reviews 10 – 14 Middle/Secondary continued


force feeding of a suffragette; and Liz Brownlee’s I am the Very Model of a Modern Girl from Planet Earth which wittily sets out a range of career choices available to the contemporary young woman with thanks to Gilbert and Sullivan. CB


Anglo-Saxon Boy HHHH


Tony Bradman, illus. Sam Hart, Walker, 236pp, 978-1-4063-6377-7, £5.99 pbk


In this companion title to Viking Boy Tony Bradman tells the story behind the Battle of Hastings through the eyes of fifteen-year-old Magnus, whose father is Harold Godwinson, lord of the Southern Saxons and future king of England, destined to die in battle against Duke William of Normandy. The history of the Anglo-Saxon


period is complicated and bloodthirsty and the reader follows all the twists and turns


through the eyes and


experiences of Magnus who acts as his father’s go-between, reporting the treacheries of his Uncle Tostig, Earl of Northumbria. Magnus undertakes long journeys, becomes embroiled in family feuds, takes part in battles and gradually learns the full extent of his father’s ruthlessness and ambition. This fast-paced historical adventure presents a compelling portrayal of the story behind the Battle of Hastings. There is a great deal of historical detail to take in but it is interspersed with action and intrigue and Magnus, who did exist, develops as a character and a warrior. There are quotes from Old Norse and Old English epics to add authenticity and Sam Hart’s illustrations include maps, symbols, weapons scenes.


and full page dramatic This insight into the history


of the period should be very useful in KS2 classrooms and there is enough entertaining story to keep interested 9+ readers engaged. SR


Tilly and the Time Machine HHHH


Adrian Edmondson, illus. Danny Noble, Penguin, 223pp, 978-0-1413-7245-7, £6.99 pbk


Adrian Edmondson’s debut is a


heartening drama and describes the adventures of Tilly and her father, a crack-pot scientist. After the sad loss of her mummy,


Tilly lives with her dad on a deserted street in a small house. Her dad is rather unconventional; he encourages Tilly to save time by leaping out of windows instead of taking the stairs, for example. He is also very clever, and builds a working time machine in the garden shed! Unfortunately, the time machine


is somewhat flawed, and very soon Tilly’s dad is missing, somewhere in history. Tilly is forced to confront the contraption and to take a trip through time to try and find him. This results


in encounters with a famous admiral, a grieving queen and a hapless German goalkeeper – and Tilly is able to help all of them. Meanwhile, in the present, Her Majesty’s Government are taking a keen interest in Tilly’s dad’s machine, and the last thing Tilly needs is strange men knocking at her door asking to see her missing father. Readers will stick with Tilly till the


very end (or the beginning, depending on whether she can get the time machine working). Her naïve optimism and positivity are very charming and she is always willing to make time for others, even when her own situation is dire. Edmondson handles moments of loss and grief sensitively, inviting readers to share Tilly’s feelings and reminding them of the importance of remembering loved ones. The story also has some funny moments, and the humorous tone is well-accompanied by Danny Noble’s delightfully


unsophisticated line


drawings. For many young readers, the real draw of this book will be the opportunity to read more about famous


characters from history.


However, though Tilly’s adventures through time are good fun, they are rather short-lived, and history lovers will feel slightly under-satisfied by the brief nature of Tilly’s meetings with famous faces from the past. It is the relationship between Tilly


and her enigmatic father that provides the most enjoyable moments in this book and readers will be interested to hear if Tilly’s dad has any other inventions in the shed that might lead to more adventures. SD


Running on the Roof of the World


HHHHH


Jess Butterworth, Orion, 277pp, 9781510102088, pbk


“There are two words that are banned in TIbet. Two words that can get you locked in prison without a second thought. I watch the soldiers tramping away and call the words after them. ‘Dalai Lama.’” And


so the adventure begins,


immediately opening our eyes as we realise that this is here and now for people in our world. Tash lives in Tibet with her family, she attends school, she likes


running, sliding down


slopes, she has a best friend, Sam. So far pretty normal but straight away those short chapters pack a punch as everything changes and we discover it’s an offence to run and their walk/ run home from school isn’t free. It has soldiers patrolling who can take you away for doing just that. As the chapters develop there are key points in all, clues are in the chapter titles so that the read is very quick and pacey.


