Newest Confident Readers Reviews
Confident readers
Legends: Beasts and Monsters by Anthony Horowitz
When they say there is nothing new under the sun, they might use this book as evidence - but they'd only be half-right. The legends of the sphinx's riddle, and the capture of the gorgon's head, are as old as the Parthenon hill, but they have never been presented as they have here. They were published in a similar fashion in the 1980s, with a younger Anthony Horowitz offering a large compendium of folk stories, legends and tales of classical derring-do. With the attention span of the current under-twelve, however, to be considered, his publishers have allowed a sprucing up, and a reformatting - one book has been turned into six, with a brace each year from now til conclusion. Full review...
Dreadful Fates by Tracey Turner
Imagine the delight you get, as a book reviewer, when you chance upon a title that stands out, by filling a nice handy gap in the market you'd never even noticed, and doing it so well you want to alert as many people as possible. This is such a time, Dreadful Fates is such a book, and as for the gap… This book hits upon the darker corners of all those copious 'highlights of history for the kids' books, touches upon The Darwin Awards compilations of stupid people dying in stupid ways, and merges with those collections of famous last words and epitaphs some of us like flicking through now and again – and does it all for the under-thirteen audience. Full review...
The Funfair of Fear! - A Measle Stubbs Adventure by Ian Ogilvy and Chris Mould
There is one thing Measle could really be called afraid of. Not the usual teenage things, like having a bath, no. He's lived through being inches high and stuck in a nightmarish train-set diorama with an evil cockroach and worse for company, and as a result, he's going to be afraid of a wrathmonk – a warlock turned bad – such as the one who put him there. So you'll pity him when it becomes obvious a gathering of wrathmonks are forming, to get their revenge on Measle's newly-found family. But what are wrathmonks in turn afraid of, I hear you ask? That's right – a garden gnome. Full review...
The Werewolf and the Ibis (Something Wickedly Weird) by Chris Mould
The 'Something Wickedly Weird' series is a splendid mix of Gothic horror and cartoon-style fun. The scrawny young hero, young Stanley Buggles, who lives in a 'darkened industrial town', as the first page tells us, is plunged into an adventure from the moment he arrives (all alone, as tradition dictates) at Crampton Rock. He has inherited his great-uncle's mansion, a vast old pile on an island linked to the mainland by a long winding footbridge. The right atmosphere of isolation and claustrophobic unease is created immediately, especially when we learn that letters are only collected from the island once a fortnight. Whatever is on this island, Stanley will have to deal with it alone. Full review...
The Train Set of Terror: A Measle Stubbs Adventure by Ian Ogilvy and Chris Mould
You will feel sympathy for Measle from the very start of this book. Not only is he an orphan, and stuck friendless in a horridly dingy house on the wrong side of the train tracks, but he shares his life with its main torment - his guardian, Basil Tramplebone. Basil makes no effort to improve Measle or his lot - he does not educate him, keeps Measle and his inheritance a great distance apart, and feeds him slop. Measle would even like to have a bath now and again - but not in the putrid brown and green gunk coming from the taps. The only thing that redeems Basil at all is that he owns the world's best train set, one Measle would love to get to know a lot better. Unfortunately for Measle, he's about to get that wish granted... Full review...
Love, Peace and Chocolate (Pocket Money Puffins) by Cathy Cassidy
Jess and Kady have been best friends since they were three years old and now they're in year eight at Parkway Community School. They're on the edge of puberty but things have been a bit slow on the boyfriend front – not that either of them is looking to rush things, particularly as there isn't a single Y8 boy who can make their eyes light up. They've a good, solid friendship which means a lot to both of them and they both think that nothing can come between the girls. Unfortunately they hadn't taken the arrival of Jack Somers into account. Full review...
The Maharajah's Monkey: A Kit Salter Adventure by Natasha Narayan
Kit Salter has a nose for adventure. Somehow she always finds trouble, or it finds her, and this latest episode is no exception as she finds herself travelling from the home comforts of Oxford all the way to India, then on to the freezing mountains of Tibet. What has happened to Monsieur Champlon? Has he abandoned poor Aunt Hilda? Why is the mysterious monkey leaving threatening messages for Kit? And what does it all have to do with the Maharajah? Kit and her friends set off on a fantastic journey to investigate. Full review...
