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[[Category:New Reviews|Confident Readers]] __NOTOC__<!-- Remove -->{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Rachel Hamilton1836285493|title=The Case Double Life of the Exploding Brainsa Wheelchair User|author=Rob Keeley|rating=45

|summary= You'd thinkWill is a keen player of video games, a conscientious student, with one parent in prison a slightly annoying brother and the other one hardly ever moving from the sofaa supportive friend. But most of all, that middle he is an aspiring writer. English is his favourite lesson at his school student Noelle Hawkins would have far too many problems on her hands already to start worrying about the occasional little explosion , Marlowe Park, and one at the Science Museumwhich he excels. After allThis hasn't gone unnoticed by his headteacher, Mrs Howarth, and she has suggested to Will and his mum that's the kind he spends a couple of thing that's bound to happen in afternoons a week at a place littered with heaps of seriously wacky inventionsdifferent school, Station Road, right?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>147112133X</amazonuk>where his ability might be better extended.

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Dave Lowe1836282028|title= Squirrel Boy vs the Squirrel Hunter The Fighting Spirit|author=Rob Keeley

|genre=Confident Readers |summary= Ten year old Walter Kettle is an ordinary boy until he eats ''Would you like to adopt a nutghost?'' ''Young spirit, born 1887, seeks kind home to haunt. Gentleman by birth. Good company. Gets on well with other children. Then he transforms into unlikely superhero Squirrel Boy whose only superpowers seem to be Jokes and shocks a large bushy tailspeciality.'' ''If interested, place outside your home three twigs, in the shape of an ability arrow, pointing to climb trees and run very fast, and your front door...'' Hooray! Bookbag favourite Rob Keeley is celebrating a sudden understanding decade of ‘Squirrelish’ (the language used by squirrels). In his second wonderfully entertaining [[Rob Keeley's ''Spirits'' series in Chronological Order|Spirits]] series with a new adventurethat is both a reboot and a continuation. Just like Doctor Who, Edward Fitzberranger, our incorrigible Victorian ghost boy, we join Walter has some new companions. Ruby and Jayden respond to find out whether these unusual powers will be enough to defeat this intriguing advertisement and Edward, who has broken the determined Squirrel Hunter rules as usual and absconded from his manor house home, is adopted by them and save the squirrel population takes up residence in the local park.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1907912738</amazonuk>... a wardrobe!

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Lewis CarrollRob Keeley|title=Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (150th Anniversary Edition with Dame Vivienne Westwood)Childish Spirits: 10th anniversary special edition

|summary=Somewhere the book reviewing gods have Around here, we're big fans of children's author Rob Keeley. He's a list ball of those classic titles that you cannot deny or begrudge their place in literary historyhappy positivity, that are soon to have a 150th birthday party with my name on an invite. That means littlehe understands children, as I – and in fact most people – will of course be reading them on he writes for their unbirthday, but the list does include the current recipient of that honourpleasure and enjoyment, not to lecture or hector.  The ''Alice's Adventures in WonderlandChildish Spirits''. It being long out of copyright anyone can put together a 150th birthday edition for it, but this series is one of the more distinctive efforts, for it comes with the help of Dame Vivienne Westwoodhis greatest achievements. And even though I have [[AliceIt's Adventures in Wonderland (150th Anniversary Edition) by Lewis Carroll and Anthony Browne|spoken before]] a sequence of how I don't take to the bookghost stories centring on Ellie, I a stalwart young girl who can hereby declare this party was made all cope with anything the better for being twice as longspirit world throws at her, and Edward, all courtesy of a spoiled lordling and the presence of Lewis Carroll.first spirit Ellie encounters|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>178487017X</amazonuk>1783064617

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Alexander McCall SmithMax Boucherat|title=Akimbo AdventuresThe Last Life of Lori Mills|rating=4.5

|summary=I amWe meet Lori on the first evening she's got the house to herself – no neighbour to pop in, it must be saidbabysitter poorly, mother at work, something of just an Alexander McCall Smith addictavidly rule-breaking eleven year old, on her lonesome. I have handed out free copies of his books for World Book Night, I met him What could possibly go wrong? Snuggled in Oxford at a literary festivalblanket fort, she has one main intention, and I read pretty much everything he writes as he writes it! This time it’s that is to log on to Voxminer, the world-building, critter-collecting game that is a children’s book, with three stories hit in Lori's world. one volume all about But first Lori has a boy called Akimbotiny inkling that this stormy night doesn't find herself entirely on her own, and then she finds something even more spooky. He lives on For the edge server she and her bestie and nobody else should be able to enter shows signs of a game reserve in Africatampering. When malevolent eyes spark up on her phone screen, and these stories are all about his rather amazing adventures with her safe place in the animals who also share his home.game has been doctored – well, where is a girl to turn?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1405265345</amazonuk>0008666482

