Good Reads: Holy Trinity CE Primary School, Cheltenham

Chosen by Year 5 (9/10 year-old) pupils from Holy Trinity CE Primary School, Cheltenham.

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Thanks to Louise Prew, class teacher.

The Subtle Knife

Philip Pullman, Scholastic, 978 1 4071 0407 2, £6.99 pbk

Poor 12-year-old Will Parry has murdered a man. He has run away to Oxford and left his mother with his piano teacher. He sees a small, sort of window in the air and steps through into a whole other world – ‘Cittagazze’, a town haunted by deadly, soul-eating spectres. He meets an ambitious, determined girl named Lyra who is searching for the meaning of ‘dust’.

Together they defeat a mad man and become in possession of the Subtle Knife and suffer the consequences. They begin mission impossible as they search for Will’s father and the truth of his past.

The Subtle Knife is the second book in ‘His Dark Materials’ trilogy. If you liked Northern Lights (Golden Compass) then you’ll love this. Truly anything can happen in this unexpected tale of twists and turns. You will laugh and cry in this entrancing book and find that once you start reading you can’t stop.

Lydia Bridgmount

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

J K Rowling, Bloomsbury, 978 0 7475 4629 0, £6.99 pbk

The book is as good as the film but I think the book is more interesting because there is more dialogue in it.

This is Harry’s third year at Hogwarts’ School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry’s friends try to help him search for the prisoner of Azkaban. Azkaban is a prison for criminal witches and wizards. The guards of Azkaban, called Dementors, suck people’s happiness from them and are looking for their escaped prisoner on the train to Hogwarts.

In the book we meet a werewolf, Harry discovers he has a Godfather and somebody went back in time. We also meet a new defence against the dark arts teacher.

Hermione, one of Harry’s friends, is into learning lots of things. She is muggle (non-magic family) born which means her parents are not witch/wizard people. Ron, another one of Harry’s friends, is frightened of spiders and is quite sarcastic. Although Ron and Hermione are friends, they always argue with each other. Harry is famous because he managed to survive when Voldemort, who is a very nasty wizard and an enemy of Harry’s, killed his parents when he was a baby. Whenever Harry finds himself in danger he tries to stop it but this always gets him and his friends into trouble when they don’t mean to.

I think the book is very fascinating because it has lots of adventure between the three children and the good side always wins. I think both children and adults will enjoy it.

Lula Chapman-Hureau

Ruby the Red Fairy

Daisy Meadows, Orchard, 978 1 84362 016 7, £3.99 pbk

Ruby the Red Fairy is a fantastic book for young readers with big imaginations.

When Rachel and Kirsty become best friends on a ferry, they also find out that they’ll be living next door to each other on Rainspell Island. They go and play with each other every day. But one day they go for a walk inside the woods when they come to find a black old cauldron. When they struggle to move it, they find a lovely small girl, with a frilly red dress down to her knees, silk red ballet shoes with a bow at the top and her hair in two neat blonde plaits with roses. But there’s something else. WINGS. Ruby is a fairy. Ruby the Red Fairy.

But was turning over the cauldron bad or not? Was it good? Is there more?

I think it’s a brilliant book. In fact I think it’s fantastic. I didn’t want to put it down.

Georgia Hodgson

Nudie Dudie

Michael Lawrence, Orchard, 978 1 84362 647 3, £4.99 pbk

‘Did you ever have a dream where there are people all around you and suddenly you’re naked? I mean without a thing on. Totally starkers. Just you, no one else. Well count yourself lucky if it was only a dream. Imagine if it happened in real life – like it did to me…’

Meet Jiggy McCue, a boy with as much luck as if he had broken 100 mirrors and counting. As you can see he’s extremely unlucky. Now meet Angie Mint and Pete Garrett. Their parents are now living together. Angie and Pete are Jiggy’s best friends and sadly share his adventures.

This story is about when Jiggy is given a pen that has a picture of a woman on it and when you tip it the lady’s clothes disappear but when he writes with it his clothes disappear too! Read the book to find out what happens.

Overall I think it’s an excellent book and I also think people who like funny books with a crude twist will like this book. If you like Nudie Dudie, then read the other books in the Jiggy McCue series.

James Meyer