Goodbye Under 14's Only - See you in 2012

July has been an amazing month on MFB.  We got the chance to review a great many great books, we twittered and facebooked about them, we showcased other bloggers, we spoke to librarians and random people about these titles, we handhold books in Foyles to unsuspecting customers and told them about Under 14's Only and we are so proud to have brought less-shouted about books to everyone's attention.

Shockingly, both Sarah and I have still got a truckload of books left over for review that we have not had the chance to get to.  Mark has a stack of reviews saved up as well.  We could easily have double-posted reviews but that defeats the purpose of showcasing a book / author a day, so what we've decided to do is continue reading these titles until they are done, all through August and reviewing them on the site on Saturday/Sunday as the month progresses.

I know in my original blogpost introducing Under 14's Only, I was going to give a box of the books away in a competition.  I lied.  Instead, I am packing all the books reviewed on the site in July, in a box and we are donating it to my friend, Matt Imrie's new library at the new school that's just employed him.  We were all super worried about Matt being made redundant at his local library so when he got this job, we all cheered very loudly.

This is one way for us, as readers and friends, to actually give back to a friend who has such passion for books and getting kids reading.

It is with sadness in our hearts that we say an official goodbye to Under 14's Only for 2011 but we are already planning ahead for July 2012, if the powers of the bloggerverse is with us.

Thanks to everyone who contributed to this month - too many to mention - and thank you to my MFB Crew who are always so willing to follow me into insanity.  We'll be back next year with more reviews and interviews highlighting books for younger readers.

Bookzone 4 Boys Recommends: Five Books for Boys

Thank you Liz for asking me to write this, although I have been cursing you over the past week and my list of books has changed almost hourly. I completely agree with what Becky (of The Bookette fame) wrote for MFB the other day when she argued that there are so many great books for the under 14s out there but they can be easily overlooked amidst the constant buzz that goes on for YA titles. These five books are amongst my favourites for the younger age group, although no doubt I will think of five different ones tomorrow. I have tried to go for less obvious choices rather than the series titles I bang on about on The Book Zone whenever a new instalment is released

The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart

I read this one some time ago, before I started The Book Zone, and it has stuck in my mind ever since. “Are you a gifted child looking for special opportunities” reads the news paper ad that catches the eye of orphan Reynie Muldoon. His interest suitably piqued Reynie turns up at the time stated and finds himself being set a number of unusual tasks, tests that only he and three other children will pass. These four talented (and decidedly quirky) children soon find themselves going undercover for their recruiter, the Mr Benedict of the book's titles, on a mission to prevent a criminal mastermind from taking over the world. It is easy to say that this story is Dahl-esque, but the comparison can't be helped: it is funny, clever, and as a beedtime reader will have younger readers captivated as they follow the adventures of Reynie and his new friends. Similarly, as with much of Roald Dahl's greatest works this is all about kids versus adults, although at 450+ pages it is a more challenging read than these. Readers just entering their teens will find it a long but ultimately very funny and rewarding read.

Johnny Mackintosh and the Spirit of London by Keith Mansfield

If your boy likes space and science fiction then this is a definite must-read, especially as books for younger readers in this genre seem to be few and far between. Interestingly, when independent publisher Nosy Crow did a survey asking 6-9 year old boys what sort of things they really like, 'Outer Space' came third in the list, which leaves me asking why there aren't more books like Johnny Mackintosh around? This books follows the adventures of, yes you guessed it, Johnny Mackintosh. Johnny's life is not a particularly happy one at the beginning of the story as his mother lies in a deep coma in St Catherine's Hospital for the Criminally Insane and his father is locked away in a high security prison. Despite all of this Johnny is a pretty well-balanced boy, both sporty and intelligent enough to build his own computer, a device that he has programmed to search for signals from outer space. The detection of one such signal soon sees Johnny on the run from aliens, and journeying across the galaxies to strange worlds in search of answers to questions he never dreamed would involve him. This is a superbly written action/adventure story which I really believe could do for space stories what Harry Potter did for tales involving wizards and magic, if only it could find itself into the hands of more young people. If your son likes this book then rejoice as there is a sequel, titled Star Blaze,and the third book in the series, Battle For Earth, is due out at the end of the summer.

Justin Thyme: The Tartan of Thyme by Panama Oxridge

This is a book that I think is pretty darn special, and as with Johnny Mackintosh, I believe it is a book whose popularity would snowball if more kids got their hands on it. I first read it back in 2006, when it was self-published by the enigmatically named Panama Oxridge. For a number of years it was only available to buy second hand, often at silly prices, until newish publisher Inside Pocket released it last year. I still vividly remember the first time I read this book, wowed by its gorgeous packaging and illustrations within, and how I read well into the night, not wanting to put it down until I had finished it. Several readings later and it still hasn't lost its wow factor, and finally a sequel is due in October. Set in a Scottish castle, the story revolves around the titular character Justin Thyme, and his quest to solve a complex whodunit mystery. Littered throughout the story are a plethora of clues, both in the text and the illustrations, placed there by the author to help the reader solve the mystery. Although if, like me, you get so sucked into the story that you forget to look for clues, you may just find yourself reading again more carefully as soon as you have finished it for the first time. To give you an idea of how devious Panama can be, when he did an interview for The Book Zone the first letters of each of his replies to my 15 interview questions spelled "THYME RUNNING OUT", the title of that long awaited sequel. Naturally I spotted this immediately..... NOT! This is a book that will have boys (and girls) entranced for hours, and if you hear them giggling away to themselves they are probably reading about Eliza, a super-intelligent, computer literate gorilla who finds it amusing to go online to chat up boys!

Casper Candlewacks in Death by Pigeon by Ivan Brett

I know I said I would go for less obvious choices, and yes I did review this on The Book Zone earlier this year, but I still want to shout about it, as it is such a hilarious read and several months on it is still one of my favourite reads of 2011. It follows the adventures of Casper Candlewacks, the only person with any amount of intelligence or common sense in the village of Corne-on-the-Cobb. If you son has read and loved the likes of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, and The BFG then I guarantee that he will love this book as well. Whilst not yet as skilled in story-writing as Roald Dahl, this début offering from Ivan Brett shows so much promise that it is hardly surprising that so many reviewers mention the late, great RD in their reviews of this book. I was going through a somewhat worrying period of blogger-burnout earlier this year, struggling to 'get in to' most books and this was one of two books that cured me and lifted me from that dreadful malaise.

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

I bet this choice took you by surprise, yet why ignore the classics when choosing books for young people? After all, I have mentioned Roald Dahl more than once in this post but how many young people these days haven't read (or had read to them) his work? Surprising though it may seem I am sure there are many. Treasure Island is one of my all-time favourite books, both as a child reader and now as an adult. It has almost everything a child could ask for in a book: adventure, a quest for buried treasure, fantastic villains, and a boy hero who every child can relate to and would want to be. Hell, I know I wanted to be Jim Hawkins when I first read this book! Word of caution though – this is a book for confident readers as the language can at times be a little difficult, especially during lengthy passages involving lots of dialogue. However, for a book read by an adult to a child there aren't many others that would get my recommendation over this one. This is one of the books that created my life-long love of reading, and it is a book that I will probably read many, many more times throughout my life. I have recently received an e-book called Booksurfers: Treasure Island by David Gatward for my Kindle in which the author has crafted a brand new story that includes hyper-links that take the reader into the original RL Stevenson text – I am intrigued as to how this will work, but if it brings the classic story to the attention of a new generation of readers it can only be a good thing.

