BfK 10 – 14 Middle/Secondary continued


both for those who love their history and for those who want to read about inspiring individuals. MP


See How They Lie HHHHH


Sue Wallman, Scholastic, 312pp, 9781407165387, £7.99 pbk


Hummingbird Creek is an


upmarket retreat for teenagers with psychological problems.


grown up there with her parents, who own and run the facility.


Mae has The strict


rules and regulations are normal for Mae and the other children of staff; they are just something they have always lived with. For the young people who are sent there for help, it is just another medical facility but with the kind of resources that you would find at a truly 6 star hotel resort. However for the children of the staff there are rules that make life very restricted and they have to endure the sort of medical monitoring that you would only expect for people who are seriously ill. The teenagers find that even their education is being limited and their college choice is being decided for them. However they are now growing up and when Mae breaks the rules (she is caught smoking with a friend) she is led to question the very harsh results of this behaviour. The description of


Hummingbird Creek gives


life in you


a


shiver down the back and has eerie similarities to some of the small sects that developed in the USA in the last 50 years. As you read this story you begin to feel that there is something sinister behind all this and the author gradually


ratchets up the tension


until she reaches her final crescendo. The characterisation is well done and we really feel for the two central teenagers who find their whole world seems to have been built on very insecure foundations.


For Mae this


is even more of an issue as there are several aspects of her life which are thrown into question (I am trying to avoid a ‘spoiler’ here). I found this a very gripping read with lots of tension between the adults and the young people. It was also interesting to note the different reactions of the young people to their environment; some appeared to accept the whole set-up, whilst others began to question. You can see how this could be translated into the wider picture of society, where a dictator can ‘brainwash’ people into believing their way is right and only a few people seem to question what is happening. MP


The Cherry Pie Princess HHHH


Vivian French, ill. Marta Kissi, Walker Books, 171pp, 9781406368970 pbk


This book really made me smile. It’s about the very sassy, bright and kind Princess Peony who seems to be the odd one out in her royal family of selfish sisters, a rather vague+vacuous mum and as she discovers a tyrant of a father.


When her find out her Governess is


called Miss. Beef I think we probably have a fair idea about Peony’s lack of loveliness in her life. For


obvious reasons I have a


favourite quote where Peony is excited because her governess is allowing the princesses to go to the library-none of Peony’s sisters are impressed but she is and manages to find a book about pies (hence the


title). For various


reasons Peony has the book for a long time but when she finally returns it she reveals what her governess thinks about libraries. I have a favourite quote: “She says reading gives people ideas, and no princess wants those.” Thank goodness Peony uses her


brain in this story and disobeys Miss. Beef.She has to foil a plot to stop a wicked witch who hasn’t been invited to her baby


brother’s christening,


she strives to put right the wrongs of her despotic father who likes putting everybody in the dungeons including the


sprinkles


poor librarian and generally generosity,


humour and


intelligence where she goes. It is a treat of a read as the characters are great fun and Marta Kissi’s illustrations add to the spirit. There are many nods to fairytales-I


think older children would like this book too as it is multi layered. There are ideas about what it is to be a girl, to be a royal, to not conform, to want to learn and not be fickle. There are recognisable characters from many fairytales too-this would be a lovely way in to a fairy tale theme in KS2 as it’s got so much potential for multi directions. It’s a very funny charming read and I’d recommend to brighten your day. SG


William Wenton and the Luridium Thief


HHHH


Bobbie Peters, Walker Books, 256 pp, 978 1 4063 7170 3, £6.99 pbk


William Wenton and his family have been living in Norway for eight years. They moved there from London, at the same time as his famous code- breaking


grandfather


of a successful thriller for children; a hero with super-powers, a school for gifted children and a whole host of animated objects with personalities. It’s not surprising that it’s already being made into a film. Great fun! LT


The Little Book of Wetland Bird Sounds


HHHHH


Andrea Pinnington & Caz Buckingham, Fine Feather Press, 978-1-9084-8931-9, 24pp, £12.99 board


The sound of birdsong seems to have been louder and more joyful than ever this spring, but perhaps that is thanks to this wonderful series of books in teaching us to recognise individual bird sounds. The marriage of


a soundbar different including twelve and information works brilliantly.


