There’s a Hamster in my Pocket

There's a Hamster in my Pocket
by Franzeska Ewart

When Yosser hears her parents saying Auntie Shabnam is coming over to save the family shop she finds out she is going to have to share her bedroom with her. Yosser’s best mate Kylie has a problem with her big brother Sniper and his mates because Kylie saw them on the street with big bags around the back and their hoods up making sure nobody would see them. When Yosser finds a box among her Nannie’s things she tries to get to the bottom of Sniper’s behaviour and the mysterious box.

review by Kirsten

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Lily Alone

Lily Alone
by Jacqueline Wilson

This book is about a girl called Lily who has two sisters and a brother called Bliss, Pixie and Baxter. They have a single mother who has to leave her children home alone. Since Lily is the eldest she is in charge and normally manages to get the others into bed in time. One day their mum goes to the pub and comes back talking about a man she met. Later on she ends up going with him on holiday. Lily is very worried about the idea of her mother being away for a week and having to look after three children at the age of eleven! The ending was not what I was expecting but I enjoyed it very much and it was exciting.

review by Amy

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The Longest Whale Song

The Longest Whale Song
by Jacqueline Wilson

This book is about a girl called Ella who lives with her mum and her step dad. Ella’s mother is having a baby and when the baby is born she is immediately very ill. Ella is with one of her mother’s friends. A few days later Ella’s step dad takes her to the hospital to see her mum but when Ella sees her mum she feels upset looking at her. Ella has a look at her new little brother Samson and feels a bit better. Ella goes to the hospital to see her mum nearly every day so she takes most days off school. I enjoyed this book because it was very interesting.

review by Amy

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Little Darlings

Little Darlings
by Jacqueline Wilson

This book is about a girl called Destiny who lives with her mum, and a girl called Sunset who lives with her rock star dad Danny Kilman and her mum and her sister and brother Sweetie and Ace. Destiny is an eleven year old girl and doesn’t have a lot of money but Sunset’s family are very rich. The two girls meet at the premiere of a movie that Danny Kilman is featured in. Destiny and Sunset become very good friends. Destiny performs in a school talent show and her dreams start to come true. I enjoyed this book because I could relate to the characters and I really felt they were living their dream.

review by Amy

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Girl Missing

Girl Missing
by Sophie McKenzie

Girl Missing is about a girl named Lauren who finds herself on a missing children website. With her friend Jam she goes on a plane to Vermont only expecting to be there for a day. When Jam and Lauren get to the adoption agency where she was adopted Jam tries to find her profile but can’t because it has been taken. When Jam and Lauren are walking on the street she asks a police woman to drive them somewhere but finds out that was the person who kidnapped her from her real Mum. When they get to her real Mum she doesn’t believe it’s her but when her adoptive parents have to go to court for giving the person who kidnapped her money, Lauren has to stay with her real Mum and Dad. When Lauren and her real sister go to the Marina, her sister goes to get an ice cream and disappears. Lauren looks everywhere and finds that a boat has been broken into so she goes onto the boat and her sister is being held captive there.

The boat is sinking and the kidnapper blocks the door then gets off the boat. Jam comes and saves Lauren and her sister.

I enjoyed the book. It was really exciting and made you want to read more.

review by Kirsten

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From the Heart

From the Heart
by Coleen Murtagh Paratore

From the heart continues the story of Willa Havisham, the wedding planner's daughter. Willa lives in Cape Cod with her mother and her step-dad Sam, helping to run their guest house and the occasional wedding.

This year, Willa is given the opportunity to plan a wedding by herself and she is so very excited. The wedding is for her dad's sister, a true eco-warrior.

Along with the excitement of planning a wedding there is unrest in the town over nesting birds and an oddly acting boyfriend to contend with as well as friendships new and old.

I just love this series of books. They are just so comforting. They really give you a glimpse of Cape Cod and a whole different lifestyle. The differences between Cape Cod and Scotland are very apparent as you read these books.

