Click here to I'm very excited to be on the blog tour for another of Frank Cottrell-Boyce's fantastically funny and heartfelt story, The Wonder Brothers! In this story, we find cousins (not brothers!) Nathan and Middy. Living in Blackpool, they are super excited when a magician comes to town. These two absolutely love magic, Nathan loves the showmanship aspect of it while Middy is more about honing her craft to remove herself from situations that might get her in hot water. The problem is, the magician makes the famous Blackpool Tower disappear! Not to worry, Nathan and Middy promise on live television that they will use magic to make it all come back in one piece! What follows is a hilarious and moving story about magic and friendship, daring and deception. A must read for magic and adventure lovers, very exciting stuff!
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The Young Inventor of the Year Award is up for grabs and Esha Verma is determined to win it. She's already invented some amazing things with her apprentice Broccoli like Boomers, The Inviz Whiz and the Glo-Pro. The problem? Her parents have banned her from ever inventing again after a few...mistakes. Then Goospa the alien arrives on the scene and everything changes. Esha realises, after making another, fairly massive mistake, that it's not just the Young Inventor Award on the line, it's the entire planet. Now it's up to her and her new friend, a grumpy alien named Nix, to save the world. This is a funny, fast paced and wonderfully illustrated story for ages 8+. I really recommend it! Set in Cornwall, this fantastic story follows 11 year old Alastair, a lonely child who feels isolated, alone and socially ostracised from his classmates. In addition, Alastair is suffering from a myriad of conditions that only increase his feelings of "otherness". When Saoirse comes to town, everything changes. She isn't hung up on school popularity contests or gossiping social circles. She's more interested in ghost stories and unsolved mysteries. Following her like a shadow is her little brother Billy, a tornado of chaos who knows no fear or social niceties. Together, they form an unlikely team of ghost hunters that must unravel their villages' dark past, complete with frightening ghosts and much more. It's a really funny debut with very memorable characters, I highly recommend it for ages 11+! Some advice from the author! Have you got any advice for young writers? I’d say, write what you enjoy reading. You should be able to read back over what you’ve written with a sense of fulfilment, without embarrassment, and have a ball doing so. And enjoy the process of writing whilst you’re doing it. If you want a job that bores you or stresses you out, stick to a real job—there are plenty of real jobs out there, all gleefully rubbing their hands in anticipation of making your life a dreary, soul-eviscerating hell. Writing should be your passion—the most fun thing to do in the world. Whether it’s a feather-light romcom or a harrowing tragedy, you should still enjoy the process, and behold the finished product with a self-satisfied sense of accomplishment. I’ve read advice that you should force yourself to write x number of words a day, no matter how you’re feeling, just to get something down. Why? So you’ll have a page of uninspired rubbish you had a miserable slog through an Eliotian wasteland strewn with wilted cacti and feather-plucked kingfisher carcasses to produce? I say wait till you’re in the mood, then let it flow out like golden syrup onto waffles. If you approach writing as a joy, then you should find yourself in the mood all the time. Finally, self-doubt is a terrible thing. We’ve all suffered from it: what if I’ve got no talent? What if nobody likes it? How come no one wants to publish me? You’ve just got to keep writing till you get to the stage where you’re satisfied with your writing, when you love reading it, and then trust that somewhere amidst the vast seething cauldron of overpopulated humanity there’ll be at least some people on your wavelength who’ll love it too. One freezing winter's night, Max and Lucy and their new friend Joe spot a strange figure on the beach. He's waving a lantern at them and acting very odd. A myriad or conspiracies and ideas are swirling around in their heads as to who he might be. Determined to learn more, they become engrossed in local history but end up embroiled in a dangerous game involving treacherous smugglers! Now in trouble with the police, it's a race against time to stop the smugglers before it's too late. A really fantastic new series with danger, adventure and laughs! I'm very excited to have been asked by Bloomsbury to take part in the blog tour for the hilarious series The Worst Class in the World by Joanna Nadin. Perfect for ages 6 and up, it chronicles the misadventures of notorious class 4B. They have been christened the worst class in the world by their headteacher, Mrs Bottomley-Blunt. Each book contains multiple capers and plans by the students which often go awry. The books are fantastically illustrated by Rikin Parekh, bringing this colourful cast of characters leaping off the page. A wonderful book to read aloud, these need to be in every school library shelf, accessible, gut-busting-ly funny, a superb set of books, I highly recommend them!
