Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of The Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien

Frodo, son of Drogo and nephew of the famous Bilbo Baggins from The Hobbit, lives with Bilbo in the Shire. Bilbo is having some problems with Gandalf, the wizard, who is telling him to get rid of the ring and pass it on to Frodo. The ring can get too powerful, almost like an addiction. You don't choose the ring, the ring chooses you...

Bilbo is having trouble with the Took family. Even though he is partially Took, they still want his house. Why is it fair that he's gone on all these adventures to kill a so-called dragon and come back with all these riches? Surely he could go and build a bigger house somewhere else? Bilbo says that he was going to give the house away to the Tooks and the ring to Frodo and buy a smaller house in another nearby town in Middle Earth. Bilbo gives a leaving party in his huge pavilion and invites everyone in the village of the Shire to come. Gandalf creates his famous fireworks and stuns the crowd of Hobbits. And then, after his leaving speech, Bilbo puts on the ring...and vanishes. As you know, if you've read the Hobbit then you probably know that the ring, when put on, makes you vanish into thin air. It is one of the three most powerful weapons in Middle Earth and if it falls into enemy hands can cause catastrophic damage.

Frodo is talking with Gandalf in Bilbo's hole. All the furniture is being replaced with the Tooks' items. Gandalf needs Frodo to go on a quest and allows him to take one other companion. Gandalf overhears something outside. An eavesdropper. He whizzes out of the door like a bolt of lightning and picks up the gardener Sam Gamgee. "How much have you heard?" "Barely anything...I was just gardening...I couldn't help it. Please spare me, oh mighty Gandalf!"
"This is exactly the person who will assist you on your journey; after all, he has heard too much." And so the epic quest begins...

I think that J.R.R. Tolkien is a real wizard with words. The intro might be a bit long but once you get past that and into the real fizz of the book you will end up really enjoying it. After all, the intro is needed for those who haven't read the Hobbit.


RATING: 9/10!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Asterix and the Picts by Jean-Yves Ferri and Didier Conrad

This is the latest book in the Asterix series out just before Christmas and is, this time, written and illustrated by different people! Instead of R. GOSCINNY and A. UDERZO, the founders of Asterix the Gaul and the people who have written and drawn all of the other books beforehand, it is now written in the same style but by different authors!

This book starts with Asterix and Obelix strolling on the beach when they stumble upon a man frozen in a giant ice cube. The man frozen has strange tattoos on his chest and some sort of kilt around his waist. Since Obelix has infinite strength (because he fell into the potion of strength when he was a baby) he had no trouble taking him back to the Gaulish village to be examined by their druid, Getafix. Obelix brings the man in the giant ice cube into a fire-lit room to be melted. Meanwhile Getafix ponders over who he is and where he came from.

Once the ice cube has fully melted the man steps out but he can't speak. His mouth is numb! However Getafix soon finds a solution to the problem by brewing a simple talking potion. He then starts to inspect the tattoos. After a while Getafix concludes that he is a Pict from Scotland. He then instructs Asterix and Obelix to take a boat to Scotland.
Will they be able to battle the ferocious tribes of Picts in Scotland? And how will they fair against the legend of Loch Ness??

This book is another great addition to the series of Asterix the Gaul and I personally think that the different author and illustrator gives a good contrast.


Rating: 10/10!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!                                

Wonder by R.J. Palacio

"My name is August. I won't describe what I look like. Whatever you're thinking, it's probably worse."

I decided to put that down because it basically sums up the book. As you've probably guessed by now it's about a boy who doesn't look very ordinary. He does all the stuff that modern day kids like you and me do, for example, he plays Xbox, eats ice cream and rides his bike but his face is, let's say, extraordinary.

August is ten and has a best friend called Christopher, a mum, a dad and a sister called Via. Christopher and August used to do everything together. They would play with August's Star Wars action figures, they would watch T.V.together. Everything. The first major thing that happens in this book is that Christopher moves away and August's mum and dad are considering school for him. Now school is a big thing for August as he has always been home-schooled by his mum. His parents end up looking at a school called Beecher Prep. The middle school Director is called Mr Tushman (oh and by the way, a middle school director isn't fancy terms for head teacher.) A few pupils from the school show August around. One is called Charlotte who, as you will later find out, gets A* in everything. Then there is Julian. He's one of those kids that really gets on your nerves but acts all nice and polite in front of the teacher. Finally there's Jack Will and, well, he's just Jack Will.


I don't really want to go into any detail about what happens next because the story kicks off round about now. It has everything though - bullying, fitting in in high school, friendships and lots more! I really think this is one of the best books that I've read (as well as Phoenix by S.F. Said.) It is suitable for all ages but maybe younger kids (ie younger than me) might not relate to it too much and is a really good read for you adults too. It's one of those stories that has just the right amount of humour and doesn't feel as if the author rushed it.


RATING: 8/10!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ruby Redfort Catch Your Death by Lauren Child

Hi Guys, this book is the 3rd Ruby Redfort book and is equally as good as the 1st and 2nd. Also, this is the first book that I've read on my new kindle! Hope you like it!