My one word of warning would be, watch out for the title 'Forget me not : From the life of Willa Havisham', as it is actually the same book. I noticed as we have both titles in the library. Coleen is branching into the pre-teen market and the new books have been published with photographic covers for an older audience instead of the familiar, rather sweet illustrations we are used to. So this story has been published twice with different covers and titles. On further investigation I found there is a slight twist at the end of Forget Me Not : From the life of Willa Havisham', which makes me think the wedding planner's daughter is finishing with From the Heart and The Life of Willa Havisham is taking over.

Eating Things on Sticks

Eating Things on Sticks
by Anne Fine

Such a great title for a book, don't you think? It intrigued me as soon as I read it. Of course, I don't plan to reveal what those things on sticks are, that would just spoil the fun, but I will tell you a little about the story.

This is the latest offering from past Children's Laureate, Anne Fine and I do enjoy an Anne Fine book, although there have been one or two over the years that I haven't been so keen on. I suppose it is a case of "you can't please all of the people, all of the time!". Saying that, most of them are pretty darn good and Eating Things on Sticks is one of the gems.

On another note, Eating Things on Sticks has been shortlisted for the Roald Dahl Funny Prize 2009 in the 7-14 age category. The £2,500 prize was founded in 2008 by Michael Rosen as part of his Children’s Laureateship to honour those books that make children laugh. The winner will be announced on 10th November.

Anyway, back to the story!

Eating Things on Sticks is the story of a boy named Harry. To call Harry accident prone, would be an understatement! The story opens and Harry has just burned down the family kitchen. Harry is left feeling a bit astonished that it happened and woebegone at the outcome. Harry's mum wants to send Harry away to live with his Aunt, while the kitchen is rebuilt. The last thing Harry wants to do is live with his Aunt Susan. Aunt Susan takes him on long nature walks and that is bad enough, but spending any time with his lisping, frilly frock wearing cousin Titania, just doesn't bear thinking about at all.

Harry manages to persuade his mum to let him stay with his Uncle Tristram. Next, Uncle Tristram has to be persuaded, but a little blackmailing later and Harry is on his way to a remote British Island to spend the summer with Uncle Tristram and his dotty girlfriend Morning Glory.

Did I mention Harry is accident prone? Yes? Well, as you can imagine, Harry stumbles from one disaster to another whilst on the island.

Angels, men with funny beards, helicopters and eating funny things on sticks.

A must read! Very funny.

Hate That Cat

Hate That Cat
by Sharon Creech

Well, I love cats, but I didn't let it put me off picking up this book. I always eagerly await any new offering by Sharon Creech, so I was very happy to see this new title.

Hate that Cat picks up the story of a boy called Jack and his ventures into poetry. The story began in Love That Dog, with a very reluctant young boy and a very keen teacher, who is eager to share the joy of poetry with her class. Both books are written in rhyme, which is quite refreshing and both follow the story of Jack through his own poems. At the start of Love That Dog, we learn that Jack hates poetry, or thinks he does, his first poems are very short and disgruntled, but as we move through the book, we can see an interest in poetry developing and we learn more about his family and his beloved dog.

Hate That Cat picks up the story with a new school year and Jack moving into a new class. Jack is very relieved to see teacher has moved classes with him, "You understand my brain," Jack says to Miss Stretchberry. And so the new year continues though Jack's poems, but this time Jack is focused on a neighbourhood cat he really dislikes, no lets make that hate, well to begin with anyway.

These are quick reads that are well worth picking up.

And on a final note, I cannot end a post on cats without a reference to Simon's cats. So here is an old favourite for you to enjoy.

Gentle's Holler

Gentle's Holler
by Kerry Madden


This is a truly exquisite family tale set in sixties North Carolina, although it feels much earlier to me. I would draw comparisons to Little House on the Prairie, when it comes to lifestyle, although the fact the family have a car is a bit of a giveaway to a later era.

The story is told by twelve year old Livy Two, who is a real bookworm and a bit of a tomboy. She likes nothing better than to climb a tree and read a good book, in peace. Unfortunately, peace is scarce in this family of 2 boys and 8 girls, and Livy Two is often called on to help with the chores and to look after the other children, especially her little sister Gentle who as the family put it has eyes that “don’t work so good yet."

