Difference between revisions of "Newest Emerging Readers Reviews"

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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Jill Atkins and Barbara Vagnozzi
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|author=Nigel Baines
|title=Peck, Hen, Peck! and Ben's Pet (Early Reader)
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|title=A Tricky Kind of Magic
|rating=4
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|rating=4.5
|genre=For Sharing
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|genre=Emerging Readers
|summary=It probably sounds obvious, but you really shouldn't keep your pet chickens in a bag!  Well, that's what I learned from this book which tells us first the story of Tom who puts his hen in a bagThe hen pecks through the bag, as hens are wont to do, and escapes! A simple and somewhat tragic tale!  This is swiftly followed by a story about Ben's pet.  Will it be another hen, I wondered?  No, actually, after several incorrect guesses, we discover that Ben's pet is only a rabbit!
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|summary=Cooper loves to perform magic tricks.  His father was a magician, and named Cooper after the great Tommy CooperBut 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>1848862482</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1444960261
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Alice Hemming and Louise Forshaw
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|author=Jane Lightbourne
|title=Buzz and Jump! Jump! (Early Reader)
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|title= My Cat Called Red
|rating=5
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|rating= 4
|genre=For Sharing
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|genre=Emerging Readers
|summary=After hearing a mysterious buzzing in the kitchen, mum traps a fly in a jar, but then she hears the buzzing again...what could be going on? Meanwhile, Ken the Kangaroo (who declares himself to be the best at jumping), is jumping everywhere he can. In this red level book, aimed generally at those who have completed their reception year in school, there are two simple, sweet stories in one book, perfect for those who are just learning to read.
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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 meanBut 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.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848862504</amazonuk>
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|isbn= 1838216812
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Alice Hemming and Julia Seal
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|author=Francesca Simon and Steve May
|title=Bamboo and I Wish (Early Reader)
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|title=Two Terrible Vikings
|rating=5
 
|genre=For Sharing
 
|summary=With two stories in one book, there's plenty to like about this simple, and funny, early reader.  The first story, Bamboo, deals with a cheeky panda who has run off to hide.  Where can he be?  The second story is about a wishing well which is granting wishes left, right and centre!  Evaluated as a red level book, it sets itself as being about the right level for those around the end of their reception year.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848862512</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Stephan Lomp
 
|title=Wilfred and Olbert’s Totally Wild Chase
 
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
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|genre=Emerging Readers
|summary=Meet Wilfred and Osbert.  They're not only the kind to completely flout the rules of the natural history explorer's club they belong to, but when they both spot an undiscovered butterfly together, they are the kind to fight tooth and claw to be the first to lay claim to it alone, and devil take the other one.  What they don't know is that the drama that ensues when they're tailing this particular specimen will involve no end of peril – nearly drowning, almost being eaten by a lion, crashing a hot air balloon one of them just so happened to have in his pocket… This, then, is a fun and silly biology lesson – but that's only the best kind, surely?
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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>1848696795</amazonuk>
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|isbn=0571349498
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Libby Walden and Stephanie Fizer Coleman
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|isbn=1838593187
|title=Hidden World: Forest
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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
 
|summary=Sometimes, less is more. But a wood doesn't understand that, does it – it just stretches on and on, expanding outwards and outwards, and upwards and upwards – it's quite a galling thing for a young person to understand. This book reverts to the very basic detail that will let the very young student get a grip on the life in the forest, whether they can actually see it for the trees in real life or not…
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848575971</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Craig Shuttlewood
 
|title=Town and Country (Turnaround Book)
 
|rating=5
 
 
|genre=For Sharing
 
|genre=For Sharing
|summary=I know I should have been working but I've just spent the last hour pouring over ''Town and Country''On the face of it there's a very simple idea here: on each double-page spread you get examples of what happens in towns and what happens in the countryside with regard to various activities, modes of transport and even things like beaches and snowYou turn the book one way for the country scene and then flip it over for what happens in the town. Down the side of each page there's a list of things for you to find, complete with a thumbnail of what it is you're looking for.
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|summary=Tilly is excited.  She'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 guess.  Dad 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>1782404422</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author= Michael Morpurgo and Shoo Rayner
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|author=Innosanto Nagara
|title= Mudpuddle Farm: Cock-A-Doodle-Doo
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|title=M is for Movement
|rating= 5
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|rating=4
|genre= Emerging Readers
 