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Sarah GarlandKieran Larwood and Joe Todd-Stanton|title=Azzi in BetweenDungeon Runners: Hero Trial|rating=54|genre=For SharingConfident Readers|summary=Our story begins in a country at warMeet Kit. Unfortunately you could probably put Like most of the people in his world, it seems, he is an avid fan of Dungeon Running – the sport where a name team of warrior, mage and healer enter specially prepared, century-old, magical mazes, and race to it (although it isn't named) as it happens all too regularlythe exit, perhaps bothering with the treasure or the big bad and the points they grant you along the way. Our heroine is AzziUnfortunately for Kit, a young girl whose life was not the only thing he''too'' affected by s seen of the latest race on the warinn TV equivalent is that one team has been retired, eaten, but every day it came and a little closernew trio of questors is needed. Her father still worked Possibly very unfortunately indeed for Kit, he has taken to the goading from the token bully of his world and stumbled into declaring he'll enter as a doctor and her mother made beautiful clothesteam. Her grandmother wove warm blankets. Then the day came when they had to run, for their livesWhat chance does this friendless, and escape was by boat and they became refugees. The three of them muscle- for Grandma had been left behind free- had been luckier than most for they were accepted on a temporary basis into another country (again it's not named) zone have in actually managing that, and they had a home, although it was just one room.how could he possibly hope to succeed?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1847806511</amazonuk>1839945184

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Sarah GarlandJames Sherwood Metts|title=Eddie's Tent and How to go CampingPlanet Storyland|rating=4.5|genre=For SharingConfident Readers|summary=MumThings have been a bit sticky for the Earthlings. AI and automation have been proceeding apace, Tom, Tilly, Lily often replacing jobs they're paid to do and Eddie wanted other tasks that took time to accomplish. Just as they were beginning to get used to go on holiday all this technological change and camping seemed like the ideal way starting to think of other, new ways to gospend time, along came an awful pandemic. Lily and Tilly thought it Life was a brilliant idea pretty much shut down and they had some experience, although their 'tent' did look just a little bit like a duvet over a chair. It's surprising what you need for a holiday, but Lily and Tilly had to be told to start again when Mum saw what they'd packed! But finallyalong with it, Tom began to load all the car and off many daily social interactions on which they wentdepend so heavily.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>184780408X</amazonuk>1736128426

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=W AwdryTom Percival|title=Thomas the Tank Engine 70th Anniversary SlipcaseThe Wrong Shoes

|summary=Thomas, if you donWill't know, s life is a little Tank Enginedifficult, who is very quick to build up in a head multitude of steam and move ways. He is bullied because he has 'the wrong shoes', he has the wrong shoes because his coaches dad can't work and trucks around doesn't have enough money for even the train yards most basic of things like food, and networks his dad can't work because he works lost his job at the college, was working a cash-in-hand job ona building site and had an accident. That does mean Throw into that he has to be shown up by mix the larger, slower engines when he continually blows fact that his whistle to disturb their restmum and dad are separated, and can even forget to bring any carriages with him when heWill's pulling a trainlife seems bleak in every direction. And yet, but he does mean wellstill has a tiny amount of hope. He's a warm, feisty little characteris good at art, and was probably always bound to become a bit of a favourite with warm, feisty young readers, especially those brought up with an eye clings to the romance moments of the railways. But joy when he wasn't the first we met in the series is drawing, that in public shorthand feel like a light at least bears his namethe end of a long, dark tunnel.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1405277270</amazonuk>1398527122

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Cathy Hopkins1805141872|title=Mum Never Did Learn to Knock|rating=4|genre=Dyslexia Friendly|summary=#People are worrying about Emily: her Dad and the staff at school are all worried that she's spending a lot of time talking to her Mum. You might think that there's nothing wrong with that - in fact that it's entirely commendable and young people ought to spend more time talking to their parents - but Emily's Mum died a few months ago. Emily has reached the stage of ''hiding'' the fact that Mum appears to her in very real form, perhaps just a little bit ''ghostly'', but then you wouldn't expect her to look just like she was when she was alive, now would you? At school she's sent to see a counsellor, but it doesn't go quite the way that the counsellor was expecting... particularly when Emily asked where people go when they die and the ultimate 'what comes after space?'|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781124957</amazonuk>}}{{newreviewThe Teacher Who Knew Too Much|author=Ally Kennen|title=How to Speak Spook (and Stay Alive)Rob Keeley|rating=4.5

