Difference between revisions of "Newest Dyslexia Friendly Reviews"

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|isbn=1800901232
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|title=Stitched Up
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[[image:Jennings Different.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1910646423/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]
 
 
 
 
 
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===[[A Different Dog by Paul Jennings and Geoff Kelly]]===
 
 
 
[[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Dyslexia Friendly|Dyslexia Friendly]], [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]]
 
 
 
Our hero is a boy, whose name we never learn. We know what he wants in life – with his mother exceedingly poor, and even his bed burnt to keep the two of them warm, he wants the prize offered by a down-a-mountain-and-back-up-and-down-again foot race. Winning the race and the large purse would also give him more status in the eyes of those kids that bully him, and it might even give him a voice – for he is almost mute. We quickly learn he never talks back to anyone, whatever the motivation, and can only speak aloud to himself – and, so it turns out, to a dog he rescues from a bad road accident he finds on his way up the hill to the start line… [[A Different Dog by Paul Jennings and Geoff Kelly|Full Review]]
 
 
 
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[[image:Dawson_Grave.jpg|left|link=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1781126046?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1781126046]]
 
 
 
 
 
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===[[Grave Matter by Juno Dawson and Alex T Smith]]===
 
 
 
[[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Dyslexia Friendly|Dyslexia Friendly]]
 
 
 
Since Eliza died, since the night of the car crash that took her life, Sam is a broken soul. He is lost without the girl he loves, feeling as though a part of him died that night too. But he is desperate and he cannot live without Eliza. He remembers his estranged Aunt Marie and her peculiar healing powers and wonders if she might be able to help him. However, finding his Aunt Marie leads him to discover the Milk Man, which causes Sam in his grieving state to make a pact with forces he doesn't understand. Things soon turn complicated as supernatural powers start to change Sam's life in more ways than he bargained for. [[Grave Matter by Juno Dawson and Alex T Smith|Full Review]]
 
 
 
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[[image:Pitcher_Last.jpg|left|link=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/178112728X?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=178112728X]]
 
 
 
 
 
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===[[The Last Days of Archie Maxwell by Annabel Pitcher]]===
 
 
 
[[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Dyslexia Friendly|Dyslexia Friendly]], [[:Category:Teens|Teens]]
 
 
 
Archie Maxwell was shocked when his parents told him that they were getting divorced. It wasn't that Dads leaving was that unusual: Leon's Dad had left and so had Mo's. It was why he was leaving and Archie was embarrassed that his sister had suspected that their father was gay some time ago. Both of his sisters are sad to see their father leave, but they don't seem to have any problem with the why and they tell their friends. But Archie daren't tell the lads at school: the bullying is bad enough as it is. And then there's the problem of Tia, whom he really fancies but he can't say anything about it. What Tia really needs is a friend: it's just about the first anniversary of the day on which her brother committed suicide by throwing himself in front of a train on the line which runs at the back of Archie's house. [[The Last Days of Archie Maxwell by Annabel Pitcher|Full Review]]
 
 
 
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[[image:Bradman Secret.jpg|left|link=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1781127549?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1781127549]]
 
 
 
 
 
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===[[Secret of the Stones by Tony Bradman]]===
 
 
 
[[image:3star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Dyslexia Friendly|Dyslexia Friendly]], [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]]
 
 
 
Twelve year old Maglos has a fulfilling and happy life with his father, the High Priest of Stonehenge. However, everything changes when his Uncle Tigran murders Maglos's father at the mid-summer festival before turning to do the same to Maglos. As the axe is about to fall, two strangers intervene warning Tigran that the Gods will be angry if he spills the blood of a child. Tigran allows the strangers to take Maglos away as their slave. What Tigran doesn't realise is that these two men carry the secret of the stones – a secret that they pass onto Maglos and which he will ultimately use against his uncle. [[Secret of the Stones by Tony Bradman|Full Review]]
 
 
 
