Changes

[[Category:New Reviews|Confident Readers]] __NOTOC__<!-- Remove -->{{newreviewFrontpage|author= Connie GlynnMax Boucherat|title= Undercover Princess (The Rosewood Chronicles)Last Life of Lori Mills|rating= 4.5|genre= Confident Readers|summary=Lottie Pumpkin is We meet Lori on the first evening she's got the house to herself – no neighbour to pop in, babysitter poorly, mother at work, just an ordinary girl who is obsessed with princessesavidly rule-breaking eleven year old, on her lonesome. What could possibly go wrong? Snuggled in a blanket fort, she has one main intention, fairy tales and Disney. Her dream that is to become a princess and she had no idea log on to Voxminer, the world-building, critter-collecting game that she would be sharing is a room with one at Rosewood Hallhit in Lori's world...Ellie Wolf is But first Lori has a princess who wishes to be ordinarytiny inkling that this stormy night doesn't find herself entirely on her own, so and then she finds something even more spooky. For the server she attends Rosewood and her bestie and nobody else should be able to avoid her royal duties in the kingdom enter shows signs of Maradovatampering. When destiny puts these girls malevolent eyes spark up on her phone screen, and her safe place in the same roomgame has been doctored – well, the only way to survive Rosewood where is a girl to swap identities...turn?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0141379855</amazonuk>0008666482

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Louis de BernieresKieran Larwood and Joe Todd-Stanton|title=Blue DogDungeon Runners: Hero Trial

|genre=General FictionConfident Readers|summary=Mick's mother had a mental breakdown after his father's death and Mick was sent to live in in the outback with GranpaMeet Kit. On Like most of the face people in his world, it seems, he is an avid fan of it you'd think that it was going to be Dungeon Running – the sport where a lonely life for an eleven-yearteam of warrior, mage and healer enter specially prepared, century-old city boy, with no school magical mazes, and race to attendthe exit, in fact no other children anywhere nearperhaps bothering with the treasure or the big bad and the points they grant you along the way. GranpaUnfortunately for Kit, the only thing he's busy too: life seen of the latest race on the inn TV equivalent is that one team has been retired, eaten, and a cattle station new trio of questors is brutal needed. Possibly very unfortunately indeed for anyoneKit, with all he has taken to the goading from the heat token bully of his world and the duststumbled into declaring he'll enter as a team. But they've all got What chance does this friendless, muscle-free-zone have in actually managing that, and how could he possibly hope to make the best of the situation.succeed?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1784704172</amazonuk>1839945184

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Philip ParkerJames Sherwood Metts|title=50 Things You Should Know About the VikingsPlanet Storyland

|genre=Children's Non-Fiction Confident Readers|summary=The Vikings Things have got been a lot bit sticky for the Earthlings. AI and automation have been proceeding apace, often replacing jobs they're paid to own up do and other tasks that took time toaccomplish. A huge DNA study in 2014 was the first thing that proved to the Orkney residents that they had Viking blood in their veins – Just as they had been insisting it was that of the Irish. The Vikings it was that forced our English king's army were beginning to march from London get used to Yorkshire all this technological change and starting to kill off one invasionthink of other, only new ways to spend the next fortnight schlepping back to Hastings to try and fend off another – and the Normans had the same Norse origin as the first lottime, hence the namealong came an awful pandemic. There is a Thames Valley village just outside Henley – ie Life was pretty damned far from the coast – that has a Viking longship on its signpost. Yesmuch shut down and, they got to a lot of placesalong with it, from Greenland to Kiev, from Murmansk to Turkey and all the Med, and their misaligned history is well worth visiting – particularly many daily social interactions on these pageswhich they depend so heavily.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1784937908</amazonuk>1736128426

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Kimberly Brubaker BradleyTom Percival|title=The War I Finally WonWrong Shoes

|summary=I really loved [[The War That Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley|The War that Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley]] when I read itWill's life is difficult, and so I was excited, and also in a little nervous, to see there was a sequelmultitude of ways. The book picks up almost exactly where we left offHe is bullied because he has 'the wrong shoes', with Ada having had her operation to correct her club foot. Now her pain he has, the wrong shoes because his dad can't work and doesn't have enough money for even the most partbasic of things like food, been removed and she his dad can walk and even run, Ada finds that she must now redefine who she is't work because he lost his job at the college, was working a cash-in-hand job on a building site and who she has always believed herself to behad an accident. Her Throw into that mix the fact that his mum had told her she was worthlessand dad are separated, unloveable and a monster...a freak of nature who shouldnWill't be seens life seems bleak in every direction. Yet now she is just like any other little girlAnd yet, with the beginnings he still has a tiny amount of a new family with Susanhope. Ada, as spiky and unpredictable as ever, finds herself struggling with ideas relating to who she He isgood at art, and who she must now try clings to protect, since although her foot the moments of joy when he is fixeddrawing, that feel like a light at the war continues to rage on in Europeend of a long, dark tunnel.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1911231162</amazonuk>1398527122

