The Ultimate Truth
by Kevin Brooks
I've read a couple of Kevin Brooks's young adult books and this is completely different from, say, The Bunker Diary (very teen). The Ultimate Truth is the start of a new series of fiction for younger readers (11-12yrs). It's for fans of Alex Rider and Itch. This first book follows the hero of the series, Travis Delaney, as he recovers from the death of his parents in a car accident. His parents used to run a detective agency, and Travis starts to investigate the missing person case his parents were looking into before their death. He finds himself in more trouble than he cared for as he faces the MI5, CIA, and another mysterious group calling themselves Omega. He starts to realise that maybe the car accident wasn't just 'an accident' after all.
The Girl With All The Gifts
by M.R. Carey
I read a profile on the author in the book trade Bookseller magazine recently, and in it it talked about his new book. I was intrigued. I requested the book. I was hooked from start to finish. It's just brilliant. Think 'The Passage' mixed with 'The Walking Dead' and you have an idea of its premise. But it still manages to be different from those and other 'zombie' or 'turned' type books.
The girl of the title is Melanie, a young girl who is an orphan, and who has a high IQ and just loves to learn. But Melanie is different from other girls - she is locked in a cell every day and let out for school lessons, but only after she has been strapped into a wheelchair so she cannot move her limbs or head. Her teacher, Miss Justineau, is only allowed into the classroom after she has been doused with a special chemical that completely obliterates her human scent. That way, she knows she is safe from Melanie and all the other children strapped into wheelchairs in her classroom.
All proceedings are monitored by Sergeant Parks, a hateful man with a short temper who thinks nothing of using his fists to get his own way. Then there is Dr Caroline Caldwell, who is determined to find out more about the workings of the brain of these children, and thinks nothing of using a scalpel on any of them to further her scientific investigations. But soon, the routine of their daily lives is to be blown out of all proportions. They will all be fighting to survive in a frightening world of hungries and junkers, with not a friendly face in sight.
A gripping and action-packed story.
Running Girl
by Simon Mason
What a great 'whodunnit' thriller! Not sure what age it's aimed at - either teen or adult, but I'm guessing more the teen audience as it has that younger feel and the main characters are teenagers.
A young girl, Chloe, has disappeared. All that is found is a note at home 'gone for a run, back 7.30'. But she's not back at 7.30. She doesn't come back at all. Her body is found, and the hunt is on for her murderer. Schoolboy Garvie Smith used to go out with her, and he decides to try to solve the crime his own way, much to the annoyance of the detective leading the investigation, D.I. Singh. Garvie always seems to be once step ahead of the police, but also finds himself in more trouble than he may have realised.
Plenty of red herrings, dead ends - and school lessons missed! There are enough twists and turns (perhaps too many?!) to keep you guessing to the end.
A Room Full of Chocolate
by Jane Elson
I must admit, after reading the very first line in this book, I rolled my eyes and thought 'Oh no, not another one'. The line reads "Mum found a lump under her arm on my tenth birthday". I have read many books this year about family members ill, dying or dead and I thought I was going to have another following the same form. However, I was pleasantly surprised. I read this book in a day and quite enjoyed it. Grace, the aforementioned 10-yr-old, is sent to live with her granddad on a farm while her mum is treated in hospital for cancer. There, she meets the very colourful Megan, and they become best of friends. But Grace misses her mum, so Megan helps her plan a way of seeing her again.
Parts of the story reminded me of The Secret Hen House Theatre by Helen Peters, which is also set on a farm, and which my daughter and I both loved.
A strong exciting debut from a new author.
Lockwood & Co - The Screaming Staircase
by Jonathan Stroud
Ooh, this is a scary one. It's marketed for 9-12s, but I'm not sure I'd give it to my just turned 11-year old yet! But if your child likes to be spooked, then go ahead. The whole book is on a par with the first chapter of Spook's Apprentice by Joseph Delaney (a great series), which I also found quite scary and warn the young ones about (we keep it in our teen section at work).
Saying that, I really enjoyed this book. Lockwood & Co are a group of 3 children who are hired to dispose of ghosts, poltergeists, basically anything paranormal. It's set in modern day London where the 'Problem' (ie, hauntings) is rife. However, it is only children who have strong powers of sensing the paranormal, so they are trained to go out specifically to remove the Problem. The adults hover in safety at the front door.
After a job goes slightly wrong and the media backlash is brutal, Anthony, Lucy and George struggle to keep their business afloat. That is until they are approached by the famous Mr Fairfax, who employs them to get rid of many 'Visitors' from his ancient home. The only thing is, the previous children who've attempted the job have not come out alive. Will the 3 young ghost hunters survive the night's ordeal?
This is the first book in a series, and I look forward to reading the next one!
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.