|}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
 
|author=Steve Cole
 
|author=Steve Cole
|title=Senseless
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|rating=5
 +
|genre=Dyslexia Friendly
 +
|summary=Twelve-year-old Hanh wanted to be a fashion designer.  Life in the rural village where she lived with her family was happy, if not prosperous, so when the smartly-dressed man and woman came to the village to offer Hahn a job in Hanoi it was an opportunity not to be missed.  Some money changed hands and Hanh was on the mini-bus to Hanoi.  Only, Hanh and the other girls were not going to work in a shop, they were to work in virtual slavery in an illegal garment factory.  You know those jeans you really wanted: the ones with intricate embroidery and beading on the legs?  The ones with the artfully-placed rips and distressed seams that felt so soft when you touched them?  It's quite possible that Hanh and her co-workers made them.
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}}
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{{Frontpage
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|author=Marcus Sedgwick
 +
|title=Wrath
 +
|rating=4.5
 +
|genre=Teens
 +
|summary=Meet Fitz, a young Scottish lad full of frustration at himself. Lockdown is only just over, and he should be free to do what he wants, to go where he wants and with whom he wants, but he cannot stop himself from putting his foot in it when he talks to his best friend, Cassie. They were half of a desultory school band, but Cassie was also one hundred per cent the enigmatic – saying she could hear a subhuman hum coming from the earth. Is this connected with one of her eco-warrior parents saying the end of the world is already a done deal? Is it some spooky new kind of music she's dreaming of? Is she just bonkers? And can Fitz find out the truth? Well, not when Cassie has gone missing he can't...
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|isbn=1800900899
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}}
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{{Frontpage
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|author=Lucy Strange and Pam Smy
 +
|title=The Mermaid in the Millpond
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 +
|genre=Confident Readers
 +
|summary=There is no mermaid in the millpond. That at least is what Bess is telling herself. Neither will there be a friend for her in amongst all the other kids, who have had their entire childhoods sold to the mill-owners by the London workhouse they used to call home. Bess knows there is no time for friendship in a hand-to-mouth, every man for himself kind of existence. But despite herself Bess does find a bit of a kindred spirit in the slight little Dot, and despite everything that life has taught her about betrayal and how befriending people only leads to harm, there might be a glimmer of companionship in the tired-out mill workers. But surely that doesn't mean there is any truth in the existence of the mermaid?
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|isbn=180090049X
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}}
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{{Frontpage
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|author=Keith Gray
 +
|title=The Climbers
 +
|rating=4
 +
|genre=Confident Readers
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|summary=Sully is the best tree climber in the village. He has what's known amongst the kids as 'reach'. But what happens when a new kid shows up in town? A new kid, called Nottingham, who clambers up some of the hardest trees with ease? Suddenly Sully is worried that his status is being threatened, and not only that, that his chance to name the final, unnamed big tree in the park by being the first to conquer it, might be snatched from his hands. How can Sully stop Nottingham? And will it cost him his best friend, or maybe even all of his friends, to do so?
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|isbn=1781129991
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}}
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{{Frontpage
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|author=Lisa Thompson
 +
|title=The Small Things
 +
|rating=5
 +
|genre=Confident Readers
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|summary=Although Anna has friends at school, she feels like she never really fits in. Her family don't have enough money to let her do after school activities, and so she feels like her life at home is boring in comparison to theirs. When a new girl joins her class, Anna is asked to partner her, but things are complicated because the new girl, Ellie, is unwell and so can't attend school in person. Instead, she joins in with the class by using a robot. Can Anna overcome the challenge of making friends with someone through a robot, and is she even interesting enough to be a good friend to Ellie?
 +
|isbn=1781129649
 +
}}
 +
{{Frontpage
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|author=Emma Carroll and Kaja Kajfez
 +
|title=The Ghost Garden
 +
|rating=4.5
 +
|genre=Confident Readers
 +
|summary=Fran, the gardener's daughter at a posh country house, is worried.  She's just cracked her garden fork through quite a grim discovery - a large bone, buried under the potatoes.  But she's even more worried when she learns that that event coincided with Leo, the older child of the house, breaking his leg while playing cricket on the lawn.  She is due to get even more worried when she finds something else that also seems to foretell a surprise.  Tasked with shoving Leo around the grounds in his bathchair, she might have reason to be out of her mind with fear, when she learns what he is seeking - a long-forgotten burial chamber.  But surely that won't act as a premonition to anything - not here in the sultry, summery days of 1914?
 +
|isbn=1781129002
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}}
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{{Frontpage
 +
|author=Alex Wheatle
 +
|title=The Humiliations of Welton Blake
 +
|rating=2.5
 +
|genre=Confident Readers
 +
|summary=We meet Welton Blake at the worst of times – only they should be the best of times.  He should be getting a text from the most bae-worthy girl in school in regards to a cinema date, but his phone has packed up, he's chundered last night's meal and his breakfast over another girl in class, who's duffed him up in response, and the wanna-bae seems to actually be with someone else anyway.  On a bigger scale he's living with his mother and not much income now that the dad has left the picture – yes, things are so bad they're resorting to having cabbage for dinner.  I know, right?  But surely this is just a blip, a day at school to forget, and everything (like his vomit) will all come out in the wash?  This can't be the start of a most nightmarish time for young Welton?
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|isbn=1781129495
 +
}}
 +
{{Frontpage
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|isbn=178112938X
 +
|title=Survival in Space: The Apollo 13 Mission
 +
|author=David Long and Stefano Tambellini (illustrator)
 +
|rating=5
 
