The Black Book of Secrets by F.E Higgins 

This is quite simply the best book I have read in a very long time. I loved every minute of it and think that F.E Higgins is a very talented writer that is destined for big things. The plot is extremely well thought out and quick witted, full of mystery and suspense as well as ridiculous humour that makes you laugh out loud.

 The books main character is a small boy called Ludlow Fitch. Ludlow has not had an easy life forcing him to be a pick pocket from infancy… Ludlow used to sit on his fathers shoulders and steel posh peoples fancy hats from the top of their heads . When things in London get difficult, Ludlow escapes and ends up by chance in a small village called Pagus Parvus. There he meets Joe Zabbidoe, a mysterious pawn broker who trades in more than objects… he trades in secrets.

As the story slowly begins to unravel more and more characters are revealed, creeping up the hill at midnight to tell Joe and Ludlow their secrets which are dark and disturbing, but also comical. All the secrets seem to centre on a very nasty character called Jeremiah Ratchett. Ratchett has been blackmailing the villagers for year to line his own pockets. The question is will he ever get his comeuppance!! You will have to read to find out.

This is an excellent read and I definitely recommend it to everyone!! I LOVED IT!!

Ruby Red by Linzi Glass

I read this book over half term in the space of a day. I could not put it down. The story is set in Africa in Johannesburg in 1976  during the apartheid (the segregation of black people from white people) and is about a girl called Ruby. Ruby is the most popular girl at school, everybody loves her! She is good at sport, clever and the head girl. The only problem is that Ruby has a secret…. her family  support the movement for black people to be treated equally to white people.  Ruby is proud of her parents and their beliefs, but must keep their beliefs a secret else her families lives will be in danger. When Ruby falls in love with an Afrikan’s boy life gets even more complicated… and Rubies world begins to crumble around her!!

The Kissing Club by Julia Clarke

Emily thinks she has got her whole life planned out. At 14 she joins The Kissing club and vows she will wait until she is married before she is ‘intimate’ with someone. Her parents and all her friends are so proud of her commitment and Emily enjoys feeling ’special’… but then at 16 Emily finds herself pregnant right in the middle of her studies!! Worst still her parents won’t believe her and just think she has an eating disorder, and her Grandma comes to live with them because she is an alcoholic.

As the book unravels it tells the tale of exactly what happened to Emily. It is mixed with humour and neither condemns nor glamorises Emily’s predicament. Instead it tells the tale of a girl who made a mistake and not only deals with it, but learns a few lessons along the way – not least that people can surprise you and are not always what they seem! I definitely recommend this book. Though think it is probably better suited to year 8 plus.  

Leaving Poppy by Kate Cann

Leaving Poppy is an intense thriller and all round scary book!! It will definitely stick in you mind for a long while. The book tells the story of a girl named Amber. Amber is shy and finds it difficult to make friends. This is largely due to her younger step sister Poppy who is both possessive and controlling over Amber and her mother. When Poppy is upset things get very UGLY!! And Ambers mom always puts Poppy’s need first.When Amber passes her A’levels she hatches a desperate plan. she defers her entry to the local university and tells her mom and Poppy that she is going on holiday for 2 weeks to Cornwall with friends. However she plans on staying there a lot longer, finding work and starting a new life for herself away from Poppy.

Amber soon begins to gain confidence and make friends in Cornwall. She moves into a student house, finds work as a chef in a local cafe and even makes friends with a very nice boy she hopes will one day see her as more than just a friend. But Amber soon realises there is something not quite right about the house. There is something strange about the attic, the shadow that moves at the bottom of the stairs is creepy, and the ‘crazy old lady’ over the road that keeps on stopping her and asking her questions about the house only adds to Ambers worries…

And then Poppy arrives on the door step and things really begin to get frightening!!!!

This book is definitely worth reading, and different the usual teen romance books Kate Cann has become well known for. It will freak you out in places!! I recommend it to Year 8 plus.

 

After the Death of Alice Bennett by Rowland Moloy

After the death of Alice Bennett is about how a family copes when their mother dies suddenly from cancer. It focuses specifically on a young boy called Sam, and how his life changes. Sam cannot grasp why he can no longer speak to his mother, when she told him she would always be with him before she died. Then when his older sister Becky receives a text saying, ‘Thinking about you. x’, Sam becomes convinced that the text is from their mother, beyond the grave.

When he finds his mums old mobile phone he uses it to try and text her back using a mysterious phone number he finds written in his mothers hand writing, on the family notice board. Before you know it he is receiving texts back. But from who? ….

