Newest Confident Readers Reviews
Confident readers
The Alien in the Garage and Other Stories by Rob Keeley
Would aliens like custard creams? Can fake tan hide a big lie? Are TV remotes sinister objects? Do secrets make you popular?
Rob Keeley explores all these questions and more in a super collection of slightly spooky, blackly comic short stories. They're beautifully observed and you can see that Rob knows children well. He has the emotional landscape exactly right and is equally accurate when describing - and sometimes gently mocking - peer relationships. Full review...
Haunted by Susan Cooper, Joseph Delaney, Berlie Doherty, Jamila Gavin, Matt Haig, Robin Jarvis, Derek Landy, Sam Llewellyn, Mal Peet, Philip Reeve and Eleanor Updale
I've always enjoyed a good ghost story – whether at a sleepover when I was a teenager, or even now reading horror stories in bed in the middle of the night. As soon as I saw this book I knew I wanted to read it, and it did not disappoint; a group of excellent authors from all genres have come together and the result is a collection of brilliant stories not to be missed by any ghost hunters out there. Full review...
Milly-Molly-Mandy's Friends by Joyce Lankester Brisley
Milly-Molly-Mandy doesn't much mind being an only child when she has people like Little Friend Susan, Billy Blunt and Miss Muggins's Jilly to play with. And what fun they have! With overnight guests, trips in the pony-trap, dressing up as Proper Ladies, running races and even forming secret clubs, there's never a dull moment. Full review...
Milly-Molly-Mandy's Family by Joyce Lankester Brisley
Millicent Margaret Amanda (that's Milly-Molly-Mandy to you and me) lives with Father and Mother and Grandpa and Grandma and Uncle and Aunty (and Toby the dog) in a nice white cottage with a thatched roof. And do you know, she has all sorts of adventures. She goes out into town alone to fetch things for her extended family, she goes to a concert where she even knows one of the performers, she gets invited to parties in the village hall, and she does it all with the company of Little Friend Susan and Billy Blunt. Full review...
The Giant Book of Giants by Saviour Pirotta and Mark Robertson
There's a rather large giant's eye starting back at me from the cover of this book...I'm not scared though, because the book promises that the giant contained within is a gentle giant who will guard my room! And he really is contained within since this is a book set which includes a book of giant stories from around the world as well as a huge giant poster (over one metre high!) which is in 3D and contains moving parts! Full review...
The Chocolate Box Girls: Marshmallow Skye by Cathy Cassidy
It doesn't seem like a year since I first met the Tanberry sisters in Cherry Crush because they're all very fresh in my mind. The five girls – four of them are called Tanberry and Cherry is their step-sister – are all just preteen or in their early teens, with Honey as the oldest and Coco as the youngest. Honey is still not coping with the fact that her father has left – and is now living in Australia – or with the arrival of Paddy and Cherry. On occasions she's not just difficult – she's dreadful. Full review...
Hartslove by K M Grant
1861, Epsom. A young lad, Garth, is at the start of the biggest horse race in the land, astride The One, an ungainly but lightning-fast three year old who had never been ridden until just months ago. At the side of the track, Garth's five sisters, and friends, are willing him on. How can this young jockey win the race, upon which the fate of their castle home and so much more depends? And what are we to learn after the prologue that sets all this out, that would make us want him to NOT win? Full review...
The Hunter by Paul Geraghty
At the start of 'The Hunter', Jamina and her grandfather are walking in the bush collecting honey. Jamina wants to see elephants but her grandfather tells her it is unlikely because not many have been seen since the hunters came. Initially, she is quite enthralled by the idea of hunters and proclaims that she wants to be one. She starts to play at hunting but this game ends in her becoming lost. She is drawn towards a sad and desperate cry and eventually comes across a small baby elephant trying to wake his dead mother. She leads the baby away and hopes to head towards home but all around she senses danger and is aware that the poachers are never that far away. She feels hunted herself and through this journey she comes to realise that hunting is bad and that she no longer wishes to become a hunter. Full review...
Kitty Slade: Fire and Roses by Fiona Dunbar
In the second in the Kitty Slade series, Kitty lives with her Greek grandmother (Maro) who home educates Kitty, her brother Sam and sister Flossie. Kitty has a rare condition: she can see ghosts. On a trip to Oxenden to stay with Maro's friends, Kitty experiences some strange Poltergeist-type phenomena, and discovers that the family of Sir Ambrose Vyner (Maro's friends Dinky, Charlie and their children Louis and Emily) are under a curse. Full review...