|summary= This is an anthology book containing two titles from the Mudpuddle Farm series (''Mossop's Last Chance'' and ''Albertine, Goose Queen''). In the first of these we see all the animals work together to save the saggy old cat-puss from being fired. The second story sees our resident genius tested by an encounter with a crafty fox whilst the farmer decides to avoid all the fuss by going for a shave.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0007270127</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Dave Barry, Ridley Pearson and Mary Blair
 
|title=Walt Disney's Peter Pan: Illustrated by Mary Blair (Walt Disney Classics)
 
|rating=3.5
 
 
|genre=Emerging Readers
 
|genre=Emerging Readers
|summary=I'll take it pretty much as read that you know the story of Peter Pan, the young boy who left his shadow behind, and in collecting it took three children with him to a fantasy world full of nasty men, danger and mystery.  I know, the lad is totally irresponsibleYou may well know it from panto, or from Disney – and it's the latter that this book is concerningIt's a very snappy capture of the story that won't take long at all to read, but it's what that text is paired with that makes it worth attention.
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|summary=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 preachyIt 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>1405287012</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1609809351
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Jeff Brown and Rob Biddulph
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|isbn=1949471004
|title=Flat Stanley
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|title=Dog on a Log Chapter Books: Step 1
|rating=4.5
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|author=Pamela Brookes
|genre=Emerging Readers
+
|rating=4
|summary=''Stanley was four feet tall, about a foot wide, and half an inch thick.''
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|genre=Dyslexia Friendly
   
+
|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''.
Yes, there's proof that this is the original text of this classic children's book – at least it's not been updated to metric. So while the illustrations are new, we get the real deal, with the young Stanley squished one night, to such an extent he can limbo under shut doors, get airmailed to America to visit relatives, become a kite for his younger brother to play with, and more. But then you don't need to update perfection.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1405288108</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Philippa Pearce and Cate James
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|isbn=099334030X
|title=The Ghost in Annie's Room (Little Gems)
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|title=Can You Draw the Dragosaur?
 +
|author=Peter Lynas and Charlie Roberts
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Dyslexia Friendly
+
|genre=Crafts
|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 allBut that's not to say things will forever be that way…
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|summary=You're going to get a hint of what this book's about very quicklyWhen you see the title page, you'll find out what the book's called and that it's been written by Peter LynasThen 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>1781126852</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author= Michael Morpurgo and Shoo Rayner
+
|isbn=1609809335
|title= Mudpuddle Farm: Hee-Haw Hooray
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|title=The Lizard
|rating= 4
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|author= Jose Saramago, J Borges, Nick Caistor (translator) and Lucia Caistor (translator)
|genre= Emerging Readers
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|rating=2
|summary=Two collected stories from Mudpuddle Farm series – ''Nowt to Worry About'' and ''Tickety-Boo''. How will the animals react when the sky goes strange and horrifying noises abound? Changes are afoot that could mark the end of Mudpuddle farm; or is it just a new beginning?
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|genre=Emerging Readers  
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0008241988</amazonuk>
+
|summary=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?
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author= Sarah Powell
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|isbn=1789016320
|title= Search and Find: Pride & Prejudice: A Jane Austen Search and Find Book
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|title=Tadcaster and the Bullies
|rating= 4
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|author=Richard Rutherford
|genre= Emerging Readers
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|rating=4
|summary= Search and find books are usually aimed at children. They are a good bit of fun, but they are also a good study tool for adult readers alike. Jane Austen is a fantastic novelist, but her style of writing can be daunting for those not used to such heavy prose. It is very easy to become lost in the myriad of dialogue, characters and events. I find a good plot summary helps when approaching her works, this was especially so in the case of the perplexing and long-winded Emma.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1783708271</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Pip Jones and Adam Stower
 
|title=Piggy Handsome: Guinea Pig Destined for Stardom!
 
|rating=3.5
 
 
|genre=Emerging Readers  
 
|genre=Emerging Readers  
|summary=Meet Piggy Handsome.  He is a very bequiffed guinea pig, and he is frustrated that everyone in his long line of Handsome guinea pigs has become famous for something, except him.  Annoyed that he has not even got his face in the local newspaper, he has complained to his friend Jeffry the Budgie more than onceBut on this day, Jeff has a chance to solve the issue and get some peace and quiet for himself – there is a chip eating contest in townBut can Piggy get there in time, can he down a bowl of chips quickly enough to win, and what about the pair of idiot thieves that also have something on their mind?
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|summary=In some ways it was a gentler time: video games were around, but children usually went outside to enjoy themselvesThey 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>0571327540</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author= Michael Morpurgo and Shoo Rayner
 
