Schools & Libraries Book Reviews
Filter:
-
A Poem for Every Night of the Year
Name: Alison Kelly
20 January 2017;Genre: Adventure
Allie Esiri has set herself an ambitious task in undertaking to provide a poem for every night of the year. The introduction promises 'a sequence of beautiful poems to share at bed time, a journey through culture and history and the seasons'. Esiri's choices - there are 366 of them as it's a L...
-
Who Let the Gods Out?
Name: June Hughes
17 January 2017;Genre: Adventure
Elliot is finding life difficult. His mother is ill, they have no money, final demands are piling up and the next door neighbour is after their farm. School is no better either as Elliot turns up in less than perfect uniform and falls asleep in lessons, but dare not tell his teachers of the diffi...
-
Heartless
Name: Carol Williams
17 January 2017;Genre: Adventure
Inspired by Lewis Carroll's Alice, this novel tells the story of Catherine, who will become the Queen of Hearts. So we know from the start roughly where the story is heading, and the author relies on the reader knowing a fair amount about Alice (which given the popularity of the book and its film...
-
The Call
Name: Carol Williams
14 January 2017;Genre: Adventure
As the author writes in his acknowledgements, this is a grim book! The setting is Ireland in a dystopian future, where the country is isolated from the rest of the world, and the fairies are taking revenge for centuries of history, in a pretty gruesome way. Every teenager will at some point get '...
-
There's a snake in my school
Name: Joanna Hewish
13 January 2017;Genre: Adventure
David Walliams does it again! What a fantastic story. My 3 year old was enraptured right from the very start. The story tells of a Primary school class and it is 'bring your pet to school day'. Miranda 'likes to be different' and of course brings in her pet anaconda. The other students are in...
-
There's a Snake in my School
Name: Emily Fellah
13 January 2017;Genre: Adventure
It was bring-your-pet-to-school-day, and Miranda had a pet with a difference ' a giant snake! Her classmates were terrified of Penelope the python, and their pets were terrified too. However, they soon came to realise that Penelope was great fun. She loved playing with children and could transfo...
-
Merry Christmas, Blue Kangaroo!
Name: Kyle Matravers
12 January 2017;Genre: Picture Books
This is a lovely story to read in the build up to Christmas. The book revolves around a girl called Lily and her well loved teddy - Blue Kangaroo. Lily is very aware that this is Blue Kangaroo's first Christmas so she wants to do everything she can to make it fanstastic and memorable. I read th...
-
The Snow Cat
Name: Rosaleen Palmer
08 January 2017;Genre: Adventure
This is a beautifully presented hardback , just perfect for winter reading with its snowy scene and silver lettering. It tells the story of 9 year old Bel whose grandmother has just moved into some sheltered accommodation which has been converted from an old Victorian mansion with extensive garde...
-
Able Seacat Simon
Name: Nicki Cleveland
08 January 2017;Genre: Adventure
When an orphaned kitten is found hiding on the docks in Hong Kong, he is smuggled aboard HMS Amethyst to become the ship's cat, with the very important job of being chief rat-catcher. Based on real events, this is the story of what happened to the ship and its crew while on a peace keeping missio...
-
The Pudding Problem
Name: Alison Urquhart
07 January 2017;Genre: Adventure
I was not sure whether I was going to enjoy this book as I find that there are so many 'we're like diary of a wimpy kid' type books out there that they all seem to blend into one. The other problem with some of those types of books is the amorality within them, where the lead character seems to b...