Aside from these above mentioned books, if parents were to ask me what they should get their reluctant reader boys as summer reads I would always advise them to buy (or get out from the libary) a few “first in series” books initially, as if they love one they will desperately want to read more. I did this a couple of years ago, buying my godson the first few Percy Jackson books – he devoured them whilst they were on holiday (as did his younger brother and his mother, each waiting patiently in turn) and now he totally loves reading. Series that I would highly recommend are the H.I.V.E. books by Mark Walden (fast-paced, exciting stories following the adventures of the pupils at a school for young super-villains); The Invisible Fiends books by Barry Hutchison (for 9+ boys who prefer their reading to be full of grisly horror you don't get much better than this series); and this may see me accused of stating the obvious, but if you are struggling to get your boys to read and you have not yet tried the Alex Rider books by Anthony Horowitz then get down to your local library now!

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Thank you to Liz for asking me to write this for My Favourite Books, I really hope you find some of my ramblings useful in choosing books for your boys to read this summer.

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I am just about to retire to my couch with my copy of Treasure Island because I've not read it for the longest time.  Thanks, Darren, for this awesome list of titles!  I am new to almost all of these you've mentioned and am feeling horrified and a bit ill - well, except for Percy Jackson and Alex Rider books, that is. 

Barrington Stoke - My Heroes

**warning: long blog post, may require two cups of tea at least**

I am a fan of the Barrington Stoke books.  Barrington Stoke, for those readers who don't know, is a specialised publisher who focusses publishing some fantastic fiction for reluctant readers.

I only came to know of them a little while ago when James Lovegrove emailed me to tell me about this series of books he's been writing for them.  It was called The 5 Lords of Pain and each book, though shorter than the usual published books we get to review, was to be for that elusive demographic, the reluctant reader.  And because I know James, having met him several times, and because I am a fan of his adult military science fiction novels, I said yes, let's give this new thing a try.

And I fell in love. Not just with James' story, that was a given, but also with the whole concept of what Barrington Stoke were doing.

I took some titles with me when I went to visit one of my local primary schools on World Book Day.  I spoke to the kids there about the books and had a lot of interest shown.  Not just by the keen readers, but also from one of the boys who was dyslexic and who hated reading.  In fact, this boy was so charmed by the books I showed them, that when I asked them to write descriptions and stories from the covers they'd seen, and from looking at the story cards from Templar, he came up to read out what he had written.

His teacher was staring at him with open-mouthed amazement and only later told me what a strop he threw earlier that morning when I came in, when he saw that the whole day would be dedicated to writing, storytelling and reading.  These were the things he hated the most and she expected him and his table of friends to give me a lot of hassle.  And strangely, these were the boys who were the most engaged, who fought to read out their stories.  I would like to think it had nothing to do with me, but everything with the fact that they realised that stories and reading was not just the provenance of the clever kids, that there were books and stories out there for them too.  And that there was an entire publisher who focussed on books only for them.

So, back to the books themselves.  I love the look and feel of these books.  I love how tight and vivid the writing has to be and how strong the story lines are. The covers are superbly vibrant and it draws you in.  The stories themselves run the gamut from action adventure in contemporary settings with a twist of fantasy, to gritty realistic stories with very real troubled teens and recognisable moral dilemmas.  Looking at their list of titles online, they have a bit of everything for everyone, with some superb authors writing for them:

Anthony McGowan
Jim Eldridge
James Lovegrove
Bali Rai
EE Richardson
Theresa Breslin
Kevin Brooks

...to name but a few.  The overall list is long and extensive and honestly, I want them all. But the best part is, although I am concentrating on books for kids in this blogpost, Barrington Stoke also does books for adults.  And that is something I think that sets them apart from other publishers.  I will definitely be looking in on these adult titles too and report back, for sure!

In the meantime I'm focussing on the handful of titles Barrington Stoke sent me for review for Under 14s Only month.

Here they are:

Aren't they just gorgeous looking?

As I am a new fan of Bali Rai's (I know, I am behind the times) I read The Gun first.

When Jonas finds a gun on the estate, something makes him keep it.  Worse still, he shows his friends. Big mistake. 


Binny's OK, but Kamal's a bit crazy.  Once he starts flashing the gun around the estate, it's only a matter of time before someone gets hurt.  And it's Jonas who'll have to pay. 


The Gun is a short, sharp stab in your heart.  Taking no shortcuts, not dollying it up, it tells the story over a handful of days, of how Jonas' life goes from relatively okay to something awful  It opens up in a police station, with the policeman asking Jonas to tell them everything that happened.  And Jonas does, right through from how they were standing outside the local kebab shop when they heard gunshots, to him picking up the backpack with the gun in it, that the shooters tried to hide away, to how he stupidly tells his friends Binny and Kamal and the trouble they have with the kids from the other estate and how things go completely wild.

Super short chapters set the scene with spare prose and strong dialogue.  Jonas is a boy we all recognise, and so is his family life, with a mum always working and a sweet but mouthy sister who is far too clever for her own good.

The story doesn't pull any punches, showing the brutality of life on an estate run by gangs and how one choice can completely mess up your life.  A great, sharp vivid story, accompanied by a note from the author, telling us how he came up with the story and why he chose the characters he chose and why it panned out the way it did.

The book itself, as an object, feels good in the hands - matte cream paper with a larger than average font, shorter than usual chapters, I sped through the story with easy, liking the spacing of the words on the page. The story made me feel like I watched a rather excellent tv-show that wasn't preachy, but stark in its reality.  A great read.

The Fall by Anthony McGowan 

Two's company.  Three's a crowd.  One has got to go. 


Mog might be a loser, but he's not as much of a loser as Duffy.  So when Duffy tries to get in with Mog's best mate, Mog decides to take action.  But when he lands Duffy in The Beck, the rancid stream behind the school, Mog has no idea how far the ripples will spread. 


The Fall is told retrospectively from Mog's point of view as an older man.  He introduces us to his best mate, Chris Rush, who was a cool kid, a bit dangerous to know, but one of those charismatic characters we all knew or know in school.  Mog enjoyed hanging around with Chris but when Chris started paying attention to the loser, Duffy, Mog decides the best way to take care of it is to embarrass Duffy so much that he'd not want to be their mate any more.  Mog gets away with it, treating Duffy really badly and that is the turning point in his and Chris' relationship.  Things become edgier, angrier and when they steal Chris's brother's crossbow things get out of hand and Mog acts in a truly reprehensible way.

I enjoyed the story, but I reacted negatively to it the most as I couldn't quite wrap my mind around what Mog does in the end.  I understand why it was written the way it was, but I felt that Mog's character does nothing to redeem himself and it left me feeling sad.

