Saving Mr Hoot by Helen Stephens

Mr Hoot lives in a huge tree beside Ben's window. Ben has formed a special bond with this creature of the night - a beautiful huge owl. Oddly, though, no one in his family can see Mr Hoot. This becomes a huge problem when men arrive to chop down the tree. Ben needs to act and he needs to act quickly.

Helen Stephens, author of How to hide a Lion, says:

"I've always loved owls ... Saving Mr Hoot was inspired by an owl who lived in some lovely big old trees on my street. I used to love hearing him hooting at night. Sadly some grown-ups chopped down the trees, so that they could put up brighter street lights. After that, I never saw my owl again. Those bright lights must have frightened him away. This book is dedicated to that owl, and to all the wildlife that lives in our towns."

The illustrations in this book, by Helen Stephens, are very special and your young reading companion is sure to love the gold foil used on the front cover. 

With cute watercolour illustrations in Helen Stephens’s distinctively nostalgic style, the picture book showcases a diverse community – including Ben’s own dual-heritage family. Book Trust

You might like to pair this book with a very new Australia wordless book by Freya Blackwood - The Boy and the Elephant.

I would also grab a copy of Owl Moon after reading Saving Mr Hoot - Owl Moon is one of my most favourite owl books ever!

The Hatmakers by Tamzin Merchant

The Hatmakers are commissioned to make a special hat for the King. Every component is important. For example Cordelia helps Aunt Ariadne add spider silk from the Brown Study Spider to the hat. Spiders work hard to spin their silk and so this is added to the hat to help the King work hard. It is specifically from a Brown Study Spider because this spider likes paper and silence and the king needs paper and silence to concentrate. Next Cordelia heads off to fetch a fresh flower from the St Aegis Vine but the most important thing is missing - the ear feather from the Athenian Owl - the wisest bird in the world which would have kept the King focused on his work and keen to remain undisturbed.

In the world of this book there are makers commissioned by the royal family - hatmakers, bootmakers, watchmakers, glovemakers, and cloakmakers. Once these artisans worked together in cooperation but something has happened and now they avoid one another and if they do meet there is suspicion and anger. The King himself seems to be losing his mind. He is sent away and his daughter Princess Georgina must now meet with the King of France. War is threatened and it seems one of the royal advisers is fuelling a fire. Lord Witloof appears to want a war. Cordelia is so worried about her father who has been reported drowned. She teams up with a young member of the bootmakers called Goose, and they form a team to thwart the evil intentions of Lord Witloof and to prevent a disastrous war with France. Along the way they will also need to make sense of the rift between the makers and learn who they can truly trust.

Publisher Blurb: Cordelia comes from a long line of magical milliners, who weave alchemy and enchantment into every hat. In Cordelia's world, Making - crafting items such as hats, cloaks, watches, boots and gloves from magical ingredients - is a rare and ancient skill, and only a few special Maker families remain.  When Cordelia's father Prospero and his ship, the Jolly Bonnet, are lost at sea during a mission to collect hat ingredients, Cordelia is determined to find him. But Uncle Tiberius and Aunt Ariadne have no time to help the littlest Hatmaker, for an ancient rivalry between the Maker families is threatening to surface. Worse, someone seems to be using Maker magic to start a war.  It's up to Cordelia to find out who, and why...

This is a new book and it is such fun.  I love the idea of hats that contain extra powers. 

A swashbuckling romp for lovers of history and magic. Kirkus

Merchant's writing is stunning and vivid, written with a beautiful prose style that is both accessible and full of elegance and wit. Forever Lost in Literature

You can read Chapter One here. This book is the first in a planned series. I highly recommend it for readers aged 10+. In this short video Tamzin talks about her book. You could use this to book talk The Hatmakers with your students. I should also mention there are some delicious food references in this story and there is a detailed, and highly imaginative glossary describing the various hat embellishments. Here is an example:

"Starlight - Lux stellaria - when strained through glass into a silver bowl, starlight is used to give hope and guidance to lost souls. Sprinkled on a hat, it fills the mind with sparkling ideas for adventures that promise to renew the spirit."

