#Review by Lou of The Spectaculars: Battle of the Stars By Jodie Garnish #JodieGarnish @Usborne #Childrensbook #MiddleGrade #kidslit

The Spectaculars: Battle of the Stars
By Jodie Garnish

Review written by Louise Cannon

Enchanting, theatrical, dramatic, The Spectaculars: Battle of the Stars is an entertaining read for middle-grade readers to get lost in and travel with a magical theatre school.

Blurb

Jump onboard the Wondria… The Spectaculars is an enchanting adventure series filled with magic, theatre and danger, perfect for drama lovers. For fans of Nevermoor, The Train to Impossible Places and Carrie Hope Fletcher.

There’s magic in the air as Harper begins her third year as a Spectacular at the Wondria – her magical travelling theatre school.

An immersive theatre show is touring the Hidden Peaks, bewitching everyone with its starry charms. But when the show’s fortune-teller predicts danger in Harper’s future, Harper is suddenly pulled into a terrifying battle of powerful spells and sinister figures.

With her friends, Harper must uncover who is behind it all – because if they can’t, it will be closing night for the whole of the Hidden Peaks…

Review

Immersive theatre shows are amazing and this book reflects this style of theatre to a degree. Hidden Peaks is charming everyone, but there are sinister forces at work after Harper talks to a fortune-teller who predicts her future.

What unfolds is a theatrical world of magic and friendship to pull readers in. The mild trepidation creates a desire to see how this entertaining read where the colliding fantastical world of theatre and magic ends.

#Review By Lou of Zac and Jac by Cathy Jenkins #CathyJenkins @graffeg_books @KellyALacey @lovebookstours #LBTCrew #BookTwitter

Zac and Jac
By Cathy Jenkins

Zac and Jac is a great middle-grade emotive book for fans of football and who like books about newfound friendships alike.

Nine-year-old Jac sees his father as a hero, but when Jac joins a local football team with his best friend Zac, things start to get a bit weird at home. It’s not until a group of professional footballers come into school to talk about racism that Jac realises what his father’s problem could be. After a traumatic turn of events, Jac learns of the difficulties faced by Zac’s grandparents and the Windrush Generation and becomes determined to help to make a change in society, starting with his own family.

Review

Football plays such a big part of many people’s lives and books featuring it enthrals many children. This is where the book is clever as it mixes sport with issues as young people look up to footballers and those children who join local teams. It really highlights the Windrush Generation and the issue of racism.

It shows the gap between younger and older generations and how different people can be viewed. It’s quite a strong book like this, but the positive is that it shows Zac and Jac being of different skin colours being friends and how Jac wants to show that this is a lovely thing and there’s nothing to fear, it’s just friends with something in common at the end of the day.

I feel adults reading this to children will also see that people can come from somewhere different, have different skin colour even etc and still be friends.

#Review By Lou of Little House By Katya Balen #LittleHouse @katyabalen @BarringtonStoke #MiddleGrade #ChildrensBook

Little House
By Katya Balen

Though-provoking for young readers about the concept of home in the award-winning book – Little House.
The publisher, Barrington Stoke has opened up this book by editing it to be readable for ages 8 plus, instead of 9 plus. Find out more in the blurb and my review below.

Blurb

Carnegie Medal-winning author Katya Balen explores the importance and meaning of home in this thought-provoking new novella.

Juno’s furious about being sent to stay with her grandfather for the summer. She’ll miss all the fun she and her friends had planned for the holidays. She’ll also miss her mum, but it’s her mum’s fault for leaving anyway.

Then Juno discovers a long-forgotten little family in her grandfather’s attic. As she works to carefully craft a new home for them, can she learn to forgive her mum and understand her reasons for going away?

For ages 9+ / Edited to a reading age of 8

Review

Little House has big concepts about staying for a summer with grandparents, developing an understanding about why certain things happen in families and forgiveness.

Juno finds it daunting and is a bit angst-ridden about staying with her grandfather. His house is creaky and she doesn’t like the dark, and yet it is he who is available to take care of her in the holidays whilst her mum is called away to resolve a work disaster. She is also worried about her mum having to go abroad to do this.

In time, Juno settles. She discovers a rather dishevelled dolls house in her grandfather’s home and suddenly the two of them have a project on their hands to fix, what was once her mum’s toy.

As Juno becomes a “fixer-upper” with the dolls house, her mum in some sense is one too as she tries to aid people who are refugees due to war, rebuild their lives.

Little House is a big themed book that is compelling and thought-provoking with a bit of fun, written in a way that children can get caught up in the adventure of it all and understand what they are reading.

#Review of The Outerlands By Eddie Farrington If you like #BenMiller try #TheOuterlands #MiddleGrade #Kidslit #ChildrensBook

The Outerlands
By Eddie Farrington

The Outerlands would suit middle-grade readers who enjoy books by Ben Miller. Thanks to Eddie Farrington, I have had the opportunity to write a review of this adventurous/fantastical book.

Blurb

Moo doesn’t believe she’s a hero. She doesn’t believe in much anymore, not since mum mysteriously disappeared.

