Tilly's Promise - Linda Newbery

'It seemed that the war itself was the enemy and the men on both sides must struggle to survive. The war was a hungry monster, always wanting more.'

I won a copy of this book in a competition on facebook, with thanks to the publisher. I was first attracted by the gorgeous cover, the design of which is discussed inside the book (read more via the link below), and by the writer's name, as I've read and enjoyed some fiction by this author before. Also the period setting, being a First World War tale, made me want to read it.

The story tells of Tilly Peacock and Harry, young sweethearts who both make a promise to each other, and learn that promises, even whilst made with love and the best of intentions, can prove difficult to keep. Harry goes off to fight in France, and Tilly volunteers as a nurse, this role taking her away from her home, and eventually to France. Tilly's dear kindhearted brother Georgie has learning difficulties, however, despite this, he is later called up to fight too. Tilly asks Harry to promise he'll look after Georgie. Neither of them can know what they will face in the years ahead, and how difficult things will be for them both. 

Linda Newbery includes details of the times in her narrative but is never heavy-handed with it. The awful reality of war for the men fighting, on both sides, is conveyed insightfully in the way Tilly comes to see men on both sides as victims, having treated injured German soldiers too, something that initially upset her, but she soon thinks of them differently; 

'It was strange to care for men from the other side. I couldn't help thinking that one of them might have killed James Milton or fired the shell that wounded Harry. But soon I stopped thinking of them as 'the enemy'. They were victims of war, like the others I'd seen. They didn't hate the British soldiers.'

Tilly's Promise is a moving, well-written and engaging story told with honesty and warmth, and I really enjoyed reading it.

This book is labelled as being dyslexia friendly, and the publisher specialises in bringing books to those for whom their may be barriers to enjoying reading; they design their books to try and minimise the barriers - read more here. I love the cream-coloured pages and the clear, decent-sized font. At just under 90 pages, the story is substantial enough but not so long as to be daunting. I imagine that all these aspects, and the others that they've thought about, are of a real help to uncertain or reluctant readers. This is the first book I've read from this publisher and on the basis of this one I'd certainly look out for others in the future. 

Published by Barrington Stoke - Edinburgh-based independent publishers, specialists in dyslexia-friendly books for children and teenagers.

Read more about the creation of this beautiful book cover by artist Stewart Easton here

Author website | Barrington Stoke on twitter @BarringtonStoke | 

The Julian Chapter - R. J. Palacio

My review of Wonder

'I know it can't be easy for him to look in the mirror every day, or walk down the street. But that's not my problem. My problem is that everything's different since he's been coming to my school. The kids are different. I'm different. And it sucks big-time.'

Just a quick little review of this one really. I was delighted to have the chance to read this when I heard about it, and I thought this little story was brilliant, such a great idea to write a story to show the other side of things and it adds more to the original tale for those readers who absolutely loved the novel, Wonder, (like me!).

It's a moving tale and I love how Julian's feelings were explored and shown so honestly, however unpleasant they were, and how he was able to finally confront his actions, and I liked how the past was brought into the story too.

Having read Wonder, we know Auggie's deepest feelings, now we can see what Julian was thinking and feeling, his behaviour is not excused but we can begin to understand.

Thank you to Lauren at the publisher for kindly sending me a review copy of this story.

Published in ebook format by Random House Children's Books

A Room Full of Chocolate - Jane Elson

'I've realised that sometimes family isn't the one you are born into but the people and pigs you collect along the way.'

Ten-year-old Grace Wilson lives with her mum and dad in London, but after her mum discovers a lump, and her dad proves to be unreliable and uncaring, she is sent to live with her Grandad on his farm in Yorkshire. Grace’s mum and Grandad have been estranged for many years; Grace has never even met him before. She is desperate to stay at home and look after her mum after her surgery. Arriving reluctantly at her Grandad’s place, she meets a girl dressed in many colours, who she immediately thinks of as the ‘rainbow-girl’. This is Megan, and the little friend who precedes her into the yard is Claude the pig! Megan makes Grace feel 'a tiny ray of curious sunshine push through my grey lonely fog.' They immediately become firm friends. When Grace meets Megan’s kind mum, Allie, she discovers more about her own mum and the past too.

