Review by Gia, aged 8 and Amaana, aged 9 of “The Creakers” by Tom Fletcher.

We both really liked the book because it has lots of detail and is really different to other books we have read. It was good because it started sad then ended happy. It   wasn’t like normal princess books.

This story is about a girl called Lucy whose parents went missing, which was very upsetting. Then, every other child on their lane lost their parents too. All the children made lots of mess in all the houses and on the street. They even threw toilet paper on the trees. 

Lucy investigates and tries to find the parents. Under the bed she finds the Woleb    which is from the world of the Creakers. Everywhere is upside down. Could this be where the parents have disappeared to?

Lucy and Norman create a plan rescue their parents. Will their plan work? Read the book to find out.

Lucy Dungston is my favourite character because she investigates and tries to find the parents. Norman Quirk is also good because he is very smart and neat and he has lots of badges from scouts.

We recommend this book because it is adventurous and it’s very funny.

Welcome to the mysterious world under your bed! 

By Gia and Amaana aged 8 and 9

Review by Finlay and Zach, aged 9, of “Whizz! Bang! Fireworks!” - Oxford Literacy Books.

This book is about Fireworks. I recommend this book for ages 4 to 11 years of age. It’s good because it has good Firework pictures. It’s funny because they have made little jokes in it as well as funny pictures. There are a lot of Chinese facts in there as well. It’s got lots of information about Fireworks in all sorts of places.

There is a firework code at the back of the book. 

The code says…

1. Keep fireworks in a closed container 

2. Follow the instructions on each firework carefully 

3. Light the end of the of a firework fuse. 

4. Never throw fireworks 

5. Stand well back. 

6. Keep pets indoors 

7. Never put one in your pocket!

The fireworks were in big cities. Things we learned - In 1993, in Pudong, 1000 cyclists set off 96000 fireworks. An American, Edward Wilson invented the very pistol. It fired red, white and green. Red meant danger. 

Scientists found out that different metals made different colours. Copper makes a green flame. Lead makes a blue flame. Lithium makes a red flame. The Chinese thought that firecrackers would scare away demons and evil spirits.

By Finley and Zack W aged 9

Review by Emily, aged 8 and Abigail, aged 9 of “The Christmasaurus and the Winter Witch” by Tom Fletcher.

The Christmasaurus and the Winter Witch is the best book we have ever read. It is awesome!

The Christmasaurus and the Winter Witch is about a boy called William Trundle, a girl called Brenda Payne, Bob Trundle (aka Williams dad), Pamela Payne (aka Brenda’s mum) and the Christmasauraurus. The Christmasaurus is a dinosaur.

One day Santa came to William’s house and invited the family to the North Pole so they went on Santa`s sleigh. When they were at the North Pole Santa gave them a tour. On the tour, Santa gave the children a magic bean each and a little fairy each.

Santa said he was going to the kitchen to get a drink of milk but he wasn`t, he was going to the Winter Witch. Brenda could feel that he wasn`t going to the kitchen so Brenda and William followed Santa to the Winter Witch. They hid in a bush until Santa went back to their parents. 

Brenda and William crept in to the room and saw the most amazing thing ever there was, the Winter Witch! Somehow the Winter Witch put them in a magic portal and they travelled back in time. William and Brenda saw lots of memories.

Brenda got frozen into the Winter Witch, she wasn`t very happy about it as sometimes she gets angry. William used his fairy wish to save Brenda. Brenda looked frozen to the core when she was the Winter Witch. When she was out, she was so much happier.

Finally, they were out of the portal but Christmas was fading. William had to get in the sleigh and deliver the presents with the Christmasaurus. William had saved Christmas!

The book is amazing! Me and Emily really recommend this book.  

By Emily and Abigail aged 8 and 9

Review by Sophia, aged 9 and Sam, aged 8 of “Lion of Africa” – A Treetops graphic novel.

This book is about a man called Nelson Mandela who tried to save black Africans. Mandela wanted peace with white Africans and black Africans.  Mandela loved his wife and there was a man called John who was a prison guard. He was very strict at the start with the prisoners but at the end, he was nice to the people in prison.