The Hidden Kingdom by Ian Beck
Prince Osamu is a pampered, spoiled young orphan who has never known friends his own age or been told what to do. He spends his life surrounded by beauty and riches in a world where most people do not even dare to raise their eyes to his face, collecting the exquisite pots made by Master Masumi and writing poems. His tutors have told him about the demons of Hades which try, every few centuries, to break through the barrier and take over this world, and that it is his responsibility to repel them, but he dismisses all this as old wives' tales. And then one night the forces of the Emissary attack the palace, and every certainty he had is gone in a flash. Full review...
Jack Hunter - Secret of the King by Martin King
Jack Hunter was not impressed by the idea of moving from Southend to Barnoldswick. It was a long journey, he'd left all his friends behind and to cap it all the rather sassy girl next door announced that his bedroom was haunted. The family had moved north because his Mum's father was getting a bit frail and needed looking after, but when Jack goes to see Grandad he realises that there's a lot more to the old man than meets the eye. He has a secret to share with Jack – and a gold coin which does seem to show that what Grandad says about buried treasure is true. He hunted for it for years and now he's handed the quest on to Jack. Full review...
The Demon Trappers: Forbidden by Jana Oliver
After the demon attack on the Tabernacle, Riley Blackthorne has got a lot to think about. Her (dead) Father turned up to warn her about the impending attack, but just made him and Riley look guilty in the process. Riley doesn't care about that, she wants to know who reanimated her Father and stole his body. Her bet is on Ozymandias, the creepiest of all the necromancers – plus she did tick him off. Full review...
The Considine Curse by Gareth P Jones
Fourteen-year-old Mariel and her mother emigrated to Australia when she was very small. It's just the two of them, apart from her mother's succession of boyfriends, and Mariel has always believed they have no family and are alone in the world. Then one day her mother tells her that her maternal grandmother has died and that they're going back to England for the funeral. And what's more, when she gets there she will meet her five uncles and six cousins for the first time since she was a baby. Mariel is both angry and mystified. Why did her mother keep the information about the family a secret? What right did she have to deny Mariel the opportunity to belong to a big loving family group? And what was it about Grandma that made her mother hate her so much? But Mariel's mother, true to form, won't answer any of her questions, and relations between them remained strained throughout the book. Full review...
S.T.I.N.K.B.O.M.B.: Secret Team of Intrepid-Natured Kids Battling Odious Masterminds, Basically by Rob Stevens
Archie loves planes, and is never happier than when his pilot father lets him take the controls of his Dragonfly 600 jet aircraft, with its ability to hover, move at five times the speed of a helicopter and land and take off vertically. But in the honourable tradition of the hidden hero, his slightly nerdy preoccupation with flying, not to mention going round with chocolate-guzzling Barney who lives in a dream-world of spies, conspiracies and enemy agents, gets him bullied at school and nagged at by his teachers. Full review...
A Tale Dark and Grimm by Adam Gidwitz
Not many books begin with the hero and heroine losing their heads (literally) before page thirty. And that's not the only misfortune to befall Hansel and his sister. No sooner are their heads and necks reunited, and they've fled their murderous parents, than the two children find themselves in front of an edible house. And we all know what happens if you eat people's homes, don't we? Well, maybe. Full review...
Serpent's Gold by Sam Osman
Most children probably know more about Hindu gods and Creation myths than they do about ley lines, so there is a whole wealth of new information and ideas to be found in this series of books about the adventures of Wolfie, Tala and Zi'ib. Ancient beliefs about stone circles and megaliths, magic circles, the Great Pyramid at Giza and the Knights Templar are linked through these mysterious lines with modern sites like Battersea Power Station and the Tate Modern as our three heroes battle the forces of wickedness. Full review...
Dragon Whisperer: Flight to Dragon Isle by Lucinda Hare
Quenelda DeWinter is the twelve year old daughter of Earl Rufus DeWinter, the commander of the Stealth Dragon Services. As a member of the nobility, Quenelda should be at Grimalkin's College for Young Ladies and learning how to curtsey properly, like her jealous brother Darcy's fiancee, the ladylike Armelia. However, Quenelda is a dragon whisperer, and can communicate both telepathically and through dreams with dragons, and her ambition is to enrol at the Stealth Dragon Services Battle Academy at Dragon Isle. Full review...
