BfK 10-14 Middle/Secondary


Exploring Space NON-FICTION HHHH


Martin Jenkins, ill. Stephen Biesty, Walker, 978 140636008 0, 64pp, £14.99 hbk


Walker have teamed up a formidable duo


introduction to space exploration. Martin Jenkins applies his scientific brain to clearly explaining the sometimes nebulous concepts of distances in space and time, while illustrator Stephen Biesty uses his brilliant graphic skills to reveal intricate


structure of space to create this attractive


were exposed after having fathered children with unsuspecting women and then abandoning them. Truth really is stranger than fiction! SE


Fish Boy This is a deeply HHHHH


Chloe Daykin, Faber & Faber, 280pp, 978 0 571 32822 2, £9.99 hbk


Jenkins traces the story of how early astronomers’ understanding of the night sky accelerated with the development of telescopes, from the simple models built by Galileo to


Actually launching into


required the development of rocketry. The space race between the United States and Soviet


momentum to experiments to get a human into space, the first being the cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin in 1961, followed eight years later by the first US moon landing.


detailed cutaways reveal the inner workings of a range of spacecraft, from the Apollo Space Shuttle Space Station.


of interesting detail on daily life in space, from weightlessness and exercise to eating and sleeping, not forgetting using the toilet. Ambitious projects to explore further into space include a variety of spaceprobes, with explanation of what a colony on Mars might look like, and even a mission beyond our solar system. Jenkins concludes: ‘Who knows what or who we might discover out there. And… the more we find out about other worlds, the more we might come to


and precious the planet that we call home really is.’ SU


The Liar’s Handbook HHH


Keren David, Barrington Stoke, 126pp, 978 1 78112 6806, £6.99, pbk


River has been given a notebook by his teacher to write down his ‘imaginative’ thoughts, to try and help him realise what is real and what are downright lies. When his mother is wooed by a journalist called Jason, who plans to take them on a holiday to Costa Rica, River’s suspicions are aroused. He thinks that Jason isn’t on the level and decides to do a bit of investigating on his own. Why is Jason interested in their eco-warrior type friends? and what has a mysterious tattoo got to do with the father he never knew? Teen author, Keren David, joins the


ranks of other well-known authors in the Barrington Stoke Teen range and brings her own inimitable style to this story. What makes it even more compelling, is that it is based on fact - when undercover policemen


28 Books for Keeps No.223 March 2017 appreciate how unique


to the International And there is plenty


missions and Stephen Biesty’s Union gave


sophisticated radiotelescopes. space


details of the internal hardware.


beautifully written story about a boy who uses swimming, and a seemingly magical ability to communicate with fish, as a way of coping with the difficulties in his life. Billy feels different from the other His greatest love is Nature,


children. imaginative,


way in to learning more about these popular primary school topic. This is the first Rose Campion novel


I’ve read but I like the characters and the book so much I’m now reading the first one in the series so I can find out how it all began. SG


What Not to Do if You Turn Invisible


HHHH


Ross Welford, HarperCollins Children’s Books, 405pp, 978 0 00 815635 0, £6.99pbk


and at home he immerses himself in watching David Attenborough DVDs. People call him Fish Boy, as he swims in the sea nearly every day. He’s being bullied at school and feels unable to deal with the situation – until a new boy Patrick arrives – with ‘fingers of steel’ - who sees off leading tormentor Jamie Watts.


deepens throughout the story, and he learns to trust him with all his secrets. The characters are drawn with great humour and sensitivity, especially Billy’s parents. His father is a sculptor, currently working long hours in a shop to keep the family afloat. His mother used to be fun-loving and energetic, but for weeks has scarcely been able to get out of bed. Billy is scared about his mother’s


mystery illness, and tries to run away from all the uncertainty and stress, by swimming in and amongst a shoal of mackerel.


tested as he watches out for Billy and tries to keep him safe. The writing is spare and lyrical;