|genre=Dyslexia Friendly
 
|genre=Dyslexia Friendly
|summary=16 year old Kenzie Mitchell, otherwise known as K-Boy, thinks his every dream has come true when he's wins the chance to attend a top gaming tournament at Sensia HQ on a remote tropical island. The contestants are flown in on their own private jet and transferred by limo to the swankiest of hotels. It all seems too good to be true – which of course it is. Within hours, events start to take a sinister turn. Kenzie wakes in the night unable to see and one by one his other senses – touch, hearing, smell and taste – flicker in and out. And he's not on his own. It's happening to the other contestants too, sometimes with fatal consequences. Kenzie wants to believe it isn't really happening. He wants to believe it's just a really good virtual reality game. But with Sensia in control, the line between realities has almost entirely disappeared.
+
|summary=It's fifty years since the Apollo 13 mission was launched from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, but the story of that journey remains one of the greatest survival stories of all time. ''Survival in Space: The Apollo 13 Mission'' is a brilliant retelling of what happened.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781127336</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell
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|isbn=1781129312
|title=Free Lance and the Field of Blood (Free Lance Trilogy 2)
+
|title=Sequin and Stitch
 +
|author=Laura Dockrill and Sara Ogilvie (illustrator)
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Dyslexia Friendly
 
|genre=Dyslexia Friendly
|summary=The world of jousting is a fierce one – survive the minor battles with the lance, either as a bonded employed Knight or as a Free Lance, and you might try your hands at the major leagueThere the men are stronger, the horses faster, and the ground hurts more when you hit itBut the big time also offers more that can put a humble Knight at risk – such as evil hosts, beautiful princess-types in pickles, and mysteriously successful strangersOur nameless hero and his loyal horse, Jed, are going to be up against a lot more than they expected here…
+
|summary=Sequin loved her mum to bits, but sometimes she got very cross with her.  It wasn't that mum wouldn't go outside their flat - Sequin coped with that - it was because she never pushed to get credit for what she did.  Mum is a seamstress and she makes the sort of clothes that you see on red carpets or at important weddingsShe's not the designer - they're the people who make a lot of money from the clothesMum is the person who actually ''makes'' the garments and she's really talented, but when people talk about the dress or the suit, they talk about the designerThe seamstress is never mentioned.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781127158</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Sita Brahmachari and Jane Ray
+
|author=Tanya Landman
|title=Worry Angels
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|title=Jane Eyre: a Retelling
|rating=4
+
|rating=5
 
|genre=Dyslexia Friendly
 
|genre=Dyslexia Friendly
|summary=Amy-May was devastated when her parents split up: she and her mother left the delightful seaside cottage where the waves had sung her to sleep and moved into a 'garden flat'.  That didn't mean that it had a garden, just that it was on the ground floor.  They didn't have a lot of possessions as the bailiffs had taken most of them.  Her father was living in another old cottage now and hopefully he'd be able to set up his kiln, but he wouldn't be able to home-school Amy-MayThe alternative was Sandcastles Secondary School but the rather nervous Amy was considered to be too ''anxious'' to start at the school full timeAs a gentle introduction to schooling she went to Grace's art school instead.
+
|summary=A young woman, fresh from living with horrid relatives who could care less about her, and years in a dreary school, moves into Thornfield Hall with only one intent – to have something like the life she wants – and with only one job, to tutor a young half-French girl, whose father is almost always absentWhen he does turn up he seems to be dark, brooding and troubled – but that's nothing compared to the darker, more broody and even more troubling secret in the houseYes, if you know Jane Eyre then you know the rest – but if you don't, for whatever reason, this is a wonderful book to turn to.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>178112695X</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1781129126
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Jeremy Strong and Jamie Smith
+
|isbn=1781128952
|title=Nellie Choc-Ice, Penguin Explorer (Little Gems)
+
|title=The Starlight Watchmaker
|rating=4.5
+
|author=Lauren James
 +
|rating=4
 
|genre=Dyslexia Friendly
 
|genre=Dyslexia Friendly
|summary=Meet Nellie Choc-Ice. Thus named by her grandparents (and grandparents have a habit in this book of making unusual names for their grandchildren, whichever species they belong to), she is a pretty little Macaroni penguin, complete with pink feet, bright yellow eyebrows and a woolly hat with the world's biggest pompom on the end. She has a habit of going exploring and finding out what's over the next ridge in the ice, and the next, and the next.  But when disaster happens and the ice she is on is knocked off Antarctica by a submarine, even she can have no idea as to where she will end up…
+
|summary=This is a dyslexia-friendly, science fiction novella for young adults. It tells the tale of Hugo, an unwanted and rather lonely android, who makes a living for himself mending time-travel watches. When one of his clients demands that his broken watch be mended, Hugo realises there is a mystery to be solved and is only too ready to help. An exciting journey of discovery unfolds, which takes Hugo out of his drab attic workroom and into a scary adventure with some amazing new friends, exploring regions of the planet never before known to exist.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781127212</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Lisa Papp
 
|title=Madeleine Finn and the Library Dog
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=For Sharing
 
|summary=Madeleine Finn doesn't like to read - not anything. It's not really her fault, you know.  Her teacher tries to encourage her, but some of the other kids giggle when she makes mistakes.  And they pull faces of the type which would have given me my head in my hands to play with when I was a child.  The words just don't seem to come out right for her.  The other children are getting gold stars (I've ''never'' liked that system) but all Madeleine gets is a heart sticker which tells her to keep trying.  She's got plenty of those.  All week she tries her best but doesn't get the star she longs for.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1910646326</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Jenny Oldfield
+
|isbn=1781128693
|title=Storm Cloud
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|title=Special Delivery
 +
|author=Jonathan Meres
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Dyslexia Friendly
 