Where's Asterix? by Albert Uderzo and Renee Goscinny
Following in the tradition of 'Where's Wally' books here we have 'Where's Asterix?' There are 12 different scenes from the Asterix stories where you have to find not just Asterix but a whole range of other characters hidden throughout as well. Turn it into a competition as you win a laurel wreath for each character you find! Full review...
Tumtum and Nutmeg: Trouble at Rose Cottage by Emily Bearn
Mysterious things are afoot in Rose Cottage. It appears that some new mice, one with golden teeth, have moved into the kitchen and are threatening the tranquil lives of Tumtum and Nutmeg who live in Nutmouse Hall. After some investigation they discover the new mice are town mice, intent on causing trouble. Will the children discover who has been stealing their things, or discover a way to stop their father from selling Rose Cottage before it's too late and their lives, as well as Tumtum and Nutmeg's, are changed forever? Full review...
Return to the Hundred Acre Wood by David Benedictus
Christopher Robin is back! At least that's what the Rumour spreading like wild fire through the Hundred Acre Wood says. He's returning for more adventures with Pooh and Piglet and Rabbit and Owl and Kanga and Roo and Tigger and Eeyore and, as I'm sure you'll agree, that is a Very Good Thing. From exciting new friends (Lottie the Otter giving Kanga some welcome female company) to adventures and competitions, with water slides to locate, bees to relocate, books to write and schools to found, this book picks up where the previous one left off, and really does read like an organic 3rd part of a trilogy (poetry books excepted) rather than a tag on that comes some 80-plus years after the original and from the pen of another. Full review...
Burglar Boy by Jackie Martin
Burglar Boy opens with a big scene - Dean is halfway though robbing a house when the owner returns. Chased by an irate man with a good aim and a golf club, he barely makes it out in one piece. But he dutifully returns home and divvies up a pile of ill-gotten goods to Callum, his older brother, who rewards him for the risk and the bruises with a paltry fiver. Still, it's more pocket money than Dean is likely to see from his mother, who has lapsed further and further into a bottle of vodka since her most recent boyfriend left. Full review...
Wilma Tenderfoot and the Case of the Rascal's Revenge by Emma Kennedy
Wilma Tenderfoot, assistant to the great Detective Theodore P. Goodman, is off to solve another case with the help of her loving dog, Pickle. The future of Copper Island hangs in the balance, and Wilma thinks it's possible that she may just yet discover who her parents really are...make sure you're sitting comfortably, you won't want to put this one down! Full review...
Wuthering Hearts by Kay Woodward
book a real pain, she still wants to be Cathy in the school production - who wouldn't, especially with the utterly gorgeous new boy Robert as leading man? Robert, though, resembles Wuthering Heights' moody Heathcliff in more ways than just being good-looking, and Emily finds it very hard to get to know him properly, even after a development which means they're spending much more time together. Can two people find romance on the Yorkshire moors? Full review...
Star Makers Club: Polly Plays Her Part by Anne-Marie Conway
Polly Conway is having to deal with rather a lot at the moment. Her mum has got a fabulous new job – but it’s in Spain! That leaves Polly to live with her dad, her new stepmother who she can’t stand, and her baby brother who’s just annoying. Depressed by the problems in her life, she ignores her dad’s rules and turns to the friend2friend website to find comfort. As she gets increasingly addicted to the site, she starts to lose focus on the important things in her life – including her family and the Star Makers’ new production. Full review...
Neversuch House: Mask of the Evergones by Elliott Skell
The Halibuts are an extraordinary family. Almost two centuries ago the Captain used his immense wealth to buy up land and surround it by a high wall. He took a wife, and employed families of servants to serve his every need. Money was no object, and subsequent generations of Halibuts had anything they desired on one condition: if they ever left the grounds of the House, they could never return. Full review...
Earwig and the Witch by Diana Wynne Jones
Earwig lives at St Morwald's children's home. Unlike some orphans in literature she's perfectly happy there since she seems to have everyone answering her every whim, and she loves spending time with her best friend Custard. Things are soon to change though as one day a rather strange couple, Bella Yaga and the Mandrake, come to look for a child to foster and the one they pick is Earwig! Full review...
The Parent Swap Shop by Francesca Simon and Pete Williamson
Ava's parents like to nag. They nag her about her spelling, about eating with her knife and fork, or sitting straight on her chair, or going to bed on time...nag, nag, nag! But then one day she finds a card advertising 'The Parent Swap Shop' and when her parents nag her one more time she packs them off and sets out to find herself a new set of parents! Full review...
