Natascha's Story by Gill and Ashleigh James

 2024           

 

Natascha is forever falling off the piano and getting sucked up by the vacuum cleaner.

She is the smallest of a set of Russian dolls and envies her bigger sisters as they have more detail on them.

The family acquire a new vacuum cleaner and this time it takes Natascha to another world where she has an amazing adventure.  This seems very much like what happens in The Wizard of Oz. So is it all a dream and related to the story the mummy is reading to young Alfred? It’s left to the reader to decide.

She finds herself being sucked up by the new even more powerful vacuum cleaner and then returned to the piano to join her sisters. Young Alfred remarks that she has lace on her dress, pretty shoes and a tiny bracelet that he’s never noticed before.

The book is 53 pages long. The text is double spaced and ragged right. It uses a simple font that has easy ‘a’s and ‘g’s. There over twenty illustrations that both add to and clarify the story. 

 

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Mission Find Mum by Jo Somerset

 

2024   

 

Isla and Lac’s mum goes missing. ‘Aunty Lou’ – not really their aunty but a friend of their  mother who looks after them from time to time – cannot look after them this time as  she has to go to hospital for an operation.  Mum had not realised this.

Isla, who is partially deaf, and wears an aid, is bullied at school and now has to act as parent to Lac, short for Lachlan, her younger brother.  A look at her mum’s browsing history indicates to Isla that mum has gone to the Hebrides.

So, she Lac, her hamster Weasley and Lac’s Luke Skywalker toy set off. They manage but don’t shine at camping and fending for themselves. Jo Somerset really has got rid of the adults and left the children to have the adventure on their own.  Unlike in the Enid Blyton books this isn’t fun and it isn’t even too comfortable.

The police and social workers are now looking for them.  

There are some charming coincidences, just like in all the good works by Dickens, Molière and Shakespeare. The children inadvertently end up at their Granny’s home. The co-pilot in the helicopter that is looking for them is their father. Granny recognises the ring Isla has brought with her.

It’s all a slightly uncomfortable read.  Was Mum negligent to go off and leave them like that? Why had Dad abandoned them?

It comes right in the end but still leaves questions.    

The book is 209 pages long.  It uses a blocked text and an adult serif with difficult   ‘a’s and ‘g’s.   Each chapter heading has a black and white picture of something to do with the chapter.

In the acknowledgments Somerset refers to her work with Greenback Primary school.

There is also a note for children about where they might get help if they are facing problems like Isla’s.  

 

Find your copy here  

Note, this is an affiliate link and a small portion of what you pay, at no extra cost to you,  may go to Bridge House Publishing

 

The Others by Sarah Merrett

2024   

Reuben lives with his grandmother.  He has to wear special glasses because he has something wrong with his eyes. He and his grandmother are constantly looking for visitors form other planets.

Then one day they arrive. Grandma rushes off to find out more about them. Reuben is left mainly to his own devices. However, he finds a survivor form the crashed space ship; he calls her Blue because a blue light comes from her.

Archie, a local grocer’s son, befriends Reuben and together they look after Blue, saving her from captivity by the scheming Professor Pinfield who wants to win the Pierre Guzman prize – a huge cash award for anyone who could communicate with life on another planet.

Grandma has sent a letter to Reuben to let him know what is going on but he left their home before it arrived.  It is the first time he has ventured out beyond the gates of their house. He is almost overwhelmed by the activity there.

Reuben and his grandmother do find each other again and Blue is reunited with the other survivors of the crash and with some of her other people who have bene living on Earth form some time. Now he finds the truth out about himself: he is also from the other planet and he has to keep his eyes covered because of the way they behave. He can gradually learn to keep this under control.

He has the choice of staying with Grandma or joining the ‘others’ like him. At the end of the book it looks as if he’s going to divide his time between the two places.  After all, he has found a good friend in Archie.

The book is 340 pages long.  It uses a blocked text and an adult serif with difficult   ‘a’s and ‘g’s.   Each chapter heading has a black and white picture of Inky, Reuben’s’ cat, a telescope and Reuben’s special glasses. There are a few full page black and white illustrations.

There is a short bio of the author at the beginning of the books and several notes from her at the end. She explains all about the Guzman prize which really existed.   

 

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Note, this is an affiliate link and a small portion of what you pay, at no extra cost to you,  may go to Bridge House Publishing 

Fight for the Future by Jeanette Greaves

2021 

upper secondary  Key Stage 4, ages 14 -17, Greaves Jeanette, werewolves

Twins Anthony and Tomas are on the run. The White Pack does not like their pack; they see them as mongrels.

Yes, they are werewolves and need to fit into a human way of life. They seek half-blood wives and find them. They both have sons but the danger from the White Pack grows so they have to leave.  Staying may put their families in danger.  Many from their own pack have already been killed.

There are a few nods toward the Master Race: members of the White Pack in human form have blond hair. They have a very controlled breeding programme, whereas Anthony and Tomas’ pack mate more through love matches.

Jeanette Greaves has quite a literary style here so may appeal more to the most able readers. In any case, this book is probably for the older reader in the YA group.

The paperback is 268 pages long.    

Find your copy here 

Note, this is an affiliate link and a small portion of what you pay, at no extra cost to you,  may go to Bridge House Publishing.