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Gill Lewis1805141872|title= Sky DancerThe Teacher Who Knew Too Much|author=Rob Keeley|rating= 4.5|genre= Confident Readers|summary= Since ''Seventeen banks and a jeweller’s have been raided. The police are baffled, but only Ben knows the death of truth – his fatherMaths teacher, Miss Judson, is really a safecracker! With police and her gangster boyfriend Al on their trail, Miss Judson and Ben go on the moors no longer offer Joe the sense of freedom and tranquillity that they once didrun. Instead, they become a battleground But Al needs them for a fight over the fate of the hen harriers which are nesting in the heatherone last job... This '' Goodness me, that Miss Judson is a fight that Joe becomes wrapped terror! How on earth did a nice teacher like her manage to get mixed up in and he is required to make some serious decisionswith a bad 'un like Al? We'll find out. Knowing that he can't please everyoneLuckily for Miss Judson, he decides to stay true to what he really believes in and in doing sothe pupil who discovers her terrible secret is Ben, he finds friendship in two unlikely characters: the stylish daughter son of wealthy landowners and a naïve townie involuntarily transplanted famous magician who has ambitions to the countryside. The three of them learn to overcome their differences and trust each other be as good as they question what really matters to them his father some day, and how they can make a difference.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0192749250</amazonuk>who thinks Miss Judson is worth saving

{{newreviewFrontpage|titleauthor=The Dollmaker of KrakowChristopher Edge|authortitle=R M RomeroBlack Hole Cinema Club

|summary=Karolina is a refugee from the Land of the Dolls. Her homeland has been ravaged by rats Lucas and Karolina was blown by his friends are all booked in for a magical wind into Krakowmovie marathon at their local cinema, Poland, at a place that has the height nickname of WWII'The Black Hole'. She finds herself in a workshop belonging All big movie fans, they're looking forward to Cyryllots of exciting films, and many, many snacks! However, known as the Dollmaker of Krakow. Lonelymovie starts, they very quickly realise that something about this new film format is very different, crippled Cyryl repairs Karolina and the two cement a strong friendship which helps Cyryl in his life outside the workshopthey are swept up into an adventure they couldn't even imagine. But it's not just as they lurch from one film genre to the Land of next, can they figure out what on earth is going on? Will they ever get back to the Dolls suffering under a vicious enemy: it's Poland, too. Togethercinema, Karolina and Cyryl befriend to their Jewish neighbours and determine to do whatever the can to save from the monstrous Nazi regime...real lives?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1406375632</amazonuk>1839942738

{{newreviewFrontpage|author= Katherine WoodfineAdam Stower|title= The Sinclair's Mysteries: The Midnight PeacockMurray and Bun|rating= 4.5|genre= Confident Readers|summary= OhMurray is supposed to be a humble, the excitementtidy and friendly cat, the glamour one who is able to sleep and eat and eat and sleep and the sheer, unabashed luxury well, whatever takes his fancy next of Christmas at Sinclairthe two. But he's a bad magician's! Windows full of fabulous items which lure shoppers insidecat, where their nostrils are filled with the scents of cinnamonso his favourite bun has been turned into a hyperactive sticky rabbit called Bun, toffee and cigars while the catflap they browse both use can chuck them out, not into the laden shelves or relax regular back garden, but into a world of frightening adventure and take whiffs. This time round it drops them into a refreshing cup of tea (with maybe just Viking land, where a teensy little cream cake or two: shopping troll hunter is so very exhausting!). The staff scurry here and thereexpected – well, packing up purchases and sending them out to the delivery teams waiting patiently in the stablesone much bigger than Murray was, helping customers to find that perfect something to place under the Christmas treebe honest, but he's turned up and preparing costumes for the forthcoming New Yearhe's Ball. ll have to do…|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1405282908</amazonuk>0008561249

