The Great World of Books

  Author: Louis Sachar Illustrator: Vladimir Radunsky R ating : 10/10 Age:9+ Genre: Fiction, Mystery, Adventure P ages : 233 Published in: August 1998 Main Characters: Stanley, Zero, Warden, Kate Barlow, Sam the onion seller. Synopsis: This story began with a young boy named Stanley Yelnats. Unfortunately, due to his bad luck, Stanley found himself stuck in Camp Green Lake, a juvenile detention camp. Whenever something went wrong, the Yelnats family would always blame everything on Stanley’s no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather. At this detention camp, the boys were forced to dig large holes in the dry, cracked dirt in the blazing hot sun every day. Once the holes had reached to the Warden’s satisfaction, then and only then were the boys allowed to rest. After some investigation, Stanley had realised that the Warden was not making the boys dig to ‘toughen them up for life’. He realised that the Warde...

Author: J.K Rowling Illustrator: Mary GrandPre’ Rating: 8/10 Age: 10+ Genre: Fiction, Fantasy, Magic, Suspense Pages: 620 Published in: July 2007 Main Characters: Harry, Hermione, Ron, Voldemort Synopsis:   Harry decided that he should leave Privet Drive and join Ron Weasley at the Burrow to prevent Voldemort from tracking him down The Order of the Phoenix, led by Alastor “Mad-Eye” Moody, arrived to take Harry to his new home at the Weasleys’ house, the Burrow. Six of Harry’s friends took the Polyjuice Potion to disguise themselves as Harry and act as decoys, and they all flew off in different directions. The Death Eaters, alerted to their departure by Snape, attacked Harry and his friends. Voldemort chased Harry down, but Harry’s wand fought Voldemort off, without Harry’s help. When Harry arrived at the Burrow, they all realised that Moody had been killed on the way. Harry had begun to get visions of Volde...

Author: J.K Rowling Illustrator: Mary GrandPre’ Rating: 9/10 Age: 10+ Genre: Fiction, Fantasy, Magic, Suspense Pages: 607 Published in: July 2005 Main Characters: Harry, Hermione, Ron, Snape, Dumbldore,Slughorn. Synopsis:   This story started with Severus Snape. He met up with Mrs Malfoy (Draco’s Mother) and made an Unbreakable Vow to Narcissa, promising to protect Draco. One day, Dumbledore headed over to 4 Privet Drive to collect Harry from his cousin’s home. On the way to the burrow (Ron’s house) Dumbledore and Harry stopped to talk to Dumbledore’s old friend, Horace Slughorn, to work at Hogwarts again. Harry met up with Ron and Hermione once more!  When they were shopping for school books, Harry ran into Draco and followed him to Borgin and Burkes, where he overheard Draco threatening Borgin and insisted that he fix an unknown object. Harry is instantly suspicious of Draco, whom he believed to ...

  Author: Jacqueline Wilson Illustrator: Nick Sharratt Rating: 08/10 Age: 9+ Genre: Fiction, Friendship, Family, Humour Pages: 224 Published in: Jan 1995 Main Characters: Elsa, Mum, Mack, Pippa, Hank, Naomi, Famous Five Synopsis:   This story is about a young girl named Elsa, who was 10 years old. She loved to make up jokes and share them with others. But Elsa had a huge problem. She lived with her Mum, her stepdad named Mack (whom she liked to call Mack the Smack), her half-sister Pippa and her half-brother Hank.   She lived in a small flat which was big enough for the family to live in, and Elsa loved living there. One day, Mack got a new job which paid lots of money. Soon, they were all living in a house of their own! But this job didn’t stay for long. They had no other house to live in. Some people suggested they should buy a new flat, but nobody was selling any. All that was left to do ...

  Author: J.K Rowling Illustrator: Mary GrandPre’ Rating: 7/10 Age: 10+ Genre: Fiction, Fantasy, Magic Pages: 766 Published in: June 2003 Main Characters: Harry, Hermione, Ron, Umbridge, Voldemort, Dumbledore, Fudge. Synopsis:   Harry was spending another tedious summer with Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon. One evening, as he was roaming around in a park, Dudley’s gang had bullied harry yet again. Harry hadn’t taken notice of Dudley until he had spotted 2 dementors swooping around. After using magic to defend himself, Harry was whisked off by wizards to number twelve, Grimmauld Place, London. This was the home to Sirius Black also known as Harry’s godfather . Harry used magic to fight off the dementors, and since underage wizards were not permitted to use their wands outside of school, he had faced a hearing at the Ministry. With Dumbledore’s help with convincing the minister, Harry was cleared and permi...

Author: Michael Morpurgo Illustrator: Michael Foreman Rating: 07/10 Age: 10+ Genre: Fiction, Friendship Pages: 211 Published in: 2008 Main Characters: Kaspar, Johnny Trott, Lizziebeth, The Stantons, Countess Kandinsky. Synopsis:   Johnny Trott is a bell boy who works in a Hotel called ‘The Savoy Hotel.’ He took care of guests, carried their luggage and polished their shoes to earn a living. One day, a much respected Countess of Russia, named Countess Kandinsky, came to stay at the hotel, and Johnny was responsible to take all of her luggage for her. The Countess had a very beautiful, jet-black cat named Kaspar. Kaspar seemed to like Johnny, and soon enough, their friendship had grown. Johnny fed Kaspar every day, and in return Countess Kandinsky sang to him. Johnny loved this guest very much, until something went wrong… The Countess had been involved in a terrible accident whilst traveling on the street...

  Author: J.K Rowling Illustrator: Mary GrandPre’ Rating: 9/10 Age: 9+ Genre: Fiction, Fantasy, Humour, Magic Pages: 636 Published in: July 2000 Main Characters: Harry, Hermione, Ron, Mad-Eye-Moody, Voldemort, Fudge, Mr Crouch, Dumbledore. Synopsis:   One morning, Uncle Vernon received a letter from the Weasleys that they would like to invite Harry Potter over to watch the Quidditch World Cup, and Harry was delighted to have heard from his friends at last. Uncle Vernon grudgingly agreed to let Harry go. The next day, while they were at the World cup, the saw a small house elf, named Winky, nervously waiting for her master at the top box. After a short show from the respective mascots, the game began and had many nerve-racking moments where Ireland, by keeping the cool head and following planned strategies, claimed the victory.  Although Viktor Krum, the Bulgarian Seeker, managed to catch the Snitch. ...