One Wish by Michelle Harrison

One Wish
by Michelle Harrison

Michelle Harrison is the award winning author of The 13 Treasures trilogy. This book, One Wish, is the prequel to that trilogy. Now I haven't read The 13 Treasures, so I came to this book blind - it was brilliant! It's one of those books which you have to keep reading, you're drawn from one chapter straight into the next by the excitement, adventure and drama of the storytelling. I must admit, I didn't read The 13 Treasures when I heard it was about fairies, but I've definitely missed out there, if this book is anything to go by.

Tanya goes to stay in a holiday cottage with her mother, but as soon as they go in, Tanya starts to hear voices from under the floorboards, voices only she can hear, as she has the second sight - the ability to see and hear fairies. Now these fairies are not the type you are probably picturing right this moment. They come in all forms and shapes and sizes, and some are good, some are bad. Tanya gets to meet fairies in all of these forms during her unexpectedly eventful holiday. There are kidnappings, magic spells, near drownings, wishing trees, visits to other worlds - the story is absolutely action packed, and I highly recommend it!

Solitaire by Alice Oseman

Solitaire
by Alice Oseman

You know when sometimes you've read such a good book that you're lost for words how to describe it? When 'brilliant' and 'amazing' don't seem to be enough? Well done, Alice Oseman, you have struck me dumb with your masterpiece. And you're only 19?? Incredible. Actually, perhaps not so incredible - it just makes sense. Still in your teens and writing about teens - of course you'd be spot on! There's just something about this book, especially the main character, Tori Spring. I had a connection with her for most of the book. I think everybody had a little bit of a Tori Spring in them when they were in sixth form at school. Not really part of a gang, and not really wanting to be either. Not loud, not following the fashions, the popular music, the clubs. Just happy with your own company. And then Michael Holden - I just loved Michael, and of course the two of them would single each other out. They're both different, both in their own way.

I don't even want to tell you what the book's about. You must read it afresh, like I did, and love it. For you WILL love it. I promise you.

Has Anyone Seen Jessica Jenkins? by Liz Kessler

Has Anyone Seen Jessica Jenkins?
by Liz Kessler

I've met Liz Kessler a couple of times. She lives locally and has done a couple of events in our bookshop. She is brilliant with the kids, and is also a lovely lady. It's a good all-round warm fuzzy feeling when you love her books too. I guess Liz is most famous for her Emily Windsnap series - my 11-yr-old daughter loves them (I must admit I haven't read them myself). My favourites are the standalone novels - A Year Without Autumn, North of Nowhere (both being time-slip adventures), and now this one.

Jessica Jenkins is in class one day, daydreaming, staring out the window, her mind floating away, when she is brought back to earth by two things - her friend, Izzy, prodding her and giving her a funny look, and the teacher yelling at her. Izzy later reveals the reason for the funny look - Jessica's elbow was disappearing. She was slowly turning invisible. Thus begins a great adventure involving crystals, serum, labs, superpowers, break-ins, kidnaps, rescues, and friends pulling together in a crisis.

I think the cover is brilliant - it will really get the children and parents picking it up to read the back, so I hope the publisher's keep it for the retail copy. Each of the chapter headings have really detailed little drawings around them, which describe what happens in that chapter. Once I'd finished each chapter, I'd go back and look at the drawings and think to myself 'Oh yeah, there's that cat', and 'there's that crystal'. Very clever.

Another successful, very readable and enjoyable adventure story from the very talented Liz Kessler.

Smart by Kim Slater

Smart
by Kim Slater

Kieran Woods is a bit different. He is brilliant at drawing, but his special teacher at school tells him he must try to think before he speaks so as not to upset people. He also proves to be a brilliant detective. A homeless man is found dead in the river, and Kieran takes it upon himself to find out who killed him. But it's not easy, especially when you have Tony as a stepfather and Ryan as a stepbrother. They are both physically and mentally abusive towards Kieran and his mother. Kieran is not allowed to watch the television with him, he must eat his meals at different times (and not have the same food - only beans on toast for Kieran), and whenever there are visitors to the house Kieran must go to his room. These visitors usually come at night, and Tony hands over little bags and receives a large amount of cash in exchange.

As if this isn't enough unhappiness in poor Kieran's life, he has been banned from seeing his Grandma, who tried to stand up to Tony and his bullying ways, but lost the right to see her grandson in the process. But now Grandma could be the only comfort in Kieran's life, so he sets out to try to find her again.

This is such a sad and tragic story. You just want to take Kieran by the hand and drag him out of his current life and take care of him. His mother works all hours of the day, puts up with the abuse from Tony, doesn't report him out of fear, and does not stand up for Kieran when Tony picks on him. They live in a street of crime, and Tony's pet Rottweiler Tyson has been locked in the shed and just left there for days on end. It is all just so pitiful, you long for some happiness in Kieran's life. Even though Kieran's schoolteacher sounds caring and loving, even she does not investigate Kieran's home life when he comes into school with bumps and bruises.

