Book reviews by kids

Book Review: Alex, The Dog and the Unopenable Door

Posted on November 12, 2013January 6, 2015 by Alphabet Soup

Alex, The Dog and the Unopenable Door by Ross Montgomery, ISBN 9780571294619, Faber and Faber

Review by Philippa, 12, WA

A review copy of this book was provided by the publisher.

Alex lives near The Cusp, a border around the Forbidden Land which prevents humans from going in. Alex father has made it to the magical centre of the Forbidden Land but when he comes back he starts digging holes in the back garden, and trying to run back to the centre of the Forbidden Land. Then Alex is captured by the head of expeditions-to-the-centre. Can he escape and find out the truth about his father?

This is a fantasy-thriller. The story is gripping and it is not like any other book I’ve read before. Do not read it 5 minutes before bedtime! (You’ll want to stay up all night reading it.)

I think the title doesn’t match the story. There is a lot going on in the book but the title makes it sound like a light read and for younger readers than I think will enjoy it, and the title doesn’t tell you it’s a fantasy book. I thought a better title might be something like The Secret of The Cusp.

I recommend this book for ages 10 to Adult. (I gave it to my Nana to read, and she couldn’t put it down either.)

Alex, The Dog and the Unopenable Door is in my Top Ten reads for this year.

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Philippa is one of Alphabet Soup’s Junior Reviewers. If you are aged 12 or under, you can email us your book reviews, too — check out our submission guidelines. You can also read Philippa’s most recent review — Liar & Spy.

Book Review: An Aussie Year

Posted on November 4, 2013January 6, 2015 by Alphabet Soup

An Aussie Year by Tania McCartney, ill. Tina Snerling, ISBN.9781921966248, EK Books

Reviewed by Matilda, 7, WA

A review copy of this book was provided by the publisher.

This is a book about 5 Aussie kids and one dog and each month they tell you what Australian children do in that month. Matilda is my favourite character because my name is Matilda too, and that character even looks a bit like me.

There are lots of illustrations scattered across the page of each month. My favourite month in this book is December because everyone’s celebrating.

Some of my favourite illustrations are:

The girl playing hopscotch in February (because I like to do that)
The Harmony Day pictures on 21 March where they’re all holding hands.
The Easter egg hunt with the costumes and the bilby
The Tasmanian devil at the tea party (he’s funny)

At the back of the book there’s a map of Australia with a bit about each of the states.

I learned some new things in this book — like Canberra Day is in March. (I didn’t know there was such a thing as Canberra Day).

I think all kids up to age 10 would like this book. There’s lots to look at and even if you think you know everything Aussie kids do in every month you can still learn some new things.

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This review is part of a Blog Tour celebrating the launch of An Aussie Year. Check out all the stops on the tour. Or why not have a sneak peek at the characters in An Aussie Year?

Book reviews by Joseph, Book reviews by kids

Book review: The 39-Storey Treehouse

Posted on October 17, 2013January 6, 2015 by Alphabet Soup

The 39-Storey Treehouse by Andy Griffiths, ill. Terry Denton, ISBN 9781742612379 , Pan Macmillan Australia

Reviewed by Joseph, 9, WA

I’ve read The 13-Storey Treehouse and The 26-Storey Treehouse, so when The 39-Storey Treehouse came out I looked for it at my library and saw with horror that every copy had four reserves on it already. I added my name to the waiting list and waited MORE THAN A MONTH for it to be my turn. When I got the library email to say it was waiting for me I thought ‘YES!’

This is the third book in the series and there are 13 more levels than in the previous book. I wanted to know what storeys they had added and I thought some were very clever like the not-very-merry-go-round. My favourite storey would be the Top Secret Not-Yet-Finished one and I thought the name of the machine on that level was great but I’m not going to tell you what it is because it’s better to get a surprise.

It was worth the waiting — this book is just as funny and interesting as the first two, though I still think that The 26-Storey Treehouse is my favourite because I really liked the new storeys they added in that book. The illustrations in this book made me laugh out loud and I really like the colour maps inside the covers of all the Treehouse books that give you a cool look at the new storeys each time.

I can’t wait till The 52-Storey Treehouse comes out in September 2014 to see what the new storeys will be.

Now I’ve finished it, I’d better rush this book to the library so the next kid on the waiting list can enjoy it too. I would recommend the Treehouse books to kids aged 6 to 12 and cheeky grownups too. I rate it 9/10.

