Otherworld

Posted on January 28, 2018 by Mrs Watts

Otherworld by Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller

Book of the Week: 28 January 2018

Cover design not credited.

Simon’s family are wealthy enough for him to be able to afford the latest headset needed to play a brand-new virtual reality game, although Simon stole his mother’s Amex card to buy it, but they generally pay him very little attention. He is much closer to his friend Kat who has a house in the woods behind his family mansion. They have hung out together for the last ten years but now Simon is eighteen he has fallen in love with his childhood friend. The problem is, she is no longer speaking to him. When Kat falls into a coma after an accident, the the tech company who produced Otherworld, the game Simon has been playing, plug her into their virtual world. Simon feels something isn’t right, so manages to trick his way in to Otherworld to search for her. His suspicions prove accurate when he encounters hordes of dangerous creatures and the sinister aims behind the game.

Ready Player One still reigns supreme in the world of game-based fiction, but if you like to get immersed in virtual worlds, then it is worth a read. A sequel is due out later this year and yes, Jason Segel is the actor from How I Met Your Mother.

More suited to older readers due to some violent scenes and strong language.

Thornhill

Posted on January 21, 2018 by Mrs Watts

Thornhill by Pam Smy

Book of the Week: 21 January 2018

It’s March 2017 and Ella has moved to a new house. Her bedroom overlooks a large Victorian building surrounded by a garden that has turned into a jungle. She glimpses a girl through the barbed wire that keeps out trespassers and decides to investigate. Back in the 1980s, Mary is being bullied in the children’s home by an un-named girl and is despondent that most of the adults who work at Thornhill don’t seem to notice what is going on. Mary takes refuge in refusing to talk and spends a lot of time making puppets in her room. She tells her story in the form of a diary which is interspersed with Ella’s story told completely in black and white illustrations.

This wonderfully designed book, with its black-edged pages and alternating text and illustrations interleaved with solid black pages, is creepy and unsettling and casts an unflinching eye on loneliness and bullying. It has echoes of Jane Eyre and The Secret Garden and would be enjoyed by fans of Neil Gaiman’s Coraline and The Ocean at the End of the Lane.

Thornhill – written and illustrated by Pam Smy

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All the Things That Could Go Wrong

Posted on January 14, 2018 by Mrs Watts

All the Things That Could Go Wrong by Stewart Foster

Book of the Week: 14 January 2018

Cover design by Leo Nickolls

Alex is worried. Tomorrow’s school trip is to an aquarium. The glass might crack, the fish will die and everyone on the trip will drown. If he doesn’t go, he will feel guilty about not drowning with his classmates. Dan, who is also on the trip, only wants to know if the shark in the tank will bite people, tear them apart and spill blood everywhere like in Jaws.

Alex has OCD and finds it a challenge to get through the school day. He is also being bullied by Dan. Unlike many books that feature bullying, Stewart Foster’s shows what life is like for the bully, as well as those who are their victims and tells the story through the eyes of both boys. Neither of them likes the suggestion from their mums that they work on building a raft together in the holidays. Dan started it with his older brother who is no longer on the scene. It’s a project that is not destined to go smoothly.

If you enjoyed Stewart Foster’s previous book, The Bubble Boy, then you will like this. Year 8 who did the Warwickshire Book Award last year will remember his entertaining talk at the award event in Warwick.

Photo: L. Watts

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The Explorer

Posted on January 7, 2018 by Mrs Watts

The Explorer by Katherine Rundell

Book of the Week: 7 January 2018

Cover illustration by Hannah Horn

Happy New Year!

Our first book of the week for 2018 recently won the Costa Children’s Book Award.

Fred, Con (short for Constantia), Lila and her five-year-old brother Max are being flown towards Manaus, the biggest city in the Amazon rainforest, when the pilot of their small plane falls ill. The plane crashes into the jungle, the pilot is killed and the four children have to survive in the wet heat, which is alive with snakes, spiders, piranah and caiman (a type of alligator). Will they be able to build a raft, find things to eat and follow the river back to Manaus, or will terror get the better of them?

Despite the life-threatening situation and some grisly descriptions of what they have to do to survive, there are frequent laughs throughout the book and a constant sense of the wonder of nature and the resilience of the human spirit.

If you enjoy a good survival story, then here are some more suggestions.