Difference between revisions of "Newest Emerging Readers Reviews"

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[[Category:Emerging Readers|*]]
 
[[Category:Emerging Readers|*]]
[[Category:New Reviews|Emerging Readers]] __NOTOC__ <!-- Remove -->
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author= Holly Webb
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|author=Nigel Baines
|title= Sammy the Shy Kitten
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|title=A Tricky Kind of Magic
|rating= 4.5
+
|rating=4.5
|genre= Emerging Readers
+
|genre=Emerging Readers
|summary= An adorably, warm and cute story about what happens when Emma falls in love with a tiny sweet feral kitten whom she names Sammy. To persuade Mum and Dad to let her keep him she must learn all she can about taming wild kittens – and, of course,  win little Sammy's confidence and trust.
+
|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>1847156487</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=1444960261
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Rachel Hamilton
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|author=Jane Lightbourne
|title=Unicorn in New York: Louie Lets Loose!
+
|title= My Cat Called Red
|rating=4
+
|rating= 4
|genre=Emerging Readers
 
|summary=Louie's parents are worried when Louie announces he wants to leave home to enrol at the New York School of Performing Arts. He's a unicorn and they can't believe he'll be happy without the sunlit meadows, enchanted waterfalls and beautiful maidens of Story Land. But, like all good parents, they accept that Louie must make his own way in the world. Luckily Louie always looks for the positive in life – a skill that's going to prove essential when he arrives in New York.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0192744976</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Wenhua Wang, Amann Wang and Yu Yan Chen (translator)
 
|title=Mr Horton's Violin
 
|rating=4
 
 
|genre=Emerging Readers
 
|genre=Emerging Readers
|summary=Meet Mr Horton. He is one of the world's most famous and rich musical instrument players, and has done it all – except, that is, stumble on a music tree. You have to stumble on them, for not carpenters, not sculptors, not even simple woodsmen would give them a second look and think of them as anything special. But when Mr Horton does find one he is able to fashion the best, most magical violin imaginable out of its wood. The only problem after that is working out who deserves to play it…
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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>0993215459</amazonuk>
+
|isbn= 1838216812
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Wenhua Wang, Amann Wang and Yu Yan Chen (translator)
+
|author=Francesca Simon and Steve May
|title=The Chief Cellist
+
|title=Two Terrible Vikings
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Emerging Readers
 
|genre=Emerging Readers
|summary=Meet the Chief. A new cellist in a quite horrible orchestra, he has suddenly turned their fortunes – and his – round.  He is now a superstar, and asking for more and more grandeur and help in his life. But one night, when his chauffeur doesn't turn up for him after yet one more sterling performance, he finds himself alone in a world that doesn't care how good a cellist he is, but one where destiny might just depend on him learning the power of teamwork…
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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>0993215440</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=0571349498
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Chris Judge and Andrew Judge
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|isbn=1838593187
|title=Create Your Own Alien Adventure
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|title=Guess What I Found in the Playground!
|rating=4
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|author=Victoria Thompson
|genre=Emerging Readers
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|rating=4.5
|summary=Choose Your Own Adventure books were massive during the 80sThey allowed the young reader to pick up a book and be the hero; your choices determined if you live or dieInvariably, it was a game of leaving your finger in the previous page to make sure you could skip back should the fate that befell you not be to your liking.  Well, its 2016 and just choosing your adventure is no longer enough, we want to interact even more with the story, we want to create our own adventure.
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|genre=For Sharing
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1407158090</amazonuk>
+
|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 guessDad 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.
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Isabel Sanchez Vegara and Eng Gee Fan
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|author=Innosanto Nagara
|title=Little People, Big Dreams: Frida Kahlo
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|title=M is for Movement
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Emerging Readers
 
