The Racehorse Who Wouldn't Gallop

The Racehorse Wouldn't Gallop by Clare Balding
Illustrated by Tony Ross

Charlie loves horses. But, unfortunately, her family is running out of money. Soon they will have to sell their farm and all the animals. They can hardly buy milk, let alone a horse. Charlies dad can see that Charlie is sad, so he offers to take her to a horse show. During bidding for a reluctant racehorse, Charlie sees her friend across the ring and waves. The auctioneer views this as a bid for the horse, and suddenly Charlies family owns a racehorse. Can Charlie think of a plain to save her family, her farm and the horses. Derby day is just around the corner...

To start off, the plot works for every one, regardless if they are a boy or a girl, 5 or 50, horse lover or not. I loved the plot. The writing reminded me of David Walliams, and the fabulous illustrations helped that. My favourite character was Joe the farm hand turned jockey. I also liked how the book was based on Clare Balding's love of houses, and how she had experienced a lot of the horse related aspects of the book first hand.

I am going to give it 9/10
and an age rating of 7+

Word Nerd

Word Nerd by Susin Nielsen

When three school bullies try kill Ambrose, his mother decides to home school him. Ambrose finds himself getting insanely bored. Normally, when he is at home, he plays scrabble. But his mum has mum has to work and can't play.So when his upstairs neighbour's son, Cosmo, an ex-con, moves in, Ambrose see's it as a chance to make a new friend and play some scrabble. But his mum doesn't trust Cosmo. Can Ambrose keep this new friend a secret from his mum?

Word Nerd is from the author of We Are All Made Of Molecules and The Reluctant Journal of Henry. k. Larsen. Both of these books are amazing, and I wasn't expecting Word Nerd to be anywhere near as good. But I was surprised, as I could hardly put it down. It was well written, and I think first person suited it. I liked the characters and how unlikely there situation was. I think my favourite characters were Mr and Mrs E, Ambrose's upstairs neighbour. They were really funny. I liked the way there were quite a few things going on at the same time, such as Amelia and Cosmo ( A story in itself ) and Ambrose and Cosmo making friends.

I am going to give it a 10/10
and an age rating of 12+

The Subtle Knife

The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman
Second in the His Dark Materials series

Will is a young boy from Oxford. He has just killed a man, who had broken into his house. He is now on the run. Then Will sees something. A window to another world. He decides to go through, and his world is changed forever.
Lyra has come through the mist, from her world, to the same world as Will.
When they meet, Lyra finds out that her quest is to find Wills father, she gladly helps. But along the way, they encounter many things that could make their journey end in a fate worse than death. Will they find Will's father?

Such a good book. I was captivated right up till the last page. I liked the way there were two story lines going on at once, that of Lyra and Will, and that of Lee Scoresby. It is the second in a series, and I had read the first a long time ago, yet it was still great. I always love unique traits of books, and this ones was definitely the Daemons. I found myself feeling sorry for those who didn't have one (forgetting that I don't have one my self). My only criticism is that SO MANY PEOPLE DIE!!!!!!!!!!!! (it's quite a sad book)

I am going to give it a 9/10
and an age rating of 11+

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There Will Be Lies

There Will Be Lies by Nick Lake

   Shelby thinks her life is normal. She is homeschooled by her mum (On the days her mum doesn't work), does homework on the other days and on Friday she goes to the batting cages and the ice cream parlour. Shelby's mum is incredibly over protective. But Shelby doesn't mind. She does have reasons to be.
   But Shelby's life is literally knocked sideways, when she gets knocked over by a car. In the few seconds after her accident, she sees a coyote.

"There will be two lies, and then there will be Truth"

   The second Shelby is ready to leave hospital, her mum takes her away on a 'Road Trip'. But Shelby soon discovers not all is at it seems.

There will be lives is now probably one of my favourite books. After reading it, I just thought "Wow". Shelby is not your average person (I'm trying so hard for there to be no spoilers, so the writing may be slightly *thinks of the right word* wonky!?), and many people would have trouble writing from her point of view. But not Nick Lake, who made it seem entirely believable. An interesting fact is that, even though the book is set in america, Nick Lake is from England, and I didn't notice any slips (Although I'm not from America, so feel free to correct me in the comments if you are American and have read the book). There is a bit of something which can only be described as dual dimension. There are two dimensions in the book. This was the first time I have seen dual dimension (once again, if there is a technical name for it, tell me in the comments) and it was pulled off nicely. My only criticism is that I think portraying the as the Crone was harsh, as even though she did bad things, she still loved Shelby. You'll understand when you read the book.

I am going to give it a 9/10

and an age rating of 11+

Cogheart

Cogheart by Peter Bunzl

   When Lily's dad disappears in an airplane crash, everybody thinks he is dead. Lily is left in the care of the house keeper. But Lily finds her house keeper snooping around her dads study, talking about a perpetual motion machine, she realises not all is as it seems.
   At the same time, Robert, the clockmakers son, finds a wounded mechanimal (animal made out of cogs, you'll understand when you read the book) that was owned by Lily's father. He lies to it's hunters in order to save the machine. But then he delivers a message for it, befriends Lily and gets involved in the mystery.
   Can the two new friends find the perpetual motion machine, and Lily's father, before it's to late?

Cogheart  is a sort of Sci-fi Mystery story. It is set in the victorian era, yet there are robots far better than anything we have produced today. Despite being quite tricky to imagine, the book was really well written and believable. It didn't feel at all cliche, being different not only in plot, but also style of writing. As with a lot of the books it seams I read now-a-days, the book DID have a plot twist, one that I didn't expect in the slightest!

I am going to give it an 8/10
and an age rating of 10+