I thought this was a good book on the whole. However I found it difficult to get into at first, as it was a little slow initially. I would also have liked the characters of Sam’s friends to be a bit more three-dimensional, as I felt they would have had more of an impact on Sams life and his grief. Refreshingly this was not sickly sweet story with a happy ending. It merely seeked to emphasise the fact that life goes on regardless of when we loose someone, and we all find different ways to cope with our grief.

Between two seas by Marie-Louise Jensen

This book is a classic historical adventure book. The heroine is Marianne who on her dying mothers wish leaves Grimsby to travel to Skagen in Denmark to find her father – Lars Christensen, the golden haired fisherman her mother fell in love with many years ago. The journey is perilous, but Marianne hopes to find a better life and fore fill her mothers dieing wish. The question is will she find a better life and the acceptance she long craves from a father who does not even know she exists? … I guess you will have to read it to find out.

I loved every minute of this book. It really was a breath of fresh air. A rich plot is interwoven with believable characters, beautiful descriptions of the area and a gripping and intriguing plot which explains Marianne’s quest to find her true identity. Definitely one to curl up with next to the fire during these dark winter nights…

Over Christmas I read two excellent books.

The first one was called H.I.V.E (Higher Institute of Villainous Education) by Mark Walden. This is a really excellent book. Fans of Harry Potter will love the basic concept – but this is certainly no Harry Potter wanabee. Instead H.I.V.E is about a top secret school where children with the propensity for ‘wrongdoing’ are sent to practice their talents and develop criminal masterminds. Instead of Maths, English and Geography, lessons include Tactical Education, Stealth and Evasion, and Villainy Studies.

This would seem the perfect place for the likes of 12 year-old Otto Malpense who is extraordinarily good at inventing advanced technology and using it to manipulate any situation to his advantage… This includes his once having sabotaged the prime ministers speech at an important political conference!! However in Otto’s opinion H.I.V.E is a complete waste of time as the teachers there can’t teach him anything he doesn’t already know.  The only problem for Otto is that nobody is allowed to leave H.I.V.E until they complete their education. Nobody has ever even come close to escaping from the island. However this does not deter Otto, and with his friends Wing (a martial arts expert), Shelby (a jewellery thief), and Laura (a Hacker), Otto devices a plan. But will it work?…I guess you will have to read it to find out!!

The second book was Northern Lights by Philip Pullman (or the Golden compass if you are American). I am sure many of you are familiar with the film which was a hit over Christmas. However if you have not read the book yet I definitely recommend you do. The film was excellent, but the book is in a league of its own. It continues the story much further, and goes into more detail about the Magisterium, Dust, Iorek Byrinson  and the enigmatic Ms Coulter.

The story is about a girl called Lyra who lives at Jordan College in Oxford. Lyra lives in a world much like our own, only in this world everyone has Daemons, which are life long animal companions which reflect their soul.  Lyra is like a little street urchin, and spends her days playing with her friends Roger (the kitchen boy) and the Gyptian children who live by the river. That is until one day children begin to disappear from the streets, taken mysteriously by a group nicknamed ‘the gobblers’. Then the enigmatic Ms Coulter arrives and takes Lyra out of school starting a whole series of events which finds Lyra and her Daemon Pan in the snow filled North where she meets fighting bears, witches and aeronauts.

It really is an excellent book full of mystery, suspense, adventure and has some really amazing characters. I recommend you read it and the sequels – The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spy Glass.

After a rather abysmal weekend with dreary wet windy weather, I decided to curl up in an armchair with the fire blazing and read. The first book which came to hand was ‘If you could see me now’ by Celia Ahern. Shamefully it has been sitting on my bookshelf gathering dust for several months now waiting to be read… better late then never I suppose!! 

First of all I should mention that this book is definitely for older students, and I would recommend it to year 10 +.  

The books central character is Elizabeth Egan, a confident self-made businesswoman who owns a successful interior design company in a sleepy Irish town. However the order in her work life is not replicated in her family life. Elizabeth’s mother disappeared when she was 10, making her father a withdrawn recluse, and Elizabeth responsible for the upbringing of her little sister. Unfortunately her sister has grown up to become an uncontrollable alcoholic forcing Elizabeth to adopt her six-year-old nephew Luke. Once again taking on a parental role, squashing her own desires and ambitions for the future.

All these responsibilities have made Elizabeth loose her sense of fun, spontaneity and lust for life.  

