Reading - Granny Grabbers' Whizz Bang World

Granny Grabbers' Whizz Bang World by Charlotte Haptie

A Junior Fiction

 

Delilah Smart is just an ordinary child who wants to have a normal childhood, but her parents have other plans. They are determined that she wins the Worldwide Junior Extreme General Knowledge Competition and in order to achieve this Delilah must cram all day and only play with educational toys like the Sir Isaac Newton Brain Building Bear. And because Mr and Mrs Smart are Very Busy People they buy a 'childcare robot' to do the boring stuff like looking after her.

But Robot Granny Grabbers has hidden qualities and her own views on how to raise Deliliah. She let's her eat chocolate cake and play on trampolines. She builds aircrafts out of household objects and orders pets off the internet. And very soon Delilah is learning how to have fun.

Then disaster strikes! ChildCare Solutions learn of Granny Grabbers' errant robot qualities and send a Nanny Deluxe replacement whose circuits are wired to ensure NO IMAGINATION whatsoever. Is Granny Grabbers for the scrapheap? It's instant Action Stations for Delilah Smart and the team ...

Reading - Daisy and the Trouble with Zoos

Daisy and the Trouble with Zoos by Kes Gray

A Junior Fiction

 

It's Daisy's birthday and she's having a special birthday treat! Mum has invited her best friends, Gabby and Dylan, on a trip to the zoo - and, best of all, Mum has arranged for Daisy to go into the actual penguin cage with the actual zoo keeper and FEED actual penguins! REAL ACTUAL PENGUINS! With actual beaks and everything!! Trouble is, Daisy doesn't just feed the penguins, she 'adopts' one to take home and everything . . .

Reading - The Iron, the Switch and the Broom Cupboard (Jiggy McCue)

A Jiggy McCue Story : The Iron, the Switch and the Broom Cupboard by Michael Lawrence

A Junior Fiction

 

Jiggy only jumped into the school broom closet for two minutes to avoid a teacher. So when he emerges from his hasty hiding spot into a parallel universe, he's not impressed! And there's not a lion or a witch in sight. In this new world, Jiggy finds he has swapped places with a boy called Juggy who is about to go on a school trip—a trip to compete in the Extreme Ironing Championships.

Reading - Homeroom Diaries

Homeroom Diaries by James patterson and Lisa Papademetriou

A Junior Fiction

 

 

Margaret "Cuckoo" Clarke recently had a brief stay in a mental institution following an emotional breakdown, but she's turning over a new leaf with her "Operation Happiness". She's determined to beat down the bad vibes of the Haters, the Terror Teachers, and all of the trials and tribulations of high school by writing and drawing in her diary. And when life gets really tough, she works through her own moments of uncertainty through imaginary conversations with her favorite literary characters.

 

Cuckoo's also got a nearly impossible mission: she, along with her misfit band of self-deprecating friends (who call themselves "the Freakshow") decide to bridge the gap between warring cliques and "bring the Nations together". Not everyone is so willing to join hands and get along, but Cuckoo never stops smiling... until one of her closest friends, pushed to desperation by a Hater prank, decides that enough is enough.

Reading - Grave Secret

Grave Secret by Charlaine Harris

 

Lightning-struck sleuth Harper Connelly and her stepbrother Tolliver take a break from looking for the dead to visit the two little girls they both think of as family. But as they travel to Texas, memories of their horrible childhood resurface.

 

To make matters worse,  Tolliver learns from his older brother that his father is out of jail and trying to reestablish contact with other family members.  Tolliver wants nothing to do with the man - but he may not have a choice in the matter.

 

Soon, family secrets ensnare them both, as Harper finally discovers what happened to her missing sister Cameron so many years before.

 

And what she finds will change her world forever.

Reading - Billy the Kid

Billy the Kid by Michael Morpurgo

A Junior Fiction

Billy's no kid—he's 80 today. He's enjoying watching the boys at the park knock a soccer ball around and this afternoon he'll be cheering on his team, Chelsea, as he has done all his life. In 1939, Billy was picked for Chelsea. Not quite 19, and his dreams had come true—"Billy! Billy the Kid!" they shouted as he scored goal after goal. Surely life could get no better. But in 1939 too, World War II began and Billy's life was never to be the same again. With nostalgically vivid illustrations, the story of Billy the Kid reaches across generations and creates a life with a past that will be moving and inspiring for young and old alike.

Reading - A Vintage Affair

A Vintage Affair by Isabel Wolff

 

Phoebe Swift’s friends are stunned when she abruptly leaves a plum job to open her own vintage clothing shop in London—but to Phoebe, it’s the fulfillment of a dream, and her passion. Digging for finds in attics and wardrobes, Phoebe knows that when you buy a piece of vintage clothing, you’re not just buying fabric and thread—you’re buying a piece of someone’s past. But one particular article of clothing will soon unexpectedly change her life.

Thérèse Bell, an elderly Frenchwoman, has an impressive clothing collection. But among the array of elegant suits and couture gowns, Phoebe finds a child’s sky-blue coat—an item with which Mrs. Bell is stubbornly reluctant to part. As the two women become friends, Phoebe will learn the poignant tale of that little blue coat. And she will discover an astonishing connection between herself and Thérèse Bell—one that will help her heal the pain of her own past and allow her to love again.

Reading - Awful Auntie

Awful Auntie by David Walliams

A Junior Fiction

 

Stella Saxby is the sole heir to Saxby Hall. But awful Aunt Alberta and her giant owl will stop at nothing to get it from her. Luckily Stella has a secret – and slightly spooky – weapon up her sleeve…

Reading - Sure Signs of Crazy

Sure Signs of Crazy by Karen Harrington

A Junior Fiction

 

You've never met anyone exactly like twelve-year-old Sarah Nelson. While most of her friends obsess over Harry Potter, she spends her time writing letters to Atticus Finch. She collects trouble words in her diary. Her best friend is a plant. And she's never known her mother, who left when Sarah was two.

Since then, Sarah and her dad have moved from one small Texas town to another, and not one has felt like home.

 

Everything changes when Sarah launches an investigation into her family's Big Secret. She makes unexpected new friends and has her first real crush, and instead of a "typical boring Sarah Nelson summer," this one might just turn out to be extraordinary.