Very very exciting books
Nelson – the sailor who dared all to win
At the battle of Trafalgar, Britain was saved from invasion by Napoleon’s armies. More than half the population of Britain has never heard of Admiral Nelson, and half of those who have are under the impression that he commanded British forces at Waterloo. This readable and exciting life of Nelson, with the emphasis on personal struggle, cannon fire, sea battle and victory, tells the essential story of the man without whose skill at sea we might all be speaking French.
Pegleg
There are spies at work on the Isles of Scilly, and the orphan Gussie Smith is on their trail. But you can’t chase spies from behind a school desk. Which means that Welfare Snell, the mean-minded Truant Officer, is on Gussie’s trail. It looks like the end result will be a grim life for Gussie with his nasty uncle on the mainland, and a grimmer life for Grannie Dole, his guardian, in the Bide-a-wee Home for the Elderly. Unless Gussie gets his man….
Pig in the Middle
Wester Aist is a tiny village on the west coast of Scotland. Alec Whean is the worst boy in the village, until he befriends a baby seal he find stranded in a lagoon at low tide. But there are other people in the village interested in the seal. People like the fisherman Ivan the Horrible, who reckons seals eat fish, and need shooting. Can Alec save Pig the seal? You bet he can.
Eye of the Cannon
It is hard, if you are a girl in 1814 who is interested in ships. What you have to do is dress up as a boy, and go exploring. What you do not have to do is fall asleep on a Royal Navy ship, and wake up to find yourself out of sight of land, mistaken for one of the crew, chasing an American man-of-war. But that is what Kate Griffiths does. The Rope School is the story of her accidental stowing away, and the changes that happen to her life as a result.
Wonderdog
Bag is a Welsh sheepdog,, and too clever for his own good. He is always anxious to please, but somehow things do not work out as he intends. After his mistakes have resulted in the de-roofing of the farmhouse, the biting of a neighbour, and the discovery of the local vicar in a low den of whisky-drinkers on a Sunday, it looks as if it may be all over for him. But Cwm sheepdog trials are coming. Will he redeem himself? Knowing Bag, you would have to say probably not….
The Magic Boathouse
The School for Forgotten Orphans are going on holiday with their ghastly teacher Mr Barge. In the boathouse at the cottage they are visiting sits an old man with a huge trumpet.. The trumpet is a foghorn – an unusual foghorn. Instead of warning people, it summons the mists of time. And what comes out of the mists of time can be very, very surprising. Particularly for Mr Barge.
The Polecat Cafe
In a dark, rainy wood is a mushroom with smoke coming out of it. This is the chimney of the Polecat Cafe, an eaterie renowned among the wood’s inhabitants. A bit too renowned, really. It is all right feeding hedgehogs and badgers and similar. But there are animals in the wood that are much, much older. And much, much, much bigger. And some of them have no manners at all…..