Difference between revisions of "Newest Emerging Readers Reviews"

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[[Category:Emerging Readers|*]]
 
[[Category:Emerging Readers|*]]
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Gareth P Jones
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|author=Nigel Baines
|title=Beards From Outer Space
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|title=A Tricky Kind of Magic
|rating=4
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|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Emerging Readers
 
|genre=Emerging Readers
|summary= You might not realise it but Earth is under constant alien attack. Luckily we humans don't need to worry because the Pet Defenders (a secret society of our domestic pets) are always on standby to keep us safe. The activities of the Pet Defenders are normally kept secret but Stripes Publishing are kindly allowing human children a brief glimpse into their exciting adventures. In ''Beards From Outer Space'' we are able to read how a dog and cat – secret agents Biskit and Mitzy – team up to rid the world of an army of alien beards.
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|summary=Cooper loves to perform magic tricks. His father was a magician, and named Cooper after the great Tommy Cooper.  But sadly Cooper's father died suddenly, and now Cooper doesn't quite know who to be, or how to be. And when his dad's prop rabbit starts talking to him, he ''really'' doesn't know what's going on anymore!
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847157858</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1444960261
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Ghillian Potts and Ed Boxall
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|author=Jane Lightbourne
|title=The Old Woman from Friuli
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|title= My Cat Called Red
|rating=4
+
|rating= 4
 
|genre=Emerging Readers
 
|genre=Emerging Readers
|summary=On top of a hill in Italy there was a castle and in that castle there lived a duke. Every day he would go up to the highest tower and look out at all that he could see and marvel that he owned it all.
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|summary= Robin has red hair. He hates it, and the freckles that go along with it. He's been bullied and mocked at school because of it. ''Ginger Minger! Carrots!'' Kids are mean. But red hair is not Robin's only misery in life. He's already lost his dad to a mountaineering accident when his mum gets ill and is taken into hospital. She doesn't come home again.
   
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|isbn= 1838216812
Except that is for one small house, a sturdy house with stone walls and a solid wooden door, a garden and a field.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>190920840X</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Holly Webb
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|author=Francesca Simon and Steve May
|title=The Homeless Kitten
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|title=Two Terrible Vikings
|rating=4.5
+
|rating=4
 
|genre=Emerging Readers
 
|genre=Emerging Readers
|summary= Lily loves their rescue dog, Hugo. However, Lily also really wants a cat – or better still a kitten. She, therefore, can't believe her luck when Hugo sniffs out three abandoned kittens while out of his walk with Lily and her dad. Better still (from Lily's point of view at least) the animal shelter is full so Lily's mum and dad reluctantly offer to hand-rear the tiny kittens until they're old enough to be rehomed. Lily's in heaven looking after the kittens, especially the little fluffy white one whom she names Stanley. There is just one problem – it's going to break her heart when the time comes to say goodbye.
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|summary=In a small Viking village there live two twins, Hack and Whack, who are eager to be the very worst Vikings ever!  Nothing can stop their mad marauding, as they cause havoc at a birthday party, chaos whilst tracking a troll, and undertake a grand journey to raid Bad Island with their friends!  They get up to all kinds of mischief and naughty behaviour, along with their wolf-cub Bitey-Bitey, and their crazy cast of friends.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847157831</amazonuk>
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|isbn=0571349498
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Matthew Clark Smith and Matt Tavares
+
|isbn=1838593187
|title=Lighter than Air: Sophie Blanchard, the First Woman Pilot
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|title=Guess What I Found in the Playground!
 +
|author=Victoria Thompson
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
+
|genre=For Sharing
|summary=We're in Paris, and – not to be too rude about things – we seem surrounded by idiotsFor one, it seems they think the perfect place to experiment with manned hot air balloon flights is in the middle of the biggest city in the world.  For another, they think only men could suffer the slightly colder and slightly thinner air experienced on such an adventure – women would never be able to copeMeanwhile, a young girl is dreaming of flight, as so many are wont to do, completely unaware that she will soon marry one of the most famed balloonistsThey will have joint journeys skyward, before his early demise – leaving the young woman, Sophie Blanchard, to go it alone and become the first female pilot.
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|summary=Tilly is excitedShe's just come dashing out of the classroom, pigtails flapping behind her and a big grin on her faceDad's come to collect her and her brother and he ''has'' to try to guess what she found in the playground today, although she concedes that he will never guessDad wants to know how school was, but ''obviously'' that's not importantCould Tilly have found more collectable things for her scrap box? (Isn't that so much more sensible than a scrap ''book''?) Well, actually, Tilly did find exciting stuff.  There are sequins, glittered paper and all sorts of other things in her pocket, but that's not what she wants Dad to guess.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0763677329</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Catherine Barr, Steve Williams and Amy Husband
 