|genre=Dyslexia Friendly
|summary=Kami Miller was invited to stay at Wolf Ridge Farm, the home of her best friend Macy Lucas, for the summerThey were both going to be working as real cowgirls and there was a herd of 300 cows to be brought back from the mountains to the ranchIt wasn't going to be easy work, particularly as Macy's father was recovering from an accident and couldn't rideAll the pressure of running the ranch has fallen on Macy's brother, Wes - and he's not coping wellKami's upset that he's taking it out on one of the young colts, Storm Cloud, but what can she do about it?
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|summary=How do you explain to children about dementia? Injuries or illnesses are obvious, but when the problem is the brain which isn't functioning quite as it used to it isn't as easy to graspFrank was a normal nine-year-old and like many nine-year-olds what he wanted was a new bike.  He'd had his for about seventy-eight years and he didn't want to raise the seat any moreMum pointed out that it wasn't his birthday or Christmas any time soon and bikes cost a lot of money, which didn't grow on treesHis sister Lottie had a solution: Frank could help her with her paper roundFrank agreed despite thinking that it would take him a thousand years to save up the money for a bike AND he had to get up at six o'clock in the morning.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781126895</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Philippa Pearce and Cate James
+
|isbn=1781128707
|title=The Ghost in Annie's Room (Little Gems)
+
|title=The Spectacular Revenge of Suzi Sims
|rating=4.5
+
|author=Vivian French
 +
|rating=5
 
|genre=Dyslexia Friendly
 
|genre=Dyslexia Friendly
|summary=Emma is on a family holiday in an older relative's seaside cottage, where she is to sleep in the room in the atticHer brother has passed on what he says he has overheard – that it is hauntedBut even with the mementos of the person that once lived there all around her, and with a strange feeling of being watched, even with the stormy winds knocking tree limbs on to the window – Emma can sleep through it all. But that's not to say things will forever be that way…
+
|summary=Suzi Simms loved running and it was her ambition to win the 100 metres race on sports day at the end of term - and that was next weekWe're going to read about what happened in her diary, although there's a warning that we really shouldn't be reading it, particularly as it's about Barbie MeekTo say that the two girls don't get on at all well is a bit of an understatement.  Suzi wouldn't actually do anything about it, but Barbie is a troublemaker and she wants to win the 100 metres race too - by fair means or foul.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781126852</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Cathy Hopkins
+
|isbn=1949471004
|title=The Valentine's Day Kitten
+
|title=Dog on a Log Chapter Books: Step 1
 +
|author=Pamela Brookes
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Dyslexia Friendly
 
|genre=Dyslexia Friendly
|summary=Marcie is distraught. On Valentine's Day last year she'd didn't receive a single card and her parents could see that she was upset, so when she came home from school there was a box on the kitchen table and in it was the most gorgeous fluffy silver kittenMisty and Marcie were soon inseparable until the day that Misty went out without a collar on - and didn't come homeMarcie blamed herself: Misty's collar had broken and she'd never got round to buying a new one. Mum has put notices up everywhere she can think of and rung the local vets and animal rescue centres, but there's no sign of Misty. Then Marcie starts having dreams, about a boy, a hotel, a painting - and Misty.  Will there be a happy ending?
+
|summary=What do you do when your child has dyslexia and you need books which will help them to achieve the wonder that is reading? You can risk buying early readers, but the sounds in the book might not be the ones you've been working on and encountering words which are just too challenging can have more of a negative effect on the young dyslexic than a child without that problem.  You need to be able to buy books at a reasonable price which concentrate on what you've been working on, without anything else being thrown into the mixYou need a story which engages the young mind and you need stages which progress steadily through the learning process without there being any large jumps.  Some online support and games wouldn't go amiss, eitherReading - and ''learning'' to read - should be a pleasure. It should be ''fun''.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>178112678X</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Paul Stewart and Chris Ridddell
+
|isbn=1781128510
|title=Free Lance and the Lake of Skulls
+
|title=One Shot
|rating=4.5
+
|author=Tanya Landman
|genre=Dyslexia Friendly
 
|summary=Our hero is a free lance – one of the traditional self-employed men, going round the country, jousting when he can, doing fantastical errands when they come up, all with no fixed employer.  But the lack of fixed income hits home at times.  And at those times, those fantastical errands, however nightmarish they can clearly be, get to be all the more appealing…
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>178112714X</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Jeremy Strong and Scoular Anderson
 
