We sat down for a chat....with Sophie McKenzie

Little M's read all three of the Missing novels and most of The Medusa Project series. The third and last novel in the Missing series, Missing Me, was published just this week. So, Little M was delighted to ask author, Sophie McKenzie a few burning questions......

Author Sophie McKenzie

Little M: Why did you become a writer?

Sophie: Because I love stories. I got made redundant from my job, went on a writing course and realized that I loved writing stories even more than reading them!

Little M: How many books have you published altogether?

Sophie: Apart from short stories, specialist fiction and World Book Day books, I’ve published 11 teenage thrillers (including Missing Me) and 4 YA romances, as well as 2 books for younger children.

Little M: How old were you when you got your first book published?

Sophie: My very first published story was in my school magazine, when I was six! I had to wait over thirty years for my first proper book to be published though.

Little M: Do you have a stepmum or any step relatives?

Sophie: I do have a stepmother and I have had two stepfathers in the past (though they have both died now) as well as several stepbrothers and sisters.

Little M: Why did you want to write the Girl, Missing trilogy?

Sophie: I didn’t plan to write a trilogy. For a long time I thought Girl, Missing was a standalone novel. When I came up with the idea for Sister, Missing, I soon realized I also wanted to write another book after that one, set several years on and featuring Lauren’s little sister Madison as the main character. That story became Missing Me.

*********

Click on the links to read Little M's reviews of Girl, Missing and Missing Me.



Girl, Missing

Missing Me

Missing Me - Little M's Review

Missing Me by Sophie McKenzie

I wanted to read this book because I’ve read the other two books in the Missing trilogy and I just wanted to know what happens next in the story. Missing Me is a follow on from Girl, Missing and Sister, Missing. The first two stories are from Lauren, the older sister’s, perspective. Missing Me is from Madison’s perspective when she is a teenager.

Missing Me by Sophie McKenzie

Missing Me is about Madison who is the youngest of three sisters. She finds out that her biological father is an anonymous sperm donor. She meets up with her biological father and he takes her to a party. At the party, she meets a girl called Esme and a boy called Wolf. The three of them get together on another day and Madison discovered some information that could help with something illegal that’s being done by someone. Then she starts to get more information and tries to stop the illegal activities.

I really enjoyed this book. This book was exciting, full of suspense and a thriller. I really enjoyed it because I love how Sophie MacKenzie writes. She doesn’t just drag anything out too long. I enjoyed it more than Sister, Missing but the first book, Girl, Missing, is still my favourite.

You can understand the storylines from the first two books by the recap in the beginning of Missing Me but it doesn’t give you some little details and you miss out because the first two books are good. You need to read all of the books in order to understand the story really well.

I would recommend this book to readers who like Sophie McKenzie’s books that are for younger teens (like The Medusa Project). I also think people who like Lauren St John’s Laura Marlin series and people who like adventure and mysteries will like this book.

If we did ratings on this blog, I would give it a 4 ½ out of 5 because it is in my top ten favourite books this year.

Publication details:

Simon and Schuster, September 2012, London, hardback

This copy: received for review from the publishers

*****

You can read my review of Girl, Missing here.

Kentucky Thriller - Little M's Review

Kentucky Thriller by Lauren St John

 

Kentucky Thriller is the third book in the Laura Marlin mystery series. This book is about the horse racing in Kentucky, America. When Laura and Tariq find an abandoned race horse in a trailer their detective minds start to think. The owner of the horse, Golden Rush, is very pleased to have him back and says that they can come and stay at his farm in America.

Kentucky Thriller by Lauren St John

One night at the farm Laura wakes up in the middle of the night. She saw Golden Rush be unloaded. And then a few hours later another truck comes with a horse that looks just like Golden Rush. Then she suspects there has been a swap. Is anyone going to believe her?

Whilst in America, Laura suspects Golden Rush is going to be stolen again, but how?  And is Noble Warrior going to win the Kentucky race? Are the Straight A’s, a criminal gang, going to be involved? (The Straight A’s have been in the other two books.)

I absolutely loved this book because I love Lauren St John’s books, I love horses and I love detective books. So this book was pretty much perfect for me.

I have read all the Laura Marlin Mysteries and I really enjoyed them all. But I still think the first book and the second are the best. There are only 3 so far in the series but I think Lauren is up to something (writing a 4^th one).

I would recommend this book to anyone who has read any of Lauren St John’s Laura Marlin Mysteries or any of The White Giraffe series. I think most people who liked Enid Blyton's The Famous Five and Secret Seven when they were younger will enjoy this book.

This book is a mystery, horsey and 100% Lauren St John.

