Walker
Books, 2009. ISBN
9781406314977.
(Ages:
Secondary) Ari
lives alone with her widowed father in a Victorian house set away from
the
town. There she is home schooled in the morning, and left to her
studies in the
afternoon when her father retreats to the basement to continue his work
with
blood samples. When their housekeeper suggest that Ari is too isolated,
she is
given permission to take the girl into her home, where she meets her
two
children, Kathleen, a girl of Ari's age, and Michael, several years
older.
Through these two Ari learns more of the outside world. Both teens are
stretching the boundaries imposed by their family, and when Kathleen
takes Ari
to her meetings with her friends, where they play at being vampires,
Ari feels
odd. One night, after Ari goes home because she feels ill, she is
shocked to
find that Kathleen has been murdered, and when the police interview Ari
and her
father, she realises that suspicion is falling on them.
Eventually
Ari's father explains that yes, he is a vampire, and suggests that she
too, may
be headed that way. The Green Cross van that comes to the house every
week,
brings blood for him, as he and his group, do not kill for blood,
taking
vitamin supplements and blood from the mortuary. She wants her mother,
and goes
off to search for her, pursuing the vague clues left by others in the
household.
Her quest leads her to Florida, where she finds that things are not as
they
have been described.
Full
of Gothic romance and horror, The
Society of S will have wide appeal to those lower secondary girls
taken up
with the idea of vampires and lonely teenage girls growing up without a
mother.
Odd house servants, strange happenings, a father with heroic looks, a
mother no
one mentions, suspicions about a dead cat and then a murder along with
blood
samples brought to the door, all have an airing in this scary tale. But
it is
not the vampire tale of old. When Ari's father finally tells her who
and what
she is, the stress all the time is about controlling the urges and
taking
precautions against killing. The vampires in this story must choose.
Fran Knight
Magenta McPhee by Catherine Bateson
Random House Australia, 2009. ISBN 9781741664089
(Ages 10 to 14 years) Highly recommended. Magenta sends off a letter to
Sammi magazine outlining how depressed
her Dad has become after his divorce. Thrilled that her letter is
published, with a commendation about her writing style, she decides to
confide in her best friend. Polly is convinced that Magenta will
make
a writer one day, but, in the meantime suggests that internet dating
may be the answer for Magenta's Dad! The two girls take this on
without telling him!
Lianna is the lady who replies to 'Dad's' emails and a meeting is
arranged, with the consequences proving very interesting! The
human
interest in this story will make it a popular read. Character
backgrounds discovered along the way keep the reader involved.
Magenta is writing a fantasy story and we are given snippets of this as
she uncovers new material for her novel.
I enjoyed viewing the interactions between the variety of realistic
characters and sharing their disappointments and laughter.
Catherine
Bateson has a great turn of phrase; an easy, relaxed writing style, and
her storyline is captivating.
As we have come to expect from Catherine Bateson's novels, the dialogue
is appealing and the themes pertinent to today's teens.
Julie Wells
Fran's dozen (baker's) 2009 (a selection of what I have read and enjoyed in 2009) by Fran Knight
Picture books
Cummings, Phil Wang Wang and Funi (How can anyone
pass up Phil's picture book with his familiar rhyming story inviting
small readers to look for the pandas at the Adelaide Zoo. The
illustrations by Adelaide artist Shane Devries, add to the excellence
of this lovely book, a far cry from the usual book published as part of
a merchandising campaign.)
Thompson, Colin Free to a
good home (Thompson's
unusual look at family life had me laughing at loud. Instead of an
animal following them home, the children have a granny. She is adamant
that no-one is looking for her, and makes herself cheerfully useful in
this house. A wonderful multi layered story to enthrall all kids, big
and small)
Middle school
DiCamillo, Kate The
magician's nephew (Conjuring of an elephant
which
falls into the audience, devolves into
a story about family and obligation, and where a person, or animal,
fits into the scheme of things. Peter knows that his sister is alive
and has been told by the fortune teller that her discovery will be
linked to an elephant.)
