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=Francesca Simon and Tony Ross
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|author=Nigel Baines
|title=Horrid Henry's Mothers Day
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|title=A Tricky Kind of Magic
|rating=5
+
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Emerging Readers
 
|genre=Emerging Readers
|summary=Horrid Henry isn’t always horrid. Did you know that? Sometimes he tries hard but someone still comes along to out-do him. Like goody two shoes Perfect Peter. With Mothers’ Day around the corner, Horrid Henry is determined to up his game, shame his brother and show he’s the best son. Yeah, I know. Even when he’s trying to be nice he’s being a little horrid, really, but still. It’s the thought that counts.
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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>1444014757</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1444960261
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Aby King and Sam Usher
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|author=Jane Lightbourne
|title=Lupo and the Secret of Windsor Castle
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|title= My Cat Called Red
|rating=4
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|rating= 4
|genre=Confident Readers
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|genre=Emerging Readers
|summary=Based on the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's real dog, this is Lupo's story, and although it uses the real Royals it is, of course, a fictional story as you soon realise with the talking mice from MI5 and the evil villain in the form of one of the Queen's Dorgi's (a cross between a corgi and a Dachshund). If you're looking for a fantasy animal adventure, with plenty of action, then look no further.
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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.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444921444</amazonuk>
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|isbn= 1838216812
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Linda Chapman and Kate Hindley
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|author=Francesca Simon and Steve May
|title=Best Friends' Bakery: Cupcakes and Contests
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|title=Two Terrible Vikings
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=Confident Readers
 
|summary=Hannah's favourite TV show is Junior Brilliant Baker, and when she hears that they are auditioning for new contestants for the show she simply can't wait to apply.  She rushes to tell her best friend, Mia, about the competition as she's also a fan, but then what will happen if only one of them gets on the show?  And what would they bake for the auditions?  And would the show live up to everything they've imagined?
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444011928</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Ulf Stark and Eva Eriksson
 
|title=When Dad Showed Me the Universe
 
|rating=4.5
 
 
|genre=Emerging Readers
 
|genre=Emerging Readers
|summary=Dads are wonderful, aren't they? One minute they can be working as a dentist, the next they can be showing you the universe, and even tell you how cold it is.  Mind you, mothers can be fabulous too, making sure you're going to be warm enough if you go out to see the universe. But dads are best – they even make sure you get chewing gum as provisions when you're exploring the universe.  And what a universe it is – from what's right under your feet to what's right out in the furthest reaches of the night sky…
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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>1927271819</amazonuk>
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|isbn=0571349498
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Heinz Janisch and Wolf Erlbruch
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|isbn=1838593187
|title=The King and the Sea
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|title=Guess What I Found in the Playground!
|rating=3
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|author=Victoria Thompson
|genre=Emerging Readers
 
|summary=Meet the King.  He's a very good King – or is he?  He has to be taught by a cat that there is more to worship – the sun's rays, for one.  He is so powerful yet he cannot get a trumpet to play without him being its servant, and giving it his air; he cannot persuade a cloud to stay and enjoy his kingdom; and even he is resigned to a shadow that turns his petite, glistening gold crown into a large grey shape on the floor.  No, the King might think he has it all, but he hasn't.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1877579947</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Michael Bond and R W Alley
 
|title=Paddington at the Zoo
 
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=For Sharing
 
|genre=For Sharing
|summary=Cast your mind back to the weeks before the ''Paddington'' movie enchanted the worldThere was a lot of press at the time about how the film had such mild peril and sexual innuendo that it was a PG-rated movie, and not a UIt became headlines due to the unassailable fact that Paddington just never seems to carry any threat to the audience, and to not have a single daunting bone in his bodyBut those larger books can easily be daunting to the very young people in which you wish to instil love of the character, which is where the picture book range of stories comes inThey're a lot smaller than the chapters in the main novels, and while those main books were still being produced as well they were quite uncommon occurrences, but with the [[Michael Bond's Original Paddington Bear Books in Chronological Order|'proper']] books out the way, these were pretty much all Michael Bond was producing as regards our favourite bearWhich can only mean one thing – they're equally brilliant.
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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 stuffThere 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>0006647448</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Zoa
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|author=Innosanto Nagara
|title=The Dog Dectectives in an American Adventure
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|title=M is for Movement
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Emerging Readers
 
