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Category Archives: Middle Grade

MG Monday: Review: The Riotous Rocket Ship Robbery by Kim Donovan

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Title: The Riotous Rocket Ship Robbery
Series: St Vipers School for Super Villians
Author: Kim Donovan
Publisher: Squawk Books
Publication Date: 7 May 2012
Source: Review Copy
Rating: 4/5

Synopsis from Amazon

Fantasy series for 7+ readers. The series is set in St Viper’s School where it’s good to be bad. And World Domination is lesson one. Demon Kid wants to be the best super villain at St Viper’s but he’s in for a fight. Between masterclasses in sinister science and fighting with flames, he needs to prove to everyone he’s an evil genius. Now, if he can just survive till the end of term . . .

REVIEW BY BETH

St. Vipers School for Super Villains: The Riotous Rocket Ship Robbery does everything a fantastic young readers’ book should do. It’s hilariously funny, has an easy to follow yet climactic plot and some really believable, likeable and admirable characters.

More than anything The Riotous Rocket Ship Robbery is great fun and it’s definitely one I’ll read to my daughters when they’re a bit older.  It is great fun that at St. Vipers kids are expected to be as evil as possible, rather than as good as possible and I can see how this would really appeal to young readers looking for mischief.

The main character is Demon Kid who is pretty much anything but a demon but has the pressure of being the son of a famous super villain to live up to. He teams up with some other less than fearsome school mates and they plot to steal a rocket ship to prove they really can be as evil as the other guys at school. It’s extremely quick paced which means young minds can’t wander and will remain focused on the fun adventurous story, further confirmed by the author’s use of action words that wouldn’t go amiss in a comic book (think BOING! and KRACK). The illustrations add to the tale and make it even more of a fun read.

It’s impossible to some this book up any other way than FUN. It would probably especially appeal to young boys although that won’t stop me giving it to my girls and I also think it could be a good starter book for reluctant readers. As part of a series it could be just what they need to get into reading.

Mini-Review: Pea’s Book of Best Friends by Susie Day

Image from Goodreads

Title: Pea’s Book of Best Friends
Series: Pea’s Book #1
Author: Susie Day
Publisher: Red Fox
Publication Date: 5 July 2012
Source: Review Copy
Rating 5/5

Synopsis from Goodreads

Meet eleven-year-old Pea and her definitely not ordinary life . . .

Sisters Clover, Pea, and Tinkerbell have always been beans-on-toast, hand-me-down-wellies sorts of girls. But when their dizzy but dazzling single mum becomes Marina Cove, author of the bestselling Mermaid Girls books, everything changes. It’s time to leave their tiny flat in Tenby for a proper house in London, and a whole new life.

Pea likes the raspberry-red front door, and the attic bedroom all to herself. She even likes her hideous new school uniform, in a masochistic Malory Towers sort of way. But there’s an empty chair beside her in every lesson, and no one seems to want to fill it. In the absence of volunteers, Pea is going to have to acquire herself a best friend . . .

REVIEW BY AMBER YEAR 6

I thought this book was amazing. I enjoyed every single bit of it; but if I had to pick my favorite part it would have to be when Pea made friends with Sam1.

Pea was easy to relate to and showed that good friends can be found wherever you are. My Favorite character was Sam1 because he is kind and generous (always good things to have in a friend). I also liked Pea as she is hard working and brave. Although I didn’t like Sam 2 who is, in contrast to Sam1, a mean and selfish pig.

This book is amazing – I am telling you to go read it because I am sure you will enjoy it. It will make you laugh out loud although there is some tense moments due to certain events. Actually I am going to insist you read it as I guarantee you will enjoy it no matter what age you are.

Review: Lolly Luck by Ellie Danes

Image from Goodreads
Title: Lolly Luck
Author: Ellie Danes
Publisher: Andersen
Publication Date: 5 Jan 2012
Source: Review Copy
Rating: 4/5
Synopsis from Goodreads

Lolly is Lolly Luck by name, lucky by nature. She always wins magazine competitions, on scratch cards and any game you can think of. But when Lolly’s dad loses his job and then the family home, Lolly’s luck starts to change. And when she overhears her parents arguing, she learns a secret that will change her life forever.

REVIEW BY BETH

Lolly Luck is a well written and thought out novel that takes some seriously major family and personal issues and makes them palatable, manageable and readable for an audience of around 9-11. Lolly is a happy go lucky, likeable and fun character who narrates her own tale, from the beginning where her luck seems to be on the up, throughout the story when it seems to come upon hard times and everything that could go wrong, does go wrong. Lolly is an extremely believable and genuine narrator who has many personality quirks and nuances that make her especially likeable, including her dislike of the popular school bully and her love of making paper fans for her dad and family members.

