BfK


from Finnish and Sami folklore, as well as his own past trauma, to help Niilo to search for his own ‘wild song’.


Niilo longs for freedom and manages to escape to another island thanks to his swimming and survival skills and a mystical connection with a protective wild seal. Niilo is found eventually and returns to Wild School where his new confidence in his own skills and his bond with the natural world, particularly the seal, mean that he is finally able to face the truth about his past and the roots of his feelings of anger and isolation.


The final section of the book, where Niilo


phobia stems from an early childhood accident, is very moving, powerful and satisfying in its resolution, with family reconciliation and hope of a more positive future


spent a month’s writing residency on a Finnish island, so the book’s sense of place is strong and credible, and the Sami and Finnish folklore are skilfully integrated to progress the story and develop character. Niilo’s narrative voice is compelling throughout and his anger and vulnerability are well portrayed.


Wild Song movingly explores issues of trauma, identity, loss, truth and the healing power of the natural world and will reward readers with a story of emotional realism combined with an unusual setting and a hint of folklore magic


. SR Deep Water HHH


Lu Hersey, Usborne, 384pp, 978-1- 4095-8610-4, £6.99 pbk


Deep Water is a book that is deceptive in its opening. Danni comes home to find that her mother has disappeared; all that is left a pool of salty water in the kitchen. At first she isn’t too worried but as time carries on she is forced to go and stay with her father, a hippy who runs a crystal shop in Cornwall. As she spends time there she is confused why some members of the community are so unfriendly towards her. Then her mother is found lying naked on a beach without any memory.


Here the story turns from a thrilling whodunit into a fantasy of old magic and grudges. Danni’s family are seal people, or selkies. They can change their form into seals and have a yearning to go to the water. Danni’s mother has hated the gift and hoped that if she moved Danni away she wouldn’t succumb. And it seems that her mother’s life hangs in the balance because of a pastor who was imprisoned after killing a child during an exorcism and has returned to the area.


This is an excellent read that turns neatly from thriller to magical fantasy but still keeps up the pace and the mystery. There are some stock characters, for example the former best friend turned enemy because of her unrequited love for the pastor, but the plot is none the worse for that. This is a good read for anyone who enjoys a thriller or a bit of Celtic fantasy. CD


for Niilo. The author gradually learns that his sea


10 – 14 Middle/Secondary continued Fuzzy Mud


HHHHH


Louis Sachar, 256pp, 978-1-4088-6474-6, £12.99 hbk


Louis


wonderful and moving story about bullying, bravery … and mud. It is the story of Tamaya and Marshall, who attend


Academy, and who are both trying their best to fit in to its often baffling social network. Tamaya and Marshall want nothing more than to do their best at school and have fun with their friends and, until recently, have been successful on both fronts. But now there are the laws of teenage cliques for Tamara to abide by, and Marshall has, somehow, drawn the attention of the troubled bully, Chad, who seems set on making Marshall’s life a misery.


the Sachar’s new novel is a illustrious Woodbridge


Finding Audrey HHHH


Sophie Kinsella, Doubleday, 280pp, 978-0-8575-3458-3, £12.99 hbk


Audrey feels she will never get any better; she will never be able to ditch the dark glasses and meet people normally. However Dr Sarah has a plan – she challenges Audrey to film her life and her family. So through Audrey’s lens we meet them: her elder brother Frank, a laid back, computer games player; her mother taking parental anxieties to an extreme; her handsome father; and lovely four-year-old Felix. Will putting them under the spotlight help? Or will it be Linus whose matter- of-fact acceptance of her situation is a refreshing change?


This is a genuinely happy book full of humour and a cheeky look at the extremes of ‘normal’ family life. Kinsella is already top of the reading lists of many teen readers (and their mothers) for her Shopaholic series. Here, for a slightly younger audience, she delivers a similar package, taking a problem, handling it with humour but understanding, and giving us a family, painted in technicolour certainly, but still very recognisable. This is the lighter side of the type of story perfected by Hilary McKay, and very welcome.


FH


The Boy Who Drew the Future HHHH


Rhian Ivory, Firefly Press, 320pp, 978-1-9100-8026-9, £7.99 pbk


This novel parallels stories from two teenage boys, one from the present day (Noah) and one from 1865 (Blaze). Both boys have the same strange power: the ability to draw events before they have happened.


Alongside this sensitive and empathic school drama, Sachar gradually and ingeniously reveals the presence of a disturbing ecological development in the nearby woods. The two stories collide with a splat when Tamaya discovers a curious puddle of ‘fuzzy mud’. Tamaya soon finds that even a ‘goody-two-shoes’ can find herself sucked into deep trouble when they are only trying to help, and this resembles the experiences of the hapless Stanley Yelnats in Sachar’s multi-award winning classic, Holes.


