Thursday, 10 December 2015

A review of the late Pauline Fisk's highly underrated children's book, The Beast of Whixall Moss.

Wednesday, 9 December 2015

A review of Lucy and Stephen Hawking's children's book, George's Secret Key to the Universe.

Monday, 23 November 2015

A review of the third instalment in the Timeriders series.

Sunday, 22 November 2015

A review of the first book in Derek Landy's fantasy series, Skulduggery Pleasant.

Friday, 13 November 2015

A review of Liz Kessler's book, North of Nowhere. Although it's aimed primarily for girls, I found this book intriguing, emotional and enjoyable due to it's humour, well-developed characters, and pleasant village setting.

Saturday, 7 November 2015

Goodbye Mog
This is a sweet book. I have never known another children's picture book to explore death, and this one does so thoughtfully and poignantly. If I ever sexually reproduce or adopt a child and then my cat dies, I will read this book to the young human.

Saturday, 31 October 2015

Please Mrs Butler by Alan Ahlberg

This book is so witty and lovely. If you're a primary school child of any age, you'll be able to relate to it and enjoy it and if you're older, it really brings back memories of being in primary school. I'd recommend it to anyone, whether they like poetry or not!

A book review of the first instalment in Jon S. Lewis' C.H.A.O.S series. A disappointment due to the dull writing and unclear target audience. Although something of a fun read, the book is a bit too silly for most teens, whilst a bit too boring for younger readers who won't have much to relate to.

Friday, 30 October 2015

I wrote this short story for an English assessment when I was 14, so it's not my best, but I'm interested to see what you guys have to say about it.

https://www.wattpad.com/story/33294995-blitzkrieg-girl

Monday, 19 October 2015

My Top 10 Underrated Children's Books

10: My Alien Classmate/Sixth Grade Alien by Bruce Coville
There isn't nearly as much children's sci-fi as there is children's fantasy. The books in this series are just fun silly stories as you probably expect, but as far as such books go, they're pretty entertaining and take a few risks. Admittedly it was made into a pretty bad children's TV show, but not that many people nowadays would recognise this book.
9: Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O'Brien I know it's been made into a film but the film has practically been forgotten and so has the book, the only people who recognised this book were my first crush's younger brother and my history teacher. It's a GREAT animal story, it's so clever, really intriguing.
8: Rita the Rescuer by Hilda Offen
It's just a really fun picture book for small children that really captures what it's like to be a small kid and then gives them an escape from reality.
7: The Stove Haunting by Bel Mooney
This book is by the author of the also underrated Kitty and Friends books (their about a girl, not a kitten), I really admire how Bel Mooney can just take her writing in a completely different direction. It's more historical fiction than horror and it's really hard-hitting and makes you think how lucky we are to live in the modern day.

6: Grandpa Chatterji
This book gives some insight to Indian culture and it's just a really pleasant story that focuses on the relationships and has a really nice ending.

5: The Zoo in the Attic by Hillary McCay
The characters in this book are really pleasant and relatable and the story has really good morals.

4: The Raven Hill Mysteries by Emily Rodda
I think Emily Rodda writes kids fighting crime better than Enid Blyton. Don't get me wrong, Enid Blyton was a really good children's author, but in Enid Blyton books, there was always one or two characters with little to no personality and didn't contribute much. These books don't have that, all the characters are immensely likeable. The book series is clever, funny and really enjoyable.

3: The Beast of Whixall Moss
This is a really strange and atmospheric children's book. It explores the relationships within the main character's family really well. The main character is flawed and well-developed and it's a great be-careful-what-you-wish-for-story with a great sense of mystery that really had me hooked.
2: The Children's Crusade by Henry Treece
As a fictional retelling of a surprisingly little-known historical event, this book has almost biblical size. It tells a great story, but at the same time there's that historical grit and realism. It shocked me, yet inspired me at the same time. The characters are well developed, the description was pretty good, as were the illustrations and even the action sequences were pretty exciting.
.
1: Fanny and the Monsters by Penelope Lively
I adored this book when I was ten, and I'm being very biased here and here's why: it was the first time I fancied a girl in a book. I was obsessed with prehistoric animals at that age. I don't just mean dinosaurs, I mean ancient mammals and mammal-like reptiles, and here was a girl who was obsessed with them as well. It explores Victorian society really well, delving into the religious attitudes and the sexism of the time. This book has a great strong female character as we see so many sides to her, her passions and her interests, her selfish moments and her regrets. It's a wonderful read.
Did you agree with my list? Which children's books do you find underrated?

Sunday, 18 October 2015

A book review of the first book in the late Terry Pratchett's fantasy comedy series, Discworld. An incredibly imaginative book that did for fantasy what the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy did for sci-fi.
A review of the second instalment in the Timeriders series.

Friday, 25 September 2015

A very pleasant and interesting story that doesn't rely heavily on action.

Wednesday, 23 September 2015

A book review of Robert Westall's novel "The Scarecrows." I loved the writing in this book, it was very atmospheric.
The book mainly explores the relationship between the protagonist Simon and his stepfather Joe and it's done quite well. I was able to relate to Simon as I didn't always get on with my mum's first boyfriend and could understand that it would be different for him as Simon goes through this at a later age.
I found Simon very interesting, I wanted to see if he'd become a better person by the end of the book or if he'd end up doing something terrible.
It's clearly not for everyone, it has problems but I think it's well worth trying out.

Wednesday, 16 September 2015

The brilliant first instalment in a fantastic action-packed series by Alex Scarrow.
Though it's not that scary it is creative, making it an enjoyable children's book.
Though not a terrible book, with some good description and pleasant conversations, it's let down by the fact that you can expect to be treated like a young adult but the clichéd characters you're presented with are the sort of clichéd characters you'll find in children's books and films.
I honestly think this book is awful. If you've read it tell me what you think of it. I'm glad I read it. As a writer, you should read some bad books as well as good ones, so you can recognise where these authors go wrong and it can give you a good feeling, make you challenge yourself to do better. I'm not saying the author of this book is terrible, it's a matter of opinion, we all like something different, not to mention he's had a writing career and I haven't yet.