|title=The Story of Space
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
 
|summary=I have no actual idea how I first got an interest in space.  Perhaps it's there because I'm so old to almost coincide with the last Apollo astronauts being on the moon (and that's pretty old, it's been so long) and it kind of rubbed off on mePerhaps in fact all young children are interested in space anyway, and don't need any impetus or reason to look up in wonder.  But if they do, this is the newest way of nudging the newer child towards a keenness for all things celestial. And it's a pretty good way indeed.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847807488</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Philip Ardagh and Tom Morgan-Jones
 
|title=Norman the Norman from Normandy (Little Gems)
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Dyslexia Friendly
 
|summary=Meet Norman.  Norman the Norman, from Normandy.  Not Big Bad Norman the Norman from Normandy, and not Norma the Norman from Normandy – and not even Nora the Norman from, well it doesn't say, but my guess is Normandy.  Norman isn't very big at all – he's just a little boy, and he's not bad.  Or at least he doesn't think he is. But because his father, Big Bad Norman, is buried in three parts (don't ask), and little baby Norman has inherited Big Bad Norman's big bad Norman sword, he's going to visit the three parts – but only good will happen…  Right?
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781126976</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Ryan Tubridy and P J Lynch
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|author=Innosanto Nagara
|title=Patrick and the President
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|title=M is for Movement
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=Emerging Readers  
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|genre=Emerging Readers
|summary=Meet Patrick.  Such a direction is a little facetious here, because it's who ''he's'' going to meet that's the key.  He lives in New Ross, County Wexford, and his school has been chosen to perform as a choir for the much-anticipated arrival of President J F Kennedy, as the man traces the path of his Irish ancestry, in what (in addition to stop-overs in England and Italy on the same trip) was to be his last state visit abroadBut surely just being one among three hundred on such an auspicious, yet brief, occasion is not enough for such an enterprising lad?  Well, no, for his connected parents have got another trick up their sleeve for him…
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|summary=Set in Indonesia, in the not too distant past, this is a story about social changeDealing with some difficult issues, such as political corruption and nepotism, the book is neither boring nor preachy.  It educates gently, with vibrant, challenging illustrations, and it portrays how social movements need people who will try, even when it seems that they will failThe message is a positive one; that in an increasingly uncertain world, we do still have the power to instigate change.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1406366927</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1609809351
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Adam Hancher
 
|title=Taking Flight: How the Wright Brothers Conquered the Skies
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
 
|summary=Flight.  It happens all around us, wherever we may be, and many are the young audience members for this book who have taken to the air already.  But it was once something impossible to take for granted, and this book easily takes us back to those daysIt presents us with danger, determination, and a certain pair of American brothers going all out to get both their names in the history books and their feet in the skies…
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847809286</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Hilda Offen
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|isbn=1949471004
|title=Message from the Moon
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|title=Dog on a Log Chapter Books: Step 1
 +
|author=Pamela Brookes
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=Children's Rhymes and Verse
 
|summary=Yes, that is really a 'Message from the Moon' you receive courtesy of this book.  You also get the point of view of the sea itself, as well as children seeing the city night from their bedroom window and other people witnessing geese flying over, and you even get a message from a snail.  The range of verses in this book is however but one of its many qualities…
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1909991430</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Phil Earle
 
