Category Charlie

Pantomime – buy it
by Laura Lam – her website
Recommended Ages: 14+

Iphigenia ‘Gene’ Laurus is the heiress of a noble family, bound by corsets and her Mother’s rich ideals. Micah Grey is a runaway, taking refuge in R.H. Ragona’s Circus of Magic, the greatest circus in Ellada. With a head for heights, the beckoning call of the aerialists is too tempting to resist, and a new life is forged in the heart of the tumbling circus life where anything seems possible. But not all is as it first appears, and identity is given the sleight of hand. Surrounded by the mystical blue Penglass and remnants of a civilisation half-forgotten, the adventure is only just beginning, with danger lurking at every turn. What does it take to learn about yourself under the weight of expectation?

The cover copy of Pantomime is deliberately misleading, as such the following review contains spoilers:

This book takes the magic of childhood dreams and the thrill of adventure, and catapults it into a fast paced ...

The Madness Underneath - buy it
by Maureen Johnson – her website
Recommended Ages: 13+

Part two of Maureen Johnson’s ‘Shades of London’ series. The series follows the troubles of Aurora ‘Rory’ Devereaux as she finds herself transplanted from Louisiana into the middle of London boarding school life. There the dangerous exploits of a ghostly killer rattles the neighbourhood and Rory finds herself caught up with a secret crime fighting squad. After the jaw dropping conclusion of The Name of the Star, the story opens with Rory supposedly in recovery, reluctantly attending therapy sessions to help her deal with the chilling events at the end of part one. But how do you recover from something when you can’t tell anyone what really happened?

At once bitingly funny and creepily haunting, Johnson’s prose catches you up and pulls you along like an English boarding school girl seriously late to an important study session.

Rory’s scarred and scared, and finds herself unable to focu...

Tethers – buy it
by Jack Croxall – His Website
Recommended Ages: 12+

This Victorian fantasy adventure from author Jack Croxall brings excitement into a quiet Northern town with murder and mystery. Despite the promise of a steady career apprenticing to be a teacher, 13 year old Karl Scheffer has wanderlust, itching to explore beyond the quiet limits of his home town, rural Shraye. Together with his good friend Esther Emerson, Karl has his keen eyes on sighting out adventures to be had. With his one blue eye and his one brown, he’s prone to appreciating things that stand out from the ordinary.

But as the plot progresses Karl may begin to start regretting his wish to escape the quiet life. After the story begins with a break away from home that is reminiscent of the exploration stories of Enid Blyton and Arthur Ransome, the kids find themselves on a metaphorical rollercoaster cart racing down the tracks. And the brakes are off...

Red Ink – Buy It
by Julie Mayhew – her website
Recommended ages – 13+

Fifteen year old Melon Fouraki hates her name. Teased at school by her peers, she blames her mother for inflicting her with the perfect device for social persecution. It doesn’t matter to Melon that her name is part of The Story, the family fairy tale that brought her mother Maria to London from Crete when she was Melon’s age and pregnant with her. But when Maria is killed in an accident, Melon must unravel fact from fiction and rediscover her roots, plagued by the superstitions and traditions of a family she barely knew. But how can you begin to do that when all you feel is numb?

This novel from Julie Mayhew explores anger, grief, coming of age and identity in an astute emotional tale. Darkly funny, with a barbed tongue and simmering with anger, Melon’s path to self-discovery is tangled and filled with internal and external conflict...

Hollow Pike – buy it
by James Dawson – his website
Recommended ages: Age 14+

Lis London is moving to live with her sister in Hollow Pike. She desperately wants to escape from the bullies at her old school in Wales. Haunted by creepy dreams and bad memories, she can’t wait to have a fresh start and let go of the past. But her new school has secrets of its own. Beautiful queen bee Laura rules the school with an iron fist of gossip control that brings out the horror story in everyone’s social life. Lis is torn between trying to fit in with the popular clique and her intrigue with the school “freaks”, mixed race goth punk Kitty, her free spirited girlfriend Delilah and quiet Jack. To top it all off, Lis’ dreams are getting worse, black birds keep stalking her, and she doesn’t know what to do about dreamy Danny. The school goes into lockdown after a murder most horrid…are the rumours true, does Hollow Pike have a dark past steeped in witchcraft and witch hunts?

Published in the ...

Maggot Moon – buy it
By Sally Gardner – her website
Recommended Age: 13+

Standish Treadwill sees the world differently, through his one blue eye and one brown, the letters dancing around in a dyslexic swirl. Yet it is his steadfast Gramps and his wonderful friend Hector who encourage him to continue fighting for all that makes him different. Against the backdrop of the harsh regime of the Motherland, with the help of a small band of rebels, Standish observes and questions and refuses to let the Greenflies stop him. And what exactly is going on with that moon landing propaganda?

In this unique Dystopian vision that doesn’t pull it’s punches, Sally Gardner has given voice to a wonderful protagonist. Standish is a visionary; the way life works through his eyes spots the sparks of hope in a hopeless world. When everything is literally rotting and festering around him, he nurtures love, family and a strong sense of self...

The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell - buy it

By Chris Colfer – website

Recommended Ages: 9+

Bookish Alex Bailey and her twin brother Conner are navigating sixth grade in very different ways. Struggling with a ‘family situation’, Alex sits at the front of the class and hangs on the stories and words of her teacher Mrs. Peters, whilst Conner is just trying to rest his eyes! The one thing they have in common is their mutual love for the fairy tales read to them from their Grandma’s old book, The Land of Stories. When Grandma tries to cheer the twins up on their twelfth birthday by gifting them the book, it’s not long before Conner starts noticing strange changes in his twin’s behaviour. What secrets does The Land of Stories hide, and why exactly is it glowing?

In his first novel, Chris Colfer of Glee shares his childhood escape with young readers, and we fall headfirst into the land of fairy tales...

Buy Noughts and Crosses and the sequel Knife Edge in a 2 for 1 package here
By Malorie Blackman
Recommended Reading Age: 14+

Critically acclaimed author, Malorie Blackman, tackles issues of race in this reversing of segregation in an alternate dystopian landscape of England in the 1960s. Persephone (Sephy) Hadley is a dark-skinned Cross and daughter of a successful politician. Her childhood friend Callum is a Nought with light skin and his Mother is a former employee of the Hadleys as Sephy’s Nanny. When tensions rise, secrets are revealed and Callum’s Mother Meggie is fired from her position in the household, the friends struggle to maintain their relationship despite the harsh judgement of those who cannot understand their connection. When Callum and the Noughts are finally granted access to Sephy’s Cross school, peer pressure mounts and their friendship is tested...

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

Her website

Recommended Age: Adult with crossover appeal, 15+

The first in a series of adult novels that are filled to the brim with details that place the magical world directly in to modern day Oxford. The story of reluctant witch and keen academic of alchemy, Diana Bishop, begins in the dusty and mysterious setting of the Bodleian library. For those missing Hogwarts these libraries feel wonderfully familiar. Likewise fans of Pullman’s Lyra will get a chance to explore more of the city, running and rowing through this antiquated world. And fans of conspiracies in Wicked will enjoy the magical plotting.

In the library Harkness brings the four species of creature into direct contact; human, witch, vampire and demon. When vampire Matthew de Clermont spies Diana using magic, their paths become crossed with consequences only few with the gift of presight could have foreseen.

The book is woven together with a cast of intriguing supporting  char...