She just wants to be left alone to play Sword Quest on her computer, but when her little brother gets himself kidnapped by the Tooth Fairy and her army of Midnight Fairies, Moo finds herself thrust into a dangerous adventure of her own.

Could her mum and little brother’s disappearances be linked? What in the world is the Tooth Fairy doing with all those teeth anyway? And why is the only person willing to help Moo navigate her way through the magical lands of the Outerlands insisting he is the eighth brother of a very famous seven?

A perilous adventure with earthquakes, a power crazed King, pirates, dragons and even mountains that throw rocks at people awaits, and at the heart of it all is Moo’s desperate search to believe again.

Because with belief Moo has the power to save a world, without it, she will help to destroy it.

Review

Adventurous and mysterious, The Outerlands tells a compelling story with mythical creatures and magical lands, this aside, there is an earthly, grounded element as well and the two are intelligently weaved together.

Moo is a character you can really get into to follow on her adventure. She is the hero of the piece, not that she would see it like that, it isn’t how she views herself. Life is insurmountably hard. Her mum has gone mysteriously missing and her brother gets kidnapped by a tooth-fairy, very quickly it’s easy to really feel for her. The adventure itself is all encompassing and becomes quite the page-turner as you want to know what happens next and where the world she finds herself in leads her.

Moo has quite a lot of pressure on her shoulders. She has to learn to believe as she comes across different creatures or everything will be destroyed. At its core, it’s a powerful message to give children and the parents/teachers who read the book to children, to be a child and allow imagination to grow in whatever direction or essentially childhood diminishes quickly.

The world-building of the fantasy/adventure/mystery book makes this rather fun and will take children’s imaginations to far off lands to meet a host of different characters, even the mountains are a character in themselves.

I recommend this adventurous read!

#Review By Lou of The Bravest Word By Kate Foster @kfosterauthor @WalkerBooksUK@LoveBooksTours #Kidslit #MiddleGrade #ChildrensBook #MentalHealth #Football #Dogs #TheBravestWord

The Bravest Word
By Kate Foster

A brave, heartfelt book for Middle-grade children that combines a dog, football and prevalent childhood issues.

Blurb

A rescue story of love and trust between a boy and a dog from the talented author of Paws.

Matt is a football superstar. He can handle anything. Except lately his chest feels empty and his head is screaming. He can’t concentrate in school or enjoy football any more, and he is so, so tired. When Matt stumbles across an abandoned dog, there’s no doubt in his mind that he has to save him. But maybe the dog isn’t the only one who needs help.

Review

The Bravest Word combines some childhood interests, such as football with mental health, or rather suffering from poor mental health. It’s a winning combo, especially when a cute dog is also added to the mix. It’s a book many children will relate to.

Matt is lost. He loved football. He was a superstar and this book shows that even heroes are not infallible and are human after all. They can also find life tough at times as well as see their mental health decline.
When Matt comes across a dog, he feels moved to rescue it, but it becomes a greater partnership than he could ever imagine, turning it into a positive, heartfelt story.

The book cleverly draws the readers in with the style of writing, which also includes text message format here and there, that adds to the story and something kids can easily latch onto too, along with a feeling of not being alone.
There’s a supportive and hopeful nature about the plot of this book.
This is a great book for kids to either read alone or as a group or with a parent/caregiver as it can be used as a talking point or to foster empathy.
There’s plenty food for thought and a great plot to keep kids engaged.

There’s also a rather interesting and informative author’s note at the end too.

#Review of The Life Of Riley – Unbreakable By Tom Allen @TomAllenAuthor #MiddleGrade

The Life Of Riley
By Tom Allen

I happened to be lucky and win an copy of book 1 of the Middle-Grade football based nove – The Life Of Riley from Reading Rocks. I will be donating it to the community library for a class of kids who are football fans and love books on it. It’s a book that deals with other issues too, which makes it great for getting sporty kids and non-sporty kids into this series. I highly recommend it and you can find the reasons why in my review below.

Blurb

Riley Adams has three passions in life: family, friends and football. Despite often finding school difficult, Riley finds happiness in friendships with his ‘band of brothers and sisters’, who play for his beloved Highfield Flyers FC.

Riley and the Flyers learn to play together and focus, bringing them great moments and taking them close to glory. Rivalries form and the desire to win grows until…

Riley’s world is turned upside down when his mum receives life-changing news.

Can he really care about football again? What will happen to Mum? How will he cope with life now?

Review

The Life of Riley is excellently pitched for 9-12 year olds. It’s part of the Football Dream Series. Football series of books are growing and kids are enthused by them. This one has all the sporty, football excitement you would expect, whilst also dealing with other life issues. Riley’s mum isn’t well and his concern feels real. He also knows a thing or two about bullies. There’s also the friendships he builds along the way and how this helps him to cope with some very sad news. It shows how caring and pulling together can bring some positivity and build some resilience.
It’s all very relatable for children. It may spark conversation or just some quiet thought.
The ups and downs of the game and life is balanced really well.
The chapters are short with characters you can really care about, with a life-affirming plot, it’s a book I reckon many children will enjoy.