This book is a very unique book because it’s half cartoon and half non – fiction. Mandela wanted peace to be set free so he could change the law so they don’t always show there passes.

Throughout the book we have learnt a lot of facts about what happened in the past. What we liked is the time line in the book. It showed what happened in the past on the time line.

I liked this book because it had lovely facts and great detail (Sam). I liked the book because in some of it, the information came out unexpected. When I heard free Mandela, I thought it was about a lion that lived in Africa from the title, but sometimes the title tricks you. In the yellow and black writing it tells you what they are thinking (Sophia). We both liked it very much and we thought it was very nice too. 

By Sophia and Sam aged 9 and 8.

Review by Dylan and Zach, aged 8 of “Rhode Island Roy” by Rose Impey.

Rhode Island Roy is a really good book because it is funny and it is about a rooster called Roy. When he hatched out of his egg, he was by far the ugliest rooster in the entire universe. During the book, Roy killed some cats, damaged a dog ,head butted a horse, wrestled a rhino, kidnapped a cow, gunned down a goat, and tangled with a tiger .

If some turkeys or bantams were looking for trouble, they would pick on him. At the start of the book it said, “wanted Roy100$ reward”. We think Roy lives in America  in a desert. Roy even had a bet who could curse the worst. We don’t know why a rooster would have a pistols. 

At the end Roy started to cry because Larry said ”you look ugly I bet you don’t have any friends”.  But then they became best friends.

We liked Larry because he was brave and went up to the roughest rooster in the world, which is Roy, and made him cry. Him and Larry became good friends and Roy was happy. I recommend this book to year 3 children because it was a good book but a bit easy for us.

By Dylan and Zach aged 8.

Review by Robbie, aged 9 and Seren, aged 8 of “Freedom Train” – a Treetops Graphic Novel.

Freedom train is a really good book.

It’s all about slavery a long time ago…

 A young slave girl named Lizzie escapes from her cruel owner, Marshall. When she escapes, her friend gets shot in the back. We both agreed that it was sad at that moment, and quite unexpected!

After that, Lizzie has to trust others to guide her to the Promised Land. The Underground Railroad was a secret system that Lizzie had to use to escape Marshall. 

When she escapes, she meets Samson. Samson was a friend of Elijah, and when Lizzie told Samson the Elijah had been shot in the back he was very upset. After he heard the news, he decided he couldn’t lose anyone else. He sent Lizzie to Philadelphia in a cargo of cotton to keep her safe. 

When she arrived, she found a station and she also found her first conductor named William Still. After that, William told Lizzie to go back to her cotton cargo to continue her journey. While she was sleeping, she had dreams about the faces of people she had left behind. Meanwhile, Marshall put up a poster saying that Lizzie was missing and that whoever found her would get $50…We were both worried that Marshall would find Lizzie.

When Lizzie arrived at her next destination, she met someone called Harriet Tubman. Lizzie didn’t know at the time but Harriet Tubman was one of the most interesting people she would ever meet. She said to Lizzie that she would take her to Canada…. At the end of the story Lizzie escapes to the Promised Land and lives happily ever after.

Seren said that it is one of the best books she has ever read. Robbie said he had read better books but he also said that this one is pretty good as well.

Robbie - aged 9 and Seren - aged 8.

Review by Immy, aged 9 of “Gangsta Granny” by David Walliams.

I think Gangsta Granny is the perfect book for most ages. It’s great because it’s funny and adventurous. 

Gran is my favourite character because she is very interesting, funny and you can really have a good laugh at her. My favourite part is when Granny and Ben go through the River Thames sewer and Granny acts like it is normal when they see the rats! Gran likes to play board games but is nothing like a normal granny!  

Gangsta Granny is about a granny who likes to eat cabbage soup (this made her trumps smell like cabbage) and her grandson Ben who stayed overnight at her house on a dark Friday night. In the night, in the kitchen, he found a biscuit tin full of secrets. Ben realised Gran is an international jewellery thief.

