45+47 Stella Street and everything that happened

Author: Elizabeth Honey



When Auntie Lillie dies, the Phonies move into Auntie Lillie's house in 45 Stella Street. The Phonies, who are mean and nasty, send letters to the kind family in 47 Stella Street, complaining about their dog. Henni researches about money and, with Danielle, Frank, Zev and herself, chase the Phonies in the airport. She writes a journal, recording everything that happened.

The Children of the King

Author: Sonya Hartnett


Cecily and Jeremy Lockwood are living through a war in London. One day, Cecily's father tells her that Cecily, Jeremy and their mother are escaping to the countryside while Cecily's father stays in London. At first, Jeremy doesn't want to but his mother makes him go. Cecily, Jeremy and their mother stay at Heron Hall with their Uncle Peregrine. At the country station, Cecily takes home an evacuee called May Bright. At Heron Hall, May and Cecily make friends. Soon May discovers a ruined castle across from a river. May discovers a secret in it and shows Cecily. The girls ask Peregrine more questions about the castle and find out it's called Snow Castle. Peregrine tells the three children the story of Snow Castle. Then Jeremy runs away to do something to help the war in London. When he comes back 
he has his own story to tell.

The Midnight Zoo

Author: Sonya Hartnett

Andrej, Tomas and baby Wilma are three siblings running away from the war. They come across many wrecked towns but the most interesting town is the one with the zoo. Inside the zoo, a lioness, a wolf, chamois, lama, bear, seal, monkey, eagle, kangaroo and the boar are locked up in cages. The animals tell the siblings the story of Alice, the daughter of the zoo keeper who ran away. Andrej and Tomas give them food and help them escape.

I like the wolf, kangaroo and the chamois.

The Lump of Coal

Author: Lemony Snicket (Daniel Handler)



The lump of coal had always wanted to make great art, or at least be useful for people to cook meat on him. One day, a fake Santa Claus meets the lump of coal on the street and shows him a way to be useful. But the way he was meant to be useful failed and he finds himself being useful in a different way.

Breaking Stalin's Nose

Author: Eugene Yelchin

Sasha Zaichik has always wished to become Stalin's Young Pioneer. The night before he becomes a Pioneer his father unexpectedly is hauled off to prison. Sasha has always admired the great Stalin but when he holds the banner for a parade he makes a mistake, breaking the statue of Stalin, but he only broke one part of it, it's nose. When it's finally time to say he broke the nose, his classmate, Four Eyes takes the blame because his parents are in Lubyanka prison where he would be taken to. But what Four Eyes doesn't know is that his parents had already been executed.

In the end Sasha realises that he doesn't really want to be a Pioneer, he would rather see his father.

I like the picture of the nose smoking a pipe.
It looks like Gogol's character from his book The Nose.

Theodosia and the Eyes of Horus (Book 3)

    

Author: Robin Lorraine LaFevers

Sticky Will is taking Theo to a magic show featuring the great Awi Bubu. Theodosia realises that Awi Bubu is performing serious magic and she starts visiting him often. Meanwhile, Henry has come back for the spring holidays and accidentally discovers an ancient artifact that alchemists have been looking for for a long time. Soon many people are fighting for it, and Theodosia seems to right in the middle of it all.
The characters in this book are wonderfully mysterious. You never know who is and who isn't to be trusted. I recommend it to anyone who loves Lemony Snicket's writing or Egyptian mythology.

Theodosia and the Staff of Osiris (Book 2)

Author: Robin Lorraine LaFevers


Missing mummies are repeatedly being found at the Museum of Legends and Antiquities, Theodosia's fathers museum. Even worse, her father could be sent to jail with all the mummies around his museum. Theo must find what is attracting the mummies not only for her father but to stop the Serpents of Chaos from doing whatever they are up to.


I love Hieroglyphics!


                           This is a simplified version --->

Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos (Book 1)

Author: Robin Lorraine LaFevers


Theodosia Throckmorton is a girl with the talent of being able to sense a cursed artifact. One day, her mother arrives home with an artifact, the Heart of Egypt. Theodosia, her brother Henry and her pickpocket friend Sticky Will work together to return the Heart of Egypt to its original place before the Serpents of Chaos get it. 


This book is full of ancient Egyptian myths. I like the cat called Isis, who was named after the Egyptian goddess.


The illustrations were done by Yoko Tanaka who also illustrated Kate DiCamillo's The Magician's Elephant.

Lion Boy (Trilogy)

Author: Zizou Corder

Book 1: Lion Boy
Charlie Ashanti is an unordinary boy with the ability to speak to cats. When his parents disappear Charlie runs off in search of his parents. He finds himself on a floating circus with six homesick lions on board. He and the lions escape from the circus and Maccomo the lion-trainer to work together to find Charlie's parents and the home for the lions.

Book 2: The Chase
Charlie has promised to get the lions home but that's not all. Charlies parents have been kidnapped by the evil Rafi. Now Charlie has new friends to help him but new enemies are hunting him down.

Book 3: The Truth
Finally, the truth is revealed. Charlie and his friends finally take down the evil Corporacy and escapes the dreaded island. Many decisions are made and the truth is revealed to everyone.

My favourite character is Ninu, the chameleon who can speak many different languages including the animal languages such as whale and cat as well as computer language.

Wildwood

Author: Colin Meloy

When Prue's little brother, Mac, gets taken by crows into the Impassable Wilderness Prue and her classmate, Curtis, have to go into the wood to get Mac. They meet the Dowager Governess with her coyotes and the Bandit King with his bandits. Together they find Mac.


