Jessica Warman(Egmont) On the dawn of her eighteenth birthday, Elizabeth Valchar wakes on her father’s yacht after a night of partying and walks onto the deck to investigate a noise. She finds herself staring at a dead body in the water. Her own body. Liz is forced to witness her family and friends coming to …
bullying
Marshall Armstrong is New to Our School
David Mackintosh(HarperCollins Children’s Books) When Marshall Armstrong joins the school of our young narrator, it becomes clear fairly quickly that he is different. In fact, everything about him is slightly odd; Marshall is obviously rich, a little bit eccentric and prone to all sorts of medical issues. He is rather unique, but he just does not …
A Monster Calls
Patrick Nessfrom an original idea by Siobhan Dowd, with illustrations by Jim Kay(Walker Books) Connor has been having nightmares for a while. But one night, a monster, which seems to have been born from the yew tree in the churchyard opposite their house, comes to him at 12.07 am exactly and continues to do so every night. At first …
Out of Shadows
Jason Wallace(Andersen Press) 1983, Zimbabwe. The war has ended, Robert Mugabe is the new prime minister of a country and people reborn after many years of oppression. He is offering freedom and the hope for a future to the black communities. Robert Jacklin is a young English boy who has just arrived in the country, …
Artichoke Hearts
Sita Brahmachari(Macmillan Children’s Books) Mira Levenson has just turned twelve and feels like her life has been tipped upside down. It already felt quite chaotic, with her lively, loud and nosy family and her outspoken larger-than-life grandmother. Sometimes Mira just feels that she could do with a little more privacy of thoughts and actions. But …
Madame Pamplemousse and the Enchanted Sweet Shop
Ruper Kingfisher (text) & Sue Hellard (illustrations)(Bloomsbury) Another instalment in the Madame Pamplemousse series, another whimsical adventure, another fabulous Parisian shop … This time we are introduced to a little shop in Isle Saint-Louis which sells all sorts of sweets and chocolates. The owner is Madame Bonbon (it figures). We meet this Madame as she …
Arthur and the Meanies
Jan Fearnley(Egmont) Arthur the elephant really wants to play. He asks the monkeys, Tiger, Peacock and Cheetah, but they are not having any of it and are being rather nasty to Arthur. Feeling disheartened, he continues on his way until he stumbles across Duck and Frog who are having fun in puddles. They are more than …
Birdsong
Ellie Sandall (Egmont) A bird perched on a branch is singing a beautiful, albeit lonely, tune. Soon he is joined by another bird with a song of its own and eventually there are eight birds, all with different plumage and all singing, together, their beautiful unique songs. Everybody is having plenty of fun until a very large …
Marc Boutavant for ever (3)
for just ONE DAY Laura Leuck (author) & Marc Boutavant (illustrator) (Tate Publishing) Alll children let their imagination run wild every once in a while and wonder what it would be like to be a buzzing bee, or a monkey, or a grizzly bear. This is exactly what this book illustrates with some fantastic rhyming …