My Shelfari Bookshelf

Shelfari: Book reviews on your book blog

Thursday 31 May 2012

The Pasta Detectives


The discovery of a piece of pasta on the pavement outside the block of flats where he lives, gets Rico involved in some very strange goings-on.  When he tries to find out where the pasta came from, he meets the new neighbour in the 4th floor flat, and discovers more about the other people who live in the block. The Pasta Detectives are born!

As he says himself, Rico thinks a lot, just not very quickly. He is sure that his new friend Oliver will be able to help work out the pasta puzzle, Oliver can always work things out.  Rico and Oliver are no nearer to solving the pasta problem, when Oliver disappears. Has he become the latest victim of a kidnapper who has been holding children for ransom all across the city?

The story is set in Berlin, in the present day, with many details of life in the city, which may be unfamiliar to some readers.  We see the city through Rico's eyes as he tries to solve the mystery of Oliver's disappearance. Rico has a form of ADHD which he describes as like having a head full of lottery balls which get scrambled on a regular basis, so he is not very good about remembering things, or working things out.  But when Oliver goes missing, Rico tries his best to find him, something even the police have failed to do.

Andreas Steinhofel has written great mystery story with an unusual twist at the end. Possibly a book for more thoughtful readers, but mystery addicts will enjoy it too.

Tuesday 15 May 2012

Things to look out for

Here are some of the books which have caught our attention and will be published soon (or sometime this year!).


Jeremy Strong has The Ghost in the Bath in June, and the third Cartoon Kid book Emergency! in July.   There are lots of people in Primary 3 who will be interested in these stories.

Horrid Henry is back again in Horrid Henry's Monster Movie by Francesca Simon which is published at the end of May. Henry continues to torment his long suffering parents and friends in this one.

Vivian French has the fifth book in the Five Kingdoms series coming out in August.  It is called The Music of the Zombies, and has the usual brilliant cover by Ross Collins.

Artemis Fowl and the Last Guardian by Eoin Colfer arrives in July, for all those who have been following the saga of Artemis Fowl, teenage criminal mastermind, his bodyguard Butler, and Holly Short, late of the LepRecon unit.

Another hotly anticipated title is Kingdom of the Wicked (Skulduggery Pleasant 7) by Derek Landy, due out at the end of August.

Lots of people are waiting impatiently for Love is in the Air by Jeff Kinney, due to be published in November.  Yes, this is the 7th instalment of the diary of Greg Heffley, everyone's favourite Wimpy Kid.


Time to start saving up the pocket money!

Thursday 10 May 2012

My Haunted House


My Haunted House is the first in the series of five stories about Araminta Spook, a little girl who lives with her Aunt and Uncle in a huge old mansion, full of strange and unexpected things. Aunt Tabitha is fed up trying to keep the house going by herself - nothing really works properly any more and she can't get anyone from the local village to come and work at Spook House. She decides to sell the house, and move to a smaller house which is easier to manage. Uncle Drac spends most of his time hanging upside down in the tower, so it is up to Araminta to save her home.

Araminta enlists the help of the other occupants of the house, who are horrified to hear that it may be sold to another family, or even worse, knocked down completely. Aunt Tabitha has no idea that the ghosts are all on Araminta's side, helping her to scare away potential buyers.  Araminta's scheme is successful until the Wizzard family turns up, they are not scared of anything.  Araminta needs a new plan, and fast.

Angie Sage has written a very funny story for middle readers who like a spooky setting without being too scared! Araminta is a resourceful girl who comes up with a practical solution which keeps most people happy. I think Jimmy Pickering's illustrations are a perfect match for the story, full of vampires, spiderwebs and ghosts as well as Araminta and her family.

The other books in the series are The Sword in the Grotto, Frognapped!, Vampire Brat and Ghostsitters.  Angie is also the author of the Septimus Heap books for older children. Her website is at www.angiesage.com


Friday 4 May 2012

Primary Seven Olympic Reading Challenge - the Last Lap

We are nearly there, only one more week to go before the end of the Reading Challenge!

Many of you (about one third of Primary Seven people) have already finished.  About the same number of people have only one more book to go. We are close to the finish line now, let's see if we can all make it over the line by Friday 11th May. This is a Bank Holiday weekend, we all have an extra day to read.  My reading pile is calling me - how is yours?

Please ask in the library if you are a bit stuck for ideas - we can find you a book to enjoy that will also meet the genre requirements.

Thursday 3 May 2012

Authors Live - David Walliams

The next Authors Live event organised by the Scottish Book Trust takes place on Thursday 10th May 2012 at 11 am. David Walliams is the featured author and it promises to be an excellent session.

David is the author of four best-selling books for children, The Boy in the Dress, Mr Stink, Billionaire Boy and Gangsta Granny. He is a popular author with children who enjoy reading his books very much, as can be seen by the fact that none of them ever seem to be on the library shelves!


The Authors Live event is a live webcast which can be viewed on the day, or watched at your leisure after 17th May 2012 via the Scottish Book Trust and BBC websites. If you would like to ask David Walliams a question, please ask In the library and we will forward your question to the Scottish Book Trust. We can't promise your question will be asked, but we can try!

For the live webcast, look at  www.bbc.co.uk/authorslive

For other information about Authors Live and the recorded version www.scottishbooktrust.com

HarperCollins publish David's books - more information here www.harpercollins.co.uk/Authors/6843/david-walliams