Barnaby Grimes and the Phantom of Blood Alley by Stewart and Riddell - Random House Review by Reading Leader, Sabeela Mahmood from King Ecgbert School

The fith and final review of Random House books by Reading Leader, Sabeela Mahmood from King Ecgbert School.

Barnaby Grimes and the Phantom of Blood Alley
Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell

PLOT

Barnaby Grimes is a tick-tock lad, high stacking his way across the rooftops of his city in search of adventure and mystery. In a fiercely competitive world of early photography, the rewards are immense but so are the risks. After an experiment goes disastrously wrong, Barnaby finds himself on the trail of a mad chemist with a talent for disappearing into thin air…

MAIN CHARACTERS

The main characters are Barnaby Grimes, Professor Pinkerton-Barnes, Will Farmer, Clarissa Oliphant and Laurence Oliphant.

WHAT I THOUGHT

I thought the book was a very good Mixture of gothic and adventure themes. I particularly liked the fact that it was set in early Victorian times. It made the book seem very real. Wrote by the same authors of The Edge Chronicles I didn’t expect any less. The book didn’t disappoint me because of the well thought plot and interesting character. The only bad thing was the book was the fourth in the series! I hadn’t read the first three. But I would definitely recommend this to all my friends. A well thought out book.

By Sabeela Mahmood

The Immortals by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell - Random House Review by Reading Leader, Sabeela Mahmood from King Ecgbert School

The forth in our set of reviews of Random House books by Reading Leader, Sabeela Mahmood from King Ecgbert School.

The Immortals
Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell

PLOT

The story is about a boy called Nate Quarter who lives on a floating rock called the Edge. He is a miner who mines for powerful phrax crystals. One day he finds out that the mine owner is stealing crystals. He takes them back but then is on the run with his best friend Slip.

MAIN CHARACTERS

The main characters are Nate Quarter, Slip, Professor Eudoxia Prade, Weelum and an old sky pirate.

WHAT I THOUGHT

The book was a fantastic mixture of fantasy and adventure. The Edge is a brilliant world and the description makes it seem very real. This is no ordinary book and I can see why a lot of people have bought copies. The plot is intriguing and mysterious and you don’t know what come next. The writers are total genius’s to come up with a whole new world and write then books about it. The only thing I regret is that I wasn’t able to read the other Edge Chronicle books. A brilliant read.

By Sabeela Mahmood

The Lady Grace Mysteries: Loot By Grace Cavendish - Random House Review by Reading Leader, Sabeela Mahmood from King Ecgbert School

The third in our set of reviews of Random House books by Reading Leader, Sabeela Mahmood from King Ecgbert School.

The Lady Grace Mysteries: Loot

By Grace Cavendish

PLOT

The story is about a maid of honour serving Queen Elizabeth. It is the day before the Queen’s coronation anniversary when the crown of St Edward gets stolen. Grace must now turn Lady Pursuivant and track it down.

MAIN CHARACTERS

The main characters are Lady Grace, Queen Elizabeth I, Ellie, Mary Shelton and the Jewel Thief.

WHAT I THOUGHT

The book is a great blend of adventure and 15th century life. I thought it was very well written and it had a lot of tense bits making me want to read right through to the end. The descriptions of life then was very detailed and convincing. I would love to read the other books in the series. I would definitely recommend this book to my friends. Overall it was a wonderful and great book to read.

By Sabeela Mahmood

The Monster Republic By Ben Horton - Random House Review by Reading Leader, Sabeela Mahmood from King Ecgbert School

The second in our set of reviews of Random House books by Reading Leader, Sabeela Mahmood from King Ecgbert School.

The Monster Republic
By Ben Horton

PLOT

The story is about a boy called Cameron who is in an accident and finds that someone has made changes to his body giving him amazing capabilities.

MAIN CHARACTERS

The main characters are Cameron, Rora, Dr Fry Carla and The Monster Republic

WHAT I THOUGHT

The book was very good. The plot was fripping. You don’t know what happens until the very end. It is a great way to start off a series. The topic of the story isn’t new but the way it is written makes it unique. The only thing that could be improved is the beginning. It rushes into the story so quickly and it could be longer. Also the character, Cameron, accepts what his is way too quickly. But overall it’s an amazing book.