|title= SuperDad's Day Off
 
|rating= 4.5
 
 
|genre=Dyslexia Friendly
 
|genre=Dyslexia Friendly
|summary= Stanley's dad is tired. It can be exhausting work being a Superhero. For six days of the week he saves the world from disasters and defeats the baddies as Dynamo Dan. Stanley decides his poor dad needs a day off and is determined to make sure that he gets a proper rest. So they head off to the park for some much needed Dad and Son bonding time. However people don't seem to understand that even Superheroes need time to recuperate. The requests for help keep on coming so what can poor Stanley do other than step in to save the day.  
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|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 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''.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781126844</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Yuval Zommer
+
|isbn=099334030X
|title=The Big Book of Beasts (Big Books)
+
|title=Can You Draw the Dragosaur?
 +
|author=Peter Lynas and Charlie Roberts
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
+
|genre=Crafts
|summary=One of the many issues people have with the TV nature programme, such as [[Planet Earth II by Stephen Moss|Planet Earth II]], is the obvious one of all the blood and guts it features – yes, in amongst all the cutesy, comical animal life are creatures eating other creatures (normally the cutesy, comical ones, what's worse).  You'll be pleased to know, however, that this book is very light on death and destructionYes, here are lions sharing some chunks of meat (while the females that caught and killed it sit and wait their turn), here are salmon seemingly willingly flying towards brown bears, and here is a red fox stashing a dead mouse while in a time of plenty, but there is so little to make this even a PG book – it will be perfect for the home shelf or that in a primary school.
+
|summary=You're going to get a hint of what this book's about very quickly.  When you see the title page, you'll find out what the book's called and that it's been written by Peter Lynas.  Then we move on to who has done the illustration - and there's a gap''You'' are going to put your name there.  It's ''your'' responsibility to provide the pictures for this book about one of the largest creatures ever to roam the earthThere's some help available, but your name is on the title page - and you have work to do!
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>050065106X</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author= Quentin Blake
+
|isbn=1609809335
|title= The Story of the Dancing Frog
+
|title=The Lizard
|rating= 4.5
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|author= Jose Saramago, J Borges, Nick Caistor (translator) and Lucia Caistor (translator)
|genre= Dyslexia Friendly
+
|rating=2
|summary= When Jo's Great Aunt Gertrude's sea captain husband is drowned at sea she is grief-stricken and, in despair, she goes for a walk alone. During this walk she notices a small frog on a lily-padBut he is no ordinary frog - he's a dancing frog and the two quickly become good friends. Soon the duo are touring the world with their routine, spreading joy and fun - and carrying out the occasional rescue - wherever they go.
+
|genre=Emerging Readers
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781125910</amazonuk>
+
|summary=One day a giant lizard appears in the city.  We don't even get told how it arrived, but it certainly appearedPeople took against it, and if they weren't shrugging it off as a hallucination brought on by tiredness just as they fled it, they wanted something done about it. Can something be done about it, though?
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=DK
+
|isbn=1789016320
|title=Forest Life and Woodland Creatures
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|title=Tadcaster and the Bullies
 +
|author=Richard Rutherford
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
+
|genre=Emerging Readers
|summary=This book knows that if you're going to learn about forest life and the animals, plants and trees in it, then you're only going to be itching to go and explore the woods for yourselfIt's for a very young audience, so always expects an adult hand to guide you – but provides a warm companion itself through several quick and easy tasks, and a few lessonsThe balance between carrot and stick, or duty and reward, is great – but what exactly is the edutainment going to provide, and what will it demand of us?
+
|summary=In some ways it was a gentler time: video games were around, but children usually went outside to enjoy themselves.  They flew kites and went sledging if there was snow aroundTim and Mary's great-grandfather started a business in 1899 so our story is probably set in the nineteen seventies.  Something which hasn't changed, unfortunately, is bullying and two lads are making life miserable not just for Tim and Mary but for other children who gather in the playgroundTim's probably about ten - just at the stage where he's beginning to feel responsible for his younger sister, who's two years younger than him, but he's not yet at the stage where he knows how to deal with bullies.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0241273110</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=DK
+
|isbn=B01N0OZQOD
|title=Sharks and Other Sea Creatures
+
|title=Nickerbacher
 +
|author=Terry John Barto
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
+
|genre=Emerging Readers
|summary=Never before have I found much cause to point out the sort of lower-case, almost-a-subtitle wording on the front of a book. I say that because very little of this is about sharks – so if you have a youngster intending to come here and learn all their bloodthirsty imagination can hold, then they may well be disappointed. If you take it on board that the 'other sea creatures' make up the bulk of the book, then all well and good. And even better, if you expect yourself to ''make'' the bulk of said creatures…
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|summary=Nickerbacher is doing his dragonly duty as all dragons do. That dragonly duty is, of course, princess-guarding. That's what dragons are for, after all. But Gwendolyn isn't any princess. She finds the whole princessing thing quite boring really and she is much less interested in fairy tales than she is in watching comedy on ''The Late Knight Show''. Nickerbacher likes ''The Late Knight Show'' too - in fact, it's his favourite TV show because he wants to be a stand-up comedian himself. He tries out his jokes on Princess Gwendolyn but they don't always come off quite as Nickerbacher intended.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0241274389</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Heather Alexander and Andres Lozano
 
|title=Life on Earth: Farm: With 100 Questions and 70 Lift-flaps!
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
 
