My Friend the Octopus by Lindsay Galvin illustrated by Gordy Wright

"I peered into the top of the hollow pearl. A glint so bright it was as if sunbeams had been captured and sealed inside."

Vinnie (Lavinia) Fyfe works with her mother in a London milliners shop. The year is 1893.  Vinnie is skilled with drawing and her mother uses/exploits this skill to design new hats which she sells to very wealthy customers. Vinnie is not unhappy but Rosamund Fyfe has very strict ideas about behaviour and class. Vinnie has no idea about the level of control her mother has always exerted over her until, just before dawn one day her mother whisks Vinnie away to Brighton leaving her with a distant cousin Aunt Bets. Aunt Bets runs a tea room above the Brighton aquarium. Vinnie is told Rosamund needs to go to Paris and so for the first time in her life Vinnie is left alone. 

"Being Mother’s constant companion meant that I was never really alone, and the thought of finding my own way to the aquarium filled me with new dismay, mainly at myself. I now realised I’d got to twelve years old utterly ill-equipped to deal with this adventure."

On the day of her arrival at the aquarium a new exhibit has arrived - a huge octopus. Vinnie is fascinated by this amazing creature. It takes some bravery but she discovers she has a talent for drawing more than hats. Her sketches of the octopus even appear in a local newspaper. 

This is a story set during Victorian times so of course there is a villan - Mr Jedders - a former employee of their Grosvenor Square shop. He is pursuing Rosamund but Vinnie has no idea why but his manner and violence are very frightening. Luckily Vinnie makes two new, clever, resourceful and wise friends - a young boy called Charlie who is the nephew of Mr Lee head of the aquarium and a young very well educated African girl called Temitayo. The group make a horrible discovery about the green colour used for fabric and ribbons used on the hats her mother makes.  Readers are given a glimpse into the terrible highly dangerous working conditions of children who labour to make this sort-after shade. 

I read this book in one sitting (256 pages). The plot just races along with perfect twists and a heroine who must succeed. The octopus itself is also an interesting character because every animal lover will desperately hope this wild creature can be released back into the ocean. Confinement in a small tank seems so cruel. 

Lindsay weaves mysteries together with ease while immersing us in some of the darker sides of Victorian society, one of which there are sadly all too real comparisons to make with modern day fast fashion – something which is bound to be a talking point beyond the book. Miss Cleveland is Reading

Here is an interview with the author which gives some very interesting insights into the research behind this book. I hope you love the book cover as much as I do. Well done Chicken House - this cover is perfect. Read this review by Lily and the Fae which has an in depth analysis of the plot and links to slavery, class and fashion. 

I loved the tea shop in this book and the scene where they eat Battenberg cake and at the back of the book there is a recipe for petit fours - yum. There are also a couple of terrific scenes in this book about bicycle riding in skirts and bloomers and sea bathing huts on wheels. And the back has extensive notes explaining the historical background used for this story. 

My Friend the Octopus is children’s historical fiction at its best. Lindsay Galvin brilliantly evokes the Victorian era, encompassing fashion, leisure activities, attitudes to women, and the disparity between rich and poor. Victorian Brighton comes alive with its bathing huts, the aquarium, and Italian ice cream served in shells. Get Kids into Books

I am keen to read another book by Lindsay Galvin:

Ajay and the Mumbai Sun by Varsha Shah

Ajay is an orphan who lives at a large railway station. People discard newspapers and Ajay has used these, firstly to learn how to read, but more importantly to set himself his life goal of becoming a newspaper reporter. His good friend Vinod works in a local restaurant. He tells Ajay the editor of the major newspaper will be dining in the restaurant. Ajay rushes away to write an impressive report in the hope he will get the job of his dreams but Mr Gupta, editor of The City Paper, explains people are no longer interested in printed papers - they are too distracted by their phones.

Ajay is not defeated. He decides to make is own newspaper - The Mumbai Sun. He has lucky timing because the newspaper office has tossed out an old printing machine and another good friend, Saif, is training to be a railway engineer. He can easily fix any machine. So now Ajay has equipment and determination. Another friend, Jasmine, has fabulous art skills and, he is able to scavenge old discarded pink paper from a packaging factory.

Now what will Ajay write about? The town mayor declares the slum buildings where many people live will be demolished and the people relocated to a much safer and better place - but is this really true. Young Jasmine works in a factory printing Tshirts but are the working conditions safe and is it right that very young children work in these poor conditions? Then there is a terrible accident and the factory manager is killed. Who is behind this factory fire? Ajay unravels layers and layers of corruption, lies and bribes. He can and does report on all of this but some of his words have consequences he could never have anticipated. 

Sport fans are sure to enjoy the final scenes in this book - a cricket match between the street kids and the students from a wealthy private school. 

I borrowed this book from the library at Westmead Children's Hospital. Chicken House always published terrific stories and this one absolutely did not disappoint. I almost read it in one sitting. Read an extract on the Chicken House site. I hope the cover appeals to you - I love it. There are also some poignant contemporary references in this book such as the Grenfell Tower fire in London of 2017.

Fast-paced and wonderfully descriptive, full of the noise and bustle, colour and life of an Indian city, this is an inspiring, uplifting and entertaining story of hope and possibilities. More about Books

The tone is one of hope and change; it acknowledges, but by no means lingers over, the children’s hardships. Just Imagine

This is a book to make you smile, laugh out loud, recoil in horror and then stand up, cheer and thump the air. Book Trust

If you are looking for a great read aloud book for a Grade 4, 5 or 6 class this book could be a good choice. 

