PICTURE BOOKS
Hold on Tight, Stripy Horse by Jim Helmore, illustrated by Karen Wall (Egmont) ISBN: 978-1-4052-6
Another breathless romp of a story about the endearing Stripy Horse, by this award winning duo. The pace never lets up as the friends in the Bric-a-brac shop try to escape the weather. Lots of onomatopoeic
words, rhyme and alliteration as well as the metal parrot's constant utterings of appropriate adages such as Look before you leap.
Bold colours and text interwoven with the illustrations.
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Box of Tricks written and illustrated by Katie Cleminson (Red Fox)
ISBN: 978-1-862-30627-1
For her birthday, Eva is given a very special present: A Box of Tricks!
A simple imaginative story from a new picture book author/illustrator. A lovely surprise at the end.
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Katie Morag and the Grand Concert written and illustrated by Mairi Hedderwick (Red Fox)
ISBN: 978-1-849-41087-8
Katie Morag can't wait to sing her special song at the annual Grand Concert on Struay Island. But just as the curtain rises, disaster strikes...
Another in this series of Katie Morag stories, with stunningly detailed illustrations depicting a quiet idyllic lifestyle on this fictional Inner Hebridean Island.
***
ISBN: 978-0-370-32962-8
Another beautiful picture book from this author/illustrator. The detailed and vibrant illustrations are masterpieces in themselves and have such an affectionate feel that fits perfectly with the simple tale of a child not wanting to be left with someone while mum is ill and dad must go to work, but in the end not wanting to go home either.
Martha No! written by Edward Hardy and illustrated by Deborah Allright (Egmont) ISBN: 978-1-4052-4911-9
A
simple story, written in rhyme which scans beautifully and is a delight
to read out loud. Even the name of the main character has such
satisfying rhythm - Martha Felicity Molly-Anne May. The illustrations
are funny and full of movement and mayhem. Children would delight in
this little girl's exploits.
NEWLY CONFIDENT READERS
Car Mad Jack - The Speedy Sportscar by Jenny Alexander (Hodder)
ISBN: 978-0-340-98151-1
One of a series about Car Mad Jack, this fast moving and imaginative story will have little boys engrossed as Jack travels his imaginary journerys in the various cars for sale in his dad's car supermarket. This time it's a red Farrari and Jack discovers how the car came to be made and why that appeals to buyers. A satisfying ending with a surprise.
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The Seaside Adventure by Emily Bearn (Egmony)
ISBN:978-1-4052-4820-4
Another in the series about the two mice Tumtum and Nutmeg. This book has an old fashioned feel, a cross between Enid Blyton and Beatric Potter, with fully anthropomorphic mice including a titled one who wears a waistcoat, drinks port and serves jam tarts and ginger cake for tea. There is a girl who wears a dress and a boy who exclaims Crikey!
It's a charming book, beautifully produced with an attractive cover and inside illustrations by Nick Price. I was rivetted from the first page.
***
NINE YEARS+
The Quest of the Warrior Sheep by Christine & Christopher Russell (Egmont)
ISBN: 978-1-4052-4376-6
When a silver object falls on the head of one of the rarebreed sheep at Eppingham Farm, there begins a mad chase all over the country, the sheep on a quest to save the great ram Aries, Gran and Tod after their sheep, and the men in the yellow car desperate to recover their mobile phone.
This is a very funny story with lots of original characters (including the sheep). A complex but never confusing plot, which is always full of surprises.
YOUNG ADULT
Solice of the Road by Siobhan Dowd (David Fickling Books)
ISBN: 978-1-849-92005-6
This is the sort of book you stay up half the night reading and spend the other half thinking about.
The author has remarkable insight into the mind of this girl, and while many young people will empathise with her, the rest will completely understand her by the end of the book.
It is the moving story of Holly, aka Solice, a 'care-babe', on the run from her foster family and going to look for her mother in Ireland. As she travels, her past is slowly revealed to her, until she is forced to face the truth.
Superb story-telling. Not only does the main character change by the end of the book, but the reader will too.
***
We by John Dickinson (David Fickling Books)
ISBN: 978-0-385-61789-5
'In the furthest, coldest, darkest reaches of our solar system, Paul Munro is on a mission from which he can never return. A desolate ice-covered moon will be his home for the rest of his life. And only from here c an he see what humanity has become.
A thriller to freeze your blood - to absolute zero.'
I'm not usually a fan of science fiction, but the blurb above was irrisistable. This is a thought-provoking and frightening story set in the future when humans on earth have become no more than robots directed from a central nervous system called The World Ear, a sort of internet to which everyone has become enslaved. No-one thinks for themselves any more.
The four people collecting scientific data on the distant moon of a planet which takes 8 years to reach, see themselves as the only true humans left...