The Last Seal by Richard Denning
In 1380 the warlock Stephen Blake released the demon Dantalion from the Abyss, only for his nemesis Cornelius Silver to banish him straight away. Dantalion has nursed his wounds for nearly 300 years – and in 1666, descendants of the original pair clash as he aims to return to the world, and burn down London by starting the Great Fire. While the fire rages around London, and Dantalion’s followers try to break the seals which hold him in the Abyss, four unlikely heroes join forces to stop them from being destroyed – and to save the world. Full review...
Would You Believe...in Mexico people picnic at granny's grave?! by Richard Platt
Well if there’s one important aspect of families, it is that books are included. It is evident from the details, trivia and facts here that you don’t need a father, a mother, or siblings. You might even have several spreads of half- and step-siblings, and copious parents here, there and everywhere. You might get to have a nanny, a cohort of family helpers, but one thing I would thrust on anybody would be a collection of books at home – and yes, books such as these tidy 48 pages would be among them. Full review...
Would You Believe...bed testers get paid to sleep?! by Richard Platt
It is quite certain the reader of this book will not be a bed tester, however broad the smile it carries as it suggests anyone can get the employment they dream after. Neither will she or he be a vital scribe for some ancient civilisation, a slave, a drudge, or a worker in a Communist collective farm. But it is definitely an eye-opener how all that and so much more can be considered by just 48 tidy pages. Full review...
Would You Believe...Vatican City is a country?! by Richard Platt
Cities don’t just spring up around us. They have taken thousands of years of civilisation to form, however surprising that might appear at times. Conversely, there are some who are just a few hundreds of years old that have been empty for centuries, and others that have been planned over a drawing board and become a capital city in a decade-long instant. All are within these tidy 48 pages. Full review...
Would You Believe...two cyclists invented the aeroplane?! by Richard Platt
Where can you find a welter of trivia and facts about transport from the ages, from the first use of Shanks’s pony, to the latest holidays to the edge of space? What has so much detail it can fit in the reasons for Mark Twain’s pen-name? Where can the adult browsing their child’s non-fiction library find a 'Glamorous Glennis' going 'kinda screwy' and see how it refers to the breaking of the sound barrier? In these tidy 48 pages, for one. Full review...
Now by Morris Gleitzman
We first met Felix in Once. He thought he was the luckiest child in the orphanage, since he was the only one whose parents weren't dead. Sadly, he was wrong about that. We followed his story in Then, in which he and his dear friend Zelda are on the run from the Nazis at the height of the Holocaust and its terrifying Final Solution. In Now, we catch up with Felix many years later. He's built a good life as a surgeon in Australia, and is now frustratingly retired, unable to operate because of his shaky hands. He's looking after his granddaughter, Zelda's namesake, whose parents are doctors volunteering in Darfur. Full review...
The Funniest Football Joke Book Ever by Carl McInerney
Who scored the most goals in the Greek Mythology League? The centaur forward. Badoom boom tshhhh. It's a football joke book, packed to the gills with all sorts of cheesiness and silliness. Funniest ever? Perhaps not, but it's not too bad. Full review...
Wintercraft by Jenna Burtenshaw
The wardens raid villages and cities for people competent to fight in the war, a war nobody knows anything about other than if you’re sent to fight you don’t come back. The last time they raided Morvane was ten years ago, taking Kate’s parents with them. Kate is taken in by her uncle, Artemis, and grows up in the book shop with him and her friend, Edgar. But now the wardens are back, and looking for more people to fight. However, they are also looking for the Skilled – a dying breed of people who can see through the veil of life and death. They want to build an army of the dead. Full review...
The Magic Thief: Found by Sarah Prineas
When we last saw Conn, he had blown up his wizard master's house, was exiled from the city of Wellmet, and lost his locus magicalus (it's like a magic wand, just it's a stone). He's been unable to do magic ever since, which is rough because he needs his powers now more than ever. A terrible evil is blazing a trail towards Wellmet, intent on destroying the city, and Conn's only hope to defeat it is to somehow get a new locus magicalus. He sets out on a quest to find one, but the journey is long and dangerous, and time is running out. Full review...
The World At Our Feet by Paul Cookson
With the World Cup just around the corner, football is on everyone's lips. Paul Cookson, Poet in Residence at the National Football Museum, has compiled the best football poems for young children. Full review...
