CHILDRENS & YOUNG FICTION REVIEWS & Stories 2011

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THE REPOSSESSION An intense, edgy thriller for readers who love suspense, action and romance Paperback: 495 pages Publisher: Hodder Children's Books March 1st 2012 ISBN-13: 978-0340997086 'Six weeks, four days, sixteen hours and twenty minutes since the jail door had slammed on Genie. Seven weeks since the school broke up for summer. God had got her into this room but it would take more than prayers to get her out.... ' Thirty-four kids are missing from the mountain town of Spurlake B.C. The town community is considering electronic tagging all their children.  Meanwhile, Genie Magee (15) is imprisoned behind bars at home by her mother who claims her soul is possessed by the Devil. The Reverend Schneider leads all night vigils to pray for the missing kids’ souls, to stop a sickness in the town that seems to drive the kids away. As stormclouds gather over the mountain town, Rian, Genie’s boyfriend, plots to break her out and steal her away from Spurlake forever. Pre-Order from Waterstones here / Pre-Order from Amazon here

Young Fiction Reviews

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A Crystal Horseman Bad Tuesdays Book. 5 by Benjamin J. Myers • Sam North review Published 04/08/2011 Publisher: Orion Children's Books ISBN 9781842556436 Saving the best for last. Ben Myers has delivered an action packed page-turner that makes compelling reading. The Droughtlanders by Carrie Mac • Sam Hawksmoor review The Droughtlanders gets to grips with climate change, revolutionary politics, regime change, circuses, cowardice and the terrible price of jealousy and revenge.  Burning Mountain L J Adlington Hodder Children’s July 2010 ISBN: 978-0-340-95682-3 • Sam Hawksmoor review This is an arresting approach to telling a Second World War story from the German point of view.   A year Without Autumn by Liz Kessler Orion’s Childrens Books  Pub: 7th April 2011 • Jan Carr review Autumn is Jenni’s best friend.  Her family have a timeshare in the same place as Jenni’s and they meet there every year, same week. The story takes places over three time share holiday weeks, but for Jenni, thanks to a time travelling lift, it takes just three increasingly horrid days. The Hunger Games- MockingJay Suzanne Collins Scholastic Paperback 2010 ISBN: 978-1-407109-37-4 • Sam North ‘If We burn you burn with us’ The Gryphon Project Carrie Mac Paperback: Puffin Canada ( 2009) ISBN-13: 978-0143168140 • Sam North review Never worry about death again, everyone gets three chances at life - whether you want it or not The Bad Tuesdays - Strange Energy by Benjamin J Meyers • Sam Hawksmoor review ISBN: 978-1-84255-640-5 Orion Books Strange Energy is the second book in the Bad Tuesdays horror series and it grips from the first page Blood Alchemy Part Three out now The Bad Tuesdays – Twisted Symmetry by Benjamin J Myers Orion Books ISBN: 978 1-84255 641 2 Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce Hodder Childrens ISBN: 978 1 444 90058 3 Published 3 June 2010 • Holly Trinder Fairy tales are not all made up, this is what the March sisters are forced to accept. Red Riding Hood grows up and gets very scary indeed. I’d tell you I love you but I’d have to kill you Ally Carter Publisher: Orchard (6 May 2010) ISBN-13: 978-1408309513 • Cathy Smedley Love - Kill is an exciting ride through the turmoil of a teenage girl’s mind Mission Telemark By Amanda Mitchison Walker Books Ltd. 2010 ISBN: 978-1-4063-1104-4. • Bella Osborne Mission Telemark tells the tales of four teenagers trained as Special Operations Agents in the Second World War, risking everything to prevent the making of a nuclear bomb in their native home, the now Nazi-occupied Norway.  