Children's Books > J Children's Books

Advantages: Fun and easy to read, colourful, beautiful illustrations
Disadvantages: Absolutely none!

As say the opening lines of this wonderful book: This is the tale of a tiny snail. And a great big, grey-blue humpback whale...... I think most people are aware of the Gruffalo, especially those with children, but for those who need a little introduction, The Gruffalo is the book which shot Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler to fame back in March 1999. Julia's beautiful, flowing words were accompanied by Axels stunning, colourful and exciting illustrations. ...
...Since then we have read the Gruffalo's Child and Monkey Puzzle. Both of which are wonderful, but, for me, The Snail & The Whale has clinched it. In this story, a brave little snail, very aware of his smallness, embarks on an adventure with a friendly, gentle whale. With each page you visit scary, beautiful, cold & sunny far off lands, until one day, the unthinkable happens, and the little snail must overcome his insecurities to help his friend. Julia ... Read review

Advantages: Gentle rhyming text
Disadvantages: none

Room on a Broom - Julia Donaldson Room on a Broom is another classic from Julia Donaldson, the author of 'The Gruffalo'. It is illustrated by Axel Sheffler with bright colourful illustrations that keep the pages turning. It is 24 pages long and is published by Macmillan for £5.99 This books just trips of the tongue with its gentle rhyming text. The friendly witch travels along on her broom and periodically loses items of clothing etc. They are found ...
...a ride on her broom. She graciously accepts them on her broom until disaster happens… Thankfully the animals she has made friends with on her journey have a cunning plan... As usual this is a very clever story that promotes strong values. It's a great story to read to children from three to about 7. My 3 year old would have this every night if given a choice. I like the fact that it is a friendly witch although on first glance I assumed that she ... Read review

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: Gripping, Easy to read, Really nice to read
Disadvantages: Some chapters are boring

...have been a fan of Harry potter since the first book, I read, that book but then had a rest and had not read any of the other Harry potter books. I just went to see the films, I went to see Harry potter and the order of the Pheonix film and Luna Lovegood being in that film made me such a big fan of Luna. I just wanted to see more of Luna so I went to read this book. I got a lot more than just my Luna lovegood, I also got a gripping adventure from ...
...visited by the wizard minister. Harry is left at his home at privet drive he is left thinking about what happened at Hogwarts in the those years like Harry usually does. Harry's looking though the papers and pondering on things like this little note he has from someone if what it says on the note will ever happen or maybe Harry is just dreaming, that is where the action starts this book has ever you would want in a Harry potter book magic, spells ... 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