|title=The Ghost in the Bath
 
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Dyslexia Friendly
 
|genre=Dyslexia Friendly
|summary=Luke has got problems – and just about every school subject qualifies as one at the moment. But none of those are a bigger problem than history – he's been tasked with a research-heavy project for homework, but has no idea. So when he is having a brainstorm in a bath and is interrupted by a ghost, of all things, it might just be the way for him to be connected with the past. But that's ignoring the fact that the girl left as a ghost might be wanting a connection of her own – and perhaps an end to an unusual problem she herself has…
+
|summary=''Pa and I understood each other. Our souls were cut from the same cloth.'' But Pa has since died, leaving Maggie very much alone in her family. She was the only one of three children who looked like him, and none of the others acted like him, and certainly, his wife didn't seem to fully understand him. Maggie might as well be reliving the Cinderella story, stuck with two siblings and mother that are fully against her. But at least she can sneak out at night, and shoot some game to stop them from starving? Well, no, not where her mother is concerned – the very idea of a female shooting things, when they could be preparing for a life of unhappy married drudgery, is just scandalous.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781127263</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|title=Rook
+
|isbn=178112843X
 +
|title=Lark
 
|author=Anthony McGowan
 
|author=Anthony McGowan
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Dyslexia Friendly
 
|genre=Dyslexia Friendly
|summary=When Nicky and his learning-disabled brother Kenny come across a rook being attacked by a sparrowhawk, they chase off the raptor and rescue the rook.Kenny is convinced that a good dollop of love and affection is all that's needed to keep the bird alive but Nicky is sceptical. And in any case, Nicky has other things to worry about, like avoiding the bully at school and finding a way to talk to the girl he likes. In the previous two books in this sequence, troubles were dogging Kenny and the boys' father but in ''Rook'' it's Nicky who could do with a helping hand. Things are about to go wrong. Will Nicky find a way through?
+
|summary=I'll warn you first.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781127239</amazonuk>
+
 
 +
This is the fourth and last story about Nicky and Kenny. Try not to cry before you've even read the first page.
 +
 
 +
Things have got tense at home - again - for Nicky and his learning-disabled brother Kenny. Their mum is coming to visit - the mum who abandoned them a long time ago. They haven't seen her for years and the impending visit is stirring up a lot of uncomfortable feelings. And Nicky's girlfriend has ended things. To take their minds off it all, Nicky and Kenny plan a day out, trekking across the moors. But it doesn't go to plan and an accident puts both boys - and their dog, Tina, in terrible danger.
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Alan Gibbons
+
|isbn=1786697173
|title=The Beautiful Game
+
|title=Mr Tiger, Betsy and the Blue Moon
|rating=4
+
|author=Sally Gardner
 +
|rating=5
 
|genre=Dyslexia Friendly
 
|genre=Dyslexia Friendly
|summary=Football is all about its colours. And even if I write in the season when one team in blue knocks another team in blue from the throne of English football, it's common knowledge that red is the more successful colour to wear. But is that flame red?  Blood red?  The red of the Sun cover banner when it falsely declared 96 Liverpool FC fans were fatally caught up in a tragedy – and that it had been one of their own making?  And while we're on about colour, where were the people of colour in football in the olden days?  There are so many darker sides to football's history it's enough to make a young lad question the whole game…
+
|summary=Betsy K Glory lives a rather wonderful life on a peaceful island where nothing horrible ever happens. Her father, Alonso, makes the most wonderful ice cream in every flavour you could imagine. Her mother, Myrtle, is a mermaid and comes to visit regularly, although she still lives in the sea. Betsy dreams of two things: firstly, about the circus owned by a tiger and whether it would ever come to her island and secondly, about a magical ice cream made from the berries of the Gongalong bush. One scoop of this ice cream can make wishes come true.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781126917</amazonuk>
+
 
 +
And then Mr Tiger and his circus arrive. And a journey is planned...
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Bernard Ashley
+
|isbn=1781128286
|title=Lena Lenik S.O.S.
+
|title=Run Wild
|rating=4
+
|author=Gill Lewis
|genre=Dyslexia Friendly
 
|summary=Lena's mother seems very ill.  Scary noises are coming from the bathroom, she's off food and completely listless, complaining of the effort involved in sewing a patch onto a cub scout uniform.  It might be a surprise to the young reader of this book when we learn what the reason is – certainly it was obvious from page two for me – but there are definitely more surprises to come.  Mother makes a slightly unusual decision about her condition – leaving Lena with a lot on her plate when fate sets in with a surprise of its own…
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781125716</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Tanya Landman
 
