Questers Academy: The Box Of Locks - Sam Hay

 

Tom is a super-recogniser, which means he only needs to see somebody for a couple of seconds and he will remember every detail of their faces.  When friends don't turn up for a day at the Natural History Museum, he meets Leesha whose aunt works at the museum.  Just after they meet, they hear of the disappearance of a mythical firebird and Tom is able to immediately identify the culprit, having earlier bumped into him as he left the underground.  After that, Leesha persuades Tom to spend the day with her at the museum.  Before long, the pair are embroiled in a race against time to find the final key that will open a Box of Locks, unleashing a doom stone on London causing catastrophic damage.  

Tom has only recently moved back to London with his family from Wales and is still finding his feet.  When old friends can't meet him at the museum he begins to worry, but Leesha is quick to swoop in and befriends him.  Her confidence and knowledge of the museum give Tom a bit of a boost and, before he knows it, he's messaging his mum to say he's happy to stay for the day.  It's shortly after that that Leesha reveals that she is part of Questers Academy a summer school of extraordinary children with key skills who are charged with protecting rare artefacts.  The mythical firebird going missing is the first of these things, and when the Box of Locks goes missing, and her aunt reveals that 29 of the 30 keys that protect the device have been found; Leesha is determined that she and Tom will be the one to crack the case but this leads to a wealth of danger and a day of adventure and danger that Tom will never forget.

I loved Leesha's confidence and determination; it balanced Tom's uncertainty wonderfully.  Until now, his skill of being a super-recogniser has been one that has been nothing more than a novelty to his siblings, but now his unique talent is exactly what is needed to help Leesha.

Set in the heart of London, The Box of Locks is a book that will set hearts racing and will get readers thinking.  With plenty of clues to keep you on your toes, and short chapters, this is a definitely a 'just one more chapter' sort of book that you won't be able to put down!  

Publishing on the 4th June, and with the promise of more to come, Questers Academy: The Box of Locks is a book that will make the perfect read this summer, especially if you're planning a trip to London!

Two Is A Crowd - Cath Howe

Starting secondary school can be tricky but for Hattie it's even tricker as it seems her best friend is no longer in her class and is spending all her time with someone else.  On top of that, her mum's god-daughter, Seren, has come to stay and seems to be getting preferential treatment.  Hattie begins to feel that her family prefer Seren to her and her behaviour begins to spiral. 

Hattie really feels as though her world has been turned upside down.  She'd been looking forward to secondary school but her best friend seems to have been distant over the summer.  Then Seren's arrival knocks her even more.  Having lost her parents in a car accident, she lives with her grandfather, but now he's had a fall that has landed him in hospital and Hattie's mum has stepped up.  All of a sudden, things are changing: Seren gets her own room whilst Hattie has to share with her brother; Seren gets to eat what she wants whilst Hattie has to eat what is put down in front of her, and the family seem to be making allowances for her that Hattie just can't understand - poor Hattie feels really left out and just doesn't understand what's happening.  She's excited to start her new school so she can catch up with her best friend, Amber, but this all comes crashing down around her as well.  Desperate for attention, she begins to act out at school and suddenly finds herself constantly in trouble and isolated.  

I really felt for Hattie: all she wants is to feel wanted and she doesn't understand what's happening or why her family are behaving the way they are with Seren.  I'm sure there will be readers who will relate to Hattie, both in the changing nature of friendships, and also the desire for parents' attention. 

Cath has a way of writing books this is very readable and appealing to children whilst also conveying important messages that help readers to see themselves, and Two Is A Crowd is another superb example of this.  Seren has undergone so much and needs time to process this, but Hattie is too preoccupied with her own worries to see that. Family, friendship and finding your way all feature in this wonderful book that readers are guaranteed to love when it publishes on the 9th April. 

Anya And The Light Above The Ocean - Elias Giudici

Anya doesn't know exactly what her mum's work involves, all she knows is that she heads out on a small boat to conduct experiments and is always home at 9pm.  So when she doesn't return one evening, Anya begins to worry and decides to head out to find her despite the weather.  As the storm rages, Anya sees a faint glow in the distance.  Rowing out into the fog, she heads towards the light which has her transfixed.  The next thing she knows, she wakes in her boat and the sea is quiet...

