What kind of book would be written if Georgia Nicolson (from Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging) moved to America, found a sudden interest in detective work and then moved to Venice? Well, I don't know exactly, but I think it would be pretty close to Kitty Kitty. Which makes it very good, by the way.
Kitty Kitty is the sequel to Bad Kitty, the first book about teenage detective Jasmine "Jas" Callihan. In this book, Jas moves to Venice and tries to stay out of trouble. However, her attempts at that are abandoned when her friend Arabella is found dead in a canal. The Police say that it's suicide, but Jas thinks that she was murdered, which she tries to explain to the Police. The rest of the book is all about how she solves the mystery, with the help of her friends from America (Roxy, Polly and Tom) and her cousin Alyson (plus Alyson's friend Veronique).
Good Points: fairy names. Also the footnotes added by Jas and co. Oh, and Jas's motto: "WWMrTD". It stands for "What would Mr T do?"
Bad points: Um...not many actually. None that I can think of.
And now we come to the starry-starometer. I'm going to give Kitty Kitty 10/10 stars. In other (German) words, "Sehr gut..."
Friday 22 May 2009
Sunday 10 May 2009
Roswell High 6, The Stowaway
I bought Roswell High books 1, 5,6,7 and 8 from the library book sale. All five of them cost 50p. And yet they're selling the Twilight series in bookshops for five or six pounds? It defies logic. I liked Twilight, but I think Roswell High is better.
The Stowaway starts after Michael is freed from an underground compound along with Adam, another alien who has lived there all his life, and Cameron, a human with pretend psychic powers who was actually in the compound to find out more information on the other aliens in Roswell. What the aliens (Max, Michael, Isabel and Adam) don't know is that she's already gone and told Sheriff Valenti all about them. She falls for Michael (and vice versa) and for a while it's all going pretty OK.
Teeny tiny note at this point: read the book from the start and don't look at the middle before you begin reading it. I did, and was very confused because Michael was kissing someone called Cameron, who I assumed was a boy. So I kind of squinted at it and was all "What's going on here?" for a while and then I read the start, which told me that Cameron was, in fact, a girl. The back of the book probably could've told me that earlier but I'm not that logical.
I'm not going to tell you what else happened, because it might ruin the ending which is a literally ginormous surprise-o-rama. I wasn't expecting it at all. Es ist sehr gut, as my German friends might say. If I had any German friends, that is.
I read the seventh one in the staff room at my work experience, and that was good too but not quite as good at this one. This is probably the best Roswell High book, although I haven't read them all yet due to the rubbish availability of them in libraries. My school library had one, and it was the second one. And I bet that's gonna turn up at the 20p book sale next Red Nose Day. Sigh. I don't think these books are quite appreciated enough.
So...my verdict. 4.99 stars on the starry-starometer. I took 0.1 off for that confusing name. But other than that, really very good.
Madeleine :)
The Stowaway starts after Michael is freed from an underground compound along with Adam, another alien who has lived there all his life, and Cameron, a human with pretend psychic powers who was actually in the compound to find out more information on the other aliens in Roswell. What the aliens (Max, Michael, Isabel and Adam) don't know is that she's already gone and told Sheriff Valenti all about them. She falls for Michael (and vice versa) and for a while it's all going pretty OK.
Teeny tiny note at this point: read the book from the start and don't look at the middle before you begin reading it. I did, and was very confused because Michael was kissing someone called Cameron, who I assumed was a boy. So I kind of squinted at it and was all "What's going on here?" for a while and then I read the start, which told me that Cameron was, in fact, a girl. The back of the book probably could've told me that earlier but I'm not that logical.
I'm not going to tell you what else happened, because it might ruin the ending which is a literally ginormous surprise-o-rama. I wasn't expecting it at all. Es ist sehr gut, as my German friends might say. If I had any German friends, that is.
