The Wanderdays: Journey To Fantome Island -Clare Povey

Flo and Joseph Wanderday have always known their mum to be an explorer and they are used to her heading off on expeditions; she is, after all, world-famous as a film-maker and activist.  But when she fails to check-in during her latest trip, they quickly realise something is wrong, and this is confirmed by the news stations as well as the press hanging outside their apartment building. When a mysterious woman catches their eye, they think she may have answers but what she reveals is something far more shocking to them and something that leads to the siblings and their best friends, Funmi and Isaac, heading off on a life-saving rescue mission. But just exactly what will they discover when they get there?

I am a HUGE fan of Clare's writing and the Bastien Bonlivre books hold pride of place on my bookshelf (you can read my reviews here The Unexpected Tale Of Bastien Bonlivre  The Unexpected Tale of the Bad Brothers), so the arrival of The Wanderdays: Journey To Fantome Island was met with huge amounts of excitement and the book immediately skipped my ever-burgeoning tbr pile.

I loved Joseph, or JoJo as he is affectionately known by his family. He is a worrier, which is something I can definitely relate to. To see a character worry about what others might think are little things will be incredibly powerful for readers and is something I wish I'd been able to see in a book when I was younger. For Joseph, his worrying manifests as OCD, written from Clare's personal experience, which definitely gives it an authentic feel.  The relationship he has with his sister is wonderful to read, and little touches like her taking his worries for him show the respect they have for each other and made my heart sing.  I know he doesn't see himself as a strong character but I think that as the book progresses, we see that Joseph is one of the strongest characters in the book, and I adored him.

Clare is an author I have come to know as someone who writes great baddies and this book is no exception.  Readers will delight in hating the baddies and the dastardly deeds they are responsible for - I shall say no more so as not to spoil anything but the baddies definitely do not disappoint.

The book is an exciting read and one that captured me from the very beginning. It soon becomes apparent that all is not what it may seem and it's up to the Wanderdays and their friends to get to the bottom of things; the siblings' love for their mother is evident, as is the fact that they will stop at nothing to find her which creates a gripping plot and I couldn't put the book down.

With part of the book being set underwater, I found myself transported back to one of my favourite childhood movies and books, The Waterbabies, and I loved the excitement of being part of the ocean and discovering the world that exists there.  I also liked how seamlessly Clare was able to weave in environmental messages, reminding readers that humans aren't looking after the ocean. 

As the book progresses, the action ramps up even more and the ending is unputdownable. With twists you won't see coming, The Wanderdays: Journey To Fantome Island (publishing on the 6th June) is going to be the perfect read for kids this summer and I know that my class will be queueing up to read it next term.