I'm not really certain where to start with my review of this book, not because I didn't love, because I absolutely did, but because I'm scared of giving anything away that will spoil the book.

Anya's life changes in an instant the night she heads out on the boat, and her strength and resilience, as well as her love for her mum, are what carry her through.

There are very few books where I am surprised by events, but less than 40 pages in and I gave an audible gasp! As I was in the middle of Book Cove at school at the time, and surrounded by students who were curled up reading, it certainly caused a stir! Suddenly everyone wanted to know what I was reading and why I had gasped. It's safe to say that I didn't give the game away, but there is now a queue of people who want to borrow the book!

Anya And The Light Above The Ocean is a gripping read whilst also being beautifully written. There are definite elements of sci-fi in the most unsci-fi way I've ever read and that will appeal to many. The book will absolutely provoke questions, and I now really just want to talk to somebody about everything that happened - I guess I'll have to wait until the first of my students has read it!

This is a book about family, resilience, doing the right thing, ethics and the possible negative effects of scientific discovery. It's about a desperate need to discover the truth and learning who to trust.

Out now, this book is one you really need to read!

Diary Of A Wicked Witch & Diary Of A Dreadful Dragon - Ben Miller

I spent a delightful Sunday morning reading the next two instalments in Ben Miller's Fairytale Woods series.

Diary Of A Wicked Witch.

Wendoline, The Wicked Witch, has been sentenced to four weeks of kindness training in order to rectify her wicked ways, but can she and her fellow witches really learn how to be nice all of the time?

Diary Of A Dreadful Dragon.

Malgundrax has been banished from yet another kingdom and is desperately looking for somewhere different to live where he can rebuild his hoard of shiny treasures.  Quite by accident, he meets the Three Bears who are in need of a new way to deliver packages for their delivery company - Malc sees this as the perfect way to get into people's home to steal their treasure, but then he discovers that he actually likes Baby Bear and his parents - can this dragon really changes his ways?

Both of these books are an absolute delight to read; fun and engaging, they take traditional fairy-tales and give them a new spin that readers will love (I particularly enjoyed the Hallowe'en twist of Diary of A Wicked Witch).  Their fast-paced and friendly style means they would make great independent reads or family read alongs.  They are funny at times, and visually a joy to explore thanks to Alise Paganelli's wonderful illustrations.  With messages about friendship and doing the right thing woven into the plot, these books are guaranteed hits.

The Fairy-tale series is a wonderful one and I'm looking forward to seeing what comes next.

Cinnamon Crumb Baking Detective The Great Cake Caper - Harry Woodgate

 

Cinnamon lives in the town of Marzipan, a place where cakes and baking are a way of life.  The annual Twelve Tier Crown baking trophy is about to be contested and rival bakers, Victoria Sponge and Madeline Macaron, are desperate to win; however, both believe the other is trying to sabotage their chances so they separately enlist Cinnamon to act as detective to uncover evidence of what the other is doing.  But can Cinnamon and her friend, Rafi, get to the bottom of things before it's too late?

Oh my goodness, this book is an absolutely delicious delight of a read!  With the perfect mix of adventure, suspense and scrumptious treats, it has all the right ingredients for a book that I know will be a showstopper of a success.

In a town where baking is everything (right down to the street names), Cinnamon is somewhat of an enigma: she can't bake!  In fact, she can't even make a slice of toast without burning it!  Living with her rather forthright Aunt Tatin (not really her aunt, but someone employed by her parents to look after Cinnamon whilst they venture off in search of rare ingredients for baking) and her dog Snickerdoodle, she lives in a rather higgledy-piggledy house between Victoria and Madeline's stores, so when both ask her to investigate the other, she doesn't really have far to travel.  To provide herself with ample snooping time, she chooses to ask both ladies for baking lessons so she can hopefully learn how to bake whilst uncovering their devious plots, and this leads to chaos and revelations that nobody will quite believe!

Cinnamon is a wonderful character and somebody that readers will love getting to know.  She is independent and determined but not without her faults (especially when Rafi invites and third person to join their detective group).  She is intent on following the clues as they unfold but the more she discovers, the more it puzzles her.  Thankfully she has Rafi to help her.  