|summary=I'm sure I was full of questions when I was a nipper – which means I was too full of questions. Parents just don't need to be deflecting questions all the time, do they?  Living on the edge of a village in the middle of nowhere as I did, I knew quite a lot about farms and farming – that different animals gave different results, that different vehicles meant different things and that the crops behind our house changed. But for the inner city child, there is a chance they have never met a cow or seen a silo.  This colourful book, bright in both senses of the word, will allow the very young reader the opportunity of their own fantasy trip to the working countryside.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847808999</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Heather Alexander and Andres Lozano
+
|isbn=0008265836
|title=Life on Earth: Human Body: With 100 Questions and 70 Lift-flaps!
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|title=Rory Branagan Detective
 +
|author=Andrew Clover and Ralph Lazar
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
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|genre=Emerging Readers
|summary=I wonder how much time I've saved in not being a parent – and therefore not having had to answer such pesky questions as why is the sky blue, where did I come from, where does my wee come from, what is earwax, and why do I have a spleen?  Still, apart from the first two, those questions and the answers to them and more are in this book, which is a lovely primer for biology, and a great source of quick facts for the very young, all presented with an addictive lift-the-flap approach.
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|summary=Ten-year-old Rory Branagan isn't just a normal kid. He's a detective and he has a mystery to solve – why did his dad disappear when he was three? Rory doesn't know where to start but, then, Cassidy moves in next door and he discovers he has an accomplice who is full of ideas. This is just as well as they soon discover a very serious crime: Corner Boy's dad has been poisoned and is at risk of dying but no-one else will believe he's in danger. It's up to Rory and Cassidy to uncover the truth and save a life.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847809006</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Chris Packham and Jason Cockcroft
 
|title=Amazing Animal Babies
 
|rating=3.5
 
|genre=Emerging Readers
 
|summary=Many children love animals, but they love baby animals even more.  Would you rather watch a dog or watch a puppy?  A cat or a kitten?  A meerkat or a smaller meerkat?  The answer is a no brainer to most children who enjoy the wide-eyed stumbling of youth that is not dissimilar to their own.  However, someone needs to give them the facts about baby animals and who better than wildlife presenter Chris Packham?
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1405277467</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Clara Vulliamy
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|isbn=0192758748
|title=The Midnight Mystery (Dotty Detective, Book 3)
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|title=Horace & Harriet Take on the Town
 +
|author=Clare Elsom
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=Emerging Readers
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|genre=Emerging Readers  
|summary=If you haven't already, meet Dot.  She's an ace child detective, inspired by her favourite TV programme, and her pet dog and best friend from school. But at least one of those is left behind this time, as Dot and the rest of her class go to an adventure camp playground for a couple of nights. Daytimes are spent being sporty and adventurous, as are the evenings supposed to be, but someone seems intent on ruining things for Dot. What is the evil and bragging Laura up to?
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|summary=When Harriet, aged seven and a quarter, decides to go to Princes Park to practise 'Going to the Park on Her Own' (i.e. with her Grandad walking at least thirty steps behind) she can't believe her eyes. The statue of Lord Commander Horatio Fredrick Wallington Nincompoop Maximus Pimpleberry the Third (or Horace for short) starts to move. He not only moves but stamps his foot, shouts something that would get him in serious trouble with Harriet's mum, and climbs down from his pillar. Understandably Harriet can't resist following and quickly finds herself dragged all around the town as Horace searches for a new – and more suitable – home. His sights are firmly set on the Mayor's mansion and it, therefore, falls to Harriet to persuade him that there must be a better alternative. Sadly, Horace's visits to the museum, cinema, train station, playground, bank and library all cause mayhem. Luckily, however, a competition in the park reveals the perfect answer.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0008132429</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Meg McLaren
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|isbn=Saulles_Bee
|title=Pigeon P.I.
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|title=Bee Boy: Clash of the Killer Queens
|rating=3
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|author=Tony De Saulles
|genre=Emerging Readers
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|rating=4.5
|summary=The world of birds is in a flap.  They're being nabbed – plucked from the air (or at least from their cages). Murray MacMurray, the brilliant pigeon private eye, doesn't want anything to do with crime now his old partner has flown the roost, but an eager and bright young thing might just about persuade him to take up the case. But both will have to be plucky to survive the dangers it leads to…
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|genre=Emerging Readers  
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1783444835</amazonuk>
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|summary=Young Mel's friend has left and the beehive is now his to look after. Unfortunately, Mel lives in a tower block and not all of his neighbours agree that it is the correct place for a hive. Things change when Mel suddenly realises he has an amazing superpower; he can become a bee.
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Catharina Valckx and Nicolas Hubesch
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|isbn=Davidson_Night
|title=Bruno
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|title=Night Zookeeper: The Giraffes of Whispering Wood
|rating=4
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|author=Joshua Davidson
|genre=Emerging Readers
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|rating=5
|summary=Meet Bruno.  No, not that Bruno – for pity's sake, this is a book for the under-eights and not a character from teen comedy movies. No, Bruno is a quite unmistakeable cat, in a bright blue cloth cap, and this is a book regarding various days in his life that he thinks are of note – whether they're the day the power goes out, or a day that would be completely uninteresting were it not for a joke from his best friend. But don't you dare make the mistake of thinking this sounds mundane – here is a background couple, of a hippo and a crocodile, just walking past the heroes.  Here is said best friend, an elderly pony, forced somehow to walk backwards. Here is when Bruno is playing host to a turtle dove addicted to jam, who is forced to hide when a wet wolf gate-crashes. I think you'll agree that any day spent reading this book will not be a boring one.
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|genre=Emerging Readers  
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1776571258</amazonuk>
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|summary=A straight-laced student makes one defiant act of creativity and has a world of magic and imagination opened up for him. Will is the new Night Zookeeper and his tenure in the role of protector to a magical world starts with the repulsion of a dangerous invasion.
 +
 