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The Graveyard Book

Author: Neil Gaiman

Nobody Owens, known as Bod lives in the graveyard.
The man Jack has killed all of Bods family but him. His friends Scarlett [a living human], Liza, and other graveyard folk help him hide.

The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: The Mysterious Howling (Book 1) & The Hidden Gallery (Book 2)

The Mysterious Howling (Book 1)                      The Hidden Gallery (Book 2)

Author: Maryrose Wood

Book 1: The Mysterious Howling
Penelope Lumley, a graduate from the Swanburne Academy for Poor Bright Females, has been hired as a governess for three children, Alexander, Beowulf and Cassiopeia. But Penelope has a surprise waiting for her at the grand Ashton Place. Alexander, Beowulf, and Cassiopeia have been brought up by wolves. The three Incorrigibles were found in the woods by Lord Frederick Ashton, master of Ashton Place, when he was hunting. Any normal governess would fail at taming three purely wild children. Luckily, Penelope is no normal governess. But at the christmas party planned near christmas, someone has secretly encouraged the children's wolfish habits. Who is behind it all?

Book 2: The Hidden Gallery
Penelope Lumley, a graduate from the Swanburne Academy for Poor Bright Females, has decided to take the newly tamed Incorrigibles to London so as to leave the maids to clean Ashton Place without getting in the way. As Penelope and the children see all of London's great sights, unexpected mysteries seem to pop up out of nowhere.

I love how the mysteries flow from one problem to the next in this series. The way that both the past of the Incorrigibles and Penelope's past are somehow linked really urges me on through this series. I recommend it to any Lemony Snicket fan.

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Today(7th Feb) is Charles Dickens' birthday!

His Dark Materials Trilogy: Northern Lights, Subtle Knife, Amber Spyglass

Book 1: Northern Lights
Book 2: The Subtle Knife
Book 3: The Amber Spyglass

Author: Philip Pullman


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The Puzzle Ring

Author: Kate Forsyth

When Hannah receives a letter she realizes that her family is cursed. With her friends, Donnovan Max and Scarlett she travels back in time to brake the curse.


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Into the Woods & Out of the Woods

Author: Lyn Gardner

Book 1: Into The Woods
Storm Eden is a young girl who likes making fire works. One day, she was given a pipe by her dying mother but didn't realise how much power it had in it. She and her sisters, Aurora and Anything work together to keep the pipe out of the nasty hands of Dr. DeWilde.


Book 2: Out Of The Woods
Storm Eden is invited to a fun fair with rides and sweets. But then Storm realises how dangerous the fair actually is and she's actually about to be captured by Belladonna who also wants the pipe.

A Series of Unfortunate Events

Book 1: The Bad Beginning
Book 2: The Reptile Room
Book 3: The Wide Window
Book 4: The Miserable Mill
Book 5: The Austere Academy
Book 6: The Ersatz Elevator
Book 7: The Vile Village
Book 8: The Hostile Hospital
Book 9: The Carnivorous Carnivals
Book 10: The Slippery Slope
Book 11: The Grim Grotto
Book 12: The Penultimate Peril
Book 13: The End


Author: Lemony Snicket


Book 1
Violet, Klaus and Sunny Baudelaires parents have died in a fire. The siblings have to go and live with the terrifying Count Olaf. Olaf plans to take over the Baudelaire fortune that the Baudelaire parents had left behind.

Book 2
The Baudelaires have gone to live with Uncle Monty, a reptile collector. Just when everything was going well, Olaf arrives, disguised. Just as the Baudelaires proved to Mr. Poe about Olaf, he escaped.

Book 3
The siblings have gone to stay with Aunt Josephine, a person afraid of almost everything. again, Olaf has tracked them down, disguised as Captain Sham and once again Olaf gets away.


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The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner's Dilemma

Author: Trenton Lee Stewart

When the entire city of Stonetown strangely blacks out, all four members of the Society are lead into a trap, set up by Mr. Curtain. Captured by the Ten Men, the children are kept prisoners in an unknown destination with no hope of escape. How will they be able to contact Mr. Benedict about his brother's new plan?

As the third and final novel in the series, The Prisoner's Dilemma was a great finale. I highly recommend this series to readers aged 8-12 that love puzzles.

The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey

Author: Trenton Lee Stewart

In the second book of the Mysterious Benedict Society series, the older children of the Society gather at Kate's farm, where together they plan to drive to Stonetown, where they will meet with Constance and Mr. Benedict, who has planned an adventure for the Society to celebrate their defeating of Mr. Curtain. But when the children arrive, Mr. Benedict is gone. Desperate to get him back, the children embark on a journey following the clues that Benedict left for them. But how will four children all by themselves manage to reach Mr. Benedict with Ten Men and other dangers following them everywhere they go?

Though the second book was a great read, like many series', I found that I much preferred the first book. However, The Perilous Journey was still a great book and the author did a great job of continuing the story without repeating himself.

The Mysterious Benedict Society

Author: Trenton Lee Stewart

When a mysterious advertisement appears in the newspaper, dozens of children take part in a mind-bending test to see what "special opportunities" await them if they pass. Among the children, Reynard Muldoon completes the first test and moves on to the next stages, where he meets Sticky, Kate and Constance. The children are instructed to take part in a secret mission at the Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened (LIVE). The children soon discover that LIVE holds many dangers, and it's their job to see who's behind it all...

The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart was a great book. The author creates marvellous characters and keeps the story going with all sorts of twists and turns that never fail to surprise me. Recommended for anyone who likes mysteries, puzzles and riddles.