 I also love that Tamzin uses a very rich vocabulary in her story with words like grimoires; tomes; eldritch; jollity; rue; creatrix; and phaeton. 

I walk with Vanessa: A story about a simple act of kindness by Kerascoet

 

Begin with the subtitle - a simple act of kindness. The act of kindness in this book is not simple, it is brave, it is powerful, it is heroic, and it is wonderful AND there are no words in this book!

Vanessa is new. She sits alone during play time. She sets off for home alone. But along the way she is confronted by the class bully. He shouts at her and hurls abuse (keep in mind there are NO words in this book). When the bully walks away little Vanessa is left in tears. BUT this incident has been observed. Her young classmate watches Vanessa heading home then she heads back to tell her friends exactly what she witnessed.  That night both girls can be seen in their rooms. You are left to imagine that poor little Vanessa still feels upset but more importantly her classmate is thinking and thinking hard about the action that needs to be taken. 

The next morning she knocks on Vanessa's door and invites her to walk to school. As the pair of new friends walk through their neighbourhood other children join them. The crowd grows bigger and bigger as everyone steps up to walk with Vanessa.

A wonderfully illustrated, hopeful book that can help caregivers tackle an emotionally fraught subject with even very young... Kirkus Star review

Kerascoët’s perfectly constructed wordless picture book powerfully demonstrates the feeling of being overlooked and ignored, the emotional toll of being bullied, and how an act of bullying affects even those not directly involved. Celebrate Picture Books (A very detailed review well worth reading)

What can one person do after all? But there is something one person can do. One person can bring together lots of people, and together they can really bring about change. Looking Glass Review

Silent, wordless or textless books should not be "read" on a video but in this production the images are simply accompanied by music. My only small criticism would be the page turns come a little too quickly. 

About the authors:  Kerascoët is the joint pen name of the French illustrators Marie Pommepuy and Sébastien Cosset. A married couple, they met while attending art school. They chose their pen name in 2000 after the hamlet of Kerascoët in Névez, Brittany where Pommepuy grew up.

Take a look at my Pinterest collection of picture books about Kindness.  And my collection Say No to Bullies. Here are a couple of Kindness titles I have talked about recently:

Finding Kindness

Be Kind

Daring Darleen Queen of the Screen by Anne Nesbet

From Darling to Daring

Darleen comes from a family of movie makers. When she was younger the studio had made movies about Darling Darleen but as this story begins Darleen is now 12 and so now the movies have changed their focus to  involve danger and villains and Darleen has been transformed into Daring Darleen.

"Chases, plunges, trains, and villans - that's what the public wanted these days. The year 1914 would surely go down in history as the age of the adventure serial: a new episode every week, and tension galore!"

Darleen's uncles and bossy Aunt Shirley decide their next movie needs extra publicity so they set up a fake kidnapping outside the theatre where the latest Daring Darleen film is premiering. The family do not know that real kidnappers are also in the neighborhood and they have plans to abduct Miss Victorine Berryman who is heiress to a fortune. On the night, the kidnapping goes wrong, Darleen steps into the wrong car and the two girls find themselves in the hands of ruthless kidnappers. The plot itself would make a terrific Daring Darleen movie as we watch the two girls climb down from the seventh floor where they have been held captive. The two girls are now on the run and Darleen is desperate to help her new friend but she also needs to discover the truth about the involvement of her movie co-star Jasper Lukes - the archetypal villain:

"Jasper Lukes seemed to go out of his way to be mean. You wouldn't think so to look at him: with his golden hair and uniquely pointy little ears ... (Darleen) spent her whole childhood being teased, tripped and tormented. Five years older than Dar, and he had never yet grown out of his basic meanness. Darlene's secret theory was that Jasper Lukes's heart must be as small and pointy as his ears."