Flanagan, John Halt's
peril (The ninth book in the
Ranger's Apprentice series, this one is deliberately mystifying.
Flanagan took great glee in setting up a story which had people
guessing as to who might die, and whether Halt would survive this
episode, and just whose funeral is taking place. See my interview with
him on Readplus.)
Millard, Glenda A small
free kiss in the dark (A
marvelous futuristic story shows war demolishing Sydney and a young
girl, Tia, having to find a safe refuge, along with several strangers
who become like a family. A survival story out of the ordinary, finding
positives where none should be.)
Westerfeld, Scott Leviathan
(SteamPunk at its best
with the story of the beginnings of World War One, with the
assassinations of the Archduke and his consort and what may have
happened to their young son. The creatures created by the author are
fantastic, the intrigue believable, and the history in the background,
most credible. And with all that it is a romp, with plenty of adventure
and a brush of humour.)
Teens
Collins, Suzanne The hunger games (Imagine a future
where there are nor wars! But each year two teens are chosen from each
district to fight to the death on behalf of their home area. Usually
the result is a forgone conclusion as one from the warrior district,
with heavy support and advertising rights, and well trained comes out
on top, but this year is different, as Katniss, a skilled hunter, takes
her sister's place. An amazing story of survival and determination,
along with a sly dig at reality TV.)
Henderson, Don Keepinitreal (an entertaining story
concerning the oddest collection of people coming together to save the
local greyhound race course. Set in the western suburbs, the characters
are very real, without being caricatures, the setting tangible and the
action, hilarious.)
Murray, Kirsty Vulture's
gate (Bo and Callum come
together by chance and survive together in a hostile world where women
have all but died out. Callum has been used as a trained gymnast doing
daring tricks on motorcycles to get money for the men that own him and
Bo has hidden since her grandfather died. Australia in a near future
where Bo has a roboraptor to keep her company and help her survive, but
the pair must move across hostile territory to make it to the city
where they expect to find safety.)
Larbelestier, Justine Liar
(Micah's friend Zach has died, torn apart by dogs in the park. Micah
must search her very being to work out whether she was the culprit, and
the story, divided into three parts, Telling the truth, Telling the
true truth and The Actual real truth, will have readers agog as they
try and work out how reliable the narrator really is. I still don't
know.)
Rai, Bali City of ghosts (The Amritsar Massacre in
1919 was one of those incidents I read about in Yr 11 British
Commonwealth History (albeit from one point of view) but reading about
it in this astonishingly realistic historical novel, where both sides
of what happened are shown through a group of quite different
characters makes this one to read and reread.)
Sedgwick, Marcus Revolver (Sedgwick is one of my
favourite authors, and here he tells a survival story with a
difference. A boy is cornered by a man who wants to kill his father,
but father's body is lying on the table in this tiny cabin, snowbound
near Nome. A life and death struggle between the man with the gun and
the lad captures your attention to the end. If anyone wanted something
for those kids hooked on Hatchet, then this is it.)
Valentine, Jenny The ant
colony (Fleeing to London
Sam finds himself getting involved with the lives of the others in his
building of run down flats. Without realizing it he begins to reveal
parts of himself that he wants to keep hidden, and people begin to care
about him and him about them. A stunning climax sees Sam returning to
the rural area where he was born to confront the reason he fled.)
And of course, several goodies have been missed out, so I must
suggest Anna McKenzie's The sea
wreck stranger and
Catherine Jinks' hilarious take on the vampire genre, The
reformed
vampire support group. And I read several that have been
published
before 2009, The giver
(Lois Lowry) and Here lies
Arthur
(Philip Reeve)
Fran Knight
Conspiracy 365: January by Gabrielle Lord
Scholastic,
2009. ISBN 9781741690330.
(Ages 11+) Walking home
one night, Callum is chased by a disheveled
man who warns him that he must stay hidden for 365 days, or else he
would be
killed like his father. Dismissing him as stupid, he watches as the
ambulance
takes him away, but when over the next few days things happen which
alert him
to the possibility of his being targeted by persons unknown, he recalls
all
that the man told him, and strives to keep himself safe.