|genre=Emerging Readers
|summary=Frida Kahlo was born in MexicoWhen she was a young schoolgirl she contracted polio and was left with a leg which was ''skinny as a rake'', but she bore the problem stoically and in some ways delighted in being differentThen one day Frida was in a bus which crashed into a car. She was badly injured and even when she was over the worst she still had to rest in bed and filled the time by drawing pictures, including a self portraitEventually she showed her pictures to a famous artist - Diego Rivera - who liked the pictures, ''and'' Frida.  They married and Rivera encouraged Frida's painting.  She exhibited, eventually in New York, to great acclaim.
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|summary=Set in Indonesia, in the not too distant past, this is a story about social changeDealing with some difficult issues, such as political corruption and nepotism, the book is neither boring nor 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>1847807704</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1609809351
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Isabel Sanchez Vegara and Ana Albero
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|isbn=1949471004
|title=Little People, Big Dreams: Coco Chanel
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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=Gabrielle Chanel lived in an orphanage in a French town and after the death of her mother she went to a strict convent schoolThe fact that she was ''different'' didn't make her life ''easy'', but there were early indications that she was going to be a seamstressAfter she left school she sewed by day and sang by night and it was as she sang that she gained her nickname - ''Coco'' - which came from the soldiers in the audienceBut her dream was designing clothes and the first step was designing and making hats: this led to her opening a hat shopOne evening, at a party she realised that a lot of the women weren't dancing: their corsets were so tight that they could hardly breathe and it was this that prompted Coco to create a new style. Her clothes were simple, straight and comfortable to wear.
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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 problemYou need to be able to buy books at a reasonable price which concentrate on what you've been working on, without anything else being thrown into the mixYou need a story which engages the young mind and you need stages which progress steadily through the learning process without there being any large jumpsSome online support and games wouldn't go amiss, eitherReading - and ''learning'' to read - should be a pleasure. It should be ''fun''.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847807712</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Terry Deary
+
|isbn=099334030X
|title=Ghost for Sale
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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=When Mr and Mrs Rundle see an advert in the paper for a wardrobe for sale, complete with ghost, Mrs Rundle decides that they absolutely ''must'' have it! They own The Dog and Duck Inn and Mrs Rundle feels that addition of a ghost will add interest to their Inn and bring them customThe arrival of the wardrobe certainly shakes things up for the Rundles, though perhaps not in the way they'd imagined!
+
|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 thereIt'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>178112518X</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Julian Gough and Jim Field
+
|isbn=1609809335
|title=Rabbit and Bear: Rabbit's Bad Habbits
+
|title=The Lizard
|rating=4.5
+
|author= Jose Saramago, J Borges, Nick Caistor (translator) and Lucia Caistor (translator)
|genre=For Sharing
+
|rating=2
|summary=When Bear wakes up early from her hibernation, she decides that if she can't sleep then she might as well do something which she's always wanted to do - build a snowmanIt's whilst she's doing this that she meets Rabbit, who tells her that he's an Expert in GravityWhatever he is, it doesn't seem to make him particularly happy as he never smiles and isn't exactly big on fun.  But there are avalanches around as well as hungry wolves and Rabbit soon comes to the conclusion that it's good to have a friend on your side - even if you have just stolen their food.
+
|genre=Emerging Readers
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444929313</amazonuk>
+
|summary=One day a giant lizard appears in the cityWe don't even get told how it arrived, but it certainly appearedPeople took against it, and if they weren't shrugging it off as a hallucination brought on by tiredness just as they fled it, they wanted something done about it. Can something be done about it, though?
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Helen Craig
+
|isbn=1789016320
|title=The Orchard Book of Bedtime Fairy Tales
+
|title=Tadcaster and the Bullies
 +
|author=Richard Rutherford
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=Emerging Readers
+
|genre=Emerging Readers  
|summary=Fairy Tales have been around for centuries and reflect the tradition of oral history; stories spoken from one person's memory to anotherThis is why some Fairy Tales seem to have subtle differences depending upon where you were brought upDid you hear that the three little pigs boiled the wolf alive, or perhaps you think he just walked away in frustration?  Helen Craig is a talented illustrator who has decided to tackle the tricky Fairy Tale compilation. Will her retelling of classic stories match your own?
+
|summary=In some ways it was a gentler time: video games were around, but children usually went outside to enjoy themselves.  They flew kites and went sledging if there was snow around.  Tim and Mary's great-grandfather started a business in 1899 so our story is probably set in the nineteen seventiesSomething 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>1408338408</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author= Keris Stainton
+
|isbn=B01N0OZQOD
|title= Lily and the Christmas Wish
+
|title=Nickerbacher
|rating= 4.5
+
|author=Terry John Barto
|genre= Emerging Readers
 
|summary=I In the small town of Pinewood the people are busy preparing for Christmas. This year they are doing something special to celebrate. Each person will write down a secret wish and tie it to the Christmas tree in the town square. Although nine year old Lily likes this idea she is more than a little sceptical that wishes can come true, no matter how much you may want them to. Then a strange storm blows in and scatters all the wishes across the town. Lily wakes up the following morning to discover that Bug, her pug puppy, can talk! That was not what Lily had wished for but maybe it was someone else's wish? The Christmas magic has definitely gone wrong. Can Lily, her younger brother Jimmy and, of course, Bug put things right before Christmas Day?
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1471405125</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Anthea Bell and Anna Morgunova
 
|title=Vasilisa the Beautiful (Russian Folktales)
 