Matters get much worse when Luke starts to talk to an ‘imaginary friend’ named Ivan. This causes Elizabeth to worry that Luke is going to end up like his wayward mother, living in a fantasyland…and here is where the story begins to get interesting…Ivan is actually not an ‘imaginary friend’, but is a REAL person who has his own personality, and enjoys pizza’s with olives (yuk). Unfortunately he can only be seen by people who need his help. As this is usually children, Ivan is shocked when Elizabeth begins to see him to.  

The story tells the tale of Elizabeth and Ivan’s growing relationship and is full of amusing events, and really touching moments, which keep you gripped. The question is can Ivan find out how he can help Elizabeth and why she needs him? And will the story end happily for both characters as they slowly begin to fall in love?

You will have to read it to find out!

Miss Belcher

‘The Secret Garden’ by Francis Hodgson Burnett was always one of my favourite books as a child. Therefore recently in a sudden burst of nostalgia I decided to read it again. Yes it was originally written eons ago (1909 to be precise), but you really should not let this put you off. This story has all the elements of an excellent read – love, friendship, death, mystery and humour… who could ask for more!

The story is about a selfish, ’sour-faced’ ten-year-old child called Mary Lenox who lives in India with her wealthy parents. That is until one day a sudden deadly cholera outbreak completely changes her life. The outbreak leaves Mary an orphan and finds her being quickly packed off to England to live with an Uncle she has never heard of, let alone met.

When she arrives in Yorkshire she finds out that her new home - Misselthwaite Manor is full of mysteries. The Manor is shroud in tragedy. Mary discovers her Uncles beautiful young wife died ten years ago when she fell from the branch of a tree in a walled garden. Since then the garden has been shut and the key hidden by her Uncle who now travels far and wide to escape his grief and the memories of his tragic loss.

As soon as she discovers this wilful Mary desperately wants to get into ‘the secret garden’, but she cannot find the door or the key. Will she ever find out how to get in? And what will happen when she does?

Mary also can’t understand  where the strange crying is coming from in the middle of the night, that echoes around the old mansion. Or why when she asks the servants lie and deny they heard anything. Will Mary ever discover the mysteries of Misselthwaite Manor?

I am afraid that if want to find out the answers to these questions you will have to read the book. Perhaps the reason I love this story so much is because it is a subtle blend of mystery, self discovery and friendship. The moral being that we can all change and become a better person with a little help from our friends.  

Review By Miss Belcher

The first book I would like to recommend is My Family and Other Animals, an autobiography written by Gerald Durrel. This book tells the tale of Gerald as a young boy, and his family’s temporary emigration to Corfu. Durrel subtlety blends beautifully detailed descriptions about the Island, with humorous anecdotes about the vast array of animals he encountered. A vicious albatross, two rascally thieving magpies, and an archaic terrapin with an apatite for goldfish, all play a part in describing the chaotic life of the Durrel family, which often borders on the farcical. Although I found the lengthy descriptions on occasions a little tedious this is generally a very good book for the more able readers amongst you, and you will often find yourself quietly chuckling away to yourself.  

My next summer read was an intriguing book called I coriander. Written by Sally Gardner and winner of the prestigious Nestle Children’s book award, I was expecting great things from this book.  Thankfully I was not disappointed. The story was captivating, and my eyes remained glued to the pages, so much so I managed to complete reading it in one day! The story is about a little girl called Coriander Hobie who lives with her parents in London. Set just after the English Civil War this book blends together historical fact, with a parallel spellbinding fairy tale involving castles, a wicked witch and a beautiful heroine. Yes it is completely unbelievable, but extraordinarily intriguing and captivating. For all those keen readers in year seven and eight this book makes the perfect read and contains the perfect blend of romance, history, magic and more!  

Last but by no means least I finally got round to reading Cornelia Funke’s well known children’s novel Inkheart. My advice to the avid readers amongst you is to read this book now before Hollywood completely obliterate it in their soon to be released blockbuster movie. This book is full of tension, intrigue and mystery as well as a little magic. The ‘baddies’ are just that… malevolent and evil. Whilst the heroine of the novel, – a little girl called Meggie, is likeable without being annoying like so many of the stereotypical young heroines in children’s literature. She makes mistakes, has faults but still remains true to her role in the book. Also there is Meggies crotchety old aunt who is an avid book lover and collector. As a Librarian I expect I was supposed to identify with this character, but instead I found her amusing, entertaining and loveable. This book seems to carry you along in a tide of action and intrigue. Cleverly written and carefully thought through the only real problem with this book I felt was its size. I felt on occasions it could have been cut down, making it more accessible and helping it to flow more easily.