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Rachel Renee RussellAlex Bell and Tim McDonagh|title=Dork Diaries: Crush CatastropheThe Glorious Race of Magical Beasts

|summary=Is Nikki Maxwell's life actually turning Eli is a corner for busy lad – by day an apprentice in the wondrous library we start by visiting with him, and in the good? She's finally working out she has evening a crush on Brandon, helper at the hunky guy who's looked ideal for her since [[Dork Diaries by Rachel Renee Russell|book one]], dessert cafe his gran owns and she can actually get to page 100 here without her arch nemesis Mackenzie doing something bad to herruns. Life doesn't actually have any room for badness or mishapEli lives with his lovely gran, anyway too – she wants to be with Brandon training her new puppy, she wants to go to Paris for there is a monthgeneration missing in the family. A few short years ago, tour America with her band (donEli't ask)s parents were both lost to the titular race, and you just a globe-trotting adventure where all entrants have to wonder how she's going to fit things navigate the world inthe company of a magical beast. There are problems – her manipulative younger sister stealing family time (and Nikki's candy), of course there are problems This has made the race anathema to the pair – but surely things, as I say, are on when a bad incident at the up. And surely being mentor eatery leads to an exchange student for the last week ever at middle school will not be a problem? Oh holdconfession from gran, onEli knows his only hope is to dare to enter what he most hates, with the sole aim the prize of course it can…magic at the end – the only thing to possibly save his gran.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1471167755</amazonuk>0571382231

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Emily Hawkins and Lucy LetherlandHelen Cooper|title=Atlas of Dinosaur Adventures: Step Into a Prehistoric World|rating=4|genre=Children's Non-Fiction|summary=You might think, what with books about dinosaurs being just as varied (and almost as old) as dinosaurs themselves, that there was little to say about them that hadn't been said, and few new ways of giving us information about them. Well, I would put it to you that this is a novel variant. Over many jumbo spreads, we get a different dinosaur in a different situation each time, whether it be being born, being slain or learning to fly, and the book gives us all the usual facts, not in chronological order, nor in some other more spurious fashion, but grouped by where these dinosaurs lived. The continent-wide chapters have several entrants in each, and what with the book hitting all corners Taming of our current globe, it brings the world of dinosaur remains right to our door, and makes this old subject feel remarkably new…|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1786030349</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Danny Weston|title=ScarecrowCat|rating=3.5

|summary= When Jack's dad discovers illegal activity at work and blows Once again, mice are pitched against cat. In this case, principally, we have Brie the whistlemouse, he makes some very powerful and dangerous enemies. He up against Gorgonzola the cat – and Jack are forced to go into hiding in case you're seeing a remote cottage connection, they live in a cheese shop and therefore all the names used here seem to be the Scottish highlandsnames of cheeses. Miles from anywhere and anyone Anyway, Brie is shunned, they hope they will be alone and safe. But it quickly transpires that they are neither. Dad's enemies already know where they are heading scorned and, even before they move inif you must, Jack starts to have doubts whether they are actually alone. Did he really see the scarecrow next to their cottage move?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1783445319</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=David Long and Harry Bloom|title=Pirates Magnified: With a 3x Magnifying Glass|rating=4.5|genre=Children's Nonmous-Fiction|summary=It's becoming easier and easier to spot books tracised, for the young about pirates – that surely is about way his habits don't match the only career other mice he lives with. They nibble up paper wrapping from the seventeenth century that gets so many volumes produced about cheese for bedding – he displays it as art and makes stories based on the visuals on it. It must be a combination of the derringAnd that story-do, the illegalitytelling will come in handy one night, when he feels all alone and of course the fancy dress and silly speak that appeals – nowhere else would you see a youngster studying one countrycast out. It's attacks on almost as if there were another, and reading about how treasures, slaves and other resources changed handscharacter from fable who had had to tell stories to keep themselves alive. This volumemakes Brie the top dog in the mouse community, howeverthough, tries its best to stand out, and has adopted as all the equally prevalent concept of getting others had the reader chance to pore over large dioramas to seek half-inch some cheese while the small detail hidden in the imagescat was distracted. For once, though, there's a thoroughly educative reasoning behind But will the story have the successful sequel it.needs when that cheese runs out?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1786030276</amazonuk>0571376010