Grace has lots to cope with, as well as trying to understand what her mum is going through – though her family has tried to shield her from this with good intentions but perhaps misguidedly, she has done her own bit of research on the Internet and found out worrying things – she also has to adjust to a new school. Megan is there, although she is in Year six and Grace in Year five, so they are not together all the time, and there are some very unkind pupils who start to bully Grace in person as well as via nasty text messages. Grace misses her mum terribly, and finds it difficult at first living with her Grandad, who himself has to reconsider if he has been a good judge of character or not, and decide whether he can  overcome his fears and change his ways. Grace writes in her 'Special Blue Book', recording her innermost thoughts, sections of which are shared with the reader throughout the story

This is a wonderful story written with warmth and humour, with sensitive and honest handling of difficult, serious topics, namely bullying and serious illness. Grace is a great central character, innocent and kind, curious and fun, as she tries to cope with a lot of change in her life. The character development is really good with Grace seeing that there is more than one side to her Grandad, and the strong bonds of friendship between Megan and Grace are beautifully written. There is friendship and adventure, illness and sadness, humour and love, plus a couple of magical moments. There are some delightful animal characters included in the story; as well as Claude the simply fabulous, hilarious pig with his starring role, there is affectionate Lara the Golden Retriever and Martha the cat. 

I read this quickly and enjoyed it very much, the story had my attention throughout and I was keen to see how it ended. I think young readers will find much to enjoy and ponder in this lovely children's fiction debut.

Thank you to amazon vine for a review copy of this novel. 

Author links - twitter @JJELSON35 |

Published by Hodder

Kellie at Come-alive Cottage - Wendy Unsworth

This delightful and fun children's book by Wendy Unsworth tells the story of Kellie Culpepper, who comes from a long line of explorers, with her parents being 'the greatest explorers of them all!' They are preparing to set out on their latest adventure, and Kellie cannot go with them this time. Instead she is due to stay with one of her Aunts, who has a very fitting name. However, this particular Aunt has a propensity to be a little bit silly, and things don't go as planned, so Kellie instead discovers she has an Aunt named Kitty, who is 'unusual and very, very interesting'. Aunt Kitty lives at Come-alive Cottage, a lovely house in the countryside. Kitty is unlike any Aunt you might have met before; she is quite magical in fact, as is her special home, where strange, unexpected and wonderful things happen. Kellie is in for quite an adventure at Come-alive Cottage!

Told in eight short chapters, this is a really enjoyable book, a sweet story that would be ideal to read aloud; the author has used some lovely phrases to build her story, and I was excited every time another 'whoosh!' occurred! I loved the affectionate names Kellie's father had for her, such as his 'Little Butternut Squash.'

The illustrations by Frances Lee West are great fun too and fit so nicely alongside the text; it feels as though some care and thought has gone into the placement of the illustrations, and they really embellish the story very nicely, and include some clever plays on words.

A lovely book that is great fun to read, telling a magical, well written tale with great illustrations.

Source - author review copy in exchange for an honest review
Self-published - available in paperback and as an e-book
The second book in this series, Danger at Come-alive Cottage, is available now too.

Book Giveaway: A Place Called Perfect by Helena Duggan

Earlier this year I read and reviewed A Place Called Perfect by Helena Duggan, and I am pleased to say that the author is offering a signed copy of her book, plus a bookmark and a poster (all illustrated by her) to one lucky reader of this blog! 

Win these lovely things!

Click here to read my thoughts about this book | Visit the author's website 

Please fill in the Rafflecopter form below to enter.

This giveaway is open to entrants based in the UK and Ireland.

Closes Monday 9th December 2013. 

The winner will be selected at random and contacted at the end of the giveaway - they will need to reply within 48 hours or a new winner may be chosen. 

Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

A Place Called Perfect - Helena Duggan

‘It was as if everyone in Perfect was under a spell.’

This is a children’s tale by debut Irish writer and graphic designer Helena Duggan who has also designed the distinctive and apt cover artwork that illustrates her book's cover herself.

Violet Brown’s optician father is offered an attractive new job and the family moves to a town called Perfect. Violet is very reluctant to move, and doesn’t like the sound of the place at all. Ten-year-old Violet finds the place very peculiar; how can everything really be this perfect, she wonders, why does everyone wear those strange tinted glasses here, and what is it about the Archer brothers that doesn’t seem quite right? Then her Dad disappears and her Mam’s behavior becomes very uncharacteristic, leaving her feeling lonely and without any friends, the two people she loved and could trust letting her down; 'usually they were great, more like friends than parents. Perfect had changed all that.' When the slightest thing at school gets her into trouble, and then she begins to hear voices, she wonders what on earth is happening. Amongst all this chaos, she meets Boy, and she finds an ally and a friend in him; together can they make sense of what’s happened and find any way of somehow making things normal again?