Like The Gun, The Fall has short, punchy chapters and is printed on creamy off-white paper.  There is lots of space on the page, which is great as it didn't feel like an intimidating read at all. I liked that there was a sticker on the cover to indicate "dyslexia friendly" and that the sticker could be pulled off with ease by the reader or giver.

Bomb by Jim Eldridge (I only read my first Jim Eldridge earlier this year, which was a Western for kids, and LOVED it.  I love his prose and think he does some great writing for younger readers)

The clock is ticking...


Rob's a top bomb disposal expert.  He has to defuse a bomb in a school before it's too late.  Can he do it? 

Holy smokes! This one was tense.  The story starts with a Top Secret memo telling us what's going on - who Rob is, what the situation is (where the bomb was placed within a local school and that the terrorist had demanded a ransom which, if not met, would cause the bomb to explode) and who Rob was.

At only 19, Rob was one of the youngest bomb disposal squad members but he has a great track record.  MI5 sent him as he was young enough to be a cleaner, a disguise in order to fool the bomber should he be watching the school.  Rob finds the bomb in the basement and quickly realises that this is the same style of bomb that had killed a good friend of his...but Rob couldn't for the life of him remember the sequence his friend had gone through, when cutting the wires.  Illustrated by Dylan Gibson, we are shown what Rob looks like, what the bomb looks like and how fast the time is running out.

I liked that Rob was an older boy, that he had advance so far in his young life and that he was this competent.  And although I am a big Jim Eldridge fan, I did find a few of the paragraphs to be a bit too short and choppy, but, having said that, it did serve to drive the tension higher.

The Mountain's Blood by Lari Don 

Inanna's bored of being the goddess of love - how dull! When a volcano begins to make her people's lives a misery she decides to take it on. None of her brothers will help her so she faces it single-handedly, and her victory inspires her to become the goddess of war. Thrilling re-telling of an ancient Sumerian myth.


I laughed so much when I opened this one to read.  Inanna is such a great character - deeply spoiled, stubborn and a born hero.  When she is landed with the title of Goddess of Love, she goes off in a huff, riding her chariot across the sky, pulled by her blue bulls.  She's in a huff because she thinks being the Goddess of Love means she can't use her mad weapon skills and especially her axe.  A girl after my own heart.  Yet, as she travels the skies she sees how the people love her, how they are prospering and her heart grows warm with love, until she spots the disagreeable mountain that's sprung up from nowhere.  She demands that it obey her and leave the area, but the mountain refuses to budge.

Angered by its insolence, she decides to plead with it in a suitably goddess-like way, but no joy.  She resorts to pleading with all the other gods but gets nowhere.  No one is keen to help her out.  Inanna dons her armour and all her weapons and decides to fight the mountain until it submits.  Perfect!

The story is a retailing of an age-old Summerian myth and at the back of the book there is a brief write-up from Inanna herself, about the story, giving some information about Summeria.

The Mountain's Blood is beautifully illustrated by Paul Duffield.

Next up is The Jaws of Death by Malachy Doyle

Kwang-su must embark on a perilous journey so that he can marry Ling-Ling. He must cross monster-infested rivers and outwit the powerful genii that live on the mountain-top. With a little help from some magic gifts, he manages to return home in time to save Ling-Ling from marrying an old mandarin. Action packed re-telling of an ancient Chinese myth.

This is the first time I've read this myth and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  Beautifully illustrated by Nana Li, The Jaws of Death gives us a strong and intelligent young hero, Kwang-su, who is given a series of tasks to perform by an old woman, the mother of the young girl he's fallen in love with.  As with all these myths of strength, intelligence and riddles, the hero overcomes the obstacles in his way to cleverly win the day.  It is very well written with some great descriptions and the hero uses not only his martial arts skills, but also his intelligence to succeed in completing his tasks, showing us how he matures from boy with some martial skills, to that of a young man who thinks and plans to overcome his enemies and obstacles.

I've left the larger The Lord of Fire by James Lovegrove for last.  This is the last book in The 5 Lords of Pain sequence and it is a humdinger.

Tom Yamada must fight the demon Lords of Pain in a series of duels called the Contest - with the whole world at stake. Tom's defeated four powerful demons. Now he must face the ultimate test. The Lord of Fire - the most powerful demon of them all. If Tom loses, the world will burn...

Fifth and final book in a brand new Barrington Stoke series.


Cleverly, because this is the fifth book in the series, when you open TLoF, the first thing you find is the link to the official Five Lords of Pain website, but also a "The Story so Far" catch-up which is a mere 2 pages long.

Written in a concise way, we are shown how much Tom's grown through the progress of the five books.  He is no longer the very young innocent and inexperienced boy.  He is older, sturdier, tougher and an a far more experienced fighter.  We know he has to face up to fighting the final Lord of Pain and the summons to the combat comes far sooner than anticipated.  It also turns out that the final battle will be against someone whom he thought he could trust, who taught him his martial skills and who acted as a father towards him.

The battle lines are drawn when the place of battle is revealed: Canterbury Cathedral.  As the story progresses and Tom realises he needs help, we are treated to some great introspective moments.  He's come such a long way and takes great care in preparing himself for the battle to come.  He turns to his family for support and he comes to realise that the battle is not to be a battle of revenge, but by finishing this contest, and winning, he will literally save the world.

The 5 Lords of Pain books are so much fun.  They are written with great skill by a fantastic storyteller who loves these yarns.  Sometimes you can just tell when you read something that the author is having an absolute blast writing the story.  I'd say that out of the six books reviewed here, The Lord of Fire would be aimed at the slightly more advanced reader and it may be for someone who likes to be challenged, especially as the pay-off at the end of the book is so great.  There are Japanese words and terms dotted throughout the novel, but at the end of the book, there is a section where these are explained.  I found that they didn't hinder my understand of the story, but enhanced it, making me feel very much part of the story.

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These titles are all a mixture of old and new titles from Barrington Stoke.  I honestly cannot recommend them enough.  Fun, entertaining and well written reads that are told for entertainment sake, is rare enough.  But books aimed at getting reluctant readers reading is even more valuable, especially when they are reading for fun.  And let's not forget that yes, we have to read for work and school, but reading for fun is even more important. 

A massive thanks to Barrington Stoke for allowing me to gab on about a handful of their titles only.  These books are very special to me as reader and reviewer as I feel a kinship with those reluctant readers these books are aimed at.  I had a nephew who was a reluctant reader, due to dyslexia, and I think that had these books been around at school at the time he was growing up, they could have changed his world.  I now have a very sweet but reluctant reader grand-nephew who is a bit hyperactive, yet will sit down and listen to books read to him and his baby sister Michaela, who will be getting a stack of these for Christmas back in South Africa. Who knows, I may make readers and writers out them both! 