Tash and her friend Sam witness a man who sets himself on fire. The pertinent page Facts about Tibet is where we learn that 140 people have undertaken this act in Tibet since


2009 in desperation. This act sets off a lock down of the village with curfews tightened. Soldiers raid the village and remove people from their homes. Tash’s Mum and Dad ensure Tash can make an escape, want her to go and find the Dalai Lama in India and seek safety. Tash and Sam then set off on a dangerous journey for freedom. SG


Wave me Goodbye HHHH


Jacqueline Wilson, illus Nick Sharratt, 452pp, 978-0-8575-3515- 3, £12.99 hbk


It is September 1939. Shirley Louise Smith, aged ten, is evacuated from London to an unidentified small town in the safer countryside. Her mother is a housewife and her father has just left his job as a travelling salesman to enlist in the army. In London Shirley has attended Paradise Road School. But when her mother puts her on the train Mrs Smith decides the Paradise Road kids are not good enough. She seats Shirley with the posher girls from St Agatha’s Convent. But Shirley, not quite up to the required standard, is left at the evacuation centre with two boys Kevin and Archie: these are the ones nobody wants. Eventually she is billeted with two old ladies, Mrs Waverley and her housekeeper Miss Chubb. Her new home, the Red House, is mysterious and sparsely furnished.


What secrets do the


residents of the Red House conceal, and what effect will those secrets have on them all? One of the problems with being


Jacqueline Wilson is that her readers expect perfection from her every time they open a new book. There are one or two very minor defects in this book which it is as well to mention. For example she uses the term ‘plastic’. This reviewer believes that term came into use after the war. In 1939 she probably should have used ‘bakelite’ and explained it. For books such as Katy, Wilson has clearly conducted a serious amount of research into the lives of disabled people. That research lives


fabric of the book. In this case a similar degree


comfortably in the of


research has


probably been undertaken into the experiences of evacuees but it lies more visibly on the surface of the text. On the train Shirley meets a girl


named Jessica Lipman, the daughter of a famous Hollywood film star. The two girls immediately hit it off because they are both keen readers. They are parted on arrival, Shirley sent off with the other girls from the posh school. But Jessica is in any case expelled from St Agatha’s


for penning an


immoral story. To this reviewer, this episode has a melodramatic ring. Wilson has a gift for striking truths.


One of the evacuees has a problem with bed-wetting. Unusually perhaps it is an older boy. Wilson handles this tricky issue with consummate skill, which might be a great comfort to any reader facing the same problem. Despite the minor flaws this book


is a worthy addition to Wilson’s ever- growing body of work. RB


Just call me Spaghetti-Hoop Boy


HHHH


Lara Williamson, Usborne, 322pp, 978-1-4749-2130-5, £6.99 pbk


Adam is adopted, he has always known it and as much as he loves his family there is always a thought about his birth mother lurking in his mind. When his class are asked to work on their family tree Adam decides that this is the time to find his birth mother. This is the time not least because he suspects that his mother is expecting another baby and they are going rehouse him to make room for it. Adam has a wonderful friend Tiny Eric, who tries to make Adam as happy as possible drawing him as a superhero, Adam‘s favourite thing, and helps Adam look for his birth mother too.


All is not well in Tiny


Eric’s life but Adam fails to see this until it is too late. This is a thoughtful


seriousness and sadness disguised by its title and cover illustrations.


story, its Its


themes of family break up, adoption and what love is are neatly handled and for those readers able to pick up on the clues in the text, clues that Adam fails to pick up, giving an added frisson


of impending doom. The


ending is happy and yet not all the strings are neatly tied up in a fairy- tale manner. A thoughtful read about families for those who are ready to move on from Jacqueline Wilson. CD


Where the World Ends HHHH


Geraldine McCaughrean, Usborne, 978-1-4749-2114-5, 332p, £9.99 hbk


We have been to Antarctica, the central plains of Asia, the middle of


–


McCaughrean takes us to one of the


Australia – now Geraldine harshest – but beautiful


landscapes – the islands of St Kilda on the edge of the Outer Hebrides. We join Quilliam and a group of boys – all younger than him – with three adults as they set off for the Warrior Stac. They are going on the annual cull of the seabirds who roost there every summer and whose feathers, oil and flesh are vital for the islanders. They will be there, marooned, for a couple of weeks. But what happens when no boat comes to collect them? And why? McCaughrean bases her story on a real incident that took place in 1782. But she is not just writing history. She takes the bones of the event and then asks ‘what if’ and ‘what would it be like’. It is not an easy story but it is completely absorbing. Her characters are not boys from the 21st century transported to the past; they are from their own period, their own culture – and their attitudes, reactions and beliefs stem from that. Nor is it a cosy


Robinsonade. McCaughrean


excels as always is in her creation of the landscape. Her prose is as hard and as uncompromising as the granite rock of the Stac jutting out of


Books for Keeps No.224 May 2017 29


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