Don't Call Me Choochie Pooh! by Sean Taylor and Kate Hindley, reviewed by Pippa Goodhart

This is a delight of a book.  A small dog in a big pink bow is fed-up with being called Choochie Pooh or Ickle Pickle Woof Woof or Incy Wincy Cupcake, and being carried about in a handbag.  After all, she's 'an ordinary, proper dog'.  It's so embarrassing to be seen being kissed and called those silly names!  But the other dogs, 'barking, getting muddy and doing proper dog things' let Choochie Pooh join in.  It's all going so well ...



... until her owner calls for her, "Off we go Oopsie Boopsie Choochie Pooh!"  How will the other dogs react?  After all, they'd never get called such silly names ... would they?


The glory of the story is the essential truth in it that any child will recognise; the embarrassment that a parent/owner can be, but also the fact that we've all got to suffer them!  And the pictures by Kate Hindley are full of action, beauty and comedy.  Highly recommended for children ... and for 62 year old husbands.  Mine loved this as a Valentine's present.  And, no, I don't call him Choochie Pooh!

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THE D'EVIL DIARIES by Tatum Flynn: Reviewed by Tamsin Cooke

One of the funniest middle grade books I've read in a long time!

Most parents would be pleased if their child’s school report said that they paid very careful attention, obeyed all their teachers, and worked extremely hard. But not Jinx’s dad. He is furious. 

‘What kind of half-term report do you call this, hmm? I wouldn’t mind if you failed because you were playing truant, or chasing girls, or trying to set fire to your teacher with a flame thrower.’

Then again, Jinx’s dad isn’t just any old dad. He is Lucifer. And poor Jinx is a red skinned two-horned demon, who wants nothing more than to win his dad’s approval. But however hard he tries to be bad, good things always happen. He’s sent away to be corrupted by the vilest creatures found on earth – Blackbeard and Dracula – but somehow his goodness rubs off on them.  Fearing for his future and feeling like an utter disappointment, Jinx runs away. Soon he finds himself in the middle of a fantastic adventure where the whole of Hell is at stake.  

The D'Evil Diaries is possibly one of the funniest books I’ve read in a long time.  I was laughing from start to finish.  But Tatum Flynn manages to incorporate all this witty humour without once detracting from the adventure story. There are heart stopping moments, twists and turns, and treachery.

The characters are well thought out. Jinx is incredibly likeable. Tommy, a girl he meets (who shouldn’t be in Hell) is strong, brave and feisty. There’s Loiter – the Patron Demon of Sloth or Laziness who might actually be my favourite character. I even like Lucifer – something I never thought I would say!

The D’Evil Diaries is the sort of story you can read together as a family. There is something in it for everyone. Children will love seeing how badness is rewarded and goodness is frowned upon. And grown-ups (if they are anything like me) will love the witty asides and pop culture references. Just to give you a taster – 

To set the scene: Jinx is listening to Lucifer on the phone to God. 

‘I wondered absentmindedly what the voice of God sounded like. A thousand angels singing? Thunderbolts and lightning, very, very frightening? Morgan Freeman?’

There are fabulous black illustrations throughout the book that bring the story even more to life.

Book two, Helles Belles has just come out, and it is definitely on the top of my TBR pile!

Tamsin Cooke

www.tamsincooke.co.uk

twitter: @tamsincooke1

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FIRE GIRL by Matt Ralphs: reviewed by Penny Dolan

This magical fantasy - is set in an alternative 1661, supposedly “twelve years after the end of the Witch War”. Cromwell’s merciless Witch Finders have been destroying the witches of England, and the old friendship between ordinary people and the Healers seems to be over. Many witches have become no more than piles of ashes on pyres but some – both good and bad, male and female – remain in hiding or in disguise.

As the start of this story, Nicolas Murrell, the former “King’s Chief Minister of Magic and Witchcraft”, forces his way into the home of blind Mary Applegate, asking for information about Hecate Hooper. He restores the old witch’s sight but only to show her the foul demon Rawhead, a “skinless beast of flesh and sinew”, ready to consume Mary unless she answers . . . 

The outcome will not be good and makes it clear that the writer, Matt Ralphs, will be creating scary scenes and a variety of demons, ghouls and nasty characters for his readers.

Because of this, Fire Girl may not be the best night-time story for the younger pre-teen, but for those who don’t mind good dollops of menacing evil, foul slime and bad magic alongside the heroine’s quest and a creature of sarcastic cuteness, Fire Girl could well be just the right adventure.

The young heroine, red-haired Hazel Hooper, has lived a secluded life in the forest, her home protected by an enchanted hedge. Twelve-year-old Hazel fears she has no witch-like skills but when her mother is abducted, Hazel’s latent power is unleashed. She will be a Wielder, a witch able to generate streams of flame, but for now she is a fire-child, unskilled in managing the powers that surge through her body. Ralphs likens the strong emotion of rage to the dangers of fire: a power that Hazel must learn to control.