Sachar understands perfectly the devastating effects that bullying and getting into trouble can have upon children’s feelings, and the different journeys that Tamaya, Marshall and Chad must travel in order to confront these themes are described with beautiful simplicity and gentle humour. Fuzzy Mud also has a powerful ecological message, containing thought-provoking dilemmas that highlight the issues of global energy shortage and animal rights.


The real genius of Fuzzy Mud is the way that so many prevalent and stimulating themes are contained within such an uncomplicated, coherent story. It is simultaneously a brilliant discussion text for any classroom and a perfect page-turner for avid, young readers; another


Sachar novel. SD 28 Books for Keeps No.214 September 2015 stirring and unique Louis


Noah is trying to make a new life after moving to the village of Sible Hedingham. Starting a new school is always difficult, and even more so for Noah who has to try and hide his compulsion to draw, and the impact of his frightening revelations of the future. He finds a friend in Beth, and they become close, but tensions from a group of class mates at school soon cause difficulties.


Back in Victorian times, Blaze has been left to fend for himself after the death of his mother in the workhouse. Despite having helped many of them with healing potions and remedies, the villagers have turned on Blaze’s mother, and brutally punish her


being a so-called witch. Now Blaze is in hiding, using his knowledge of herbal medicine and his gift for foretelling the future to protect himself.


for


Poppy Pym and the Pharaoh’s Curse


HHHHH


Laura Wood, Scholastic Children’s Books, 264pp, 978-1-4071-5854-9, £6.99 pbk


This book has everything – an orphan brought up in a circus, a boarding school, a magic curse from Ancient Egypt and a mystery adventure! It’s full of energy and humour, with a weird and wonderful cast of characters, and the story travels at a cracking pace.


Poppy Pym was abandoned as a baby at a travelling circus and grew up with clowns, trapeze artists, a lion tamer, a knife thrower, and a fortune teller called Madame Pym. She has a crazy, happy life with her ‘family’, but when she’s turns eleven Madame Pym decides it’s time for her to go to a proper school. Poppy is sent to the prestigious Saint Smithen’s boarding school, run by eccentric but kindly Miss Baxter. Poppy doesn’t quite fit in, with her amazing acrobatic talents and colourful background, but she soon makes friends. However, not everyone is welcoming, and she really misses her circus family. Transcripts of her phone calls with the circus folk truly capture that overwhelming sense of homesickness, but are also very funny, as the range of circus characters reveal their eccentricities. An exciting mystery soon absorbs Poppy’s full attention, with the arrival of an exhibition of Ancient Egyptian artefacts at the school. The artefacts are linked to a Pharoah’s curse; strange accidents start happening and a precious ruby scarab beetle goes missing. Poppy is determined to help the school, and calls upon her circus family to help her solve the crime.


It’s great to be in the company of such a spirited and engaging heroine as Poppy Pym, and children will be hooked on what we hope will be a whole series of adventures.


LT The Secret Dog HHH


Joe Friedman, ill. Tim Archbold, Birlinn, 192pp, 978-1-7802-7287-0, £7.99 pbk


The two stories are told in alternating chapters, and a school trip to the old Victorian workhouse links the stories from present and past, providing an exciting climax to the story.


In the author’s note, Rhian Ivory reveals that she randomly chose the name Sible Hedingham for the village where Blaze lives, but then subsequently


was the site of the last recorded ‘swimming’ of a suspected witch in 1863. This is a fascinating (and spooky!) coincidence that just goes to show that storytelling and history are inextricably interwoven.


LT discovered that it


Twelve-year-old Josh was sent to live with his Uncle Calum on a remote Scottish island after his mother died five years ago. Even though Josh has been on the island for five years now, he’s still seen as an outsider, and spends most of his time on his own, roaming around the countryside. Josh has a real love for animals, and always find ways to help any animals he finds injured or ill. When he finds a puppy by the side of a river, he decides to take her home and nurse her back to health. He calls the puppy Reggae, after his mother’s favourite kind of music, and finds a way to look after her in secret. He hatches a plan to train Reggae as a working dog, and enter her into the annual island sheep dog competition – The Gathering. The story goes into a lot of detail about how to train a border collie, which may not be interesting for everyone, but the account of life on the island feels authentic and well researched. It’s a heart-warming story about bravery, and perseverance. Josh is a sensitive and caring boy, yet he finds the


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