BfK 8 – 10 Junior/Middle continued


Brian, calls all the children together and tells them that they will be paid a pound for each seal’s flipper they bring back. The kids practise together with Babe Meara leading the way, but as they practise Bobby realises that he might not be able to kill a seal. He is worried that his father will be disappointed with him if he can’t. A few days later, he borrows his grandfather’s club and goes looking for seals. He finds a small seal cub on the beach, and raises the club above his head, but can he do it, can he kill a seal? This is a coming of age story about


growing up and about making choices. These are choices which can have an impact on young lives. The novel intercuts the actual hunting of the seal with the preparations beforehand so that the reader knows that the seal is in jeopardy from the first page but does not know its fate until the end. It is a story that builds up the excitement and anticipation and cleverly keeps the reader guessing. The brutality of the subject matter is dealt with sensitively and carefully. This is an addition to Barrington


Stoke’s Conker imprint, which is aimed at providing greater reading confidence to struggling and reluctant readers. It is to Barrington Stoke’s usual high standard, and contains all the usual Barrington Stoke design hallmarks as well as being dyslexia-friendly. However, it is good to remember that books in the Conker imprint can also be enjoyed by other readers.


ARa


Jack Dash and the Magic Feather


HHHH


Sophie Plowden, ill. Judy Brown, Catnip, 245pp, 978-1-8464-7099-8, £5.99 pbk


Jack was extremely unhappy at being forced to move house and school when his father got a new job in


the small town of Curtly Ambrose and then he discovered that he had the neighbour from hell.


name is Coco McBean and she enjoys nothing more than playing jokes and getting in the way. Jack’s luck changes when he discovers an empty notebook with his name inside it and hidden within a feather, a quill pen. Jack rapidly discovers that this is a agic feather and it will make anything he draws come alive; the problem is that Jack is not good at drawing.


rather complicated, particularly when the villainous Mayor Gristle tries to steal the feather and it is up to Jack, Coco and a Sea Lion called Sardina to stop him. This is a totally whacky and very


Life suddenly becomes Her New Books on Computer Coding


Computers and Coding Rosie Dickins, ill. Shaw Nielsen, Usborne, 16pp, 978-1-4095-9151-1, £9.99 hbk


Coding for Beginners using


Scratch Rosie Dickins, Jonathan Melmoth, Louie Stowell, ill. Shaw Nielsen, Usborne, 96pp, 978-1-4095-9935-7, £12.99 hbk


How to Code in 10 Easy Lessons


Sean McManus, QED, 64pp, 978-1-7849-3365-4, £8.99 hbk


HHHH


funny story that is bound to be popular with a wide range of children. I am sure that the trauma of moving house is something that resonates with many young readers. They have to give up their friends; chool, clubs and all those little elements that make them feel safe. Moving to a new town means going to a new school, getting used to a new house and trying to make friends all over again. The characters are created with a broad brush stroke and we are in no doubt about the villain and his intentions, thankfully the British local government system prevents the type of power crazed individual that we see here.


illustrations have been well thought out with a great deal of energy and humour coming through.


way that they range from small quarter page images, up to large double page spreads. This creates a feeling of spontaneity and works perfectly with the text. This is an excellent read for the newly confident reader and those who just enjoy a truly ridiculous and funny story.


MP I liked the The


Long, long ago, before the World Wide Web was even thought of, owning your first computer (think ZX Spectrum or the box-like BBC Acorn computer) meant learning to programme before


the pace sprightly. A really first-class introduction for a wide age group. Extra help and online resources are included throughout. Usborne’s


area is put to good use in Coding for Beginners using an introduction language


expertise in this Scratch,


beginners, and ideal for creating animations, stories and games. Step-by-step instructions a complete beginner


Projects range from creating very simple games such as cat and mouse, dancing sprites and pattern makers


take your first faltering steps. All that faded as computers and then programmes became ever more sophisticated, with CD Roms offering encyclopedic resources and moving images. But coding is alive and well again in primary schools, not just in the classroom but with afterschool clubs flourishing, hence the sudden appearance of a range of new titles on computers and coding. Usborne’s


Coding offers a colourful straightforward


the design means that additional information is embedded in the page without making it all too dense. There is a light touch throughout, with plenty of humour and quirky facts, games and puzzles to keep


10-14 Middle/Secondary The Icarus Show HHHH


Sally Christie, David Fickling Books, 272pp, 978-1-9102-0048-3, £10.99 hbk


This is a story about bullying and friendship, so, in a sense, not that unusual. It also


the relationship between a young person and an older person in a nursing home, a feature of three books I have reviewed recently, and, on the basis of that small sample, may be reflecting a situation in many families in our increasingly ageing population. So far, and so typical; but what sets the story apart is firstly Christie’s handling of a brilliant plot device: the anonymous announcement via letters to every member of a secondary school class that “A boy is going to fly!” Alex, our narrator, is a boy whose chosen path through school life is to be invisible and trust no one, and the letters both fascinate and disturb him. Why would


26 Books for Keeps No.216 January 2016 highlights


anyone want to call attention to themselves like this and what could it mean? The gradual revelation of who is responsible for the letters, to


what kind of show they might lead, and how Alex is drawn into the life of the new boy who has joined his class and moved in next door, makes for riveting reading, with a shocking denouement. The ending is rather compressed, with the introduction of an important character that we have not met before. And, for the first few chapters, I was unclear whether I was reading about a boy or a girl (Alexander or Alexandra?), there was such an absence of the usual enthusiasms or affiliations that make for conventional gender markers. But that is perhaps part of the second distinguishing feature of the novel. Novels about bullying often feature its direct victims or the bystanders who have to make a choice whether to intervene. Rarely do they show, as this novel does, the way in which a self-protecting strategy like Alex’s can close down someone’s personality, as fear makes him an observer rather than an actor in his own life.


CB


Twenty Questions for Gloria HHHHH


Martyn Bedford, Walker, 304pp, 978-1-4063-6883-3, £7.99 pbk


Fifteen year-old Gloria meets Uman, a mysterious and determinedly different new boy at school. Very soon the two run away together with no real plans except for continuing with the delight they take in their own company. But money starts to run out and, like King Lear, they find they are not weatherproof when sleeping rough and it starts to rain. The whole escapade lasts for fifteen days, and this fine novel starts with Gloria being questioned by a police officer about the whole affair after the event. Gloria’s distraught mother is also in attendance. But of Uman, there is now no sign.


Creating convincingly original and arresting characters in any story is never easy. If, as here, what they say seems at times facetious and immature readers may wonder what the other characters involved actually see in them. But Martyn Bedford


these are


computers and how they work with over 100 flaps to lift. The nifty way


incorporated into


Computers and and to


introduction you could


Sean McManus, author of a range of computer books and experienced at teaching programming and web design to primary schoolchildren, offers a guide


in ten core skills. Scratch is the language used here, but the skills are applicable to other programmes. Step-by-step instructions show how to plan a game, build the different stages, test it and fix bugs. Moving onwards there is guidance on how to build a website using HTML, how to add images and share information. Additional resources and useful links are included as well as a glossary. Parents as well as teachers would


find all these titles useful to support their children’s interest in this fast- moving area. There is no doubt that programming helps children to be articulate and think logically as well as developing literacy and numeracy, so it is encouraging that such excellent resources are now available.


SU to programming


adventures with zooming asteroids and speeding aliens. In How to Code in 10 Easy Lessons


to more complex space and online especially suited


to the computer to


programmes with the help of menu guides


to create downloads.


enable


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