This book is the starting book to the amazing Edge Chronicles, an amazing series written by Paul Stewart and beautifully illustrated by Chris Riddel.

Twig (a misplaced human boy who's being raised by wood trolls) gets a hint of his true heritage, sheds his Deepwoods upbringing, and does the unthinkable: he strays from the path. Alone for the first time and surviving by his wits, Twig must surmount all manner of perils to pursue a destiny that is whisperingly, mysteriously promised to him "beyond the Deepwoods."

I like the fact that you never know what will happen next.  My only dislike is that once you have read it reading it again is a bit boring.

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Cavan Walker  8MIB recommends

Sabriel is about a young girl who has the ability to freely move between Life and Death and bring dead things back to Life. As she and her Father can do this they are called Abhorsens (well her father anyway) and because her Father is now trapped in Death she takes on the role of Abhorsen and must take on the perilous journey into Death to bring his Spirit back and defeat the immortal Greater Dead creature Kerrigor.

It is a good book and keeps you on the edge but is maybe in some places a bit drawn-out. Nevertheless an excellent read.

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Jennifer Minnett 7CNJ recommends

I like how this book is about real life situations. Also because I like this author!

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Jennie Minnett 7CNJ recommends

This book is about Anne Frank's life as she grew up and going through her life in hiding and in prison camp. Also it takes quotes from her diary.

I like this book because it's interesting but did get a bit boring at the start but not for very long.

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Chloe Robertson 8MIB recommends

It's about girls and what it's like being one and stuff like that.

It's absolutely brilliant. There are tears but a happy ending. This book is mainly for girls but if boys want to read it too go ahead - you might enjoy it more than girls.

Frank grows up in Ireland; his dad's a drunk, his mum begs and every one he loves dies

I like that there are people out there who can relate to this kind of life.

It's about a girl called Mandy who gets bullied and then she meets a girl called Tanya and she sorts it all out.  Then Tanya leaves and they never see each other again

I liked Everything!

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Laura Hunter 8SMU and Shelley 8CH recommend

A Jewish man called Benjamin smuggles Jewish children over the border into Spain from France in the second world war. A boy called Joe finds out and helps him along with his Grandfather.

I like it because it is realistic but it is quite sad in parts.

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Helen Abbott 8ECH recommends

Secret Heart is all about a young boy named Joe Maloney.  Every night he has a dream about a tiger coming to get him.  One day a circus comes to town.  Coming with the circus is a young girl named Corinna.  She and her master, Hackensmidt, have been looking for Joe with the tiger. Every night when Joe has his dream, the tiger comes to get him. It walks into his room, puts its front feet onto his bed, licks his face, opens his jaws, starts to try eating him and then suddenly a voice whispers 'Tiger, tiger, tiger'.  When the tiger hears this, it runs away.  Joe gets out of bed and goes to the window.  He looks both ways and one way there's a small alley. In the alley, there's a tall, dark shadow calling the tiger. The tiger gets to him and they both walk away. The strange thing is that most of it happens when the circus comes to town.  (Helen gave more details, but you need to read it yourself!  Or ask Helen!)

I liked the way the author explained all about Joe's dream and the tiger. He has made it clear what Joe is going through in his dreams and also why Hackensmidt has been looking for him so much.

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Natalie Hudson 8CH recommends

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Hannah Jordan 8JLS recommends

A comedy book about the life of a school inspector in the Yorkshire Dales. A funny read, with Gervase showing the humour of the adults and children that he meets. a book to read at any time not just for holidays. The book is set in the present day.

Funny characters and comical scenes that you would never think would happen.

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Danielle:  There are some girls who have a sleepover club and they sleep at each other's houses. There are two girls - Chloe and Daisy - who don't get on and they fall out.

Lydia:  Five girls had a club called Sleepover Club and they all used to sleep at one another's houses. There were two girls who didn't get on very well and they were called Chloe and Daisy.

Danielle & Lydia:  They all made friends at the end.