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Joseph is one of our Junior Book Reviewers. Here are two of his other book reviews: The Nelly Gang, and Maximum Maxx. If YOU would like to send us a book review, check out our submission guidelines. Happy reading!

Book reviews by Celine, Book reviews by kids

Book review: The 26-Storey Treehouse

Posted on October 16, 2013January 6, 2015 by Alphabet Soup

The 26-Storey Treehouse by Andy Griffiths, ill. Terry Denton, ISBN 9781742611273, Pan Macmillan Australia

Reviewed by Celine, 11, WA

Have you read The 13-Storey Treehouse? Well, Andy and Terry are back with another 13 new storeys! When Andy tries to tell us a story, he is rudely interrupted by Terry, who’s apparently made the sharks sick by feeding them his underwear. Then Jill comes and helps. Inside one of the shark’s bellies, Andy finds a wooden head that belongs to Captain Woodenhead. This leads into the story of pirates with Jill, Andy and Terry. Then a real pirate ship pulls up at their shore, and out comes a captain with a disgusting head. Apparently he found it in a fish’s tummy.

Could this possibly be Captain Woodenhead, and if so, how will Andy and Terry shoo away the captain and his crew?

I liked this book, however — it was quite gruesome and this book would suit pirate lovers better. I would give this book a rating of 7/10.

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Celine is one of our Junior Book Reviewers. Here are two other books reviewed by Celine on Soup Blog: Blood Brothers, and Rotters and Squatters. If YOU would like to send us a book review, check out our submission guidelines. Happy reading!

Book reviews by kids, Book reviews by Pippa

Book Review: Liar & Spy

Posted on October 10, 2013January 6, 2015 by Alphabet Soup

Liar & Spy by Rebecca Stead, ISBN 9781921922947, The Text Publishing Company

Reviewed by Philippa, 11, WA

(A review copy of this book was provided by the publisher)

Georges has just moved house. His mum has gone away to the hospital and his dad is keen for him to ‘meet friends his age’. Then a notice for a Spy Club meeting appears and Georges meets Candy and Safer and is recruited to the Spy Club. He starts tracking the comings and goings of Mr X, a mysterious man in the building.

But the Spy Club’s activities start becoming dangerous and Georges has to decide — how far will he go for his new best friend?

I really liked that you never knew what was going to happen next in this book. The author gave you jigsaw pieces of the story and the plot had twists and turns. This story was set in the USA and usually I prefer books that are set in Australia because I like it when the school-settings and the places are familiar … but I couldn’t put this book down.

This is a great book for 11 to 14 year olds.

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Philippa is one of Alphabet Soup’s Junior Reviewers. If you are aged 12 or under, you can email us your book reviews, too — check out our submission guidelines!

Book reviews by Joseph, Book reviews by kids

Book review: The Nelly Gang

Posted on September 20, 2013January 6, 2015 by Alphabet Soup

The Adventures of Nelly Nolan: The Nelly Gang by Stephen Axelsen, ISBN 9781921977916, Walker Books Australia

A review copy of this book was provided by the publisher.

Reviewed by Joseph, 9, WA

This book is a graphic novel — it’s a bit like a comic book with lots of picture frames but it tells one long story through the whole book.

Nelly’s gang are Nelly and her friends Miro, Jin, plus Nelly’s goat. Nelly lives in Christmastown in Victoria in 1860 with her Pa who is looking for gold. When he finds gold (lots of gold!) they decide to go back to Sydney to find Nelly’s Ma. But someone knows about their gold and bushrangers are everywhere — like Captain Sunbeam and also Captain Moonshine. (The title of the book made me think of Ned Kelly, but Ned Kelly is not in this book.) The Nelly Gang have to fight the bushrangers.

The pictures in The Nelly Gang have interesting things to look at in the backgrounds. In a normal book you would have lots of description in words but the comic-style pictures do that in a graphic novel. I like the message tree — the posters on it made me laugh. Nelly’s goat (Queen Victoria) also makes me laugh. That’s my favourite character. And I liked funny lines like ‘as rich as pigs in a parsnip patch’ which is what Pa says to Nelly when they are weighing his gold.

Boys and girls age 8+ would thoroughly enjoy this. You learn a bit of history like what clothes are like in 1860, what school was like (the kids used slates instead of books and pencils), what money they used, how people lived in the goldfields, how they weighed gold and what their transport was like (horses and carriages).