 +
Joshua Davidson has written about the Night Zookeeper before and there are online cartoons devoted to the character but this marks a new launch and a new series. This is not just a book but a whole online event with huge educational tie-ins and a push to get children using their own imagination. The story itself mirrors what the author is trying to achieve in real life; the power of the imagination makes everything better.
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Jenny Colgan
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|isbn=Seuss_Read
|title=Polly and the Puffin: The New Friend
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|title=I Can Read With My Eyes Shut
 +
|author=Dr Seuss
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Emerging Readers
+
|genre=Emerging Readers  
|summary=Polly was just about to start Big School and, being honest, she wasn't keen.  She couldn't wear her spotty wellies for one thing, but worst of all, she couldn't take Neil with her.  We heard about Neil the rescued puffin in the [[Polly and the Puffin by Jenny Colgan|first book]] in this series and although Neil now has a nest in the nearby lighthouse, he and Polly are still very close.  When she gets to school Polly doesn't really feel like joining in any of the games: she's the lonely little figure on the edge of everything. Her teacher suggests that she and Ronita make friends: have you ever noticed how ''difficult'' it is to even speak when someone suggests something like that?  Polly and Ronita don't make friends - they end up shouting at each other in a 'mine's bigger/better than yours' argument. What about? Well, birds of course. Ronita has a macaw.
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|summary=''The more that you read,''<br>
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1510200908</amazonuk>
+
''The more things you will know.''<br>
 +
''The more that you learn,''<br>
 +
''The more places you'll go.''
 +
 
 +
This is a classic Dr Seuss quote from this book, and one that I painstakingly stickered onto the wall of my children's school library! The book is very silly, as Dr Seuss always is, but is also a good rhyming ode to the joys of reading.
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Isabel Sanchez Vegara and Frau Isa
+
|isbn=Neal_Words
|title=Little People, Big Dreams: Marie Curie
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|title=Words and Your Heart
 +
|author=Kate Jane Neal
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
+
|genre=Emerging Readers
|summary=Some little girls want to be princesses, but the girl who would become Marie Curie wanted to be a scientist. She was from a poor family in Warsaw but she was determined to do well and won a gold medal for her studies.  In Poland, in the middle of the nineteenth century, only men were allowed to go to University, so Marie moved to Paris where she had to study in an unfamiliar language, but was soon the best maths and science student.  It was here that she met and married Pierre Curie, another scientist and they jointly discovered radium and polonium: they would eventually win the Nobel Prize for Physics for this work. Marie was the first woman to receive the honour.  Pierre was killed in a road accident, but Marie went on to win a second Nobel Prize, this time for Chemistry. Her work is still benefiting people today.
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|summary=Trolling, bullying, cyber-shaming, whatever-it's-called-this-week-ing – all act as proof that the adage about sticks and stones is actually a lot of piffle. In a world where we all have hearts, we should have a heart that what we say to other people is positive. We can examine our world and the sound it makes through communication, we can make each other smile, laugh, sing and be happy together, and bit by bit the world can be a better place. And hang the 'no, after you' attitude some people would have in response. There, I've given the entire plot of this book away in my summary, but that's not really an issue.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847809618</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Isabel Sanchez Vegara and Elisa Munso
+
|isbn=Tavares_Red
|title=Little People, Big Dreams: Agatha Christie
+
|title=Red and Lulu
|rating=4
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|author=Matt Tavares
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
+
|rating=4.5
|summary=As a child Agatha Christie and her mother would read a book together every afternoon, but there were early signs of what the future novelist would become: she always had a better idea about how the story should end.  She would read in bed at night and detective novels were always her favourites.  In the First World War Agatha, who was then in her early twenties, nursed wounded soldiers in hospitals: her experiences with poisons and toxic potions would be put to good use when her first detective novels were published just after the end of the war.  Most people have heard of her first and most famous detective - Hercule Poirot - or of Miss Marple. Mrs Christie's novels were widely read and her plays were very popular in theatres.
+
|genre=Emerging Readers
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847809596</amazonuk>
+
|summary=Meet Red and Lulu. They're a committed couple of cardinals and they have lived for some time in someone's garden, safely in an evergreen tree. It seems to them that every year people mention their home in a lovely song, which tells the tree thy leaves are so unchanging. But one year, just as the seasons turn for the cold of winter, the tree vanishes, taking Lulu with it…
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=Michael Rosen and Tony Ross
+
|isbn=Dickens_Search
|title=Barking for Bagels
+
|title=Search and Find A Christmas Carol
|rating=4.5
+
|author=Charles Dickens, Sarah Powell and Louise Pigott
|genre=For Sharing
+
|rating=3.5
|summary=''Barking for Bagels'' is the story of Schnipp the dog, who loves her owners very much, though she does find their snickering a little annoying from time to time.  One day, whilst out for a walk in the park, she starts to run away, and she finds that once she starts running she can't stop, and she runs and she runs until she finds Bessie the Bagel lady and thus discovers her new favourite food, and her new home.
+
|genre=Emerging Readers
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>178344505X</amazonuk>
+
|summary=Recently I got to applaud a book that branched away from the Where's Wally? style volume, and taught the explorer about a non-fiction subject as they went a-searching. Well, it seems tweaking the form is going to be a big thing, for this book tries yet another different approach – to teach us about a fictional story. They've started at the deep end, with a book hastening towards being two centuries old, and one that has been adapted countless times before now, yet always has people returning to it at a certain time of the year for its ageless lesson. But does the rich content of Dickens, even at his most populist, survive this quirky variation?
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=George Szirtes and Tim Archbold
+
|isbn=Seuss_Eggs
|title=How to be a Tiger
+
|title=Scrambled Eggs Super
 +
|author=Dr Seuss
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Children's Rhymes and Verse
 
