Laura-May here and I just finished Tremendous Things by Susan Nielsen and I loved it!
Following Wilbur in his journey to self-assurance it teaches not just Wilbur but teaches the reader. All in a fight to win his French crush’s heart, Wilbur takes on a whole lifestyle change with his 85 year old friend Sal and (his same age friends) Alex and Fab! Competing against his long term bully Tyler, not only must Wilbur learn to love the person he is but all whilst raising the £500 to go to Paris to meet up again with his crush, French exchange student Charlotte (Charlie)! No pressure!
I loved the message and relatable characters. As well as it being funny it was written in a tone for younger teenagers or older kids. The plot never felt dragged out it was constant. BIG recommend!
About the book
Wilbur is sure he’s a loser: he spends his life being bullied, his best friend is 85 years old, and his only talent is playing the triangle in the school band. But things start to look up when he gets the chance to be part of the French exchange. Wilbur’s billet Charlie arrives to spend the week with him and his two moms . . . and it turns out that Charlie is a girl. An amazing, sophisticated, French girl who Wilbur instantly falls in love with. Keen to win her heart, Wilbur agrees to a total life makeover before he sees Charlie again on the return trip to Paris. But the course of true amour never did run smooth . . .
I was born in Worthing but I live in Lancing, I really like it as I love my neighbourhood. I’ve always loved English and reading in fact in Year 3 I entered the Wicked writing competition and I got down to the final with my story Playdates about a girl making friends with a ghost. And the library ANY library has always been a place I feel calm and happy. So many doorways to adventure I can never pick! In Year 6 I volunteered to help put books away at lunch times. And of course my highlight of the summer the library reading challenge I participated in for about 6 years straight. I try to spread my love for reading too be it by tutoring my neighbour in English or by recommending books to friends I just love it.
Queenie is a very good book especially if you like cats. The main character is Queenie who is the cat at Blyton ward where Elsie, the second main character, goes to get her tuberculosis fixed. She goes to a hospital called Miltree Orthopaedic Hospital and her best friend there is a boy called Angus. Queenie helps Elsie settle into the hospital when she first arrives because she has been separated from her adored nan.
The book is set in 1953 when the queen is having her coronation. I like that lots of Jacqueline Wilson’s books are set in Victorian times but actually this one is set quite a bit after. The pictures at the start of every chapter are good and they are by Nick Sharratt. He works with Jacqueline Wilson a lot and he illustrates quite a few of her books. I would recommend this book for children 7+ and I would give it four out of five stars. If you enjoy it you should probably try out the Hetty Feather series which is set in the Victorian era.
I like animals, playing with my sister, and all types of books. I also love playing football, going on walks and identifying birds. My favourite species of bird is a firecrest because I love the orange stripe on their heads.
About the book
It’s 1953, the year Elizabeth is to be crowned Queen of England. Elsie Kettle can’t wait to go to London to see the celebrations on Coronation Day. Elsie lives with her Nan – her mum works as a showgirl, so she’s not around very often. Spirited and imaginative, but often lonely, Elsie longs for a best friend. Luckily, she and Nan are very close; Elsie just wishes she was allowed a cat to keep her company sometimes.
Then tragedy strikes. Nan and Elsie both fall ill with tuberculosis, and Elsie finds herself whisked away to the children’s ward of the hospital. Confined to bed for months on end, Elsie finds it very hard to adapt to the hospital’s strict regime. But she invents astonishing ways of entertaining the other children on the ward, and for the first time finds herself surrounded by true friends – including Queenie, the hospital’s majestic white cat.
Finally, Elsie is well enough to leave hospital. But before she does, she has one very special, very unexpected visitor…
Something I said is an amazing book and has everything you would look for in a good story: depth, drama, and most importantly, humour! I would recommend this book to anyone from the age of 9-15, as even some adults would find it funny! I love the style of comedy that the author has chosen and hopefully we will see a sequel in the near future.
My name is Riley and I am 11 years old. I enjoy videogames, music, playing outside, food and most importantly, reading! I love all types of books but my favourite is humour. My top three authors are Jeff Kinney, David Walliams and Liz Pichon. I once got my own short story published in a competition!
From comedian, actor, rapper and screenwriter Ben Bailey Smith comes a blazingly funny, big-hearted story about family, friendship and how far one boy will go to get a laugh. Perfect for fans of David Baddiel and Frank Cottrell-Boyce.
For thirteen-year-old Carmichael Taylor, life is one big joke – in a good way.
He just can’t understand why no one else seems to find everything as funny as he does. When Car is filmed stumbling into performing a piece of hilarious stand-up at the school talent show – targeting his family, school and friends – the footage ends up creating international infamy. But with the promise of fame and fortune comes trouble, and it’s up to Car to decide what or who he’s willing to risk to chase his comedy dream.