The Boy Who Climbed Into The Moon by David Almond
Paul lives in the basement of a large tower block. He's feeling lonely and out of sorts, so he feigns a headache and stomach ache and has a day off school. Spending his day wisely, he gets to know the eccentric people who inhabit the building, as well as embracing his own eccentric idea that the moon is actually a hole in the sky. Full review...
The Prince of Mist by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
During World War Two, Max's father decides to move the whole family to a seaside retreat he knows of - a wooden house far away from the city he's grown his family up in. Nobody seems too keen on the idea, neither of Max's sisters, his mother, nor he - and Max is gifted a pocket watch by his loving, talented mechanic cum engineer cum watchmaker of a father, enscribed as "Max's Time Machine". But the house they move to, and its surroundings, are full of more successful time machines - a stash of early home videos, a public clock that runs backwards, a sunken shipwreck, a yard full of statues of a stone circus... And let's not forget the mysterious, spider-eating cat that joins in with proceedings. Full review...
Jake Ransom and the Skull King's Shadow by James Rollins
The prologue to this splendid book recounts a terrifying chase, the discovery of fabulous Mayan artifacts, and a shadowy enemy. And that gripping scene sets the tone for the rest of the book. After the strange disappearance of their parents, who were on an archeological dig on the Mountain of Bones, Jake Ransom and his sister Kady are sent a parcel containing two halves of a Mayan coin, their mother's sketchbook and their father's notebook. There is no indication what these things mean or what to do with them. Full review...
Mr Gum and the Cherry Tree by Andy Stanton
"Woe, woe, woe, and a bottle of glum" declares a character in this story, and you would to if you shared the sensibilities of Polly, her friend Alan Taylor (the ridiculously named gingerbread man who serves as electrified schoolmaster to some ex-goblins), or any right minded person. The problem is that all the right minded people have switched to being wrong minded. For the old granny they call Old Granny has declared the Old Times back, and taken the entire village population (except for a magician who vanishes from the story) to a sacred glade in a nearby wood, where a tree spirit of Old is trying to enslave them. Full review...
Unhooking the Moon by Gregory Hughes
The Rat and Bob are prairie children. Winnipeg is a land so flat you can watch your dog run away for three days. When their father dies and they're orphaned, they are determined to avoid a children's home at all costs and embark upon a road trip to New York City, in search of their long-lost uncle. Bob is pretty much the hanger-on - he knows that the Rat is a special kid who would never make it in an institution and so he puts his fears aside to follow his singular sister. Full review...
Time Train to the Blitz by Sophie McKenzie
The summer holidays is a time for relaxing, playing in the sun, and getting bored – precisely what Joe and Scarlett are doing when we encounter them at the beginning of this thrilling book. It is hardly surprising then, that when the two children see a ghostly train racing towards them in the woods, they take a risk and step inside. The train itself is strange, but when they find clothes laid out in the single compartment with their own names marked on them, Joe starts to get really worried. His sister Scarlett, however, is more curious – or more reckless – and she immediately begins to try on the blue dress which has been left for her. And then Joe's phone starts to count down from an hour . . . Full review...
Johnny Swanson by Eleanor Updale
'Strength in What Remains' is the inspirational account of Deogratias, a man who has fled from the genocide and civil war in Burundi (just south of the equator in East Central Africa, bordering Rwanda). He escapes to New York, out of fear and want of a safer life; only his new found American life isn't quite what it promised. Full review...
I, Houdini by Lynne Reid Banks
Houdini is not your usual, commonplace hamster. Oh no, he is a hamster on a mission, a mission to escape! From his very first glorious taste of freedom he spends his life inventing ways to escape and scurrying away (usually straight into a heap of trouble) at every possible opportunity. This is his tale, related entirely from his own, rather conceited, point of view. Full review...
The Merchant Of Venice (Shakespeare Stories) by Andrew Matthews and Tony Ross
Bassanio's got the hots for Portia, and she for him. His friend, Antonio, borrows money from Shylock so Bassanio can woo her. Antonio is usually well-off, but all his money is tied up with his ships at the moment. Due to past rivalries, Shylock demands that Antonio pay him back with a pound of flesh if he can't come up with the money. Meanwhile, Portia is putting various suitors to the test. As someone wise once said elsewhere, the course of true love never did run smooth. Full review...
