BfK 8 – 10 Junior/Middle continued


children to find out more through a mixture of information and activities. Water investigates our watery world, from the rain that falls from the sky to rivers and oceans. The authors explore the properties of liquid with a range of practical activities. Stories form part of the narrative, with the inclusion of the Australian Aboriginal story Tiddalik, once told to explain where water came from. Activities include making a rain gauge, a waterwheel and a mini pond, using everyday items and relating the project to the specific properties of water, from the way it affects our weather, how it nurtures plants, its power to shape the land. Wind follows a similar pattern, with a blend of information and activities complementing one another, and with the inclusion of stories and poems. Kites, pinwheels, seed spinners and wind socks are among the projects that help to explore the property of the wind. Colourful


throughout make the pages attractive and accessible for younger readers. SU


Finding Black Beauty HHHH


Lou Kuenzler, Scholastic, 272pp, 978-1-4071-7448-8, £8.99 hbk


In her author’s note, Lou Kuenzler describes reading Black Beauty as a little girl and the effect it had on her. Many other readers, who also spent


themselves galloping across fields on Beauty’s back, will understand exactly how she felt. Now Kuenzler has returned to Black Beauty to tell its ‘hidden story’, that of Joe Green, the young groom who almost kills Beauty through his inexperience, but who is there at the book’s end to take care of the horse in his final years, ‘the best and kindest of grooms’. What happened to him in between? The story Kuenzler invents is full


their childhoods imagining stylised illustrations


‘Joe’ is actually Josie, a headstrong, horse-mad young girl who runs away following the death of her father in a hunting accident, when her home is given to a nasty cousin and his mean mother. Joe/Josie loves Beauty as passionately as any reader, and Kuenzler puts her at the heart of the action. Josie is there to help lead Beauty out of the burning stables, and even to give some comfort too to poor Ginger as she dies. A subplot involving her absent mother, an actor on the stage, means that Josie is in London at the same time Beauty is there working as a cab-horse, though she fails to find him, and the story is always at its best when knee deep in straw. The ending stretches credulity a little but will be just what readers want, and Kuenzler has skilfully and


remained true to the classic she and so many others love. LS


of excitement, action and adventure; like Sewell’s classic it highlights the cruel treatment of horses, through overwork, carelessness and notably the fashion for bearing reins. With a human as narrator, she can examine too the almost equally difficult lives of servants in Victorian England. She gives the story a terrific twist: her


Sherlock Holmes and the Disappearing Diamond


HHHH


Sam Hearn, ill. Sam Hearn, Scholastic, 176pp, 978-1-4071-6184-6, £8.99 hbk


Conan Doyle’s classic characters are reimagined as pupils of the Baker Street Academy in this original new


imaginatively


series for children. It’s an ideal vehicle with which to introduce young readers to the classic detective genre. Naturally, the story is told from John


Watson’s perspective, beginning with his first few days at his new school. Though James Moriarty makes it a little difficult for John to settle in, he soon finds friends in Martha Hudson and her enigmatic pal, Sherlock. John


getting to know his new chums, exploring Martha’s loft and finding deerstalker caps and long cloaks! He also introduces us to many new characters (including Baskerville the dog) who are likely to feature in the book’s sequels. When this lengthy, albeit necessary, scene-setting is complete, the children take a trip to a museum, where a precious diamond vanishes


circumstances. The game is afoot! Sam Hearn’s characters maintain


in pleasingly mysterious


many endearing qualities of Conan Doyle’s originals. Watson’s tone is warm and conspiratorial and Sherlock has an arrogant yet disarming manner, insisting on keeping his brilliant deductions a secret until it’s time for the big reveal! However, the story also feels progressive and innovative. Watson’s burgeoning career as a writer is visible as blog posts, detective notes and school assignments that provide great variation to the text. Much of the story is also told through lively, comic strip illustrations and witty speech bubbles. This mixed media approach feels modern and exciting, like


game. By borrowing just the right amount from Conan Doyle’s Sherlock, Sam Hearn has found a successful formula for this new sleuth series. Many young readers will be eager to uncover the next mystery from Baker Street Academy. SD


Caleb’s Cab HHHHH


Sally Chomet, ill. Sylvain Chomet, Walker Books, 176pp, 978-1-4063-4227-7, £12.99 hbk


This illustrated novel for


marks the start of a new adventure series by Sally and Sylvain Chomet, and features the same irresistible visuals and whimsical storytelling that won them acclaim, and awards, with animated films in the past.