Pastworld by Ian Beck ISBN: 9780747581734 Published: Bloomsbury Oct 2009 • Sam North review What evil is loose in this Victorian theme park? Who will save the beautiful tightrope walker Eve from the murderous Fantom? Master of Misrule by Laura Powell Orchard Books Feb 2010 ISBN 978 1 40830 237 8 • Gareth M Bryant review Powell really has outdone herself, setting a new standard for future publications Tapas and Tears by Chris Higgins Hodder Childrens ISBN: 978-0-340-97077-5 • Emily Rogers review a bright, easy and fun read, which is perfect for an audience of 11+ girls Rebel by R J Anderson Orchard Books ISBN: 978 1 40830 737 3 • Megan Webb a book that grips you from its opening line; ‘the Queen is dying’ through to the end - the sequel to Knife Falling Hook, Line and Sinker by Helen Bailey ISBN-13: 978-0340989234 Hodder Childrens (Jan 2010) • Carrie Baxter review Electra and Jack are back and still fighting Princess for Hire by Lindsay Leavitt Egmont Books Ltd ISBN-13: 978-1405246125 • Agnes Rae review Princess wanted - must be able to travel In My Sky at Twilight - edited by Gaby Morgan MacMillan Books • Kelly Bianchi review Poems for Twilight lovers Phillipa Fisher and the Stone Fairy's Promise by Liz Kessler • Ella Measey review (age 10) A good book for all those who like fairies Witch Breed by Alan Gibbons Orion Books 1 July 2010 978-1-84255-780-8 • Sam Hawksmoor Part 4 of Hell's Underground 'a terrifying exciting exposé of England's inglorious past' Miss Understanding ‘My Summer on the Shelf’ by Lara Fox (1 May 2010) ISBN: 978-0-340-98883-1 Hodder Children’s Books • Megan Webb review This is the second book by Miss Understanding, a witty and hilariously honest ex-agony aunt. Skulduggery Pleasant: Dark Days by Derek Landy HarperCollins Children's Books (1 April 2010) ISBN-13: 978-0007325948 • Review by Robert Sills Dark days indeed as we enter the fourth book of the Skulduggery Pleasant series and the continuing adventures of the title skeleton, wizard detective and heroine Valkyrie Cane. Talk to the Hand by Nicole Dryburgh Hodder Childrens Non-Fiction • Bella Osborne review Inspirational cancer coping manual Ghost Hunter by Michelle Paver Orion ( 2009) ISBN-13: 978-1409104858 • Review by Robert Sills The final book of Paver’s critically acclaimed ‘Chronicles of Firespell: Dark Elite vol 1 By Chloe Neil Gollancz 2010 • Nina Aumaitre Lily Parker is thrown into the finely manicured claws of St Sophia’s boarding school, far from friends and family. Could this be a new beginning? The Double Life of Cora Parry by Angela McAllister Orion Children’s Books (Paperback Feb 2011) ISBN-13: 978 1 84255 603 0 Hardback: ISBN-13: 978 1 444001518 • Sam Hawksmoor review The Double Life of Cora Parry does not paint the past as a cosy place where warm fires will toast your toes and cream buns delight your tummy.  This is a harsh, very real hungry past

Divergent by Veronica Roth ISBN: 978-0-00-742041-4 Harper Collins • Sam North Here is another tough girl living in a dystopian world divided into rival factions - forced to make a stark choice between which faction to join at sixteen (Publishers Weekly Book of the Year) Ship Breaker Paulo Bacigalupi Paperback: 336 pages Publisher: ATOM (7 July 2011) ISBN-13: 978-1907411106 • Sam Hawksmoor Nailer is tough, like his name, wiry, small, which is lucky, it means Nailer gets to work on the lite crew that’s stripping the innards of a beached oil tanker on Bright Beach in the Gulf of Mexico. Blood Red Road by Moira Young Marion Lloyd Books (June 2011) UK ISBN 9781407124254 • Sam Hawksmoor There is something quite calculating about Blood Red Road and the story of Saba from the Dustlands.  Coping with Chloe by Rosalie Warren Publisher: Phoenix Yard Books (March 2011) ISBN: 9781907912023 • Sam North Two tragedies befall Anna Hendserson. Her twin sister Chloe died recently (run over) and then took up residence in her head. How do you cope with loss when your sister refuses to lie down? Worse, she kisses the boy you think you might be in love with. Confused? Not as much as poor Anna. Delirium by Lauren Oliver ISBN 9780340980910 • Sam Hawksmoor review In Delirium we live in a future United States where love is a disease in need of a cure – which sounds a lot like the Taliban took over and may yet happen of course.  