Ali Sparkes

First book in a series, feels slightly formulaic, but is still very enjoyable. Dax is a boy who lives with his cruel stepmother and spoiled step sister, who finds out one day he has the power to turn into a fox. This gets him taken away to a school for Children of Limitless Ability, which is a glorious complex hidden behind an old tin mine and built into a cliff in Cornwall, cascading down to a salt water lido. He makes friends, finds out that not everyone has his best interests at heart, and Saves The Day.

Oddly, the protagonists are years older than in the Boy with Two Heads, but read as years younger. It's a similar story in a lot of ways (discovering new powers, realising you can't trust all those in authority over you), but this is much gentler and sweeter with more traditionally moral messages.… (mehr)

This book is aimed at young teens, though I feel all books are ageless. I don't want to give too much of the plot away so in summary: Teenager Lucy has been travelling through space for ten years to reach Earth her home world having been wiped out by an enemy species.She needs to learn to blend in with earth people if she is to make it her home. It's not all plain sailing though as something has been on the long journey with her. The main themes of the book are friendship and acceptance.
Ali Sparks always writes an engaging story, her books are easy to read, I whizzed through this one in a couple of days. It is however very predictable, I suppose that's because of the age group it's aimed at. I purchased my copy from a charity shop, I'll set it free by returning it to a charity shop.… (mehr)

I was prompted to read this young person's novel after sitting in on a key stage 3 English class studying the book at a school in Southend, during a visit last week as part of my job. It's a time travel novel, a genre I always love, involving a boy and girl, Freddy and Polly, from 1956 who are kept in cryogenic suspension and accidentally revived in the modern day (2009 when this was written) by two other children to whom they are related, Ben and Rachel. It involves international espionage and missing scientists, but is first and foremost a study of how Freddy and Polly cope with life in the twenty-first century and their hilarious misunderstandings. As such, it is not only a great adventure story, with a very dramatic and tense final few chapters in particular, but also teaches young readers that things haven't always been as they are now, some things may be better, some may be worse. Very good.… (mehr)