It would be incredibly remis of me not to mention the town of Marzipan in my review - I'm moving there immediately!  Everything about the place sounds simply scrumptious (apart, of course, from the sabotage!); the sheer number of bakeries, baking related events, sugarsmiths, cake carnivals ... I could go on.  Safe to say that this book will definitely make you crave cake, lots of cake!  And please, can I take a minute to congratulate Harry on the character and place names, as well as the sheer number of baking related play on words that they managed to stir into the book - they put the biggest smile on my face and I found myself reading snippets out to my class who are now all desperate to get their hands on it!!!  In fact, we had a great conversation about how gorgeous the illustrations are and one, in particular, caught our eye: the sugarsmiths' headquarters, which we decided must be based on Gaudi's Casa Batlló in Barcelona.

As you can see, the book has already sparked much discussion in school, and that's before anybody has read it!  The kids are desperate to dive into the book to savour the illustrations, to sample the adventure and to get to know Cinnamon more - there is already a waiting list for the book and I know that it will be whisked out of my hands first thing Monday morning!

The Great Cake Caper is one of the books that I loved so much that I now feel that my review really isn't doing it the justice it deserves!  It's a great dollop of deliciousness; it's a mouth-watering slice of happiness that will make you baguette the real world for just moment, and the icing on the cake: at the end of the book, your tastebuds will be tantalised by news of book 2! (I think I knead to leave the baking puns to Harry, don't you?!)

Cinnamon Crumb Baking Detective The Great Cake Caper publishes on the 10th September is perfect for fans of Alice Éclair, Bridgit Vanderpuff, How To Be True, The Travelling School Mysteries.

The Umbrella Mouse - Anna Fargher

Set in 1944, during WWII, Pip (a mouse) lives with her family inside an umbrella in a shop in Bloomsbury, when one night a bomb directly hits the shop, killing her entire family.  Devastated and lost, Pip takes the umbrella (the first in England) and vows to take it to Gignesse in Italy to the umbrella where her mother's family live.  And so her adventures begin.  In order to make her journey, she must join Noah's Ark, a band of animals fighting alongside the resistance in France.  Where will her adventures take her?  Will she make it to Italy?  You'll just have to read the book to find out!

Brave and feisty, you soon forget that Pip is a mouse and become completely absorbed by the fast-paced adventure within this book.  The band of animal characters really feel quite human in many respects and, although their animal qualities are still very much evident, their different characters are relatable and you very quickly find yourself routing for them.

This story is a great way to portray the events of WWII, D-Day and the French Resistance in a way that will appeal.  Full of tension and with a host of heroes (none more-so than Pip), the book captures the war-time spirit and imparts many positive messages within its pages.  We highly recommend this book and completely understand why it was chosen as Waterstones book of the month.

The Galaxy World Cup - Alan Joyce

 

Following an after-school detention where they were used as football target practice, Nick and his classmates are accidentally mistaken for being the best footballers in the world (probably due to the names on the back on their football tops) and are abducted by aliens in order to compete in an intergalactic football competition.  But can these misfits, who happen to be terrible at football, actually win a game?

This book is a great read.  Full of fun and laughs, there are also some important messages about friendship, working together and resilience woven into the action.

Nick and his fellow detentioners (probably not a real word!) really haven't had the best day, and when they are told they have to run laps of the park, they are even more fed-up than they were. And that is when they discover there is actually an invisible space ship standing in front of them!  Within minutes, they are abducted and transported to the planet Bigpu where they will face football teams from other planets in a major competition that could have dire consequences for Earth if they lose!

This team really are the worst footballers ever and now they have no choice but to compete against teams of different aliens in conditions that would test even the best footballer.  They have no choice but to learn to work together and, as the tournament unfolds, friendships begin to form.

Nick, Mia, Eddie, Sanjay and Phil are all very different but wonderful characters whom I enjoyed getting to know.  They made me laugh and also made me think at times; each have their own things they are dealing with and it reminds readers not to judge people until you know know them.  

From bouncy pitches to exploding team tops, The Galaxy World Cup is a great read that will appeal to fans of football as well as fans of Oliver's Great Big Universe and the Sam Wu series.  

The Galaxy World Cup is out now.