DEEPER THAN BLUE by Jill Hucklesby
Orchard, £5.99
Buy
the book here for the offer price of £5.69 (free p&p)
Let me introduce Amy: she’s a nice girl who loves swimming. Amy’s best friend
Sophie loves running and racing. Amy thinks that being 14 and one of the
best freestyle swimmers in the country is cool. But after her life turns
upside-down she loses faith in herself. She had a car accident and lost her
right leg, but what is more upsetting is that her best friend, Sophie, died
in the accident. When Amy was in the hospital she was given a prosthetic
leg. She doesn’t know what to think or believe any longer – after all, she
can’t swim any more, and her best friend isn’t there. She feels lonely. Amy
moves to Brighton and starts swimming again.
But can she cope? Can she live her life like before? And, the real question
is, will she be able to make her dreams come true?
I really enjoyed this book. It made me understand how lonely I would feel
without my best friends Reba and Rumina.
SUFIA KAMALY
SHADOW FOREST by Matt Haig
Bodley Head, £9.99
Buy here
for £9.49 (free p&p)
Shadow Forest is a fascinating and magical tale about two unfortunate children
whose lives are turned upside-down in a matter of moments. One day they are
a happy family of four, but after one horrendous accident four become two:
Samuel and Martha Blink are orphaned. Both children are flown to Norway to
live with their Aunt Eda, who strangely they have never met. Aunt Eda lost
her husband to the Shadow Forest – at least that’s what she thinks.
After his sister goes missing in the forest Samuel’s brotherly instinct kicks
in and he goes after her, even though he knows all about the dangerous
creatures that lurk there during the night.
You might think I have not answered a lot of questions, but if I tell you more
it will ruin the story. This is an outstanding piece of literature. For
someone’s first children’s book it is a great piece of work.
YUSUF HASSAN
JUST IN CASE by Meg Rosoff
Puffin, £6.99
Buy
here for £6.64 (free p&p)
The critical success of Meg Rosoff’s debut How I Live Now meant that
there was pressure on her second book, Just In Case, to be equally
outstanding.
Frustrated, lost and desperate, Justin Case is on the run from the sinister
Fate figure who seems to play a crucial part in everyday life. He finds
first love with eccentric Agnes, befriends the intelligent and strange
family of school friend Peter and realises the importance of younger
brother, Charlie.
Rosoff’s prose, subtle, inventive and individual, portrays excellently the
moody, glum atmosphere that surrounds her bemused hero. Even though at times
the plot becomes clouded in Justin’s musings on life and death, even though
unclear character motives sometimes give way to tedious “what if” scenarios,
Rosoff’s strange study of teenage confusion starts and finishes with a
smile. A funny and warming book.
JAMES PATTERSON
FAIRY DREAMS by Gwyneth Rees
Macmillan, £4.99
Buy
here for £4.74 (free p&p)
Evie has never seen a fairy, although she believes fairies are real. Then one
day when her grandma is taken into hospital Evie finds herself being visited
by two wonderful dream fairies named Moonbeam and Star, in her grandma’s old
magical brass bed. The fairies whisk Evie away on a magical journey to Queen
Celeste’s palace in fairy land. Evie wants her grandma to get better so she
asks Moonbeam and Star for help.
They can not make Evie’s grandma well again. But they can make her feel better
by taking her on a very fabulous adventure, as long as she is sleeping in a
magic bed like her old brass bed. Evie’s aim is to make her grandma’s dreams
come true – but will she be able to?
I think this book is suitable for children of all ages. It is a magical story
– a sparkling, wonderful adventure!
SUFIA KAMALY
CATCH US IF YOU CAN by Catherine MacPhail
Longman, £7.25
Buy
here for £6.88 (free p&p)
Catch Us if You Can is a humorous book about a boy and his grandfather’s
struggle to stay together. Even though 12-year-old Rory McIntosh takes care
of his grandfather, in the authorities’ view Rory still needs to be taken
care of because he is a child himself.
Rory and his grandfather love each other, and have spent most of their lives
together. But unless they fight to stay together they will both be sent to
the place of their nightmares: for Rory it is Castle Street, a foster home
where he is tormented by the other children. But for his grandfather it is
Rachnador, where his grandfather thinks old people go to die.
Rory hatches a plan to go on the run like convicts, and on the way they have
some funny encounters which could warm the most cold-hearted person. I
enjoyed this book thoroughly: if I had to rate it I would give it a great 10
out of 10.
YUSUF HASSAN
VERNON GOD LITTLE by D. B. C. Pierre
Faber, £7.99
Buy
here for £7.59 (free p&p)
Winning the Man Booker Prize in 2003, Pierre’s funny, thought-provoking and
stunningly original debut is a genuine find. Intelligent and witty, Pierre
creates characters that are utterly convincing, their flaws exposed through
the probing mind of rebellious and frustrated delinquent Vernon Gregory
Little, who is caught in the manhunt that follows a high-school shooting.
Pierre’s way of thinking is stand-out in today’s sea of skim-read fiction. His
metaphor-heavy sentences and alternative wording stand tall in a literary
niche that many fail to master. I found that I was reading sections for a
second time not because I was confused but because I relished Vernon’s
cutting sarcasm and painfully real observations.
Deeply pleasing, moving, touching but gritty and satirical enough to remain
believable, the book is a truly satisfying read.
JAMES PATTERSON
THE LOVELY BONES by Alice Sebold
Picador, £7.99
Buy
here for £7.59 (free p&p)
Sensationally moving and utterly unique, Sebold’s dynamic tale from beyond the
grave ticks all the right boxes. After her own brutal murder, Susie Salmon,
14-year-old narrator of The Lovely Bones, watches from her custom-made
heaven as those dearest to her struggle to overcome bereavement in their
shattered world beneath her.
Susie, still coming to terms with her abrupt departure, shadows her loved ones
through the tortures of adolescence, a devastating family breakdown and the
quest to capture her murderer, unaware of what awaits her. For a little bit
of Susie still lives on in the world below – unfinished business that’s
about to catch up with her.
At times it is chilling to the bone, and at others delightful. I guarantee you
will encounter every emotion possible within a few hundred pages. The Lovely
Bones is the perfect distraction, and a truly heavenly read.
JESSICA COLE
BURNING BRIGHT by Tracy Chevalier
HarperCollins, £15.99
Buy here for
£14.39 (free p&p)
Burning Bright tells the story of Jem Kellaway and Maggie Butterfield, two
young companions thrown together in the chaos of London, 1792. One a timid
country boy, the other a reckless city scruff, an unlikely bond forms
between the pair when the Kellaways, after a tragic family loss, abandon the
rural comfort of Dorset to set up a furniture business in Westminster.
With the help of their bizarre neighbour, the renowned writer William Blake,
Jem and Maggie begin to make the invigorating transition from innocence to
experience, inspired by one of Blake’s most famous works.
Although an inventive plot, Burning Bright is undemanding, with characters
that are not entirely engaging, and an ending that didn’t quite meet my
expectations. Not particularly compelling, but definitely – for the younger
reader – a good time-filler.
JESSICA COLE
