Frozen In Time by Ali Sparkes (A Review By My Brother Robert)

Introduction

I have picked Frozen In Time to write a book review of because it is funny, sad, adventurous and exciting. I think lots of children will like it and some grown ups will like it too.

                                  Summary 

1960s Freddy and Polly are used to helping father with his experiments, so they do not mind being frozen in a machine. They know it will only be an hour or two. But when something happens to their father they are left frozen. 2010
Ben and Rachel are bored. Staying with uncle J is usually ok, but with the bad weather and the tv exploded they have nothing to do. Finally the sun comes out and Ben and Rachel discover a underground house and unfreeze Freddy and Polly. Will Freddy and Polly be able to adapt to the twentieth century, and where is their dad?

Skin Deep by Laura Jarratt

Ugly people don't have feelings. They're not like everyone else. They don't notice if you stare at them and turn away. And if they did notice, it wouldn't hurt them. They're not like real people.
Or that's what I used to think.
When I was younger.
Before I learned.


Jenna was just a normal 14-year-old teenager - having fun and hanging out with friends, until the car crash. Now her face is scarred, consequently making her feel ugly and hard to face to face the world outside. Because of this she is quite paranoid, believing that everyone is gossiping about her behind her back. 

Ryan is a traveller, living with his bi-polar mother on a boat. He is also greeted with lots of stares wherever he goes but (although he wishes to live "normally") he deals with the attention much better than Jenna, and seems quite self-confident and cocky.

When Jenna and Ryan meet, they grow very close. But then someone remembers the car crash, and what it did to the people inside the car. Someone wants revenge...

The Outsiders

The Outsiders is an incredibly moving book which I recommend to both tweens, teenagers and adults.
Ponyboy Curtis is a fourteen year old Greaser- a gang of teenagers with long, dark hair and slouches. Their enemies are the Socs (short for socials). These are mean, rich teenagers on the other side  of town, who look down on (and pick fights with) the Greasers. Ponyboy knows lot of other Greasers. These include...

1. Two-Bit (Keith Mathews)                                                                                                               Two-Bit is the leader of the bunch. He's loud, funny and must get his two-bits into a conversation. He is also a bit of a kleptomaniac.
2. Dally (Dallas Winston)                                                                                                                     Dally is definitely the roughest of the Greasers as he lived out on the streets for three years. However, he does help out Johnny and Ponyboy when they are in need.
3. Johnny Cade                                                                                                                                    Although Johnny is sixteen, he seems younger than Ponyboy as he has a sort of scared, vulnerable look about him. He lives with his horrible and abusive parents and he's also very good friends with Ponyboy.
4. Steve Randle                                                                                                                                    Steve has been Sodapop's best friend for ages and now works with him at the gas station. Ponyboy doesn't like him very much.
5. Darry (Darrel Curtis)                                                                                                                      Darry is Ponyboy's older brother, who has been looking after him and Sodapop ever since their parents died. He is very strict and annoys Ponyboy a lot.
6. Sodapop Curtis                                                                                                                           Sodapop is Ponyboy and Darry's handsome brother. He dropped out of school and works at the gas station. Everyone likes him, and he tries to settle the arguments between his brothers.

When they are in danger, Johnny does something that changes everything for him and Ponyboy. Now they are on the run. Will they survive?

Knife Edge

This is the second book in the Noughts and Crosses series and although I didn't enjoy it as much as the first one, it still left me in floods of tears.
Sephy is a CROSS - a ruling black skinned person in a world where the whites are inferior. However, Sephy is no longer superior to the whites around her. Constantly looked down on for having a mixed race baby and being black in a world of whites, Sephy is the victim of cruel taunting.
Jude is a NOUGHT - a white skinned prson controlled by the blacks. He is comsumed with bitter hatred for the Hadley family, who he blames for the tradgedies his family has faced. Now his life rests on a knife edge. Will he survive?

Tortoise Soup

Hello everyone!
Today I will be reviewing a new release named Tortoise Soup, which was generously donated to me by Nick Holland. I really enjoyed reading it...

Ruby Tinker is an orphan who lives in the St Therese's Children's Home with Scratbakk (the evil owner of the house), lots of children and her beloved tortoise named Byron. But when Ruby is taken away to live with her Uncle Peter, Byron must stay behind.
Ruby is looking for Byron. Byron is looking for Ruby. But if the wicked Scratbakk finds Byron first, then he will be the main ingredient of Scratbakk's supper - a tortoise soup!

Noughts & Crosses

“Blank, white faces with not a hint of colour in them. Blank minds that can’t hold a single original thought. Blank, blank, blank.”

Best friends Callum and Sephy live in a racist society where white skinned people (noughts) are ruled by black skinned people (crosses). Sephy is black, and daughter of one of the most influential men in the country, Mr. Hadley. Callum is white and has been admitted to Sephy's school, which has started enrolling the brightest noughts.

What type of struggles does Callum go through in everyday life? Will Callum and Sephy ever be allowed to be friends? And will Callum ever stand up for what he believes in?

The Knife of Never Letting Go

The first thing you find out when yer dog learns to talk is that dogs don't got nothing much to say.


About anything.

"Need a poo, Todd."
"Shut up, Manchee."
"Poo. Poo, Todd."
"I said shut it."

Todd Hewit is the last boy in Prentisstown, where you can constantly hear everyone's thoughts. There is no privacy, and no secrets, until Todd and his dog Manchee stumble across a patch of silence. The town has been lying to them, and now they have to run away. But how can you run away when everyone can hear your thoughts?

The Blue Eyed Aborigine

Jan Pelgrom is an ordinary Dutch cabin boy on a ship called the Bactavia which is advancing to Java. When the ship sinks, Jan is stranded on an island with the Under Merchant of the ship, Cornilez. Cornilez dreams of power and punishes all traitors, and even turns Jan into his personal servant! This is the first half of this brilliant book but the second half is even more exciting and shocking. Stranded on an island with Wouter (a soldier) and lots of aborigines, Jan is forced to hunt for food to survive. As Wouter leaves camp to find food, Jan becomes friendly with the aboriginal tribes and an unexpectected incident leaves them together forever.
This shocking and gripping story is based on the true tale of the Bactavia and although the life-like and funny characters are not real, the events are.

Private Peaceful

Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo is a perfect insight into what World War I was like. Told by Private Tommo Peaceful in the few hours before his death, this book kept me in floods of tears.
This book tells the story of Tommo's family, village and the love of his life before moving on to shocking and powerful scenes in the battlefields of The Great War. Born as the youngest in a family of three, one of Thomas's earliest memories is watching his dad die. He is later forced to go to school with his courageous and admirable brother Charlie, who is in the group for older children. All alone in the smaller class, Thomas meets Mollie, the love of his and Charlie's life. Thomas's childhood is full of horrid relations, crazy parents, lost jobs and wild adventures with Charlie, Mollie and his other brother, Big Joe. Although their situations were not always happy, the kept on making the most of everything and were a very close and happy family. I found every character easy to love. But when World War I begins and Charlie and Tommo join the army, they have a new set of problems. Tommo and Charlie have to face horrible sergeants, painful injuries and dire battle strategies. All of this builds up into a shocking, unforgettable end.

Camden Town Tales: Stuck On Me

Stuck On Me tells the story of fourteen year old Sky, who is convinced that her nose is deformed and ugly. Her best friends Vix and Rosie don't see the problem - Sky is pretty and she has a boyfriend! But when Sky gets dumped due to her obsession with her nose, it's the final straw. On a quest to find her long lost dad and to get a nose job, Sky's nose takes her and her friends to parts of Camden that she's never seen before...