The Eddie Dickens Trilogy by Philip Ardagh
Meet Eddie Dickens. Aged eleven years old, he's only been allowed to be away from home twice in his life - once for about eight years on a boat, when a crate of luggage went to school in his place, and once for about three years. Now though he is being forced to move in with Mad Uncle Jack and Even Madder Aunt Maud, as his parents are very ill. But they're so deliriously bonkers, there's very little chance of him getting to actually move in with them. Who knows - he might even end up stuck in an orphanage instead? Full review...
Precious and the Monkeys by Alexander McCall Smith
Someone has been stealing food at Precious' school. There are suspicions about who it might be, but no one is sure so Precious sets out to try and discover the truth as to just where all those snacks are disappearing off to... Full review...
Eight Keys by Suzanne LaFleur
On moving to middle school, eleven year old Elise's life takes a turn for the worse. She's bullied by her cool and popular locker-buddy Amanda, and embarrassed by her best friend Franklin – who's decidedly uncool and certainly not popular – she's also struggling to cope with the new arrivals at her home, Aunt Bessie's younger sister Annie and her baby daughter Ava. Just when she doesn't know how she can cope with everything, help arrives in the form of a strange key with her name on it. As she opens a door to find out about her past, Elise starts to realise that she can take control of her future. Full review...
Too Small to Fail by Morris Gleitzman
Oliver's parents own an investment bank. They are very rich and also very busy and they need to be in the city for their work. This means that Oliver lives in a penthouse flat, largely in the company of a succession of housekeepers, and he can't have a pet. Of late, Oliver has been spending a lot of time with his nose pressed up against a pet shop window, falling in love with a black-and-white dog that he knows he'll never be able to take home. Full review...
Jake Ransom and the Howling Sphinx by James Rollins
James Rollins has hit upon a truly brilliant premise in this series. People and creatures from our world have been transported at various times to a savage, prehistoric place called Calypsos, and in the first volume, Jake Ransom and the Skull King's Shadow Jake and his sister find themselves suddenly whisked to a city where Romans, Mayans, Neanderthals and groups from many other societies, places and eras live more or less peaceably side by side. Their archaeologist parents disappeared three years before, and the two young people's struggles to survive, and to defeat Kalverum Rex, the Skull King, go side by side with their hope of finding a trace there of their mother and father. Full review...
King Arthur and a World of Other Stories by Geraldine McCaughrean
The prolific, award winning author Geraldine McCaughrean has collected together twenty four stories from around the world in this highly impressive collection, garnered from four earlier collections. It includes the familiar from the Western tradition (Wilhelm Tell, Pygmalion, King Arthur) to those that are completely new to me, from Bolivia, Togo, Japan, the Middle East. The stories are no more than five pages long, making them ideal for bedtime reading (or hometime reading in a school). Full review...
Strong Winds Trilogy: The Salt-Stained Book by Julia Jones and Claudia Myatt
Donny and his mother left their bungalow on the outskirts of Leeds and headed off to Suffolk to meet Donny's great aunt. It was never going to be easy as Skye, Donny's mother, was deaf and just about mute. She and Donny communicated by signing and usually they managed quite well, but when Skye had a breakdown in a car park in Colchester, their camper van was towed away and fourteen-year-old Donny was taken into care. He couldn't understand why none of the officials would believe him – in fact, were they all that they seemed? And why will no one let him see his mother? Full review...
The Melancholic Mermaid by Kallie George and Abigail Halpin
Maude is a mermaid who was born with two tails. Her parents tell her it makes her special, stronger and faster, but amongst the other mermaid children it makes her an outcast. She is lonely, and she longs for a friend. Feeling sorry for herself one day she isn't paying attention and she is captured by a fisherman who sells her to a circus. On the same day that Maude was born, Tony was born in a cottage by the sea. He has webbed hands and, like Maude, is teased at school and left lonely and sad. His parents send him to live with the circus, believing he will be accepted and happy there but Tony is still lonely and he misses the sea. But then one day he is put in charge of a new attraction for the circus. A mermaid with two tails... Full review...
Celebriteens: In the Spotlight by Joanna Philbin
Girls usually get together because they've got something in common and for Lizzie, Carina and Hudson it's their famous parents. Lizzie's mother is a supermodel and even in her thirties she's still one of the most beautiful women in the world. Lizzie's – not. Well, she's not exactly ugly but compared to her mother (and she always is) she just doesn't come up to scratch. Carina's dad is a rich (very rich) businessman and he's determined that C (as she's known) is going to join the company and eventually take over. Carina has other ideas. Hudson wants to make music and you might think that having a pop diva for a mother is a good start, but Hudson's style is different and her mother can't accept that. Full review...