Everything is going so well at the beginning, it’s Lolly’s birthday and she’s already received a wad of cash from a mysterious Great Uncle and is looking forward to her special bike from her parents. However, after school everything changes, her dad has lost his job and nothing seems as lucky anymore. From then on, their household shifts and things are no longer the way they were for Lolly and her big sister Zola. It comes to a head when Lolly hears a heart-breaking secret in an argument between her parents and she knows nothing will be the same again.

This novel deals with some highly relevant and current social issues and markets them wonderfully to a young adult/older child audience. With issues such as redundancy, social housing and family breakdown treated with care and dignity, Ellie Daines gives us a novel which whilst dealing with such big issues isn’t depressive or too hard to handle. An enjoyable and fun novel where you constantly find yourself cheering Lolly on and hoping she reaches a happy ending.

On My Library Wishlist

As usual Mundie Moms have enticed me with their reviews of Middle Grade books to add it to the list of books I would love to see in the library. Read their amazing review HERE
Title:Winterling
Series: Winterling #1
Author: Sarah Prineas
Publisher: Quercus
Publication Date: 8 Nov 2012
Synopsis from Goodreads

With her boundless curiosity and wild spirit, Fer has always felt that she doesn’t belong. Not when the forest is calling to her, when the rush of wind through branches feels more real than school or the quiet farms near her house. Then she saves an injured creature—he looks like a boy, but he’s really something else. He knows who Fer truly is, and invites her through the Way, a passage to a strange, dangerous land.

Fer feels an instant attachment to this realm, where magic is real and oaths forge bonds stronger than iron. But a powerful huntress named the Mor rules here, and Fer can sense that the land is perilously out of balance. Fer must unlock the secrets about the parents she never knew and claim her true place before the worlds on both sides of the Way descend into endless winter.

Sarah Prineas captivates in this fantasy-adventure about a girl who must find within herself the power to set right a terrible evil.

This one again is again down to the fabulous Mundie Moms read their review HERE

Series: The Ascendance Trilogy #1
Publisher: Scholastic
Publication Date: 7 June 2012
Synopsis from Goodreads

THE FALSE PRINCE is the thrilling first book in a brand-new trilogy filled with danger and deceit and hidden identities that will have readers rushing breathlessly to the end.
In a discontent kingdom, civil war is brewing. To unify the divided people, Conner, a nobleman of the court, devises a cunning plan to find an impersonator of the king’s long-lost son and install him as a puppet prince. Four orphans are recruited to compete for the role, including a defiant boy named Sage. Sage knows that Conner’s motives are more than questionable, yet his life balances on a sword’s point — he must be chosen to play the prince or he will certainly be killed. But Sage’s rivals have their own agendas as well.

As Sage moves from a rundown orphanage to Conner’s sumptuous palace, layer upon layer of treachery and deceit unfold, until finally, a truth is revealed that, in the end, may very well prove more dangerous than all of the lies taken together.

An extraordinary adventure filled with danger and action, lies and deadly truths that will have readers clinging to the edge of their seats.

Review: The Adventures of The New Cut Gang by Philip Pullman

Publisher: David Fickling Books
Publication Date: 1 Sep 2011
Synopsis from Amazon

Thunderbolt, Benny, Bridie and Sharky Bob are a mixed bunch of vagabonds and urchins who come together to form the New Cut Gang in two comic tales of stolen silver, skulduggery and desperadoes.

Fake coins are turning up all over Lambeth and the finger of suspicion is pointing at Thunderbolt’s dad – could he really be the forger? The crime-busting New Cut Gang come to the rescue!

And when just two clues – a blob of wax and a Swedish match – are discovered at the scene of a break-in, the children find themselves on the trail of an extremely cunning criminal.

Set in late Victorian London, these two action-packed thrillers have now been put together in a single volume – with new illustrations throughout from Horrible Histories illustrator, Martin Brown.

This book combines 2 stories in one. The first being that of Thunderbolts Waxwork, the other The Gas Fitters Ball.

The main characters in both books are Sharky Bob, Bridie, Benny, Thunderbolt aka Sam alongside the twins, Angela and Zerlina. The book follows them through the 2 mysteries which they have to solve together as The New Cut Gang. In Thunderbolts Waxwork fake coins are being given out while in The Gas Fitters Ball £10,000 of silver is stolen. The New Cut Gang have to solve these mysteries to restore order to the town.

My favorite part was when the gang were trying to make a wax model because I thought it was a really sweet thing for them to try to do as well as it being funny how they went about trying to make it look real. Benny was my favorite out of all the characters because he was always coming up with crazy plans. He had a wonderful imagination and amazing crime solving skills when combined with the other members of the gang.

Unfortunately I did find some parts of the book a little predictable but I put this down to the age level it is geared for. I would have also changed some of the language used as I think old fashioned words may have been a bit difficult for younger children to understand.

Although I enjoyed this book I did find it on the young side; I would recommend it to younger readers who enjoy crime, mystery novels.