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World - Sophie Dahl/Luciano Lozano (Walker Hb, £12.99)

We Are Family - Lucy Reynolds/ Jenna Herman (Doodles & Scribbles Hb, £12.99) This picture book looks at all the different types of families from big to small; tiny or tall; different parent set ups and styles, each one demonstrated by a type of animal that lives like it. Full of fascinating animal facts, it is a celebration of the many ways young grow up, all equally valid, which can be related to humans. Beautifully illustrated throughout, it encourages children to appreciate different ways of living as well as the importance of conserving wildlife. The Burning Swift - Joseph Elliott (Walker, £7.99) S Jaime is a member of one of the clans living on Skye. There is a lot of animosity between the various clans, but all are under threat when news reaches them of a huge, deadly army from Ingland determined to kill everyone in Scotia. The only way they stand a chance of surviving is to gather all the clans together to fight. With all the old grievances and differences in traditions and ways of living this seems like an impossible task, but Jaime and Agatha are determined to achieve the seemingly impossible. They are helped by Sigrid, a deamhan supposedly one of the enemy, who had risked her life coming to warn them and is definitely on their side. Agatha’s ability to talk to animals proves invaluable as she is forced behind enemy lines while Jaime takes a terrible risk developing his ability to use blood magic. They all show great courage as they face unbelievable dangers. We follow the development of all three characters as the chapters alternate between the three, showing things from each of their perspectives and revealing the discoveries they make about themselves and other people. This really draws the reader in and adds to the excitement of this action-packed story with many breath taking moments that will have you on the edge of your seat. Long novel for older, competent readers. Last in the Shadow Skye series, but you don’t have to have read the others to enjoy this one.

From 17 February there will be 12 new £1 World Book Day books for you to buy with your free book token, or you can put it towards any higher priced book. To celebrate their anniversary each token has a competition written on it to win a magical Harry Potter trip, as well as runners up prizes of Harry Potter books and National Book Tokens. Go to www.worldbookday.com/harrypotter to enter. Good luck, in the meantime here are some other titles to enjoy. Rock Star Detectives - Adam Hills (Puffin, £6.99) Charley and George are living the dream. They are on their first European tour, Charley singing on stage while her best friend, George, films her and posts the videos online, which is how it all began. His film of her singing went viral on YouTube and a career started, not bad for two 12 year olds. Whilst touring their teacher sets them tasks to look for famous objects in local museums and report on them. They enjoy doing this until a priceless painting they had particularly liked goes missing just after they have seen it and suddenly they find themselves questioned by a Dutch policeman, suspected of being art thieves. It all seems too ridiculous to be true, but things take a serious turn when other valuables go missing from each place on their tour and something connected to them is found at the scene of each crime. The policeman seems pretty useless so they need to work out who the thief is to save their tour and keep them from being arrested. Someone is trying to frame them and it must be someone close enough to them to get the incriminating evidence left at each scene. See if you can spot the clues and solve the mystery before them in this amusing, enjoyable story with two endearing lead characters. Fair size print, full length novel.

Ramona and her sister spent all week planning the sleepover she was going to have with her friend Gracie. With midnight feasts, a den to play in, wild dancing lasting all night, it was going to be the best sleepover in history. However, it was soon apparent there were things Ramona didn’t know about Gracie, like her fussy eating and all the other things she didn’t like. It soon became clear Gracie wasn’t as nice as Ramona had thought and the sleepover was far from great, despite mum’s best efforts. Eventually everyone got to sleep and things looked much better the next morning when they woke up to sunshine and the lovely smell of pancakes cooking. So much so, Gracie asked if she could come again next Saturday. You should see mum’s reaction! This is a lovely picture book with striking illustrations adding hilarious details of what poor mum goes through.

Mickey and the Missing Spy - Anne Miller (Oxford, £6.99) Being well established as the human representative of COBRA, the secret group of animal spies, Mickey is keen to meet human spies. When two codebreaking people go missing and she can’t contact her hero codebreaker, Hildegarde, Mickey wants to investigate, but even though there seems to be a connection to previous cases, COBRA won’t help as they don’t want humans to know of their existence. Not wanting to work alone, will she be able to convince Coby and the others to see the benefit of humans and animal spies working together, sharing their different areas of expertise to solve the mystery? This latest story in the series sees Mickey gaining confidence and getting more involved in the working of COBRA, especially helping Bertie. It has all the fun and excitement of previous stories. Fair size print with some pictures to encourage newly developed readers on to a medium length novel.

Debbie

S Marabel - Barbara Wade Rose (Thorel Books)

When the king decided to affix the medals of soldiers to the luminous points of the night sky as a tribute to those who gave their lives in the great war, he saved the best position to the wings of valour medal. The trouble was, no one knew where the recipient was. It was decided that ever helpful Marabel was the best person to find him and bring it home in time for the ceremony, as well as visit storied legends to invite them to the ceremony. Ever resourceful, Marabel set off determined to get back in time for the ceremony. Her ‘to do’ list keeps getting longer as she is asked to perform tasks for various others as well. Luckily she has the magical bee broach which helps her fly through time and space. With various storied legends causing trouble, especially Robin Hood; a gang of dogs trying to become King of beasts and

a mystery man shadowing her every move, chaos reigns supreme. Will Marabel fulfil at least one of her quests and return order to the land? There is so The Chime Seekers Ross Montgomery (Walker, £7.99) much going on in this highly entertaining fantasy Yanni doesn’t like his new home, or the with a myriad of odd characters and situations amount of attention his baby sister, Ari, you’d be forgiven for thinking you had slipped gets. He’s not keen on his cousin, Amy, into Wonderland. It could all make your head spin, and her talk of faeries either. His bad mood but in an enjoyable way! Full length novel for leads him to wish Ari had never been born, competent readers. with disastrous consequences. An evil faerie steals her, leaving a changeling in her place. With Amy’s help a shocked Yanni enters the faerie world to rescue Ari and swap her back. But it is an extremely dangerous quest against a very devious foe, hindered by a vicious changeling. Yanni has many challenging tasks to undertake as he starts to see things from other people’s viewpoint, realising how selfish he has been . This is a thrilling adventure story with many twists and turns and some very funny moments, and characters, to lighten the mood. Long novel for competent readers.

The Runaways of Haddlington Hall Vivian French (Walker, £6.99) After an unfortunate incident Minnie is sent to Haddlington Hall, a home for wayward girls, by Obadiah Marpike. She doesn’t know he has sent her away because she has unsuspectingly seen something that could reveal how he is trying to con people. Minnie’s treatment there is even worse than that dished out to the other girls. Edith the daughter of Lady Lavingly has been sent to see the work of this Charitable Trust but soon realises the motives of Mrs Haddington who runs the home are far from charitable. While Minnie is escaping, Edith sets out to prove Minnie has been unfairly treated and in doing so discovers Marpike’s devious plan, but will the girls find enough proof to be believed? This is an atmospheric story that vividly transports you to Victorian England and its injustices. There is plenty of exciting episodes to keep you gripped to the end. Fair size print, full length novel.