Published: 03/02/2011 Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton The Girl Who Could Fly Victoria Forester • Sam Hawksmoor review Square Fish Books ISBN: 978-0-312-60238-3 'Seems like our child ain't normal,' said Betty McCloud Cross My Heart & Hope To Spy by Ally Carter Publisher: Orchard Books ISBN: 978-1-40830-952-0 Mia Palmer review CoveOps train Cammie and her friends in the art of losing enemy agents, infiltrating secure buildings and countersurveillance The Mourning Emporium by Michelle Louric Orion Childrens ISBN: 9781 84255 701 3 Pub: November 2010 Miss Uish is the most evil woman on earth and makes Teo and Renzo suffer greatly, starving them with disgusting foods. The evil Teipolo is back and means to destroy London... The Thief-Taker’s Apprentice by Stephen Deas Publisher: Gollancz (19 Aug 2010) ISBN-13: 978-0575094482 • Clare Sager Stephen Deas’ The Thief-Taker’s Apprentice is a difficult book to review: on the one hand, I finished and even enjoyed it, but on the other hand, it was a frustrating read at times.  Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness Walker Books ISBN: 978-1-4063-1027-6 • Sam North review The third part of Chaos Walking is sheer brilliance - a battle against the Spackle for 600 blood soaked pages. Gripping and relentless, Todd and Viola go through hell and beyond, each day could be their last. The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson Publisher: Walker (5 April 2010) ISBN: 978-1-4063-2031-6 • Amanda Donovan The Adoration of Jenna Fox is a fast paced and thought provoking thriller set in the scientific future. White Cat by Holly Black ISBN: 978 0 575 09671 4 (17 June 2010) Published by Gollancz • Holly Trinder a brilliant story of magic, danger, mystery, and the simple problems of trying to fit in The Beautiful Game - Georgie’s War By Narinder Dhami Hachette Children’s Books (2010) ISBN 978-1-40830-423-5 • Review by Daisy Seely Anger Management, Relationships and Football: a fun read. CandleMan by Geln Dakin Publisher: Egmont Books Ltd (1 Mar 2010) ISBN-13: 978-1405246767 • Sam Hawksmoor Terrific gothic tale set in London's sewers Conspiracy 365 by Gabrielle Lord Hodder Childrens January 2010 • Mark Wright Review A thriller for kids in 12 exciting editions The Doppleganger Chronicles: First Escape by G P Taylor Tynedale Books ISBN 9781414319476 • Amy Johnson review a fast-paced, unrelenting story that manages to maintain its energy and charm Rich and Mad by William Nicholson Egmont (April 2010) ISBN 978-1405247399 • Barabara Mackie review An older and more interesting “Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging The Quest of the Warrior Sheep by Christine and Christopher Russell ISBN:978-1-4052-4376-6 Publisher: Egmont • A Mia Palmer review This mad caper of a story with its funny and wholly entertaining characters will certainly keep anyone hooked The Prince of Mist Carlos Ruiz Zafon Orion children’s books • Nina Aumaitre Spanish story set in wartime tantalises but ultimately disappoints The Black Lung Captain by Chris Wooding Gollanz Books ISBN: 978-0-575-08518-3 • Marcel D'Agneau Take the cynical qualities of Indian Jones mix it with the movie Serenity and an eclectic gun-toting crew and you have the thrilling mix of Captain Frey and his oddball crew aboard the Ketty Jay. Share |

Revolver by Marcus Sedgwick Hardback - Orion Publishing ISBN: 9781842551868 • Sam North review Revolver is an intensely atmospheric novel in a frozen landscape and this a desperate situation that keeps you gripped to the last murderous moment. Highly recommended Vampire Diaries: The Fury and The Reunion by Lisa J. Smith Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Inc. 2009 ISBN- 978 0 340 99915 8 • Richard Crawley review Human beings do not like to be afraid. We have an innate need to conquer our fears The Elephants Tale By Lauren St John Orion Childrens Books ISBN 978-1-84255-619-1 • Reviewed by Callum Graham Martine arrives home from a ride on her white giraffe Jemmy to discover a stranger at the Sawubona game reserve. The Man From Pomegranate Street by Caroline Lawrence Publisher: Orion Books ISBN: 978-1-84255-193-6 • Reviewed by Thomas Morley It is clear that Lawrence is a