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After the death of her parents, Miss Mary Lennox is brought back from India as a forlorn and unwanted child to live in her uncle's great lonely house on the moors.  She is miserable and disagreeable, until the wonderful day she discovers a hidden door to a mysterious secret garden.

I like the way the author keeps the suspense about what happens once Mary's in the garden.  I also like the way things and actions are described.

Holes is a book about a young boy named Stanley Yelnats.  Stanley is sent to Camp Green Lake for 18 months because he was accused of stealing a pair of Clive Livingston's shoes. Clive Livingston is a famous baseball player and everyone calls him Sweet Feet.

Stanley's family had a curse put on it many years before Stanley was even born. Now everywhere he goes he always seems to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

When Stanley arrives at Camp Green Lake, he soon discovers that the Warden is looking for something.  He and his new friend, Zero, then dig up what she is looking for. The Warden says to Stanley's counselor that he stole it from her cabin, but Zero tells her that it has his name on it, which it does.  (Helen added more, but it might spoil the story for you!)

I like the way Stanley slowly uncovers his family curse and the way the author has made Stanley and Zero's journey up God's Thumb realistic and exciting.

Trisha Devlin 8DF recommends

Bad Girls is about a girl called Mandy who makes friends with a girl called Tanya and they become best friends but Mandy's mum doesn't like her hanging around with Tanya, but Tanya is a great friend to Mandy because she is getting picked on by a group of girls and Tanya sticks up for her. In the end ... (Trisha added more but it might spoil the story for you!)

I like this book because it is something that could happen in real life. I don't have any dislikes.

http://www.kidsatrandomhouse.co.uk/jacquelinewilson/

Hannah Lowthion  8 ECH recommends 

This book is about a girl called Verity and her cat. Her mum died when she was young and she lives with her gran and dad. One day her cat is really sick and she shouts at her cat and puts it outside. The next day the cat didn't come home and she gets very worried.  Her dad puts posters all round the neighbourhood.  The next day at school they are starting a new topic - Ancient Eygpt.  They talk about mummifying cats and people.  When she gets home she finds Mabel her cat in the bottom of the wardrobe and she mummifies it.  She gets really upset but doesn't tell her dad.  On day when her teacher comes round she won't get changed out of her school clothes because they are all in the wardrobe.  Her gran goes storming upstairs and finds the cat in the wardrobe...

It didn't like it when she mummified the cat and her mum dies.

http://www.kidsatrandomhouse.co.uk/jacquelinewilson/

Helen Abbott 8ECH recommends

Goodnight Mr Tom is about an old man named Tom Oaks and a young boy named William. The story is set in the time of the war. William is an evacuee that has been sent to a small county village to live with someone else while the war is happening in London. Tom is chosen to look after him for a few months or more. Tom and William don't get on for a while and soon Tom finds out why. William's mother has got a leather belt. Every time she thinks William does something bad, she beats him with it. She has packed it into his suitcase and written a letter to tell the guardian -Tom - why she has put it there and what it is for. Tom is angry with her inside himself so he goes to the window and throws it into his vegetable patch.  After a few days William starts school.  He meets some new friends there. There are two girls and two boys. One of the boys is called Zack and he is Jewish. William's mother had always said that the Jews were cursed and that William was to stay well away from them but William liked Zack and they soon became best friends.  In the end William has to go back to London because his mum has sent for him. Things get even worse and she locks him in the understairs cupboard.  She also ties him to the water pipe. Tom gets suspicious and goes to London looking for him.  (Michelle wrote more, but it might spoil the story for you!)

I liked the way Michelle Magonan has told us about the war and what it was really like to be living in those days.

George and Harold write comic books to sell in the playground when one day it all went horribly wrong when they turned their teacher into Captain Underpants (their cartoon character) and a toilet grows arms and legs and goes on a rampage. Is it too much for George and Harold?

