Schools & Libraries Book Reviews
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Bigfoot, Tobin & Me
Name: Clare Wilkins
08 May 2017;Genre: Adventure
After her mother's death, a distraught Lemonade Liberty Witt is sent to live with her grandfather in the rural backwater of Willow Creek. And after the thriving metropolitan bustle of San Francisco she finds her new, reduced circumstances somewhat difficult to adjust to. Befriended by the annoyi...
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The Boy Who Went Magic
Name: Clare Wilkins
02 May 2017;Genre: Adventure
A P Winter's debut novel is a charming and fantastical tale about long-hidden magic and the extraordinary adventure that unfolds when a naive schoolboy unleashes its extraordinary powers. Bert's hum-drum existence spins dangerously out-of-control when a school trip to a new museum opens a doorwa...
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The Elephant Thief
Name: Alison Tarrant
27 April 2017;Genre: Adventure
This is a charming historical adventure, set in 1882, follows the fate of Maharajah, an elephant who is sold at auction, and a street boy (think one of Fagin's boys from Oliver Twist). Maharajah is bought by an owner of a zoo, and before they have left Edinburgh a bet has been placed between two...
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The Island at the End of Everything
Name: Janet Fisher
20 April 2017;Genre: Adventure
Butterflies flutter through the pages of this story set in the Philippines in 1906. The island of Culion is a leper colony but there are children like Amihan born without the disease. She lives with her mother who is very frail and whose nose has almost disappeared because of the leprosy. Along...
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The Secret Keepers
Name: June Hughes
10 April 2017;Genre: Adventure
Reuben lives with his mother in New Umbra, a place ruled by the unseen menace known as The Smoke, and his very much seen henchmen, The Directions, who always travel in groups of four and watch everything and everyone. The townspeople live in fear of coming to the attention of The Smoke and know t...
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Beetle Queen
Name: Janet Fisher
06 April 2017;Genre: Adventure
I moved straight on to reading Beetle Queen having read the first in this planned trilogy, Beetle Boy. At the end of the first book the reader gets a glimpse of what Lucretia Cutter really is (and I won't disclose this!). She is designing and making dresses for actresses nominated for awards in...
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In Space
Name: Columbia Age 9
19 March 2017;Genre: Information books
Zubaidah, Tanjina and Lamisha: We enjoyed the Rainbow Fields because the illustrations are so colourful. Doing all the tasks made us feel involved in the story. We liked the Zeebies in their colourful suits, floating around space and enjoyed helping them fix their rocket.
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Underground
Name: Columbia Age 9
19 March 2017;Genre: Information books
Nabila, Eva and Ava: we loved searching for the magic objects on the beautifully illustrated pages. We especially enjoyed the Hidden Lagoon challenge, looking for the glow-worm that didn't shine as brightly as the rest. We liked going round the path and doing the challenges.
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The Bolds On Holiday
Name: Eva Age 10
19 March 2017;Genre: Humour
I liked it when Bobby became a dog named Trumpy. My favourite character was Miranda because she's really exciting and always happy. I also liked the cartoon-style illustrations by David Roberts with speech bubbles. You know the book is going to be fun from the zany front cover.
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See You in the Cosmos, Carl Sagan
Name: Natalie Plimmer
12 March 2017;Genre: Adventure
This interesting debut novel is largely narrated by Alex Petroski, an 11 year old boy who is a budding rocket scientist. Following in the footsteps of his hero, Carl Sagan, after whom he named his dog, he creates a Golden iPod full of different sounds that he has recorded. Like Sagan, whose Gol...