The world of silent movies is a fascinating one and in this book I made so many discoveries about the processes and film techniques used in the early 1900s.  An author note at the back of the book gives more detail about movie making during this period. It makes sense that the author is teacher of film studies.

Daring Darleen Queen of the Screen is a longish book for a middle grade reader with 354 pages and so it did take me a while to read this book but the final scenes were excellent and I did race through the final chapters. The actual book design is very good - the pages have lots of white space and font is set at an easy to read size. Listen to an audio sample from the first chapter.

Huge thanks to Beachside Bookshop and Walker Books (Australia) for giving me an advance reader copy of Daring Darleen which was published this month.

Just like Darleen—a spunky blend of darling and daring. Kirkus Star review

Film studies professor Nesbet writes her intrepid heroine with swashbuckling verve and sweet familial affection, incorporating extensive knowledge of early-20th-century film making into a well-paced, gripping tale of staying true to oneself while stretching limitations. Publishers Weekly

Read more plot details in this review by Ms Yingling writing for YA and Kids Books Central.

As a way to introduce you to Anne Nesbet you might like to take a look at my review of The Orphan Band of Springdale.

The Fog by Kyo Maclear illustrated by Kenard Pak

A few years ago I took a holiday organised by bird watchers. It was so interesting to witness their passion and perseverance. In this book the small yellow warbler (bird) is the watcher. He watches the humans and documents their types, characteristics, habits and physical attributes. Some of his classifications are presented in hilarious detail on the end papers such as the #666 solitary knitter,  the #670 dapper bespectacled book lover and #664 the American bushy browed surf-head.

Take a look here to see more of the pages illustrated by Kenard Pak

Warbler lives on a remote ice covered island. "People came from around the world to visit this special place."  This made me think of Fair Isle where I saw bird watchers at work.

One day a heavy fog rolls in. It stays and island life changes and the human visitors disappear. Then one foggy morning the small yellow warbler spots a human species #673 Red-hooded spectacled female (juvenile). The pair cannot talk to one another but some how they communicate. Warble is worried about the fog. The human suggests they write messages on  paper boats and launch them into the sea. 

Do you see fog?

Eventually the pair receive a series of replies to their question. A walrus in Canada can see the fog; a musk ox in Norway wants to fix it; and some cats in England reply too (their answer will give you a laugh). As more and more notes arrive from around the world the fog begins to lift.

Is this story an allegory?  I think it might be.  As people of the world gain awareness of our environment and the issues of climate change perhaps, with good communication, the fog will lift and our planet can begin to heal. Am I being too deep? Not according to some of the reviews I have listed here:

Kirkus gave this book a star review and used words like sharing and awareness of small things (mindfulness).
Quill and Quire use the word fable and allegory and link the story with climate change.
The reviewer at Whisked away by words also identifies deep themes in this book.
Kyo Maclear has a page of review comments on her web site.

Huge thanks goes to my friend at Kinderbookswitheverything for introducing me to Kyo Maclear and Kenard Pak. I am not sure I would have discovered these two talented book people without access to her wonderful library and Teacher-Librarian knowledge. I hope to talk about some other books by Kyo Maclear on this blog very soon especially The Good Little book.

You can read my recent post about Kenard Pak.  He is such a wonderful illustrator. I hope more of his books can find their way into our Australian school library collections.

Threads of Blue by Suzanne LaFleur

I looked out over the sea again, but the light had changed, and I couldn't see our country anymore. 
It was gone, gone, gone. 
I had promised to work for the Examiner for the whole of the war.
I'd run away twice.
And I had promised to be with Megs.
Like she'd promised to be with me.
But I'd run away from that too.

Beautiful Blue World is one of the most powerful 'children's' books I have ever read. Please begin here with my comments from just over one year ago. At that time I mentioned the sequel Threads of Blue. I have waited and waited for this to be released in paperback but finally I could wait no longer and so I bought myself the hardcover copy as a birthday present ($26.95).