|summary= Everybody knows if you have ''Seventeen banks and a special gift like seeing through walls or the ability to speak giraffe you jeweller’s have to keep it secretbeen raided. If you don'tThe police are baffled, but only Ben knows the truth – his Maths teacher, Miss Judson, is really a safecracker! With police and her gangster boyfriend Al on their trail, men in dark suits Miss Judson and wrap-around shades take you away to experiment Ben go on youthe run. But Al needs them for one last job... (And if it's the wall thing' Goodness me, girls will assume you're spying that Miss Judson is a terror! How on them when they earth did a nice teacher like her manage to get changed mixed up with a bad 'un like Al? We'll find out. Luckily for PE Miss Judson, the pupil who discovers her terrible secret is Ben, the son of a famous magician who has ambitions to be as good as his father some day, and beat you up.) |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1407148753</amazonuk>who thinks Miss Judson is worth saving

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Eric ColossalChristopher Edge|title=Rutabaga the Adventure Chef: Book 1Black Hole Cinema Club

|summary=Meet Lucas and his friends are all booked in for a movie marathon at their local cinema, a place that has the latest adventurer to scour the landnickname of 'The Black Hole'. He has a talent for finding the obscure All big movie fans, they're looking forward to lots of exciting films, and seeking out many, many snacks! However, as the raremovie starts, they very quickly realise that something about this new film format is very different, and surviving all the undignified fates the world has in store. He they are swept up into an adventure they couldn't even has a magical companionimagine. He will be open to any challenge set upon him, But as they lurch from locating dragon-smiting swords one film genre to besting the largestnext, most locally loved, rival. can they figure out what on earth is going on? He is RutabagaWill they ever get back to the cinema, and he is, of course, a chef.to their real lives?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1419715976</amazonuk>1839942738

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Tom McLaughlin Adam Stower|title=The Accidental Prime Minister Murray and Bun|rating=34.5

|summary=What would happen if Murray is supposed to be a shyhumble, slightly clumsytidy and friendly cat, 12 year old boy accidently found himself in one who is able to sleep and eat and eat and sleep and, well, whatever takes his fancy next of the top jobtwo. But he's a bad magician's cat, so his favourite bun has been turned into a hyperactive sticky rabbit called Bun, living in Number Ten and making decisions for the country as Prime Minister? This is catflap they both use can chuck them out, not into the premise behind Tom McLaughlin’s debut middle grade novel regular back garden, but into a world of frightening adventure and the answer whiffs. This time round it drops them into a Viking land, where a troll hunter is simple expected – there’d be national ‘Fancy Dress Friday’ every week (on a Thursday)well, high fives would be used instead of handshakesone much bigger than Murray was, jelly would to be available on the NHShonest, but he's turned up and one day every month the pupils would get he'll have to be the teachers. do…|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0192737740</amazonuk>0008561249

{{newreviewFrontpage|author= Derek Keilty Alex Bell and Jonny DuddleTim McDonagh|title= Will Gallows and the Wolfer's Deadly MagicThe Glorious Race of Magical Beasts

|summary=Will Gallows Eli is just a week away from being busy lad – by day an apprentice in the wondrous library we start by visiting with him, and in the evening a fully-fledged member of helper at the Sky Cavalry – dessert cafe his gran owns and runs. Eli lives with his talkinglovely gran, winged horse too – for there is even more keen on hitting a generation missing in the passing out ceremony on the nosefamily. But things arenA few short years ago, Eli't s parents were both lost to the titular race, a globe-trotting adventure where all going entrants have to go their way – Mid-Rock City has received a blackmail note, extorting navigate the world in the town out of a lot of gold for threat company of a 'death mace', of which nobody has ever heardmagical beast. Certain factors all point This has made the race anathema to Will being the best cadet pair – but when a bad incident at the eatery leads to a confession from gran, Eli knows his only hope is to dare to take part in nixing enter what he most hates, with the handover to sole aim the criminal, not least prize of which is his half-hidden secret magic skill due to being part-elf at the end – but as soon as it's realised who the baddy is, things immediately step up a gearonly thing to possibly save his gran. And if that isn't bad enough, Will's grandma and great-uncle have just turned up for a pleasant trip based around his graduation…|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1783440597</amazonuk>0571382231