When I got to the end I wondered what will happen to Nelly next so I would like to read a sequel. I would rate this book 9.5 out of 10.

Book reviews by kids, Book reviews by Pippa

Book review: The Amazing Spencer Gray

Posted on June 30, 2013January 6, 2015 by Alphabet Soup

The Amazing Spencer Gray by Deb Fitzpatrick, ISBN 9781922089328, Fremantle Press

Reviewed by Philippa, 11 (A review copy of this book was provided by the publisher.)

Spencer Gray, his mum and dad, and his younger sister Pippa live in the country, near Perth. Spencer’s dad loves to fly in a glider over the mountains and Spencer is finally old enough to join him. His mum is not so sure about him going, and then one rainy night Spencer and his dad don’t come back after a flight. It seems that no-one knows where they are or if they are hurt …

I like the pictures this story paints in your mind and the excitement and fear of Spencer’s flights in the glider. You may have read part of this book serialised in the West Australian — and I can recommend reading this longer book version. I think The Amazing Spencer Gray is suitable for 9 to 12 year olds who like a bit of adventure.

Book reviews by Joseph, Book reviews by kids

Book Review: Maximum Maxx!

Posted on February 6, 2013January 6, 2015 by Alphabet Soup

Maxx Rumble Cricket: Maximum Maxx! by Michael Wagner, ill. Terry Denton, ISBN 9781922077806, Black Dog Books

Reviewed by Joseph, 9, WA*

This is about Maxx’s cricket days—it’s all 8 of the cricket books in one book. Maxx has to captain the team to victory against some teams that cheat.

My favourite book in the collection is Tricked. It’s a lot different from the other stories. (Maxx and Rexx find a way to stop The Outhouse Rodents team from cheating at all.)

The illustrations definitely go well with the stories. They make me laugh and I already like Terry Denton’s illustrations from The 13-Storey Treehouse so I knew I would like them here, too.

I think 5 to 9 year olds would like this book because they sometimes have quite big words but in short chapters.

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* Joseph is a member of our Undercover Readers Club. (Download information about the club on the magazine’s website.) A review copy of this book was provided by the publisher.

Book reviews by kids

Book Review: Show Day

Posted on February 1, 2013March 22, 2013 by Alphabet Soup

Show Day by Penny Matthews, ill. Andrew McLean, ISBN 9781862916890, Scholastic Australia

Reviewed by Jin Xiang Wilson, 7, VIC*

This story is about Lil and her family going to a show. Dad was in the wood-chopping contest and entered his orange marmalade in the Craft and Cookery contest. Mum entered her pumpkin, jam, cheese scones and an iced birthday cake in the show. Henry, Lil’s brother, entered his guinea pig in the Best Pet contest. Lil has a special entry for the Most Unusual Pet but it’s a secret.

I enjoyed reading this book.

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* Jin Xiang Wilson is a member of our Undercover Readers Club. (Download information about the club on the magazine’s website.) A review copy of this picture book was provided by the publisher.

Book reviews by kids

Book review: Eric Vale Epic Fail

Posted on January 29, 2013March 22, 2013 by Alphabet Soup

Eric Vale Epic Fail by Michael Gerard Bauer, illustrated by Joe Bauer, ISBN 9781862919221, Scholastic Australia

Reviewed by Dalong Xing, 9, NSW*

This book is a comedy fiction book. It is about a boy called Eric Vale who got a nickname—Eric Vale Epic Fail. He got it because he was always doing things wrong. Then one day a new girl named Aasha Alsufi from Africa came to Eric’s class. But the new girl wouldn’t talk to people, so the whole class tried to make her talk or laugh. The class was so excited about the new girl that they all forgot about Eric’s nickname.

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Then one day they had a swimming carnival and Eric wanted to beat Martin Fassbender so he could get a nickname called Eric Vale Epic Win but instead he made it worse. At last someone made the new girl speak and guess who that is?

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I liked the whole book because it was funny and long. There wasn’t anything I didn’t like about the book. My favourite part was when Eric got a nickname. I liked all the pictures because they were very interesting. I think the book would suit mostly boys because there might be some rude parts. It will suit ages 7 to 12 and my friends will like it.

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* Dalong Xing is a member of our Undercover Readers Club. (Download information about the club on the magazine’s website.) A review copy of this book was provided by the publisher.