I like the comic strips that are at the beginning

Stephen Broadbridge 7NJE recommends

On Thursday lunchtime the earth gets unexpectedly demolished to make way for a new hyperspace bypass.  For Arthur Dent, who has only just had his house demolished that morning, this seems already to be more than he can cope with.  Sadly, however, the weekend has only just begun, and the galaxy is a very strange and startling place.

I like it because in every chapter has action in.

History with the nasty bits left in!  The Ruthless Romans reveals the grim truth behind the greatest empire of all time - from the terrible twins who founded Rome to the evil emperors who founded Rome.

It tells you a lot of useful stuff and the best part is you don't even realise you are learning.

Melissa Watson 7NJE recommends

He was cold and shaking all over.  He closed his hands into his fists so his fingernails were digging into his palms but he couldn't stop the shaking.  People say Joe's new house is haunted. Every night, he looks for a shadow on the attic stairs. Sometimes he thinks he can see it, sometimes he knows he can't. He tells himself that he isn't scared and wishes he could get the idea that it is evil out of his mind.but he never suspects that something much worse than seeing a strange shadow is about to happen.

I like the part when Joe puts a tape in his dad's girlfriend's bed room and plays it and she gets scared.

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About a girl who lives with her mum in a camper van.  Her mum is an artist and the van is beautifully colourful!  Rain has never been to school and eventually goes - not her best experience!  In the end she meets her dad for the first time.

I love it all - it is so cool and really good for teenagers!

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Ruth Tildesley  9EJ recommends

About four young girls all of whom live with their mum. Their mum is pregnant and says she is expecting a boy because that has been her dream after having four girls but what really turns out is.......

It is a really heartbreaking book at times, but it is really cool and enjoyable!

http://www.kidsatrandomhouse.co.uk/jacquelinewilson/

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Dominic Edmondson 8MIB recommends

This book is about a boy and a key but he isn't meant to have this key.  And the ghosts that gave it to him want it back so they will do anything to get it back. This story is a magical story with adventure.

I think it is quite complicated but apart from that it's a great book!

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Angela Chappelhow  8JOG recommends

Lola Rose is about a girl called Janey who lives with her family. But her father abuses Janey's mum. Then one day he hits Janey really badly so they run away. They move in to a really old grotty flat. All they have is the lottery money Janey's mum won on a scratch card. But they soon run out of it and have nothing. Then Janey's mum gets ill and has to go into hospital for quite a while. Janey has to look after her little brother but she struggles for money. So she rings her Aunt Barbara up whom she has not seen since she was 2 years old. She comes and looks after them. Janey's dad also comes back but soon goes away. Finally Janey's mum is better and then they go and live with their Aunt Barbara.

I really liked this book.  It was really good.  There were no dislikes at all.

http://www.kidsatrandomhouse.co.uk/jacquelinewilson/

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Gavin Cartmel 8JOG recommends

About an Austrian family who were split up during the war.  It tells how the children survived this period in their lives.  Do they ever get to their grand parents' house in Poland? Do they make it?  Read on.

It was interesting and made me want to read on all the time.

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Charlotte's Web is the story of a girl who loves animals.  She would do anything to save Wilbur.  After Wilbur wins a Nobel prize, it changes his life forever, rom being one fat pig to the best pig in the country.

I like the book as it's about animals and it's a great book to read.  I don't have any dislikes.

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Tasha 8mib recommends

Tracy is a normal 10 year old girl, who happens to live in a care home which she calls the dumping ground.  Read the book to find out what exciting adventures Tracy gets up to! Trust me, you will enjoy it!

I like it because the storyline is really exciting and I couldn't resist reading the whole book!

http://www.kidsatrandomhouse.co.uk/jacquelinewilson/

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Leah:  A boy telling his life story from when he was little and played in the woods with his brother and his friend Molly.  When the war starts the boys must go to fight.  Many things happen but the last story line is the fate of his brother Charlie.

It was adventurous.

Stuart: It's about a soldier called Tommo who looks back on his child hood and his brother gets shot because he is a deserter.