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Kate PankhurstHelen Cooper|title= Mariella Mystery Investigates: A Kitty Calamity The Taming of the Cat|rating=43.5|genre= Confident Readers |summary= When Mariella Mystery (amazing girl detectiveOnce again, mice are pitched against cat. In this case, aged nine principally, we have Brie the mouse, up against Gorgonzola the cat – and in case you're seeing a bit) connection, they live in a cheese shop and therefore all the other Mystery Girls – Violet and Poppy – start names used here seem to investigate be the disappearance names of their neighbour’s cat they think it’s going to be an easy casecheeses. Anyway, Brie is shunned, scorned and, if you must, mous-tracised, for the way his habits don't match the other mice he lives with. Aren’t missing cats usually just stuck They nibble up a tree or off visiting a house where there’s tastier food? But paper wrapping from the cheese for bedding – he displays it as art and makes stories based on the girls’ views begin to change visuals on it. And that story-telling will come in handy one night, when more he feels all alone and more cats start cast out. It's almost as if there were another character from fable who had had to tell stories to disappearkeep themselves alive. Soon everyone This makes Brie the top dog in Puddleford is worried. The situation is suddenly serious and it’s up to the Mystery Girls to put an end mouse community, though, as all the others had the chance to half-inch some cheese while the catnappingcat was distracted. But will the story have the successful sequel it needs when that cheese runs out?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1444012320</amazonuk>0571376010

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=R D ShanksLauren St John|title=Merlin and Guinevere: A Happenstance Meeting: Volume 1Finding Wonder

|summary=Merlin is both ordinary and specialRoo's life has become almost impossibly difficult. He is living a quiet Her mum died when she was young, ordinary life with his father and now she finds herself awoken in the middle of the night by the police banging on her door to tell her that her dad has dropped dead on his quiet, ordinary villageway to the corner shop to buy a lottery ticket. Murrow is a fisherman and he and his son have a great relationship When asked what other family she has, supportive and loving. So farshe can only name her aunt, so ordinaryJoni, right? But Merlin isnwho she knows her dad didn't like the other boysthink very highly of. While they are raucous But she has no one else, and socialso off she goes to live with her unreliable aunt. Things continue to get worse for Roo, Merlin is quiet as when she and contemplative. His best friend isn't another boy; itJoni leave London in Joni's Happenstanceold campervan, his cat. Murrow and Merlin might not realise it but breaks down in the reader will - there's something special about Merlin.middle of nowhere and then bursts into flames! Poor Roo!|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1505689740</amazonuk>0571376169

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=BarrouxAdam Baron and Benji Davies|title=WhereOscar's the Elephant?|rating=5|genre=For Sharing|summary=We've all had great fun with books such as ''Where's Wally'', haven't we? They appeal to children and adults and everyone who has seen ''Where's the Elephant?'' has jumped in with great enthusiasm, keen to show just how observant they are. We start off with a forest - actually it's the Amazon Rainforest - full of glorious colours and our three friends, who are hiding in there. Elephant is probably the easiest to spot, but Snake and Parrot are in there too and with a little concentration you'll find them. When you turn the page you'll scan the trees again and discover their hiding places. You even wonder if it might get a little ''boring'' if it goes on like this.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1405271388</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Sarah Forbes|title=Elspeth Hart and the School for Show-offsLion|rating=3.5

|summary=ImagineWe start incredibly bluntly, dear readerwith Oscar hoping to have his mother – or father, but mother is more likely – read him his very favourite book a poor girl who couple of times before he has to be ready for school. But when he enters his parents' bedroom, all he sees is never allowed a mahoosive male lion on their bed, looking sheepish, and admitting that he won't be hungry for another two days. But there are benefits to having a lion around – it can be shown as an unspoken threat to play outside like the bully that ruined a birthday party for Oscar the other childrenmonth. Instead And it can shapeshift, she has so he can take it to school and it can get him out of a problem. And it's wonderful to spend her day performing horrid choreshave around the house – not limiting his biscuit intake, like sweeping up mouse-droppings in being much more lax about the creepyrules, dark cellar and shooing away the cockroaches in the kitchenso on. So begins OK, it can't work a long list of woes for shy Elspeth Hart, who toils tirelessly during the day and spends her nights sleeping in dimmer switch but it can give Oscar a dusty, cramped wardrobewonderful time.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1847155952</amazonuk>0008596751