Life is tough for the family. Dad is a dreamer, who doesn't provide much for the family, a banjo player by trade, he is waiting to become the next big thing, unfortunately, this doesn't pay the bills and the family live on the produce from their garden. Mum knits like crazy to try and bring a bit of money in and tries to keep her family's spirits up. The highlight of the family's month is when the mobile library visits.

Things come to a head when mum becomes pregnant again and grandma comes to stay. Grandma insists that Gentle go see a professional to check out her eyes and their worst suspicions are confirmed. Gentle is blind. This bad news galvanises the family into action and the children set about training their goofy dachshund to become a seeing eye dog. It seems like the family will be fine, but then tragedy strikes.

If you feel in the mood for a lovely, gentle tale of family life, with a bit of drama thrown in then these are the books for you. Great rainy day reading.

I am looking forward to read the continuing adventures of Livy Two and her family in the next two episodes of the Maggie Valley Series Louisianna's Song and Jessie's Mountain.

Everything I Know About You

Everything I Know About You
by Belinda Hollyer

Lizzie is used to her little brother's wild imagination, but he has gone too far this time! She really doesn't mind when he pretends he is a dragon, even when she has to pretend to be a princess, tied to a rock for hours at a time, but this is too much to bear! Eric claims to have seen their mother working in the gift shop at the Natural History Museum. It just can't be her, she died five years ago when Eric was just two. But, what if it is? Dad is acting awfully strange, he is definitely keeping some secrets. Lizzie is determined to get to the bottom of the mystery.

I really loved this book. The relationship between the family was really interesting to observe and it is so well written. Although, I don't think I could have been nearly as patient as Lizzie is with her little brother, Eric. I think he would have driven me insane! I will be looking for more books by this author.

The Tree Shepherd's Daughter

The Tree Shepherd's Daughter
by Gillian Summers

Keelie is a true Californian girl. She likes fashion, manicures and hanging out at the mall with her friends. That is until her mom dies and she is sent off to live with the dad she hasn't seen since she was little.

Keelie's dad lives a hippy lifestyle travelling around medieval festivals, plying his trade as a carpenter, whilst dressed in clothes from the dark ages. Keelie thinks she will never fit into this odd place. There are people with pointy ears, a boot wearing cat and the trees are trying to talk to her! Thank goodness she has an escape plan to ditch this medieval geekland.

I have had this book sitting around for a while. I would pick it up and put it down again, only to select something else to read. I knew I wanted to read it, after reading a great review, but I think what put me off was the cover. It just didn't excite me at all, but I am so glad I picked it up. It is such a great tale of friendship, love and moving on with life and I just loved Knot the cat. He reminded me of the cat in Sabriel called Mogget, who is bound to serve the Abhorsen, whether he likes it or not. I can't wait to lay my hands on the next book in the trilogy.

Faire Folk Trilogy

Book 1 The Tree Shepherd's Daughter

Book 2 Into the Wildewood

Book 3 The Secret of the Dread Forest

How Kirsty Jenkins Stole the Elephant

Kirsty Jenkins Stole the Elephant
by Elen Caldecott


....she does, Kirsty Jenkins really steals an elephant! It's true! Why does she steal an elephant, that's what I would ask?

Here is Kirsty's story.

Kirsty enjoys spending her free time with her grandad on his allotment. It is a happy place to be and full of adventure (if you have enough imagination to see all the wild animals that live there), but then grandad takes ill and has to go to hospital. Grandad makes Kirsty promise that she will look after his allotment for him when he is gone, but then along comes trouble in the form of Mr Thomas from the Council. He says that Kirsty is too young to look after the allotment and that it should go to the next person on the waiting list. Kirsty isn't going to take this lying down, a plan has to be hatched and it does indeed involve an elephant!

Visit Kirsty's blog to find out what happens to Kirsty after she steals the elephant.