Latest Reviews
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Red Leaves
Name: Caroline Mitchell
27 November 2014;Genre: Adventure
Aisha's world is blown apart when she discovers she is to leave the happy, comfortable foster home she has been in since her escape from war torn Somalia. Feeling abandoned she decides that running away is her only option to make her foster Mum realize she needs to stay where she is. Meanwhile,...
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Revenge of the Zeds
Name: Carol Williams
26 November 2014;Genre: Adventure
Revenge of the Zeds is the sequel to the The Soterion Mission and continues the story of Cyrus and friends. The series is set in a future where anyone over nineteen is dead, and in fact everyone dies before they turn 19. As this started a hundred or so years ago, a society has developed in which...
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Ruby Redfort: Feel the Fear
Name: Anna Glinn
25 November 2014;Genre: Adventure
Lauren Child may have made a name for herself in creating picture books and the brilliant Charlie and Lola but she writes just as distinctive books for older readers. What I enjoy most about the Ruby Redfort series is finding a central character who delights in action and using her natural intell...
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The Promise
Name: Angela Core
25 November 2014;Genre: Adventure
Few picture books are told in the first person so it's good to find The Promise doing this so effectively. The story is narrated by a girl who tells us what happened to her the day she tried to steal an old woman's bag and how that action changed her life. The woman she stole from made her promis...
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Wall
Name: Fiona Collins
25 November 2014;Genre: Adventure
Wall is a most interesting and unique subject matter for a picture book. It is concerns the Berlin Wall, built in 1961 to divide East and West Berlin, and its publication coincides with the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Wall. Although the book has minimal text the subject matter is definite...
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My True Love Gave to Me
Name: Ellen Jane
25 November 2014;Genre: Adventure
As its cover suggests, this is a series of short stories set over the festive period that is sure to bring a touch of magic to library shelves this Christmas! Each story is long enough to transport you to a world of American diners, campuses and there are parties aplenty, each bringing a magical...
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Listen to the Moon
Name: Dorne Fraser
24 November 2014;Genre: Adventure
It is May, 1915, and Alfie and his fisherman father find a girl on one of the uninhabited islands in the Scillies. She is injured, alone and frightened with no memory of how she came to the island, in fact no memory of who she is or where she came from. The only word she utters is Lucy and everyo...
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The Return of Johnny Kemp
Name: Helen Swinyard
22 November 2014;Genre: Adventure
This short and well-crafted school story from Keith Gray adds to the decent stock from dyslexic-friendly editions from Barrington Stoke. Gray creates a realistic and familiar world of school and teenage life, with honest and believable dialogue. The main character Dan tells us his story in a day,...
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The Wrong Side of the Galaxy
Name: Helen Swinyard
22 November 2014;Genre: Adventure
Dispensing with explanation, Thomson's hero Harry wakes up very confused - we as readers know as little as Harry does. Luckily Harry has watched lots of sci-fi on TV, and he's pretty clever, and ironically 'down to earth' which means he manages to escape and navigate his way around aliens, spaces...
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Respect. The Walter Tull Story
Name: Kate Kenward
18 November 2014;Genre: Representation & Inclusion
I think it is fantastic that Walter Tull's story has been written about for young people, he really was an inspiring man. I am glad that more books for struggling readers are telling true stories and I enjoyed learning about Walter's. My first point is that this book is printed on dyslexia frien...
