As the days become shorter and the evenings draw in, why not treat yourself at the end of a long school day by snuggling up with an extra special read? Whether you are looking for ancient mysteries, wolf adventures or a villaneous escape, our site members have been on the hunt, searching high and low for the best children’s and YA books that guarantee to take you on new adventures.
1. The Lost Journals of Benjamin Tooth by Mackenzie Crook
Alchemist, inventor and self-proclaimed scientific genius – that’s 11-year-old Benjamin Tooth, a mini-scientist who discovers the Windvale sprites and, believing they hold the key to external life, sets out on a mission to capture them.
Site member Amazed Earthling praised the historic aspect of the novel in particular: “I found this book extremely interesting as it is set in the 1700s, and Mackenzie Crook cleverly uses 18th century language along with some childlike terms to set the tone.”
But the illustrations were a massive bonus too:
Crook illustrates the book and the pictures are fantastic. The drawings of Farley Cupstart are really quite frightening and others are rather heartwarming with great attention to detail, they certainly lend a journal feel to the book.
2. The Wolf Wilder by Katherine Rundell
Do you sometimes just want a book that you can wolf down? Another literary journey features in our next pick, which follows the story of a mother and daughter who teach abandoned wolves how to survive in the wild – and it’s thoroughly delicious!
The tale turns dark, however, when they are ordered by the army to stop wilding wolves and Feo’s mother is consequently kidnapped.
BookieCookie felt that Rundell was particularly adept at creating tension in the story, and praised how realistic her writing style was:
I love her writing because she is incredibly good at building images in your mind, for example describing ballet as ‘writing with your feet’. You feel that none of her words are wasted … When I finished the book it felt like the story was a true story that you had actually witnessed because the characters and scenes were so realistically written.
If you’re thinking of talking a walk on the wild side this winter, this is the book for you!
3. The Stonehenge Legacy by Sam Christer (teen read)
If you have a thirst for secret societies and murder mysteries (and let’s face it, who doesn’t?!) then you might instead want to check out Sam Christer’s adventurous book. Archaeologist Gideon Chase deciphers a cryptic letter left by his deceased father to uncover a secret society devoted to the worship of Stonehedge. With a new leader at the helm, the group begins performing human sacrifices to unlock the power of the stones.
“The creativity of the plot and the execution was excellent – how skillfully Christer blends together past and present tense in the same paragraph is mind blowing,” enthused Amber.
But basically, Amber loved everything:
I actually never wanted the book to be over, I just wanted to keep reading and hope the book was still being written by Sam Christer. ... The 5000 years we spent reading and waiting for that perfect book to come along? This is that book. The one that’s worth the wait. I’ll happily wait for 10,000 years if it means that I get to read another book by him.
4. H.I.V.E by Mark Walden (teen read)
There’s been a lot of buzz about this book and if you haven’t read it yet here’s your chance. A variation of the theme of Eoin Colfer’s Artemis Fowl, HIVE is told from the perspective of Otto Malpense, an orphan who is recruited into the Higher Institute of Villaneous Education. Otto and his (admittedly evil) friends soon plot a plan to escape the institute…
“This great, captivating book was an amazing read and the others in the series were just as good,” commented Booktrain125, who particularly liked the anti-hero aspect of the characters.
I loved all the mischievous things the characters got up too. The enemies of the villains were well-thought, and I have to say I did get scared a bit. I would recommend this book to ages 9+ as it was a bit scary.
5. George by Alex Gino
And finally, a thoughtful read which explores themes of gender and sexuality in a story about a young child who is transgender. “I’m happy that books like this tell people they can be who they are inside,” commented site member ReaderWren. “I loved this book. I binge-read it in a few hours.”
Our reviewer particularly admired the courage portrayed by Melissa’s character: “I loved that she stood up for herself. She didn’t hold back. There was no stopping Melissa. I loved that. She was truly defiant.”