In this second installment Mathilde is on the run. Bombs have been dropped on the school at Faetre where she and the other gifted children had been set to work for Sofarende decoding, making maps and predicting where bombs will land. Mathilde had been given a special assignment to befriend a captured enemy soldier but through weeks of talking with him she comes to see he is just as confused as she is and that to truly understand another person you have allow for a different point of view. When bombs start dropping and the school catches fire everyone evacuates. The plan is for all the children and a few adults to head north to the sea where they will catch boats to Eilean. Every child is given identity papers, a travel permission card and a bundle of important documents to carry.  Mathilde is torn. She simply cannot leave the prisoner Rainer. He has become a person to her not the enemy. She leaves the group at the very last minute and runs back and sets him free. She is now a traitor. And worse her best friend Megs knows what she has done.

Mathilde heads north but she does not find the group. Eventually she reaches the coast.  Her military pass means a fisherman has to take her across to Eilean. Continuing her journey she finds herself in a refugee camp. Sofarende has been captured and many children have been sent to Eilean to keep them safe. Mathilde has all her official papers but until her identity can be confirmed she must stay and work in the camp. She is desperate to know about her family, she is desperate to find her best friend Megs and explain her actions, she is desperate to find the group from Faetre so she can complete her assignment and deep inside she wonders if Rainer is still alive.

You can hear the first chapter here. Here is the author web site. These two books make for a gripping and powerful reading experience. The tension created by Suzanne LaFleur in both books and the way she describes and, through Mathilde, provides a commentary on the futility and impact of war mean these two books deserve a very wide readership. I highly recommend Beautiful Blue World and Threads of Blue for sensitive mature readers aged 10+.

I would follow these two books with The Midnight Zoo by Sonya Hartnett and Close to the Wind by Jon Walter. You could also look for Toby Alone by Timothee de Fombelle which has a similar tone of questioning the world and political decisions by adults.

Mathilde is unforgettable as she narrates her tale in an uncensored stream of consciousness, ever vulnerable, brave, headstrong, compassionate, confused, and always trying to hold on to the values she holds dear. There can be no happy ending, but there is a kind of heart-wrenching separate peace that readers will find comforting. Kirkus Star review

... a brilliant novel about the ravages of war, but it is also a story about holding on to who you really are even when it causes you trouble, and facing life with bravado, honesty, and hope in a world where none seems to exist. These are two books not to be missed. The Children's War

Children of the Dragon Book One The Relic of the Blue Dragon by Rebecca Lim

"This was not a movie. There was no conveniently placed garbage skip down below filled with large pieces of soft foam to land on. It was an empty alley lined with cobblestones, broken glass and old spew. That was it."

Harley Spark's dad Ray is a "major (unconfirmed) underworld crime figure." Harley and his mum, Delia, live away from Ray but Harley still sees him each month. Harley, until now, has been an law abiding boy but when he sees an interesting large Chinese vase outside an antique shop he decides to snatch it. Is this a case of like father like son?

"The vase wasn't very big or very heavy; it was maybe thirty centimetres high with one very long azure-coloured Chinese dragon looped and coiled around and around the body and new of the vase. ... (it had) two golden, stag-like horns and two burning gold eyes with black centres ringed in a thin line of blue ... the painted dragon seemed almost alive."

Harley grabs this precious object and hides it in his school and rushes home. The vase seems to take hold of him and later when his mum comes into his room he begs her to smash it. Just like the genii in the bottle doing this sets free a girl. She is clearly from a different time.

"She had a triangular face with high, pronounced cheekbones ... the tunic she wore, plain black but crawling with the looping body of six coiled dragons."

Even her slippers are embroidered with gold and azure dragons. She takes up a defensive stance similar to ones Harley knows from his Tae Kwon Do lessons. Who is this girl? Where did she come from? Delia and Harley are buzzing with questions. Luckily Delia knows a few words in Chinese but real communication does not begin until this mysterious girl breaks into the State Library where she rapidly reads a series of ancient books and somehow learns English in just one night. I know all of this sounds utterly fanciful but it actually makes sense in this fast-paced plot and the rush through the night time streets of Melbourne make for a thrilling series of scenes.