Patrick’s constancy is


not a word is wasted. Reading the descriptions of swimming in the sea, the reader feels swept up by the currents, and there’s an interesting change in tone from wonder to danger as the full power of the ocean is released in the storm. Fish Boy is an unforgettable, other- which captures the


worldly novel hopeful, genuine, deep friendship. LT


It is ultimately uplifting and celebrating the power


of Billy’s friendship with Patrick


Rose Campion and the Curse of the Doomstone


HHHHH


Lyn Gardner, Nosy Crow, 338pp, 978 0.763 844 1, £6.99 pbk


This rollicking read is a corker of a page turner. It is the second instalment about Rose Campion, a feisty teenage girl, who lives a music hall life having been abandoned on the steps of the Campion Music Hall as a baby. Thomas, the owner of the Music Hall took her in and has been bringing her up ever since along with Aurora (Rory) and Effie. Rory was rescued from the clutches


blackmailing Aunt and has recently been found by her real father. Effie and her mother had been forced into working for a notorious gang of pickpockets but Effie’s mother was wrongly accused of stealing a watch, found guilty and sent to Holloway. The girls are firm friends, like sisters


feelings of an unsettled and lonely boy.


belonging to an up and coming glamorous actress Lydia. However as most of the action takes place in the music hall there is a great flavour of Victorian entertainment too including the ‘Illustrious Gandini’ - a magician - who enlists Effie to be his assistant during the story and many other acts including one from the girls themselves. There is plenty of intrigue, twists and turn and the characters are really well drawn. The writing draws you in and sets up plenty of questions. There is suspense, there is also much sadness - we’re not spared the harsh realities of Victorian life. There is great depth to the depiction of Victorian London


reforming Prison wardens, the ‘blues’ and oysters served in the music hall all make for an atmospheric read. Particularly


different if you are learning about Victorians in primary school as there are real music hall actors/actresses too and it would be a really fabulous


great for something - mention of ‘dippers’, of the of her


Matthew’s OCD is all-consuming and With just four pages to go, Ethel Leatherhead decides, ‘Nothing, and no-one, it is turning out, is what they first appear’. On several occasions in the preceding chapters, Ethel herself has not appeared at all – she’s literally been invisible for hours at a time. This has been exciting, embarrassing and downright dangerous, but it’s in the most urgent of causes; she’s trying to find out ‘who I am’. Ethel lives in Whitley Bay, on the


blustery coast of North East England with her Gram and their labrador, Lady. Gram is ‘very proper’;


can, and does, classify pretty well everything as either ‘common’ (The X-Factor) or ‘vulgar’ (The Eurovision Song Contest). If a programme is deemed ‘vulgar’, it means Gram actually


viewing. Being very proper in no way diminishes Gram’s love for Ethel, who was only three when her Mum, Gram’s daughter, died tragically. Ethel’s Dad isn’t around; it’s rumoured he drifted back to his native New Zealand long ago. Great-gran is living in a home, though,


birthday; sometimes


really, but there are lots of challenges to test their friendship in this exciting book. It’s a fast paced mystery story which centres on the mysterious disappearance


doomstone


sense when Ethel and Gram visit, and sometimes she even seems to want to share secrets with Ethel. Ethel is now in Year 8, not exactly Miss Popularity, but she’s getting by, keeping her head down. Or she was, until the spots, zits and boils of the Acne Army pimpled up and now she’s mocked by classmates (‘Pizza Face’), including one or two who once were friends. The worst persecutors by far are the Knight twins – Jarrow (F) and Jesmond (M), the kind of loudmouths you avoid if you’ve any sense. Ethel also tries to avoid an overweight, bumptious


from down South, Elliot Boyd (‘Boydy’ to his friends). To Ethel’s horror, Boydy seems to think they’re best mates. On the web, Ethel searches for


acne escape-routes. First, she tries large doses of ‘Dr Chang His Skin So Clear’, purchased online. Next, she acquires a clapped-out sunbed from a failed tanning salon, since everyone knows tanning can see off acne. But when she’s swallowed her Dr Chang and put in a shift on the sunbed, she is terrified to discover that though her clothes are still there, there’s no flesh visible inside them; she can even spot a cupful of recently-drunk tea floating about in there. The clearest evidence of her physical existence is a series of foul-smelling burps generated by Dr


newcomer


approaching her she


100th makes


likes it, so it’s permitted she


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