Get ready to laugh at life with this heart-warming, unashamedly honest and hilarious look at family, friendship and what really matters.
Book Nook Review Crew member Lara was so taken by How To Be Brave that she couldn’t bear to be parted from the book. Here she is posing some very impressive questions to author Daisy May Johnson.
Lara: What inspired you to write about ducks?
DMJ: I knew I wanted one of my characters to be really smart and knowledgeable about something, but I was never quite sure what that something was going to be. It had to be something that wasn’t already being done in children’s books, because I wanted How To Be Brave to be very different. I also wanted it to be funny and interesting and relatable for people to read about. For a while, I thought that Elizabeth might know a lot about mushrooms or nuclear physics, but I really wasn’t confident in making either of them work! I thought then about ducks and realised that I felt confident enough to write about them and that I could make it funny. And that was it! I’d found the right thing.
Lara: Did you go to boarding school when you were younger and if not did you want to?
DMJ: I didn’t! And also, I don’t think I really wanted to – I read a lot of classic boarding school stories and there was a lot of people almost drowning, falling off mountains, being lost in snow and sometimes doing all of this at the same time. It was all amazing to read about, but the thought of experiencing it in person was a little bit terrifying. Plus everybody in those books always had a cold shower first thing in the morning and that was NOT one of the things I wanted to experience.
Lara: What is your favourite biscuit and what is your favourite cake?
DMJ: Honestly, these are EXCELLENT questions! I am very fond of a pink wafer because if you need to, you can stack them up and make tiny pink wafer forts out of them. And for cake, I think it’s got to be either a cupcake with a substantial amount of icing on it – or a chocolate cake (with absolutely NO jam whatsoever…).
Lara: How did you come up with your characters especially Calla?
DMJ: I get a lot of inspiration from film. I’m always interested in the characters who are on the sidelines as the great dramatic event happens in front of them – the people who see Captain America run past, or watch Spiderman swing by. What are they thinking? What’s going on in their lives? What’s their story? And so with Calla, I kind of wanted to think about those girls who aren’t necessarily the big and dramatic characters in the world – they’re the quiet ones who are just trying to figure out how to survive…
Lara: What tips would you give to budding authors?
DMJ: It will take time and patience to become the writer that you’re destined to be so don’t ever give up. Tell the stories that you want to tell, tell them how you want to tell them, and make sure you believe in yourself every inch of the way.
Lara: Are you going to write a sequel? (I hope so)
DMJ: I am! Book two is called How To Be True and it’s all about Edie. And then, hopefully, there’s going to be another book after that (but we won’t spoil who that’s about just yet…).
Lara: I liked reading about Calla’s mum at the school, how important was this to the story?
DMJ: It was so important! I think it’s vital to present adults as real people, and to talk about how they’re just trying to figure things out as much as younger people are. It’s very easy to view adults as kind of two-dimensional characters who just magically pop into the world as adults and they’re not. Elizabeth’s time at school is vital because it helps her become the woman that she is – and that’s somebody who Calla loves very much.
Lara: What’s your favourite song?
DMJ: I LOVE A MUSICAL. Right now, I’m playing a lot of Six because it is everything! I will also stop everything to listen to Keala Settle sing ‘This Is Me’ from The Greatest Showman and Amber Riley singing ‘And I Am Telling You’ from Dreamgirls. I can also do a very convincing one woman rendition of Les Miserables – I’m not saying it’s musical but it is Quite Heartfelt.
Huge thank yous and high fives to Lara and Daisy May Johnson for such a fab author interview. Out July 1st, you can pre-order a copy of this stunner of a book here:
Hi my name is Lara and I’m nearly 9. My favourite things in the world are books, sloths, musicals, drawing – especially designing clothes and writing though I’ve never got past the beginning. My parents own The Book Nook which means I’m lucky enough to get sneak previews of many new books. My bedroom is overflowing with books though my life motto is ‘there’s no such thing as too many books’. I am a major fan of Harry Potter and I’m a Ravenclaw. Some of my favourite authors are Sophie Anderson, Maria Kunzar (The Ship of Shadows is one of the BEST books ever), Sophy Henn, Vashti Hardy and Jenny McLachlan.
Calla’s mum has never been normal. She’s been known to go out in a lab coat and slippers and often forgets to perform basic tasks because she’s been thinking about ducks. When a job offer arrives to study her beloved birds in the Amazon rainforest, Calla knows her mum has to go.
Nervously, she agrees to go to boarding school. She quickly learns that trouble is afoot in this odd convent school. A mean new headmistress is imposing horrible rules and making everyone eat Brussels sprout cake, and the students are itching to revolt.
