The Reading Year 2012 - Part 3

A little later in the month than usual, this is the time when I look back over the reading I have been doing over the previous three months.

Maze Running and other Magical Missions is the last in Lari Don's Fabled Beasts quartet and was published earlier this summer.  In this book, all the chickens come home to roost, for everyone. Yann the centaur has been wounded, and is dying, unless Helen and her friends can fulfil a threefold quest. Truth is the ultimate key to saving Yann, and the world of the Fabled Beasts, no matter how much that truth may hurt. If you have been following Helen's adventures, this is a great ending to the series, if you haven't, why not? Time to get going!

It's taken me a while to get round to M. G. Harris, and the first in her series of thrillers Invisible City. As our intrepid hero tries to find out what really happened to his archaeologist father who is believed to have been killed in a plane crash in central America, an ancient Mayan prophecy is unleashed foretelling the end of the world. A secret civilisation hidden underground may hold the key to the mystery, and perhaps stave off the inevitable doom...

Jack Slater, Monster Investigator by John Dougherty is great fun to read. Yes, there really are monsters under the bed, and a good teddy bear will usually see them off. The current crop of monsters are proving a little more difficult to shift. Time for Jack Slater and his team of monster hunters to get on the case - things are getting serious!

Another series comes to and end with Witch Baby and Me on Stage by Debi Gliori. It's the school show, everyone has been rehearsing like mad despite the awful weather. The whole school is devastated when the roof of the school hall falls down due to all the rain and the playground is flooded. A fairy godmother is needed to ensure the show goes on - step forward Witch Baby and friends to save the day.

For some reason, it's been a summer of detective novels and historical whodunnits. Edward Marston's Railway Detective series set in Victorian England; David Ashton's Inspector Levy Mysteries, set in Victorian Edinburgh; and I think my favourite of the bunch the Gil Cunningham novels by Pat McIntosh set in Glasgow in the 1490s and the reign of James IV. Brilliant stuff.

The Reading Year 2012 - part two

I've been having another look through my reading diary for this year. This is not a list of newly published books, nor are all of these available in the school library (obviously!), just what I would highlight from the last three months of my own reading. So, we are halfway through the year and these are my favourites from the last three months.


Batpants is a laugh out loud adventure story from Jeremy Strong.  With a father who trains animals for film and TV shows and a mother who is a stuntwoman, life is never dull for these three children.  Just this once, they get to go onto the set for their mother's latest film.  Things are not going well, after a couple of near accidents, it looks like someone is trying to kill Mum!

A Villain's Night Out by Margaret Mahy starts with the notion that since the teachers have spent the library bookfund on coffee (!) it is up to the children to write some new books for the school library. Enter Squidgy Moot, a truly evil character looking for a story - and his little sister, and one of the best game designers in the business.  Very funny story about what happens when characters get away from their authors.

The Voyage of the Arctic Tern by Hugh Montgomery is an unusual novel in verse which I would never have picked up had it not been for the Primary Seven Reading Challenge, and the recommendation by a pupil. Told from several points of view, in three different metrical forms it is an extremely accomplished piece of work. It has everything - pirates, ghosts, mystery, murder, adventure, a tale of revenge and restitution taking place over centuries. Wonderfully atmospheric, spooky tale of the sea. I read the beginning aloud to P6 and they loved it too.

The Mourning Emporium by Michelle Lovric has been on my to-be-read pile for ages, and I have finally got round to it, having first re-read The Undrowned Child. Another atmospheric story based in Venice and at sea, finishing up in the River Thames. English mermaids are nothing like as feisty as their Venetian counterparts, tending towards fainting rather than action in a crisis. Once again it is up to Teodora and Renzo to fulfill the prophecy and save both Venice and London as Queen Victoria lies dying in Osborne House. Thrilling stuff, with a truly evil set of villains attempting to change the course of history.

Oliver Jeffers has been high on our list of favourite picture book authors for a while now. His latest, The Hueys in The New Jumper is a gem. A brilliant read-aloud for all ages, it has been enjoyed by nearly everyone from P1 to P7 this term - pupils and staff! All the Hueys look, think and act the same, until Rupert knits himself a new jumper. What will the other Hueys think?

I regularly turn to Jane Austen when I need a comfort read. This time it has been Mansfield Park to get me through to the end of term.


How has your reading year been so far? I have a large pile of books I have been saving for the summer holidays - bliss.