reviews Though straightforward


8 – 10 Junior/Middle continued The Last Zoo


the on


narrative the


is surface,


there is great depth to this story. It is about family and friendship and the importance of believing in oneself. It is also a poignant reminder of the shared joy that can be found when children are willing to indulge their grandparents with a game or even just a conversation. Like the game of chess itself, Foster’s new novel is simultaneously simple and complex. It is very funny and emotional and it deserves to be another smash hit. SD


HHHH


Sam Gayton, Andersen Press, 302pp, 9781783447701, £6.99, pbk


The Last Zoo is Sam Gayton’s most ambitious and visionary novel


to


date. In his previous books, Gayton has often


celebrated miniature


heroes (Hercufleas, Lilliput) but this new venture has enormous scope, breathing life into a giant menagerie of imaginary creatures. The Last Zoo is a series of arks, which host


new creatures possible that


have been brought out of ‘the seam’ by people’s imaginations - a phenomenon made


ever


since the detonation of the reality bomb. Hummingdragons, smellephants,


and unicorns


genies, are


all created and cared for on their own arks. Pia’s task is to look after angels, whose majesty and mystery (and miracles) may hold the key to saving the world. And the world needs saving. War is prevalent, resources are dwindling and The Megalolz virus has put pay to the internet. Unfortunately, Pia is rather accident


prone and misplaces the angels. Thus begins a hasty hunt all over the zoo, punctuated


by catastrophes and


moments of great peril, as Pia and her young friends search dragons’ lairs, spiders’ webs and genies’ beards. Though her celestial charges prove illusive, Pia uncovers many secrets on her quest, some of which have enormous implications for the fate of the zoo, and of the world. Pia is a thoroughly likeable


protagonist. She is brave and open- minded and clearly pure of heart. Though her journey begins with a


10 – 14 Middle/Secondary Dancing the Charleston HHHHH


Jacqueline Wilson, Doubleday Children’s Books, 464pp, 9780857535191, £12.99 hbk


Mona Smith is an orphan aged ten in Britain of the 1920s. She lives with her aunt Florence Watson. They inhabit the former gamekeeper’s cottage on the estate of the wealthy Somerset family, to whom Florence has been appointed dress maker. Mona’s mother has died. Mona visits her grave regularly. Her father died in World War I. Mona attends the village school


where her best friend is a girl named Maggie Higgins. Mona becomes close to Maggie’s whole family. Life seems to roll on without upset until the old Lady Somerset dies. Aunt Florence is worried. Without the patronage of the old lady she and Mona might be thrown out of their cottage. In the event their fears prove to be groundless. The estate is inherited by Mr Benjamin, a bohemian and kindly inheritor. It remains to be seen how much regular work Aunt Florence will now find and how contentedly Mona and her aunt will live with a new family at the manor. Aunt Florence finds employment as a dressmaker at Harrods store. The staff are snooty and patronising – though suitably impressed when Mona accidentally knocks on the door of the managing director – a truly memorable episode. As ever, Wilson has completed


impeccable research, in this case into the life of the 1920s. The behaviour of the protagonists strikes the reader as perfectly credible and astutely imagined. The language is somewhat uneven, with certain modern idioms included. No doubt Wilson included such anachronisms deliberately, to make the text more suited to young readers. Wilson strikes an unusual note.


Books about the 1920s usually focus attention on the people who live in the manor house and their wealthy friends. Wilson innovates by depicting in more detail the lives of those who exist in the shadow of the great house. Wilson also focuses attention on the burden that fell upon an unmarried working woman at that time. RB


Winter of the Wolves HHHH


Tony Bradman, Bloomsbury, 160pp, 9781472953780, £5.99, pbk.


After burying his mother, Oslaf


torches his empty home, and walks to find refuge in the village where his mother’s old friend lives.


He is


taken in but crosses the chieftain’s son. He works hard and when the villagers leave


Northern Germany


to try their luck in Britannia he is taken with them. Alfgar, their leader makes a pact with Wuffa and they are given land on which to settle, but the Britons push them to a huge battle which changes Oslaf’s life for ever. This short


tale has echoes of


Rosemary Sutcliffe in it, following as it does a homeless boy who becomes a man, is tested in battle and finally finds his calling as a wordsmith, a teller of tales. The reader feels the difficulty of life, dominated by the search for food, and the need to be ever vigilant as attack could come at any time. The place of myth and the sense of a religion come through strongly and the text uses the old words, and the tale of Beowulf to great effect. sense


The of place, important in an


historical novel, takes the reader to the estuary in East Anglia where the villagers landed, and descriptions of the site of the battle make the reader see the Britons coming down the hillside towards them. It is not easy to convey the real sense of being taken back in time in


such a short book, only 160 pages, but in Tony Bradman’s experienced hands, we are there in the early years of our history as a nation is being formed.


This would read aloud well,


and because it is short, be good for those boys whose interest needs to be caught and held. JF


wealthy man’s ‘tech guys’. Alex’s task is to find the blue-eyed girl with the ivory knife whose skeleton has been excavated in modern London and with whom Solomon Daisy is obsessed. Alex’s knowledge of Latin and Greek make him suited to the role of time traveller and, having been promised a great deal of money, he finds himself hurtling through a portal located in London’s Mithraeum, travelling back 1800 years into the past.


Alex has


been told the three rules of time travel, ‘Naked you go and naked you must return’, ‘Drink, don’t eat’ and ‘As little interaction as possible’, but these prove hard to follow in Roman Londinium which is confusing, dirty, smelly, unsanitary, unhealthy and much, much more dangerous than Alex ever expected. This novel is full of


desire to save her own skin, she quickly puts all selfishness to one side when offered the chance to try and make the world a better place. She is also a teenager and, therefore, makes lots of mistakes. She often insults others when short-tempered and even punches a male admirer in the face. She is a fast learner, though, and readers will love her vulnerability just as much as they will enjoy her tenacity and sense of adventure. The Last Zoo has a tender


heart and will gently encourage its readers to confront some of life’s big questions: What is the fate of the universe? What happens if we don’t look after the planet? What food would you ask a genie to pluck out of thin air for you? Gayton has written another fun and frenetic adventure and many children will lose themselves in its imaginary universe. SD


fast-paced


action and the tension increases as Alex makes friends and enemies, finds the beautiful blue-eyed girl and is propelled situation


from one dangerous to another. The chapters


are short and draw the reader on, the sense of place and time and the links between past and present are


brilliantly conveyed, The Time Travel Diaries HHHHH


Caroline Lawrence, Piccadilly Press, 239pp, 9781848128002, £6.99 pbk


Caroline Lawrence, author of the best-selling Roman


Mysteries


series, has combined her detailed knowledge of the Roman period with a considerable


storytelling ability


to create a gripping new historical adventure. This novel tells the story of 12- year-old Alexander Papas who is recruited by the wildly eccentric billionaire Solomon Daisy to travel back in time to Roman London via a portal accidentally created by the


facts are


skilfully blended into the story and Alex’s narrative voice is witty and self- aware. Readers are not spared the grisly, brutal realities of life in Roman London with its squalor, disease and violence; young readers will learn a great deal, maybe even some Latin, whilst enjoying a satisfying, humorous adventure


story. They may be


inspired to visit the actual site of the Mithraeum and find out more about the girl with ivory knife. Caroline Lawrence says that ‘our imaginations are the best portals to the past’ and she has certainly used her imagination to good effect to bring the world of Roman London vividly to life for present day readers. SR


Books for Keeps No.236 May 2019 27


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