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Dav PilkeyLauren St John|title= The Adventures of Dog Man: A Tale of Two Kitties|rating= 5|genre= Confident Readers|summary=''Tree House Comix proudly presents: A tale of oppression...a tale of redemption...a tale of rebirth...and a tale of hope. A Tale of Two Kitties!'' ''Dog Man'' is really a story within a story. Best friends George and Harold, of ''Captain Underpants'' fame are now in fifth grade and are now so ''totally mature and deep'' that they have decided to create a brand new comic about a police officer with a dog's head. Thus we enter a surreal (and completely bonkers) comic-book world featuring an evil cyborg fish, cloned cats and beastly buildings. Is Dog Man up to the task of protecting the city from such threats?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0545935210</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author= Bill Nye and Gregory Mone|title= Jack and the Geniuses 2: In the Deep Blue Sea|rating= 4|genre= Confident Readers|summary= Jack and Ava, aged twelve, Matt (16) and Dr Hank Witherspoon (quite a bit older) have barely recovered from their adventures at the South Pole when they find themselves packing once again, this time en route for the tiny Pacific Ocean island of Nihoa, near Hawaii. Dr Hank has been asked to help solve some problems with millionaire Ashley Hawking's ground-breaking new invention for generating electricity, which performed badly at its first public demonstration, and the wealthy lady has specifically invited his three young companions to come along too. Ava and Matt are excited by the scientific possibilities; Jack, his brain fuelled not by facts but by the exploits of his favourite cartoon programme, ''Duck Detective'', is convinced sabotage is the cause. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1419725521</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Holly Webb|title=The Princess and the SuffragetteFinding Wonder

|summary=I am a big fan Roo's life has become almost impossibly difficult. Her mum died when she was young, and now she finds herself awoken in the middle of the beloved classic 'A Little Princess' night by Frances Hodgson Burnett, but when I found out the police banging on her door to tell her that Holly Webb had written her dad has dropped dead on his way to the corner shop to buy a sequellottery ticket. When asked what other family she has, she can only name her aunt, Joni, I wasnwho she knows her dad didn't sure whether to read itthink very highly of. On the But she has no one handelse, I wanted and so off she goes to catch-up live with the charactersher unreliable aunt. On the other hand Things continue to get worse for Roo, I was sceptical that another writer would be able to match the warm and cosy innocence with which the original is written and I was worried that it would appear as a twee or weak imitation without much substance. I decided to take the book as a fun chance to see what happened to Sara when she and friendsJoni leave London in Joni's old campervan, and as an opportunity to wander nostalgically through it breaks down in the corridors middle of Miss Minchin's prim nowhere and proper school. then bursts into flames! Poor Roo!|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1407170856</amazonuk>0571376169

{{newreviewFrontpage|author= Alex T SmithAdam Baron and Benji Davies|title= Mr Penguin and the Lost TreasureOscar's Lion|rating= 53|genre= Emerging Confident Readers |summary= Mr Penguin We start incredibly bluntly, with Oscar hoping to have his mother – or father, but mother is more likely – read him his very favourite book a brand new couple of times before he has to be ready for school. But when he enters his parents''Professional Adventurer''. He has bedroom, all he sees is a dashing hatmahoosive male lion on their bed, looking sheepish, a large magnifying glass and an important looking office in his igloo admitting that he won't be hungry for another two days. But there are benefits to prove having a lion around – it. All he needs now is can be shown as an adventure unspoken threat to go onthe bully that ruined a birthday party for Oscar the other month. Just as And it can shapeshift, so he is beginning can take it to despair school and it can get him out of ever a problem. And it's wonderful to have around the house – not limiting his biscuit intake, being asked to solve a mystery Boudicca Bones from much more lax about the museum phones rules, and asks for helpso on. Can he and his trusty sidekick OK, Colin (the spider with expertise in martial arts!) find her missing treasure? Will the adventure become too dangerous for them? And will Mr Penguin ever have it can't work a dimmer switch but it can give Oscar a wonderful time to eat his fish finger sandwich packed lunch?.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1444932063</amazonuk>0008596751

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Frances Durkin and Grace CookeJudith Eagle|title=A Roman Adventure (The Histronauts)Stolen Songbird

|summary= I have studied propaganda in my time Caro's mother, a world-famous whistler, has failed to return home from her recent work trip abroad and as a rule is now missing. Her other mother, Ronnie, is having to go up North to take care of thumb the most persuasive arguments are those people don't noticeher sister who is unwell. The same can be said when educating kidsSo who is going to look after Caro? Sent to stay with Gam, someone Caro has heard her mother despises, she feels frustrated and confused and worried. Some children lap up textbooks and non-fictionAll her summer holiday plans of building herself some equipment to practise her gymnastics are brought to a halt whilst she is stuck inside this staid old Victorian lady's house, along with an orphan boy, Albie, but others need to be eased inwho is living there too. Tricking them is perhaps But she soon finds herself caught up in a harsh termmystery, but would you rather learn about Ancient Rome via as she discovers a dry fact book or an adventure title written in the form painting of a cartoon bird hidden away inside her mum's old suitcase, and packed full of puzzles all across London a fearsome gang called the Snakes are thieving artworks and activitiesterrorising people. Is the painting somehow linked to the gang? And what has happened to Caro's mother? Is she somehow involved in the mystery too?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1911509101</amazonuk>0571363148

