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Star Read
I have read so many great books so far this year it has been really hard to decide which ones to feature and worse still, which to leave out of this selection. To include them all would have filled most of the magazine , so here are some of the best.
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Reading Beauty -Deborah Underwood/ MegD Hunt (Chronicle, £6.99)
Usher (Welbeck Hb, £12.99)
They say she shares their ability and should join them to help defeat a brainwashing plot. As she comes to terms with this news her hopes are dashed - she can’t read people’s minds at all, but she can read the minds of animals, what use could that be? Actually, very useful as she is about to discover in this first book of a new series. It is a clever mix of exciting adventure written in a very funny style that will have you laughing aloud. Fair size print, some pictures encourage readers onto full length novels.
The story of a tree’s long life told in its own words. Starting as an acorn it starts to grow in a huge park full of other fully grown trees. As it grows changes happen around it. Land is cleared for farms, trees are chopped down to make ships and their space taken by more houses as a village develops into a town. Over time the town grows and grows and new inventions appear as hedges and meadows disappear and animals leave. The tree grows older standing alone, but children still play around it and it grows acorns that would complete the circle and grow into a tree to witness whatever the future holds. This is a lovely story that is both entertaining and informative and surprisingly touching considering the narrator is a tree! The wonderfully expressive pictures show details of what is happening as times change and there is an historical timeline and life cycle of a tree at the end giving more information. Again, it is told in rhyme making it easier to read.
Arctic Star - Tom Palmer (Conkers, £6.99)
Text © D J Williams 2021
An Alien in the Jam Factory - Chrissie Sains (Walker, £6.99)
22.
12 July - 11 October 2021
The Summer I Robbed a Bank David O’Doherty (Puffin, £6.99)
Walker and the Mystery of the Missing Millions
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Shoo Rayner (Firefly, £6.99) His mother’s allergy stops Walker keeping a dog but he uses his amazing ability to be able to talk to them by walking his neighbour’s dog and making friends with as many others as he can. With the aid of his dog friends, this gift allows him to send millionaire to prison for setting up a puppy farm. This leaves the man’s wife penniless, desperate to find where his money went and too distracted to look after her dogs. Stepping in to look after the dogs, Wallace’s help is also needed to solve the clues to the missing money, but unscrupulous men are also after it. This puts him in real danger, could canine help be at hand? This is an amusing story full of excitement and-loveable doggy characters. Fair size print and some pictures help developing readers.
Sequins and Secrets - Lucy Ivison
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(Usborne, £6.99) Sylvia loves to draw designs for clothes, but can’t make them. Myrtle is an accomplished seamstress who can make up any design she sees, but can’t design them herself. If only the two could get together.... They do meet , but-in awkward circumstances - Sylvia is a duke’s daughter, Myrtle a maid and in 1920’s society the two shouldn’t mix. They come together to save Sylvia’s sister from a disastrous dress for her débutante ball. The dress is a huge success and both girls hope it will be the first step in their ambitions in the fashion industry, but discovery of their involvement could have terrible consequences for both. Their next project to help a friend escape her débutante life is exciting but even more risky and things definitely do not go according to plan. See what happens in this unputdownable first book in the new series ‘The House of Serendipity’. It is full of atmospheric details of the time that makes the period come to life, not to mention lots of fashion illustrations. Medium length novel.