|summary=''Wet again, yet again!  Down it drips, little fingertips, tapping and snapping as if the rain were cross.''<br>
 
''See the branches toss?  See the puddles grow?  Has it stopped raining?
 
NO.''
 
 
Yes, sometimes only a quote will do.  After all, we do come to poetry for snappy concision, and that's what we get here…
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1910959200</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Julian Gough and Jim Field
 
|title=Rabbit and Bear: The Pest in the Nest
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Emerging Readers
 
|summary=Rabbit was struggling.  There he was having a nice, peaceful sleep in his friend Bear's cave when a terrible noise woke him.  Was it thunder?  No, it was Bear snoring.  Very loudly.  Rabbit tried putting his paws over his ears although that's not very successful when you have small paws and very big ears.  But there was something good: when Rabbit went outside the cave he realised that spring had sprung.  Suddenly he felt ''strong''.  After a winter spent in his friend Bear's cave it was time to go home to his burrow.  Only there was a surprise lurking there - and it looked suspiciously like a snake.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444934260</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Amy Lee
 
|title=Amy Lee and the Darkness Hex
 
|rating=3
 
 
|genre=Emerging Readers  
 
|genre=Emerging Readers  
|summary=Amy Lee wakes up from one of her usual dreams, where she combats an evil pirate. You would think that was the only nastiness in her life – she lives in a lovely place in the Land of Love, and doesn't have to worry about paying for steaks for her nine dogs, nor salmon for her cats. She can go to her favourite tree who will entertain her with a story, and she can go adventuring with her bottomless rucksack, and spend all day daydreaming of a wicked new house for her dogs…  Until she sees threatening purple clouds over the forests.  And not even in this fantasy world do you want to see purple clouds…
+
|summary=Peter T. Hooper doesn't mean to show off, but he is ''very'' good at cooking. Some would say he is ''The Best'' capital T, capital B. And his signature dish is scrambled eggs. You might think that's quite an easy dish, one with which it's a little hard to showcase one's prowess, but not so. For Peter T. Hooper, what makes his scrambled eggs so super is the choice of the egg itself, and he will go out of his way to procure the best of the best from whatever nest.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1407172239</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Hilary McKay
 
|title=The Sticky Witch
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Dyslexia Friendly
 
|summary=Tom and Ellie's parents have set sail around the world on a raft made of rubbish!  They tell the children that they will be gone for three years, but it will go by very quickly and they'll be safe and happy in the company of Aunt Tab.  But who is this strange lady who applied for the job of caring for two wonderful children and their cat, Whiskers?  She doesn't seem to be the kind guardian that the children need, and why is everything in her house so very, very sticky?
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781125996</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 +
 +
Move on to [[Newest Entertainment Reviews]]

Latest revision as of 13:05, 8 December 2022

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Review of

A Tricky Kind of Magic by Nigel Baines

4.5star.jpg Emerging Readers

Cooper loves to perform magic tricks. His father was a magician, and named Cooper after the great Tommy Cooper. But sadly Cooper's father died suddenly, and now Cooper doesn't quite know who to be, or how to be. And when his dad's prop rabbit starts talking to him, he really doesn't know what's going on anymore! Full Review

