reviews story, constantly


8 – 10 Junior/Middle continued escaping trouble


then finding more trouble, picking up a number of


helpful Certain death allies en


route, from a magical Witchwatcher to a fumbling delivery driver called Wullie.


is narrowly


avoided more than once and there are moments of genuine jeopardy as the mighty Moss is incapacitated by Leatherhead’s powerful magic. Though much of this action is


quite exciting, tension is repeatedly undermined


interjections. Ill-timed flatulence, toad-gobbing


by frequent competitions,


that the


comic and,


most of all, hilarious Dwarfish insults (‘poppnoddy’, ‘trundletail’, ‘mobard’ etc) ensure


love the story never


becomes too serious, even when the world seems certain to end. Younger readers may


belligerent,


barbaric behaviour of the dwarves (as well as the toilet humour) and there is ample action packed into the narrative to ensure engagement all the way to the end of the quest, though the balance of action and comedy is not always perfect. The end of the story is deliberately and unapologetically contrived to guarantee a sequel, so fans of


Mossbelly’s warmongering


and worm-eating will not have to wait long for his return. SD


Storm Hound HHHH


Claire Fayers, Macmillan Children’s Books, 247pp, 978 1 5098 9504 5, £6.99, pbk


In this drama for children, a terrifying mythical beast is unleashed upon the human world. Wrenched away from the god Odin’s thunderous hunting party, Storm finds himself fallen from the clouds of the Otherworld and sharing pet store kennels with everyday Earth dogs. To make matters worse, he has lost his fearsome, horse-sized stature and has become a small, adorable puppy. Storm longs to return to The Hunt glorious halls – he


and to Odin’s


misses home and feels lost. His story is mirrored by that of Jessica – a twelve-


year-old girl who has recently been forced to leave her mother behind in London and move to her father’s house in Abergavenny. When Jessica spots Storm at the pet store, it seems fate that they should be companions. There is fun to be had as Storm struggles


to adjust to his new


powerless existence. His booming demands become pathetic puppy whines, and he finds that he is not even a match for a common cat, and can’t understand why he feels so


desperate to chase them up


trees. Claire Fayers gives readers an hilarious glimpse into the lives of cats and dogs (and even sheep!) as they are given their own voice and internal monologues, and the


diatribes of


mighty Storm of Odin coming from a harmless puppy never stops being funny. Storm isn’t the only one grappling with his new existence.


Jessica


misses her mother and longs to make new friends, and can’t understand why her professors and classmates seem so strange (and so interested in her dog!). Almost every character in the story has hidden, magical depths and there is mystery and intrigue as Jessica tries to fathom who Storm and she can trust. Most of all, Storm Hound is about


companionship. Jessica and Storm both learn that there is much more to ‘home’ than geography and familiar buildings, and that a powerful sense of belonging can be found when one learns to trust the right people. This heartening message is made loud and clear in an exciting, lightning- powered climax on a stormy Welsh mountain top. There is magic and laughter to enjoy in Storm Hound and a warm and fuzzy feeling to be had - not unlike cuddling a puppy! SD


The Girl with the Shark’s Teeth HHH


Cerrie Burnell, Oxford Children’s Books, 230pp.,978-0-19-276754-7 £6.99 pbk


Cerrie Burnell is a well-known children’s presenter, born with part of her right arm missing, but she has not let anything stand in her way, and has enjoyed a successful career in acting, singing and presenting on CBeebies. She has


written the picture book


Snowflakes, about a girl who comes to the understanding that all snowflakes are different, a junior fiction book called Mermaid, about a girl in a wheelchair who can swim wonderfully well, and a popular series of 6 books, so far, about a girl called Harper, including the World Book Day title Harper and the Sea of Secrets, all of which involve some magic. An affinity with the sea and mermaids is apparent, and this book for slightly older children (the blurb says 9+) develops that theme. Cerrie borrows from her own family situation in the story of Amelie, known as Minnow, the mixed-race child of Mercy, who has a hook for a right hand,


though Cerrie and her real mixed-race daughter Amelie probably don’t, in real life, live on a pirate ship as Mercy and Minnow do. When Mercy is taken away by three men, apparently without


too much


protest, she has time to tell Minnow to go to her Grandma in Reykjavik. Minnow has never sailed the boat on her own before, but magic and singing certainly help her to get to Reykjavik and Grandma, and she makes a new friend, the boy Raife, there. Although forbidden by her fierce Grandma Anelka, the children, with the aid of a map made of moonlight and a book of Norse legends, find their way to the Wild Deep, discover why Mercy has been taken, and who Minnow’s father is, and sort out the situation, to the satisfaction of most people involved. There are sea monsters and sharks, strange children called Light Fins, and, of course, mer people of both genders. It is a very exciting story, though if


