We’re reading: Butter by Erin Lange

Synopsis

I can’t take another year in this fat suit, but I can end this year with a bang. If you can stomach it, you’re invited to watch …as I eat myself to death. -Butter. Prepare to gasp, laugh and cry at one boy’s journey from lonely outcast to toast of the school as he nears his dreadful deadline.

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Synopsis -

It’s 1347 and fifteen-year-old Will, an orphan boy, lives at Crowfield Abbey. Sent into the forest to gather wood, he rescues instead, a creature from a trap – a hob, who shares with Will a terrible secret. Somewhere in the forest behind the abbey where he lives, is a grave. And buried deep in the snow is an angel. But how can an angel die? What has it to do with the monks of the Abbey? When two hooded strangers arrive at Crowfield asking questions about the angel’s grave. Will is drawn into a world of dangerous Old Magic. “The Crowfield Feather” was short-listed for the “Times” Chidren’s Fiction Competition in 2008. This is a stunning debut novel and the first of a two part series.

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Synopsis -

This is a stunning magical story of a summer of friendship with darker undertones of the plight of refugees. Two refugee brothers from Mongolia are determined to fit in with their Liverpool schoolmates, but bring so much of Mongolia to Bootle that their new friend and guide, Julie, is hard-pressed to know truth from fantasy as she recollects a wonderful friendship that was abruptly ended when Chingis and his family were forced to return to Mongolia. Told with the humour, warmth and brilliance of detail which characterizes Frank Cottrell Boyce’s writing, this magical and compelling story is enriched by stunning and atmospheric Polaroid photos.

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Currently reading: A Brighter Fear by Kerry Drewery

Synopsis -

A beautiful love story and contemporary fairytale set against the backdrop of the Iraq war, this stunning and moving novel will break your heart, only to put it back together again…This is the story of Lina, a teenage girl from Baghdad. It starts in 2003, as the bombs begin to fall on the city. In it, Lina fights to survive, to find a life for herself amid the chaos of war, to find what happened to her mother in the years before the war, when she was taken away by the secret police. She also falls in love, with the one person she should never have fallen in love with. It is many things. It is a love story, both for a country and for a person. It is about an amazing girl, growing up in the worst circumstances imaginable. It contains a necklace, that was lost but might still be found. And that is all we can say, without ruining this extraordinary and beautiful modern fairy tale…

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The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

Synopsis -

Lots of things are mysteries. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t an answer to them’. This is Christopher’s murder mystery story. There are also no lies in this story because Christopher can’t tell lies. Christopher does not like strangers or the colours yellow or brown or being touched. On the other hand, he knows all the countries in the world and their capital cities and every prime number up to 7507. When Christopher decides to find out who killed the neighbour’s dog, his mystery story becomes more complicated than he could have ever predicted.

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We read: Secrets, Lies and Locker 62 by Lil Chase

Secrets have a special home at Mount Selwyn High. For years, students have posted their deepest desires and fears in Locker 62. And then this locker is assigned to new girl Maya. She could use the knowledge to help people. Or she could use it to become popular. Maya, who was bullied, who has never been cool, who will do anything to be popular, is now the most powerful girl at school. What will she choose to do next?

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We read: Being Billy by Phil Earle

Synopsis -

Faces flashed before my eyes. And for every face there was a time that they had let me down. Each punch that landed was revenge, my chance to tell them I hadn’t forgotten what they did. Eight years in a care home makes Billy Finn a professional lifer. And Billy’s angry – with the system, the social workers, and the mother that gave him away. As far as Billy’s concerned, he’s on his own. His little brother and sister keep him going, though they can’t keep him out of trouble. But he isn’t being difficult on purpose. Billy’s just being Billy. He can’t be anything else. Can he?

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The Emerald Atlas by John Stephens

Synopsis

This is the first thrilling book in the most exciting children’s fantasy series since Harry Potter. They were taken from their beds one frozen night, when the world was covered in snow. The silhouette of a tall, thin man has haunted Kate ever since. Ten years on, Kate, Michael and Emma have grown up in a string of miserable orphanages, and all memories of their parents have faded to a blur. Arriving at Cambridge Falls, the children quickly realise there is something different about this place – and Kate feels sure she has seen the dark, crooked house before. As they explore, they discover an old, empty leather book. The moment they touch it, an ancient magical prophecy is set irrevocably in motion, and the children are thrown into a dangerous alternate reality of dark enchantments and terrifying monsters. Only they can prevent the terrible event that will ruin Cambridge Falls – and stop the world from falling into complete devastation.

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Switched by Amanda Hocking

Wendy Everly knew she was different the day her mother tried to kill her and
accused her of having been switched at birth. Although certain she’s not the
monster her mother claimed she is she does feel that she doesn’t quite fit in
…The new girl in High School, she’s bored and frustrated by her small town
life and then there’s the secret that she can’t tell anyone. Her mysterious
ability she can influence people’s decisions, without knowing how, or why
…When the intense and darkly handsome newcomer Finn suddenly turns up at her
bedroom window one night her world is turned upside down. He holds the key to
her past, the answers to her strange powers and is the doorway to a place she
never imagined could exist. Forening, the home of the Trylle. Everything begins
to make sense to Wendy. Among the Trylle, she is not just different, but
special. But what marks her out as chosen for greatness in this world also
places her in grave danger. With everything around her changing, Finn is the
only person she can trust. But dark forces are conspiring not only to separate
them, but to see the downfall everything that Wendy cares about. The fate of
Forening rests in Wendy’s hands, and the decisions she and Finn make could
change all their lives forever …

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