As Calla makes new friends and gets drawn into their rebellious plot, she keeps waiting for her mum to call. She will, won’t she?
Exuberantly funny and brimming with heart, How to Be Brave is a riotous celebration of the power of resourceful girls, stories and the right biscuit at the right time.
Anna’s anxious when she’s picked to befriend the new girl in her class. For a start, Ellie is ill and can’t come to school herself. So Anna has to communicate with her through a new kind of robot.
But Anna is also worried that her life’s too small and boring to be of interest to her new friend. Compared to the other girls, she doesn’t have anything exciting to talk about and so when Ellie asks her a question, a little white lie pops out. Then another and another.
When Ellie finds out the truth, can their friendship survive …?
Inspired by a true story, a groundbreaking robot helps friendship blossom in this poignant and uplifting dyslexia-friendly novella from bestseller Lisa Thompson.
‘Harklights’, by Tim Tilley, is about an orphan named Wick and all of his adventures. At the start of the book, Wick longs to escape from his horrible orphanage, which is also a match factory in which he’s forced to work long hours and eat only porridge. When Wick finds a tiny baby in an acorn cradle, his whole world turns upside-down as he discovers the magical world of the Hobs. Wick has to try to intertwine his old life at the orphanage with his friends, and his new life exploring and helping the forest with the Hobs.
‘Harklights’ is a book that really pulls you in and is almost impossible to put down. You get so wrapped up in Wick’s story and really feel anxious for him and his friends. It has so many unexpected twists and turns that really take you by surprise! They make the whole read even more enjoyable and exciting, and make you want to read on and on.
The book also has a really important message about looking after our planet’s environment and stopping deforestation. Wick has to help protect the Hobs and their forest from the ‘monster’ that is eating it. This moral is more critical than ever before in our real world, and it adds a really great extra layer to the book.
Another thing I loved about ‘Harklights’ is the illustrations, also by Tim Tilley. In a way, they’re very simple pictures, made of layers of silhouettes. But I really liked this, because it meant I could fill in the details using my own imagination. I felt a bit like Wick, who has to use his imagination to picture what life is like outside of the factory.
Overall, ‘Harklights’ is an amazing book and I would definitely recommend it for children aged 8 and up, and even adults. If you’ve read and enjoyed JK Rowling’s ‘The Ickabog’ then you would absolutely love ‘Harklights.’ I hope Tim Tilley writes a follow-up book soon! ***** 5 stars!
Hi, I’m Evie and I live in Maidstone with my mum, dad and little sister, Freya. I’m 10 years old and my favourite things are reading, drawing, pandas and doughnuts! I’m the illustrator for my school book club newspaper, and I’m rarely found without a book in my hand – my absolute favourite is Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I’m not sure how many books I have read in my life but my favourites are all the Harry Potters and The cursed child – I loved it !!! , The boy at the back of the class, The star outside my window , Evie and the Animals.I’m so excited to be part of The Book Nook Review Crew and I can’t wait to get reading and reviewing! Love Evie x
“A charming fairytale adventure with an enduring ecological message.” Peter Bunzl, author of Cogheart
Wick has always lived in the dark and dreadful Harklights Match Factory and Orphanage, working tirelessly for greedy Old Ma Bogey. He only dreams of escaping, until one day a bird drops something impossible and magical at his feet – a tiny baby in an acorn cradle… As midnight chimes, Wick is visited by the Hobs, miniature protectors of the forest.
Grateful for the kindness shown to their stolen child, they offer Wick the chance of a lifetime – escape from Harklights and begin a new life with them in the wild… Winner of the Joan Aiken Future Classics Prize, Harklights is a magical story celebrating family, friendship and the natural world, filled with a message of hope for our times.
Calaena Sardothien has travelled to Wendlyn to locate the Immortal Queen Maeve of the fae, for her help in defeating the King of Adarlan. In Varese, the Prince Rowan takes her to the castle, where Queen Maeve names her price: Calaena is to train her magic and hone her skills, embracing her destiny as Aelin Ashryver Galathynius, almighty queen of Terassen. Meanwhile, Manon, leader of the Thirteen, member of the blackbeak witch clan is offered the chance to take to the skies once more, an offer made by none other than the King of Adarlan.
Overall, I would give this book ★★★★☆; the main story is well-written, plot twists have you on the edge of your seat, and the effort put into the writing of the characters really shows in this book. I finished this book in around a week or two and I couldn’t put it down. It was an effort every day to put in the bookmark. I gave this book four stars because, while it was a superb book, I still want to leave room for improvement.