The crux of the story relates to an ancient Chinese legend of five dragons. All were daughters of the First Dragon. Their names match their colours - Vermilion, Yellow, Azure, White and Black.  The Second Dragon had nine sons. He considered himself greater than the First Dragon so he had his five nieces abducted and a magician cast each into a plain porcelain prison. Harley and his mum have accidentally set the Azure daughter free and now the race is on to reunite these girls.

Harley asks his father for help. Ray has powerful connections in the underworld. Harley is whisked off in a plane to a museum which holds a precious ancient Chinese vase but no one seems to check and this might be the wrong vase.

You will need to wait to read The Relic of the Blue Dragon from the new series Children of the Dragon by Rebecca Lim because it is not due for publication until August 2018 but do pop it on your to read list because this is a terrific story which middle primary students are sure to enjoy. This might seem strange but I was so pleased this book only had 171 pages. This meant I could read it all in one sitting. This made it easier to keep track of the rapid fire twists and turns that make this an enjoyable story. The plot has the feel of a highly charged action movie - one you don't want to end.

Take a look at this ABC Splash interview with Rebecca Lim and this detailed review. Rebecca Lim is new to me but we do have four books from her series Whiffy Newton in our school library. She is also an acclaimed Young Adult author and she received an impressive STAR review with Kirkus for the YA title The Astrologer's daughter.

If you enjoy action and crime thrillers I would follow this book with Loot by Jude Watson.

Beautiful blue world by Suzanne Lafleur

Over the last few weeks I have visited many bookshops in the US and Canada.  On my last few days I needed to grab a few books to read on the journey home and so I visited Kidsbooks in Vancouver.  This is a fabulous book store set out over two large shop spaces with an enormous collection organised into ages.

It is odd that I find selecting books quite difficult. I can easily buy books for my school library and Kidsbooks had hundreds I would have gladly bought but browsing the Middle Fiction section looking for a book to read myself took a long time.  One of the young staff was very helpful but nearly every title he recommended I had already read. We both ended up laughing about this. I finally picked up this book -  Beautiful Blue world and another simply splendid one by Canadian author Kenneth Oppel which I will talk about later.

Suzanne LaFleur is a US author and Beautiful Blue World is her fourth book.  I am so glad I have discovered her writing because I devoured Beautiful Blue World in just one sitting (well before my long travel day).  I made this choice based on the cover and the words on the blurb "kindness can be a weapon, and children have the power to see what adults cannot."

Beautiful Blue World is set during a time of war in an invented world with fantasy names such as Tyssia, Sofarende and Eilean, but this book is not a fantasy.  As the story opens Mathilde and her family have to take shelter from bombing and air raids (look closely at the cover and you can see images of planes called aerials).  There are posters around their town asking for young recruits :

CHILDREN AGES 12-14
SERVE YOUR COUNTRY NOW!
SIGN P FOR THE ADOLESCENT ARMY
APTITUDE TEST AT YOUR SCHOOL!

The family of children who are recruited will receive a large amount of money and regular payments "you would be provided with room and board for the duration of your service and, at eighteen, your university education."  The catches are - the children cannot return home, they cannot send or receive letters and if they are successful with the test they are then committed to serve.  All of this is a huge dilemma for the family.  Father does not want Mathilde, who he calls Big, to go but this might give her opportunities far beyond what the family can provide.  Mathilde is called Big because she has two younger sisters.  I love this idea :

"I used to be Little, a long time ago, before Kammi came, but since she was born when I was four, I have been Big. When Tye came, Kammi became Middle.  Little, Middle, Big."