This is a dark, imaginative children's story with magical, fantasy elements. I wondered if the story was somewhat allegorical too, in terms of how the majority of people in Perfect all behave in the same way, as they are required to, unquestioningly, and how there's a sort of resistant underclass. At times there is sadness, when Violet feels very alone in her new surroundings, with one of her parents gone and the other much changed from how she used to be. Violet is resilient, though, and determined, and once she is on to something she refuses to give up. 

I really enjoyed this inventive tale; it was a bit of an escape for me compared to a lot of my usual reading, with some creepy and macabre elements that added to the darker feel of the tale, though they could be a bit scary for some easily frightened young readers. The Archer brothers made for intriguing baddies and I like the depiction of them on the book's cover. Violet is a plucky heroine who gets fully involved in plenty of escapades and I think children of around her age will enjoy escaping into this mysterious adventure.

Source - author review copy
Self-published - available in paperback and as an ebook
Visit the author's website here and find her on twitter here
Views of other bloggers - Lovely Treez Reads | Random Things |

The Secret Lake - Karen Inglis

'A boat!' Stella whispered repeatedly. 'How on earth could it have got there? And why was Harry soaked to the skin?'

Eleven year old Stella and her eight year old brother Tom have moved from Hong Kong to a new home in London, where they enjoy exploring in the gardens around their house. Harry, the little dog belonging to Mrs Moon, one of their neighbours, arouses their interest as he keeps disappearing, and when he reappears he is wet. During their summer holidays, the two children investigate the gardens further and find a buried boat, and a tunnel which leads to a secret lake. Here they meet a young boy rowing, and looking scared. Their subsequent adventures take them on a journey back to the past, making new friends and discovering their home as it was nearly a hundred years previously.

This was a lovely read of just over a hundred pages with short chapters, and the author builds the suspense well over the course of the story. It's a magical and imaginative children’s tale, filled with plenty of excitement, discovery and adventure, time-travel, and some rather special moles! The interactions between the children and with those they met were well written and the author conveys their real excitement and intrigue about the mysteries they uncover and the discoveries they make. The realistic details of their lives in the present  - such as their clothing and Stella listening to her iPhone and connecting with old friends from Hong Kong on Facebook - both adds substance and also contrasts well with the different appearances, speech and behaviour they find in the people they meet in the past. The attractive, intriguing setting is well evoked, and this is also nicely illustrated in the colourful, appealing cover design of the book jacket which matched the story nicely. 

The Secret Lake is aimed primarily at readers aged around 8 to 11 years old, and I think readers of that age bracket (girls and boys) would enjoy this one very much, though I myself certainly enjoyed escaping into it and joining them on their adventures through the time tunnel too! It's a recently rediscovered delight to pick up a children's story from time to time.

Source - author review copy in exchange for an honest review

Self-published - available in paperback and ebook editions

Visit the author's website here and visit the book's website here

Find the story on twitter @secretlake_book

Ethan's Voice - Rachel Carter

Ethan is eleven-years-old and he lives with his mum and dad on a canal boat. He hasn't spoken for some time, around four years, though he can't remember quite when he stopped speaking, or why he did. He is currently schooled at home by his mum, but near the beginning of the story there is talk about him possibly trying to go back to school one day. This is something that terrifies Ethan. He is content learning at home and spending time at the pond. Then one day Ethan meets Polly, who is newly arrived on the canal with her mum Jackie; she is temporarily separated from Polly's father. Polly is missing her dad but despite this she is a happy, friendly and kind girl and proves to be a wonderful influence on Ethan. Together they enjoy various outings around the canal, sharing activities.

Ethan writes down in a notebook what he cannot say out loud so that he can still communicate with Polly. Their connection means though that she understands a lot of what he is feeling and sometimes a nod from him is enough. Polly helps Ethan and with the aid of her friendship and kindness, he starts to recall memories that are painful, and may go towards an understanding of why he stopped speaking. Between them they start to piece together what may have happened in his past that led to his silence.

