Children Book Reviews

Name: Sharon Porter
11 July 2022;

Genre: Friends and family

Want a great summer read which will keep you turning pages, wanting to know more? Then The Mermaid Call is the book for you. It's a cracking tale of intrigue, suffrage and being true to yourself. The characters ebb and flow (pardon the watery pun!) and how the theme of reinven...

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Name: Sam Green
09 July 2022;

Genre: Adventure

The Extraordinary Voyage of Katy Willacott takes us back in time to the end of the Victorian era, when the Natural History Museum first opened and voyages of exploration were still bringing new plants back to Kew Gardens to record and study.  Katy Willacott's parents bo...

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Name: Jacqueline Harris
08 July 2022;

Genre: Family & Home

Cymbeline Igloo, the boy with the best name in children's literature, is back, in this his fourth outing. Some Sunny Day takes place during the pandemic, in the early days of the first lockdown. Cymbeline has online lessons and is missing his friends. His mother is completely...

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Name: Kelly Buxton
07 July 2022;

Genre: Bereavement

Birdsong is a solemn read about a girl whose life is splintered into tiny pieces when she and her mum are involved in a car crash. The crash leaves the girl with a scarred arm, resulting in the shattering of her promising flute career. The story follows a melody of grief: for...

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Name: Elen Green
07 July 2022;

Genre: Historical Fiction

Cuckoo Summer is one of those books that you know is going to find a natural place alongside books like Goodnight Mr Tom (Michelle Magorian) and The Valley Of Lost Secrets (Lesley Parr); there is so much to recommend about it. Jonathan Tulloch's writing takes you straig...

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Name: Elen Green
07 July 2022;

Genre: Funny Stories

A Beginner's Guide to Ruling the Galaxy is a fabulous read and children looking for a book packed with adventure and laughs - and a spaceship or two - will love it. Gavin is an ordinary child who attracts unwanted attention in the form of Niki, his new neighbour, who ta...

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Name: Lauren Maidman
07 July 2022;

Genre: Fantasy

Dragon Storm: Mira and Flameteller is the third instalment in the Dragon Storm series. The story is set in the city of Rivven, where dragons once ruled. The only problem now is that a King rules and he hates dragons. He also doesn’t know there is a group of yo...

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Name: Sue Wilsher
06 July 2022;

Genre: Family & Home

Cymbeline Igloo is not enjoying lockdown. He hates not being allowed to play football or see his friends and he is struggling with on-line learning. As he struggles to cope with boredom, his mum seems determined to clean the whole house from top to bottom. Desperate to avoid her touching thing...

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Name: Jenny Caddick
05 July 2022;

Genre: Magical Realism

The most gloriously, richly illustrated cover of this book opens and takes the reader into a darkly intriguing and imaginative fantasy adventure that blends perfectly with a very real, central theme of child labour and the culture of exploitation of the poor by the wealthy. Set in India...

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Name: Donna Burkert
05 July 2022;

Genre: Magical Realism

Nura wants what she can't have: money, wealth and power. Her days are long and difficult, mining for mica; it's a dirty and dangerous job but she does it to help her mum, to bring some extra money into the family, to help give her younger siblings a little extra. But what she really wants is t...

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