Loving the sea, it isn’t surprising friends Frank, Joseph and Stephen enlist in the Royal Navy as World War One begins. Nothing could have prepared them for the hardships they have to face as their ship is part of an Arctic convoy protecting supplies to Russia. Not only are the arctic conditions really treacherous, scraping ice from the ship knowing a fall into the freezing water could mean instant death; but they are constantly aware of likely German attacks by air and sea. When disaster strikes, it is unlikely they will all make it home. This is a tense, atmospheric story drawing the reader in by putting them at the heart of the action and emotions of the characters. We experience the hardships they face and their sense of loss as well as the comfort their friendships bring. A gripping story, I couldn’t put it down. Fair size print and some pictures encourage readers onto medium length novels. The Elephant
Scooter may have limited agility due to his cerebral palsy but his brain is full of brilliant ideas which he puts to good use inventing recipes and equipment for the family’s award winning jam factory. He loves doing it, but it makes him lonely; he can’t have a pet as it would be unclean and visiting friends would find out the secrets of the factory. It is important these are kept, especially from their neighbour, Daffy Dodgy who runs a doughnut shop and would do anything to discover their secrets. Scooter’s life changes when a tiny alien called Fizzbee literally crashes into the factory causing a lot of damage. Scooter thinks she is going to be a nuisance, but soon discovers things aren’t what they seem and Fizzbee turns out to be very handy, especially dealing with Daffy. An entertaining story full of laughs showing the importance of friendship. With fairsize print and lots of pictures to encourage new readers.
Indicates a book is part of a series
Rex isn’t the bravest person around, not least of all due to his mother who mollycoddles him. A summer holiday spent with his uncle Derm on a remote Irish island is going to be a bigger challenge than he could imagine changing his life forever. He loves his rather madcap uncle whose approach to Rex is very different from his mothers’. When Rex befriends Kitty her adventurous nature starts to rub off on him, pushing him to try new things. But the discovery of his uncle’s really audacious scheme to rob a bank is a step too far... or is it? Derm is full of good intentions, but not very good at planning. In fact the plan, or lack of one, can only lead to him being caught, so Rex steps in. But even the best laid plans can be ruined by unforeseen problems, and it is safe to say everything that could go wrong does. Will Rex and his uncle end up in prison or will they find a way to save themselves and Derm’s future? Find out in this exciting story with endearing characters, a clever mix of high adventure and almost slapstick fun. It will have you laughing out loud and unable to put it down. Just when you think things can’t get any worse — they do! Fair size print encourages readers onto medium length novels.
Princess Lex loved reading all day and night, not surprising as she lived in a place full of book lovers. Imagine her horror waking up on her fifteenth birthday to find all her books had gone. Worse still, it was her parents who had taken them. Their reason was even more shocking - it was to keep Lex safe. Apparently her christening had been interrupted by a fairy furious at not being invited (even though the King and Queen insisted she had been). Her revenge was to curse Lex to get a paper cut on her fifteenth birthday putting her into a death like sleep. Without books the whole world grew bleak, Lex knew she had to get the fairy to withdraw the Opi Jones Talks to Animals curse, but she needed help. Managing to find and Nat Luurtsema (Egmont, £6.99) read some books without holding them she set S Despite her actor parents, Opie likes off to the fairy’s lair. Using the knowledge gained order and routine considering herself from the books, Lex overcome all the obstacles to be ordinary. Being shy she doesn’t put in her way and met the fairy who wouldn’t remove the curse. Until Lex made not one, but two really have any friends. Lately strange things have been happening with surprise discoveries, which changed everything. a lot of fights breaking out at her This a charming story aided by detailed, colourful usually well behaved school and many illustrations and told in rhyme which helps newly children are being excluded. Stranger still, Opie meets developing readers. members of the ‘resistance’ who can all read minds.
What Did the Tree See? - Charlotte Guillan/ Sam
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in the Room
Holly Goldberg Sloan (Piccadilly, £6.99) Sila is missing her mum who has been away in Turkey for over a year trying to sort out her immigrations papers. It wasn’t supposed to take long but nothing seems to be happening. The sadness is affecting every aspect of her life, including school work. Things are made worse when she is made to ‘pair’ with autistic Mateo supposedly to bring each other out. This doesn’t go well at first, but Sila’s life is changed by a chance meeting with Gilo who was married to Slila’s much loved ex teacher. He has just won the lottery and owns a big stretch of land. This comes in handy when he decides to buy Veda, a circus elephant Sila admires. Suddenly Sila’s life has new purpose with new friends which bring about a surprisingly happy consequence. This is an uplifting story showing what can be achieved when friends work together. It is a clever mix of moving and happy moments which will keep you gripped to the end. Medium length novel.
