Good Reads: Craigholme School
Chosen by Junior 6 (10-11 year- old) pupils from Craigholme School, Glasgow.
Thanks to Donna Luc, librarian.
Chinese Cinderella: The Secret Story of an Unwanted Daughter
Adeline Yen Mah, Puffin, 256pp, 978 0 1413 0487 8, £6.99 pbk
Chinese Cinderella is an amazing book. It is an autobiography about the author’s horrible childhood. Her mother died when Adeline (the author) was born and everybody thinks she is bad luck especially her stepmother Niang. Most children think they aren’t wanted even though they are. If you read this book you will realise that you are wanted. You will find out all the sad things that happened to her and how she manages to handle it and how her brothers, sisters and stepbrothers and stepsisters treat her like a pile of dirt. I would recommend this book to people who like a real page turner. The book is a sort of book that your friends and family would enjoy. Elizabeth Gavin
Girl Missing
Sophie McKenzie, Simon & Schuster, 304pp, 978 0 8570 7413 3, £6.99 pbk
Girl Missing is my favourite book because it is quite funny and very dramatic. It is about a girl called Lauren who finds out she was adopted when she was only three. Lauren goes all the way over to the US to find her parents, but on the way she finds out she wasn’t adopted she was actually kidnapped and then adopted. When she eventually gets to her real parents she finds out she has got two sisters. The eldest Shelby is a person you do not want to meet but Madison is the complete opposite. She is only 6 and the cutest thing ever. Now her real parents want her to stay with them but her adoptive parents also want her. Maybe finding her real family wasn’t the best idea. I enjoyed it so much I could read it again and again. Lois Chuwen
Out of the Depths
Cathy MacPhail, Bloomsbury, 224pp, 978-0747599098, £5.99 pbk
Out of the Depths by the award winning author Cathy MacPhail is a spine-tingling novel full of mystery and suspense. I was riveted by the opening paragraph: ‘I saw my teacher in the queue at the supermarket last Christmas. Miss Baxter. I was surprised to see her. She’d been dead for six months.’ Cathy made me feel as if I was Tyler Lawless with her bewildering imagination, or is it that Tyler can really see the dead? Ben Kincaid needs her help but Ben Kincaid is dead! Ben keeps appearing to Tyler, a shadowy pale faced boy at the back of the class, in the school corridors. Cathy builds the dramatic story to a climax in the old chapel. Can Tyler change the events and prevent Ben’s murder? Sophie Luc
Pink Chameleon
Fiona Dunbar, Orchard, 288pp, 978 1 8461 6230 5, £5.99 pbk
Pink Chameleon is my favourite book; it is a real page turner! The story is all about two sisters, Rorie and Elsie who are the children of two great inventors. When their parents go to show off their invention they never return. Rorie and Elsie have no other relatives other than cruel Aunt Irmine and Uncle Harris, who own Poker Bute Hall School. BOO! The children most definitely do not get along with any of the other stuck up children at the school and when Rorie discovers she has a magical power, it doesn’t go down well. The sisters are urged to find out what has happened to their parents and most of all ESCAPE out of the school or should I say prison! I recommend this book to any child who loves a fun packed exciting book! I love the determination of the sisters and hope you will too! Amy Brown
The 13 Treasures
Michelle Harrison, Simon & Schuster, 336pp, 978 1 8473 8449 2, £6.99 pbk
The 13 Treasures is a mesmerizing read, driving you to read on and discover the complex plot. The adventure begins when Tanya is sent to stay with her wizened grandmother at Elvesden Manor after another terrible mishap with her tormentors, the fairies whom only she can see. But after she glimpses a girl fifty years dead in the woods, everything changes. The manor begins to reveal its hidden secrets to her, and she sets out to reveal the centre of the mystery. Will she solve the mystery of her family’s past, and perhaps discover herself along the way? This enthralling read gripped me from the start, pulling me into the story as it gradually rolled away the veil to expose the plot. I can’t wait to read the sequel, and let Michelle Harrison enchant me with more of her spellbinding magic. Ariana Johnson