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=Emerging Readers
+
|genre=Emerging Readers  
|summary=When I say to you the first response I had on picking up this book was 'Ooh, someone knows their Klimt', and that I thought I had seen Kandinsky in the art inside, it tells you the aesthetic is definitely to the fore here. (That latter claim was a bit false – but there's definitely a touch of Picasso.)  Of course there is a story, and a more-than decent story it is too, but with the intriguing, detailed and unusual artwork of Anna Morgunova, this picture book with many words really does come to life.
+
|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>9888342517</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Luke Pearson
 
|title=Hilda and the Troll
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Confident Readers
 
|summary=Hilda, a rather delightful small, blue-haired girl, is never far from an adventure. She is confident and excitable, brave and creative, and her stories are slightly mad, and very, very readable!
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1909263788</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Lindsay Mattick and Sophie Blackall
+
|isbn=0008265836
|title=Finding Winnie: The Story of the Real Bear Who Inspired Winnie-the-Pooh
+
|title=Rory Branagan Detective
 +
|author=Andrew Clover and Ralph Lazar
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
|genre=For Sharing
 
|summary=A little boy called Cole wanted a story.  He particularly wanted a true story and it had to be about a bear.  It was getting late, but Mummy said that she would do her best.  Her story began about a hundred years before Cole was born and it was about a man called Harry Colebourn who lived in Winnipeg.  He was a vet and was on his way to Europe to look after the horses of the soldiers fighting in the Great War when he met a trapper with a baby bear: his head might have said that there was nothing he could do, but his heart told him to get hold of the bear and he gave the trapper $20.  Winnipeg, as he named the bear, went on the train with Captain Coulbourn and his troop, across the ocean and finally arrived in England.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1408340232</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author= Chris Higgins and Lee Wildish
 
|title= My Funny Family Gets Funnier
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre= Emerging Readers
 
|summary= Mattie is nine years old and the second child in a wonderfully big and loving family, where all sorts of very funny things are prone to happen. Like the day Uncle Vez's brother and his wife, Uncle Bruce and Aunty Sheila (not their real names!) turn up on the doorstep. They're visiting from their home in Australia and it isn't long before they're causing quite a stir in the Butterfield household – and beyond.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>144492575X</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Allan Plenderleith
 
|title=The Tiny Tree
 
|rating=3.5
 
|genre=For Sharing
 
|summary=Deep down in the woods there was a tiny pine tree, stranded in a clearing and surrounded by BIG pine trees.  She dreamed of being a big tree and hoped that one day she would be beautifully dressed and surrounded by laughter and love.  The other trees thought that she was being silly.  Actually, they were quite ''nasty'' to her and rather too full of themselves.  Then one day the big machine came and started cutting down trees - and Tiny Tree was cut down by mistake.  But who is going to want a tiny Christmas tree?
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1841613924</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Michael Escoffier and Kris Di Giacomo
 
|title=Take Away the A
 
|rating=3
 
 
|genre=Emerging Readers  
 
|genre=Emerging Readers  
|summary=What happens when you take away the letter 'A' from the word 'Beast'? You get 'Best'! Similarly without the 'B' the 'Bride' goes for a 'Ride' or without the 'C' the 'Chair' has 'Hair'.
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|summary=Ten-year-old Rory Branagan isn't just a normal kid. He's a detective and he has a mystery to solve – why did his dad disappear when he was three? Rory doesn't know where to start but, then, Cassidy moves in next door and he discovers he has an accomplice who is full of ideas. This is just as well as they soon discover a very serious crime: Corner Boy's dad has been poisoned and is at risk of dying but no-one else will believe he's in danger. It's up to Rory and Cassidy to uncover the truth and save a life.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1783443448</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Joseph Garrett
+
|isbn=0192758748
|title=Stampy's Lovely Book
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|title=Horace & Harriet Take on the Town
|rating=3
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|author=Clare Elsom
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
 