|genre=Emerging Readers
|summary=Whatever you might think of the USA, you cannot deny that it is a country with fantastic natural surroundings from the mountains to the beaches to the vast cactus strewn deserts. This children’s book embraces this and takes the Dog Detectives and their new friends on a whistle-stop tour of the country which is a great way to introduce some facts to young readers.
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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 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.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848860986</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1609809351
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Emma Barnes
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|isbn=1949471004
|title=Wild Thing Goes Camping
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|title=Dog on a Log Chapter Books: Step 1
 +
|author=Pamela Brookes
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=Emerging Readers
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|genre=Dyslexia Friendly
|summary=Wild Thing is truly wild, keeping worms in her grandma's handbag, building dens in muddy holes in the garden, or setting up camps, complete with sticks ready for a fire, in her big sister's bedroom! She's the sort of child who sends her parents grey in their twenties!  Poor Kate, her older sister, is stuck being the sensible one in the family, trying to keep an eye on Wild Thing and help her dad out (her mum died when Wild Thing was very little), and the strain of always being sensible and reliable begins to show and Kate starts to think maybe she'd like to be wild too!
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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>1407137972</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Laura Vaccaro Seeger
 
|title=Bully
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=For Sharing
 
|summary=He's a bit of a... well, a bully, really. The farm animals want to play with him, but he just calls them names. He proceeds to insult each one until a brave little goat stands up to him and calls HIM a bully. How will Bully react to that?
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1783442131</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Alice Hemming and James Lent
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|isbn=099334030X
|title=Robopop
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|title=Can You Draw the Dragosaur?
 +
|author=Peter Lynas and Charlie Roberts
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Emerging Readers
+
|genre=Crafts
|summary=Some say the grass is always greener on the other side of the hill. Others say better the devil you know. Dylan and Daisy don’t say either of these things, but the sentiment is there. Other people’s fathers are much better / funnier / more normal than their dad. Why can’t he be more like everyone else? The thing is, their dad is an inventor of sorts, so well placed to teach them a lesson they’ll never forget. Welcome Robopop, a robot dad in a box! He’s going to babysit Dylan and Daisy for the afternoon…if they last that long.
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|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 earth. There's some help available, but your name is on the title page - and you have work to do!
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848861664</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Michael Bond and R W Alley
+
|isbn=1609809335
|title=Paddington At The Palace
+
|title=The Lizard
|rating=5
+
|author= Jose Saramago, J Borges, Nick Caistor (translator) and Lucia Caistor (translator)
|genre=Emerging Readers
+
|rating=2
|summary=I’m not someone who bangs on about being proud to be British. I find it odd that people can seem so fulfilled based on the fact they were born in a certain nation. And anyway I’d much rather be a citizen of the world. But every so often I come across a book, typically aimed at little ones, that does bring me out in a touch of national pride. London is the obvious choice, and in cases like [[The Queen's Hat by Steve Antony]] it can result in frightfully good books.
+
|genre=Emerging Readers  
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0007104405</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=Barbro Lindgren and Eva Eriksson
+
|isbn=1789016320
|title=Max's Wagon
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|title=Tadcaster and the Bullies
|rating=5
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|author=Richard Rutherford
|genre=For Sharing
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|rating=4
|summary=Max had a wagon and he began putting his treasures into itFirst it was his bear, then the dog, who was asleep on the chair and looking decidedly disinterested in what was going on, but he played his partThen it was Max's ball and the contents begin to seem just a little ''precarious'' and were even more so when Max's car was added to the pile, but bear sat astride Dog and Max pushed the wagon whilst holding the car on top of the ball with the otherThen he added his cookie and Dog began to look just the tiniest bit ''distracted'' and bear fell out.  Dog got bear and brought him back and he did the same when the car and the ball fell off the wagon (in the literal sense of the phrase). Then the cookie fell out...
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|genre=Emerging Readers
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1776570014</amazonuk>
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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.
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Jon Scieszka, Mac Barnett and  Matthew Myers
+
|isbn=B01N0OZQOD
|title=Battle Bunny
+
|title=Nickerbacher
|rating=3
+
|author=Terry John Barto
|genre=Emerging Readers
 
|summary=Young children do not always have the best poker face so when they are given a gift they don’t really want, they may not spare your feelings. The little boy who received Birthday Bunny was seriously unimpressed, so much so that he has taken out his pencils and rewritten the story. Gone is the tale of a rabbit trying to work out if any of his animal friends have remembered his birthday and instead we get an epic battle of bunny versus the animal kingdom.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>140636018X</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Danielle Wright (editor) and Mique Moriuchi (illustrator)
 