|title= Mudpuddle Farm: Alien Invasion
 
|rating= 4
 
|genre= Emerging Readers
 
|summary=This collected edition contains two stories from Mudpuddle Farm: ''Alien Invasion'' and ''Mum's the Word''. When the bees swarm the animals panic over a new creature that appears in the farm. In the second story that greedy goat has vanished and when he returns something darned odd happens…
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0007275137</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=David Roberts and Alan MacDonald
 
|title=My Burptastic Body Book (Dirty Bertie)
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
 
|summary=Oh, to be young and innocent, and to be full of questions.  Questions like 'is eating my bogies good for me', or 'why is poo brown', or 'what makes sweat smell'You don't have to be a kid like Dirty Bertie to want to know the answers – respectively, no; it's down to dead bacteria; and it doesn't – it's other bacteria again.  If you think you have a lad (or, let's face it, a lass) interested in learning such stuff, this book could well be the place to turn.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847156754</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Michael Bond and R W Alley
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|isbn=B01N0OZQOD
|title=Best-loved Paddington Stories
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|title=Nickerbacher
 +
|author=Terry John Barto
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=For Sharing
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|genre=Emerging Readers
|summary=With the sad passing of Michael Bond there is no time like the present to revisit some of the adventures of his most iconic creation; Paddington. As the character has proved so timeless regular re-issues of the books have appeared and ''Best-loved Paddington Stories'' brings three of these stories together. Does this collection really reflect the best that the bear has to offer or are they just three random tales stuck together with marmalade?
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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>0008245037</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author= Enid Blyton
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|isbn=0008265836
|title= The Seaside Family
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|title=Rory Branagan Detective
|rating= 4.5
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|author=Andrew Clover and Ralph Lazar
|genre= Emerging Readers
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|rating=5
|summary= The Caravan Family (Mummy, Daddy, Mike, Belinda and Ann) are all ready for the holidays, and what better place to spend time together than at the seaside? They can play in the sea, picnic on the sand and generally enjoy each other's company. It will be marvellous.
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|genre=Emerging Readers  
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1405286733</amazonuk>
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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.
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Robyn Swift and Sara Lynn Cramb
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|isbn=0192758748
|title=National Trust: Complete Night Explorer's Kit
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|title=Horace & Harriet Take on the Town
 +
|author=Clare Elsom
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
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|genre=Emerging Readers
|summary=There is a misfortune to the modern world, in that we have killed off a common hobby from when I was a lad. Nowadays  light pollution is so awful it's certainly not uncommon for people to hardly see any of the stars and to get to learn the constellations, and while I only went out to go 'meteor hunting', it's patently obvious that the chance to lie down and stargaze is a dying one. Elsewhere the nocturnal youth can struggle to have much opportunity to explore the night-time nature as this book suggests – it begins with setting up a tent in your back garden, and too many don't even get that chance, for want of possession of one.  Yes, if this book is only read once in the daytime and never referred to again, due to lack of opportunity, it really will be a crying shame.
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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>0857638777</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=David Walliams and Tony Ross
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|isbn=Saulles_Bee
|title=The World's Worst Children 2
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|title=Bee Boy: Clash of the Killer Queens
 +
|author=Tony De Saulles
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Confident Readers
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|genre=Emerging Readers  
|summary=I sometimes wonder if David Walliams gets sick of the comparisons with Roald Dahl that he gets.  It's such an easy comparison to make, however, because both wrote very funny, and yet really very dark stories for children.  They don't shy away from the nastiness, and ugliness in life and instead face it head on, and flip it around, and make you laugh along the way.  This is a rollercoaster ride through a wide range of truly dreadful children who range from being a fussy eater, to a spoiled brat, to Harry, who never, ever did his homework!  Yes, their dark deeds vary in despicableness, and along with dreadfulness galore there are fabulous illustrations, a large variety of fonts, unusual page layouts and a Royal introduction from the Queen...
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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.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0008259623</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Jeff Brown and Rob Biddulph
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|isbn=Davidson_Night
|title=Stanley and the Magic Lamp (Flat Stanley)
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|title=Night Zookeeper: The Giraffes of Whispering Wood
|rating=3.5
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|author=Joshua Davidson
|genre=Emerging Readers
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|rating=5