Five Titles for 14+ Girls and Boys Wanting to Move onto Adult Genre Fiction

Thanks so much to our friend Amanda from Floor to Ceiling Books Blog who agreed to write this article for MFB about books she'd recommend to readers who would like to move into adult genre fiction - specifically science fiction and fantasy:

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So... You’ve exhausted the YA section. You’re looking for a new challenge and to spread your wings into the world of adult fiction. You want something that is exciting and fresh and introduces you to the wider world of books available. Let’s see what I can do for you!

1) Spellwright – Blake Charlton

Blake Charlton’s novel Spellwright is a neat little fantasy story, concerning Nicodemus Weal. Here is a brief description: Imagine a world in which you could peel written words off a page and make them physically real. You might pick your teeth with a sentence fragment, protect yourself with defensive paragraphs, or thrust a sharply-worded sentence at an enemy’s throat.

Such a world is home to Nicodemus Weal, an apprentice at the wizardly academy of Starhaven. Because of how fast he can forge the magical runes that create spells, Nicodemus was thought to be the Halcyon, a powerful spellwright prophesied to prevent an event called the War of Disjunction, which would destroy all human language. There was only one problem: Nicodemus couldn’t spell.

Runes must be placed in the correct order to create a spell. Deviation results in a “misspell”—a flawed text that behaves in an erratic, sometimes lethal, manner. And Nicodemus has a disability, called cacography, that causes him to misspell texts simply by touching them.

Charlton writes a protagonist that is warm and believable – with a disability that will feel incredibly familiar to anyone with dyslexia (something that the author, himself, suffers from). The story itself is intense and exciting, and is perfect for anyone who has read such authors as J K Rowling, Cornelia Funke and C S Lewis. It’s a great step into adult fantasy.

2) Birds of Prey – Wilbur Smith

Birds of Prey is a novel crackling with excitement, pirates, sea battles and filled with an extraordinary cast of characters. It is an adventure story that showcases the period of the 17th Century, when the mighty naval war between the English and the Dutch was still raging. This would be an ideal step forward for anyone who had enjoyed historical YA, or picked up Justin Somper’s Vampirates trilogy.

3) Neverwhere – Neil Gaiman

Now, you might already have tackled some Neil Gaiman novels – perhaps Coraline, or Anansi Boys, or The Graveyard Book. Neverwhere is one of his imaginative adult books – telling a tale about a London that lies beneath the Underground, a place of magic and dreams and nightmares. Check out this blurb: Richard Mayhew is a young businessman who is about to find out more than he bargained for about this other London. A single act of kindness catapults him out of his safe and predictable life and into a world that is at once eerily familiar and yet utterly bizarre. There's a girl named Door, an Angel called Islington, an Earl who holds Court on the carriage of a Tube train, a Beast in a labyrinth, and dangers and delights beyond imagining ... And Richard, who only wants to go home, is to find a strange destiny waiting for him below the streets of his native city. Does that not make you desperate to run out and buy the book and start reading immediately? It’s a sort of adult The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe – a person who finds another world and become immersed in adventures within it.

4) Ender’s Game – Orson Scott Card

Here you have a science fiction suggestion. This novel might be old (published in 1985!) but it is very, very good. It won a heap of awards, but, more importantly, it told a fantastic story about war beliefs and using computer networks to forge anonymity. The youthful protagonists are incredibly easy to relate to, and you will marvel at the events that overcome them. This one is great for those who adored Patrick Ness’ Chaos Walking trilogy, and are looking for something with a more adult flavour.

5) The Little Country – Charles de Lint

This is pretty much my favourite novel of all time – and I picked it up to read on the first occasion when I was just fourteen. It is a virtually perfect book; someone described it as the equivalent of a “literary hug” and I think that is the best description I have heard! It tells the story of folk musician Janey Little, who finds a mysterious manuscript in an old trunk in her grandfather's cottage, and is swept into a dangerous realm both strange and familiar. Her tale is interspersed with that of Jodi, who is exploring the world of the Smalls – do they really exist? Charles de Lint writes modern fairytales – if you’ve loved the 13 Treasures trilogy by Michelle Harrison, then you will adore The Little Country.

This is a superb list from Amanda - thanks so much!

Gorilla Adventure by Willard Price

Hal and Roger Hunt head off for another challenging mission- this time to search for gorillas deep in the Congo jungle. But when the boys stumble across the evil trade in baby gorillas, someone seems determined to silence them once and for all..

While Gorilla Adventure is part of the Adventure series, it's essentially a standalone story that can be read either on it's own or as part of the series. First published in 1969, Gorilla Adventure is part of a classic tradition of stories from the golden age of adventure, before the world and the magic of uncharted territories was googled into extinction.

The story sees brothers Hal and Roger Hunt being sent on a mission into the Congo by their wildlife collecting father. Their purpose? To capture a series of rare and exotic animals and bring them home to be sold to zoos and conservatories, with the prize specimen on their list being a highland gorilla from the deepest jungle, a concept which in today's eco-conscious world seems utterly bizarre and quite shocking. But, written in the era that it was, no great fuss is made on this point, and while Hal and Roger's attitude seems disconcertingly mercenary at first, as the story progresses and the come up against the ugly truth of the impact of poaching a distinctly pro-conservation message comes through which makes them far more sympathetic and likeable.

The story itself is a rolling catalogue of the stars of the African jungle interspersed with a cast of supporting characters drawn in broad brush strokes, who are really only there to support Hal and Roger as they stumble across a increasingly fantastic array of the rarest animals. Price, however, presents his menagerie in a way that makes you want to plan a safari, or at least a day trip out to a decent zoo, which more than makes up for it.

An unfortunate by-product of portraying the brothers as cool headed, larger than life adventurers though is that they come across as too cool, that the wondrous animals that seem to be all but throwing themselves at their feet are all a a bit ho-hum and to be expected. This persists with some of challenges thrown at them, and while I could live with this, the one example of this that jarred me from the story was when Roger is hit in the eyes by a spitting cobra. Rather than be incapacitated by this, he proceeds to first suck the venom from a colleague's snake bite, administer an anti-venom serum to the hapless man, and then capture said cobra in a sack before deciding to succumb to its venom!

That said, the book is still fun to read- don't overthink it, and just let yourself go along for the ride. For all its idiosyncrasies, the sudden ending and the years that have passed it has a quaint innocence and manages to conjure the sheer wonder and magic of Africa, and to bring home the unexpected fragility of some of its mightiest denizens.

Five Fabulous Books for Girls by The Bookette

When we decided to host another Under 14's Only Month, I sent the "call" out to some of our blogging mates for guest blogs as I know the majority of my blogging chums are ace and enthusiastic readers of books for all ages.  But, not only are they readers, a lot of them are teachers and librarians too, (as well as parents) and I trust them implicitly as I think their brilliance is sort of underscored by being "professionals" - and yes, I count being a parent as being a professional!  I am very pleased and flattered that Becky, The Bookette, said yes to a blogpost and she decided she'd put together a list of five titles for younger girl readers. And because I love her blog and I knew she'd come from a completely different direction, I knew that we'd be offered a host of great and unique titles that many readers, including myself, may have overlooked.