|summary=If you still think of Stampy as the elephant in ''The Simpsons'', you need to get with it.  For one thing, TV is so last century – now it's all about Minecraft and other computer game worlds, and often second-screening between different new media at the same time.  So why does this book from a Youtube star of Minecraft tasks, pranks and other activities, remind me of a certain TV programme that used to invite us to turn off and do something more active instead?
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1405281561</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Alan MacDonald and David Roberts
 
|title=Aliens! (Dirty Bertie)
 
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=Emerging Readers
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|genre=Emerging Readers  
|summary=For my sins I have never met Bertie before now – something that from the merits of this book I now think should have been corrected a long time ago. He's a friendly young chap, and we meet him in friendly, short episodes. Here are three of them, which I have to assume is the norm. One shows him quite gullible if well-meaning, the next has him stuck in a situation he dislikes where he still gets the upper hand, and the third is a sustained look at what happens when he starts a hole for himself with a simple, poor decision. He's a lad such as you probably have close by you, he's amiable, he's not too smart, and he's really quite likeable – even if he does apparently have a very snotty nose…
+
|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>184715512X</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author= Tony Ross and Wendy Finney
+
|isbn=Saulles_Bee
|title= Where's Gilbert? The Not So Little Princess
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|title=Bee Boy: Clash of the Killer Queens
|rating= 3.5
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|author=Tony De Saulles
|genre= Emerging Readers
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|rating=4.5
|summary=This title is part of a new series which develops Tony Ross's unforgettable Little Princess for older children reading on their own.  
+
|genre=Emerging Readers  
The Not So Little Princess hasn't really grown out of her teddy bear, Gilbert, but she's old enough to have become self-conscious when her friend Ollie finds her telling stories to the teddy in the garden. She denies and abandons Gilbert.  
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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>1783443049</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Margaret Mahy and Jonathan Allen
+
|isbn=Davidson_Night
|title=The Great White Man-Eating Shark
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|title=Night Zookeeper: The Giraffes of Whispering Wood
 +
|author=Joshua Davidson
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
|genre=Emerging Readers
+
|genre=Emerging Readers  
|summary=This is the story of Norvin who was ''a good actor but rather plain. In fact he looked like a shark…'' There were not many parts in the world of theatre for boys who looked like sharks so Norvin took up swimming. Soon he was able to shoot through the water ''like a silver arrow'' but he found it tedious having to share the delightful space of Caramel Cove with all the other swimmers. Almost every young reader will be able to guess what Norvin did next – but they might not anticipate the way in which his plan goes wrong.
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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>1444014382</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
|author= Michelle Magorian and Sam Usher
+
|isbn=Seuss_Read
|title= Smile
+
|title=I Can Read With My Eyes Shut
|rating= 5
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|author=Dr Seuss
|genre= Dyslexia Friendly
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|rating=4.5
|summary= Josh is tired, fed up and feeling put out and ignored. No, he isn't having a tantrum – something big has happened (well, two things actually) and his world has turned upside down. You see ''The Howler'' has arrived and everything has changed and not, so far, for the better. Baby brother Charlie is just seventeen days old and is not only taking up all of his parents' time, but also stopping everyone in the house from getting enough sleep with his constant howling. Will the crying 'ever' stop? And there's worse because the really terrible thing is the baby's arrival meant a very special event had to be cancelled.  
+
|genre=Emerging Readers
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781125007</amazonuk>
+
|summary=''The more that you read,''<br>
 +
''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=Mandi Kujawa and Claude St Aubin
+
|isbn=Neal_Words
|title=Jacqueline the Singing Crow
+
|title=Words and Your Heart
 +
|author=Kate Jane Neal
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=Emerging Readers
+
|genre=Emerging Readers  
|summary=Meet Jacqueline the crow.  She's perfectly happy up in Canada, with a whole forest of trees to choose from, enough to eat, and a whole sky into which she can thrust her birdsong in celebration. She has, in fact, a lot to crow about. Until she hears humans talk of her as drably black, dumb, and ugly to both look at and to hear. What she chooses to do as a response is a surprise worth discovering in this large format picture book.
+
