WWW Wednesday

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I’m continuing to listen to Evernight and, oh my goodness, it is one scary middle-grade! Mrs Hester is terrifying, probably more so as the narrator really brings her to life. Shadow Jack is menacing and cruel. I think they may well lose control of the Evernight which they have just released. My heart goes out to Lara who seems to have magical powers and the White Witch Double Eight who has a tiny piece of his soul remaining which makes him desperate to escape the clutches of Mrs Hester. I’m really looking forward to seeing where this one goes. I’m just about to start The Strangeworlds Travel Agency: The Edge of the Ocean which I’m very excited to read as I loved Flick and Jonathan’s first adventure.

I’m on my Easter holiday so I’m enjoying more reading than I’ve been able to do for a while. I finished The Storm Keeper’s Battle which was a brilliant finale to this trilogy. I will post a review soon.

I attended the virtual Cranachan Books showcase of new books on Friday 2nd April and it was wonderful. I heard Caroline Logan talking about her third book in her young adult series, The Four Treasures. I have the first two on my bookcase, so decided to pick up the first one, The Stone of Destiny. I didn’t really know what to expect from this, but it was brilliant. It is steeped in Scottish folklore with selkies and kelpies. The main character, Ailsa has been ostracised by her community as she has a mark on her face that marks her as a changeling. After her mother’s death, her brother is taken from her and she loses her home. She moves around and lives on her own. Her life changes irrevocably when she rescues two selkies, brother and sister, Harris and Iona. They are on a quest to recover the Stone of Destiny in order to crown a new King, but trouble is brewing from the faerie Queen. The relationships between the characters are fantastic with witty banter and the promise of a little romance, but not too much! This is such a fast-paced, action-packed and engaging book that, despite being almost 450 pages long, I devoured in a couple of sittings. I’m definitely looking forward to picking up the next one in the series.

I then read The House of One Hundred Clocks which I loved. This is set in the mid Edwardian era and follows the story of Helena who has moved to Cambridge from London with her father and her parrot, Orbit, in order to take up employment as a clock-winder who must ensure that the clocks never stop. It is not long before Helena finds herself in the middle of uncovering the house’s secrets. I will have more to say on this one tomorrow!

I then had a real reading treat with the next two Picklewitch & Jack books which I absolutely adored. I had read the first one last year and knew I wanted to continue with this series as it is just so joyous, heart-warming and funny. I am writing a series review which I hope to post within the next couple of days.

Finally, I read a couple of picture books which caught my interest, Setsuko and the Song of the Sea and Can you Keep a Secret? I’ve posted reviews for both of these. I always love how so many picture books aimed at younger readers are perfect for older readers too. I can definitely see lots of potential for both of these in my Year 4 class.

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I need to ban myself from reading any more books until I catch up on reviews, but then I intend to read Dragon Legend (via NetGalley) and my proof of The Incredible Record Smashers.

What are you reading? Have you read any of these?