Mathilde and her friend Megs sit the test.  The questions are very strange and complex.  Megs is one of the smartest girls in the school but she is not chosen instead Mathilde is given the news that she has been selected - the only student from her school.  She travels by train to a strange old house where she finds other children working on solving puzzles.  The military people are using the children to make predictions about bombing patterns and raids by the enemy.  Mathilde feels she has no skills for this.  She is set a different assignment.  Talking with a captured soldier.  Over many weeks she forms a relationship with this young man and makes an important discovery about human frailty and kindness.  Take a look at this review for all the plot details.

I absolutely loved this book.  Mathilde is a deep thinker, problem solver and most importantly she has a deep emotional intuition.  I rarely give ratings but this is a five out of five book.

Listen to an audio sample of the first pages here.  There is also a map at the front of the book which will help with your understanding of the threats facing Sofarende.

Deeply emotional, compelling, and brilliant. Kirkus

Writing in the first person, LaFleur crafts a protagonist who is compassionate and resourceful, in a war-ravaged world in which children are, by turns, exploited and empowered. The tension is high and danger ever present.   School Library Journal

Mathilde is one of those characters whose resourcefulness you want to teach your children, whose loyalty is unsurpassed, and whose penchant for kindness is one we all should model. Happily Ever Elephants

Good news there is a sequel - Threads of Blue. 

Monster Odyssey The eye of Neptune by Jon Mayhew

In many ways it reads like a classic children's adventure story - it clearly owes a debt to Jules Verne, and it's refreshing to 

read a modern take on underwater action like this.

This book makes a wild claim on the front cover - "if you like Percy Jackson you'll love this" and so this is why I picked this book up last week.

This book, The eye of Neptune, is the first in a series but I am so happy to report that, while the way is certainly paved for the next book, things are resolved at the end of this first installment.

In this first adventure we meet our hero Prince Dakkar.  His mentor, Oginski, has been making an amazing submersible and so when he is captured Dakkar must race across the world, under the oceans, avoiding perilous monsters to find and free his friend.  Along the way he meets another adventurous and courageous girl called Georgia who also has found herself commanding another submersible made by her uncle. Together these young protagonists must face and defeat the evil megalomaniac Cryptos and foil his plan of world domination.

This is a fast pace action adventure story which is fairly easy to read.  It is certainly a page turner and there are some powerful battle scenes.

"A bony click accompanied the appearance of a long stick-like leg from the water.  Then another leg, and another, followed by a blue, spiny boulder with two black beady eyes on stalks and mandibles that fanned the air.  It was a massive crab.  It rose up above Dakkar on its long spidery legs, clicking sharp pincers at him."

Here is a review.  You might also like to check out the author web site.  Here are the details of the second book in this series.

Loot by Jude Watson

Taut, engrossing and unstoppable

The words at the top of this post come from the starred Kirkus review as do the ones below.  

I am shocked to realize I first mentioned Loot back in April, 2015.  It has taken me nearly nine months to read this book - why did I wait - it is such a gripping crime thriller.  I started this book yesterday, read late into the night and left chores undone this morning in my race to reach the end.

When you begin reading this book (and yes I am going to say this again - please read this book NOW!) you must pay careful attention to all the details.  The story opens with three thieves pulling off a most daring jewelry crime.  They take "a priceless emerald brooch owned by Catherine the Great. The Crack in the Sky, the world's most famous turquoise. The sixty-carat Makepeace Diamond, said to be the most brilliant gem in the history of the world."    This could be the perfect crime but one thief is greedy.  He takes one more piece.  A pretty necklace for his girlfriend made with seven moonstones. In an act of defiance he twirls it in the air and the clasp breaks.  As the moonstones fall they form a circle in the moonlight and each thief has a vision.

The third thief will be captured and made to pay.
The second thief will die before the moon is set.
But...
It is the curse for the first thief that is the worst of all.  In thirteen years time the twins will die.

The twins are March and Jules.  Their father Alfie, the first thief, has kept them apart for almost thirteen years but now he has died, the twins are reunited and race is on.  Working with two other kids that they meet when they are placed into a corrupt and abusive care facility our young gang members must find and steal the 7 moonstones in order to lift the curse.  Luckily for March and Jules, Izzy is a computer whiz and Darius has brilliant criminal connections.   Alfie has left clues and instructions. Some moments in this book will leave you on the edge of your seat.