Shadow Magic HHH


Joshua Khan, illus Ben Hibon, Scholastic, 97814071782088, 384pp, £6.99 pbk


Lilith Shadow is the young ruler of Gehenna, the Kingdom of Shadow; too young to be a ruler she feels. But Gehenna is failing. It is up to her to save her people even if it means she must marry the odious Gabriel Solar, prince of Luminas - the House of Light. However, there is something sinister afoot - is someone trying to jeopardise the treaty? Is Lilith’s life in danger?


adventure, packed with incident - indeed, perhaps too packed. However, young readers will relish the subverting of expectations with the Kingdom of Shadow - the world of vampires and creatures of the dark, centre stage. They will particularly enjoy the creation of Hades, the giant bat, for Lilith to ride. Characters are presented with a broad brush and incident follows incident as Tyburn the executioner stalks through the pages. A great romp for good KS2 readers. FH


This is an enjoyable


10-14 Middle/Secondary Maybe a Fox


fantasy HHHH


Kathi Appelt & Alison McGhee, Walker Books, 272pp, 978-1-4063-7289-2, £6.99 pbk


Set in Vermont this is an atmospheric and moving tale of ultimately hope.


Sylvie do everything together, even sharing a best friend Sam who sits between them on the bus to school every day. Their mother had died 7 years previously and Jules is a little jealous that Sylvie, the older sibling, can remember more about her. They often play a guessing game of what


26 Books for Keeps No.222 January 2017 Sisters Jules and grief, loss and children scrolling through an Internet spends plenty of time


Caleb lives in Featherham, in a slightly alternative reality where old people are feared and the only children allowed to play on the streets are the disgustingly wealthy SODs (spoilt, over- educated delinquents) who decorate the neighbourhood with angry, Latin graffiti. After his father disappears, Caleb is forced to disguise himself as a grown up and earn money driving his dad’s old taxi. Despite these efforts, his worryingly lazy mum drops further and further into debt, and this draws the attention of the sinister team from C.A.S.H (Children Acquired to Settle Home Loans). Just as a life of quasi- slavery in the C.A.S.H house seems inevitable, Caleb is thrown a bizarre lifeline, as his cab is sent spinning off the road and into an uncanny, parallel universe. The town of Featherham that Caleb


knows is replaced by ‘Fezerham’ in the country of ‘Franzingland’, and, though much looks the same, the presence of curious, Gallic details (such as the Guillotine!) is a great cause of confusion for


slowly realises that this bizarre place has everything to do with the disappearance of his father, and that he must resist the clutches of C.A.S.H and


Measles, if there is to be any chance of a rescue. As Caleb dances between these


its grim, grinning governor,


two unique locations, they are brought to life for the reader in seductive illustrations. Sepia tones and vivid details are combined with a brilliant use of light that make every picture at once nostalgic yet strikingly present. This effect is a perfect accompaniment to


explored and confronted by the narrative of the book. Greedy banks threatening children’s futures, a Big Brother surveillance culture, and an antagonistic


people of different nationalities all feature in the book and feel especially poignant and deliberately timed. Caleb’s Cab is a triumph on many


relationship between


levels. It is a visually arresting picture book and an exciting adventure story for children, but it is also a stimulating social commentary for older readers. Despite its obvious depth, Caleb’s Cab is extremely accessible and very funny in places; a perfect book for sharing and for re-reading. SD


the modern themes that are Caleb. He


happens to you after you die - maybe you turn into wind, maybe you turn into stars. Jules


classifying rocks and both children make wish rocks where they write their dearest wishes on to stones and fling them into the river. Sam throws wish stones too - for his older brother Elk to come home safe from Afghanistan and to see a catamount – a rare puma-like big cat. Elk does come


shadow of his former self, but his best friend Zeke does not. Sylvie’s passion is running – she


back from Afghanistan, a loves collecting and


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