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Review of

My Cat Called Red by Jane Lightbourne

4star.jpg Emerging Readers

Robin has red hair. He hates it, and the freckles that go along with it. He's been bullied and mocked at school because of it. Ginger Minger! Carrots! Kids are mean. But red hair is not Robin's only misery in life. He's already lost his dad to a mountaineering accident when his mum gets ill and is taken into hospital. She doesn't come home again. Full Review

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Review of

Two Terrible Vikings by Francesca Simon and Steve May

4star.jpg Emerging Readers

In a small Viking village there live two twins, Hack and Whack, who are eager to be the very worst Vikings ever! Nothing can stop their mad marauding, as they cause havoc at a birthday party, chaos whilst tracking a troll, and undertake a grand journey to raid Bad Island with their friends! They get up to all kinds of mischief and naughty behaviour, along with their wolf-cub Bitey-Bitey, and their crazy cast of friends. Full Review

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Review of

Guess What I Found in the Playground! by Victoria Thompson

4.5star.jpg For Sharing

Tilly is excited. She's just come dashing out of the classroom, pigtails flapping behind her and a big grin on her face. Dad's come to collect her and her brother and he has to try to guess what she found in the playground today, although she concedes that he will never guess. Dad wants to know how school was, but obviously that's not important. Could Tilly have found more collectable things for her scrap box? (Isn't that so much more sensible than a scrap book?) Well, actually, Tilly did find exciting stuff. There are sequins, glittered paper and all sorts of other things in her pocket, but that's not what she wants Dad to guess. Full Review

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Review of

M is for Movement by Innosanto Nagara

4star.jpg Emerging Readers

Set in Indonesia, in the not too distant past, this is a story about social change. Dealing with some difficult issues, such as political corruption and nepotism, the book is neither boring nor preachy. It educates gently, with vibrant, challenging illustrations, and it portrays how social movements need people who will try, even when it seems that they will fail. The message is a positive one; that in an increasingly uncertain world, we do still have the power to instigate change. 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

Can You Draw the Dragosaur? by Peter Lynas and Charlie Roberts

4.5star.jpg Crafts

You're going to get a hint of what this book's about very quickly. When you see the title page, you'll find out what the book's called and that it's been written by Peter Lynas. Then we move on to who has done the illustration - and there's a gap. You are going to put your name there. It's your responsibility to provide the pictures for this book about one of the largest creatures ever to roam the earth. There's some help available, but your name is on the title page - and you have work to do! Full Review

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Review of

The Lizard by Jose Saramago, J Borges, Nick Caistor (translator) and Lucia Caistor (translator)

2star.jpg Emerging Readers

One day a giant lizard appears in the city. We don't even get told how it arrived, but it certainly appeared. People took against it, and if they weren't shrugging it off as a hallucination brought on by tiredness just as they fled it, they wanted something done about it. Can something be done about it, though? Full Review

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Review of

Tadcaster and the Bullies by Richard Rutherford

4star.jpg Emerging Readers

In some ways it was a gentler time: video games were around, but children usually went outside to enjoy themselves. They flew kites and went sledging if there was snow around. Tim and Mary's great-grandfather started a business in 1899 so our story is probably set in the nineteen seventies. Something which hasn't changed, unfortunately, is bullying and two lads are making life miserable not just for Tim and Mary but for other children who gather in the playground. Tim's probably about ten - just at the stage where he's beginning to feel responsible for his younger sister, who's two years younger than him, but he's not yet at the stage where he knows how to deal with bullies. Full Review

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Review of

Nickerbacher by Terry John Barto

4star.jpg Emerging Readers

Nickerbacher is doing his dragonly duty as all dragons do. That dragonly duty is, of course, princess-guarding. That's what dragons are for, after all. But Gwendolyn isn't any princess. She finds the whole princessing thing quite boring really and she is much less interested in fairy tales than she is in watching comedy on The Late Knight Show. Nickerbacher likes The Late Knight Show too - in fact, it's his favourite TV show because he wants to be a stand-up comedian himself. He tries out his jokes on Princess Gwendolyn but they don't always come off quite as Nickerbacher intended. Full Review

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Review of

Rory Branagan Detective by Andrew Clover and Ralph Lazar

5star.jpg Emerging Readers

Ten-year-old Rory Branagan isn't just a normal kid. He's a detective and he has a mystery to solve – why did his dad disappear when he was three? Rory doesn't know where to start but, then, Cassidy moves in next door and he discovers he has an accomplice who is full of ideas. This is just as well as they soon discover a very serious crime: Corner Boy's dad has been poisoned and is at risk of dying but no-one else will believe he's in danger. It's up to Rory and Cassidy to uncover the truth and save a life. Full Review

