I wish I’d written… Susan Martineau chooses.


One of my favourite books was, and still is, The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff. In fact, I still love reading anything by Sutcliff, who always manages to bring the ancient world vividly to life whilst crafting a brilliant adventure story.


The Eagle of the Ninth is set in Roman Britain and centres on a mystery involving the disappearance of the entire Ninth Legion of the Roman army into the mists of northern Britain. The marvellously named Marcus Flavius Aquila is the son of one of the vanished soldiers. He is desperate to find the lost bronze eagle standard of his father’s legion and to restore their honour. (As a nerdy child, of course I quickly realised that ‘aquila’ was Latin for ‘eagle’!)


Susan Martineau’s award-winning book Real-Life Mysteries illustrated by Vicky Barker (9781911509080) £7.99 is published by b small publishing.


As a kid I was not only reading historical adventure stories, but also digging around in the garden in the hope of finding ancient artefacts. If I found anything the least bit intriguing I used to take it to my local museum to ask one of their long-suffering experts to look at it. I was rattling around in the Roman section of the place one day when I saw a bronze Roman eagle sitting in a display case. It felt as if the book had spun some kind of magic to lead me there. I don’t think the fantastic feeling I had that day has ever really left me. The books we read as a child are more powerful than we can imagine!


Good Reads


Matilda Roald Dahl, Puffin, 978-0141365466, £6.99 pbk


Matilda is a book written by Roald Dahl. It was published in 1988 and is beautifully illustrated by Quentin Blake. It is one of my favorite books written by Roald Dahl. This book is beautiful creation of Roald Dahl, in which the story revolves around a girl named Matilda who reads book as one would breathe air to live. Books were her friend but she never got love from her parents. When she joined school, her teacher couldn’t believe her eyes that how a girl of such a small age is filled with knowledge. This is a magical story, where Matilda has power and her teacher helps her to use it properly. My favorite character is Miss Honey as she guides Matilda and is there to help her at any point of time. My favorite parts of the story is when Matilda helps Miss Honey to get back her house. This book is recommended to be read by kids and who love magical stories. Deep


Sapiens, A Brief History Of Humankind Yuval Noah Harari, Vintage, 978-0099590088, £10.99 hbk


Sapiens is a very thrilling, breathing and interesting book. It tells us about how our ancestors succeeded. How did they come together to form new kingdoms and empires? How did people start believing in Gods? The starting of the book is the pre-historic period’s information and the people of that era separated in different groups on the basis of the different places they lived in. Soon the evolution started and people got into the agricultural revolution. People even started having powerful rulers, building pyramids for the rulers and then beginning of injustice in the society was observed. Then comes the third part The Unification of Humankind. In this part due to the revolution of money, imperial vision was changed and the laws in religion was also established. This becomes the most successful story of human establishment. The final part talks about the scientific


The Eagle of the Ninth (978-0192753922) is published by Oxford, £8.99.


Our Good Reads are chosen by pupils at Manav Rachna International School, India. The school librarian, Dr Chhavi Jain is only the third librarian ever from outside the British Isles to have made it onto the Honour List for School Librarian of the Year. Dr. Jain supports 1,100 children aged from 6 to 17 and over 200 staff at the school.


revolution. It mostly consists of Medieval and modern period. This part also gives idea about the new inventions, change in human behavior and industrial growth. This is a must read book for those who like to peep into the history of humankind. Sumedha


Odin’s Ravens K.L. Armstrong and M.A. Marr, Little Brown, 978-1907411311, £6.99 pbk


Odin’s Ravens was the second book of The Blackwell Pages series. The book is kind of like the Percy Jackson series, but with Norse mythology. The theme revolves around Matt Thorsen (the descendant of Thor), Laurie and Fen Brekke (the descendants of Loki), trying to stop Ragnarök (the Norse version of the Apocalypse). To do so, they first had to save their friend Baldwin (descendant of Balder) after he was murdered. As it is said if the road to Hell is paved with good intentions, the road to Hel (Norse version of Hell) is paved with fire giants, four headed dogs and not-so-dead zombie Vikings. What Rick Riordan has done with Greek and Egyptian mythology, Armstrong and Marr have done with Norse mythology. This is a wonderful read for those who believes in fantasy. This series is appropriate for teenagers and young adults.! Khushi


The Sleepover Club Rose Impey, HarperCollins Children’s Books, 978-0007264940, £4.99 pbk


I am very fond of reading books and the last book I read was The Sleepover Club. The protagonist is a clever girl who does not believe in superstitions. The book is about a gang of girls who have sleepovers regularly. The girls - Frankie, Kenny, Lyndz, Fliss and Rosie - have an amazing time whenever they are together. While having a sleepover at Frankie’s house the girls were star gazing and testing Frankie’s new telescope. Fliss spots some green lights flashing in the sky. The girls become curious and all believe that there are aliens, but Rosie is not convinced and believes that there is a simple explanation. The girls try and solve the mystery. With each page, the plot becomes more intense and intriguing. The author has described the story in such a manner that as a reader one feels that one is part of the action. By the time the mystery was solved I was a little disappointed as I had expected the mystery to be solved completely but the author chose to leave a little suspense to the imagination of the reader. I would have preferred the author to have given a more definite end to the mystery. Overall the book was amazing and I am sure it has become one of my favourites. Oshin


Books for Keeps No.236 May 2019 19


Deep


Sumedha


Khushi


Oshin


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