By Sabeela Mahmood

The Toymaker By Jeremy De Quidt - Random House Review by Reading Leader, Sabeela Mahmood from King Ecgbert School

A few weeks back I was sent a stack of new books from Random House. I passed these on to King Ecgbert School, to be reviewed by our Reading Leaders there. Well I got the reviews this week and to my astonishment they are all by the same Reading Leader, Sabeela Mahmood. What an accomplishment; these are not short, simple books.

To do justice to Sabeela’s reviews I will post them up one at a time once a week or so.

Enjoy!

The Toymaker
By Jeremy De Quidt

PLOT

The story is about a boy called Mathias who finds a hidden piece of paper inside the collar of his dying granddad’s coat. Then he has to run because of the many people who would love to have that piece of paper. Along the way he meets a girl out for revenge, a friend of a strange type of people called Burners and his jealous brother.

MAIN CHARACTERS

The main characters are Mathias, Katta, Koenig, Stefan, Anna-Maria, Lutsmann and Dr Lieter.

WHAT I THOUGHT

The book was an intriguing story. It kept me hooked. The plot had many twists and turns and it’s a book that you can’t put down. The words used by the author are not complicated so it is very suitable for all teenagers. I would definitely recommend this to other readers. The only thing that could be made better was the ending. It isn’t a very satisfying ending. You don’t know what happens to some characters when they leave the building. But apart from that a very worthwhile read.

By Sabeela Mahmood

Reading Leader Reviewers for Random House

I am really pleased to have received an offer from Random House Children's Books, they have sent me a nice package of books to review on this blog. Rather than review them myself I have passed them on to the Reading Leaders we trained at King Ecgbert School, these guys are the target audience and so are better able to review them than me.

The books they will be taking a look at are:

• Monster Republic: The Divinity Project
• The Toymaker
• Barnaby Grimes: Phantom of Blood Alley
• The Immortals (Edge Chronicles)
• Loot (Lady Grace Mysteries)

Once I get the reviews back form the Reading Leaders at King Ecgbert School, I will post them up here.

Exciting stuff, I'm looking forward to hearing about these brand new books.

Reading Leader's Celebration | Sheffield, December 16 2009

As promised in my previous post about the great results of our Character Profile activity, here are some photos from our celebration event which took place on 16 December at Sheffield Town Hall.

As well as the fabulous author Alan Gibbons, Councillor Andrew Sangar, people from Barrington Stoke, Reading Matters employees and Sheffield Council personnel, the most important people in attendance where the staff and Reading Leaders from Sheffield schools:

• Handsworth Grange School
• Heritage Park Community School
• King Ecgbert School
• Silverdale School
• Stocksbridge High School

It sounds like Alan Gibbons has had a busy month, that is set to continue. He is writing a new Barrington Stoke book, The Dying Photo, based on a blurb written by James Pybis of Our Lady's and St Philomena's Primary School in Liverpool, as part of The Book Factor project. I first read about this on the Write Away website, so thanks to them.

Celebration event for Reading Leaders at Sheffield Town Hall with Leader of the Council Paul Scriven

A great event took place yesterday (21/10/08), I was in a posh room in the Town Hall with 80 or so Reading Leaders and their teachers, Paul Scriven the Leader of Sheffield Council and a bunch of other council staff. All the Reading Leaders (generally pupils in years 10 or 11) who have been partnering younger pupils in reading sessions were presented with a certificate by Paul Scriven. As I said in my very short little speech, it was excellent to see so many young people taking on some responsibility and giving up their time and energy to support other children.

It was obviously something that touched a nerve with Paul Scriven, who had taken time out of what must be a busy schedule to come and talk to the Reading Leaders, and as he said, the next time some one moans about all youngsters being knife wielding hoodies, we will have a perfect counter argument.


There were nearly 100 Reading Leaders in attendance from Abbeydale Grange, Firth Park Community Arts College, King Ecgbert School, Meadowhead School and Stocksbridge High School.