away? Were they taken? While the search for the sisters united the small community, they were never found. Returning home years later, Tikka must make sense of that strange moment in time – of the summer that shaped her, and the girls she never forgot[[image:4star. jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[The Van Apfel Girls are Gone by Felicity McLean:Category:Teens|Full ReviewTeens]]

Jason likes chess. He's pretty good at it too - a level eight on his computer programme, with level ten being Grand Master level. He's also good at systems, having contributed to the relational database that has streamlined his school's administration. Jason's school, Easingdale Comprehensive, is very big on technology and its head, Mr Johnston, is keen to involve his pupils wherever they show promise. So Jason's friends have also helped out. Liz is great with hardware and helped with the school's card reader system. Becky has a flair for software and has recommended lots of curriculum-enhancing apps. And Bill is a talented programmer... [[The Evil Occupants of Easingdale Castle by Ray Filby|Full Review]]  <!-- Stowell Caz Frear -->

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===[[The Dragon in the Library Stone Cold Heart by Louie Stowell and Davide Ortu (Illustrator)Caz Frear]]===

[[image:4.5star4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]], [[:Category:Emerging ReadersCrime|Emerging ReadersCrime]]

It DC Cat Kinsella is back at the start of Met after a secondment to the London Mayor's Office: the hours were good but the summer holidays and Kit has plansjob was boring. These plans involve climbing trees She's grateful to be back with the old team - her partner DS Luigi Parnell, getting muddy boss DCI Kate Steele and being outsideDC Rénee Akwa. Her friends, Josh and Alita, on She's still not prepared to say anything about the other hand want to go to identity of her boyfriend: the library. Kit hates reading and canknowledge that she't see s in a relationship with Aiden Doyle, the point brother of books at all but is very reluctantly persuaded to go a murder victim and moreover a murder with the others which her father might have had some involvement could finish her career. Kinsella and Parnell are called to the local library. Once there the children meet the librarian and Kit makes an incredible discovery; of the librarian is body of a wizard! Even more incrediblyyoung woman: Naomi Lockhart was Australian, Kit is a wizard too and she just twenty-two years old and her friends have body was discovered by her flat mate, Kieran Drake, an important taskex-offender. They must save the library…and save the world! [[The Dragon in the Library Stone Cold Heart by Louie Stowell and Davide Ortu (Illustrator)Caz Frear|Full Review]]