scholar and, more importantly, she is passionate about the subject of Ancient Rome and about teaching it to children. The Sleepwalker by Robert Muchamore • Nick Prescott Hodder Childrens Books Only CHERUB agents can unearth the truth. They’re trained professionals with one essential advantage: adults never suspect that children are spying on them. SCAT by Carl Hiaasen Orion Books Hardback £9.99 ISBN: 978 1-84255- 774- 7 Pub: Oct 1st 2009 • Sam North review Following closely in the footsteps of his environmental kids' thriller Hoot, Carl Hiaasen plunges once again into the murky waters of the Everglades and a species under threat. Gifted by Marylyn Kaye Marcel d' Agneau Emily can see the future, Jenna can reads peoples' minds, Tracey can go invisible and Sara’s powers are too big to even use. Night World: Volume3 by L.J Smith Publisher: Hodder Children’s Books ISBN:978-0-340-99664-5 • Reviewed by Callum Graham Through the novels Lisa J Smith creates an interlinked world of mystery and intrigue, dominated by vampires, witches and Shapeshifters. Most are bent on the destruction of the human world... Eagle Day by Robert Muchamore Publisher: Hodder Children’s Books ISBN: 978-0-340-9549-6 • Callum Graham The Nazis have a new plan to ensure victory for Germany. Henderson quickly realises that he and the children are Britain’s only hope against a new threat, The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness ISBN: 978-1-4063-1026-9 Walker Books Published May 2009 £12.99 • Sam North review In novel that is not afraid to play with typography spraying ‘Boom’ across the pages as bombs go off and men die in ever greater numbers, the tension rises inexorably page by page This continues to be highly original, brilliant writing filled with vivid intense frontier people clinging to life and honour in total insanity. The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness IBSN- 978-1-4063-2247-7 Walker Books (paperback 2010) • Callum Graham The second instalment of the chaos walking trilogy is definitely a must read book of the year. The Ask and The Answer is a raging cloud of anxiety, faith and a quick decent into darkness Bonechiller by Graham McNamee ISBN: 978-0-340-88219-1 Hodderchildrens (March 2009) • Sam North review Bonechiller is an exciting Canadian thriller about an ice monster that stings and steals children that is pretty damn scary and all too real. Swimming Against the Tide by Helen Bailey Publisher: Hodder Children’s Books Feb 2009 ISBN: 978-0-340-95030-2 • Laura Lloyd review In between attempts to thwart ‘The Kipper’ and fearfully avoiding aubergines, Electra Brown still needs to find time to conduct The Glam Plan. Knife by R J Anderson Orchard Books; (Jan 2009); Pages: 320 ISBN13: 9781408303122 • Sam North What an extraordinary tale ‘Knife’ is - this is a different take on Faeries at the bottom of the garden. Little Brother by Cory Doctorow ISBN-9780007288427 Harper Collins Publishers • Michael Luzanycia They see what you’re typing, they know where you buy your coffee if you’re skipping school and they know who you call. Cory Doctorow sets this amazing read in San Francisco following the heroic yet geeky Marcus. Love ya Babe by Chris Higgins ISBN 13: 9780340970751 Hodder children’s books (291 pages) • Fleur Homfray For a male author Chris Higgins writes convincingly from a female perspective and seems to effortlessly put his mind into a woman’s psyche in the latest addition to his collection Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher • Nina Aumaitre Review This is a book about how it is so easy to misunderstand others, or to miss calculate how much of an impact we can have on them