{{newreviewFrontpage|author= Kate SaundersTania Unsworth|title= The Land of NeverendingsNowhere Island|rating= 4.5|genre= Confident Readers|summary= The best fantasy books for children rely on escapismMeet Gil. Just twelve, books like The Lion he is so determined to escape the care system – the Witch system that constantly puts him in futureless places that are not homes – and the Wardrobefind a home for himself. He is en route to yet another fosterer, when he jumps into an anonymous car, the Harry Potter series and Peter Panlets it ride him to his future. Central That future seems to each be in jeopardy when someone steals his one bag of these stories is the real world: the dryness belongings – but that permeates someone lives with his brother in a camp on an island between the everyday. The children involved are often bored two directions of their livesa motorway, or of school a place inaccessible and definitely ignored enough to provide for their parents: the world of realitysafety and seclusion. So when they get to escape into Them, and a mute girl also finding a world that is home there, albeit so much more interesting they are enamoured by successfully. Over a sense of magic and adventure that comes few weeks we see if their way. For Kate Saunders' heroine Emilyoddball destinies can combine, the bizarre and eerily familiar world of Smockeroon awaits. or if this is one place where life as we would want it just would not work…|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0571310842</amazonuk>1804540080

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Paul Stewart and Chris RiddellHelen Peters|title=Free Lance Friends and the Field of Blood (Free Lance Trilogy 2)Traitors|rating=53|genre=Dyslexia FriendlyConfident Readers|summary=England, WW2. Two young girls are new at the country pile called Stanbrook. One is Nancy, destined to be in service all her life it seems, like the female generations before her. The world of jousting other is a fierce one – survive the minor battles with the lanceSidney, either as a bonded employed Knight or as girl from a Free Lance, and you might try your hands at the major leaguehoity-toity Sussex boarding school that has been removed there away from bomber flight-paths. There the men The girls are stronger, the horses fasterchalk and cheese, and the ground hurts more when you hit if we hadn't guessed that then their behaviour with each other over their first encounters would only prove itso. But something is amiss, and first separately and then in combination they realise the big time also offers more that can put Lord Evesham must be a humble Knight at risk – such as evil hostsrum 'un. Midnight deliveries are received under cover of secrecy, beautiful princess-types in picklestalk is made of meetings with Germans, and mysteriously successful strangersnot only that, a local Spitfire factory has been attacked. Our nameless hero But surely the girls are wrong, and his loyal horse, Jed, are going to the upper class could never be up against a lot more than they expected here…so underhand?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1781127158</amazonuk>1788004647

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Katrina Pallant and Ulises FarinasJamie Littler|title=Star Wars Where's the Wookiee? 2 Search and Find Activity BookArkspire

|summary=It's not enough these daysTwo sisters, you knowJuniper and Elodie, to have just one franchise. Noborn fifteen minutes apart, you have are growing to match it with anotherbe chalk and cheese. You have to mash ''Doctor Who'' with the ''Mister Men''. You need zombies Juniper is an eager hunter and trader in your [[Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith|Pride and Prejudice]] (don't laughillicit magic, including relics from prior major wars left out in the book was much better than the film)Badlands. Batman has Elodie is intent on getting closer to have a Lego equivalent (and don't laugh, for power in one of the film was awfully unfunny). Even when you're a Disneyfiedreligious districts of Arkspire, new-film-every-year-like-it-or-not behemoth like ''Star Wars'', you need some secondary property perhaps even to latch on become the child in line to. Hence this, which as inherit the power of the title suggestsWatcher, is the second book asking you closest to find a ruler the district has, and one of the Wookie five major victors in said earlier war. Being trained in the Wally/Waldo-esque scenesmagic that only five people can use would definitely change the status of the whole family. But in finding something oddly magical, Juniper might just be able to gain some power of her own – for good, or for very, very bad…|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1405284188</amazonuk>0241586143

