Girl, Missing by Sophie McKenzie

Sophie McKenzie

Accelerated reader -

Interest level: ages 14+ (I’m younger than this - I would say it’s fine for 11 and up.) 

Rating 3.5/4

🚨 Spoiler alert 🚨 

Book Synopsis -

What if everything you thought of your life was a lie?

Lauren is adopted and eager to know more about her mysterious past. But when she discovers she may have been snatched from her real family as a baby, her whole life suddenly feels like a sham. Why will no one answer her questions? How can she find her biological parents? And could her adoptive parents really have been responsible for kidnaping her?

Running away from her family to seek out the truth, Lauren’s journey takes her deeper and deeper into danger as she realises that someone wants to stop her uncovering want really happened when she was a baby...at any costs...

My synopsis -

Lauren. She was adopted when she was three and has always known this. When she is given a homework about who she is, she starts to wonder, who is she? She knows that she is Lauren Mathews with brown hair and blue eyes but she doesn’t know who she is inside, or what her background is - the family that makes her who she is. So, when she is looking around to try and find something about herself, she stumbles across some missing people reports. One for a girl called Martha Lauren Purditt. It says that her birthday is March 12. That she would be 14 now. That she has brown hair and blue eyes. That she went missing September 8, a little less than 2 months before Lauren was adopted. This sparks confusion and a longing to know. And so it begins.  

Why I like this book?

I like this book because I am into very real, thriller type books. Things about murder, kidnapping, family problems, so basically books about things that happen but are not in our day-to-day lives. Funnily enough, from my reading taste, you would think I’m a bit of a dark person - but I'm not at all!

I think this book touched upon all the things that make me like a book. There were lots of plot twists and the plot was built up to really well. There were the odd clues scattered throughout about what could happen and once you finish reading you think about the clues you didn't realise were clues. This makes the whole story work really well - it was the perfect book for me and probably a lot of other people as well.

This is the type that you can’t put down - I read it non stop. I loved how the story turned out and I thought that it was very clever.

It made me cry more than I think it should have, it is just an amazing read. I loved the ending as it was incredible. It was very cleverly done, especially the last sentence. 

I love the way Sophie writes, all three books in this series are incredible and so emotional. 

How much I would rate this book

⭐⭐⭐⭐

I rated this book 4 stars because in some places it was very emotional. I think it was very cleverly written.

My favourite character: 

My favourite character is Madison. She’s my favourite character as I love the way she has a special connection with Lauren. I think she was portrayed really well.

I would 100% recommend this book to anyone who loves a good YA thriller.

Once you read this book you’ll never be able to forget about it, it’s one that will stick with you and help you to be determined and to not give in even though it can get hard.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time

By: Mark Haddon

Age:  Upper years, ages 14 years plus.

Accelerated Reader Rating: 4.5/5

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time is a book about a young boy called Christopher. Christopher has Asperger’s Syndrome and when he finds his neighbour's dog dead with a garden fork sticking out of its chest, he struggles to know what to do. When he gets caught up in an uncomfortable and scary situation he is forced to run away from home and find the person he once thought as dead.

This book is really interesting as you can see what Christopher is thinking, it's as if you're in his mind and because he has an unusual way of looking at the world, it really helps you to understand him.

Main characters: Christopher, Ed Boone, Judy Boone and Siobhan.

Christopher:

Christopher has Asperger’s Syndrome and likes to take walks in the night. When he is walking past his neighbour’s house, he notices her dog, the dog is dead. Christopher doesn’t really understand people very well so when he gets into many sticky situations it doesn’t help very much. 

Ed Boone:

Ed Boone is Christopher’s father, he is one of the only people who understands him. He has been raising Christopher alone ever since his wife, Judy died.

Judy Boone:

Judy Boone is Christopher's mum, who died when Christopher was young - but as Christopher has an incredible memory, he can remember everything about her, even what she said and when.

Siobhan:

Siobhan is one of Christopher’s teachers who teaches him things like facial expressions and how to act around people. Christopher’s father knows how to be around him and understands him, but Siobhan understands him more because he shares everything with her, and she helps him with everything.

More about Christopher:

Christopher is incredibly clever, and he even took his GCSE a year early. Christopher also wants to be an astronaut and go to space when he is older, he is always reading things about the Apollo space mission.

Why I like this book:

I like this book because it is very interesting, and it is a really good murder mystery because it has a twist to it as you can understand what is going on in Christopher’s head.