|title=Passing for White
 
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Dyslexia Friendly
 
|genre=Dyslexia Friendly
|summary=In 1847, in Macon, Georgia, Benjamin was a slave. He was a talented carpenter too, but on November the 19th he was unnerved: a white woman was looking at him, smiling and being polite.  What was going on?  He wasn't just unnerved, but nervous: you see, Benjamin was looking at the white woman, looking ''her'' in the eye and a slave could get himself killed for less than that.  Only this wasn't a white woman: this was Rosa, who was mixed race.  She could pass for white, but she too was a slave.  Rosa and Benjamin eventually married, but it didn't stop Rosa's master from taking sexual advantage of her and when she found that she was pregnant she had no way of knowing who the father was.
+
|summary=Meet Izzy and Asha. Bullied away from the local attempt at a skatepark, they find a huge waste ground in the shadow of a derelict gasometer to practise on, which they duly do, even though they have to drag Izzy's younger brother with them. The following day they all want to return, as does the brother's schoolfriend, despite – and of course because of – there is a huge wolf living in the site. Can the children survive living in the urban wilderness, alongside such obvious dangers?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>178112681X</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|title=The Harder They Fall
+
|isbn=Jennings Different
|author=Bali Rai
+
|title=A Different Dog
 +
|author=Paul Jennings and Geoff Kelly
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Dyslexia Friendly
 
|genre=Dyslexia Friendly
|summary=Cal loves comic books. He also dreams of being a superhero and saving the day while simultaneously winning the heart of the girl (Freya being the girl, hopefully). Batman is his favourite superhero. But Cal's world outside his daydreams is not particularly superhero-like. Because Cal is a bit of a geek and he is being bullied by mean girl Anu, who makes him complete homework assignments which she then sells on to lazy classmates. Still, it's not all bad. Cal's parents are lovely and the gorgeous Freya is making friendly overtures...
+
|summary=Our hero is a boy, whose name we never learn. We know what he wants in life – with his mother exceedingly poor, and even his bed burnt to keep the two of them warm, he wants the prize offered by a down-a-mountain-and-back-up-and-down-again foot race. Winning the race and the large purse would also give him more status in the eyes of those kids that bully him, and it might even give him a voice – for he is almost mute. We quickly learn he never talks back to anyone, whatever the motivation, and can only speak aloud to himself – and, so it turns out, to a dog he rescues from a bad road accident he finds on his way up the hill to the start line…
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781126828</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=Chris Priestley
+
|isbn=Dawson_Grave
|title=Flesh and Blood
+
|title=Grave Matter
|rating=5
+
|author=Juno Dawson and Alex T Smith
 +
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Dyslexia Friendly
 
|genre=Dyslexia Friendly
|summary=Families change in wartime – in size, if not any other way.  Bill and Jane have already had to get used to their father being away to fight, ''and'' they've tried the evacuee experience, but are back in London – just in time for the Battle of Britain, which is a circumstance Bill hates Jane for, as he quickly grew to love the countryside, while Jane resisted the idea of them settling there, so they were returned to an allegedly safe capital.  One night after a bombing raid they settle outside the neighbourhood's token empty, boarded up and deserted home – only for Bill to convince himself he hears someone inside. The unidentifiable and severely burnt child that gets rescued becomes a kind of new family member – but does this have anything to do with Bill's resent-filled wish for a brother to replace Jane?
+
|summary=Since Eliza died, since the night of the car crash that took her life, Sam is a broken soul. He is lost without the girl he loves, feeling as though a part of him died that night too. But he is desperate and he cannot live without Eliza. He remembers his estranged Aunt Marie and her peculiar healing powers and wonders if she might be able to help him. However, finding his Aunt Marie leads him to discover the Milk Man, which causes Sam in his grieving state to make a pact with forces he doesn't understand. Things soon turn complicated as supernatural powers start to change Sam's life in more ways than he bargained for.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781126887</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 +
 +
Move on to [[Newest Dystopian Fiction Reviews]]

Latest revision as of 15:30, 13 May 2022


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Review of

Stitched Up by Steve Cole

5star.jpg Dyslexia Friendly

Twelve-year-old Hanh wanted to be a fashion designer. Life in the rural village where she lived with her family was happy, if not prosperous, so when the smartly-dressed man and woman came to the village to offer Hahn a job in Hanoi it was an opportunity not to be missed. Some money changed hands and Hanh was on the mini-bus to Hanoi. Only, Hanh and the other girls were not going to work in a shop, they were to work in virtual slavery in an illegal garment factory. You know those jeans you really wanted: the ones with intricate embroidery and beading on the legs? The ones with the artfully-placed rips and distressed seams that felt so soft when you touched them? It's quite possible that Hanh and her co-workers made them. Full Review

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Review of

Wrath by Marcus Sedgwick

4.5star.jpg Teens

Meet Fitz, a young Scottish lad full of frustration at himself. Lockdown is only just over, and he should be free to do what he wants, to go where he wants and with whom he wants, but he cannot stop himself from putting his foot in it when he talks to his best friend, Cassie. They were half of a desultory school band, but Cassie was also one hundred per cent the enigmatic – saying she could hear a subhuman hum coming from the earth. Is this connected with one of her eco-warrior parents saying the end of the world is already a done deal? Is it some spooky new kind of music she's dreaming of? Is she just bonkers? And can Fitz find out the truth? Well, not when Cassie has gone missing he can't... Full Review