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Dodie Smith, Peter Bently and Steven Lenton024162343X|title=The Hundred and One DalmatiansStolen History|author=Sathnam Sanghera

|genre=Emerging ReadersChildren's Non-Fiction|summary=A dog is for life, not just for Christmas, as we were constantly told when I was young – the bad company other people got into at school. I was disruptive in religious education classes because I dare say people are still saying itdisputed the existence of a 'god'. Where was the proof? In history lessons, but it was quite prevalent way back thenprobably worse still. Not too long after the end of WWII, Ididn'm sure many people reading this will know that t so much want to learn about the Dearlys end up with 101 Dalmatians for Christmas themselvesBritish army's successes (and occasional failures, and it must but we didn't dwell on those) in what came to be debatable whether they stayed in called 'the same house colonies' as them all come want to dispute what right the army had to be there in the new yearfirst place. But what is beyond doubt is Looking back, I still believe I was right - but I regret that I lacked the getting of so many cute pups was full of drama – drama that fills this young reader maturity to bursting, and drama that comes in illustrations like these with no end of charmapproach 'the problem' politely. I wish I'd had Sathnam Sanghera's ''Stolen History''.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1405281669</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|titleauthor=Curse of the Werewolf Boy (Maudlin Towers)Thiago de Moraes|authortitle=Chris PriestleyOld Gods New Tricks

|summary=Maudlin Towers has Meet Trixie. Forever getting into scrapes, larks and adventures involving flooding the school aircon with fart powder, she could almost be thought a school newsletter outyoung goddess of nuisance. It contains an indignant notice about an Offending Item: ' But just when she'It has come to our attention s being told that a renegade author by her one-last-chance-giving headteacher, the name of Chris Priestley has written world changes. Suddenly, practically everything electronic stops working – a COMPLETELY FICTITIOUS AND WILDLY INACCURATE account power-out, even of life here at Maudlin Towers electric cars, hits not just the town the school's in but the entire planet (apart from mobile phones, and all that powers the Internet, just for our convenience's sake). Trixie, luckily, realises what has happened – the Not Particularly Bright Sons ancient Gods have taken the power of power from us. And so she begins her epic quest, to gather all the people that can steal it back – namely the Not Especially Wealthy. This is characters from myth that have past form in NO WAY sanctioned by stealing from the Gods, ie the school semi-deities, giants, half-gods and should be AVOIDED AT ALL COSTSso on known as the tricksters.''|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1408873087</amazonuk>178845295X

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Jay Jay BurridgeHannah Gold and Levi Pinfold|title=Supersaurs 1: Raptors of ParadiseFinding Bear

|genre=Confident Readers |summary=''I'm thirteen years OLD[[The Last Bear by Hannah Gold|Last time]], April had been on Bear Island, a lot further north than many people would venture, not youngand finding a ridiculously unexpected but delightful friendship with a polar bear – that she called Bear.'' And it's Back home, things on the domestic and family front are a good job toobit advanced, but not perfect for her grandma , and godfather have taken Bea so can easily be ignored when word comes through from the islands Bear was last left on an extended holiday to Indonesia, where the wild dinosaurs live. Yes, this is For a world where they never went extinct, and have bear doing very Bear-y things has been used for riding for leisure or as pack animals ever since mankind domesticated them. But wild shot and dangerous ones still exist, such as the Raptors of Paradisewounded. BeaDesperate to make sure he's older guardians have another reason to go thereOK, though – they are in search of clues that might lead them she and her father return to at last discover the fate Arctic and hope that in a world of Bea's birth parentsvery white and very dangerous things, who disappeared a decade ago. She's unaware of this being the final grasp at she can find one last clue specific white and dangerous thing – and all of them are ignorant of how that the real danger and mystique on the island may actually come not from the fabulous beasts, but from other humans…friendship can continue.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1786968002</amazonuk>0008582017

{{newreviewFrontpage|author= Frances HardingeSimon Fox|title= A Skinful of ShadowsDeadlock|rating= 4.5|genre= Confident Readers |summary= Once again Late one night Graham Blake is late back from his shift on the vivid force, and decidedly quirky imagination of Frances Hardinge has produced then suddenly rings Archie, demanding he fetch something from a story which grips the reader while he or she is reading itsecret place, and remains in the memory long after the book has been replaced join him on the shelfrun. This time They get together, but barely begin to smell the whiff of Southern trains when the English Civil War father is erupting and we meet Makepeacearrested, whose gift (or curseleaving Archie on the late express to Brighton, depending on your perspective) means she has toting a space inside her where ghosts can hide. Her first ''guest'' is a large, angry bear which has spent its unhappy life being seriously ill-treatedtin his father was determined to keep away from his colleagues, and much the bearer of her energy in the earlier part a whole heap of the story is given over to stopping it using her body to rampage around smashing everything and everyone in sightquestions. |amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1509869301</amazonuk>1839944420