What I didn’t like about this book:

I didn’t really like how Christopher finds out about who murdered the dog.. I’m not sure why, but I just didn’t.

My Star rating:

4.5/5

Why did I rate it this?

I rated it this because It was an amazing book and I loved it but I only gave it 4.5 because I wasn’t so keen on the ending as I found it a bit sad almost that he can’t get over a certain fear.

One Of Us Is Lying

  

 *may contain some grown-up content*

                                

One Of Us Is Lying

By: Karen M. McManus 

I'm going to start telling you guys what reading level these books are as I have found this very helpful when looking for books. I will be using the website Accelerated reader bookfinder. As this is a UK website it may not be as helpful to some of you, but it still may help.

Interest Level:

Upper Years, Ages 14 Plus

Rating:

I found out about this website through school. Last (school) year we used accelerated reader to quiz on the books we read.

So, onto the book review;

I found this book through my friend who has a similar interest in books to me. I found this book really interesting because it shows that the people who you would least expect to become friends - become friends. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys murder mysteries. 

                             !SPOILER ALERT!

'One of us is Lying' is a really good book about teenagers who all come from different backgrounds, but they all meet in a rather horrible way; a boy's death. This boy is called Simon Kelleher. Simon has a gossip app. The day after he died was the day he was going to post 4 student's deepest, darkest secrets online. Simon was in detention when he died, with the four people - the people he was about to post the secrets of.

Main characters: Simon Kelleher, Bronwyn Rojas (the geek), Nate Macauley (the criminal),
Addy Prentiss (the popular girl) and Cooper Clay (the athlete).

My favourite character: My favourite character is Nate, because even though he is a criminal he stops as he has the impact from someone he has fallen in love with. Once you get to know him he is a really nice person.

My least favourite character: My least favourite character was Jake Riordan because he is an idiot pretty much! 

What made me like the book: I liked this book because it is a murder mystery and I find murder mysteries and crime very interesting because I want to become a detective inspector.

What I didn't like about this book: There wasn't anything that I didn't like.

                                    Bonne lecture!

Maz Evans

Maz Evans

After I had done my Who Let the Gods Out post I decided to interview Maz and I have had the reply and the answers so I can now show you what she has said.

I hope you all enjoyed my Who Let the Gods Out post and I will be doing some more like that.

Here is the interview;

Who inspired you to become a writer?  As a child, I loved reading – I always had my nose in a book!  I was a huge Roald Dahl fan – still am in fact – and wanted to write a book that would make children laugh like I did.    

         

Why did you write a children's book and not an adults book?  Because kids are awesome! I’m really just a big kid myself, so thinking like a child comes very easily to me. I would like to write a grown-up book one day, so watch this space… 

Did you ever want to be something else?  Never. Writing was the only thing I ever wanted to do and it was the only thing I was ever any good at. But it still took a lot of hard work – which has made it so satisfying to achieve my dream.

Why did you choose Greek Gods?  Because I loved their stories as a child. I won a book on Greek Mythology at school when I was eight – I’ve been hooked ever since.

How did you think of the storyline?  It evolved over quite a long time. The idea that the Gods were still alive came first and then Elliot’s story came afterwards. I wanted a real hero, so I made Elliot a Young Carer – but no amount of magic can solve his problems. 

Why does he live on a farm?  I grew up in the country, so a lot of friends lived on farms and I thought they were so cool. I also wanted a very special home for Elliot, one he was very scared to lose.

Who is your hero?  Great question! I have so many. J K Rowling is my author hero because she never gave up and her books are just genius. But the Young Carers I’ve met this year have really inspired me – they are all such heroes.

Why did you want to put constellations in it?  I thought it was a bit different. I don’t really believe in astrology (although I am SUCH a Gemini!), but it’s a bit of fun. I liked the idea of them being real and a bit mad.

Who told you to never give up?  It’s something I’ve always told myself. I believe we are all capable of so much – we just need to believe in ourselves and work hard.

What were you like as a child?  Very chatty! I was always getting in trouble for talking too much! In fact, not very much has changed… 

What was your favorite book as a child?  The Twits by Roald Dahl. Although I also loved Greek Myths and stories like the 1001 Arabian Nights.

 
Who is your favorite author?  Argh – couldn’t say! There are so many I admire and now I’m lucky that lots of them are my friends. I think anyone who writes a book is awesome.