Over to:

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Liz, thanks so much for inviting me to be a part of fiction for the under 14s. Young Adult fiction seems to have a momentum all of its own in the book industry right now. So younger children’s fiction isn’t getting the attention it deserves. As a school librarian who works with children aged 3 – 13, I am always interested in finding titles that will appeal to my students. Here are some of my favourite novels for girls under 14.

1) I Was Jane Austen’s Best Friend by Cora Harrison – recommended for readers 10+

This book is a charming historical novel which will appeal to girls who are looking to read an innocent romance. It takes the character of Jenny and explores her friendship with the well-known literary figure Jane Austen. Cora Harrison somehow manages to give this historical book a contemporary feel and yet also charms the reader with her characterisation of Jane Austen. It is a truly adorable ‘Will they, won’t they?’ romance. Beautiful gowns, dazzling balls, witty dialogue and handsome chaps... this book will appeal to girls who love fashion and dancing and Disney endings.

2) The Thirteen Treasures by Michelle Harrison – recommended for readers 9+


This story is full of the dark side of magic and those fey creatures who like to meddle in the lives of humans. The heroine is Tanya who is gifted with the second sight. She is sent to stay with her Grandmother for the summer after causing yet more trouble at home. Except that it isn’t Tanya who is causing the trouble, it is the faeries who are meddling in her life. My students had been raving about this book long before I had read it. The dialogue is great, every character an individual and when you add that to the sinister woods, tight plot and genuine character journey you get an absolutely satisfying read. The Thirteen Treasures is a real page-turner.

3) Knife by R J Anderson – recommended for readers 10+

This novel is incredibly well-written. It is fairytale unlike any other. Knife is not your magic wand or sparkly dust fairy. She is a warrior and a rather savage character and determined to protect the faeries’ colony against the mysterious disease that is killing their kind. R J Anderson wonderfully conveys the faery viewpoint and so the reader can see the human world in an entirely new perspective. Girls will love Knife’s rebellious and disobedient nature. But there is also depth in this novel as the author explores the themes of duty, creativity and self-esteem.

4) Ingo by Helen Dunmore – recommended for readers 10+

I absolutely adore this series and so will girls who love holidaying on the English coast and imagining the mysterious Mer who live in the ocean. Sapphire lives in Cornwall. Her life is turned upside down one night when her father takes his boat out on to the sea and never returns. Sapphire can’t move on from the loss of her dad because his body is never discovered. Her mum is starting a new relationship and Sadie finds this difficult to come to terms with. Her solace is the Cornish cove where she and her brother Connor while away the days. But there is a voice calling Sapphire to the sea and she can’t stop listening. Ingo is the perfect summer holiday read. Girls will enjoy the fantastical elements of the story as well as the emotional challenges which Sapphire faces. Oh and let us not forget her adorable dog!

5) Paradise Barn by Victor Watson – recommended for readers 9+


This is a wartime murder mystery which will appeal to both girls and boys. Mysteries are a genre that my students are increasingly keen on and this book was a complete hit with our Year 6 book group. There are two girls in this story – Molly and Abigail. Both have incredibly distinctive and believable voices; they really could have been my students. The story is set in the rural town of Great Deeping; the lives of the girls are shook up by the arrival of an evacuee, Adam. The year is 1940, war is raging and Adam is forced to leave his family and London behind. Together the trio set out to solve the murder of mysterious man who might have been a spy. It is twisting tale, full of clues, red-herrings and is vividly evocative of the historical setting.

Read all of the above?

Other titles that are popular with girls in my library right now are:

Dork Diaries by Renee Russell

Spy Girl by Carol Hedges

Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls series by Meg Cabot

Silk Sisters series by Fiona Dunbar

Dead Man’s Cove by Lauren St John 

Castle of Shadows by Ellen Renner

Thanks for having me spot by MFB and do share if you have other recommendations for books that will appeal to ‘Under 14’ girls.

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Thanks so much for these fantastic reccommendations.  My Amazon Wishlist just exploded with a handful more titles.  Thank you, Becky, for being an enabler.

Diary of a Lottery Winner's Daughter by Penelope Bush

Does money have to change everything?


Charlotte and her family are determined that winning £3.7 million on the lottery won’t change them. But they haven’t counted on how everyone around them will react.


Charlotte’s best friend is acting strangely, and someone’s spreading cruel rumours at school. Can Charlotte use the money to change things for the better?


Penelope Bush goes beyond clichés and creates quirky, truly believable characters with complicated lives.

When we meet Charlotte (who I'm so pleased to say never is called anything but Charlotte) she is about to go on holiday with her mum and dad, her oldest sister Chelsea and Spencer, her older but smelly brother.  They are borrowing their aunt and uncle's caravan and heading to Weston Super Mare for a week's break by the sea.  We very early realise that Charlotte and her family aren't wealthy and that their house on one of the estates in Bristol is too small for them.  Charlotte has to share with Chelsea and everything about Chelsea is hard work.  She seems permanently sulky and miserable.  She kicks up a fuss about everything and makes her parents lives very difficult indeed.

Charlotte is sweet and kind and generous and she's a bookish kind of girl.  She is also quite small for her age.  She is about to turn 13 so finds it very difficult to relate to her older sister.  She is close to her brother, Spencer, which I quite liked and the two of them form a good unit and buffer against Chelsea's bad ways.

When they get back from their holiday Charlotte's mum has them stop at the local Tesco to quickly run in to do some shopping and to buy a new lottery ticket.  In the process of buying the new ticket, she finds the week before's ticket and when the staff check it...they advise her to ring the number on the back of the ticket.  She does when they get home and it's revealed that it is indeed a winning number.

Cue the dramatic screaming and shouting.  Slowly but surely things change for Charlotte and her family.  Chelsea starts househunting for them, Spencer who is clever and good at maths asks to be sent to a better high school and Charlotte, Charlotte asks for more books and some stationery.  A girl right after my own heart.

So, after the initial shrieking and the initial random clothes buying, what next? Life goes back to normal, really.  And that is what happens to Charlotte.  She goes back to school but she finds that her best friend Lauren is acting a bit standoffish towards her but she doesn't really think anything about it.   As the weeks go by, and her mum and dad reveal that they are moving into a new (older house) place, moving away from the estate, all that Charlotte can think about is: a room of her own and also floor to ceiling bookshop. And that is exactly what she gets.

Lauren's not at all happy and immediately makes friends with the new girl who moves into Charlotte's old house on the estate.  Chelsea is having problems too.  Suddenly the girls who used to hang out with her become antagonistic and fights start breaking out.

Charlotte becomes deeply upset when she realised that Lauren and the new girl, Stacey, have become good friends.  And they were basically freezing her out.  Annabel, a girl who lived near to Charlotte (someone she had seen in class but never really spoke to) starts speaking to her and before their friendship can really grow, it all goes wrong.

I enjoyed reading this novel - I thought that Charlotte's character deserved to have everything she wished for her and others.  She is honestly a nice kid and really likeable.  She's just not very adept at dealing with the real world, so that when the new girl Stacey takes advantage of her, she's so shocked that instead of telling her parents, she bottles it up and tries to work through it herself.  When she bungles telling Lauren, Lauren doesn't believe her.