{{newreviewFrontpage|author= Kelly BarnhillCath Howe|title= The Girl Who Drank the MoonMy Life on Fire|rating= 45|genre= Confident Readers|summary= Every year the people of the Protectorate leave Ren's family home is destroyed in a baby as an offering to the witch who lives in the forestfire. She, her parents, in the hope that this sacrifice will keep their town safeand her little brother lose everything. Little She doesn't have any of her clothes, or any of her special little knick-knacks from her cupboard, and now she is living at her grandmother's house where they can't touch anything, or do anything, or even eat the foods they know normally eat. When she goes back to school she discovers that the witchclass are doing a special art project, Xancreating boxes of their lives, is to display things that are important to them and show who they are as a kind soul who rescues the children and finds them new homes with families on the other side of the forestperson. She feeds the babies on starlight But Ren has nothing to keep them nourished throughout their journeyput in a box, but one year and so she accidently feeds a baby moonlight which fills the child with a powerful magicfinds herself starting to steal things. Xan names the baby Luna and realises she must raise this magical child as her own Small things, things that people might not really miss, locking away her magical abilities until her thirteenth birthdaynot when they have so much already. But as the day approaches where Luna's magic will emerge, she what will have happen to learn to protect the safe and loving world her if someone finds out what she has always known.is doing?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1848126476</amazonuk>1839942835

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Sita Brahmachari and Jane RayRob Keeley|title=Worry AngelsThe Boy Who Disappeared and Other Stories

|genre=Dyslexia FriendlyConfident Readers|summary=Amy-May was devastated when her parents split up: she and her mother left Hooray! Bookbag favourite Rob Keeley is back with a return to the delightful seaside cottage where the waves had sung her short story format! The Boy Who Disappeared treats us to sleep and moved into a 'garden flat'. That didn't mean that it had a gardeneleven new tales, just that it was on the ground floor. They didn't have a lot of possessions each as the bailiffs had taken most of them. Her father was living in another old cottage now and hopefully he'd be able fun to set up read as his kiln, but he wouldn't be able to home-school Amy-May. The alternative was Sandcastles Secondary School but the rather nervous Amy was considered to be too ''anxious'' to start at the school full time. As a gentle introduction to schooling she went to Grace's art school insteadprevious offerings.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>178112695X</amazonuk>B0BVW69N1G

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Kenneth Grahame and Robert IngpenLaura Noakes|title=The Wind in The WillowsCosima Unfortunate Steals a Star

|summary=Kenneth Grahame's ''Meet Number One. Or rather, Cosima Unfortunate. Or rather, just Cos to her friends. The Wind practice in the home she lives in is for the girls to just be named by the Willows'' was one of number they correspond to in the defining books of my childhood ledger, and more than sixty years after I first read the book Ithey've just recently passed it onto another re all Unfortunates – young readerpeople with disabilities, uncommon mentalities or suchlike that Victorian society frowns greatly upon. Since But Cosima bears the tag as a surname because nothing else seems to be known about where she came from, as the book was first published ever inmate, and unique in 1908 there have been having no known family in the outside world. During a daring escapade to steal some notable illustrators: Paul Bransom provided illustrations for posh cakes from the 1913 editionkitchen one afternoon, Ernest H Shepard (perhaps better known she discovers a plan involving said outside world – a devilish Lord Fitzroy seems to want to adopt all the girls for his illustrations of ''Winnie the Pooh'') in 1933Institute. But why, Arthur Rackham (and what does that body entail? And could it possibly bring Cos closer to the leading illustrator from the golden age of book illustration) in 1940 and Robert Ingpen who illustrated the centenary edition of ''The Wind in the Willows''.past she has so little link with?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1786751062</amazonuk>0008579059

