Category: Childrens’

‘See You in the Cosmos, Carl Sagan’ – Jack Cheng

Published in March 2017, I was lucky to receive an advance copy to review. Though it’s being marketed to younger readers, this is a book that will appeal to older readers who are more likely to pick up on the nuances of the text.

Eleven year old Alex is obsessed with space. His dog is named after his favourite scientist, Carl Sagan, and when we first meet him he is preparing to travel across America to visit a Space Show and launch his rocket. Now that might sound great, but notice what is missing…any form of authority-figure.

Alex’s father is long-dead, his brother is busy pursuing his career and his mother is frequently missing. Alex describes her as having quiet days, but it is clear that something is amiss.

Watching Alex make his journey and bump into all manner of people along the way was quite incredible. Heart-breaking, but it also filled me with joy to see such a young boy maintain his optimism and innocence in spite of such awful home circumstances.

I don’t want to give away plot details, but this is a captivating read about a young boy’s search for what family and home means.

Thanks to NetGalley and Puffin for the advance copy for review.

‘Sea’ – Sarah Driver

A drama-filled adventure for younger readers.

Mouse and her younger brother, Sparrow, travel the seas with their nan and her crew. We quickly get introduced to the harshness of life on board their ship, The Huntress, and I loved the accounts of the superstitions that rule their daily lives.

Both children have seemingly magical powers of some description, and from the start it is clear that they are going to get caught up in something much bigger than they imagined. After a mysterious message is received from their father, Mouse realises she has to find three missing sea opals. Unfortunately, they are not the only ones looking for the opals.

The story is full of mythical creatures, strange events and some wonderful writing. There’s a complexity to the style that might put off younger readers, but the book explores quite adult themes in an age-appropriate way.

Thanks to NetGalley for the copy in exchange for my review.

‘The Ethan I Was Before’ – Ali Standish

Published early in 2017 I received an advance copy of this from NetGalley in exchange for my review – but hadn’t got round to reading it until now.

There’s no getting away from the fact that this is a book clearly targeting 8-12 year olds. It deals with some hard-hitting issues, but never in a way that feels too scary or threatening.

When we first meet Ethan he is a rather lost soul. Feeling desperately guilty as he thinks he caused his best friend’s accident, Ethan and his family have moved across country to have a fresh start. They move to the town of Palm Knot, principally to help support Ethan’s grandfather  – but it’s all about getting a fresh start and realising that no matter how far away you run, you still have to come to terms with your actions and their consequences.

Initially we are told little detail, but the family are clearly finding it hard to live with unresolved tensions. They circle each other, desperately unhappy, but never quite certain how to move things on.

When Ethan is befriended by larger-than-life Coralee he is reminded, a little, of how to live again. But she is also hiding secrets, and these threaten to cause real problems.

Watching Ethan come to terms with what has happened, and develop his friendships with his family, is endearing. There’s some dramatic moments, but – as you might expect – everything works out okay in the end and lessons are learned.

‘Sputnik’s Guide to Life on Earth’ – Frank Cottrell Boyce

Sputniks Guide to Life on Earth

A rather typical Cottrell Boyce story, full of good-humour and also packing an emotional punch that seems rather at odds with its cover.

In this story, short-listed for the 2017 Carnegie Awards, we follow a young boy called Prez. Prez is being fostered by a larger-than-life family as his grandfather is suffering from dementia and cannot look after him any more. Whether Prez is unaware of this or in denial about it is not immediately clear, but he is a boy who is having a tough time of it.

This background to Prez’s story immediately warms us to him, but then things take an unexpected twist when Sputnik arrives on the doorstep of the Blythe family. Sputnik, to everyone else, looks like a dog but to Prez he reveals himself to be an alien come to Earth as part of a mission to find ten things to recommend about Earth in order to save it from part of a galactic tidy-up. What follows is utterly fantastic, but tremendous fun that will certainly appeal to younger readers.

There are some wonderful comic scenes – Sputnik interfering with the toy lightsaber and turning it into a weapon of destruction, and the ‘break-out’ of a busload of young offenders were amongst my highlights – and yet increasingly coming to the fore is a focus on the relationship between a  young boy and his grandfather, two like-minded souls who have to come to terms with their shifting relationship.

While I don’t see it as a winner for the Carnegie – it seems to be in the wrong age-group for the intended audience – this was a surprise hit.

‘The Marvels’ – Brian Selznick

The Marvels

When I ordered this from my local library I really did not know what to expect. First impressions – and I’m being honest – were that it was VERY heavy, but that it looked beautiful with the gold trimmed pages and the intricate design on the front cover.

The story begins with almost 400 pages of pictures. They are wonderful illustrations, but it did make me nervous as it is so different to the usual thing I read.  However, from the opening pictures – where we see young Billy Marvel shipwrecked and his rescue – I was entranced. This is the kind of thing that you could return to time and time again, and not tire of looking for further details as you become more familiar with the story. Watching the history of The Marvels unfold before my eyes was intriguing, and I was rather sad when our story turned to 1990 and the prose section.

For those who admire the illustrations I can imagine this section – focusing on Joseph Jervis running away to London to visit his mysterious uncle – will be off putting. However, unravelling the mysteries of Albert’s story and the links to the earlier part of the book were immensely satisfying.

As soon as I finished this I felt I’d spent time with something truly wonderful. It was a real work of art, and I was most intrigued by the afterword, where the author reveals the source of this story. I’ve never heard of Dennis Severs before reading this, but I feel compelled to read more about his amazing home.

This didn’t make it onto the shortlist of the 2017 Carnegie Awards, but it is on the Greenway Awards shortlist and is a book that I can see finding itself a place on my bookshelf in the near future.