|summary=It was far too recently that I picked up [[Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown and Rob Biddulph|Flat Stanley]] and met with a character now fifty years old for the first time, and found out how he got to be flat and what happened as a result. Bizarrely, however, despite the success of that first book it was twenty full years before the author picked up the pen to give Stanley this sequel. Or perhaps it's not such a surprise – without giving too much away, the character had met with a certain change at the end of book one, and therefore wasn't exactly ready for more of the same. Well, over the decades there have been six official books by Jeff Brown, and this was the first instance where I could find out for myself if '''I''' was ready for more of the same…
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|genre=Emerging Readers  
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>140528806X</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=Giles Chapman and Us Now
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|isbn=Seuss_Read
|title=The Story of the Car
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|title=I Can Read With My Eyes Shut
 +
|author=Dr Seuss
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
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|genre=Emerging Readers
|summary=Dinosaurs… farm machinery… science fiction… trains… cars. I can't think of many other subjects that inspired the young me to have a full non-fiction book about them on my juvenile shelves.  Most of course I lost interest in with maturity.  But the young child these days won't be much different, for good or bad, and so they will like as not want a book about broom-brooms for the shelf.  And this is pretty much the go-to volume for such an interest.
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|summary=''The more that you read,''<br>
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1526360268</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=Libby Walden
+
|isbn=Neal_Words
|title=In Focus: Cities
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|title=Words and Your Heart
 +
|author=Kate Jane Neal
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
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|genre=Emerging Readers
|summary=The [[In Focus: 101 Close Ups, Cross-Sections and Cutaways by Libby Walden|first book in this series]] promised 101 close-ups, cross sections and/or cutways, but here we're restricted to just ten. Why?  Because the subject matters are so much bigger – one is home to 37 million people, of all things.  Yes, we're talking cities, and while this book tries to follow the previous – different artist every page, an exclusive inside look within the volume, and a self-deceiving page count – we are definitely in new territory. We're seeking the trivial, the geographical and the cultural, all so that the inquisitive young student can find out the variety to be had in the world's metropolises.
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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>1848575912</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Geraldo Valerio
+
|isbn=Tavares_Red
|title=My Book of Birds
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|title=Red and Lulu
|rating=4
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|author=Matt Tavares
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction 
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|rating=4.5
|summary=I never really caught the bird-watching habit, even with the opportunity of growing up on the edge of a village in the middle of nowhere. It was in the family, too, but I resigned myself to never seeing much that was spectacular, and once you've seen one blackbird you've seen them all, was my thinking.  If I'd had this book as a youngster, who knows – I may have come out of it differently, having been shown the diversity of the bird world in snippets of text, and some quite unusual illustrations…
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|genre=Emerging Readers
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1526360004</amazonuk>
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|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
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{{Frontpage
|author=Danna Smith and Bagram Ibatoulline
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|isbn=Dickens_Search
|title= The Hawk of the Castle: A Story of Medieval Falconry
+
|title=Search and Find A Christmas Carol
|rating=5
+
|author=Charles Dickens, Sarah Powell and Louise Pigott
|genre=Children's Rhymes and Verse
+
|rating=3.5
|summary=I don't know why I was surprised by this book – I've read enough volumes for the young audiences to know that as far as subject matter is concerned, pretty much anything goes.  But this is about falconry, of all things – the use of a once-wild and still pretty much free-spirited bird of prey to hunt down animals, either for the heck of it or for the pot.  An attractive girl and her father get their hawk ready, and leave the castle with all the equipment in tow bells to hear the landed bird and what it's captured, the hood to act as blinkers for it on the way there, the lure if necessary.  The story concerns just one trip out, girl, father, hound – and hawk.  But while that may surprise you as a subject matter of choice, it was the whole artistic approach that won me over here…
+
|genre=Emerging Readers
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1406376698</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
 
|author=Gareth P Jones
 
|title=Beards From Outer Space
 
|rating=4
 
|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.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847157858</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=Ghillian Potts and Ed Boxall
+
|isbn=Seuss_Eggs
|title=The Old Woman from Friuli
+
|title=Scrambled Eggs Super
|rating=4
+
|author=Dr Seuss
|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.
 
 
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
 
|author=Holly Webb
 
|title=The Homeless Kitten
 
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|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.
+
|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>1847157831</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Matthew Clark Smith and Matt Tavares
 
|title=Lighter than Air: Sophie Blanchard, the First Woman Pilot
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
 
|summary=We're in Paris, and – not to be too rude about things – we seem surrounded by idiots. For 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 cope.  Meanwhile, 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 balloonists.  They 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.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0763677329</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