{{newreviewFrontpage|author= Laura Ellen AndersonAlice M Ross|title= Amelia Fang and the Barbaric BallThe Nowhere Thief|rating= 34.5

|summary= The annual Barbaric Ball At last there is fast approaching new stock in the impoverished yet over-full antiques shop Elsbeth and Amelia is facing the prospect of being the only person her age at mother run in a seaside town. Elsbeth knows this because she has stolen it again. Things are different She also knows she should be free from worries about being found out, because she has the ability to leave this yearworld, however and use an unworldly portal of kaleidoscope colours to enter other worlds, where the King may finally be returning sea levels are rising dramatically and the buildings are generally empty of humans and ripe for plunder. With eviction imminent, can Elsbeth nab anything to public life.actually generate custom at the shop? Well yes, is the answer, but the fact a mysterious man knows exactly which items come from these different Somewheres only raises more questions…|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1405286725</amazonuk>1839943769

{{newreviewFrontpage|author= Brian GallagherNatasha Farrant|title= PawnsThe Rescue of Ravenwood|rating= 3.5|genre= Confident Readers|summary=This story is another excellent adventure from the author of ''PawnsVoyage of the Sparrowhawk'' tells . Ravenwood is an old house, in the story North of England, where Bea and Raffy have been living for most of their lives. They are part of Johnnya complex, extended family arrangement, as Bea is there with her Uncle Leo, Stella and AliceRaffy is there with his mum, all of whom and they are growing living together as a family. They have grown up swimming in Ireland during the War cove, roaming through the trees, completely at one with all of Independence, the nature around the house and who have somehow become friends in spite loving every inch of their very different political viewsthe place. Stella But now the house is passionately pro-Britishunder threat, while Johnny frequently risks as Leo is under pressure from his life other two brothers to sell the property to a developer as it's becoming more and more expensive to pass information maintain. The children find themselves worrying not only about where they're going to the pro-Irish rebelslive, but if they'll even be together, and Alice is left stranded in the middle, supporting neither side of the disputeif Ravenwood itself will be torn down.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1847178936</amazonuk>0571348785

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Sarah BakerRobin Birch and Jobe Anderson|title=Eloise UndercoverSecret Beast Club: The Unicorns of Silver Street

|summary= Eloise has Jayden's nose is forever in a wonderful life with her two best friendsbook, Albert which means he knows a lot about mythological creatures – the phoenixes and Maddieunicorns of the world, until the German soldiers start to arrive and everything changesfor example. Nazi-occupied France Aisha is not a place Eloise wants addicted to her new tablet, where she can see videos of anything that might beout there. Maddie and her family The problem, as their mothers see it, is that they are taken away and Albert starts to act very strangelynever 'out there' themselves, exploring the outside world of Hackney, London. Then her father disappears. Eloise is lost until she discovers her father has been working for the resistance and there might But when a narrowboat turns up carrying a science-minded, if she is brave enougheducational purpose, be and with a way to rescue him before hepast involving Jayden's deported to Germanycousin, they find a magical world they never knew existed. She now has hope and For many of those mythological creatures are real, including the one Aisha thinks she's seen on a planbit of local footage. But will The crew of the resistance let boat, including a twelve year old schoolgirl living gargoyle, are tasked with saving the rare critters – and the kids unknowingly have the magical sight needed to join themin. Dare they side with Leila, the woman on board, and her relative who lives as a figure in a painting, and become saviours of the unseen?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1910611131</amazonuk>0241573483

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Kieran LarwoodB09XWSXSKY|title= The Gift of Dark HollowMaestro Orpheus and the World Clock|author=Robert Penee and Joanne Grodzinski|rating= 4.5|genre= Confident Readers|summary= This is the second marvellous book featuring the rabbits of EnderbyFrederick (or Fred, and the delightful young rabbit herobut never Freddy, Podkin One Earplease) couldn't sleep. I love A tune, rather like the format ticking of a story within a story. The adventures of Podkin clock was playing over and over 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 rabbit worldmind. The Bard has an apprentice, Rue, desperately eager It happened every time he came to learn visit his tradegrandfather. 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 hadn't really wanted to know come; after all about Podkin One Ear, he's ten now and what better way all those old clocks don't appeal to him anymore. ''Who needs old clocks anyway? All they do this than to hear from is tell the Master himselftime. And time isn't good for anything... The tale '' And that was why he tells Rue (was looking at the clock beside the bed. It was nearly twelve o'clock but at midnight the clock chimed only six times. There was nothing for it but to go and us) is a gripping and scary one, featuring Podkin and his friends in their ongoing battle to overturn find grandad - but where was he? And why had all the ruthless Gorm, and their cruel leader, Scramashank.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0571328415</amazonuk>clocks stopped at twelve o'clock?