What is your favorite joke?  Q: What’s brown and sticky?A: A stick!

If you are a big Who Let the Gods Out fan please put in the comments your favorite character and your favorite part. 

Thank you so much Maz Evans, for spending time answering these questions and for being so inspiring.

Who Let the Gods Out

                                  

Who Let the Gods Out is a brilliant book by Maz Evans.

The blurb says:

When Elliot wished upon a star he didn't expect a constellation to trash into his dungheap.

Virgo thinks she's perfect. Elliot doesn't. Together they release Thanatos, evil Daemon of Death. 
Epic fail!

They need the king of the Gods and his noble steed -  they get chubby Zeus and his high horse Pegasus.

Are the Gods ready for the world? And is the world really ready for the Gods?

I really believe that this is the best book in the world and that Maz is the greatest children's author, due to the fact that the book includes a bit of everything. It has comedy, it is educational, it is funny and it has an exciting adventure.

Have any of you guys ever read Percy Jackson? Because my friend said 'Who Let the Gods Out is like Percy Jackson.'

I absolutely love this book to bits and luckily I had it signed and I have met Maz twice. 

I believe that everyone - I really do mean everyone, will enjoy this book so much.

Right - onto the review.  So, the first thing I am going to say is, 'let's see I am going to mix the order up for a change because I feel like it'. If you don't know me, I am quite a random person.

Why/Why not I liked the story:

I liked the story because it is very exciting and it is very gripping and very enjoyable.

Who are the main characters?:

The main characters are Virgo, Elliot, The Gods, Josie and Patricia Porshley Plum (cough cough 'horses bum').

What is it all about?:

This book is about Elliot Hooper and a constellation, or as Elliot likes to call her, a star ball thingy, 'Virgo' who quite accidently let out the Daemon of Death. Oh no! So they call on the Gods to help them, but it might be King of the Gods Zeus's fault. 'But how?', you may ask, however unfortunately I can't tell you anything more!  

I really recommend that you buy the book if you haven't already and just when you have 1 hour or an hour and a half just sit and read or you can stretch it out.

Maybe if you do the summer reading challenge you can use it as one of your books.

I'd love to hear what you think of it.

(this is Maz Evans holding her next book, which hasn't been released yet)

London part 2

Yay, on my way to the Roald Dahl experience (The Wondercrump )
I am so excited I wonder what it will be like. What is your favorite Roald Dahl book? Please tell me your answer in the comments. Mine is either The BFG or Danny Champion of the World.

It looks amazing even though it's not started yet.
Oooh I'm so excited.

This is the end of the Wondercrump experience. This is the wall of trumps!
I won't say what happened inside as they like to keep it secret and off social media so it doesn't spoil it for other people. These are the only bits we were allowed to show.
But what I can say is... it was splendiferous!!

This is the story title creator.
If you had to make a silly story title what would it be?
Please give me your answers in the comments.

This is a beautiful looking cafe it looks very old and cosy.
What do you think of the cafe?

This is a hot chocolate shop and they sell all things chocolate. The hot chocolate comes in lots of flavours too, like cinnamon or chilli.

 It takes them ages to make it, they carve lots of shreds to go on the top - dark, milk and white choc,  and then pile them on high..
This is them shredding the chocolate

This is what it looks like when it's finished:

Mmm it was delicious but I couldn't finish it all!
What do you think of it?

This is me with some lemonade on a bench chatting with my Dad, as you do. It's a place called Neals Yard which has lots of health food places and benches for a quiet break away from the hustle and bustle.

In Covent Garden they have a lovely indian restaurant called Masala Zone.
The ceiling is full of hanging puppets from India and the food is very nice and unusual.

Please feel free to answer my questions in the comments.
Happy holidays everyone!

London part 1

I recently went on a trip to London (with my parents obviously.) 

"Are we there yet..."

At the Waldorf Astoria fancy doorway.

Everywhere was fancy, especially the ceilings.

Lovely chandelier, it was very grand.

Sneaky heelie-ing in the corridor.

Cool sweeties. I bought some, it was too tempting!

A lovely looking cupcake shop. The cakes looked delicious. It made me want to make some when I got home. Whats your favourite cupcake?

Beautiful flowers in Covent Garden which is always full of life and entertainment.

Walking around with my dad. It was very fun in London.

What is your favourite holiday? Please tell me in the comments.

To be continued...