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Sophie CleverlyJudith Eagle|title=Scarlet and Ivy The Lost TwinStolen Songbird

|summary=IvyCaro's twin sister Scarlet had been the strong willedmother, fearless one whilst Ivya world-famous whistler, on the has failed to return home from her recent work trip abroad and is now missing. Her other handmother, Ronnie, was timid is having to go up North to take care of her sister who is unwell. So who is going to look after Caro? Sent to stay with Gam, someone Caro has heard her mother despises, she feels frustrated and shyconfused and worried. Following Scarlet's sudden death Ivy is forced All her summer holiday plans of building herself some equipment to take practise her twingymnastics are brought to a halt whilst she is stuck inside this staid old Victorian lady's place at the sinister Rockwood Boarding School for girls and once house, along with an orphan boy, Albie, who is living there too. But she soon finds herself thrust into caught up in a mystery , as she struggles to solve. Her only hope is to behave as Scarlet would have done, so with the help discovers a painting of a bird hidden away inside her new friendmum's old suitcase, Ariadne, Ivy attempts to conquer her fears and stand up all across London a fearsome gang called the Snakes are thieving artworks and terrorising people. Is the painting somehow linked to the wicked Miss Fox and discover gang? And what really has happened to her sister.Caro's mother? Is she somehow involved in the mystery too?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0007589182</amazonuk>0571363148

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Sam WatkinsTania Unsworth|title=Creature TeacherNowhere Island|rating=4.5

|summary=Jake’s nervous about starting his new schoolMeet Gil. His class teacher, Mr Hyde Just twelve, he is so determined to escape the care system – the system that constantly puts him in futureless places that are not homes – and find a home for himself. He is new too buten route to yet another fosterer, unlike Jakewhen he jumps into an anonymous car, he has a reason and lets it ride him to his future. That future seems to be worried. Although class 5b quickly decide in jeopardy when someone steals his one bag of belongings – but that Mr Hyde is someone lives with his brother in a camp on an island between the best teacher they’ve ever hadtwo directions of a motorway, they also discover a problem – whenever he experiences a strong emotion Mr Hyde starts place inaccessible and definitely ignored enough to glow provide for their safety and seclusion. Them, and transforms into a naughty, fartingmute girl also finding a home there, biscuit-loving creaturealbeit so much more successfully. Suddenly Over a few weeks we see if their teacher oddball destinies can combine, or if this is wrecking the classroom and they need to work together to find a way to turn the creature back into their teacher before their evil headmistress finds out.one place where life as we would want it just would not work…|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0192742655</amazonuk>1804540080

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Kris HumphreyHelen Peters|title=A Whisper of WolvesFriends and Traitors

|summary=Alice England, WW2. Two young girls are new at the country pile called Stanbrook. One is a WhispererNancy, able destined to communicate with be in service all her animal companionlife it seems, Storm like the wolffemale generations before her. It's The other is Sidney, a girl from a gift hoity-toity Sussex boarding school that inspires awe has been removed there away from bomber flight-paths. The girls are chalk and fear cheese, and if we hadn't guessed that then their behaviour with each other over their first encounters would only prove it so. But something is amiss, and first separately and then in combination they realise the villagers she servesLord Evesham must be a rum 'un. A Whisperer is a guardian Midnight deliveries are received under cover of the wildssecrecy, protector talk is made of naturemeetings with Germans, and not only that, a local Spitfire factory has been attacked. But surely the only ones able to fight back against girls are wrong, and the demonic Narlaw.upper class could never be so underhand?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1847155960</amazonuk>1788004647

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Simon NicholsonJamie Littler|title=Young Houdini: The Magician's FireArkspire

|summary= As it happensTwo sisters, several facts about the childhood of Juniper and Elodie, born fifteen minutes apart, are growing to be chalk and cheese. Juniper is an eager hunter and trader in illicit magic, including relics from prior major wars left out in the man who became world famous for his daring stunts and death-defying shows have been recordedBadlands. But fiction Elodie is intent on getting closer to power in one of the world religious districts of what-ifArkspire, where anything can be imaginedperhaps even to become the child in line to inherit the power of the Watcher, anything can happen. So what if all those 'facts' were actually a cover, made up the closest to conceal Houdini's earliest exploits? What if, as a boyruler the district has, he ended up far away from his and one of the five major victors in said earlier war. Being trained in the magic that only five people can use would definitely change the status of the whole family and his native Hungary and all alone . But in New Yorkfinding something oddly magical, having to earn a few meagre pennies each day by shining shoes? And what if his fascination with theatre life led him into dangers even greater than anything he was Juniper might just be able to create in his later stage act?gain some power of her own – for good, or for very, very bad…|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0192734741</amazonuk>0241586143