|title=My Village: Rhymes from Around the World
 
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=Children's Rhymes and Verse
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|genre=Emerging Readers
|summary=I'm thinking that of all the kinds of books that have ability to surprise, high up on the list are poetry books.  You can generally see the style, idea or genre of a novel from the cover, and beyond a few shocks and twists nothing changes. But take poetry on board, and there are surprises on each page – the concentrated form of the literature surely gives the author more chance to bedazzle, to pull the rug over the readers' eyes and to generally give something the audience didn't expect. And so it is with this book, for while [[:Category:Michael Rosen|Michael Rosen's]] introduction spoke to us of nursery rhymes, I had already flicked through and still was not expecting a spread of them. Even when he itemised the various kinds I didn't foresee finding them all on the pages, although that is what I got. Who would have thought that such a small, succinct and varied little volume would have that much capacity to surprise?
+
|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>1847806279</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Betty G Birney
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|isbn=0008265836
|title=Imagination According to Humphrey
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|title=Rory Branagan Detective
|rating=3.5
+
|author=Andrew Clover and Ralph Lazar
|genre=Confident Readers
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|rating=5
|summary=If you haven't already, meet Humphrey – the most squeakily vocal inhabitant of Classroom 26. The charming and inventive hamster is here with yet another of his main novels – as opposed to early readers, quiz and joke books, anthologies, [[Humphrey's World of Pets by Betty G Birney|guides to having pets]] there are so many around that my edition didn't try to put them all on one inventory page, but chose to leave a few out. Here the series continues with Humphrey and the same children as he's befriended over the last few volumes, and it's storytime. The class is being read a novel about a boy and the dragons doing evil to his village's weather, and everyone is trying to write creatively about flying as a response. But when someone threatens to bring a real-life dragon to class, how could the little class pet be safe, especially when he hasn't the imagination to see what the result could be?
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|genre=Emerging Readers  
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0571282512</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=Frank Cottrell Boyce
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|isbn=0192758748
|title=Desirable
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|title=Horace & Harriet Take on the Town
|rating=4.5
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|author=Clare Elsom
|genre=Dyslexia Friendly
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|rating=4
|summary=Poor George. He knows that he is not popular but when even his own Grandad doesn't want to stay around for his birthday party he realises that things are even worse than he thought. However this was before he discovered the contents of the present from his Grandad and experienced the dramatic impact on his life an aged bottle of aftershave would bring. Although George tries to think himself invisible in order to cope today he is not invisible. In fact he is not only visible but desirable too!
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|genre=Emerging Readers
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781124248</amazonuk>
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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.
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Kelly L Bingham and Paul O Zelinsky
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|isbn=Saulles_Bee
|title=Circle, Square, Moose
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|title=Bee Boy: Clash of the Killer Queens
 +
|author=Tony De Saulles
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=For Sharing
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|genre=Emerging Readers
|summary=If you have children you have no doubt read loads of books about shapes; the circle, the square, the dodecahedron.  They are all variations of the same things – this wheel is round like a circle, this bread reminds me of a square, what on earth is a dodecahedron?  Why not spice the book up by throwing in a moose, but not just any moose. This is a moose that brings chaos to everything he touches and must be chased from the book!
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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>1783441860</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Tony Ross
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|isbn=Davidson_Night
|title=Rita's Rhino
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|title=Night Zookeeper: The Giraffes of Whispering Wood
 +
|author=Joshua Davidson
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
|genre=For Sharing
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|genre=Emerging Readers
|summary=Rita really wants a pet, but when she asks her Mum for one she isn’t so keen. They’re smelly and greedy and take lots of hard work. Eventually she relents, and gives Rita a jar with a flea in it, his name is Harold. Obviously, Rita isn’t happy with this so she decides to take matters into her own hands. What will she do, and how will she manage to hide a Rhino from her pet-fearing mother?
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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.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1783440252</amazonuk>
+
 
 +
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
|title=The Illustrated Old Possum
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|isbn=Seuss_Read
|author=T S Eliot and Nicolas Bentley
+
|title=I Can Read With My Eyes Shut
|rating=4
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|author=Dr Seuss
|genre=Children's Rhymes and Verse
 
|summary=This title is clearly of importance to the house of Faber.  To this day their puff mentions it was one of their first childrens' books, after the author sent his publisher's son, his godson, some writings based on jellicle cats and some of their scrapes.  It's clearly a book that's important to Andrew Lloyd Webber, too, but we'll gloss speedily over that.  It's a book that was important to me as well – I certainly had a copy, a thin, barely illustrated, old-fashioned style paperback of it once I had seen the musical.  And with the excellent writing here and the ability of it to delight so many people of so many ages, it has the power to be important to a future generation.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0571313086</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|title=Nonsense Limericks (Faber Children's Classics)
 
|author=Edward Lear and Arthur Robins (illustrator)
 