I read the seventh one in the staff room at my work experience, and that was good too but not quite as good at this one. This is probably the best Roswell High book, although I haven't read them all yet due to the rubbish availability of them in libraries. My school library had one, and it was the second one. And I bet that's gonna turn up at the 20p book sale next Red Nose Day. Sigh. I don't think these books are quite appreciated enough.
So...my verdict. 4.99 stars on the starry-starometer. I took 0.1 off for that confusing name. But other than that, really very good.
Madeleine :)
Sunday 3 May 2009
If A Tree Falls At Lunch Break, by Gennifer Choldenko
I borrowed this from my school library. At first glance in didn't look all that interesting, but it turned out to be pretty good. I'd actually seen it a couple of times without picking it up, possibly due to the tagline on the back cover, which said:
"Two kids. Two lives. One big story!"
That sounded a bit lame to me, but it was telling the truth. There are two kids, who undoubtedly do have two lives, and it is a pretty big story, especially for a 216 page book. The two main characters are Kirsten and Walk, who share their points of view in alternate chapters. They are both in the seventh grade, which I think makes them either twelve or thirteen. Kirsten is best friends with Rory, but then Rory goes and makes friends with Brianna, a very popular girl who Kirsten doesn't like. Rory is then part of a group with Brianna and her friends, and Kirsten feels left out. Her very nosy mother tries to fix it for her, but that only leads to embarassment for Kirsten.
Meanwhile, a boy called Walker (Walk for short) joins Kirsten's school. He doesn't know anybody, but quickly makes friends. When Brianna plants their teacher's wallet in Kirsten's bag, Walk tells hims that Brianna took it and he and Kirsten make friends. Things are going OK, despite Kirsten's mother being worried and asking Kirsten about her "boyfriends" (Walk and his friend, Matteo). I assumed that she was just being nosy like before, but she does actually have a reason to be bothered by Kirsten and Walk's friendship. She thinks that Walk might ask Kirsten out, which would be a problem seeing as they're actually half-brother and sister! I didn't find that out until Kirsten did, and she wasn't even meant to know. Walk finds out as well, and decides he wants to leave the school and return to his old one, but in the end he changes his mind. It ends well, with Kirsten's mother waving to Walk's when they are dropping them off at school. Aw.
I give this book 3/4 starry stars on Madeleine's starry-starometer, which is very high praise, trust me. It would be even cooler if I actually had a starry-starometer. Do you think I could make one out of a cardboard box?
Madeleine x
"Two kids. Two lives. One big story!"
That sounded a bit lame to me, but it was telling the truth. There are two kids, who undoubtedly do have two lives, and it is a pretty big story, especially for a 216 page book. The two main characters are Kirsten and Walk, who share their points of view in alternate chapters. They are both in the seventh grade, which I think makes them either twelve or thirteen. Kirsten is best friends with Rory, but then Rory goes and makes friends with Brianna, a very popular girl who Kirsten doesn't like. Rory is then part of a group with Brianna and her friends, and Kirsten feels left out. Her very nosy mother tries to fix it for her, but that only leads to embarassment for Kirsten.
Meanwhile, a boy called Walker (Walk for short) joins Kirsten's school. He doesn't know anybody, but quickly makes friends. When Brianna plants their teacher's wallet in Kirsten's bag, Walk tells hims that Brianna took it and he and Kirsten make friends. Things are going OK, despite Kirsten's mother being worried and asking Kirsten about her "boyfriends" (Walk and his friend, Matteo). I assumed that she was just being nosy like before, but she does actually have a reason to be bothered by Kirsten and Walk's friendship. She thinks that Walk might ask Kirsten out, which would be a problem seeing as they're actually half-brother and sister! I didn't find that out until Kirsten did, and she wasn't even meant to know. Walk finds out as well, and decides he wants to leave the school and return to his old one, but in the end he changes his mind. It ends well, with Kirsten's mother waving to Walk's when they are dropping them off at school. Aw.
I give this book 3/4 starry stars on Madeleine's starry-starometer, which is very high praise, trust me. It would be even cooler if I actually had a starry-starometer. Do you think I could make one out of a cardboard box?
Madeleine x
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