It was a really good book that was quite emotional.  But it was quite hard.

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Emily Barnes 8jls recommends

This is a book about a girl who has a special gift.  She is a meditator which means she can see ghosts and she can also talk to them.   Her task is to send these ghosts to where they need to go.  There are many things that Susannah has to do before she can do this.  Like sort out her love life.

There are about 5 different books , and they all follow on from the one before.

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A secret that has to live forever has almost been destroyed.  All that was left by the corpse of the only remaining man that has this knowledge is a series of codes that mysteriously lead to Leonardo Da Vinci's masterpieces.  Who can solve these codes and discover an almost forgotten secret?

I never realised all the secrets behind Da Vinci's work and how that affects the church.  Stories are concealed in the paintings that show how the church covered up vital parts in history and how most of The Bible is a lie.  It seemed to tell the truth and you realised that what you used to believe in wasn't true.  (This is the kind of helpful comment I'm hoping for!!)

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Aaron Morrissey 7nje recommends

There used to be a gallows here: now there is a house.  But the past cast a shadow and day by day it is getting longer.  The house is from the past when they used to hang people.

It's got a good imagination of what happened there and how they killed people back then.

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Lauren de Klerk  7NJE recommends

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Sarah Mulheron 8pnb & Laura Bulmer 8JLS recommend

Sarah: One night as Montmorency was running from the police he fell down a sky light to almost certain death but he survived.  Montmorency leads a double life as Montmorency the good guy and Scaper the bad guy, who steals from the rich.  As Montmorency he acts good and kind but as Scarper he goes through the sewers at night, because that is how he gets around when he steals stuff.  Getting to the end of the book he gets an important job.

I like how Montmorency leads the double life because no-one knows about him.

Laura:  It's about a man who is a thief and he gets put in a jail and while he's in jail he makes a plot for his great burglaries and he sets out to escape from prison.  When he is out he gets an apprentice to help him.

The only thing I liked about the book was the fact that it was set in the early 1900's. The book was okay.

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It's based on the siege of Troy, but it's about two sisters who fall in love with the same guy.

It's good to read.  (Comments should be more helpful than this.)

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A very good book, based on a cross dresser! A funny book about an army of women and some very good twists.

I like all the twists

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Its about two boys that get kidnapped by a man and women but eventually they get away.

The plot  (Not very helpful review, eh?!)

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This is a true story about an unwanted Chinese child and the problems this child went through. Adeline's mother died three days after she was born which brought shame on the whole family.

I think it is amazing to read about the life of a child in a different country.  The problems the Chinese have with the Communists trying to take over China.

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A young lawyer starts to work for a firm. But mysterious things happen and millions of dollars get sent to the Cayman Island.  Mitch knows something is wrong.  With the help of the FBI Mitch tries to prove that the Firm's main client is the mafia.  But can he prove it in time?

It was a new field of reading. You kept guessing the ending and when the ending did come it turned out so different from what you thought it would be. Great.

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Michael Kenyon 9EJ recommends

The book is an autobiography by Lance Armstrong who is a road biker.  It is basically about his recovery from cancer to win the Tour de France (which is a big race) 5 times in a row.

I liked it because it inspires you.

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Marcus Angel 8PNB recommends

Alex Rider is a fourteen-year-old-boy.  He is sent on a mission in the French Alps to save the world.  Evil Dr Grief and her assistant Mrs Stellenbosch run the school - Point Blanc. Only rich children can go to Point Blanc so Alex has to pretend to be Alex's Friend - son of billionaire Mr David Friend.  Dr Grief tries to kill Alex as he refuses to be cloned like the other boys at the school to become the same as Dr Grief.  16 Dr Griefs.  Not good for the world....

I like that Alex is a spy and he always gets away with anything - a bit like James Bond.

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England is flooding and Norwich is an island.  The last boats sent to help them were last seen a year by. Zoe is one of them that has been left.  She steals food and finds a boat.  Then she sets sail to the main land but instead she ends up on the island of Eels where she finds out her boat is what someone has been waiting for.

