Tag Archives: Young Readers

The Mystery of the Jewelled Moth – Katherine Woodfine

After the success of her debut The Mystery of the Clockwork Sparrow, Katherine Woodfine’s second novel – The Mystery of the Jewelled Moth – comes barely six months after its predecessor and picks up the story of Sophie, Lil and co. as life has settled back to normal. It’s not long however before they are approached by a young debutante to find and retrieve the titular jewelled moth, a valuable brooch which has mysteriously gone missing. Meanwhile across the other side of London in Chinatown (which at this point was in the East End, history fans!), Mei Lim and her family find their lives becoming complicated as The Baron starts to squeeze local businesses, and a photograph in the newspaper sheds unexpected light on the family’s own history.
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I Shall Wear Midnight – Terry Pratchett

I Shall Wear Midnight marks Tiffany Aching’s fourth appearance in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series, and the thirty-eighth book in the series overall. After her previous adventures in The Wee Free Men, A Hat Full of Sky and Wintersmith, here we see fifteen year-old Tiffany back on home turf, caring for her steading on the Chalk as only a witch can. Things seem settled at first, but soon she finds the mood of the people turning against her, as a strange influence is in the air.

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Wintersmith – Terry Pratchett

Two years and three books after A Hat Full of Sky came Wintersmith, the thirty-fifth Discworld novel and the third in the Tiffany Aching storyline. Once again jumping forward in time it picks up the story with thirteen year-old Tiffany sharing the cottage of one hundred and thirteen year-old Miss Treason, who on the face of things appears to be the very picture of the typical witch – old, creepy and surrounded by tall tales. When Tiffany accidentally draws the attention of the spirit of Winter onto herself, her already busy life becomes a whole lot more interesting.

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A Hat Full of Sky – Terry Pratchett

The thirty-second novel in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series, A Hat Full of Sky is the second to feature the young witch Tiffany Aching after the delight that was The Wee Free Men. Set eighteen months further on, it sees Tiffany leaving the Chalk for the first time and setting off on a sort of witches’ equivalent of an apprenticeship. Away from home for the first time she has to adjust to becoming part of the wider community of witches, all the while being pursued by something with no body or mind, just a great fear and hunger.

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Demon Road – Derek Landy

After nine novels in the successful Skullduggery Pleasant series, Derek Landy’s latest book – Demon Road – sees the start of a brand new series. Swapping wizards and talking skeletons for demons, vampires and a surprising amount of gore, it sees Landy retain much of his usual style while adding in an extra edge that will appeal to slightly older readers than his original series. We follow sixteen year-old Amber, an average American teenager (well, at first anyway) whose life turns upside down when her parents start trying to kill her. With demons on her trail she’s forced to accept help from unexpected quarters, and finds herself on the run through the dark roads of America.

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The Mystery of the Clockwork Sparrow – Katherine Woodfine

Tapping into a rich history of mystery and adventure stories, Katherine Woodfine’s debut novel – The Mystery of the Clockwork Sparrow – is a fast paced, exciting children’s book with plenty to capture the imagination of both younger and older readers. Set in Edwardian London, the story takes place in and around Sinclair’s department store, a sort of cross between Selfridges and Willy Wonka’s factory, full of wonders and intrigue, cubby holes and grand staircases, and as exotic to its customers as to the book’s readers. Into this steps Sophie Taylor, 14 and recently orphaned, trying to adjust to a new world and determined to stand on her own two feet.

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The Illustrated Wee Free Men – Terry Pratchett

With the final Discworld book confirmed to be the fifth Tiffany Aching novel, the time seems right to go back to where her story started, in Terry Pratchett’s second Discworld book for young readers, The Wee Free Men. Taking place on the Chalk, a quiet part of the Disc populated by no-nonsense sheep farmers, it introduces nine-year-old Tiffany as a sort of proto-witch, already equipped with the tools she will need to protect her land, but not yet fully aware of what it will mean to be a witch. When her little brother is kidnapped by the Queen of the Fairies, it’s up to her to bring him back safely, armed with a frying pan and a little help from some unusual friends.

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Johnny and the Dead – Terry Pratchett

The second in his Johnny Maxwell trilogy, and sixth young adult novel overall, Terry Pratchett’s Johnny and the Dead was published in 1993, twenty-two years after his first novel (The Carpet People) and ten years after his first Discworld novel (The Colour of Magic). Set in the village of Blackbury, a sort of Pratchett-ised standard of suburbia, it sees Johnny and his friends trying to carry on with the normal lives that most 12-year-olds live; hanging out in the mall, trying to avoid getting beaten up by older siblings, and coping with the well-meaning attention of parents. When Johnny starts seeing the dead (post-senior citizens, not ghosts) however, and they find themselves caught up in a campaign to save the local cemetery, life soon becomes more complicated.

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The Fall of Five – Pittacus Lore

2010’s young adult novel I Am Number Four introduced us to the Lorien Legacies series, charting the struggle between the Mogadorians (boo-hiss baddies) and the numerically named Garde (teenage good guys with latent super powers who can only be killed in order of their numbers), both of whom have infiltrated Earth for reasons of destruction or survival. Written by Pittacus Lore (technically James Frey and Jobie Hughes) it’s a good concept for a series, starting with a fairly standard good guy/bad guy setup in the vein of Transformers’ Autobots vs Decepticons backstory, where the protagonists end up marooned on Earth facing an against-the-odds battle to survive and hopefully rebuild their world. Despite having spawned a critically-maligned film version the book series is still going strong, with The Fall of Five being the (confusingly) fourth novel in the series so far.

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Fortunately, The Milk – Neil Gaiman

It’s a rare author who can move seamlessly between adult and children’s fiction and produce top work in both genres. One such author is Neil Gaiman, whose dark, twisted and magical style of writing works beautifully in any genre he chooses to use. One of the (many) great things about Neil Gaiman is his ability to remember what it’s like being a child and inject this into his writing, as shown to full effect in the daft but highly entertaining Fortunately, The Milk.

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