Splodge lives on Lemon Tree farm, but then he crosses the hot white desert to go to live in a jungle full of wild animals.

This book is a bit funny, but that isn’t the main thing about it. I like how everybody thinks Splodge can’t do anything, because he’s just a fat lazy pig. He has quite a few narrow escapes and every time he tricks the other animals. It’s a good story.

Splodge has got a satchel, and he has lots of unusual stuff in there, like a balloon, and all of his things help him to rid the jungle of tigers.

One thing that is not so good is that there is no information about the story on the back cover.

I like all of the drawings. I also like that the pictures go from black and white to colour and back to black and white and so on. AMMN

“At the very edge of Dimwood Forest stood an old charred oak where, silhoutted by the moon, a great horned owl sat waiting. The owl’s name was Mr. Ocax, and he looked like death himself.”

This is a story about a mouse called Poppy. I like the way she has a ginormous family. She is determined to prove that she can help them move house. To do that, she has to fight against Mr. Ocax, who calls himself the ruler of Dimwood Forest, where they live.

Nobody really supports Poppy, apart from one of her cousins and a porcupine. Mr Ocax says porcupines eat mice, but actually they don’t. And he also says that he protects mice from porcupines, but actually he’s scared of them himself!

It was really nice and I think it was a good book. AMMN

This is a story in 3 parts, and they all fit together. The first part is about Olly, who has a brother called Matt who is brilliant at making people laugh. He sees children in Africa who are sick, injured, orphaned and lonely, and he decides he wants to go and make them laugh, make them happy. Whilst he is away, Olly looks after his swallows.

The second part is about one of Matt’s swallows, called Hero, who goes on an adventure to Africa, braving all sorts along the way. The third part is about Matt’s time in Africa, where he makes friends with a boy called Gahamire and his life will be changed forever.

When you read this book, it feels like the characters don’t know what’s going to happen. This makes it feel real, just like in real life we don’t know what will happen tomorrow or next week.

It’s not my favourite Michael Morpurgo book – that is Sparrow, the story of Joan of Arc – but I love the way he tells stories. He gets inside characters and describes feelings and emotions. In this book I could feel what it would be like to be a swallow, and it was interesting to think about what it would be like to be an orphan. I would particularly recommend this book – and Michael Morpurgo’s other books too – for animal lovers. BJMN

“I was more than a fortnight late for my own birth.”

I like Jacqueline Wilson’s books. And I like this book because in it she tells you about her own life – from a baby up to the age of 11. It tells you about when she was really young, before she could even probably remember.

At the end of each chapter, it shows you the link between the story of her childhood and her books. Each chapter finishes with a question asking you to make the connection between what you’ve read that chapter and one of her books.

For example at the end of a chapter when she tells the story of one of her childhood Christmases, she aks: “There’s a Christmas scene at the start and end of one of my books. Which do you think it is?” The answer is Clean Break – and she then includes a bit from that book.

The book also includes photos of her as a child, which I like.

If you like Jacqueline Wilson’s books, this is a good one to read, because it’s about her, and she talks about her own feelings, which I like.

“Then I started running all the way down the zigzag path for the sheer joy of it, still wondering if wishes ever came true.”

AMMN

“Vixen saw the hostile fox speeding towards them. ‘Quickly!’ she cried. ‘Run for the earth!'”

Fox’s Feud is an amazing book about animals sticking together and fighting against a band of foxes, especially their leader Scarface. There are loads of animals – an owl, a mole, a badger, an adder – and they are all friends.

I liked how you never, ever know what’s going to happen next. I love the chapter names – they give you a bit of a sense of what’s coming but don’t give too much away.

I definitely recommend this book if you love animals and nature and you think we should protect animals.

AMMN

Princess Amy is the seventh daughter of the King and Queen of Phantasmorania. The seventh princess is always the most elegant, beautiful and charming. However, when the fairies are invited to her christening, one of her godmothers – the fairy Crustacea – gives her the gift of ordinariness.

The king and queen want her to get married to a prince, but Amy has other ideas. She runs away and sets off on an adventure through the forest.

This book is amazing. I love it as it is unusual. It’s still a fairy tale, but not a regular one -and not even the usual obvious twist on a fairy tale, where the roles are reversed and a woman rescues a man.

Princess Amy loves the woods, she makes friends with animals, and she works as a kitchen maid in a castle so she can buy a new dress. The book is wonderfully unusual and full of surprises. I also love the unusual names that the author uses – Princess Amy’s full name is Amethyst Alexandra Augusta Araminta Adelaide Aurelia Anne!

AMMN and BJMN

“Mr Urseau was lying on his back on the floor. A dagger protruded from his chest, and his clothes were soaked in blood … “

Lady Grace is a Maid of Honour in the Tudor Court of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth. Her mother died by drinking poisoned wine intended for the Queen. Now, Lady Grace solves mysteries about people trying to kill the Queen. In this book, she finds that the clockmaker has been murdered in his workshop! I love this book because it is a mystery book and it is very exciting. There is lots of danger which I like reading about. I have read a few other Lady Grace Mysteries that I recommend as well, but this is one of my favourites. Read this if you like mysteries and history! AMMN

The Girl of Ink & Stars is called Isabella, who goes on an adventure to search for the murderer of her friend, Cata.  She also wants to explore the Forgotten Territories to rediscover and create maps of these lands. The story is set on a fictional island called Joya, with an uncaring Governor, whose daughter Loupe, is best friends with Isabella. When the Governor refuses to do anything about the murder of Cata, Isabella gets angry with Lupe, saying her father is wicked. Lupe, determined to show Isabella that she is different to her father, runs away to find out who has killed Cata. Isabella, full of regret, follows her.

The book is very powerful. It is written in the first person, in Isabella’s voice, so I got to know about how Isabella feels about everything. I liked the descriptions of the monsters, because they reminded me of how I fear creatures like sharks.

Near the end of the book, Isabella and Lupe are in a cave trying to get out because it is filling up with the sea, the author makes it sound very tense, my heart always beats fast here. The author describes the water rising, pressure roaring through the heads and ears of the characters with breath forced from their chests. Reading this I understood how it might feel, because it reminded me of when I am diving to the bottom of a swimming pool.

This is an amazing story, I found there was so much to take in with every sentence that I read. BJMN

Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones is a story about a young woman called Sophie who has a dull life working in a hat shop. She has a curse put on her by the Witch of the Waste, and turns into an old woman. Sophie leaves her hat shop and goes out in to the world. Cold and tired she goes inside a moving castle belonging to the wizard Howl, reported to eat girls’ hearts. What will happen to Sophie now?

This book explores that things and people are not always what they seem to be. As the reader I had to keep an open mind and rethink what I thought I knew about the characters.

I was not interested in the book before I started reading it, but this story pulled me in – I was enchanted and excited. My Mum is reading this book now! BJMN