"It was the rage of the people who have been bullied by the rich and the powerful their whole lives, of people seen as expendable statistics rather than human, of people who have suffered the consequences of arrogance and ruthlessness of those in power."

One review suggested this book is similar to Emil and the Detectives. 

another book about the power of the media to unearth corruption is Adam Canfield of the Slash.

In you want to read a book also set in a busy city in India try to find this one:

The Book Uncle and Me 

Older Readers (14+) should also look for this one:

A Cardboard Palace

Alice Jones : The impossible clue by Sarah Rubin

The front cover says :

Alice Jones - Code maker Crime breaker

I would add :

Alice Jones - Mystery solver Extraordinary mathematician

Alice Jones - Logical thinker Problem solver

Alice Jones The impossible clue is a terrific detective/mystery/crime story for middle to upper primary grade students.  It is quite a long book (285 pages) and the the print is small (a little too small in my view) but the action of the story, the determination of Alice to solve this crime and the driving mystery meant I read the whole book in one sitting this morning.

"Ladies and gentlemen. I'm afraid the unveiling of the latest scientific breakthrough which Delgado industries made in December cannot go ahead as scheduled. ... our top scientist and lead researcher on this project, Dr Adrian Learner, has disappeared."

This disappearance is made all the more mysterious because Dr Learner was working on invisibility and security cameras show him walking in to his laboratory at 4pm but not walking out.  His assistant goes into the room the next morning at 7am and Dr Learner has disappeared. Has he invented a cloak of invisibility?

Alice is drawn into this case by her classmate Sammy - the son of Mr Delgado. After the press conference, quoted above, Alice and her dad who is a journalist meet privately with Mr Delgado and he enlists her help.  He even gives Alice a case file he had intended to give a firm of private investigators and permission to visit his high security building to look at the laboratory where Dr Learner had been working.

Running parallel with this whodunit mystery is the messy home life of Alice,  Mum lives in Italy, her twin sister Della is home for the summer and dad is a highly distracted journalist.  Della is an aspiring actress with her sights set on the lead role in Annie.  I actually found this part of the story much less interesting than the race to solve the crime.

Here is a sample of the way Sarah Rubin describes the action so well you can see it all unfolding in front of you.  In this scene Alice and her friend Kevin are getting close to the truth so have been captured and tied up.  They manage to cut through the tape using a sharp ended pot plant.  Help is on the way but all of this is taking too long and Alice sees the police driving away. She grabs a red blanket from the lounge and waves it from the rain soaked balcony :

"I put one foot on the lowest bar of the railing and hoisted myself up, leaning over the side of the balcony so that I could hold the red blanket over the edge.  The worn threads of my shoes slipped worryingly against the metal ... I just couldn't hold on any more but my fingers slipped on the wet metal ladder rung.  The weight of the soaking red blanket in my other hand tipped me forwards, and I pivoted on my shins over the edge of the balcony and arced a perfect circle into the air."

You can read some reviews here by children from the UK. click the quotes below or read another one here.  You can also read the first chapter.  This is another terrific book from Chicken House.  I do find their books are always worth reading.  In 2017 the second Alice Jones book will be published. You can see the cover below.

Rubin has an engaging tone which makes the book an easy read and more importantly makes Alice the kind of kid you’d be happy to sit with in school – and not just because she’s really good at maths. Like, really good.

The Impossible Clue has just the right mixture of laughs, tension and danger, dastardly deeds and red herrings and a good, classic mystery trope of the locked room. 

Adam Canfield of the Slash by Michael Winerip

I have absolutely no idea where to start with this book I simply loved it from page one to page 326. What do I love about this book?

• I love the energy of the main characters – Adam, Jennifer and Phoebe.
• I love the politics of a school district driven by State wide testing to the point of hysteria and madness.
• I love the idea of a student newspaper that reports on news from the town not just the school.
• I love books that celebrate great teachers (Andrew Clements does this).
• I love the idea of overprotective school administrative staff who guard the Principal.
• I love reading about corruption in government.
• And most of all I love books where truth is the winner.

Adam and Jennifer are co-editors of The Slash, the student newspaper of Harris Elementary/Middle School. Adam and Jennifer have worked on the newspaper for many years and are now coming to the end of middle school so they have been selected as editors, Phoebe is a third grader and she is keen to be a reporter. Adam is skeptical but luckily Jennifer gives Phoebe a chance. Phoebe has an enormous amount of talent which she demonstrated when she conducts five interviews with the school Janitor, Eddie. This opens a huge can of worms for the School Principal Mrs Marris.

Meanwhile Adam is working on a story about the banning of basketball hoops that are visible from the street and the mysterious Minnie Bloch who has bequeathed an enormous sum of money to the school even though she appears to have lived in poverty in the poorest neighborhood in the town. Then there is the story of the smile competition run at the local shopping mall by the town dentists that seems to promote sweets not clean teeth.

If you have read any books by Andrew Clements then rush out and grab Adam Canfield of the Slash by Michael Winerip – it is a winner!!! I also found 37 pages of teacher notes. Here are some more notes with details about the author who I now discover is a journalist on the New York Times - this should not be a surprise but it is! Here is a little book review video. Good news there are two more books about Adam Canfield keep an eye open they should appear in our library very soon.