The Dream Merchant

Age range: 11+ yrs

Joshua Cope is a dreamer, and can fall asleep almost instantly, but apart from that, he’s just an average 12 year-old. That is, until he starts getting mysterious phone calls in the middle of the night from Gippart International, a company that brings things from one part of the world to be sold in another place – or time. Josh has never heard of them, but they seem to know an awful lot about him.

Gippart finally convince Josh to work for them, and he learns how to time travel – in dreams. Until during one trip into umaya, or the dream world, Josh, his best friend Baz, and their new friend Teresa are trapped in the umaya, with no means of escape.

Helped by Josh’s dead twin sister, Jericho, they travel back through time to discover the secret of the Tembe and have many incredible adventures along the way.

This is a fabulous book, with vivid descriptions. It may be suitable for slightly younger children, but is a very long read, and can become confusing at some places. However, it is a brilliant concept of time travel and my 11 year old could not put it down!

Lisa Hodges - April 2005

I have personally read the Dream Merchant and advise other parents not to read it to children under 9 though for children over this it will be a fabulous read. Better than Harry potter says my children!!!!!!!!

Bridie

Thanks for your comment Bridie - from the Editor

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Chloe

Age range: 11+ yrs

Both my daughter and I read this book and felt that the storyline was fairly fluid and encouraged reading however some vocabulary was more advanced than the target audience. The book is written from a female perspective and is obviously aimed at young teenage girls.

The storyline is clear and provokes emotion on occasion. As the story develops the reader is able to relate to the character (Chloe) and the feelings that she experiences. We both felt it was an easy read and ideal for a casual story when enjoying the summer sunshine!

Tracey-Ann Belcher - April 2005

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Missing Persons: Case #1: The Rose Queen

Age range: 11+ yrs

This is a nicely paced and interesting read for children, and in particular girls, aged 11 upwards. The characterisation is good, enabling the reader to empathise easily with the two main characters.

However, as the story is told from a very female perspective, this is not, in my view, a book that would be enjoyed by many boys, other than perhaps those who are particularly interested in detective novels.

The story flows along nicely and never becomes confusing, so should hold the interest of young readers

The early section of the book where one of the sisters describes her feelings on having to leave her childhood home having been made an orphan is well written and absorbing. It is at this point that the reader becomes hooked, wanting to know how things turn out in the end. All in all an enjoyable and fairly upbeat read.

Tracey Belcher

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Lily Quench and the Lighthouse at Skellig Mor

Age range: 9-12 years

Lily quench and the lighthouse of skellig mor' is the latest installment of Lily's adventures. It is lovely to read a book with such a feisty bold heroine.

Lily sets out on a quest with her friend queen dragon to seek the knowledge she needs to save her world. She survives perils using determination and common sense with the aid of her magical cloaks and friends.

My 10 year old daughter loves the Lily quench series and as usual it ended on a cliff hanger. I look forward to the next in the series.

Susan James

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Midnight

Age range: 12yrs plus

"The three main characters in this story are Violet, her older brother, Will and Violet`s new friend, Jasmine. Violet seems to be a lonely girl who has a love/hate relationship with her brother.

As we get further into the book, they both discover a secret about Will`s past. A magical feel is brought to the book by the fairy characters created by Violet`s favourite author, Caspar Dream. The illustrations are excellent.

It was an enjoyable book, apparently geared towards 9 - 11 year olds. However, as a teacher and the Mum of a ten year old, I have to say that I consider some of the content to be unsuitable for this age group. If in doubt Mums - read it first. I think it would be better suited to 12 years and over."

Maxine

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Night is Gone, Day is Still Coming

Age Range: 13yrs plus

This book is an anthology of stories and poems by American Indian teenagers and young adults

"On our first read of this book my daughter and I found it really marvellous. I could not believe that there is such wonderful poetic talent from some so very young. Some of the poems made me laugh aloud with a real life scenario and others I found very moving.

Lisa has since found some of the stories very hard going and after 2 or 3 she lost interest and although I read a couple aloud in the evening Lisa was not really interested in reading any more herself.

I still think the collection is an excellent mix, some made me laugh and some I found quite emotional. I have often found myself skipping through the pages and re-reading a couple of my favourites.

In truth it is the type of book to keep by your bed and pick up when you feel like it rather than trying to digest too much in one go. I enjoy my evening read and have had many amusing dreams."

Tracey

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Warriors of Camlann

Age range: 10 - 15yrs

"Warriors of Camlann is the sequel to a book called Warriors of Alavna. This book begins not long after the conclusion of the first one, as is explained in the first chapter. For those that haven’t read Warriors of Alavna (as we hadn’t), this is useful to give out background information and set the scene.

The first chapter is very evocative and makes you want to read on.

We are introduced to the two lead characters - Dan and Ursula. They are Year 10 school children who have been transported back in time to AD75, where they had adventures in which they discovered skills they never knew they had - Ursula in sorcery, Dan in fighting and even killing.

They expect to wake up back in the present, but instead, they find themselves still in the past. As they discuss what to do, they are suddenly attacked. The first chapter ends with Dan apparently dead. But surely he can’t be?

The book is almost 400 pages long so it can seem quite daunting and is only suitable for confident readers with a wide vocabulary. It has a very effective front cover, which would appeal to boys in particular.

My eleven year old son enjoyed the first third of the book, but his interest waned afterwards and he found the book to be boring overall. I think most children in the 10-15 age group would enjoy it though, as it is well written and ties in fascinating parts of Arthurian legend with the time travelling adventures of two school children that the readers will be able to relate to.

Worth a try for confident readers with an interest in History - but they will need to persevere."

Karen

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The Wee Free Man

Age range: 10yrs plus

"Aimed at 9 nine years plus this book is so cleverly written that I fear it may miss the mark with that age range.

Young Tiffany Aching discovers she has 'witching' powers and has to save her 'sticky' baby brother Wentworth from an evil Queen who has kidnapped him to dream world. Helped along by the hilarious Wee Free Men (small Scottish pictsies banned from fairyland for bad behaviour) she uses her first, second and third thoughts - along with a heavy frying pan, to conquer some very threatening situations.

As an adult reading on behalf of a child the book is witty and entertaining - a fairytale twist that we would expect children to enjoy. However, as much of the humour comes from the words written to mimic the Scottish accent, it is not always apparent what is being said - especially as many of the words are unique to the 'Nac Mac Feegle' clan. Having to re-read a line two or three times to understand its meaning stops the flow of the story and with the somewhat scary dreams cascading into one another the whole picture becomes unclear.

My 10 year old son read to chapter 3 but found it confusing and didn't want to finish the book. On the whole I enjoyed the adventure - so different from adult fiction - and can admire the skill and imagination of the author. However it would take a VERY mature 9 year old to handle the diction, understand the comedy and not be frightened by some of the imagery."

Suzanne

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Ruby Holler

Age range: 10yrs plus

I really liked this book and would have no hesitation letting a child read it.

The book is about two twins, Florida and Dallas who are orphans and living in a childrens home, run by the unscrupulous Trepids, who are only in the business for money and treat the children terribly locking them in the cellar and leaving them without food.

Florida is the loud and angry one and her brother is dreamy and they fit together perfectly like two sides of a coin.

They are fostered by an eccentric old couple who's children have grown up and want to take the children on separate journeys to help them. They move into the old couple's house in RUBY HOLLER and discover, even though they are wary and mistrustful at first, that people can be nice and care for them. Their journey is one of learn how to love and be loved.

The book is written in a larger than life, exaggerated way but it's charming and I'm sure children would appreciate this and that it would keep them interested until the end.

Carmel

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