I wish I’d written… or Mr


Salteena’s Plan by Daisy Ashford is that rare thing: a perfectly formed novel. Published in 1919 to great acclaim, it describes the tangled affairs of three friends in a startlingly fresh and unaffected tone. In his foreword,


J.M. Barrie praises the


Cathryn Constable’s new book, The White Tower (978-1-9094-8910-3) is published by Chicken House, £6.99 pbk. Cathryn Constable talks about the book here


author’s ‘air of careless power’ before declaring that the author was only nine when the story was written. It rattles along at a giddy pace as the lugubrious Alfred Salteena accepts an invitation to stay with a friend in a grand country mansion. He takes a young friend with him, Ethel Monticue. She’s a girl who knows how to make the most of herself: ‘I shall put some red ruge on my face said Ethel because I am very pale owing to the drains in this


Good Reads


The Midnight Gang David Walliams, HarperCollins Children’s Books, 978-0-0081-6461-4, £12.99 hbk Tom is hit on the head with a cricket ball so he is sent to Lord Funt Hospital. In the children’s ward he meets George, Amber, Robin and Sally, who spends most of her time sleeping because she is really ill. At midnight Tom hears the children get out of bed so he follows them to the basement to find out what they are up to. He discovers that they are ‘The Midnight Gang’, who meet to experience each other’s dreams. Amber dreams of being in the North Pole so with the help of the porter her dream comes true. Tom wants to be a part of the gang but can’t until he has a dream of his own. The Midnight Gang is interesting and full of adventure. It is funny and exciting to read, especially when ninety-nine-year- old Nelly gets hold of a bunch balloons and floats away!


By Millie, Bessie and Leah


The Cuckoo Clock of Doom (Goosebumps series)


R.L.Stine, Scholastic, 978-0-5901-3478-1, O/P


It is a story about a teenage boy who has a little sister that enjoys pranking him. He decides that he wants revenge so he damages the family cuckoo clock by twisting the bird’s head. Legend is that the cuckoo clock is magical and by turning the cuckoo’s head the boy travels back in time. When he wakes up he discovers that he is younger. This keeps happening until he is a baby and then doesn’t


The best-selling author of The Wolf Princess and The White Tower series chooses a book that still entrances. The Young Visiters,


house.’ (Daisy’s original spelling is kept throughout the novel.) And so the stage is set for a


love triangle played out in country mansions, London hotels, and some delightfully


described lodgings: the ‘Compartments’


aristocratic at


Crystal Palace. We see Alfred’s acceptance into society and the eye-wateringly awkward wooing of Ethel by Bernard Clark. We weep with Salteena as he watches his two friends get married and cheer that Ethel got to march into Westminster Abbey in a dress golden silk ‘which cost a good bit’. Few writers have an eye as sharp or a heart as generous as the nine- year old Daisy Ashford and it’s those qualities that make me wish I’d written The Young Visiters.


The Young Visiters, or Mr Salteena’s Plan (978-0-7011-2725-1) by Daisy Ashford is published by Chatto and Windus, £9.99


Our Good Reads were chosen by young people at Southbrook School, Devon, a special school with 120 pupils aged 11 - 16. Thanks to school librarian Sophie Chalmers, who is one of the four librarians on the 2016 School Librarian of the Year Honour list.


exist anymore, completely disappearing. So he has to find a way to get back to the present day!


The story is told really well. It is amazing, interesting and spooktacular, especially when the cuckoo comes alive with flashing red eyes, screaming.


By Edward


Ruby the Red Fairy (Rainbow Magic series) Daisy Meadows, Orchard Books, 978-1-8436-2016-7, £4.99


There is a fairy called Ruby, who wears a red dress and has got magical powers. She meets two girls who agree to help her find Jack Frost because he has stolen some jewels. Ruby turns the girls into fairies so that they can all fly together to rescue the jewels, but it is a dangerous mission because Jack Frost can turn them into frost. If you like fairies and adventures you will enjoy reading this book. The fairies are talented and excellent at making things. I especially like Ruby because she is good and does the right thing even when it’s dangerous.


By Hannah Books for Keeps No.222 January 2017 17


House of Hell (Fighting Fantasy Gamebook)


Steve Jackson, Wizard Books, 978-1-8404-6417-7, £4.99


This is a book about a house of no escape. Every choice you make is a consequence leading to death or hope. You have to decide how to ask for help at the creepy, haunted mansion and from this point decide what your fate will be. Using 2 dice, a pencil and a rubber you must avoid danger and the mysterious creatures


lurking in the


shadows, being careful not to collect too many fear points. Avoiding the earl and the butler, who is very tall with a big purple jacket, your aim is to discover the mystery of the mansion. We recommend this book because it is


very interesting, scary and it will blow your mind away, KAPOWWW, KAPOOOOSH. We have read it many times with friends because you jump around the book, going back and forth, making it more fun and easy to read.


By Roman and Owen


Millie, Bessie and Leah


Edward


Hannah


Roman and Owen


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