Kieran is very brave, in fact he is the bravest of everyone in the whole story, even though he is the one with special needs and does not fully understand the way people work. He is also smart -he knows how to make use of his talents, he knows when something is wrong and he tells the right people. Good always overcomes evil.

A rather harrowing story but written brilliantly. If you like this then read The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, or Colin Fischer

Look Who's Back by Timur Vermes

Look Who's Back
by Timur Vermes

The mixture of the cover image and title really caught my eye, and when I read the synopsis I thought I have to read this. Adolf Hitler wakes up in modern day Berlin having been 'asleep' for over 60 years. He has not aged, and he still wears his Fuhrer uniform. He wanders the streets to figure out what's going on, and discovers the true date from a nearby newspaper vendor. Everyone he passes presumes he is an actor - a very good method actor - and before he knows it, his photo is in the newspapers and he is being asked onto a famous satirical chat show. People don't realise that they are laughing along with someone who is talking in all sincerity. They just think he is pushing the boundaries somewhat.

The funniest, and most uncomfortable, thing about the story is that he is able to talk people around to his way of thinking. He is a charmer, a gentleman, sensitive to women's feelings, loves the youth of today, but at the end of the day he is Adolf Hitler, hater and killer of Jews, the reason hundreds of thousands of people died. There is a moment in the book where Adolf goes to visit a grandma whose whole family were gassed in the war because they were Jews. He even has this old lady warming to him and making him a cup of tea.

The author, through Adolf, criticises modern media - the press, journalists, publishers, television shows - to the extent that you are just agreeing with everything he says. Is this how Adolf worked in his day? He was a strong public speaker, he became Fuhrer (though not through a true democratic process), thousands did not seem to question his ethics of wanting to eliminate an entire religion.


This book will have you, as his modern day audience, laughing uncomfortably.

The Good Luck of Right Now! by Matthew Quick

The Good Luck of Right Now!
by Matthew Quick

The last book I read by Matthew Quick (also probably more famous for his book 'The Silver Linings Playbook' which was made into an award-winning film) was the young adult novel Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock, which I think I actually preferred to this adult novel 'The Good Luck of Right Now!'. This book is very sad in a poignant, tragic way.

The story is about 39-yr-old Bartholomew Neil, who has a learning difficulty. He still lives with his mum, that is until she dies from cancer, and suddenly Bartholomew has to survive in a world of the unknown. He and his mother were always very religious and attended Mass every week. They had become very close to Father McNamee, who decides to move in with Bartholomew to take care of him. He organises a counsellor, Wendy, for Bartholomew, who also refers him to group therapy with another man, Max, who suffers from tourettes. It just so happens that Max's sister, Elizabeth, is a young girl that Bartholomew has taken a liking to in the local library, but she also has had a troubled past and is in need of help.

The four of them - Bartholomew, Father McNamee, Max and Elizabeth - decide to take a trip to Canada. Father McNamee wants to introduce Bartholomew to his biological father, whom Bartholomew thought had been killed by the Ku Klux Klan when he was little. And Max wants to visit Cat Parliament (Max has been suffering from grief since the loss of his cat Alice). The trip turns out to be a life-changing experience for all of them, but in different ways.

The chapters are set out as letters to Richard Gere, as Bartholomew's mum was a big fan of his and began to call Bartholomew 'Richard' towards the end of her life which he pretended was a game. After her death, Bartholomew hears Richard's voice giving him advice, so uses Richard as a sort of counsellor to describe all his fears and worries to. It turns out that Richard will mean more to Bartholomew than he can ever imagine.

The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North

The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August
by Claire North

There were two things that attracted me to this book. Firstly, the storyline. Sounds similar to the storyline of Life After Life by Kate Atkinson but with a twist. Harry August is a Kalachakra, a person who dies but then immediately starts his life over again from birth. He is also a mnemonic - he remembers everything from all his previous lives and if ever forced to be put through a 'Forgetting' (electrical impulses passed through the brain to wipe your memory and make you forget all your past lives), it will not work on him. In his eleventh life, while on his death-bed in hospital, he is visited by a 7-yr-old girl, who passes on a message which has been handed back through future centuries. The world is ending, and he can help save it.

During his next few lives, Harry uses his 'past' and 'future' knowledge, and that of his fellow kalachakras across the world who make up the Cronus Club, to track down those responsible for bringing the world to an early end, and most importantly to try to stop them. It's a fascinating book. Some of the quantum physics material had me a little overwhelmed but you get the gist of it!

The second interesting thing about the book is the author. Claire North, we are told by the publisher, is a pseudonym for an acclaimed British author who has previously published several novels, and this book is completely different from any of them. While reading it, I was frantically trying to recognise writing and storytelling patterns, and I came across one phrase which almost brought a name to my lips but I couldn't bring my brain to give it to me! So when the real author is finally revealed (which of course it will be - see J.K Rowling and Robert Galbraith), we will all either declare 'Oh of course!' or 'Well I never, I'd never have guessed'.