A clever idea,
Callum has to remain hidden for a year,
and so Scholastic is publishing a book a month for the year in 2010,
following
Callum's desperate survival as he tracks down his would be killers and
those of
his father and strives to find out why this is happening. Fast paced,
action
packed, with a likeable hero, Conspiracy
365 is a winning formula which will be widely read by upper primary
and
lower secondary kids. A website,(www.conspiracy365.com)
accompanies
the
book and kids will find that they can win prizes by accessing the
website.
A breathless,
easy to read series of novels for the middle
school, there are some intriguing differences used in this series to
make it
stand out. The pagination starts at 188 and counts down: the font used
is more
administrative adding to the feeling of a police report and the pages
are
almost diary entry style, with times as well as dates heading each
entry, all
of which add up to an enjoyable twist on the usual survival story.
Inside the
front cover is a Conspiracy Card asking readers to log on with their
own
number, so enabling them to be in the draw for prizes, and inside the
back
cover is a lsit of all 12 books coming out in 2010. Boys will pick this
up because of the story
and the details, while girls will go for the dishy picture of Callum on
the
front cover. Whatever else this will be a hit.
Fran Knight
Beach break by Meredith Badger
Go Girl! Besties 1. Hardie Grant Egmont, 2009.
ISBN
9781921502989.
(Age 8-10) Beach break is the first book in the Go
Girl!
Besties and will be welcomed by fans of other Go Girl!
series. Mia is
thrilled because her two best friends are coming to stay at the beach
house
with her during the holidays. She is certain that they will have a
wonderful
time and has lots of beach fun planned. But when Shae and Michiko begin
to act strangely
she begins to worry that they may not stay her best friends.
Meredith Badger has written a book about the
familiar theme
of a beach holiday and what happens when more time than usual is spent
with friends.
Young girls will be sure to identify
with the exploration of friendship and its pressures. They will
sympathise with
Shae who is homesick and Mich who is having trouble telling her friends
her
secrets.
Mia's parents are portrayed in a very sympathetic
light,
caring and understanding but firm about rules for Mia's older sister
who wants
to go to a bonfire on the beach. Mia's character develops as she has to
come to
some hard decisions about whether she should tell her parents about
Rose's
decision to sneak out. With some creative planning by the threesome,
all turns
out well.
Girls will be sure to like this series with its
well organised chapters, likeable
characters and engaging
illustrations by Danielle McDonald.
Pat Pledger
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
Illustrated by Chris Riddell. Bloomsbury, 2009. ISBN 9780747594802.
(Ages 11- 15 years) This book is highly recommended but probably not
for the faint-hearted. What an unexpected, exciting and intriguing
read. The beginning
of the
story is possibly the creepiest I have read! A toddler narrowly escapes
the murderous intent of a stranger to the house and finds himself in
the safe hands of a community of ghosts in the town's graveyard.
Adopted by these memorable residents, Bod (short for Nobody) grows up
in the graveyard, learning about life and death, yet struggling to
discover facts about his family and background. His adventures
are
exciting and scary, but, though it is implied, the violence is not
directly shown. Bod's world is fantastical but recognisable too -
he
is just like any other child finding his way in the world. There
is
humour in the graveyard - inscriptions on the grave stones are amazing
- and there is wisdom. Enhanced by Riddell's wonderful illustrations,
Gaiman's language is often striking. Consider the description on page
95: 'In the twilight of the graveyard there was a silent implosion, a
flutter of velvet darkness, and Silas was gone.' Silas is Bod's
protector and teacher, a mentor, and one of the most memorable of
players in this great adventure. The Graveyard Book won the 2009 Newbery Award.