Title: Heir of Fire Author: Sarah J. Maas Length: 484 Year published: 2014 Age: 13+ Book: #3 Reviewed by: Alex Kingston
Queen of Shadows
Calaena Sardothien is now Aelin Galathynius, queen of Terassen, and is back in Rifthold hunting down Arobynn Hamel, her former master; for he stole something of hers. And she wants it back…
Overall, I would give this book ★★★★★; every word was well thought out, and this made the excellent story all the more enticing. The plot was exciting and had me desperate for more. I thought that the book was over far too quickly, and the whole time I felt I was watching a film. I gave this book five stars because, I gave all the others four stars to leave room for improvement, but this book, I felt, deserved five stars
Title: Queen of Shadows Author: Sarah J. Maas Length: 648 pages Year published: 2015 Age: 13+ Book: #4 Reviewed by: Alex Kingston
To order head to https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/BookNookHove
About the book
The third instalment to the global #1 bestselling series. As the King of Adarlan’s Assassin, Celaena Sardothien is bound to serve the tyrant who slaughtered her dear friend. But she has vowed to make him pay.
The answers Celaena needs to destroy the king lie across the sea Wendlyn. And Chaol, Captain of the King’s Guard, has put his future in jeopardy to send her there. Yet as Celaena seeks her destiny in Wendlyn, a new threat is preparing to take to the skies.
Will Celaena find the strength not only to win her own battles, but to fight a war that could pit her loyalties to her own people against those she has grown to love?
This third novel in the THRONE OF GLASS sequence, from global #1 bestselling author Sarah J. Maas, is packed with more heart-stopping action, devastating drama and swoonsome romance, and introduces some fierce new heroines to love and hate.
Hi my name is Ozzy and I like reading. Some of my favourite books are The Dogman Collection, The Brownstone Family Collection and Roal Dhal books (I’m reading the BFG at the moment which is great!). I like chocolate, ice cream, dancing, playing ultimate tag and I like maths too! I love reading funny voices in stories and trying different accents, it’s fun! I have a little sister she is small and very funny😜she copies everything I do and it’s weird! I read books to her and she “reads” to me too.
Hi my name is Ozzy and I like reading. Some of my favourite books are The Dogman Collection, The Brownstone Family Collection and Roal Dhal books (I’m reading the BFG at the moment which is great!). I like chocolate, ice cream, dancing, playing ultimate tag and I like maths too! I love reading funny voices in stories and trying different accents, it’s fun! I have a little sister she is small and very funny😜she copies everything I do and it’s weird! I read books to her and she “reads” to me too.
About the book
Howl with laughter with the THIRD book in the hilarious full-colour, illustrated series, Dog Man, from the creator of Captain Underpants!
He was the best of dogs… He was the worst of dogs… It was the age of invention… It was the season of surprise… It was the eve of supa sadness… It was the dawn of hope…
Dog Man hasn’t always been a paws-itive addition to the police force. While he can muzzle miscreants, he tends to leave a slick of slobber in his wake! This time, Petey the cat’s dragged in a tiny bit of trouble — a double in the form of a super-cute kitten. Dog Man will have to work twice as hard to bust these furballs and remain top dog! Dav Pilkey’s wildly popular Dog Man series appeals to readers of all ages and explores universally positive themes, including: empathy, kindness, persistence, and the importance of being true to one’s self.
This book was definitely an interesting read. From the first line, I was hooked.
Olsberg created a character that you wanted to read more about without even knowing lots of things about him. The book explores the story of a young boy called Manuel who wakes up in a white room and doesn’t know where he is. As he investigates his life from inside the room, he discovers things that would turn his world upside down.
I would say that this book is for 14+, as it does delve quite deeply into some quite complex things. However, I very much enjoyed reading it and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys mystery or science fiction.
Hi, my name is Tegen and I am fourteen years old. I enjoy reading book genres like fantasy, crime and adventure. Some of my favourite authors are Holly Black, Alice Oseman, Stephen King and John Green. My other interests include playing chess, horse riding and writing. My favourite quote from a book is ‘that’s the thing about pain, it demands to be felt’ from the fault in our stars.’
About the book
A gripping YA sci-fi thriller perfect for fans of Ready Player One and The Maze Runner. A boy wakes to find himself locked in a white room. He has no memories, no idea who he is and no idea how he got there.
A computer-generated voice named Alice responds to his questions – through her, he is able to access the internet. He gradually pieces together his story – an abduction, a critical injury, snippets of his past … But how can the boy tell what’s real and what’s not? Who is he really? A gripping YA sci-fi thriller by German and Spiegel-bestselling author, Karl Olsberg.
The novel has sold 40,000 copies in Germany alone and been optioned for TV development by Netflix. Explores themes of virtual worlds, artificial intelligence, philosophy and identity.
