Children's Books > B Children's Books

Advantages: Fabulous description, amazing imaginative worlds, likable chacters, believable [almost] setting...
Disadvantages: Deaths at beginning were a little blunt and rushed, development of villan could have been better...

...Exodus is a magical, truly entracing novel telling a tale that explores a frighteningly believable future of our world... Mara lives on one of the only remaining land masses in our world, an island called Wing, somewhere over what we know as Scotland, but is a forgotten land in Mara's time. But her island is slowly swallowed by the sea, and the islanders' only hope is to travel on, following rumours of new cities, rising out of the sea to touch ...
...for me, the reason that Exodus is such an extraordinary book. From the simple, pleasant life on Wing, we are plunged into the dark depths of the Netherworld, and then whisked up to New Mungo, the world of the future. But far from being a tacky attempt at time-travel, Bertagna takes a refreshing, original, and most important of all, believable take on where our future generations are living. In both Noospace [a computer dimension accessible by the ... Read review

Advantages: Excellent, hard-to-put-down reading
Disadvantages: None!

...in a series of four, Noughts and Crosses has two different classes of characters. One group are the noughts, who are white, and are treated by Crosses as inferior. Crosses have more money, better education and better healthcare than noughts, and are the ruling class in society. Callum McGregor is a nought. Sephy Hadley is a Cross, and she is the daughter or the Deputy Prime Minister. Callum and Sephy have been friends for many years, but pressure ...
...in, which was equality between noughts and Crosses. He joins the Liberation Militia, a group of "freedom fighters" who use political terrorism to achieve their goals. The story starts at the Hadley's house, a few years before the main plot. Young children Sephy and Callum are playing happily in the garden, seemingly immune to the bitter and hate-filled world around them. Meggie McGregor works for Jasmine Hadley, but is fired from her job when she ... Read review

Advantages: easy to read
Disadvantages: sad, historical inaccuracies

...that it was worth all the hype surrounding it. The book, which is set during World War II, tells the story of Bruno, a 9 year old German boy, who is dismayed when he has to leave his home in Berlin to move to 'Out-With', where his father has been given a job by the 'Fury'. Bruno does not understand why there is a huge fence at Out-With, behind which 100s of people in striped pyjamas live, who he is not allowed to associate with. However, Bruno ...
...only end in disaster. The book is told from the point of view of Bruno, so it is easy for adults to see past his naive views of the world, and sense impending doom, where Bruno is unable to see it. One thing that did bother me about the writing was that Bruno's mis-understanding and mis-pronouncing of words such as Out-With and the Fury, would not actually in the language in which Bruno would be speaking, i.e., German; they work in English only, ... Read review

Advantages: Easy reading, enhances imagination
Disadvantages: none!

Join in the adventures of Dick, Bessie and Jo when they move to a new house with an enchanted wood at the bottom of their garden!! As they explore though the trees that whisper "wisha-wisha-wisha", they come across an incredibly tall tree in the middle of the wood which houses all sorts of unlikely fairy folk and has different fruits they higher you climb! Main characters include Moonface, Silky the fairy and the Saucepan Man who clatters wherever ...
...into a different land that stays for a few days or even a week. Will it be The Land of Spells? Or The Land of Parties? Or...*shudder*...The Land of Witches? And will they always get back to the ladder in time before the land moves on? A fantastic read! ... Read review

Advantages: Enid Blyton
Disadvantages: old English language used. i.e. the use of "shillings" etc.

...classmates in their adventures at Mallory Towers each term by reading these marvellous stories created by Enid Blyton. From midnight feasts to playing tricks on the ever-unsuspecting and hot-tempered "Mam'zelle" and moonlit swims, each page holds a giggle and makes the imagination come alive. I would say the books are best aimed for children aged 7 years to 11 years, although if you find yourself buying this, you will most likely find yourself reading ... Read review