Julie Wells
Wishing for tomorrow: The sequel to A Little Princess by Hilary McKay
Hodder, 2009.
(Ages 9-90) This will have universal appeal to all who have loved A
Little
Princess. Who wouldn't want to discover what happened after
Sara's dramatic rescue from the horrors of her attic prison. However,
in this sequel Sara plays only a minor role. The main protagonists are
the host of supporting characters from Miss Minchin's Select Seminary
for Young Ladies - the babyish Lottie, the vile Lavinia, the wicked
Miss Minchin, her weak willed sister Amelia, Melchisedec the rat and
Ermengarde, Sara's hapless young friend.
Whereas first time around they were all foils to Sara, here they have
far greater substance. Who would have thought that Lavinia harbours a
secret desire to go to university and Lottie, always so babyish is
actually spirited and courageous, a kind of female William Brown, with
scant regard for rules or decorum. Miss Minchin is a secret alcoholic
(McKay's clues are humorous, but so subtle, I'm not convinced young
readers will make the connection), while her sister, Amelia harbours
well hidden passions for the local vicar.
Ermengarde, bobbing around in a sea of confusion and anxiety, feels
completely abandoned by the perfect Sara. This more than anything marks
the different eras in which the two stories were written. For Burnett,
influenced by Victorian melodrama and the need for little girls to be
perfect, everything is black and white. Miss Minchin is evil and Sara
has the slightly cloying sweetness of a paragon of virtue. McKay's
characters are human and therefore more balanced. We cannot help but
sympathise with the dreadful Miss Minchin, we admire Lavinia's
single-minded determination and become a little frustrated at the
hapless chaos surrounding poor old Ermengarde. Through it all I found
myself wondering whether Sara, in apparently adopting the 'I'm alright
Jack' approach to life, is really so perfect after all.
This is a thoroughly satisfying read. All the plot strands are drawn
together in an exciting and satisfying denouement, and Sara's actions
in the final chapters do much to redeem her in the eyes of the reader.
We learn too, what ultimately becomes of Sara and her devoted maid,
Becky. This is a great read for all ages and perfect to read aloud to
the girls in your life.
Claire Larson
The fairy's return and other princess tales by Gail Carson Levine
HarperCollins, 2009. ISBN 9780061768989
(Ages 8-12) Recommended. Six retellings of fairy
stories by
the Newbery Honor award winning author of Ella Enchanted are
sure to
please all
those who enjoy fractured fairy tales. Ethelinda tries to reward the
good deeds of
one girl while punishing her sister, but her plans go terribly wrong in The fairy's mistake,
based on the fairy tale Toads and
Diamonds.
The
princess test is a hilarious take on The princess and the pea,
where
Lorelei is forced to prove that she is
good enough for the prince. Sleeping beauty will never be the
same once
readers
have been introduced to a princess who is a genius in Princess
Sonora
and the
long sleep. For Biddle's sake sees the green toothed
Parsley turn into
a toad
although she eventually wins the heart of a prince and all ends well.
In The
Fairy's return a baker's son and a princess fall in love. My
favourite
was
Cinderellis and the glass hill, where a farm boy rides
magnificent
magical
horses up a glass hill and manages to win the heart of a princess.
These stories are full of humour and the play on
words is
very entertaining. There are enough elements of the original stories to
sound
familiar but the new twists make them very enjoyable. This book would
be an
excellent choice to read aloud when doing a unit of work on Fairy tales
or
Fractured fairy tales or just to enjoy a good laugh.
Pat Pledger
Arrival by Charlotte McConaghy
(The Strangers of Paragor, Book 1 ) Black Dog Books, 2009.
(Ages 12+) Six young humans leap through a portal into another world,
one they know nothing about, one assumes to find out what lies on the
other side. They land in various places in the other world; two, Mia
and Jack don't take part in book 1, but will pop up later. Since this
is fantasy the world into which they are plunged is one of kings,
princes, princesses, elves, phaeries, amazons, a smattering of gods
from various ancient civilizations and of course the odd evil
power-hungry magician.