‘The Pants Project’ – Cat Clarke

The Pants Project

Due for release in March 2017, I have to thank NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read Cat Clarke’s first journey into middle-grade writing prior to publication. A heartfelt, entertaining and thoroughly recommended read.

Liv (Olivia) is Transgender and has always known that, at heart, he is meant to be a boy. He hasn’t told anyone of his thoughts, and his voice immediately grabs our attention and has us rooting for him to come through what life throws at him unscathed.

Our novel begins with Liv about to start middle school. This is daunting enough, but Liv is horrified by the strict dress code that his new school enforces as it means he has to wear a skirt. His best friend – who suddenly isn’t as keen to be seen with him as she tries to ‘get in’ with the popular girls – is increasingly distant and, once his new classmates learn he has two mums, Liv becomes a target for bullying.

As I read I have to say that I could predict some of the incidents that took place. Perhaps this is inevitable given the target audience for the novel. In spite of this, ‘The Pants Project’ reminded me of novels such as ‘Wonder’ – full of charm, earnest in their message but ultimately uplifting.

I cannot wait to see what students make of this.

 

‘The Other Alice’ – Michelle Harrison

The Other AliceFrom the moment I saw this cover, I was intrigued. Even without knowing it was by Michelle Harrison, once I read the outline for this story I was desperate to read it.

Midge has always loved his sister Alice’s stories, but he’s acutely aware of the hold they have over her. Alice has always been adamant that a story cannot be left unfinished, and when she has been unable to resolve a story, strange things have happened.

When Alice goes missing, Midge is convinced that the answer lies somewhere in her writing. Her notebook has gone missing, but Midge – along with a curious cast of characters from Alice’s own stories – are determined to find her and help the characters work out their ending.

What follows is a skilful blend of magic and horror, full of riddles and an almost grotesque cast of characters that will haunt your imagination for a long time after you close the pages of the novel. Recommended for readers above 9 years, I think this will also appeal to anyone who loves stories and writing.

I’m not sure if this will make it past the nominations stage for the Carnegie 2017 Awards, but it’s definitely one I’d recommend.

‘The Girl Who Saved Christmas’ – Matt Haig

The Girl Who Saved Christmas

Canongate Books have got themselves a Christmas hit in my opinion…who could resist this?

I was fortunate enough to receive a copy via NetGalley so have to admit to it feeling rather strange to be reading a book about Father Christmas in October. That oddness aside, I was entranced by this and the reaction of my six year old to it as we kept going for ‘just one more chapter’ at bedtime.

In this story, there is a lot to appeal to adults. Father Christmas is having a tough time of it, as the magic that allows him to do his job is running out; Elfhelm is under attack from trolls and there’s a very real chance that the impossible will happen and Christmas will have to be cancelled. Alongside these events, we see young Amelia Wishart – the girl who saved Christmas one year with her belief – struggling to maintain her hope as she is orphaned and taken to the workhouse under the eye of the deliciously nasty Mr Creeper.

Set against the backdrop of Victorian Britain, there’s knowing nods to Dickens’s writing and the writer himself actually turns up on a number of occasions to help things along.

For my son, there was a great blend of magical elements with slapstick humour and some hints of scariness, which combined perfectly to have him thoroughly engaged throughout our bedtime reading sessions.

While we both thoroughly enjoyed the story for quite different reasons, this is a charming Christmas story. Both of us were betting on exactly which of the characters we were introduced to in this novel might be the focus of next year’s instalment.

‘The Girl of Ink and Stars’ – Kiran Millwood Hargrave

The Girl of Ink and Stars

Forbidden to leave her island, Isabella Riosse dreams of the faraway lands her father once mapped.

When her closest friend disappears into the island’s Forgotten Territories, she volunteers to guide the search. As a cartographer’s daughter, she’s equipped with elaborate ink maps and knowledge of the stars, and is eager to navigate the island’s forgotten heart.

But the world beyond the walls is a monster-filled wasteland – and beneath the dry rivers and smoking mountains, a legendary fire demon is stirring from its sleep. Soon, following her map, her heart and an ancient myth, Isabella discovers the true end of her journey: to save the island itself.

This was a beautiful book in many ways, but there did seem to be something lacking.

The character of Isa behaves in a fairly typical fairytale manner, and her journey into the Forbidden Territories is richly described. There were some great scenes, but everything happened very quickly and it wasn’t always clear why certain characters acted as they did.

‘The Mysterious Howling’ – Mary Rose Wood (The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place)

The Mysterious Howling

For a book intended for younger readers, this was curiously written. I was intrigued the moment I saw the title, and couldn’t wait to find out more…

Found running wild in the forest of Ashton Place, the Incorrigibles are no ordinary children: Alexander, age ten or thereabouts, keeps his siblings in line with gentle nips; Cassiopeia, perhaps four or five, has a bark that is (usually) worse than her bite; and Beowulf, age somewhere-in-the-middle, is alarmingly adept at chasing squirrels.

Luckily, Miss Penelope Lumley is no ordinary governess. Only fifteen years old and a recent graduate of the Swanburne Academy for Poor Bright Females, Penelope embraces the challenge of her new position. Though she is eager to instruct the children in Latin verbs and the proper use of globes, first she must help them overcome their canine tendencies.

There’s an air of whimsy to this book, but the style of writing was genuinely fascinating. With a rather eccentric turn of phrase, and a quite knowing tone, this reminded me a lot of Lemony Snicket.

The whole story was great fun, with plenty of scenes that highlight the oddity of the society amongst which the children are being brought up. I laughed out loud at some of these moments, and really enjoyed my first introduction to these children.