I liked the characters some are very interesting others are intriguing as they have funny names.  I think that there should be a sequel.

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Jess Tweedie 8 JLS recommends

The sheep farmers say there's a killer dog on the loose. The children think it must be a monster. The people of Haverston are too devastated by the the loss of their jobs to care.  But Bill Coward reckons he's seen the beast and is determined to track it down......

It was good. And not too long.

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Melissa Brennand 8mib recommends

When Sam Madison is made to attend art classes she thinks its the worst thing in the world - the only good thing is a cute boy who goes.  While waiting to be picked up Sam saves the life of the president and her life changes for ever - and you'll never guess who's the president's son!!  The cute boy.  But will Sam confess the feelings she has for this boy???

Its' a hilarious read which makes you want to read

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Tim Muller  8JOG recommends

Philosophies of sword fighting, weapon design, body mechanics, fight sequences

It's the result of 30 years research into historical European combat.  I have no dislikes

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The book is all about the life and happenings of Roald Dahl's life, in which he goes to boarding school and the tricks he plays on the sweet shop owner, Mrs.Pratchett.  Secondly how he fights in the second world war and how he nearly gets a job in Egypt.

I like the bit when he puts a mouse in the sweet jar and he thinks he's killed Mrs.Pratchett.

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There is a Viking who finds a family who are called the Ellis.  They have a son called Dan and he is too much trouble so they send him to school.

 It is funny.  The characters are very good for the parts they play

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Tracy Beaker is a girl in care. .She starts getting sick of it so she gets dares from strangers which lead her to their den and they get up to all sorts

I  like this book because it makes u laugh: once u start u don't want to put it down!

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It is about two people who are best friends called Simon and David. They get a letter from school saying that they are going to a castle. They get scared because there is a bully going on the trip who always bullies them.  When they are at the castle they walk into a trap in a cave and are there for an hour.  You will have to read the book to find out what happens to them.

 It's good and it's good if you like to be scared.

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There's a girl called Ellie and she has 3 friends called Nadine and Magda.  It is there first day in year 9 and on the way to school Ellie sees a boy who she thinks fit but doesn't actually know him.  Then when she sees her friends Nadine says she has a boyfriend called Liam but because Ellie gets jealous she says she goes out with the boy seen on the way to school but says his name is Dan. Then she starts to unravel the truth because her friends get suspicious about her having a boyfriend.

I really like this book: I think that it is one of the best Jacqueline Wilson books that I have read.

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Andy Muir 7nje recommends

It's about a young boy called Frito Bugger and his best friend Spam. They have to take the ring to Fordor. They meet up with Arrowroot the Ranger, Legolam, Gimlet and last but not the least Goodgulf.

I like the whole book because its rude, funny and sometimes just stupid

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Their is a baby who gets born and his mam and dad don't know that he is going to be a superhero. They find out that he is a hero because he saves a man from a fire and then his mam and dad find out that he is a hero.

I like the book because it is funny. I don't like parts of the book because it isn't very good at some parts.

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The book is about a boy who went to visit a freak show but whilst there he nicked one of the actor's pet spider and took it home.  A few days later it bit his best mate so then he had to go back to ask the actor for help.  In return he had to become a half vampire and travel around the world as the actor's assistant. The actor was a vampire. The book tells you all about his life as a half vampire, and him as the vampire's assistant.  He comes across good and bad things.

I liked this book because it was quite easy to understand and easy to follow. It was full of exciting adventures that the boy goes on.

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Lyra and Will come back and have another adventure. Where's Will's daemon and is the Subtle knife broken forever?

The suspense

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The book is about a girl called Andy and her mum and dad have just got divorced but she doesn't know whom to live with so she decides to live with her mum one week and her dad another week.  There are some people that she doesn't like living with though like her new step-dad and her new step-brothers and sisters.

I like it because It is funny and easy to understand. I didnt like it because there was some hard words in it.

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