At school, at show and tell, Ben never has good stories because with his parents he never goes anywhere fun. However, one day he goes on a robbery with gran to steal the Queen’s crown. 

Will this give him a good story at show and tell?   

If you read this book, you will never think of grannies the same again     

By Immy age 9                                                                                          

Review by Rudy and Mia, aged 9, of “The Worst Witch” by Jill Murphy.

This book is about a girl called Mildred Hubble and she finds everything tricky. Her best friend Maud always supports Mildred. She also has a different type of cat than the rest because the rest were black and her tabby is stripy grey. 

Halloween was celebrated in a castle not far from the school. Mildred’s class were picked to do a broom formation team but Mildred’s broom was broken so she had Ethel’s broom. But Ethel put a spell on the broom, so Mildred fell off it when they were doing their broom formation. Everyone wasn’t surprised that Mildred fell off her broomstick.

That night Mildred ran off because she thought she would get told off because she fell off her broom. Mildred ran into the forest with her cat Tabby. She heard a noise then found terrible witches making a spell to turn the whole school into frogs. 

Do you think Mildred will come back to the school and tell Miss Cackle? Or do you think she will keep it a secret? Read the book to find out.

We would both recommend this book. It would be good for year 4 boys and girls to read.

By Rudy and Mia (Aged 9).

Review by Niamh, aged 9 and Sadie, aged 8 of “Tiger Hunt” by Judy Waite

Tiger hunt is a really good book we both liked it. 

Sadie liked that the ending was a surprise and Niamh liked that Cathy Moon was being nice to Tiger and was looking after it. We liked that there was a happy ending.

The story is about a little boy called Eddie who though he saw a tiger when he was looking out of the window at school. Everyone ran to the window, but her teacher wasn’t happy.

At playtime and lunchtime Becky and Eddie searched in the woods for the tiger. At lunch they spotted something orange and stripy…

Read the book until the end to find out what the surprise is!

By Niamh and Sadie, aged 9 and 8.

Review by Leila, aged 9 and Charlotte, aged 8, of “The Gift” by Kathryn White.

The Gift is a brilliant book.

We both really enjoyed this book, as it was really interesting and fun. It was about a girl named Tia. Tia was given a magical Egyptian mirror for her birthday. The mirror was bright and new to her but to her Mum and Nan, it’s the old beaten up mirror but they were happy that she saw it that way.

A few days later, Tia was supposed to meet up with her new friend, Esther but instead she got pulled into the mirror and found herself in a secret burial chamber. All of a sudden all of the lights turned off and a man was standing in front of her. He looked after the burial chamber. His name was Sahure and he cut into Tia’s hand then the Queen/ Pharaoh Ahmose came to help Tia to get up.

Then Tia saw a girl that looked like Esther her new friend it was so, so, so weird. 

A few weeks later, Sahure told them they were in danger! They ran outside and sat in the chariot and a mad thing happened… Sahure kicked them off and said “Now the crocodiles won’t be hungry!” 

They went through some really hard times but their God, Amon, guided them back to the place where they found their friends that took them to a secret village. That night was pretty sad as Tia had to leave but they lived normally like nothing ever happened.

We both really liked the part where Tia got home to her mum and gran after the adventure because it was a nice happy part in the story. We were happy for Tia and that everything worked out in the end. We would really recommend this book.

By Leila and Charlotte aged 9 and 8

Kids' Reading Drive

Wolston St Margaret's Primary School, Year 4, Aspen Class 

Book Reviews

In a bid to encourage reading amongst younger children, Everybody's Reviewing invited the Year 4 children of Wolston St. Margaret's Primary School to read and review some of the books they have enjoyed this term. Starting tomorrow, Wednesday 22nd January, we will showcase their work, posting one review per day for 14 days. The children have all worked incredibly hard and for most of them, this is the first time they have read and reviewed books. We do hope you enjoy reading them all!

With thanks to their teachers, Miss L Brown and Miss Cunningham.