Here is a web site for the author and review with more plot details.  This audio sample will give you a good sense of the tension created by this twisting tale.  Here is a review by Rick Riordan.

Driven by thrilling, nonstop action and featuring very brief chapters that readily sustain interest, this twisting and turning but ever-so-clever thriller is akin to the best of roller-coaster rides.

The Diamond of Darkhold by Jeanne DuPrau

The Diamond of Darkhold is the fourth and final book in the series that began with the Book of Ember. Doon and Lina make a trade for an ancient book from a traveler and although only eight pages are left they realize answers to many of the mysteries from their past can be revealed if they go back to the city of Ember which they left several months ago.

The journey out of Ember had involved boats and rapids all going one way so of course their return journey needs to take a completely different route. At the end of the first book Doon and Lina threw a note down to the city into a chasm, a note that led to the rescue of four hundred people. As they look down into the chasm now months later all should be dark but instead they see a dim light. Following a steep and perilous path the two friends climb back down to their old home.

The small group of people now living in the City of Ember are very dangerous. They capture Doon and Lina must flea the city to find help. Doon meanwhile finds a jewel which matches information in the book titled “For the people of Ember". It will be these 'diamonds' that later give the people electricity and using this and other things like seeds that the townspeople collect from their old city, the future seems assured but also there will need to be a huge amount of learning which will continue through the generations. The Horn Book review said the conclusion is everything a series closer should be, satisfying but provocative.

I was captivated by the first book in this series and I loved the second book People of Sparks. Although I read the prequel Prophet of Yonwood quite quickly it was not as powerful as the first two. I have also seen the movie which is worth watching although I did not like the way the character of the mayor was portrayed – seeming to act like a clown or buffoon.





It is so great to be talking about the final book in a series and not the first and to be able to say I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I read it over breakfast, waiting in queues and late into the night. When I first read City of Ember I was so excited I wanted everyone to read this book in fact I almost didn't want the final book to end. If you enjoy reading fiction which describes a possible future for human life grab this series with both hands. You might also like to hunt for an old movie called Logans Run which reminded me of this series.

January Conspiracy 365 by Gabrielle Lord

If you want to read a book that puts you on the edge of your seat right from the first page. "It was the wild, billowing black cloak, streaming behind the menacing figure, that first caught my eye.” to the last – on the final page (of the first book January) you will be underground in an oil storage tank with oil rapidly filling up around you.

If you are looking for a series to take you through the whole year – yes there will be 12 of these books.

If you have ever wondered what you might do if you only have 365 days to solve a major crime and stay alive in the process then this is the book or series of books for YOU!

In the first book the author carefully reveals the gripping facts. Callum’s dad has been on a mysterious visit to Ireland, he has sent Callum some letters and drawings, someone has tried to warn Callum of the danger he faces, his uncle Rafe seems implicated when their small row boat sinks far out at sea on a wild and stormy night and now Callum is accused of murder so he is on the run from the police and a gang of sinister thugs.

I just loved Conspiracy 365 January and am sure I will be telling you about February very soon. The book design is just perfect with crumpled letters, from Callum’s dad, and drawings interspersed through the diary style entries. The decisions Callum has to make about his family and especially the safety of his little sister reminded me of that terrific series called Surfers we have in our library especially titles like The Last Bus and Runnaway train.

I do hope Gabrielle Lord can keep up this pace through all 12 books. I also hope the plot twists don't slacken. I have begun to make my predictions about the Ormond Singularity and especially about Rafe, twin brother of Callum’s dad.

The web site is totally out of control!!

Don’t blink don’t forget to breathe - this is really good advice.

I thoroughly recommend these books for senior primary boys especially if you enjoyed books by Anthony Horowitz and Robert Muchamore.