Publication details:

Orion, 2012, London, hardback

This copy: received for review from the publishers

Celia Rees talks inspiration plus a Giveaway

Celia Rees tells us about her inspiration for her latest novel, This Is Not Forgiveness. Author of acclaimed historical novel for teens, Witch Child, This Is Not Forgiveness takes Celia into new territory. It is not an historical novel. It is a psychological drama about political terrorism, extremism and the impact of war. You can also win a signed copy of This Is Not Forgiveness.

*****

Author Celia Rees

Every book begins with an idea and ideas can come from anywhere: books, pictures, places, newspapers, conversations. This idea came from a film: Francois Truffaut’s Jules et Jim.  I had just come back from Paris and was watching French films to try and extend the visit. I’d always loved the film, the story of two boys and a girl. The boys are old friends and they both fall in love with Kate, played by the captivating Jean Moreau. She is an extraordinary girl, unconventional, a free spirit who won’t be owned by either of them. While I was watching, I suddenly thought, ‘You could up date this. Make it now.’

I began to see two boys, friends since nursery, been through junior school and secondary school together, now in the 6^th Form. A girl comes to the school. She is like no-one they have met before and they both fall in love with her. What will happen? What will it do to their friendship? What will it do to them?

So that is how it started, but books quickly warp away from their initial starting point. The boys as friends didn’t work, so I decided to make them brothers. One younger, one older, both involved with the same girl but the younger one doesn’t know.

The younger boy, Jamie, would be the main narrator. I felt I knew about him straight away, but I had to find out more about the older boy. Who is he? What does he do? At the time I was thinking about him, more troops were being deployed to Afghanistan, sustaining casualties. On the news, people were lining the streets of Wootton Bassett. I decided to make the brother a career soldier. Rob. He joined up at sixteen and is now in his early twenties. He’s back home after being badly injured and has been discharged from the Army. His physical wounds have healed but he is finding it difficult to fit back into civilian life. 

Then there was the girl. Who was she? How could I make her different? I decided to give her an interest in radical politics. Anti war. Anti everything. At the time, that seemed a bit ‘out there’. Young people interested in radical politics? Very ‘Sixties’. Then, suddenly students were marching through London, smashing windows, fighting with police, hanging from the Cenotaph, throwing bins at the heir to the throne’s car. I found myself writing and re-writing as events unfolded.

I had her. Caro. I had the connections between the three of them; the web of cause and effect that would mesh them together; the element of risk and danger that would give the story explosive emotional power.

******

This Is Not Forgiveness was published in early 2012.

You can buy tickets to see Celia Rees at the Ilkley Literature Festival on 7 October 2012 here.

You can come and chat with us at the free Spreading the Book Love event that is on just before her. Double whammy!!!

WIN A SIGNED COPY - UK & Ireland

To win a signed copy of This Is Not Forgiveness, simply leave a comment on this blog post. Please leave a way for us to contact you if you win (you can e-mail your details if you prefer but leave a comment to be entered).

The competition closes on Friday 13 October 2012 at 5pm. The winner will be chosen at random by our Randomeater. This comeptition is open to readers aged 13 or older. If you are 12, please get your parent's permission to enter - or ask them to enter for you.

Good luck!

Event - Spreading the Book Love

Aged 12+? We’ll be spreading the book love on Sunday 7^th October at the Otley Courthouse as part of the Ilkley Literature Festival Fringe from 1:30 – 3.15. Come and join the spread.

What’s on our smorgasbord spread?

There’s a bookswap, games of book battleships with prizes, our top 20, plus time and space to chat all things booky, bloggy, and reviewy. And as always, we’ll probably have a trick or two up our sleeves.

From 28 September – 14 October, if you happen to be wandering around somewhere near the Festival, watch where you sit down: you might find yourself a little surprise….. If the closest you can get is online, we’ll be up to things there too!

So, the menu!

A bookswap – bring a book and swap it

Bring a book, browse and swap it for another one. Our bookswap library includes a real mix – and they’re all in fantastic condition. Each of these books have been registered on Bookcrossing and have their own codes so that you can track where they’ve been. And if you pass them on or swap them with us again, you can follow where they go.

Some of the books also come with our personal recommendations – and a few words on the bookplates will tell you why.

One of the books will not be published until November 2012. We have 3 copies of it so three of you will have it long before your mates can even get it! We’ve read it and we recommend it.

Book Battleships

Inspired by Scholastic UK’s game of Book Battleship’s on Twitter, we’re bringing our own real live version to the table. If you fire a hit, you win! Some of the prizes are sweet!

Top 20

We’ll be sharing twenty books from our list of favourites. You can read our reviews of them or perhaps even grab a copy of them. We pledged to share twenty books this year in celebration of the Booktrust charity's 20 years of bookgifting.

Chit Chat

Come and chat with us about books, reviews and blogging.

Online competitions and giveaway

For those who can’t make it on the 7^th October, you can still join in online.