I'm excited to be a part of the blog tour for Katy Birchall's new novel SPELLS & Secrets! Morgan Charmley is back in a brand new comedy adventure with tons of heart and a lot more laughs. It seems simple on paper, don't tell anyone that you're a witch. It's not so easy when you've got another witch who is also keeping their identity a secret trying to sabotage your every move! To make things even more complicated, Morgan must try to figure out her blooming relationship with her sworn warlock enemy. Trouble is never far behind Morgan in this great series. If you were a fan of Sabrina The Teenage Witch, The Worst Witch and even The Whitby Witches, the Morgan Charmley series will definitely be something you'll enjoy. A perfect read for the Halloween season, we have tons of students looking for a fun spooky series with great characters and this is it, check it out! I'm very excited to be a part of this great blog tour for this hilarious new novel by Sophie Wills & Illustrated by David Tazzyman. Something weird is going on at St. Halibut's Home for Waifs & Strays. Life for the children there has been pretty sweet since they had to bury their matron, don't worry, it was an accident. Turns out their matron left behind a huge stack of money, all they need to do is make sure nobody finds out that no one is actually looking after them. When an inspector stops by to, well, inspect the place, the kids must convince him that everything is cool at the Home otherwise the jig is up for them. As can be imagined, when the inspector starts sniffing around, things go horribly, horribly wrong.
It's a laugh out loud comedy with a ton of great, memorable characters, I really recommend this novel for ages 10+! All Ross wants is to be a normal seventh grade kid, but when he's diagnosed with a rare form of eye cancer, he becomes thrust in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. With the help of his new friends at the hospital and his lifelong friend at school, he tries his best to distract himself against one wave of bad news after another. Ross develops a love of music and continues his love of drawing and comic books but will it be enough to stop him from snapping under the stress? Wink is a really lovely story with real humour and a strong heart. It's sad, realistic and at the same time doesn't sugar coat how terrible life can be sometimes. I loved how Harrell developed Ross' relationships with the people who work at the hospital and especially the school bully. All of the characters have real depth to them, it's a book that will be a sure hit with our students, recommended highly for ages 10+. Knight Sir Louis is a hilarious romp through a seriously strange land. With his trusted steed, a mechanical Sir Clunkalot and his magical sword, which has a face and is called Dave and can trap things in its reflection, he sets out to become the bravest knight in the land. With dastardly villains like the Stripey Knight and Bazook Harry and unlikely allies like Mr. Catalogue, Knight Sir Louis is on an adventure of a lifetime. This story is perfect for ages 7+ and begs to be read aloud with silly voices, it's very, very funny. If you're like me and unexpectedly fell in love with the Mr. Gum stories, then you should add this to your bookshelves, your students and your own children will love it! Izzy & Eric are both obsessed with an upcoming video game called Dungeon City. When Izzy receives her copy first, she decides to give it a try despite promising Eric she won't play it until they both have their copies in their hands. Then, something strange happens, Izzy gets sucked directly into the video game! There she meets Rae, a robot who tells her that she's been sent to the world of Dungeon City to save the land. With Rae's help, she starts levelling up in preparation to meet the final boss. The problem is, she starts neglecting her real life responsibilities like school and her friendship with Eric. Not everything is as it seems in Dungeon City, and Izzy soon finds herself in grave danger. Any fan of video games will devour this great comic, I'm currently playing Zelda Breath of the Wild and there are so many great video game references that you will find yourself going back to re-read them. Anyone who has ever hunkered down for the long haul on their floor as they crawled through dungeons and worked out puzzles on their video game consoles will want to pick this one up, don't miss it! |
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