Her fragile friendship with Annabel starts growing but things are falling apart at home.  Chelsea runs away from home after a bad fight with her dad and her parents start blaming themselves.  It's a complete nightmare.

As the story evolves and changes, Charlotte is a complete heroine and does her utmost to find and help everyone.   And of course, we are so vested in Charlotte's story, we can't wait for everything to be fine for her.

I thought that the writing was first class and the characterisation works very well.  The story and situations all make complete sense as they are super-believable.  It's not all sunshine and roses all the time, not even when you've won the lottery, as it brings its own ups and downs.

Diary of a Lottery Winner's Daughter is a fun read and it's given us a great new heroine who is just a tiny bit fabulous and cool, for all her geeky bookishness.  This is the author, Penelope Bush's second novel and I have to say...I think we've got a new voice for younger girls in the vein of Cathy Hopkins and Cathy Cassidy.

Edda

We are super pleased to be part of the Edda blog tour. The author, Conor Kostick (apart from having a fabulously sounding rock god name) seems to be a bit of a writer too. I've not read Saga or Epic and was tempted to read them but then I thought: will this work for me as a standalone? It is the last in the trilogy and should therefore wrap up the Avatar Chronicles and be quite a neat package in itself.

And I'm happy to say that it does work as a standalone. I didn't for a second feel as if I was out of my depth, that the characters were unfamiliar or that the setting was peculiar. I had my own issues to deal with regarding the realities, but that was a personal thing completely.

Edda tells the story of an electronic world, EDDA, which had been created by humans but for whatever reason, no one now plays this game. The characters in this game had become sentient and so we have Lord Scanthax - a particularly grasping and motivated warmonger - battling other electronic worlds, killing everyone and taking over their territories. But, because he's a sentient being, he cannot script (create) new weapons. This is of course a problem but he's a clever bad guy because back in the day he searched and found the only human child left on the uninhabitable planet that houses EDDA's servers. He is basically keeping 15 year old Penelope prisoner, so that she can script for him. And Penelope in turn is Princess in EDDA and has started questioning not just the role she plays in EDDA but who she really is and what she's really doing there. She rebels, as much as she can as she desperately tries to figure out how to search for avatars with humans running them.

It is a story full of vivid imagery and strong characterisations and writing. I think that older readers (I'm talking adults here) will be intrigued by Kostick's storytelling because it is a complex, layered plot, that grabbed my attention and refused to let go. We have characters from the previous two books coming through to try and figure out what exactly Scanthax is planning as they discovered his envoys tealing into SAGA stealing weapons, which they take back so that Penelope/Princess can script.

I had to work really hard at keeping the avatars and humans and sentient beings straight in my head. Ghost, who is the queen of Saga, stole my heart though and I liked reading about these strong independent characters.

It is a roiling mix of punk and rock n' roll and military science fiction and would suit gamers (boys and girls) to a T. I would recommend this to the upper scales of our #u14so readers and definitely for adults. The reason I'm recommending it for older readers is because of the complexity of the storyline, more than anything else. I suspect it would suit younger, very confident readers, who have no problem following layered storytelling and science fiction concepts who may be avid gamers themselves.

I think, had I found this as a younger reader, instead of reading Asimov and Herbert, I would have become a very big science fiction fan indeed.

I am very proud to have read and understood EDDA and not just that, but liked the writing and the storytelling. I have no reservations about recommending it to readers. And that man Conor Kostick better hurry up pretty sharpish with something new for me to read.

Thank you so much to O'Brien for sending this along and for introducing themselves to MFB. Please pop by later this afternoon when I've got a small blogpost going live, showcasing who O'Brien are and some of their titles.

Find Conor's friendly and down to earth website here.

Interview with Andy Briggs, author of Tarzan: The Legacy of Greystoke

After reading Tarzan: The Legacy of Greystoke I was burning to chat to Andy about bringing one of my childhood heroes up to date and am so grateful to him for agreeing to this fantastic Q&A with MFB.  I cannot recommend reading the T:TLoG enough - it's well written, superbly pacey and packed full action and adventure.  It will suit boys and girls who are looking for more meaty reads and it might entice reluctant readers too, especially as the action is very cinematic and it will definitely make them feel like they have experienced the book, rather than just read it.

But, I'll calm down now and let Andy chat to us instead:

1. How did it come about that you got the opportunity to reboot the Tarzan franchise and bring it up to date for contemporary readers?

I was a huge Tarzan fan and simply noticed that he didn’t appear to be around any more. I approached the ERB (the Edgar Rice Burroughs estate) who own the rights and explained my idea of bringing the classic character back to life for a whole new generation of readers. They liked it and the whole project was suddenly a go!

2. What was it like going back and looking at these books now that you were an adult? Did you feel nostalgia at all and were you concerned that your vision for Tarzan would somehow change your own memories of the books?

I had a very firm memory of the old books so I wasn’t too concerned that my own version of Tarzan would have altered my opinion. My biggest memories of Tarzan are the TV shows and movies which were always on TV when I was off school - so it was a great chance to regress back to those times when it was a bank holiday or summer holiday and Tarzan allowed me to escape into the wilds of Africa...

3. How many books will there be in the series?

There is TARZAN: THE LEGACY OF GREYSTOKE which is out now and next January there will be TARZAN: JUNGLE WARRIOR. We are looking to get at least one more out next year and after that, who knows?

4. When I devoured your new reboot of Tarzan, (which was on an awful dull and dreary day) I was struck by the setting of the jungles of Africa and I wondered if this was somewhere you’ve been yourself as I honestly felt as if I was there, experiencing the heat and the rain with the characters?

That’s great to hear! I took the opportunity to travel to Africa to experience as much as the wild as I could. Some areas of Africa are real no-go areas, so I also travelled to the jungles of South America to soak in that experience. Regarding the gorillas, I was lucky enough to work closely with the keepers at Bristol Zoo who helped me with the finest details of living with the wild apes.

5. Tarzan remains such a strong central character, only slightly civilised, with this very focussed perception of what is right and what is wrong in his world. Did you find it difficult to portray at times?

I found Tarzan surprisingly easy to write. His morals and beliefs are black and white. He leads a simple life without the complicated baggage we all carry. Robbie and Jane, being modern teenagers, have such a more complex perception of right and wrong, which inevitably leads them into trouble of their own creating. They were more difficult to write as they had to come across as modern teenagers living in a remarkable environment.

6. Jane Porter, the “Jane” character is a thoroughly modern young teen, addicted to her iPod and hating her dad for dragging them into the jungles of Africa. I understood where Jane’s prickliness came from but I struggled to identify with her at first. Was she a difficult character to write / to get into her mindset?

I think she is a difficult (and prickly) character as she starts out as a very resentful person who dislikes here current situation. She is clinging on to the ideas of civilized life and that’s what she misses... until she starts to embrace and accept the new world around her. She also has to be an equal to Tarzan, while that’s impossible physically, Jane is his moral compass and allows him to see reason on a different level. I think she would be equally difficult to write if she was boy. Jane was always a character who slowly draws you in, rather than somebody you immediately identify with from the outset - hopefully Robbie will do that for the reader.

