Geek Girl: Model Misfit
by Holly Smale
(by Megan, age 11)
The sequel to Geek Girl is an amazing story that links up with the first book, and it's still my absolute favourite!!!
Harriet can't cope with her life anymore; she's been dumped, she might be getting fired at any time, Annabel her step-mum has pushed her away to Japan for a modelling job because she's expecting a baby...
Will things all come clear at the end for Harriet? Or will her life be even more geeky and lonely than ever???
I definitely recommend this AMAZING book to any girl on earth!!!
When The Guns Fall Silent
by James Riordan
A hard-hitting, graphic and, at times, upsetting account of soldiers on the front line during the First World War. Nothing is held back from the 'telling it as it is' way of storytelling. You may have read fantasy and science fiction stories of monsters or zombies tearing people's limbs off and blood pumping out of wounds, and 12-yr-olds probably love that horror and gore. Yet when the same imagery is used to describe soldiers being blown to pieces, decapitated by shrapnel, or taking their own lives because they can't take the horror any more, it is far more upsetting to read. The publishers mark the book as 12 plus, but I will be careful who I'll be recommending this to. There's a section about propaganda, but it is not named as such, so if a child were to read this, they would think those things actually happened - I can't describe them here because they are too appalling.
Yet I don't want you to think that this book shouldn't be read by children. It's educational, it's shocking, you learn the difference between the soldiers on the front line eating dry biscuits and sometimes drinking rain water mixed with blood in the trenches, and the senior officers in their cosy warm cottages eating roast dinners and drinking port. The title of the book refers to Christmas Day 1914, when the German and British soldiers decide to call a day's truce, and come together to play football and shake hands on No Man's Land. They are friends one day, but enemies the next. At the start of each chapter, there is a moving poem written by war poets, for example Wilfred Owen, and these short bursts of prose add to the solemnity of the book.
The book was first published in 2000, and has been re-released ready for publication in 2014 - the centenary of the First World War. The author James Riordan died in 2012 aged 66.
Stay Where You Are & Then Leave
by John Boyne
We'll probably see an abundance of stories and biographies set during the First World War over the next year, as of course 2014 marks its centenary. Add to that the fact that there are many war stories for children on the market already. They can learn so much more by reading these books than I ever did in my boring History lessons at school. There is War Horse by Michael Morpurgo, Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo, Soldier Dog by Sam Angus, The Silver Donkey by Sonya Hartnett, and many others. Including this one.
I love John Boyne's writing. He writes both for adults and children. You'll probably have heard of his most famous - The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, which was turned into a film. 'Stay Where You Are & Then Leave' is about Alfie. On Alfie's 5th birthday, his dad signs up to fight in the First World War. His last memory of him is seeing him stride proudly into their living room in full uniform, and his mother and grandmother bursting into tears and running out the room. His mother lets him read the letters his father sends back, but after a while she begins to hide them away from him, and after that the letters seem to stop altogether. Alfie's mother tells him his father is on a secret mission and is not allowed to get in touch with them. Alfie thinks this is code for his father is dead. But then he accidentally stumbles across some information which makes it apparent his mother is holding an even bigger secret from him about his father.
This is a touching book about the innocence of a young boy trying to understand the horrors of war, about conscription, of conscientious objectors and white feathers, and of mental illnesses caused by the war which were not taken seriously during that period. A wonderful, educational read.
Look out for my next review on another book about the First World War - 'When the Guns Fall Silent'.
Dandelion Clocks
by Rebecca Westcott
Olivia and her autistic brother, Isaac, live with their mum and dad. They live a normal life. Olivia has her best friend Alice, and a boy at school she fancies, Ben. She loves photography and likes to capture everyday moments. Suddenly though they are not a normal family, and there are no normal everyday moments. Her mum falls seriously ill, and even though the word is not mentioned in the book, we deduce it is cancer. Olivia struggles to come to terms with the illness, and the fact that soon her mother will no longer be around. It is not made easier with Isaac and his inability to understand emotions in other people and himself. How will Olivia turn denial into acceptance?