April (Conspiracy 365) by Gabrielle Lord
It's April and Cal has survived three months of his year on the run. Will the fourth bring him any closer to answers about the Ormond Singularity? And can he trust Winter Frey?
You guys last saw Cal in January, feeling rather shell-shocked after his father's death from a mysterious disease and his brush with a crazed lunatic who told him that his father was murdered and he'd be next unless he could hold out until next New Year's Eve. Within days, Cal found himself on the run, accused of battering his own sister, and in search of something called the Ormond Singularity. Full review...
Halo by Zizou Corder
When Halo is a baby, a centaur finds her crawling up a beach, the sole survivor of a shipwreck. This scene shows, right from the first page, the courage and determination which characterise her during the course of this book. No one has any idea who this human child is, but the golden owl amulet and the curious tattoo on her forehead suggest she is special. She is adopted by the family and for ten years she and her centaur brother Arko lead an idyllic life on the island of Zakynthos. But ten years later Halo is kidnapped by fishermen and sold into slavery. She escapes and disguises herself as a boy because as a girl she can have little or no respect, and no freedom of action. Still disguised as a boy she lives with the Spartans, falls in love, and is given clues to her true identity by the famous Oracle at Delphi. Full review...
Trick Eggs and Rubber Chickens: Grubtown Tales by Philip Ardagh
If you haven't been to Grubtown before, then feel welcome. As newly arrived lorry driver John Jones finds out, it's a place of exceedingly silly names for people – Blue-Ridge Handheld my favourite so far – and exceedingly silly things happening for exceedingly silly reasons. One of those silly things is John Jones arriving into town with a giant octopus on the back of his lorry – a real, live one, destined for the brand new aquarium and carwash. Another, coinciding, silly thing, is the mayor having a huge festival day for the opening of his new home, which he has just finished knitting. Full review...
A Seaside Adventure (Tumtum and Nutmeg) by Emily Bearn
There's something very comforting about returning to a story with familiar friends and this latest in the Tumtum and Nutmeg series does not disappoint. Our brave little mousey friends are heading off for some new excitement, this time travelling by train to the seaside to keep an eye on Arthur and Lucy who have been sent to stay with their Uncle. Nutmeg is sure it won't be any bother, but Tumtum suspects they may well end up on another adventure! Full review...
Boobela and Worm Ride the Waves by Joe Friedman
Boobela is a girl who is just like any other little girl, except for the fact that she isn't little - she's a giant. Worm is her best friend (he actually is a worm) and he rides around in a box she straps to her shoulder. This outing sees them visiting some underground caves and learning to surf, amongst other adventures. Full review...
The Red Necklace by Sally Gardner
Paris's streets are already humming with talk of revolution, when the young gypsy Yann Margoza is summoned to perform his magic at the chateau of a selfish, debt-ridden marquise. He is to tell the assembled aristocracy their future. But what he hoped would be the ticket to a better life turns into a nightmare when he has a vision of the richly-dressed crowd drowning in a sea of blood. Full review...
Clover Twig and the Perilous Path by Kaye Umansky
There's non-stop fun and action in this story. Granny Dismal comes to warn Mrs Eckles that the Perilous Path has been spotted in the forest, and this kicks off a funny story involving witches (both good and bad), trolls, missing little boys, clowns, imps and magic sweeties. It's the sequel to Clover Twig and the Incredible Flying Cottage, but I don't think I lost out too much for not having read that first. Everyone is generally so well described, and previous story arcs are quickly filled in if required. This is the sort of book I would have stayed up late reading under the covers with a torch when I was a little girl myself, and is now the sort of book I would steal from my daughter's room late at night so I can keep reading it without waiting for a chapter a night! Full review...
Rebel (Knife) by R J Anderson
Fifteen years after the events of Knife, the Queen of the Oakenwyld is dying of old age. She charges Knife's daughter, Linden, with the task of finding other faeries out in the world. Knife is now living in the human world with her husband Paul, and her mission to protect the Oak is put in jeopardy by the arrival of Paul's teenage cousin, Timothy. Full review...