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Review of

The Mermaid in the Millpond by Lucy Strange and Pam Smy

4.5star.jpg Confident Readers

There is no mermaid in the millpond. That at least is what Bess is telling herself. Neither will there be a friend for her in amongst all the other kids, who have had their entire childhoods sold to the mill-owners by the London workhouse they used to call home. Bess knows there is no time for friendship in a hand-to-mouth, every man for himself kind of existence. But despite herself Bess does find a bit of a kindred spirit in the slight little Dot, and despite everything that life has taught her about betrayal and how befriending people only leads to harm, there might be a glimmer of companionship in the tired-out mill workers. But surely that doesn't mean there is any truth in the existence of the mermaid? Full Review

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Review of

The Climbers by Keith Gray

4star.jpg Confident Readers

Sully is the best tree climber in the village. He has what's known amongst the kids as 'reach'. But what happens when a new kid shows up in town? A new kid, called Nottingham, who clambers up some of the hardest trees with ease? Suddenly Sully is worried that his status is being threatened, and not only that, that his chance to name the final, unnamed big tree in the park by being the first to conquer it, might be snatched from his hands. How can Sully stop Nottingham? And will it cost him his best friend, or maybe even all of his friends, to do so? Full Review

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Review of

The Small Things by Lisa Thompson

5star.jpg Confident Readers

Although Anna has friends at school, she feels like she never really fits in. Her family don't have enough money to let her do after school activities, and so she feels like her life at home is boring in comparison to theirs. When a new girl joins her class, Anna is asked to partner her, but things are complicated because the new girl, Ellie, is unwell and so can't attend school in person. Instead, she joins in with the class by using a robot. Can Anna overcome the challenge of making friends with someone through a robot, and is she even interesting enough to be a good friend to Ellie? Full Review

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Review of

The Ghost Garden by Emma Carroll and Kaja Kajfez

4.5star.jpg Confident Readers

Fran, the gardener's daughter at a posh country house, is worried. She's just cracked her garden fork through quite a grim discovery - a large bone, buried under the potatoes. But she's even more worried when she learns that that event coincided with Leo, the older child of the house, breaking his leg while playing cricket on the lawn. She is due to get even more worried when she finds something else that also seems to foretell a surprise. Tasked with shoving Leo around the grounds in his bathchair, she might have reason to be out of her mind with fear, when she learns what he is seeking - a long-forgotten burial chamber. But surely that won't act as a premonition to anything - not here in the sultry, summery days of 1914? Full Review

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Review of

The Humiliations of Welton Blake by Alex Wheatle

2.5star.jpg Confident Readers

We meet Welton Blake at the worst of times – only they should be the best of times. He should be getting a text from the most bae-worthy girl in school in regards to a cinema date, but his phone has packed up, he's chundered last night's meal and his breakfast over another girl in class, who's duffed him up in response, and the wanna-bae seems to actually be with someone else anyway. On a bigger scale he's living with his mother and not much income now that the dad has left the picture – yes, things are so bad they're resorting to having cabbage for dinner. I know, right? But surely this is just a blip, a day at school to forget, and everything (like his vomit) will all come out in the wash? This can't be the start of a most nightmarish time for young Welton? Full Review

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Review of

Survival in Space: The Apollo 13 Mission by David Long and Stefano Tambellini (illustrator)

5star.jpg Dyslexia Friendly

It's fifty years since the Apollo 13 mission was launched from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, but the story of that journey remains one of the greatest survival stories of all time. Survival in Space: The Apollo 13 Mission is a brilliant retelling of what happened. Full Review

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Review of

Sequin and Stitch by Laura Dockrill and Sara Ogilvie (illustrator)

5star.jpg Dyslexia Friendly

Sequin loved her mum to bits, but sometimes she got very cross with her. It wasn't that mum wouldn't go outside their flat - Sequin coped with that - it was because she never pushed to get credit for what she did. Mum is a seamstress and she makes the sort of clothes that you see on red carpets or at important weddings. She's not the designer - they're the people who make a lot of money from the clothes. Mum is the person who actually makes the garments and she's really talented, but when people talk about the dress or the suit, they talk about the designer. The seamstress is never mentioned. Full Review

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Review of

Jane Eyre: a Retelling by Tanya Landman

5star.jpg Dyslexia Friendly

A young woman, fresh from living with horrid relatives who could care less about her, and years in a dreary school, moves into Thornfield Hall with only one intent – to have something like the life she wants – and with only one job, to tutor a young half-French girl, whose father is almost always absent. When he does turn up he seems to be dark, brooding and troubled – but that's nothing compared to the darker, more broody and even more troubling secret in the house. Yes, if you know Jane Eyre then you know the rest – but if you don't, for whatever reason, this is a wonderful book to turn to. Full Review

