Ines's Reviews

Emily Sparkes and the Friendship Fiasco
By Ruth Fitzgerald

Published by: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
ISBN: 0349001820

Emily Sparkes thinks having your best friend move to Wales at the same time as your parents decide to have a new baby is probably more trauma than anyone should have to cope with. But things go from bad to worse when she's paired with revolting Gross-Out Gavin for the school trip! Emily is determined to escape him, and when glamorous new girl Chloe Clarke turns up it seems her prayers might be answered.

Unfortunately, everyone has gone Chloe Clarke mad and Emily finds her 'sworn enemy' Zuzanna has had the same idea. Getting and keeping Chloe as a friend proves a lot more troublesome than Emily anticipated and leads her into a whole new set of disasters . . . BUY IT ON AMAZON

 

Review: Emily's Mum is having a baby, and Emily's best friend has gone to live in Wales.  Regularly, Emily uses skype to contact Bella.  Bella is having a brilliant time, but Emily is not.  Emily's Mum has not thought of a name for her baby, but Emily secretly calls it Yoda, because she thinks the baby looks like this character from Star Wars.  Emily is going on a school trip with her class, but she has been partnered with Gross Out Gavin.  A new rich spoilt girl moves to Emily's school and Emily is trying to get her to be her best friend so she can partner her on the school trip, but Emily is in completion with Zuzanna. On the school trip the class find out about Tudor times, and at the end Emily does a brilliant shot in archery and this makes her popular.

I enjoyed reading this book because it was fun.  I liked the bits when Emily and Bella were meeting each other on skype, and Emily was worried that Bella would make new friends and leave her behind.    My favourite part is the cake contest.  Zuzannah threw the eggs on the floor because they were out of date, and that meant that the cake turned out hard and crusty.  The new girl buys a cake from a cafe, but she gets found out by the teachers, and so her team doesn't win the cake contest.  This book would be liked by girls age 9-12 because it is about girls aged 11 and their friendships.  I would give this book 4 and 1/2 stars out of 5.

Petbots: School Shutdown
By Judy Brown

Published by: Piccadilly Press Ltd
ISBN:1848124112

Archie the cat, Sparky the mouse and Flo the bird have found a new home in a school, and can't resist helping out by using their special robot skills. They have to do it in secret though, so none of the adults find out! When one of the children they have befriended accidentally causes a school computer to break, Archie promises to fix the problem. But soon Archie starts to behave strangely. What's got into him? It's almost as if his programing has gone haywire! The Petbots realise he has downloaded a virus, and it's up to Flo, Sparky and their new human friends to work out a cure before Archie shuts down for good! BUY IT ON AMAZON



Review: The Petbots master has become ill and the Petbots (robot animals) have settled in a school attic.  Three friends (children from the school) are determined to help, especially when Archie the catbot gets a nasty virus and the virus gets into the school's computer system.  Can Archie and the school computer system be be saved and the Petbot's hiding place remain hidden?

I really liked this book.  My favourite Petbot was Archie, because I like cats. I would recommend this book to children age 6-8 who like adventure stories with lots of suspense. There are lots of funny bits in this book. Overall I would give this book 4 stars out of 5.

Foxy Tales: The Road to Fame and Fortune 
By Caryl Hart and Alex J Smith

Published by: Hodder Children's Books
ISBN: 1444909320

Foxy DuBois is on a mission to get rich quick. Only one thing stands in her way - Alphonso the Alligator! Can Foxy's hair-brained schemes make enough money to keep Alphonso fed? Or will Foxy DuBois find herself on the menu? BUY IT ON AMAZON

 

 

Review: Foxy wants to shake off Alphonso the pesky alligator. Foxy wants to meet Ebenezer the film star but Alphonso keeps getting in the way. Will Foxy ever go on a date with Ebenezer or will Alphonso's big warty bum stop her?

This book only took me about 53 minutes to read. The pictures are funny but I think the characters could have been more imaginative. The story was not great. It was a bit young for me - more suitable for 5-7 year olds. I would give this book one star out of five.

The Palomino Pony Comes Home
By Olivia Tuffin

Published by: Hodder Children's Books
ISBN: 1444909320

Georgia is pony-mad, and she spends all her spare time at the local stables, mucking out and loving being with all the ponies. So when she stumbles upon a mistreated palomino pony in the Welsh hills, she knows what she has to do. Save her from her cruel owner and bring the palomino home. BUY IT ON AMAZON

 

 

Review: This book is about a girl called Georgia who loves ponies. She finds found a horse on a nature trip. The palomino called Lily is in danger - can Georgia and her friends save Lily? Georgia breaks her wrist.  The goodies faced the badies.

I like this book because I like ponies. This is a book about friends.  I liked the goodies but I didn't like the badies. I liked the story because there were good characters.

Shoutykid- How Harry Riddles Made a
Mega-Amazing Zombie Movie

By Simon Mayle

Published by: HarperCollinsChildren'sBooks
ISBN: 0007531885

Meet the funniest kid in fiction!

Hi there,

My name is Harry Riddles and I am ten years old which my mum says is too young to have problems but she is WRONG. My dad just lost his job, which means we might have to move house and I need money to make my mega-amazing zombie movie but there is NO WAY I will sell my X-box! I’ve written to the Queen, Harry Styles, and the people off Dragons’ Den who might be able help but I don’t know if they’ll write back. If you have any bright ideas for making money I’d love to hear them and I can tell you how to get past level 6 on World of Zombies if you like. BUY IT ON AMAZON

 

Review: This book is full of emails between Harry and his cousin Charlie as Harry writes a zombie movie. Harry's Dad made a film called Bad Monkey but he needs to sell another movie.  Harry agrees to help out on The Pumpernickel, the school play, so that he can spend time with Jessica. At the last minute there is Illness in the cast - will Harry save the day?

If you like Tom Gates books you might enjoy shouty kid. It took a while to get used to the email style. This book is very funny - especially the chapters about the school play and the emails from Harry to real people in the movies to help him and his Dad with their films.  I would give this book 3 stars out of 5.

Numbers (Brain-Busting Puzzles)
By Sarah Khan

Published by: QEB Publishing; Act edition 
ISBN: 1609926242

Number Puzzles will really test the reader's maths skills, including everything from simple number squares to punishing number patterns. Numbers (Brain-Busting Puzzles)BUY IT ON AMAZON

 

 

 

Review: This book has lots of good puzzles with different fun themes. Each one has a problem to solve and takes about 5 to 10 minutes. Some are harder than others.

I would recommend this for children 8 -11 years old. You need to know tricky times tables to do this - my Mum had to help me with some of them.  If you like doing maths puzzles you will love this - maths is my favourite subject. I would give this book 4 out of 5.

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