The Chamber of Shadows by Justin Richards
It's London, 1886. A company building those new underground train tunnels finds a hidden vault at impossible depth - and seems to release into the world The Lord of Flies. A mysterious masked stage magician does the obviously impossible. A robotic killer stalks the streets, and a street gang of ruffians-on-the-up decides to solve the mystery. A man in charge of Fortean artefacts at the British Museum has a new employer, asking something much more evil from him. Surely all of that cannot be connected in some way? Surely one book can not have all those dark and mysterious elements we can probably all recognise, and put them into one period thriller without coming over as a horrendous porridge of parody? Full review...
The Truth About Leo by David Yelland
Leo lives inside his own head for much of the time. You can't really blame him. He's always tired for a start. That's because he's often up early, tidying up the house after one of his father's rampages. His father drinks too much, you see, and sometimes he smashes up the house. Leo can't risk this being discovered because his father's the only person he's got since his mother died of cancer. He misses her like crazy, and he's afraid he'll be taken into care if anyone finds out about his dad's drinking. Full review...
Tomorrow's Guardian by Richard Denning
Eleven year old Tom Oakley thinks he's going mad when he seems to relive short periods of his life, and dreams about other people from different times. The reality is far stranger – he's a Walker, with the power to rescue those he dreamed about. Travelling to the battle of Isandlwana, the Great Fire of London, and a German U-Boat, guided by the mysterious Professor, Tom saves the lives of soldier Edward, servant Mary, and Able Seaman Charlie, who also have powers. There are others, however, with similar powers, who aren't as pleasant as Tom's new friends – and the four of them, allied with the Professor and his roguish helper Septimus, are pitched into a battle to save the worlds. That's intentionally plural – there are two parallel universes at stake here. Full review...
Hooey Higgins and the Shark by Steve Voake
A shark has been spotted in Shrimpton-on-Sea's bay. The local chocolate shop has a mahousive egg for sale for £65. Hooey Higgins decides to capture the former so he can charge admission and buy the latter. He's helped out on his adventures by Twig and Will, whilst they all hope they won't fall foul of the big bully Basbo. Full review...
Shine by Kate Maryon
You and me, Mum, you and me.
Twelve-year-old Tiff and her mother are a double act. They're so close that they're almost more like sisters than mother and daughter. They both like shiny, girly, things, and Tiff's mum seemingly has an endless supply of new, ever more glamorous baubles for them to share. There's only one problem: how she comes by them. Because Tiff's mum has rather sticky fingers. She shoplifts. She defrauds credit cards. She's very naughty and sometimes it makes Tiff feel rather uncomfortable. She knows deep down that it can't last. Full review...
Einstein's Underpants - And How They Saved The World by Anthony McGowan
A delightfully silly school cum sci-fi romp for confident readers, with plenty of pants-based humour, but never at the expense of a rollicking good read. Full review...
Jake Highfield: Chaos Unleashed by Alec Sillifant
What's this that Jake is doing - breaking into a building? Vandalising it with graffiti, having ruined someone's privacy and infiltrated something he shouldn't have done? Three years ago he would have been doing this as a yobbish kick, but now he's a teenage agent of a shadowy organisation called the Academy, and people want him to succeed in his mission. But do they all want that? Who are his taskmasters after all? And what does the Void have in store for his future? Full review...
Shipwrecked (The Adventures of Titch and Mitch) by Garth Edwards
Titch and Mitch are two little pixies who have run away from home. Through a series of misadventures they find themselves shipwrecked on an island, and the story revolves around them making new friends there. They come to the rescue of a strange coloured seagull, they save a trapped fairy, they play dentist for a little dragon mouse and they aid and abet an intelligent turkey who is trying to escape from the turkey farm. Full review...
Fightback by Steve Voake
Meet Kier. A smart, yet lonely, young teen, he's been farmed off to a private school by his dad since mother died. Among his achievements are several successes on the karate mat, but all this is about to change. When his father is rammed off a motorway and murdered, Kier finds he's even more alone, and duty-bound to fight even more, when he gets clues to just who his father might have been, and how to go about responding to his death. Full review...
Fen Runners by John Gordon
Years ago, a boy fell through the ice under Cottle's Bridge. He said afterwards that something pulled him, a sleek silvery creature dragging him down into the blackness. Now, decades later, two boys go swimming in the very same spot and find one of his ice skates, a so-called fen runner, buried in the mud at the bottom of the channel. But when they take it home, dark secrets begin to resurface around them and they become aware that an ancient evil is stirring out in the fens. Full review...
