My holiday reading pile

I may not blog each of these but I thought you might be curious about the pile of books I bought home to read over the Easter break.  These books will all be part of our annual library donate-a-book display in August.  I wonder which one I will read first.

Mousenet by Prudence Breitrose
It is odd but I do enjoy books about mice, especially mice who attempt to fit into our human world.
Here is a little quote from page 4.
"After months of watching, the mouse minds sprang to life, recognizing first one word on a screen, then another, then more, until in time these first mice learned to read and write well enough to use computers themselves. ... soon mice throughout the world had their own version of the Internet carefully protected by passwords from prying human eyes.  Now mice could e-mail each other, and their their opinions in mouse blogs, and post news about themselves on MouseBook, and check facts in Whiskerpedia .."

The House of Puzzles by Richard Newsome
I really did enjoy The Billionaire's curse and The Emerald Casket from this series. The House of Puzzles is book 5.

My big fat Zombie Goldfish - Any Fin is possible by Mo O'Hara
I have bought four books from this series based solely on the title!

The Honest Truth by Dan Gemeinhart
The back cover of this book has an interesting gimmick.  It tells you to "Try it! Read page 100" It also says "This book in three words - Exciting, Inspiring, Heartbreaking."
As a further intriguing idea there are 13 1/2 chapters in this book and the chapters are all marked with the number of miles for the journey.

The skull in the wood by Sandra Greaves
Not sure about this one.  The title and cover will certainly appeal to my students.  I generally enjoy books published by Chicken House.

The Great Kitten cake off by Anna Wilson
This came to use as part of a selection from Bloomin' Books so I know it will be fun. I did enjoy the British television show The Great British Bake off.

Loot - how to steal a fortune by Jude Watson
I just read as far as page three and this feels like a real page turner.
The cover certainly appeals to me.
Here is a quote from the text just after they have stolen some jewels :
"The clasp breaks, the gold links falling away, and the moonstones seem to hover in the air - how is that possible? - before falling onto the rocky beach.  The stones form a perfect circle.  It's as though drops of moonlight have frozen on the ground.  .. It is the most beautiful sight the three thieves have ever seen.  So beautiful that they cannot move."
Now come the three prophecies - capture, death and an awful fate for the children of the first thief - twins.

Birrung the secret friend by Jackie French
By chance I seem to have picked books from a range of genres.  Here we have a historic novel - one that will be thoroughly researched by our amazing Children's Laureate Jackie French.