bird sounds with photos All


the recordings are of excellent quality and of a sufficient length to be helpful in recognising a bird’s unique call. And what could be more magical than the soulful cry of the curlew or the haunting call of the black-throated diver. The honking of the mute swan and the explosive calls of the coot, the chatter of the reed warbler and the quacking of mallards are familiar sounds to one who grew up alongside water, but the alarm call of the kingfisher was entirely unfamiliar, and the avocet all-too rarely heard. Plenty of useful


information on habitat,


nesting and behaviour is included in each bird portrait, along with snippets of


interesting facts.


association Wetlands


with the Wildfowl & Trust (WWT) the


Produced in cover


gives brief details on where to find out more about visiting the ten wetland centres and reserves in the UK. There is also a helpful note on replacing the batteries to prolong the life of the book. If you don’t already know this excellent series, look out for the companion volumes The Little Book of Garden Bird Songs, Woodland Bird Songs and Night Time Animal Sounds. SU


100 Steps for Science HHH disappeared.


Twelve-year old William has inherited his grandfather’s skills, and spends all his spare time reading, and solving puzzles and codes. On a school trip to the History of Science Museum, William’s code-breaking


genius when shortly is


revealed when he can’t resist solving an Impossible Puzzle. ensues


and Mayhem afterwards


he is kidnapped and taken to the mysterious Institute for Post-Human Research. He encounters a fantastic array of robots,


animated


objects such as his friendly room door.


William makes friends with


one of the other gifted ‘candidates’ at the Institute, Iscia, and they set out to solve the mystery of what has happened to his grandfather, and a mysterious


28 Books for Keeps No.224 May 2017


Lisa Jane Gillespie, ill. Yukai Du, Wide Eyed Editions, 978-1-8478-0805-9, 64pp, £14.99 hbk


A colourful approach to science


in the broadest of sweeps, taking ten separate strands and breaking them


trace scientific discoveries and breakthroughs.


down into ten steps that Opening with a


intelligent substance


called Luridium. This novel has all the ingredients


chapter on Space, there are sections on Mapping the Night Sky, Marking Time and Navigating by Stars, leading on to Space Exploration. This is followed by a chapter on Wheels, from log rollers to turbines and renewable energy. Next comes Numbers, tracing the history of mathematics from the first recorded hieroglyphic numbers through geometry and algebra before arriving at modern-day computing, all in six busy pages taking in Einstein and Alan Turing along the way. The order


seems somewhat


with chapters on Sound and Light separated


from Energy;


Medicine


separated from Life. But if you like your information busy and presented in piecemeal format, then this may fit the bill. Yukai Du’s artwork follows a consistent palette, very much in the style of other Wide Eyed titles, part diagrammatic, part background scene-setting but with a vibrant energy of its own. The text is quite dense, in a small typesize with a complex layout so would be more suitable


for competent readers. A


detailed glossary is included but, oh dear, no index. SU


Reaching the Stars HHH


Jan Dean, Liz Brownlee and Michaela Morgan, Macmillan, 112pp, 978-1-5098-1428-2, £5.99, pbk


The extraordinary women and girls celebrated in verse here range from Elizabeth


I and Boudicca to Frida


Kahlo and Malala Yousafzai. As with all such lists, there are omissions. Extraordinary here tends to mean have been a force for good, so no female


really, with an otherwise There isn’t necessarily a


murderers, revolutionaries


or politicians (excepting suffragettes or civil rights activists). Role models then,


impressive range across cultures and professions. Each poem is introduced with a factual paragraph about its subject.


problem with writing poems to order. Sometimes it sets a challenge to which a writer can bring all their imagination and craft. And there are poems like that here. But there are also many where you don’t feel that you’ve learnt more about the subject or that the poet has brought anything different to the poem, except perhaps a rhyming scheme. So the more interesting poems to me are the ones where the poets can range a little more widely or reveal something of themselves: Jan Dean’s I Watch the film of Helen Keller, which wonders how Anne Sullivan could bear to use her body as a teaching instrument; Michaela Morgan’s Hunger Strike, which surprisingly sets the formality of middle class dining against the


random,


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