The Great World of Books

  Author: Enid Blyton Rating: 9/10 Age: 9+ Genre: Fiction, Mystery Main Characters: Larry, Daisy, Bets, Pip, Fatty, Mr Goon Synopsis:   In this series, we are introduced to 5 young children with the names of Bets, Pip, Fatty, Daisy and Larry along with a tiny black dog named Buster.  When Fatty moved to the new town, the children were intrigued with his cleverness and immediately became friends. However, they all realise that have to face many mysterious happenings in Peterswood such as thievery, codes, clues and many more. And everyone is relying on them to solve the case. Well, maybe not everyone. The find outers are always solving the puzzles before Mr Goon, the unpleasant village policeman, much to his annoyance.   Introduction to the characters:   Frederick Algernon "Fatty" Trotteville  – the leader of the Five Find-Outers from the third book on, when he justifies his leader...

  Author: Roald Dahl Illustrator: Quintin Blake Rating: 8/10 Age: 9+ Genre: Fiction, Humour, Family Pages: 232 Published in: 1988 Main Characters: Matilda, Miss Honey, Miss Trunchball, Lavender     Synopsis: This story is about a young girl named Matilda. You might just think of her as an ordinary girl, but in reality, she is an extremely smart girl for her age. She was able to read at the age of 3! Now, you would expect her parents to be very proud of her, wouldn’t you? Unfortunately for Matilda, however, her parents sometimes forget that she was ever alive. Matilda has a brother, Michael, and her parents think very highly of him. Matilda is used to being treated like this, but deep inside all she ever wanted is for someone to love her and praise her for her talents. Harry (Matilda’s father) is a second-hand car salesman, who enjoys swindling his customers. Zinnia (Matilda’s mother) prefers to play bin...

  Author: David Walliams Illustrator: Tony Ross Rating: 8/10 Age: 9+ Genre: Fiction, Humour Pages: 448 Published in: Feb 2015 Main Characters: Alfie, Gabriella, Winnie, Miss Root, Alfie’s dad   Synopsis : This story started with a young boy called Alfie. He was famous for having the most horrid teeth! He hated going to the dentist, and, as a result, the boy’s teeth were almost all yellow.  The ones that weren’t yellow, well, they were brown. The teeth that were neither yellow nor brown simply weren’t there anymore. They had fallen out! Alfie lived with his disabled father as his mother had died after giving birth to him. After a traumatising experience in the dentist’s surgery a few years ago, Alfie had vowed that he would not go to the dentist ever again.  Never. Never ever. Hopefully his Father never found the letters from the dentist at the top of the cupboard… When Alfie had gone back to schoo...

Author: Jacqueline Wilson Illustrator: Nick Sharratt Rating: 8/10 Age: 9+ Genre: Fiction, Friendship, Family, Pages: 188 Published in: 1995 Main Characters: Ruby, Garnet, Dad, Rose. Synopsis: This story is about two identical twins, with the names of Ruby and Garnet. The twins have been living with their father and grandmother since their mother, Opal, died. The two have always been close despite their differences—Ruby is sociable and dreams of being an actress, while introverted Garnet is content to let Ruby dominate their relationship. The twins have their own secret language, and they don't like to make friends at school because they have each other. When their father gets a new girlfriend, Rose, and a new job, their once stable relationship is thrown into turmoil, as the relationship leads to feelings of betrayal from their father to their late mother, and it comes with a big price—leaving their grandmother ...

Author: Enid Blyton Illustrator: E.H Davie Rating: 8/10 Age: 9+ Genre: Fiction, mystery, adventure Pages: 163 Published in:   1940 Main Characters: Mike, Peggy, Nora, Jack, Prince Paul Synopsis: This story began with Mike, Peggy, Nora and their friend Jack as they headed off to their new holiday. They had all finished a long, tiring term at school and were ready to go to Spiggy Holes as a treat. The children soon found out from their parents that they were living in a small cottage by the sea with a lady named Miss Dimity. ‘Miss Dimity! She sounds sort of timid and mouse-like. I shall call her Dimmy.’ Peggy had exclaimed.                 The children had all excitedly clambered out of their train, and waited for someone to take them to their cottage. The cottage was called Peep Hole, what a peculiar name! Soon, they had all sat in the horse carriage, along a high, winding...

Author: Enid Blyton Illustrator: E.H Davie Rating: 9/10 Age: 9+ Genre: Fiction, mystery, adventure Pages: 167 Published in:  1938 Main Characters: Mike, Peggy, Nora and Jack Synopsis: This story started with 3 siblings with the names of Mike, Peggy and Nora. Since their parents mysteriously disappeared in an aeroplane crash, they had been under the care of their cruel and bad tempered aunt and uncle, named Harriet and Henry. Their unloving aunt and uncle made them to every single house chore that needed to be done, and scolded them viciously when it hadn’t been done to satisfaction. The children think that there is no more hope that their parents will return… will they live with their aunt and uncle forever? Luckily, the children were very good friends with a young boy named Jack. He was tall, but he didn’t look much older than the children. Nobody knew his age, because he didn’t know it himself. Jack lived w...

  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...