What have you been reading? Deadly Scorpio races, pigeon-related drama and mystery novels captivated our readers this week!
Stuck in an "idiotic village" when "he really should be somewhere full of brainiacs" is Casper Candlewacks in *Death by Pigeon by Ivan Brett*. This week IolantheWrites sent in a delightful review of the novel – in which she revealed a series of unfortunate events leading to Casper's Dad being sentenced (by the Mayor) to be fed to pigeons!
"Personally, I found this story utterly out of this world, amazingly creative and 100% fabulous! The drawings added to the humour and detail... it has a ridiculous story line, written in informal language and involves great puns throughout that will keep you smiling and giggling (e.g. herby spice girls). It's a convoluted story – with many bizarre and extreme happenings taking place at the same time. It adds to the hilarity but meant I had to rewrite this review a few times!"
Also this week - our reviewers ChristopherW and cupcakekate praised the illustrated narrative: *Tom Gates is Absolutely Fantastic (At Some Things) by Liz Pichon*. This book is a diary-style novel about a kid called Tom Gates and his funny school adventures!
First to opine was ChristopherW with this excellent review:
"Tom does doodles in his school book of monsters and aliens, and these pictures are all through the story, which I thought made the book look really cool. I think this book was really brilliant, it was so funny, and the drawings were really good. I would definitely like to read the other books in this series!"
Then, cupcakekate wrote a wonderful review which recommended the novel to Jeff Kinney fans.
"If you like Diary of a Wimpy Kid then I will guarantee you will like this book. It is written in a very similar style... The way the book is printed makes it look like it is handwritten. Some of the words are illustrated pictures and some words are written in different types of text. This makes the words bold like they are jumping out of the page. There is bubble writing, block writing and words made of patterns which helps the effect that Tom has written this himself... I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a quick fun book to read and make them laugh. It was ace!"
Meanwhile with hints of secrecy and mystery - Aiman.A wrote a terrific review of *By Any Other Name by Laura Jarratt*. In this novel, a girl called Holly is given a new identity under witness protection following a terrible event.
"By Any Other Name is a gripping story which is more than just about a teenage girl's struggle to settle into a new lifestyle, trying to act as normal as possible whilst under witness protection. As the book progresses we see Holly develop her identity not just on the outside, but also on the inside as she comes to terms with who she actually is and in that way, I found the book a very interesting read as I followed how her character developed in attitude and maturity as the story went on... One thing I really loved about the book was the shift in tenses from the present day Holly learning to live a lie, to the past, a series of flashbacks which explain the reason for why Loui - no, Holly - was sent into witness protection. Each flashback acts like a jigsaw piece: at first, not particularly significant on its own but fitted with the other flashbacks later on in the story, the real truth can finally be revealed; I was kept on the edge of my seat wondering what terrible thing had happened for Holly to undergo an identity change and for this, I commend Laura Jarratt as it is not often that I find a book which keeps me guessing till near the end!"
With similar notes of internal and external conflict, dewdrop wrote a fantastic review of *The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater*. In this book a girl called Puck enters the deadly Scorpio races to save her family.
"Puck is desperate to keep her family going even if her brothers aren't. She risks it all for them as blood spills on the tracks like a warning to the crowd. Maggie has joined death with a hint of romance... Warning: you can easily get glued to this grizzly tale. Once you start you can't stop."
Lastly - for our teenage readers, Ali sent in a brilliant commentary on *The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky*. This book is an ironic coming-of-age story about an boy called Charlie trying to navigate his way through teenage life.
"I would recommend this book to teenagers that are quite mature as it can be quite sad ... When I read the book, I thought that the book has a really strong moral and that was that you have to live your life to the full!"
And that concludes the round-up for this week! Thank you to all our site members, we love reading your reviews here at Guardian Children's books. If any of your reviews were mentioned email in at the usual address guardianchildrensbooks@gmail.com and we'll send you a treat from our cupboards.
Happy reviewing!
*Want to tell the world about a book you've read? Join the site and send us your review!* Reported by guardian.co.uk 15 hours ago.