7. Did you have to do a lot of research, not just into animal and gorilla behaviour but also political research into the area and various factions that are currently vying for control in the region you’ve set Tarzan?

I was lucky enough to travel to Africa to get some firsthand experience of life there. The areas of jungle I wanted to explore are in politically volatile regions, so I also travelled to the jungles in South America to get a feel for the seething humid landscape. It was terrific fun. Researching the history and politics of the DRC and the surrounding countries was fascinating. There is so much to use, yet Tarzan would only be able to scrape the surface of it all. However, it makes the Congo a more thrilling canvass to have adventures on that I would have thought possible.



Christopher Lambert in Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes

 8. Did you ever watch any of the Tarzan movies, as part of your research? And what did you think about the differences between the original source material and the movies?

I read as many Tarzan books as I could and watched every film and TV show I could lay my hands on. The books and the films are very different and there have been no real faithful adaptations (the Christopher Lambert Greystoke movie was the closest, and even the latter half of that movie meandered).

The public’s image of Tarzan comes from the movies more than the books and I wanted to capture the best parts of each and distill it into a “super Tarzan” that would appeal to older fans as well as new readers.

9. What was it like, sitting down to update the Tarzan books and his adventures to be more contemporary? What did you find were your biggest stumbling blocks?

Times have changed since Tarzan’s first appearance, and so have social and racial attitudes - however, Africa is still a huge adventure playground for any writer and I don’t think we have lost much of the magic that was inherent in the old stories.

The only real stumbling blocks were fans that complained that Tarzan couldn’t be updated - despite the fact they would happily watch contemporary Tarzan movies and forget that when Tarzan was written in 1912, it was a contemporary story.

10. Were you ever concerned that showing the savagery of Tarzan’s life in the jungle might concern new readers who might not have read the earlier works and thought it would be quite a “sanitised” look at the King of the Jungle’s adventures?

Not at all! I think most people who delve into the world of Tarzan expect some level of “tooth and claw” violence. There’s even some dark savagery in the Disney cartoon. I probably could have gone further with the level of “violence” in my book, but I am quite happy to leave it to the reader’s imagination - in my book most of that happens “off the page”, or I quickly gloss over the details, and you are left filling in the gory blanks yourself. I think a sanitized version of Tarzan would have been an injustice to the character.

11. Do you have any advice for aspiring writers out there?

We need writers! I look forward to being entertained in the future by other people, so you all better get writing! The key piece of advise I can give is “don’t give up”. Another piece of advice comes from the wonderful move, “Throw Momma from the Train” - it’s simply: “A writer writes, always.”

Tarzan: The Greystoke Legacy by Andy Briggs

Synopsis:

What lies in the depths of the jungle?


Escaping a dark secret, Robbie Canler joins an illegal logging team in the Congo jungle. Now they’re under siege from a sinister force.


When the daughter of the camp’s boss, Jane Porter, goes missing, they assume bloodthirsty rebel soldiers have kidnapped her. Robbie sets out on a rescue mission - unaware he is being watched ...


Are the rumours of a feral man raised by wild apes true? If so, can the mysterious untamed savage be trusted to help them?


On the Saturday I received my copy of Tarzan, by Andy Briggs, I lay myself down on the couch, after breakfast and tidying the house and shelves and got reading.  At around 2pm, Mark started complaining about starving but I ignored him, deaf to the world and his plea of malnutrition.

I was having this incredible adventure and I really didn't want it to stop until I had read every single word. I'll fully admit to not expecting to like Tarzan's new updated adventure.  I was quite attached to the older stories by Edgar Rice Burroughs and of course, my true love was the Christopher Lambert Tarzan in Greystoke: Legend of Tarzan Lord of the Apes.

But I completely fell for Andy Brigg's updating of this timeless legend.  He's created a Tarzan very much in line with the original, focusing on the savagery of living in the jungle, without really making it overly dramatic or unbelievable.

Robbie, one of our main characters is a nice kid.  He's run away from home and found himself in the Congo, having joined an illegal logging operation.  It sounds really bad and I was worried that Robbie's reasons would be a bit dodgy and that the whole thing would be unsavoury but instead we've got a very plausible reason for it all.  We even learn the very mundane reason for Jane's dad to be part of the illegal logging operation and the risks he's decided to take to make a better life for him and Jane.

I liked that their reasons were legitimate but that the means they go about it, was wrong.  It really did make you war with yourself and your own perceptions of the right and the wrong of it.

Jane's character is far more disagreeable than Robbie's.  She comes across as spoilt and indulged and a bit of a brat.  She's forever sulking and quite nasty to those around her, including Robbie.  I admit to not liking her at all, at first.  I could see completely where Andy was coming from, having created her to be our actual window into this very different dangerous and foreign world.

The logging operation basically relies heavily on local guerillas to not interfere with them.  They pay them a stipend to prevent attacks and raids on their camp, yet the workers in the camp are continuously finding items missing or broken and of course, they blame unhappy spirits and the gorilla fighters for these.   There is also a rumour of something else out there, something watching the encampment.

Between Robbie and Jane we get a comprehensive idea of what it's like being in the jungle, living and working there.  In a place that no one could prepare you for, you have very little to rely on, except for yourself and your forward thinking.

When, during some heavy rains, Jane disappears everyone goes a bit crazy.  Jane's dad isn't around, as he's gone off with his friend to confront the rebels about sabotaging the camp.   Things are left in a bad way with the gorillas and when they return to the camp and discover that Jane's gone, seemingly "taken" they are thrown into turmoil.

Jane in reality is swept away by the river as she tripped and fell, trying to get water to the burning outbuilding.  By the time she wakes up she is in the middle of nowhere with no recognisable landmarks, except for the jungle, all around.

This is the point we get to meet Tarzan.  And he's not urbane or charming.  Instead, he is very much part human and part a product of the jungles.  He helps Jane to his lair which he shares with some real gorillas - the animal kind - and Jane does her very best to not run away screaming.

But slowly and surely, she comes to realise who Tarzan really is - he is the mysterious watcher everyone in their camp talks about.  He's the one sabotaging the machinery and scaring the workers away.  She also discovers more about him, how he got to be in the jungle and slowly pieces his story together.  She is however horrified when he brings her bloody meat to eat and quite happily tears into himself, eating like an animal.  When she refuses to join him he shrugs and later on brings her fruit and nuts that he gathered from the jungle.

Tarzan reveals that he hates the people who come into his jungle to poach animals or steal the forest away.  He does not understand their reasons and sees everything in a very simplistic black and white way.  I liked that.  He is a super simple creature and it is Robbie and Jane's point of views that are made up from various colours of grey.

I won't say more except to say: it is a bloody good book.  It really remains true to the original works in spirit and adventure.  I started out not liking Jane but by the end of the book I really appreciated her stubbornness and her spirit.  I also like that her character underwent the biggest development arc and how the ensuing story affected her.  Robbie also grows rapidly as a character and I think he comes to realise that acting out of loyalty and friendship is not always the best of things.

