The Book of Chaos by Jessica Renwick

2023 

Jessica Nuthatch lives with her aunt and cousin after her parents and her uncle were killed.  Jessica and her Aunt Moira both have magic but have to keep it hidden.

A strange book appears on Jessica’s bookshelf. It swallows her cousin and Jessica manages to jump into it and follow him. She finds herself in the world of Starfell, a magical place where she can freely use her powers.

She is received kindly by everyone there and eventually finds out what has happened to her cousin Tommy.  He and many other people have been trapped by the powerful witch Endora in picture frames. Endora is actually Jessica’s great-grandmother.

Jessica manages to free a knight from his picture frame and he in turn helps her to trap Endroa herself in a frame. Tommy is released and Jessica and Tommy are reunited with Aunt Moira who has been summoned by the Fey Witch, Fedilmed Coot.

Many readers may be glad to know that Fedilmed, although male, is a witch and he lives happily with this husband Algar.

The paperback is 258 pages long and the language is about reading age 9.     

At the end of the book there is a glossary of names and terms, information about the author, an invitation to find out more about how Starfell works and an excerpt from the second book in the series.       

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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.  

Sigrid is Unique by Lotta Lundh and Nils Melander

2024           

Sigrid is indeed unique but she needs to work out why

She likes her room in a certain order. She finds it difficult to sit still in class.  She likes to read on her own. She’s good at drawing. There are only a few places she feels comfortable visiting. She doesn’t cope with noise well.  She isn’t all that comfortable with other people. There are only certain foods she likes. She needs help with many tasks that other people find easy. Her own thoughts bother her sometimes. She is very kind.

Is it any one of these qualities that makes her unique or is it all of them?

This book goes to great lengths to describe Sigrid’s predicament.

The illustrations work here as they would in a picture book for younger children: they show more of the story.

The text is set ragged right which makes it easier for an emergent reader. It also uses a font that resembles print and has simple ‘a’s and ‘g’s.   

There is information at the end of the book about the writer and the Illustrator.      

 

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Afterwards by K M Kendrick

 

2024 

upper secondary  Key Stage 4, ages 14 -17, Kendrick Karen,  afterlife, dystopia, teen pregnancy,     

Girl is dead.

She knows she is dead because she remembers dying. The afterlife is not what she had expected – she has awoken into a nightmare, in which everything seems hell-bent on killing her all over again. She is the only one who remembers what life was like before death and she has no idea why.

Also, Girl is pregnant and that shouldn’t be in this setting. The birth of the baby will change everything about this world. It may end it. 

The only way to beat the game is to keep moving forwards, even if it means the end of the world.

We get to the end of the novel. The baby is born. The world changes but doesn’t end. There may be a sequel.

Boy is ordered to kill her but in the end he doesn’t want to. Ali becomes at once her friend and her protégé. His presence in the novel shows a softer side of Girl.      

Grim in places, Karen Kendrick’s Afterwards is also fast-paced and emotionally challenging. It is a larger font novel with 296 pages.  

 

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Looking for Lucie by Amanda Addison

 2024  

 

upper secondary  Key Stage 4, ages 14 -17, Addison Amanda, identity, arranged marriages, partition,  nature  / nurture debate,   

Lucie doesn’t know who her father is. She is dark-skinned and doesn’t look like the rest of her family: Mum Tori, sister Maisie and step-dad Steve.  She cannot answer the question “Where are you from originally?” Or even the kinder question “Where are you from?”   Mum Tori is keeping a secret. Tori is a professional photographer. Lucie is good at art.

Nav is brilliant at maths, taking after his mother Maryam. His dad is a GP.  Mum and Uncle Nabeel share a secret.

Lucie and Nav collide in a corridor on the day A-Level results come out.  Lucie’s phone is broken. Nav offers to get it mended. Lucie is anxious as she has sent off a DNA test and needs the phone for two-step authentication. Fortunately Nav has this covered.

And then the coincidences that we forgive in all stories begin. Maryam has set up a site where people can register their DNA for free and Nav loads up Lucie’s result. They find a match; it is Maryam.  She is in fact Lucie’s aunt. Now that that is out in the open Tori, Maryam and Nabeel have to come clean about the secrets they’re holding.  Lucie’s father was Hanif, Maryam and Nabeel’s brother. Hanif too was good at art. Tori thought Hanif had deserted her but if fact he died in an accident as he was running away from having to face an arranged marriage. The shock of this made the family more understanding when Maryam wishes to marry Maneer who was of lower status than herself – though there was some respect for him being a doctor. To save the honour of the girl who had been supposed to marry Hanif, Nabeel married her. The readers, Tori and Lucie are surprised at how well that has worked.       

Lucie and Nav are cousins and remain firm friends as they both go through university.

The book is 259 pages long in blocked serif text. There is a family tree at the end of the book which does provide a bit of a spoiler.  There is a postscript from the author about how she came to write the book.         

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.