Stuck in an "idiotic village" when "he really should be somewhere full of brainiacs" is Casper Candlewacks in *Death by Pigeon by Ivan Brett*. This week IolantheWrites sent in a delightful review of the novel – in which she revealed a series of unfortunate events leading to Casper's Dad being sentenced (by the Mayor) to be fed to pigeons!
"Personally, I found this story utterly out of this world, amazingly creative and 100% fabulous! The drawings added to the humour and detail... it has a ridiculous story line, written in informal language and involves great puns throughout that will keep you smiling and giggling (e.g. herby spice girls). It's a convoluted story – with many bizarre and extreme happenings taking place at the same time. It adds to the hilarity but meant I had to rewrite this review a few times!"
Also this week - our reviewers ChristopherW and cupcakekate praised the illustrated narrative: *Tom Gates is Absolutely Fantastic (At Some Things) by Liz Pichon*. This book is a diary-style novel about a kid called Tom Gates and his funny school adventures!
First to opine was ChristopherW with this excellent review:
"Tom does doodles in his school book of monsters and aliens, and these pictures are all through the story, which I thought made the book look really cool. I think this book was really brilliant, it was so funny, and the drawings were really good. I would definitely like to read the other books in this series!"
Then, cupcakekate wrote a wonderful review which recommended the novel to Jeff Kinney fans.
"If you like Diary of a Wimpy Kid then I will guarantee you will like this book. It is written in a very similar style... The way the book is printed makes it look like it is handwritten. Some of the words are illustrated pictures and some words are written in different types of text. This makes the words bold like they are jumping out of the page. There is bubble writing, block writing and words made of patterns which helps the effect that Tom has written this himself... I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a quick fun book to read and make them laugh. It was ace!"
Meanwhile with hints of secrecy and mystery - Aiman.A wrote a terrific review of *By Any Other Name by Laura Jarratt*. In this novel, a girl called Holly is given a new identity under witness protection following a terrible event.
"By Any Other Name is a gripping story which is more than just about a teenage girl's struggle to settle into a new lifestyle, trying to act as normal as possible whilst under witness protection. As the book progresses we see Holly develop her identity not just on the outside, but also on the inside as she comes to terms with who she actually is and in that way, I found the book a very interesting read as I followed how her character developed in attitude and maturity as the story went on... One thing I really loved about the book was the shift in tenses from the present day Holly learning to live a lie, to the past, a series of flashbacks which explain the reason for why Loui - no, Holly - was sent into witness protection. Each flashback acts like a jigsaw piece: at first, not particularly significant on its own but fitted with the other flashbacks later on in the story, the real truth can finally be revealed; I was kept on the edge of my seat wondering what terrible thing had happened for Holly to undergo an identity change and for this, I commend Laura Jarratt as it is not often that I find a book which keeps me guessing till near the end!"
With similar notes of internal and external conflict, dewdrop wrote a fantastic review of *The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater*. In this book a girl called Puck enters the deadly Scorpio races to save her family.
"Puck is desperate to keep her family going even if her brothers aren't. She risks it all for them as blood spills on the tracks like a warning to the crowd. Maggie has joined death with a hint of romance... Warning: you can easily get glued to this grizzly tale. Once you start you can't stop."
Lastly - for our teenage readers, Ali sent in a brilliant commentary on *The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky*. This book is an ironic coming-of-age story about an boy called Charlie trying to navigate his way through teenage life.
"I would recommend this book to teenagers that are quite mature as it can be quite sad ... When I read the book, I thought that the book has a really strong moral and that was that you have to live your life to the full!"
And that concludes the round-up for this week! Thank you to all our site members, we love reading your reviews here at Guardian Children's books. If any of your reviews were mentioned email in at the usual address guardianchildrensbooks@gmail.com and we'll send you a treat from our cupboards.
Happy reviewing!
*Want to tell the world about a book you've read? Join the site and send us your review!* Reported by guardian.co.uk 15 hours ago.