Ethan's Voice is a well written story of friendship and kindness. A sweet, joyful and believable friendship is formed between Ethan and Polly, and both of these likeable characters came to life for me as I read. Despite Ethan not speaking we still get to know him, and Polly, and I became involved in his tale and felt his story was told clearly, honestly and with sympathy by Rachel Carter. It's an enjoyable, moving tale, an accomplished debut written with warmth. 

With Ethan's story that he himself is writing about a knight, the author creates a clever extra little layer that parallels the main story. The story also looks at how parents try and protect their children and how misunderstandings can inadvertently arise, and though primarily focussed on Ethan and Polly, I got a strong sense of his parents' anxiety and love for him too. I believe this book is aimed at children aged 9 years old and up, and that would seem about right, though I very much enjoyed reading it myself as an adult.

Published by Scholastic

Freaks Like Us - Susan Vaught

‘There’s no running away from what’s in your own head.’

This is the story of three friends, one of whom, seventeen-year-old Jason Milwaukee, is the first person narrator. Sunshine goes missing and the mystery of the story is in trying to resolve where she is and why she has disappeared, with Jason struggling to remember what she had said to him before she disappeared, her voice fighting with the other, overpowering voices in his head.

Jason, who is telling the story here, is SCZI - schizophrenic. Sunshine is SM - selectively mute, and Drip (Derrick) has ADHD. Collectively they, and others like them who suffer mental illnesses tagged by such initials, refer to themselves as ‘alphabets’. As Jason’s father explains to FBI Agent Mercer, ‘”It’s a word Jason and Sunshine and Derrick use to describe themselves as a group. It feels better to them than any of the disorder-disability talk.”’

Jason often refers to his mother and father by their professional ranks of the colonel and the captain. His parents divorced when he was twelve and when we meet him he is living with his father. Jason is also referred to as “Freak” and tells Agent Mercer frankly: “Everybody calls me that. You can.”

The tension builds in the story as the hours go by since Sunshine has been gone. Susan Vaught's writing feels compassionate and honest in dealing with mental health in teenagers, how it feels to them to be different, to be classed as SED - Severely Emotionally Disturbed. The author is a practicing psychologist. She conveys the intensity of the struggle to deal with his affliction throughout every waking moment, through Jason’s hurried speech and transcribing the talk he hears from all of the different, competing voices in his head – the style of writing reflects the chaos of Jason’s mind and thoughts and the voices. Some of the thoughts they tell him are very negative and cruel: ‘He knows it’s your fault. He knows you’re an idiot. Fool on the hill. Fool on the hill. He’s got cold eyes. Why does he have cold eyes? He’s probably a serial killer.’

The author is careful to make it clear that he is not his illness; at one point he is talking and realizes these aren’t his thoughts but the thoughts of the voices he hears;

‘I hate it when I sound like my alphabet voices.

I hate it when I smear together like a wet photograph and get all sticky and can’t tell the crazy voices from my own voice and what I’m seeing now from what I saw before and what I want to see now and what I wanted to see before and –‘

His frustration at his real thoughts being clouded and hidden sometimes by everything else that is going on in his mind is difficult for him to bear.

I found this an unsettling and difficult read at times; some of the images Jason sees are a bit disturbing and the constant reminders of the cruel and confused voices littered throughout the text make for an uneasy read. But this is the author’s point; this is conveying the illness and the realities of what Jason endures. I’m glad the author attempted to portray this as it is. Anyone who has suffered or had experience of a mental illness will likely feel a resonance with this story, as will many compassionate readers who haven’t.

Throughout the story I found myself liking Jason and admiring him for who he is. I felt very sad and frustrated for him at times, when he was being bullied, or misunderstood by those who don’t know him, or when his unusual behaviour attracts unjustified suspicions that he might be guilty. Most sad of all was when he couldn’t reach inside his mind and find the memories and thoughts that he really needed, the clues that would help him understand about Sunshine, because the voices keep getting in the way, causing confusion. His deep affection and respect for Sunshine is evident throughout. I was so glad the three of them – Jason, Sunshine and Drip - had had each other’s friendship and understanding. It’s very clear that, as Jason observes, 'Some days life makes more sense than other days.'

The shift in the relationship between FBI Agent Mercer and Jason as the story progresses was very nicely done I thought. As he emerges with new understanding and consideration for Jason, so too does the reader.

A poignant, honest and distinctive young adult mystery novel with frank insights into mental health. 

Published by Bloomsbury Childrens Books