This is a very moving book, but it would be good to recommend to young ones in a similar situation, or suffering from a recent bereavement and finding it hard to understand the turmoil of emotions they are going through.
Suitable for around age 10/11.
Bellman & Black
by Diane Setterfield
I spend about 90% of my time reading children's and teen books, and even though I love most of what I read in those age groups (and more adults should read children's books, they're more exciting than you'd imagine - we have more and more grown-ups visiting the young adult section of our bookshop), I do look forward to a change of writing in an adult book. Several years ago I read The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield and rather enjoyed it, so when I was given the opportunity of reading Bellman & Black, I was quite excited at the prospect. I absolutely loved it. Her writing is just glorious. I could even compare it to Dickens - full of detail, wonderfully descriptive, incredibly atmospheric. I'm a bit of a fan of dark, ghostly stories, and even though this is not a ghost story as such, it leaves you with that same prickly feeling, which you both love and fear at the same time.
When he is 10 years old, William Bellman is out with his friends when he produces a home-made, finely crafted catapult. His friends make him a bet that he can't knock out that rook from that tree way over there. William takes up the challenge, and even though he knows he can do it, when he sees the stone from the catapult arc its way directly towards the rook, he silently wishes the rook would fly away. It does not. It falls dead from the tree. The story then continues with William as a young handsome man, admired by the ladies. He is offered work as an apprentice at his uncle's mill. He is a quick learner and a hard worker, and the business flourishes. His fortune seems to improve over the coming years until accidents and illnesses start to befall those around him he loves, and a strange man in black appears at all the funerals. Something niggles at the back of William's mind. Who is this man and what does he want, and why does he only make appearances at funerals?
Gripping, dark, thrilling, sinister, atmospheric - a memorable and moving story of how one act can pave a way to your downfall. Don't mess with rooks. They remember everything.
If you enjoy this, also try the rather scary Uncle Montague's Tales of Terror by Chris Priestley. But not in the dark on your own.
The Great Unexpected
by Sharon Creech
A wonderful tale of unexpected family ties spanning two continents - with a little bit of a ghost story thrown in too - oh, and a fairy ring!
Naomi and Lizzie are best friends in a small American village called Blackbird Tree. The main thing they have in common is that they are both orphans. Naomi is looked after by Nula and Joe - Nula came to America from her home country Ireland when she was a teenager. Lizzie is with foster parents - her only family is apparently a mad aunt living in Ireland. Thus the seeds of family ties are sown, and grow as the story grows. It is helped along the way by a mysterious young lad, Finn, who falls out of a tree one day in front of Naomi. He has a strange accent, and also a strange ability to appear and disappear at random moments - usually when Naomi is thinking of him. The stories of old Mrs Kavanagh and her friend Pilpenny in Ireland, and Naomi and Lizzie in America, are interwoven beautifully, helped along by all the other strange and eccentric characters in Blackbird Tree, each of them with their own secrets and stories to tell.
I just loved this!
After Iris - The Diaries of Bluebell Gadsby
by Natasha Farrant
What a wonderful book, I loved it. Just right for girls 10years and over. Written part film transcript and part diary, it is about young Bluebell (but she much prefers Blue) whose twin sister Iris died in a car accident 3 years earlier. Blue records her family's life on video - much to the annoyance of her eldest sister Flora. Blue, Flora and their younger brother and sister Twig and Jas live in a beautiful old, but cold, house in London. They are looked after by a Bosnian au pair Zoran, as their father spends most of the time working in Warwick, and their mother constantly travels all over the world with her job. The past few years have been an emotional struggle for them all, especially Blue, and you can sense the family slowly falling apart. Only the silent and solitary Blue, cameragirl extraordinaire, is able to show her feelings in her diaries. She thinks she's finally found someone to talk to when carefree and loveable Joss Bateman pops into her life and she finds she has a huge crush on him. However, the path of young teenage love is an unfairly rocky one, but help and friendship is not too far away...
You will laugh, and you will find a lump in your throat, but mostly you will just love this book.