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Review of

Horace & Harriet Take on the Town by Clare Elsom

4star.jpg Emerging Readers

When Harriet, aged seven and a quarter, decides to go to Princes Park to practise 'Going to the Park on Her Own' (i.e. with her Grandad walking at least thirty steps behind) she can't believe her eyes. The statue of Lord Commander Horatio Fredrick Wallington Nincompoop Maximus Pimpleberry the Third (or Horace for short) starts to move. He not only moves but stamps his foot, shouts something that would get him in serious trouble with Harriet's mum, and climbs down from his pillar. Understandably Harriet can't resist following and quickly finds herself dragged all around the town as Horace searches for a new – and more suitable – home. His sights are firmly set on the Mayor's mansion and it, therefore, falls to Harriet to persuade him that there must be a better alternative. Sadly, Horace's visits to the museum, cinema, train station, playground, bank and library all cause mayhem. Luckily, however, a competition in the park reveals the perfect answer. Full Review

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Review of

Bee Boy: Clash of the Killer Queens by Tony De Saulles

4.5star.jpg Emerging Readers

Young Mel's friend has left and the beehive is now his to look after. Unfortunately, Mel lives in a tower block and not all of his neighbours agree that it is the correct place for a hive. Things change when Mel suddenly realises he has an amazing superpower; he can become a bee. Full Review

Davidson Night.jpg

Review of

Night Zookeeper: The Giraffes of Whispering Wood by Joshua Davidson

5star.jpg Emerging Readers

A straight-laced student makes one defiant act of creativity and has a world of magic and imagination opened up for him. Will is the new Night Zookeeper and his tenure in the role of protector to a magical world starts with the repulsion of a dangerous invasion.

Joshua Davidson has written about the Night Zookeeper before and there are online cartoons devoted to the character but this marks a new launch and a new series. This is not just a book but a whole online event with huge educational tie-ins and a push to get children using their own imagination. The story itself mirrors what the author is trying to achieve in real life; the power of the imagination makes everything better. Full Review

Seuss Read.jpg

Review of

I Can Read With My Eyes Shut by Dr Seuss

4.5star.jpg Emerging Readers

The more that you read,
The more things you will know.
The more that you learn,
The more places you'll go.

This is a classic Dr Seuss quote from this book, and one that I painstakingly stickered onto the wall of my children's school library! The book is very silly, as Dr Seuss always is, but is also a good rhyming ode to the joys of reading. Full Review

Neal Words.jpg

Review of

Words and Your Heart by Kate Jane Neal

4star.jpg Emerging Readers

Trolling, bullying, cyber-shaming, whatever-it's-called-this-week-ing – all act as proof that the adage about sticks and stones is actually a lot of piffle. In a world where we all have hearts, we should have a heart that what we say to other people is positive. We can examine our world and the sound it makes through communication, we can make each other smile, laugh, sing and be happy together, and bit by bit the world can be a better place. And hang the 'no, after you' attitude some people would have in response. There, I've given the entire plot of this book away in my summary, but that's not really an issue. Full Review

Tavares Red.jpg

Review of

Red and Lulu by Matt Tavares

4.5star.jpg Emerging Readers

Meet Red and Lulu. They're a committed couple of cardinals and they have lived for some time in someone's garden, safely in an evergreen tree. It seems to them that every year people mention their home in a lovely song, which tells the tree thy leaves are so unchanging. But one year, just as the seasons turn for the cold of winter, the tree vanishes, taking Lulu with it… Full Review

Dickens Search.jpg

Review of

Search and Find A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, Sarah Powell and Louise Pigott

3.5star.jpg Emerging Readers

Recently I got to applaud a book that branched away from the Where's Wally? style volume, and taught the explorer about a non-fiction subject as they went a-searching. Well, it seems tweaking the form is going to be a big thing, for this book tries yet another different approach – to teach us about a fictional story. They've started at the deep end, with a book hastening towards being two centuries old, and one that has been adapted countless times before now, yet always has people returning to it at a certain time of the year for its ageless lesson. But does the rich content of Dickens, even at his most populist, survive this quirky variation? Full Review

Seuss Eggs.jpg

Review of

Scrambled Eggs Super by Dr Seuss

4.5star.jpg Emerging Readers

Peter T. Hooper doesn't mean to show off, but he is very good at cooking. Some would say he is The Best capital T, capital B. And his signature dish is scrambled eggs. You might think that's quite an easy dish, one with which it's a little hard to showcase one's prowess, but not so. For Peter T. Hooper, what makes his scrambled eggs so super is the choice of the egg itself, and he will go out of his way to procure the best of the best from whatever nest. Full Review

Move on to Newest Entertainment Reviews