The world is composed of three major countries all separated by sea;
Cynis Witron, Uns Lapodis and Lapis Matyr as well as a couple of minor
ones. Peace has prevailed over the countries for generations, but
Leostrialhas somehow taken over Lapis Matyr with a small band of
followers and no one seems to know where he has come from. With the
arrival of the six (less two) an ancient prophecy seems about to be
fulfilled.
The story line is not new, nor is the climax of the book, nor the final
victory after a bloody battle. There are a few too many unanswered
questions, why on earth did Queen Columba save Satine from her
execution? Indeed why on earth did King Gaddemar order her execution?
There is also a problem with the characters themselves, Jane in
particular, who is the strong female protagonist, is abrasive, priggish
and unlikeable. Fern a half elvish prince who falls in love with Jane
(who knows why?) is typically heroic but the romantic bond is too
juvenile and frustrating to be believable.
McConaghy is a young writer who has drawn her inspiration from many
sources. There are parts reminiscent of The lion, the witch and the
wardrobe, the Indiana Jones stories and Blyton's Famous
Five tales.
I've no doubt the story line will appeal to girls of a certain age,
especially the romantic interludes, and there are certainly moments
when the action moves at a cracking pace, but there is a lack of
cohesion to the whole story. It seems to have grown like Topsy and
needs more rigorous editing to have it reach the widest possible
audience.
Mark Knight
Blood Promise : A Vampire Academy Novel by Richelle Mead
RazorBill, 2009. ISBN 9781921518294.
(Ages:12+) Rose
is feeling unsettled at St. Vladimir's. She's tired of having her life
mapped
out for her. Although she's bonded to her best friend Lissa and is
destined to be her guardian she
feels she has no choice in the matter. She also has other bigger fish
to fry.
She feels she must kill her boy friend Dimitri who has now been turned
into an
evil Strigoi.
Rose
leaps off to Russia, Dimitri's birth place (Siberia to be precise) and
expects
to happen upon him at the airport it seems. Does she know how big
Russia is?
Does she speak any Russian? Does it sound implausible? Does she
succeed? Of
course she does. She kicks lots of Strigoi arse
looking for Dimitri and finds a group of people she didn't know
existed, The
Alchemists. They run around after the dhampir guardians disposing of
the bodies
making sure no nocturnal activities are evident to the human
population. How
they don't notice all these wierdos is beyond me,
but I suspect you're not supposed to do a
lot of thinking whilst reading this series. Rose
of course finds Dimitri's family in a small village in Siberia and is
taken in
as one of the family. Surprisingly they all speak wonderful English so
Rose has
no problems fitting in. She tells the family what happened to Dimitri
and the
village come together for a memorial/funeral service.
Rose
eventually does her usual and treads all over everyone's feelings
whilst
feeling extremely sorry for herself and has to leave the family. She
teams up
with a group of dhampir who hunted Stigoi for kicks. She heads to
Novosibirsk
with them and after becoming leader of the gang and kicking more
strigoi arse
she finds Dimitri, or he finds her and takes her prisoner. Like all
things in
this series her prison is luxurious, beautiful decor, linen,
clothing and food.
Why would a prison be anything else? Rose is caught in a roller-coaster
of
emotions. She knows Dimitri is evil, but does she still love him? Will
he bite
her and turn her into Strigoi as well? I don't need to tell you the
answer,
because you knew what it would be before you read the first chapter.
Similarly
you will be expecting the surprise twist ending!
This
story is riddled with inconsistencies, amazing improbabilities and
unlikely
coincidence but I'm sure it won't matter a jot to the audience this
series of
books has and will continue to hold. Rose like most of her friends and
peers is
brash, spoiled, indulged, beautiful (Rose is more so because she has
bigger
breasts as we keep being reminded all the way through this vampire
soapy) and
to my mind thoroughly unlikeable. It's bound to be popular with the tweenset.