Hazel sets off into the world, deciding the best way to find her mother is by employing the services of Titus White, a drunken Witch-Finder and David Drake, his handsome Apprentice. She starts out on  a quest that will lead her to the new master of evil, Nicolas Tyrell himself but unfortunately, along the way, Hazel reveals her magical powers. David, horrified, cannot accept a witch as a friend: he now sees her as a deadly enemy who must be caught. There are now dangers on all sides . . .

The short, fast-paced chapters travel through classic fantasy settings:  deserted cottages, unfriendly towns, unholy fogs and forests, all leading to the malign turrets of Ravenspike castle and spooky church where Tyrell’s foul accomplices gather for the climax: Lilith the pale Frost Witch with her bloated spider, the wizened Petrov, Rawhead and worse. Hazel finds her mother, of course, but the story does not end quite as clearly as Hazel would have wanted . . .

I have emphasised, so far, the scarier aspects of the book, but must add that the mood is often lightened by one particular charming thread: Hazel’s relationship with Bramley, a dormouse who has become her loyal familiar. His grumpy mutterings and remarks coax Hazel through many difficulties and the warm affection between these two brave companions lets the reader know that all will be well, or at least partly all right. 

The final part of the story – or is it? - won’t arrive until Matt Ralph’s sequel, FIREWITCH, which his website suggests will be published in July 2016. 

Ps. An aside: Please be patient if I end with a bit of grumpy muttering - and do note that my complaint is not specifically about this book, which I enjoyed, or this particular publisher. It’s about my reaction to something as a reader.

As a big fan of story (and an occasional storyteller myself) I can’t help feeling disappointed when a book’s ending starts to lead towards a sequel, not to the full rounded conclusion I’m expecting for that particular plot, especially for young readers. 

I know, I know! This niggly response might just be me - and if so, I apologise - but I’ve come across the twist of the “sudden sequel” a couple of times recently and it’s never delighted me, even when the book itself has done. It's almost as if I hear enthusiastic "marketing" voices hiding under the pages

I do wish that, somehow, sometimes, publishers would just let one story “be” before another was so obviously started, rather than this practice of combining the two - or else find a way to indicate this expectation on the cover. 

Harumph! Grump over.

Penny Dolan

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More of Me by Kathryn Evans - reviewed by Dawn Finch

First the blurb....

Teva is sixteen. She goes to school, studies for her exams and spends time with her boyfriend, Ollie, and best friend, Maddy. To the rest of the world, she’s normal. But when she goes home, she’s anything but. Because at home there are twelve other Tevas – nearly one for every year she’s been alive. Because once a year, Teva separates into two, leaving a younger version of herself stuck at the same age, in the same house…watching the new Teva live the life that she’d been living.

More of Me is a beautifully original concept - each year Teva separates and another Teva tears herself into the world to live out her life. The first-person narrative takes us further and further into Teva's complicated existence as she is forced to take her place with her predecessors, becoming cut off from the world while yet another Teva quite literally steps into her shoes.

Evans handles this complicated plot with ease and delivers a novel that is at once gripping and fascinating. Teva is instantly likeable, and yet she is legion and we are pulled back and forth with her tangled lives. Each version of Teva is subtly different from the next, manifesting all of the personality facets within our own lives. As Teva ages she steps outside the child she once was and moves on, until the time she knows that she can't keep doing this for the rest of her life.

The story twists and turns and we feel torn as we identify with Teva and the emotional wrench she faces each time she has to let the new Teva take over her life. For a while we feel that there can't possibly be a way of resolving this story......  but don't worry, trust the writer on this one!

More of Me is Kathryn Evans' first book, and if this is the standard we can expect from her I'm sure that there will be many more. Teva's story is so well rounded that it is a very accomplished story and I am very much looking forward to reading Evans' future books.

More of Me by Kathryn Evans is published by Usborne on 1 Feb 2016
ISBN - 978-1474903028

Reviewed by Dawn Finch
President CILIP, Children's author and librarian
www.dawnfinch.com
New book - Book of Worth

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Railhead, by Phlip Reeve: reviewed by Sue Purkiss

Philip Reeve is a remarkable writer, with an imagination the size of one of the many planets he writes about in this book. I've read several of his Mortal Engines books, and also his Larklight series, for sightly younger readers: and I've been lost in admiration after reading all of them, at his exuberance and inventiveness and the sheer range of his characters and the worlds they explore.

Railhead is set in this universe, but far into the future. There are knowing and funny nods back to our time; Casablanca is referenced, and ancient earth languages, including Ancient Geek and Klingon. (Who knew?) In this 'world', travel among the planets takes place by means of trains. But these are no ordinary trains: these are trains with souls, which feel joy, love, sorrow and anger. And they are not the only sentient forms which Reeve creates. There are also the Hive Monks: hybrid beings made up of lots of beetles which somehow coalesce around a flimsy framework to form the simulacrum of a human being - and the Motoriks, dismissively known as 'Wire Dollies'. These are androids, not meant to be individuals with feelings - but one, Nova, is very individual indeed. Her quest for a soul is indicated by her creation of freckles to spoil the perfection of her 'skin'; like all of the characters, human or not, she is multi-layered and we come to care for her, to respond to her warmth and complexity.