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Review of

The Starlight Watchmaker by Lauren James

4star.jpg Dyslexia Friendly

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

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Review of

Special Delivery by Jonathan Meres

4star.jpg Dyslexia Friendly

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

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Review of

The Spectacular Revenge of Suzi Sims by Vivian French

5star.jpg Dyslexia Friendly

Suzi Simms loved running and it was her ambition to win the 100 metres race on sports day at the end of term - and that was next week. We're going to read about what happened in her diary, although there's a warning that we really shouldn't be reading it, particularly as it's about Barbie Meek. To say that the two girls don't get on at all well is a bit of an understatement. Suzi wouldn't actually do anything about it, but Barbie is a troublemaker and she wants to win the 100 metres race too - by fair means or foul. Full Review

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Review of

Dog on a Log Chapter Books: Step 1 by Pamela Brookes

4star.jpg Dyslexia Friendly

What do you do when your child has dyslexia and you need books which will help them to achieve the wonder that is reading? You can risk buying early readers, but the sounds in the book might not be the ones you've been working on and encountering words which are just too challenging can have more of a negative effect on the young dyslexic than a child without that problem. You need to be able to buy books at a reasonable price which concentrate on what you've been working on, without anything else being thrown into the mix. You need a story which engages the young mind and you need stages which progress steadily through the learning process without there being any large jumps. Some online support and games wouldn't go amiss, either. Reading - and learning to read - should be a pleasure. It should be fun. Full Review

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Review of

One Shot by Tanya Landman

4.5star.jpg Dyslexia Friendly

Pa and I understood each other. Our souls were cut from the same cloth. But Pa has since died, leaving Maggie very much alone in her family. She was the only one of three children who looked like him, and none of the others acted like him, and certainly, his wife didn't seem to fully understand him. Maggie might as well be reliving the Cinderella story, stuck with two siblings and mother that are fully against her. But at least she can sneak out at night, and shoot some game to stop them from starving? Well, no, not where her mother is concerned – the very idea of a female shooting things, when they could be preparing for a life of unhappy married drudgery, is just scandalous. Full Review

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Review of

Lark by Anthony McGowan

5star.jpg Dyslexia Friendly

I'll warn you first.

This is the fourth and last story about Nicky and Kenny. Try not to cry before you've even read the first page.

Things have got tense at home - again - for Nicky and his learning-disabled brother Kenny. Their mum is coming to visit - the mum who abandoned them a long time ago. They haven't seen her for years and the impending visit is stirring up a lot of uncomfortable feelings. And Nicky's girlfriend has ended things. To take their minds off it all, Nicky and Kenny plan a day out, trekking across the moors. But it doesn't go to plan and an accident puts both boys - and their dog, Tina, in terrible danger. Full Review

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Review of

Mr Tiger, Betsy and the Blue Moon by Sally Gardner

5star.jpg Dyslexia Friendly

Betsy K Glory lives a rather wonderful life on a peaceful island where nothing horrible ever happens. Her father, Alonso, makes the most wonderful ice cream in every flavour you could imagine. Her mother, Myrtle, is a mermaid and comes to visit regularly, although she still lives in the sea. Betsy dreams of two things: firstly, about the circus owned by a tiger and whether it would ever come to her island and secondly, about a magical ice cream made from the berries of the Gongalong bush. One scoop of this ice cream can make wishes come true.

And then Mr Tiger and his circus arrive. And a journey is planned... Full Review

1781128286.jpg

Review of

Run Wild by Gill Lewis

5star.jpg Dyslexia Friendly

Meet Izzy and Asha. Bullied away from the local attempt at a skatepark, they find a huge waste ground in the shadow of a derelict gasometer to practise on, which they duly do, even though they have to drag Izzy's younger brother with them. The following day they all want to return, as does the brother's schoolfriend, despite – and of course because of – there is a huge wolf living in the site. Can the children survive living in the urban wilderness, alongside such obvious dangers? Full Review

link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/Jennings Different/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21

Review of

A Different Dog by Paul Jennings and Geoff Kelly

4.5star.jpg Dyslexia Friendly

Our hero is a boy, whose name we never learn. We know what he wants in life – with his mother exceedingly poor, and even his bed burnt to keep the two of them warm, he wants the prize offered by a down-a-mountain-and-back-up-and-down-again foot race. Winning the race and the large purse would also give him more status in the eyes of those kids that bully him, and it might even give him a voice – for he is almost mute. We quickly learn he never talks back to anyone, whatever the motivation, and can only speak aloud to himself – and, so it turns out, to a dog he rescues from a bad road accident he finds on his way up the hill to the start line… Full Review

Dawson Grave.jpg

Review of

Grave Matter by Juno Dawson and Alex T Smith

4.5star.jpg Dyslexia Friendly

Since Eliza died, since the night of the car crash that took her life, Sam is a broken soul. He is lost without the girl he loves, feeling as though a part of him died that night too. But he is desperate and he cannot live without Eliza. He remembers his estranged Aunt Marie and her peculiar healing powers and wonders if she might be able to help him. However, finding his Aunt Marie leads him to discover the Milk Man, which causes Sam in his grieving state to make a pact with forces he doesn't understand. Things soon turn complicated as supernatural powers start to change Sam's life in more ways than he bargained for. Full Review

Move on to Newest Dystopian Fiction Reviews