Mark Knight
Saving Sam by Susan Brocker
Auckland : Harper
Collins, 2009.
Saving Sam is a
story about a
boy and a dog, and the healing powers of the human-canine interaction.
Ben is a
boy in a difficult family and personal situation. He is being bullied
at his
new school, his father is in gaol and his mother is dead. Ben and his
elder
brother Sam are staying with their Uncle Joe and Aunt Ida, whose
children have
grown up and left the family home. Joe has recently lost his job, is
sitting
around watching television all day and is severely depressed. He does
not want
the responsibility for his nephews and is quite angry at his feckless
brother
for landing the boys on him. Aunt Ida, the aunt-in-law, is much more
welcoming
of the boys, and in fact the portrayal of family life with the aunt and
uncle
is quite warm and affectionate.
Ben
idolizes his
bother Sam, who
is drifting away from him and into bad company. The best thing Ben has
going
for him is his Uncle Joe's recently-acquired dog Layla, who was bought
as a
guard dog from a man at the pub. Layla turns out to be a failure as a
guard dog,
as she has been brutalized in her earlier life and is fearful and
skittish of
human interaction. Ben pleads to be able to take care of Layla who, not
unlike
Ben, has a significant process of recovery and rehabilitation to go
through. It
will come as no surprise that Ben and Layla undertake this journey
together.
Ben
takes Layla to
dog training,
which has many beneficial effects. It gives him an entree into
significant
friendships with a sympathetic female classmate and a Customs officer
who is
the dog trainer, it brings Uncle Joe onside as he and Ben practice
Layla's
training together, and turns the class bully into an ally. At the same
time,
however, the situation with Sam is going from bad to worse.
It
turns out that Sam
has become
involved with drugs, in particular methamphetamines, and a sinister
drug
dealer. This latter turns out to be a Phys Ed teacher at the boys' new
school,
to my mind a highly-contrived and over-exaggerated character, and an
unlikely plot
development. The remainder of the novel deals with the satisfactory
resolution
of the various problems and situations of the 4 main protagonists -
Ben, Sam,
Uncle Joe and (last but not least) Layla.
The
book's heart is
definitely in
the right place - strong anti-drug, anti-gangs message, equally strong
message
about hope and the power of love of animals and family - but
unfortunately at
times the plot feels forced and the writing somewhat didactic. An
unnecessary
sub-plot about Aunt Ida and Uncle Ben's estranged son seems tacked-on,
doesn't
really go anywhere, and is dealt with in a perfunctory manner at the
end of the
novel. There are long detailed sections on the mechanics of
dog-training, of
interest to those interested, so to speak, but possibly not of broader
appeal.
Susan
Brocker is a recognized New Zealand author with more than 50
books to her credit, mainly non-fiction. Having perused reviews of
Saving Sam
in New Zealand journals/newspapers, I should say that my opinion of the
novel is
not widely shared, and in fact those reviews have been pretty good.
Peter Helman
Stop in the name of pants! by Louise Rennison
HarperCollins Children's Books, 2009. ISBN 9780007275847.
(Ages: 12 and up) Georgia Nicolson, official girlfriend of
the
Luuurve God,
Masimo, makes a huge mistake whilst on camp and snogs Dave the Laugh.
Thus
begins her dilemma of having to face her guilt and work out which is
truly the
boy for her. With Masimo holidaying in Pizza-a-gogo land, failing to
contact Georgia
as often as she would like, Dave the Laugh seems to be ever present and
ready
to rescue her whenever necessary. When a family crisis occurs, Dave is
again
there as support.