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=M G Harris024162343X|title=Gerry Anderson's Gemini Force One, Black HorizonStolen History|author=Sathnam Sanghera|rating=3.5|genre=Confident ReadersChildren's Non-Fiction|summary=Life is changing very fast for Ben CarringtonI was the bad company other people got into at school. He is at I was disruptive in religious education classes because I disputed the opening existence of a huge skyscraper hotel his late father founded in Abu Dhabi when disaster strikes – the chap is hardly cold in his grave when Ben's mum and god'. Where was the lad have to prove how adept they are at her old jobproof? In history lessons, of mountain rescueit was probably worse still. She feels like setting up a new rescue agency with her nous and Not too long after the family fortunesend of WWII, but someone who can just amble into I didn't so much want to learn about the opening/memorial ceremony is Jason TrubyBritish army's successes (and occasional failures, a monumentally rich Internet magnate, who actually has a modern-day but we didn't dwell on those) in what came to be called 'Thunderbirdsthe colonies'' entity already, as want to dispute what right the army had to be there in the top secret Gemini Forcefirst place. Truby starts to get close to the family of twoLooking back, I still believe I was right - but I regret that I lacked the school-aged Ben isnmaturity to approach 't going to be allowed to learn just what dramatic escapades the agency has to cover – is he?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444014064</amazonuk>problem' politely. I wish I'd had Sathnam Sanghera's ''Stolen History''.

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Geoff RodkeyThiago de Moraes|title=The Tapper Twins Go to War (With Each Other)Old Gods New Tricks|rating=4.5

|summary=There are two kinds Meet Trixie. Forever getting into scrapes, larks and adventures involving flooding the school aircon with fart powder, she could almost be thought a young goddess of children in this nuisance. But just when she's being told that by her one-last-chance-giving headteacher, the worldchanges. Suddenly, those who are repulsed by fartspractically everything electronic stops working – a power-out, even of electric cars, hits not just the town the school's in but the entire planet (apart from mobile phones, and those who delight in letting them ripall that powers the Internet, or regale their friends just for their efforts our convenience's sake). Trixie, luckily, realises what has happened – or wilfully accuse the innocent ancient Gods have taken the power of dropping onepower from us. You can argue til the cows come home as And so she begins her epic quest, to what gather all the ratio of those two camps is people that can steal it back – which is pretty much what Claudia and Reese, two 12-year old siblings in New York City, do – argue. This time namely the problem is characters from myth that Reese loudly announced his sister to have a windy arse right past form in stealing from the middle of Gods, ie the school canteensemi-deities, which led her to retaliate with a means to make him embarrassingly smellygiants, which led him to – well, let's just say that when Claudia defines half-gods and so on known as the result as war, she's not far offtricksters.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1444014978</amazonuk>178845295X

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Jennifer Gray Hannah Gold and Hannah GeorgeLevi Pinfold|title=Chicken Mission: The Curse of Fogsham FarmFinding Bear

|summary=Life is hard for a chicken. Threat comes from anywhere you look – which is where the Elite Chicken Squad comes in. [[Chicken Mission: Danger in the Deep Dark Woods The Last Bear by Jennifer GrayHannah Gold|Last time]] they , April had been on Bear Island, a nasty fox lot further north than many people would venture, and his friends to counter, finding a ridiculously unexpected but this time they've got it worsedelightful friendship with a polar bear – that she called Bear. A local legend speaks of Back home, things on the domestic and family front are a vampire minkbit advanced, concerned only with draining all fowl of their bloodbut not perfect for her, and all indications suggest so can easily be ignored when word comes through from the legend is actually a lot more real and worryingislands Bear was last left on. Even the barman – sorry, barFor a bear doing very Bear-chicken, Ichabod Comb, y things has vanished after an attack on his juice barbeen shot and wounded. WhatDesperate to make sure he's moreOK, it seems she and her father return to the mink's victim becomes Arctic and hope that in a zombie soldier, fighting for her cause. Can the three plucky stalwarts world of the Squad – Amyvery white and very dangerous things, Boo she can find one specific white and Ruth dangerous thing – prove themselves a match for such evil?and that the friendship can continue.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>057129829X</amazonuk>0008582017

