Monthly Archives: February 2017

Lie Kill Walk Away

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Lie Kill Walk Away by Matt Dickinson

Book of the Week: 26 February 2017

Matt Dickinson is the master of the short, sharp chapter that leaves the reader in suspense. Lie Kill Walk Away is told by alternating narrators, Becca and Joe, interspersed with audio transcript by a government bioweapons inspector.

Becca’s father is the bioweapons inspector and her mother is a virologist whose mental instability has resulted in her deserting her home and family. Joe is also motherless. His mother died of cancer, leaving him with just his dad and his beloved dog Shammy. Joe, unlike the high-achieving Becca, is in trouble with the law for his habit of creating illicit graffiti. When he is made to scrub his tag from a wall near a military hospital, and Becca is visiting her father, who is being treated there after an alleged suicide attempt, the two come in to contact and quickly get caught up in a frightening plot involving bioweapons, cults, terrorists and the government.

There is lots of fast-paced action, including some hair-raising chase sequences involving cars and motorbikes.

There is even an alternative ending to the book here. Just don’t be tempted to peep until you’ve read the whole book!

Why We Broke Up

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Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler (and art by Maira Kalman)

Book of the Week: 12 February 2017

It’s Valentine’s Day on Tuesday, so our book of the week is a romance.

If you are a John Green fan you are likely to enjoy this story of mis-matched couple Min and Ed told in similarly snappy dialogue with quirky characters and heartfelt emotion.

Min and Ed fall in love quickly, despite their being polar opposites. Min is described as ‘different’ and ‘arty’ although she regularly points out she can’t draw or paint. She loves old movies and wants to be a film director when she leaves school. Ed is the basketball-team star whom everyone wants to date and Min is as surprised as anyone when he returns her feelings.

Although we know from the beginning that their love affair is over, the suspense lies in finding out exactly how it happened. We discover how it happened by hearing the story from Min’s point of view as she returns a box of mementos to Ed’s doorstep, explaining the significance of each one and listing the reasons why their relationship didn’t work.

There is an interview with Daniel Handler (who also writes under the name of Lemony Snickett) here 

For more romantic reads, take a look at the current display in the School Library.

Liccle Bit

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Liccle Bit by Alex Wheatle

Book of the Week: 5 February 2017

Jerome, or Liccle Bit as he is nicknamed because of his lack of height, lives on the South Crongton estate with his hard-working Mum, Gran, sister Elaine and her baby son Lemar. It’s a tough neighbourhood, sometimes dominated by battles with the neighbouring North Crongton gang, but Jerome has his friends Jonah and McKay to hang out with, plus the attention of Venetia King, the hottest girl in school, who wants him to use his artistic talent to draw her portrait. He thinks his overcrowded home-life has its compensations until he is approached by chief gangster Manjaro, who also happens to be the father of his sister’s child. Elaine has tried to make sure Manjaro is out of her life but he wants contact with his baby son and is angling to get back in their lives by involving Jerome in running errands. When these errands stop seeming so harmless, Jerome is caught up in a world of serious crime and wonders how he can escape.

This is the first book in the Crongton series that feature the same characters. Alex Wheatle won the 2016 Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize for his second one, Crongton Knights and has a third, Straight Outta Crongton, due out in early April. If told with the same humour, convincing characters and setting as Liccle Bit, it’s sure to be a success.

If you enjoy this, you may like a more serious read written for adults, Pigeon English by Stephen Kelman, which is available from the School Library. It has a similar setting and story.