The ninth in the series, this book is filled with
humour, a
whole new 'vocabularyosity' (for which a glossary is included) and a
raft of
issues faced by the teenage girl. Louise Rennison appears to have a
real
understanding of the psyche of the teenager and writes in a voice which
appeals
greatly. Georgia's
concerns with body image, teachers, boy problems and friendships are
the basis
of some laugh out loud chapters and can be enjoyed both by upper
primary
students, teens and the young at heart. Since the release of the film, Angus,
Thongs
and Perfect Snogging,
these books have become widely sought after and this will be no
exception.
Jo Schenkel
The TV Time Travellers by Pete Johnson
Corgi Yearling, 2009.
(Ages 9+) If you thought time travel was a fantasy, think again, after
all anything seems possible in the world of reality TV. Eleven year
olds, Zac and Izzy win coveted places in a new TV company's reality
sensation - sending children to live as World War Two evacuees.
The conversational style, narrated alternatively by Zac and Izzy, will
have great appeal as readers unravel the stories behind the characters.
Zac has become obsessed with World War Two following his Mum's death
and Izzy lives on the poverty line with her Mum and is a typically
feisty heroine. All the young evacuees hope to avoid eviction and win
the prize of a dream holiday. Johnson concentrates more on the reality
TV competition than life as an evacuee and readers won't learn a great
deal about World War Two, although much is made of the dreary food,
strict schooling and having to perform number twos in the outside lav!
The characters of the children are well drawn, but the wicked TV
pundits; Miss Weed and Mr Wallack are somewhat flat and predictable.
However there is food for thought as the TV Company preys on
impressionable children and, in an effort to raise viewing figures,
they use nefarious methods that threaten serious consequences.
Pete Johnson successfully cashes in on our young generation's obsession
with Big Brother and Britain's Got Talent and good on
him, as he knows
what will make youngsters pick up a book. The TV Time Travellers
will certainly tempt reluctant readers aged 10 - 12 and you could
always add it to a World War Two topic box; it would make an
interesting contrast to The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas!
Claire Larson
The Dragons 1: Camelot by Colin Thompson
Random House, 2009. ISBN 9781741663815.
Colin
Thompson,
the
author and illustrator of this marvellous book, was born in London on
the
eighteenth
of October in 1942. He has written many books but The Dragons Camelot! was the one that caught my
eye.
Camelot
is
the
first
book of the series The Dragons. More books in the series
will be
released in following years. Camelot
tells
the
'true'
story of the legendary King Arthur and the 'truth' of
dragons. King Arthur is a spoilt little brat who wants everything,
especially mauve
tights, and of course he gets everything. But when Romeo Crick, a boy
who
cannot be harmed by fire, comes along and an incredible secret is
revealed, the
whole of Avalon, their country can be saved!
Dragons
were
a
major
problem back in those days; blocking drains or killing out
whole
populations. But when they block the Castle's drains the King has had
enough! He
sends out four royal messengers to find somebody who is able to slay
the
dragons. But when Romeo Crick's secret is revealed the humans make
peace with
the dragons.
Wow!
This
book
was
so well written and illustrated I am reading it for a second
time! The whole thing with dragons and Kings was simply hilarious! I am
just
itching to read the second book and I will probably read it more than
once as
well! I really do bow and take my hat off for Colin Thompson!
Heidi Bigg (student)
The Shadow of Malabron by Thomas Wharton
Walker, 2008. ISBN 9781406312508.
This
book is about a boy named Will Lightfoot who takes his father's
motorbike for a
ride and gets hurled into the Perilous Realm, which is home to many
great and
mysterious creatures. When Will finds his companion, Shade, who is sent
to
accompany him on his journey home, he realizes that it is not that
simple to
get home, and in order to get home, he must face the 'Night King' and
his army
of fetches and other weird creatures.
Personally,
I didn't like the book because of its supernatural baseline. I mean, if
you
like talking wolves, wizards and weird creatures and Harry Potter type
of books
then yeah, it's a great book.
I
would recommend this book towards 11-15 year olds, especially those who
like
Harry Potter type things, as I said. Enjoy reading this as you get
catapulted
into The Perilous Realm.
Isaac Bigg(student)