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Elen CaldecottSimon Fox|title=Diamonds and Daggers - The Marsh Street MysteriesDeadlock

|summary=Group of pre-teens get together to solve Late one night Graham Blake is late back from his shift on the force, and then suddenly rings Archie, demanding he fetch something from a mystery? Been theresecret place, done thatand join him on the run. But don't be fooled. This book stands out from the crowd They get together, even though it has but barely begin to be said that many smell the whiff of those detective stories are really very goodSouthern trains when the father is arrested, for leaving Archie on the way it incorporates utterly contemporary issues like economic migrationlate express to Brighton, celebrity and prejudicetoting a tin his father was determined to keep away from his colleagues, while remaining both funny and thrillingthe bearer of a whole heap of questions.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1408847523</amazonuk>1839944420

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Aby King and Sam UsherCath Howe|title=Lupo and the Secret of Windsor CastleMy Life on Fire|rating=45

|summary=Based on the Duke and Duchess of CambridgeRen's real dogfamily home is destroyed in a fire. She, this is Lupo's storyher parents, and although it uses the real Royals it isher little brother lose everything. She doesn't have any of her clothes, or any of courseher special little knick-knacks from her cupboard, a fictional story as you soon realise with the talking mice from MI5 and the evil villain in the form of one of the Queennow she is living at her grandmother's Dorgihouse where they can's (t touch anything, or do anything, or even eat the foods they normally eat. When she goes back to school she discovers that the class are doing a cross between a corgi special art project, creating boxes of their lives, to display things that are important to them and show who they are as a Dachshund)person. If you're looking for But Ren has nothing to put in a fantasy animal adventurebox, and so she finds herself starting to steal things. Small things, with plenty of actionthings that people might not really miss, then look no furthernot when they have so much already. But what will happen to her if someone finds out what she is doing?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1444921444</amazonuk>1839942835

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Linda Chapman and Kate HindleyRob Keeley|title=Best Friends' Bakery: Cupcakes The Boy Who Disappeared and ContestsOther Stories

|summary=Hannah's Hooray! Bookbag favourite TV show Rob Keeley is Junior Brilliant Baker, and when she hears that they are auditioning for new contestants for back with a return to the show she simply can't wait short story format! The Boy Who Disappeared treats us to apply. She rushes to tell her best friend, Miaeleven new tales, about the competition each 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 fun to everything they've imagined?read as his previous offerings.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1444011928</amazonuk>B0BVW69N1G

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Frank Cottrell BoyceLaura Noakes|title=The Astounding Broccoli Boy|rating=4.5|genre=Confident Readers|summary=Rory Rooney is a boy who likes to be prepared. His mum owns a book titled ''Don't Be Scared, Be Prepared'' and he knows every page of it. Rory is the type of boy who knows how to survive a hippo attack. Then one day on a school trip Rory turns green. Not pale, feeling a bit queasy green but bright broccoli green all over. Even Rory isn't prepared for this.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1405054670</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Meg Cabot|title=Notebooks of Cosima Unfortunate Steals a Middle-School PrincessStar

|summary=Meet Number One. Or rather, Cosima Unfortunate. Or rather, just Cos to her friends. The author of practice in the hugely successful ''Princess Diaries'' has written a brand-new series home she lives in is for younger the girlsto just be named by the number they correspond to in the ledger, and they're all Unfortunates – young people with disabilities, telling uncommon mentalities or suchlike that Victorian society frowns greatly upon. But Cosima bears the story of awkward middle-school student Olivia Grace. She discovers that her father is actually tag as a surname because nothing else seems to be known about where she came from, as the Prince of Genoviafirst ever inmate, making her..and unique in having no known family in the outside world. During a princess! Not everyone responds well daring escapade to steal some posh cakes from the newskitchen one afternoon, however, and poor Olivia is soon thrown into she discovers a plan involving said outside world of jealous bullies– a devilish Lord Fitzroy seems to want to adopt all the girls for his Institute. But why, intrusive paparazzi, disgruntled relatives and a whole new family what does that body entail? And could it possibly bring Cos closer to the past she never knew existed.has so little link with?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1447280652</amazonuk>0008579059