Wish Me Dead by Helen Grant
Rural Germany, in modern times. Steffi and her five friends lark about in a deserted building to summon a witch and get her to kill a local celebrity - who does indeed die. When a repeat attempt gifts a decent amount of cash to Steffi it becomes clear she is alone in having her wishes granted. So what will happen when she wishes for the town hunk - hasn't Steffi heard to be careful what you wish for? But how on earth can things get so bad she feels her story deserves *that* title? Full review...
Kill Fish Jones by Caro King
There are plenty of books around where the main character has to escape the murderous clutches of a magical or supernatural being. There are even a few which look at things from the demon's point of view. But it's rare to find a book which not only recounts the adventures of the intended victim, but also presents the demon as a complex and sympathetic personality in his own right. And which, as a bonus, allows the demon to grow as a character during the course of the story. A difficult challenge for any writer, but 'Kill Fish Jones' by Caro King manages to pull it off with panache and humour. Full review...
Skinny Melon and Me by Jean Ure
After Mrs James at school suggests writing a diary is a healthy and cathartic activity, Cherry decides to chronicle her own life. She's of the view that her mental cupboard is in definite need of a good clear out. This is not an entirely surprising view: Cherry's parents went through an acrimonious divorce and things were just getting back to normal when Slimey Roland appeared. Can you believe it, but Cherry's mother only went and married this chinless wonder! And then she moved him in. And then she reneged on her promise to buy Cherry a dog because Roly had allergies! Full review...
The Breakfast Club by Kate Costelloe
Billie and her three best friends have grown to love the breakfast club they've formed, meeting every Saturday morning to pass the time and discuss the week they've had. Mario's is the perfect venue for it - so it's a huge shock when they find it's closing down! In addition, Billie's mother is adamant that she shouldn't pursue the career in music she wants more than anything, and Billie can't understand why. Can the girls find somewhere else to spend Saturday mornings, and can they persuade Billie's mum that music is what really matters to her? Full review...
The Butterfly Heart by Paula Leyden
'The Butterfly Heart' takes place in Zambia, the beautiful 'butterfly heart' of Africa. The story is told through two voices: Bul-Boo, a young girl who lives with her family and twin sister Madillo, and Ifwafwa, the Snake Man. He is old and wise and has the unique ability to communicate with snakes. The twins' lovely and gentle friend Winifred is in trouble. Her father has died, and his brother has arranged for her to marry his friend, a man old enough to be Winifred's grandfather. Winifred seems resigned to her fate, but Bul-Boo is determined to do something, and in desperation, the twins turn to Ifwafwa. Full review...
Island of Thieves by Josh Lacey
While Tom's parents have their first childless holiday in decades, our hero is supposed to be staying at his uncle Harvey's flat. Unfortunately his uncle is a roustabout adventurer, and with a clue to a treasure's location is himself going to Peru to seek the rest of the map. When Tom invites himself along he has no idea Harvey is already wanted by Peru's biggest criminal, nor what this impetuous decision will lead too... Full review...
Agatha Parrot and the Floating Head as Typed Out Neatly by Kjartan Poskitt by Kjartan Poskitt and David Tazzyman
Agatha Parrot lives on Odd Street, which is appropriate since her story is rather an odd one. Part school drama, part slapstick farce this is a funny, ridiculous romp of a story! Full review...
Luka and the Fire of Life by Salman Rushdie
Back in 1990, Salman Rushdie followed up his controversial 'Satanic Verses' with a book dedicated to his then nine year old son, Zafar, called 'Haroun and the Sea of Stories'. Now, his second son, Milan, finally gets a book of his own, although he had to wait until he was 13 for his father to get around to it. 'Luka and the Fire of Life' is very much a follow up to 'Haroun' and it is certainly helpful, although not necessary, if you have read that book as many of the events in the first book are referred to here. Full review...
We Can Be Heroes by Catherine Bruton
Ben is spending the summer with his grandparents because his mother is ill again. She won't stop going out for runs and is not eating properly. She's gone back to stressing out about having the "right" cutlery and worrying about technology and health hazards. And her beautiful hair has started falling out. Ben's father was killed in the 9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center and with his mother incommunicado, he's feeling very lonely indeed. Full review...