The hero of the story is - at the beginning - a small-time thief called Zen Starling. He, like many a fantasy hero, soon finds out that he has a back-story and a destiny of which he has been hitherto unaware. He is plucked from obscurity by an ambivalent master-criminal named Raven, because he is uniquely qualified to infiltrate a powerful family called the Noons and steal from them something that Raven very much wants. But, being a hero, he is not inclined to meekly fall in with anyone else's plans, and everything goes horribly wrong.

This is a beautifully written book with a story that moves along with the pace of a high-speed train. The characters are complex and varied; there is humour, there is pathos, there is love. And all this in a world which Reeve has constructed with dazzling aplomb. In his 'ThankYou', at the end of the book, Reeve pays tribute to Sarah McIntyre, with whom he has written books for much younger readers: he says that she 'made me want to write more stories at a time when I felt ready to give up.' We must be very thankful to Sarah for this - because if this writer gave up, it would be a desperate waste of an extraordinary talent.

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THE NOWHERE EMPORIUM by Ross MacKenzie: reviewed by Gillian Philip

Every town has at least one: that little row of shops that you barely even look at, that you almost forget about till you need a pint of milk late on a Monday. You always think of them behind a haze of grey drizzle – so imagine if you were driving by one day and one of those shops, though built of midnight-black bricks, was suddenly glittering and sparkling in the light. What's more, it's the one that wasn't there before. Because weren't there four shops there yesterday? So how come there are now five?

Ross MacKenzie has created a delicious and fantastical concept in his Nowhere Emporium, a shop that travels through space and time and (much like that other famous Time Machine) is a lot bigger on the inside. In fact, since it's powered by pure imagination, this particular store interior would appear to be limitless. 'Bring Your Imagination!' demands the invitation – presented in glittering fireworks in the sky above the shop – and that is the only price of admission: a little piece of each customer's imagination, and one that will eventually grow back. So where's the harm?

Daniel Holmes isn't sure. An orphan who stumbles upon the Emporium while being chased by bullies from the children's home, he is immediately entranced by both the shop and its owner, the mysterious Lucien Silver. When Silver offers him a job, he barely hesitates; there's no competition between a magical travelling emporium and his grim and loveless life in Glasgow.

All the same, he's the kind of boy who asks questions. Lucien Silver has taken him on (a little reluctantly) because Daniel clearly has gifts, among them a vivid and extensive imagination. So Daniel is dangerously curious about the potential of the shop – where a new room is created for every flight of imagination in a magical book – and about the price required to keep it in existence. Who is Lucien Silver running from? Why is he so afraid, he simply vanishes into thin air one day? And who is the girl who haunts the rooms of the Emporium like a ghost?

There's an abundance of mystery, excitement and magic as Daniel hunts for the answers. Any young hero worth his salt is going to make a few mistakes along the way, and Daniel's errors of judgement have quite terrifying consequences – but there's never any doubt he has the nerve and the determination to see the adventure through. Even when the Emporium itself becomes a crumbling, deadly trap...

In The Nowhere Emporium, Ross MacKenzie provides everything it takes to keep a young reader enthralled – magic, mystery, an intrepid hero, his colourful allies, and – best of all – a chilling and lethal villain. A magnificent cover by Manuel Sumberac is bound to entice the reader: once you're through that cut-out entrance, as with the magical gates of the Emporium itself, there are wonders enough to fire any imagination.

I can't help giving that ordinary little arcade of shops a second glance on my way home, though. After all, it's not as if I'd remember...


The Nowhere Emporium by Ross MacKenzie; Kelpies, £6.99

www.gillianphilip.com



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Zippo The Super Hippo, by Kes Gray and Nikki Dyson - Reviewed by Damian Harvey

The life of a hippopotamus can by quite a simple one; splashing in the mud, sploshing in the river and plodding about, but Zippo the Hippo has one wish. Zippo wants to be 'super'. His friend Roxi tells him that she thinks he is already super, but Zippo has something else in mind. Zippo wants to have a super power. Although Zippo is good at the things he does every day, he agrees that they are not really that super. When Roxi suggests flying, Zippo knows she is right. "If I could fly, I could get a super cape and some super boots and I could fly around the world being Zippo the Super Hippo!" declares Zippo.

Roxi takes her big friend under her wing and off they go for his very first flying lesson. Zippo launches himself from the top of a "very high waterfall", a "very tall tree" and a "very steep cliff"... I'm not spoiling the story in telling you that Zippo the Hippo fails to take to the air like a bird, but his super power is clear for all to see.  

Zippo the Super Hippo is a lot of fun. Kes Gray's text is, as always, perfect for reading out loud and Nikki Dyson's illustrations are 'super', giving children lots to look at with each re-reading.

Any picture book that includes the word 'bottom' is guaranteed to be a roaring success with a class-full of children and this picture book deserves to be just that - a roaring success. For me, this is a  'wish I'd thought of this idea' book.


Damian Harvey
www.damianharvey.co.uk
Twitter @damianjharvey

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