The Silver Blade by Sally Gardner Publisher: Orion Children’s Books (2009) ISBN: 978-1-84255-597-2 • Nina Aumaitre review France 1793, blood is running in rivulets down the streets as heads fall severed from bodies like petals of sickle roses. The Undrowned Child by Michelle Lovric Publisher: Orion Children's Books (2009) ISBN-13: 978-1842557020 • Sam North review Take one adopted child call Teodora, add a cursed city under siege from vindictive ghosts seeking revenge, a huge monster slowly coming awake under the Venice lagoon, cannibal seagulls, anti-establishment mermaids, a vain friend and one handsome Venetian boy and you have all the ingredients for a spectacular adventure in real life Venice of 1899. Darke Academy - Secret Lives by Gabriella Poole ISBN: 13: 978-0-340-98924-1 Hodderchildrens – Teen (August 2009) • Marcel D'Agneau There’s moveable feasts and then there’s moveable schools that are also a feast in progress. The Darke Academy is a school with a terrible secret. Miss Understanding: My Year in Agony By Lara Fox Published by Hodder Children’s Books 1.6.09 ISBN: 978-0-340-98882-4 • Callum Graham review Anya spending too much time solving other people’s problems and not enough time sorting out her own life NIGHT WORLDS by Lisa J Smith Hodder Children's Books; (Jun 2009); ISBN: 978-0-340-99663-8 • Elle Mackintosh The quest to become popular, the struggles of growing up, the hatred of the actions of those you love, and the difficulty in getting used to your new found magical powers. Nathaniel Wolfe and the Bodysnatchers By Brian Keaney ISBN: 978-1-84616-574-0 Publisher: Orchard Books • Hannah Skorzewski Nathaniel Wolfe is a boy with a special talent. He can see ghosts. Nathaniel Wolfe and the Bodysnatchers plunges the reader into Victorian London, capturing the true atmosphere of the era Weighing it up by Ali Valenzuela Hodder Children's Books; (Mar 2009); ISBN13: 9780340988404 • Alana Hebenton review Weighing it up follows Ali Valenzuela’s frank account of being anorexic with diary extracts, from her point of view when she was suffering from the disease, alongside a first person commentary, written from her perspective now as she is controlling the illness. The Red Dress by Gaby Halberstam ISBN: 978-0-330-45053-9 It’s 1944 – Jo’Burg, South Africa and Rifke Lubetkin (14), daughter of a Lithuanian Jewish refugee is growing up under the rigid control of her stern traditional mother. The Declaration by Gemma Malley • Fleur Homfray The Declaration is a fantastic book about the future that grips the reader from the moment you begin Mean Tide by Sam North, Lulu Press - ISBN: 978-1-4092-0354-4 • Reviewed by Charlie Dickinson The hero of MEAN TIDE is Oliver, a survivor of much at his tender age of twelve years, and a likable lad coming to terms with a mysterious adult world about him. Angus, Thongs and full-frontal snogging by Louise Rennison HarperCollins Children's Books ISBN13: 9780007218677 • Ruby Ceriden Harrison Georgia Nicholson could be the love child of Bridget Jones and Adrian mole, only funnier. The Game Of Triumphs by Laura Powell ISBN: 9781408302361. Published By Orchard Books • Michael Webb review Cat stumbles into the bewildering world of the Arcanum where questions are answered and secrets are revealed - will this orphaned girl find her answers in the strange world of the Arcanum? Changeling by Steve Feasey Macmillan (Jan 2009) ISBN:9780330470476 • A Jen Ames Review Changeling, with its host of underworld nasties, promised to give me something to sink my teeth into, be they vampiric, lycanthropic or human. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins Scholastic; (Jan 2009) ISBN13: 9781407109084 • Ben Bennet review Thrilling unacknowleged adaptation of Battle Royale to post-Apocapyptic USA. Gripping teen survival story. Hunger Games part Two is out now October 2009 Cirque Du Freak by Darren Shan Harper Collins 2000 • Richard Crawley Maybe like Darren Shan, the little boy at the heart of this story [aswell as its narrator] who, through a series of unfortunate accidents finds himself an unwilling vampire's apprentice, I was simply the victim of fate. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne Publisher: David Fickling Books (2006) ISBN: 978-1862305274 • Nick Prescott Review Set during World War II, John Boyne’s The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas sets out to describe the horrors of war and the holocaust through the innocent eyes of a child.

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