I'd recommend Tarzan: The Greystoke Legacy to confident readers from 9+ upwards.  There are some mature themes though and some of the descriptions of battles and violence had me biting my lip in anxiety as they were quite stressful! But this is a great book for younger (and more mature readers) and it has not been sanitised at all for the modern audience, which I think is fab.  It holds true to the original novels in its sense of scope and adventure.  It's underlying eco-message is there if you look for it and it does drive the story, in a way, but I think Mr. Biggs has managed to not be pontificating so without really realising it, the reader is shown far more than she may realise and that, people, is what good books do.

Tarzan: The Greystoke Legacy is out now from Faber & Faber.  This is Andy's great website.  Be sure to pop by tomorrow, when we've got a great interview with the author himself.

Doctor Proctor's Fart Powder by Jo Nesbo

Doctor Proctor has finally created something to help him fulfil his dream of becoming a world-famour inventor- a super-strength fart powder than can propel people into outer space!

DPFP opens with a young girl named Lisa watching new neighbours moving into the house where her best friend used to live, and meets 10 year old Nilly, who’s the smallest boy she’s ever seen. Nilly’s heard every joke and comment about his name and his size, and wants nothing more than to play his trumpet in a marching band on the upcoming Independence Day parade. But then Nilly meets Doctor Proctor, an eccentric scientist whose most recent invention was a powder that makes your body glow a luminous green, a meeting that leads to the first test of what will become a super strength version of his Fart Powder.

But while Lisa, Nilly and the Doctor are trying to survive the explosive, pants-ripping results of the tests and find a way to make the Fart Powder a commercial success, there are others who want to get their hands on the Fart Powder and claim the rewards for themselves.

There’s a lot more going on in the background though, with an escaped anaconda on the loose, a bitter music teacher, playground politics and a daring escape from jail all adding to the chaos. Nilly and Lisa are likeable, distinct characters throughout, and Nesbo doesn’t let them stray into becoming annoyingly precocious. The story has a lighthearted, fun feel to it and with short, punchy chapters punctuated by Mike Lowery’s quirky artwork, it reads incredibly quickly and won’t intimidate younger readers.

While some of the humour has a.. Norwegian flavour to it, and perhaps loses something in translation, it’s hard not to laugh when everything revolves around a revolutionary fart powder.

Million Dollar Mates: Catwalk Queen by Cathy Hopkins

Pop diva Tanisha comes to live at Porchester Park, where she's mentoring a modelling competition.  Jess is encouraged to enter.  It's her chance to stand out from the crowd and get the attention of the boys in her life.  But competing on the catwalk brings out all her worst insecurities.  Has she really got what it takes to be a catwalk queen?


I am such a girly fan of Cathy Hopkins's books and writing.  Which, if you know me, should come as a big surprise.  I am not a girly girl but there is something about Cathy Hopkins and Cathy Cassidy's writing that really just gets under my skin and I love their writing and the stories they tell to bits.

For some reason I've not read the other Million Dollar Mates books, so I thought to read the newest one to see how easily I could get into the existing series.  I am happy to report that although the books are a series, it looks to me like each book can be read as a standalone.  You are briefly caught up with the minimum of fuss as to who Jess is, what's going on in her life and who the boys are she's currently crushing on.  (And I have to say, I do think JJ sounds like a honey!)

Jess, our main character, is just an average normal girl whose dad is the caretaker and manager of the very prestigious Porchester Park apartments in London.  She lives with her dad and her brother (who sounds so lovely but is a bit clueless) and she is best friends with Alisha Lewis (the daughter of an American actor) Pia Carslon and good friends with Flo and Meg from school.

When they discover that a new resident moving in to Porchester Park...the girls are all in a fizz! Who could it be - Pia and Jess dash upstairs to chat to their friend Alisha who, as the daughter of the super weathly and super famous Jefferson Lewis, is far more in the "know" than they are.  Alisha reveals that it is none other than the pop diva Tanisha and the girls all swoon and fall about as they all love her to bits.

When they meet her in Real Life, it turns out that Tanisha is actually as nice as they could have imagined.  And it also turns out that she was in town to promote a new modelling competition and when she suggests that Jess definitely should give it a go Jess and her friends are all excited and thrown in turmoil.

In a flurry of excitement, and a bit of a "what's the worst that could happen" Jess and Flo go about wearing pretty clothes and make-up and have the various boys in their lives take photos of them upstairs in Alisha and JJ's apartment.  It turns into a bit of a party and what starts off as a joke gets quite serious when it transpires that both Jess and Flo are chosen to be part of the competition.

The book uses the super popular TV shows like Britain's Next Top Model and America's Next Top Model as a framework but Ms. Hopkins has made it her own, concentrating heavily on Jess's relationship with her friends and family, grounding her firmly in reality.  There are various ups and down and as Jess as our moral compass we are shown what a tough life aspiring young models have, being told that they are fat, their noses are too big, their ears too outy, their tummies to saggy or their bums too big.  Both anorexia and bulimia are touched on but not really investigated or dwelled on.  Instead we are shown these things and left to make up our own minds.

Jess's discomfort with the whole selection process is interesting as between her and Flo they talk about the astonishingly pretty girls who seem to crumble before their critics as the selection process continues.  Girls who appear so full of confidence and who could literally have anyone and anything they want, suddenly see themselves the way others see them, as somehow lacking in minor department.  The process makes both girls uncomfortable and they aren't sure how to deal with it.  So at the end of the competition, when they have a chance to sort of show off what they've learned, they put all they can into a fashion show at their own school, asking Tanisha to help them with it.  And it's unlike anything that has ever been portrayed before and I loved it.

It really is a very interesting book and Ms. Hopkins writes in a heartfelt and real way about the way media portray young women, upholding unrealistic photoshopped models and comparing them to the real girls of the world - who are lumpy, funny, charming, too tall, too skinny, too fat, to sport, too clever, too bespectabled, too big-boned...and asks the question who would we rather be?

I really do think, that even if you've never read Cathy Hopkins and if you are a girl (aged six to sixty) this book will speak to you about self-worth, confidence and dealing with what nature has given you.  It also will speak to you about being a girl, about having good friends and how sometimes you have to buck the trends of the world around you, not even to be rebellious, but to be true to yourself.

I cannot recommend Million Dollar Mates: Catwalk Queen enough.  The final scenes are so great, clever and empowering, I can't urge you enough to pick it up.  It's writers like Cathy Hopkins that lift your soul and make you feel a bit...floatier than you ought to be, like you can do anything if you set your mind to it and if you had the right kind of friends on your side and from experience, I heartily approve.

Million Dollar Mates: Catwalk Queen is out now and is the third book in the series, with Million Dollar Mates being the first and Paparazzi Princess being the second.  Find Cathy's fab website here and this is the official Million Dollar Mates website here.   And a big thanks to Simon & Schuster who feeds my addiction of Cathy Hopkins books.