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Children's Rhymes and Verse
+
|genre=Emerging Readers
|summary=There was a young man whose critique<br>
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|summary=''The more that you read,''<br>
Of this book was submitted one week<br>
+
''The more things you will know.''<br>
When they asked 'Was it fine?'<br>
+
''The more that you learn,''<br>
He said 'No denyin' –<br>
+
''The more places you'll go.''
'There's very little here they could tweak!'
+
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0571302262</amazonuk>
+
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
|title=Katie's London Christmas
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|isbn=Neal_Words
|author=James Mayhew
+
|title=Words and Your Heart
 +
|author=Kate Jane Neal
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=For Sharing
+
|genre=Emerging Readers
|summary=We have never been strict about Christmas in our house.  It's usually my husband who starts it, with a carol or two during the summer!  It's hard to resist that Christmas urge if you're a die-hard fan of the season!  I have a friend who keeps all her Christmas related stories safely in a cupboard, brought out in a special basket only during the season itself. We, meanwhile, have Christmas stories all year round because, honestly, who doesn't like a bit of Father Christmas magic now and then?!  Anyway, this is all to say that here is a Christmas story that some purists will tuck away until Christmas Eve but we have quite happily read during Halloween!  Katie is back, and heading back to London, but this time she's on a mission to help Father Christmas...
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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>1408326418</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|title=Good Dog Lion (Little Gems)
+
|isbn=Tavares_Red
|author=Alexander McCall Smith
+
|title=Red and Lulu
|rating=5
+
|author=Matt Tavares
|genre=Dyslexia Friendly
 
|summary=Being a firm fan of Alexander McCall Smith's novels for adults, I wasn't surprised to find that I thoroughly enjoyed this children's story.  Written with the same gentle understanding of human nature, and so very deftly told,  I read this story with a great deal of pleasure.  Although the story behind Timo's life is rather sad, with his father leaving him and his mother when Timo is only young, and his mother then struggling to find enough money to raise both of them, it never descends into tragedy but remains positive and upbeat.  It's a story of strength, and bravery, and I'm not just talking about Timo and his mother.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781123721</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Allan Plenderleith
 
|title=The Bonkers Banana
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Emerging Readers
 
|summary=Father Christmas has a problem.  Because the house had no chimney he had to use his magic dust to shrink himself down so that he could slip into the house through the keyhole.  All went well until the very tiny Santa bumped into a fruit bowl containing just one banana and all his magic dust flew up in the air - and landed on the banana.  The banana was rather pleased - brought to life he jumped up and down and began dancing and singing - but Father Christmas was distraught.  Without the magic dust he couldn't ride his sleigh and deliver all the presents.  Eventually the banana calmed down sufficiently to realise that Santa had a problem and the only way out of it was for banana to fly Santa to the moon so that he could get more magic dust.  Yes - I know - it's bonkers.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1841613878</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|title=The It Doesn't Matter Suit and Other Stories
 
|author=Sylvia Plath and David Roberts
 
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=For Sharing
+
|genre=Emerging Readers
|summary=I've said it before and I'll say it again, that you should always approach classical authors through their least typical, shortest and more individual works – you won't gain much insight perhaps into why they were famous, but you will find more entertainment and greater pleasures by staying outside the canon.  And the lovely people at Faber and Faber have a case in point – rather than plough through serious dross from Eliot, why not stick to [[The Illustrated Old Possum by T S Eliot and Nicolas Bentley]]?  And with Sylvia Plath I cannot think of a better place to start with her oeuvre than with these snappy and delightful pages.
+
|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…
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0571314643</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|title=Pigsticks and Harold and the Tuptown Thief
+
|isbn=Dickens_Search
|author=Alex Milway
+
|title=Search and Find A Christmas Carol
 +
|author=Charles Dickens, Sarah Powell and Louise Pigott
 
|rating=3.5
 
|rating=3.5
|genre=Emerging Readers
+
|genre=Emerging Readers  
|summary=Problems are afoot in Tuptown, leading up the annual Butterfly Ball – bit by bit the whole thing is being stolen.  Harold has made a special statue for the occasion, but has awoken to find it missing, the berries for the catering have vanished – and someone's even run off with the butterflies. It's up to our heroes Harold (the hamster) and Pigsticks (the, er, pig) to don their stereotypical detective outfits and save the day.
+
|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?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1406346039</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|title=The Witch Dog
+
|isbn=Seuss_Eggs
|author=Margaret Mahy and Sam Usher
+
|title=Scrambled Eggs Super
 +
|author=Dr Seuss
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Emerging Readers
+
|genre=Emerging Readers  
|summary=Every witch needs a cat. Everyone knows that. But when we meet Mrs Rose, she’s not really a witch. She’s a mum whose children have left home, and now she’s finding herself with a bit of time on her hands. Her husband suggests she join him with his hobby of Bowls, but that’s a bit boring, thinks Mrs Rose, so instead she decides to do an evening class. In how to become a witch.
+
|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>1444011340</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|title=It's Snow Day
 
|author=Richard Curtis and Rebecca Cobb
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=For Sharing
 
|summary=We all remember the best sort of school days, don’t we? Snow days. Waking up in the morning and seeing the glow of white through the curtains, and looking out of the window to see the whole world of our back gardens and rooftops turned white. This is a book all about that, and the only two people who turn up at school on this particular snow day.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0723288925</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

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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

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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