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Heidi SchulzAlice M Ross|title=Hook's DaughterThe Nowhere Thief|rating=34.5

|summary=Captain Hook's daughterAt last there is new stock in the impoverished yet over-full antiques shop Elsbeth and her mother run in a seaside town. Elsbeth knows this because she has stolen it. She also knows she should be free from worries about being found out, Jocelynbecause she has the ability to leave this world, dreams and use an unworldly portal of being a pirate like her infamous fatherkaleidoscope colours to enter other worlds, but instead gets sent to finishing schoolwhere the sea levels are rising dramatically and the buildings are generally empty of humans and ripe for plunder. Sailing With eviction imminent, can Elsbeth nab anything to Neverland after escapingactually generate custom at the shop? Well yes, she swears revenge on is the crocodile that killed the notorious pirateanswer, but is saddled with the fact a crew who perhaps aren't the most bloodthirsty pirates on the seven seas, then meets up with several characters who'll be familiar to readers of ''Peter Pan''. Can she fulfil her quest?mysterious man knows exactly which items come from these different Somewheres only raises more questions…|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1910002216</amazonuk>1839943769

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Rene Goscinny and Albert Uderzo Natasha Farrant|title=Asterix Omnibus 9 The Rescue of Ravenwood|rating=4.5

|summary=If I had to pinpoint when my obsession with reading startedThis story is another excellent adventure from the author of ''Voyage of the Sparrowhawk''. Ravenwood is an old house, I would say it was when I discovered in the adventures North of Asterix England, where Bea and his rotund pal ObelixRaffy have been living for most of their lives. I would walk down to my local village Library after school They are part of a complex, extended family arrangement, as Bea is there with her Uncle Leo, and pick up 8 adventuresRaffy is there with his mum, only to read them overnight and set off the next day for morethey are living together as a family. The fun visualsThey have grown up swimming in the cove, bright colours and daft characters really appealed to me thenroaming through the trees, but what about completely at one with all of the nature around the children house and loving every inch of today? the place. Is there enough in But now thehouse is under threat, up as Leo is under pressure from his other two brothers to sell the property to a developer as it's becoming more and more expensive to maintain. The children find themselves worrying not only about where they're going tolive, 60 year old adventures to appeal?but if they'll even be together, and if Ravenwood itself will be torn down.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1444009664</amazonuk>0571348785

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Ulf Nilsson Robin Birch and Gitte SpeeJobe Anderson|title=Detective GordonSecret Beast Club: The First CaseUnicorns of Silver Street

|summary=Vladimir Jayden's nose is not happyforever in a book, which means he knows a lot about mythological creatures – the phoenixes and unicorns of the world, for example. Someone has been at his nutsAisha is addicted to her new tablet, where she can see videos of anything that might be out there. YesThe problem, as their mothers see it, is that they are never 'out of his stores of several thousand nutsthere' themselves, Vladimir exploring the squirrel has been robbed outside world of Hackney, London. But when a couple hundrednarrowboat turns up carrying a science-minded, educational purpose, and if the truth be known hewith a past involving Jayden's not the first in the forestcousin, they find a magical world they never knew existed. But at least heFor many of those mythological creatures are real, including the one Aisha thinks she's gone for seen on a bit of local footage. The crew of the help of Detective Gordonboat, including a living gargoyle, are tasked with saving the rare critters – and the police authority throughout kids unknowingly have the woodlandmagical sight needed to join in. Tasked Dare they side with making sure it was a crime of noteLeila, the woman on board, and of solving it if necessary, Gordon has got seriousher relative who lives as a figure in a painting, and staked out Vladimir's pantry until he's frozen solid. Which is not good when you're a toad. But even with his many years become saviours of experience behind him, Gordon could never predict what happens after he sees someone steal a further nut from the stash…unseen?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1927271509</amazonuk>0241573483

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=B09XWSXSKY|title=Eve Furnari Maestro Orpheus and Alison Entrekin (translator)the World Clock|titleauthor=Fuzz McFlopsRobert Penee and Joanne Grodzinski|rating=3.54

|summary=Meet Fuzz McFlopsFrederick (or Fred, but never Freddy, please) couldn't sleep. He's the most famousA tune, reclusive rabbit author there is – reclusive due to one ear being much shorter than rather like the other. He's been miserable for that reason so long, it takes one ticking of a clock was playing over and over in his fans mind. It happened every time he came to point out how much brighter visit his poems and stories could be with an injection of warmth and fungrandfather. But just as some people are 'happy being sadHe hadn't really wanted to come; after all, so Fuzzhe's life ten now and temperament will be forced all those old clocks don't appeal to change with him anymore. ''Who needs old clocks anyway? All they do is tell the arrival of heart, humour and lovetime. But first And time isn't good for anything...'' And that was why he would have was looking at the clock beside the bed. It was nearly twelve o'clock but at midnight the clock chimed only six times. There was nothing for it but to welcome that arrival…|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1782690751</amazonuk>go and find grandad - but where was he? And why had all the clocks stopped at twelve o'clock?