Schools & Libraries Book Reviews

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  • Crongton Knights: Winner of the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize

    Crongton Knights

    Name: Carol Williams
    25 November 2016;

    Genre: Adventure

    McKay and his friends are 14 year olds growing up and finding their way in South Crongton, a tough housing estate, where gangs are at war with each other and it is almost impossible not to get involved. However, get by they do, and it is their friendship, and the strength of their families, that...

  • The Diabolic

    The Diabolic

    Name: Charis
    25 November 2016;

    Genre: Adventure

    This book contains conflict, romance and murder. Although initially difficult to understand, The Diabolic is an engaging, well thought out book. I could not tell at any point what would be coming next so I just couldn't put it down. I liked how independent and strong minded Nemesis was.

  • Our Chemical Hearts: as seen on Amazon Prime

    Our Chemical Hearts

    Name: Melanie Chadwick
    25 November 2016;

    Genre: Romance & Relationships

    Henry Page is a good, but not brilliant, student in his last year at school. He's well-mannered, has buttered up the right teachers and aims to get into a good college. He lives with his cool parents who are laid-back, funny and totally in love with each other. He has two fantastic friends Mur...

  • Stealing Snow

    Stealing Snow

    Name: Lorraine Ansell
    24 November 2016;

    Genre: Adventure

    Snow is a patient in a psychiatric hospital, placed there by her mother as a young girl. Apart from her relationship with her main 'White Coat' Vern, the only other person she cares about is Bale, her best friend and an arsonist. Her days are governed by which pill she chooses and aided by her lo...

  • Lesser Spotted Animals

    Lesser Spotted Animals

    Name: Alice Green
    15 November 2016;

    Genre: Adventure

    While there are many books about endangered species, what makes this new book by Horrible Histories illustrator Martin Brown stand out is that these are the 'brilliant beasts you never knew you needed to know about'. And the humour - there are some lovely, funny moments throughout the book, light...

  • Would You Rather: Shake Like a Dog or Climb Like a Cat?

    Would you rather....shake like a dog or climb like a cat?

    Name: Kyle Matravers
    13 November 2016;

    Genre: Adventure

    The domestic pet edition of the 'would you rather...' series allows children to learn more about the pets that they may share their house with or wish they did. Following the same model as others in the series, children are faced with a choice of questions where they control the direction of the...

  • Would You Rather Have the Teeth of a T-Rex or the Armour of an Ankylosaurus?

    Would you rather....Have teeth like a T-Rex or Armour like an Ankylosaurus?

    Name: Kyle Matravers
    13 November 2016;

    Genre: Adventure

    This book is one of the 'Would you rather...' series and offers children the chance to learn all about dinosaurs. The idea behind the book is children are faced with a series of multiple choice 'would you rather' questions which lead them to learn something about a dinosaur with a particular ski...

  • Monsters' Nonsense: The Green Gobbler: Practice Phonics with non-words

    Green Gobbler

    Name: Lynnette Voisey
    13 November 2016;

    Genre: Adventure

    What a lovely idea to include non -sense words within a story. I read Green Gobbler to the class who have only been in school for 3 months and it was interesting to see who could hear the phonemes and blend them in their heads in order to say the word. At this stage of the year they are developi...

  • Snail Mail: With Pull-Out Postcards

    Snail Mail

    Name: Marie Berry
    29 October 2016;

    Genre: Adventure

    As a teacher you once in awhile find a little diamond of a book that you think, 'I must find a way of using this text in my teaching', and Snail Mail is such a book. For starters, I just loved this books itself. Cute story, fab illustrations and the pull out postcards were a really engaging and...

  • Dixie O'Day on his Bike

    Dixie O'Day On His Bike!

    Name: Kyle Matravers
    29 October 2016;

    Genre: Adventure

    Dixie and Percy are dogs. Dogs who are best friends. Best friends who love to go on adventures together. In their latest adventure, the friends swap four wheels for two. They may have less wheels to worry about but there's more trouble in store for them with plenty of bumps, bangs and of cour...