Cerrie is to continue writing for older children, she needs tighter plotting. Why, when Minnow thinks she is rescuing Raife from the sea, does this Icelandic boy immediately protest in English? Then later, it is obvious that the story demands that the children will take the boat and go to rescue Mercy, but why, in this book about three generations of strong women, is it Raife who says, ‘You could do it, you know’ and asks her to take the book of legends from her Grandma for him to read? Yes, she needs his help, but it should have been her idea in the first place. There are situations when a new skill, like the ability to breathe underwater, is discovered just in time, or help arrives unexpectedly ‘just when Minnow thought all was lost’, and this does sometimes feel a little clumsy. But it’s Cerrie, and involves mermaids, and this will be popular. DB


Shiny Pippin and the Broken Forest


HHH


Harry Heap ill. Rebecca Bagley, Faber and Faber, 261pp, 9780571332151, £6.99 pbk


You have to be ready for puns galore when you read Shiny Pippin so probably have to be a fairly competent reader. The story is about Pippin who discovers she has a magical gift as does her Gran who she admires. She can ‘shine’. This means she can talk to her special animal partner, her pet mouse, Tony - for His Dark Materials fans a little like a Daemon. Pippin is tasked with finding out what


is going wrong in the forest - the water is disappearing and there are strange goings on there which seem to be linked to a sinister laboratory nearby. Pippin and Tony are captured by the ‘baddie’ penguin-Count Visbeck. This is fairly unusual in a story as normally penguins seem to be the good guys…. She then meets some helpful


characters along the way including a very talented frog who everybody could do with as a friend for getting you out of tight spots. She learns how to use her magic super power properly


and the mystery of the disappearing animals and dying forest is solved. As I said you do need to be a good


reader or read this story together with your child to keep up with the play on language and also some of the more grown up links like the James Bond characters. It has a lot of jokes in which are funny but can make the story harder to just keep hold of because of so many ‘asides’. Although it is a fairly thick book the text has a lot of space around it so it is not too dense to put children off. It also has plenty of comical illustrations which add to the fun. SG


Create Your Own Happy HHHH


Penny Alexander, Becky Goddard- Hill, ill. Clare Forrest, Collins, 160pp, 978 0 00 830121 7, £9.99 pbk


This ‘meaty’ and quite long book has multitudinous


suggestions contented,


how to make yourself and others happier.


then it must follow that one is not cheerful


and about


If one is in need of such, nor


the


creative suggestions here could well go a long way to helping children (adults too) find their own road to being happier, fulfilled individuals. Divided into three sections, almost half the book is concerned with making oneself happier (18 individual recommendations), and the


other


half is used for suggestions as to how to make others happy and, finally, how to help make a happier world. In the long first section, we learn about such things as personality strengths, using exercise, making a ‘happy jar’ to remind oneself of all the good times, and decluttering – as well as many other ideas. The second section tells us about saying please and thank you and complimenting others, being kind,


handling cyberbullying (and


ordinary bullying), being a good friend, etc. and the final section covers such things as recycling, growing your own food, upcycling, making your garden a good place for creatures of all sorts, etc. It is emphasised in the book that you can start anywhere you like and that it isn’t necessary to do everything suggested. Most pages are full of colourful illustrations that add lots of ‘happiness’ to the whole, and there are explanations too of the scientific reasons as to why these things should help. Creative activities abound, and I like the idea of a whole family using the book to update their expectations of happiness. A world of happiness waits for those using the book with serious intent! ES


Young Heroes HHHH


Lula Bridgeport, illus. Federica Fenna, Isabel Munoz & Julianna Swaney. Stripes 96pp 978-1-84715-955-7 £12.99 hbk


Of course this title includes young female heroes, too, and the range of


people covered is amazing.


Some people featured are now well known:


cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, Formula One driver Max Verstappen, Books for Keeps No.234 January 2019 27


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