Ruby is off on another mission, though not one for Spectrum (the secret spy agency Ruby works for), this time to investigate the weird appearance of wild animals roaming around on the streets of Twinford. Ruby's mum has sighted a weird hippo in the Redforts' swimming pool and some of Ruby's best friends have seen strange animal appearances too.

While this is going on, Spectrum are doing a survival test for all their employees. They are dropped out of a helicopter into the woods and are left to make there way back to camp. (Warning! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT!) Ruby gets a little bit too cocky and falls into a fast flowing river. Even though she survives, she checks into camp 13hrs after the end of the time limit. You know what that means - she failed. Fortunately for her, LB lets her off the hook (again!) but LB takes no prisoners. The next time she flops, that's it, she's out of Spectrum. As well as LB letting her off the hook, she also lets her investigate the current Spectrum case, The Missing Perfume Of Marion Antoinette. Some strange happenings have happened at the perfume launch. The perfumer who was up on stage at the time fainted! Spectrum began to piece information that they gathered together. They found that the perfume consisted of the smell of the cyan wolf (also known as the blue Alaskan wolf) which radiated such a smell that it would draw people in almost hypnotising them! The weird thing was... this wolf is extinct!

If you want to know what happens next, get the book for yourself!!!!!

This book is a wonderful addition to the Ruby Redfort series and I really hope that Lauren Child writes another book to maybe cap off the series because I still think there's more to come.

RATING: 10/10!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Diary Of A Wimpy Kid Hard Luck by Jeff Kinney

This is the eighth book in the bestselling Wimpy Kid series and has loads of crispy laffs (!!) included in its pages.

Rowley, Greg's best friend has ditched him and is instead hanging out with his girlfriend, Abigail (see Diary Of A Wimpy Kid - The Third Wheel.) Greg is trying to find new friends but it's proving to be a tough task and his options aren't the best. Even his little brother Manny has made a friend! Things are getting worse for Greg and he needs to think up something... and fast.

It's Easter and the Heffley family are off to Greg's Grandma's for the day. All of the family is there for the celebration. The family used to go to Meemaw's house (Greg's Great Grandma's house) for the day. Meemaw would do this egg hunt for the kids where she would buy some plastic eggs and put prizes in them but soon Meemaw began to get a little bit loopy and put some strange things in the eggs. The last egg hunt was the year that Meemaw passed away. Soon the relatives were wondering which one of them would get Meemaw's diamond ring. There was a lot of bickering but finally they decided that it was every relative for themselves and started to search for the ring. Aunt Laura looked in the photo albums to see if there was any trace of a will but there was nothing. They began to flick through the pages and found a clue to the ring's disappearance. In one picture, Meemaw had her ring on and was putting prizes in the plastic eggs, in the next picture, taken right after, Meemaw was holding up her homemade apple pie but the ring was no longer on her finger. It didn't take a genius to figure it out. In about five minutes every single adult was out in Meemaw's garden with one of those wicker baskets that are seriously overrated!

Greg's options for friends are at an all time low. He has resulted in looking in his brother's room for something that can help him with his big decisions (in the past, looking in his brother's room has proved very helpful.) He gets lucky and finds one of those magic eight balls that when you shake it an answer comes up in a small hole at the back. Can this eight ball really change Greg's luck or is it just a gimmick?

This book, for me, feels a little bit short but that's only because it's so good you want there to be more!

RATING: 7/10!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    

All The Wrong Questions - When Did You See Her Last? by Lemony Snicket

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!

This is the second in the series of All The Wrong Questions and if you want a review of the first one it is also on my blog.
PS. I hope you got loads of presents and books for Christmas!! I did!

The first book has a very strong link to the second one so I suggest that you read the first book to get a good understanding of what's going on. In this book (as well as in the first one) Lemony Snicket is the main character. I know it sounds cheesy but it fits in really well.

Lemony Snicket is on another case but this time in search of a missing girl called Cleo Night, part of the wealthiest family in Stain'd-by-the-sea. Lemony doesn't know if it has something to do with the evil villain Hangfire who has a talent of mimicking people's voices or some other evil villain. Cleo Night is a brilliant scientist so Hangfire could use her for all sorts of reasons.

Lemony soon finds out that Mr and Mrs Night have been dosed with Laudanum, and drug that makes people go all crazy and forget anything that has recently happened in their lives. Lemony has already noted a suspect, Dr Flammarion, the person who has been injecting them with it. He calls upon Moxie Mallahan, a budding journalist and close friend, to help him do some research on Dr Flammarion. They both find that he worked on the Colophon Clinic, the clinic of a famous war hero called colonel Colophon who had an accident with a statue. (Get the book if you'd like to find out what happened!) Lemony decides to investigate. He calls up his old friends, the Bellepheron brothers too give him a ride up to Colophon Clinic. There is quite a crucial part to the story in the middle and coming up so I'll leave them out so as not to give too much away. (It includes Ellington Feint and her search for her father.)

I think that any Lemony Snicket book is a good book because they include a nice amount of humour and always leave you wanting to read more.

RATING: 9/10

The very cool Lemony Snicket website is here