|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>0992150876</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Jenny Broom and Kristjana S Williams
+
|isbn=Tavares_Red
|title=The Wonder Garden: Wander through the world's wildest habitats and discover more than 80 amazing animals
+
|title=Red and Lulu
|rating=4
+
|author=Matt Tavares
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
+
|rating=4.5
|summary=Is it any wonder that this book calls the outside world The Wonder Garden?  I know things in fiction books, on TV and in games can be fabulous, but can they compete – really – with what nature has presented?  You only need a gate through which to go, and a willingness to explore.  This book provides those gates – there they are, shining luxuriously on the cover of this jumbo-sized hardback. And in five easy-to-take steps, the rest of the book provides for that exploration, taking us down south in Amazonia, down below the waters of the Great Barrier Reef, and up – to deserts and mountains, via Germany's own Black Forest.  And the trip is nothing if not spectacular to look at.
+
|genre=Emerging Readers
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847806473</amazonuk>
+
|summary=Meet Red and Lulu. They're a committed couple of cardinals and they have lived for some time in someone's garden, safely in an evergreen tree. It seems to them that every year people mention their home in a lovely song, which tells the tree thy leaves are so unchanging. But one year, just as the seasons turn for the cold of winter, the tree vanishes, taking Lulu with it…
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=Martin Haake and Georgia Cherry
+
|isbn=Dickens_Search
|title=City Atlas: Discover the world with 30 city maps
+
|title=Search and Find A Christmas Carol
|rating=4
+
|author=Charles Dickens, Sarah Powell and Louise Pigott
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
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|rating=3.5
|summary=It's not every time I mention the feel of the book I'm reviewing, but this time it's worth a mention. This volume has been lavishly presented in a roughened card cover, as opposed to the gloss of others in this format from this publisher, and so looks and feels like an old stamp catalogue.  The title image is indeed a stamp, stuck on the centre of the cover.  And just as all stamps the world over are practically the same yet completely different in design, so are the world's cities. The point of this book is to bring the common elements as well as the unique features of all the world's capitals to the fore, to show that while a city may be a city is a city, their constant variety is what makes each and every one worth a visit. With that being on the costly side, this is a decent enough substitute.
+
|genre=Emerging Readers
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847806481</amazonuk>
+
|summary=Recently I got to applaud a book that branched away from the Where's Wally? style volume, and taught the explorer about a non-fiction subject as they went a-searching. Well, it seems tweaking the form is going to be a big thing, for this book tries yet another different approach – to teach us about a fictional story. They've started at the deep end, with a book hastening towards being two centuries old, and one that has been adapted countless times before now, yet always has people returning to it at a certain time of the year for its ageless lesson. But does the rich content of Dickens, even at his most populist, survive this quirky variation?
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=Shannon Hale, Dean Hale and LeUyen Pham
+
|isbn=Seuss_Eggs
|title=The Princess in Black
+
|title=Scrambled Eggs Super
 +
|author=Dr Seuss
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Emerging Readers
+
|genre=Emerging Readers  
|summary=Princess Magnolia has a double life. On one hand she has a perfectly prim, proper and pink castle turret to live in, on the other she has a secret escape tunnel. On her head she has a tiara, on her finger a monster alarm.  Her life is also full of threats – on one side a horrid, blue, goat-eating beastie, on the other a prim and proper visitor intent on finding out if the perfect Princess has any secrets. Well we know she has, but will they be discovered – and which is the greater threat?
+
|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>0763678880</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Joan Aiken and Quentin Blake
 
|title=Mortimer and the Sword Excalibur
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=For Sharing
 
|summary=If you think about all the many unsuitable items that Mortimer the raven has eaten, from staircases to bowler hats, it's surprising that he's still in as good a shape as he is. This time, Mortimer finds himself left alone with Mrs Jones' sewing machine. I'm still not sure why Mrs Jones ever lets him out of her sight, since he has an unerring capacity for trouble, yet here we find him, gobbling down the pink material that is intended for Arabel's new dress, swiftly followed by the needle!  When Mortimer eventually discovers the foot pedal that makes the sewing machine go he and Arabel are turfed out of the house and allowed to go across the road to the park where a crowd has gathered around an interesting find in a large hole…
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847806929</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

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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