The Great World of Books

Author: Jacqueline Wilson Illustrator: Nick Sharratt Rating: 09/10 Age: 8+ Genre: Fiction, Friendship Pages: 192 Published in: May 1996 Main Characters: Mandy, Tanya, Kim and her gang, Mandy’s mother and father. Synopsis:   Mandy White is a shy, timid 10-year-old girl. She feels very upset to go to school as she is constantly being pelted with rude remarks and bullying. This is because her mum is 55 years old and her dad is 62. They often treat Mandy like a small child and make her wear baby clothes. There are bullies in Mandy’s class called Kim, Melanie and Sarah. They usually torment Mandy about her family life, and they come so far when Mandy decides not to go to school. No one wants to be her friend and Mandy is usually left all by herself when it came to picking groups. One day, while Mandy looks out of her window, she spots a pretty, orange-haired girl pushing a pram along the road. Mandy soon finds...

Author: J.K Rowling Illustrator: Mary GrandPre’ Rating: 10/10 Age: 9+ Genre: Fiction, Fantasy, Humour, Magic Pages: 317 Published in: July 1999 Main Characters: Harry, Hermione, Ron, Lupin, Black, Dementors, Voldemort Synopsis:   It was Harry’s 13th Birthday and he receives owls from his friends that had bought birthday gifts for him. As usual, the Dursleys have forgotten his birthday and continue to ignore him. Aunt Marge has came to stay at the Dursley's house and she abjectly continues to insult Harry’s parents during her visit. Harry gets very angry and consequently inflates Aunt Marge where she flows towards heaven like leaping hot air balloon. He knows that he could not stand it any longer if he continues to live with the Dursley’s, so he goes  out to be collected by the knight bus that is meant for any stranded witch or wizards. While boarding a bus Harry witnesses a glimpse of a rather huge hairy and hideous...

Author: J.K Rowling Illustrator: Mary GrandPre’ Rating: 10/10 Age: 9+ Genre: Fiction, Fantasy, Humour, Magic Pages: 251 Published in: July 1998 Main Characters: Harry, Hermione, Ron, Voldemort, Ginny, Tom Riddle, Malfoy. Synopsis: Harry Potter was spending a miserable summer again with his only family, the Dursleys. One day, the Dursleys were having a dinner party and Harry was told to stay up in his room with the door locked so that he could not cause any trouble while the guests were enjoying their food. Harry reluctantly agreed, and whilst he was miserably trotting up the stairs to go into his room, he witnessed a very peculiar sight. It was an ugly, dirty house elf named Dobby, and he was covered in rags. Dobby explains to Harry that Hogwarts was no longer safe for him, and that he should not go back. Harry disagrees and decides to ignore Dobby. As a result, Dobby uses spells to create havoc in the kitchen, maki...

Author: J.K Rowling Illustrator: Mary GrandPre’ Rating: 10/10 Age: 9+ Genre: Fiction, Fantasy, Humour, Magic Pages: 223 Published in: June 1997 Main Characters: Harry, Hermione, Ron, Voldemort, Hagrid, Snape and Dumbledore. Synopsis : Harry Potter lives with his Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon and horrible, overly-spoilt cousin Dudley (The Dursleys) in number 4, Privet Drive. However, Harry is a person that can do many extraordinary things, but he has no idea he can do this. The Dursleys are jealous of his supernatural abilities so they decide to treat Harry as a slave, and give him the smallest room possible: in the cupboard under the stairs. Harry is 11 years old and wears old, broken glasses as Mr and Mrs Dursley don’t pay much attention to their nephew’s clothes and only give Harry the scruffy old clothes of his cousin. Petunia and Vernon convince Harry that his parents died in a car crash, but is that true? One ordinary day, as Dudley...

Author: Jacqueline Wilson Illustrator: Nick Sharratt Rating: 9/10 Age: 9+ Genre: Fiction, Family Pages: 155 Published in: 1992 Main Characters: Andy, Mum, Dad, The 2 families and the new people at Mulberry Cottage. Synopsis : Andrea (Andy) is a young schoolgirl who loved playing with her toy friend Radish. One day, her parents split up and they had no idea whatsoever to do with their little girl. Her dad said that she would be happy living with him, however, her mum said she would be even happier living with her! Andy had no idea what to do. She badly wanted to live with her mum but she wanted her dad desperately too! Her parents knew that they could not live together any longer, so they needed a plan to make sure that their daughter could be safe and happy. Whilst Andy’s mum lived with a different family, her dad was also living with someone else. Their plan was that Andy would live in her mum’s house for on...

Author: Jacqueline Wilson Illustrator: Nick Sharratt Rating: 10/10 Age: 8+ Genre: Fiction, Family Pages: 96 Published in: March 2002 Main Characters: Verity, Gran, Miss Smith, Mabel, Dad Synopsis : Verity is a young school girl who has an old, miserable cat named Mabel. Verity always wished she could have pets like her friends, and not a boring tabby cat that only left her bed to wait for Gran to open her tin of cat food. That is the only exercise Mabel took throughout the whole day. However, one afternoon, Verity had just come home from another tiresome yet exciting day at school when she realised Mabel had not been very well recently. She wouldn’t touch her food, and she was sick all over the elegant carpet! Verity rushed off to find Mabel, hoping that she would be alright. That day, Verity found her poor cat hiding in her wardrobe. Verity was relieved to find the cat, but her happiness quickly faded as sh...