There are books to be won.

Spreading the Book Love

Otley Courthouse, Otley

Sunday 7th October, 1.30-3.15 pm

Spreading the Book Love is part of the Ilkley Literature Festival's Wordsfest for people aged 12-18.

 

Thank you to the following publishers who have supported us:

Random House Children’s Publishers, Hodder Children’s Books, Scholastic UK, Vintage Children’s Classics, Simon and Schuster Children’s and Strange Chemistry.



Teen Book Group Discussion - Angel Dust

Teen Book Group discussion – Angel Dust by Sarah Mussi

When we started this blog, one of Little M’s dreams for it was that it would be some sort of book group. So, when Hot Key Books offered reading group book copies of Sarah Mussi’s Angel Dust, we were delighted. Little M organised the rest.

The book group included three 12 year old girls and there was no adult involvement. They all read the book and two of them got together during the summer holidays to discuss it. The discussion and feedback is their own. This is not our usual kind of review but is the feedback from the book group discussion.

Those of you who’ve ever been in a book group will probably smile – the conversation threads about the book often aren’t what you were expecting! And the discussion that continued after this post was typed up went on for ages about books and all sorts of other things......

So, what’s Angel Dust about?

What the publisher’s say:

Would you move heaven and earth for the one you love? When an angel is sent to earth to escort the soul of a young man to the afterlife she chooses to save him instead. But at what cost? An urban love story that recalls Romeo and Juliet by an author with a distinct teen voice.

What our We Sat Down teen book group said:

This book is about an angel called Serafina who is a death angel and she collects the souls from people who have just died. She has to ask these people whether they repent. If they do not, they go to hell. If they do, they go to heaven. She takes them to the gates of heaven or hell and then they’re on their own. Serafina acts like a human but has the powers of an angel.

There is a lot of romance, quite a bit of paranormal and a little bit of adventure. There’s quite a bit of death. The whole story is based around someone dying.

Some thoughts:

We liked the fact that the angels had to get to the dying person before the devil did.

Little M: “This book did make me think what if angels of death were real? And what would it be like when you are dead?”

Alice: “It made me think about angels. Are they real or are they not?”

Little M: “I found the story too jumpy. Like one minute Serafina was there and the next she was somewhere else. Altogether it was a good book, but not really up my street.”

Alice: “I thought that it did jump a little bit but not enough to throw me off the storyline and for me to not know what was happening. Summing up, it was a good book and I loved it.”

The Hot Key Ring guide to Angel Dust

Publication details:

Hot Key Books, August 2012, London, paperback

This copy: Uncorrected proof received from the publishers for reading group use

A Little, ALOUD for children - M's Review

A Little, ALOUD for Children edited by Angela MacMillan

A Little, ALOUD for Children is an anthology of poems and stories to read aloud. It is aimed at children but really it is suitable for all ages.  Some pieces may be too difficult for young or less confident readers to read themselves but all of the pieces can be listened to by everybody. Each piece gives an estimated reading time and some are as short as 6 minutes while others are quite a bit longer.

Quiet, calm relaxation, a few chuckles and a sleeping dog.  That was the effect of the stories being read aloud to an audience in our house. But then came the poems! That was a much noisier affair. Legs and arms clambering about the room and hands rushing to grasp the book to be the next reader. Who can resist Shakespeare’s Witches Chant from Macbeth or Edward Lear’s The Jumblies?

A Little, ALOUD for Children - Angela MacMillan (ed)

The thing we find about reading aloud in our house is that it creates a lot of laughter and chatter.  We’re probably supposed to be talking about the literary merits of the writing or something like that….but - if we ever do - that only ever comes second or third to laughing and having fun.

In our house, nothing seems to be funnier than mum stumbling over ‘cumulonimbus’  (unless it’s dad stumbling over the made up words in Lewis Carroll’s Jabberwocky). And there’s always a long intake of breath while everyone waits to see what the next person is going to choose to read out loud. Will you groan or clap?

The selection in this anthology is a themed mix of poems and extracts (mostly from novels) and includes some contemporary pieces (like David Almond’s Skellig) as well as older classics like Dickens’ Great Expectations. We preferred some over others. I’m not a big fan of extracts because it frustrates me rather than tantalises me. But of course, not all readers will feel the same way as me.

We haven’t read the whole book but the absolute treasure so far in this anthology, for me, is Neil Gaiman’s Instructions: whatever you do, “Do not look back.” Little M has delightedly discovered Siobhan Dowd’s The London Eye Mystery and Frank Cottrell Boyce’s Cosmic.

The royalties from the sale of this book go to The Reader Organisation, a charity that works to connect people with great literature – and each other.

Here is an article on the Booktrust website on why reading aloud with children is so special.

Publication details:

David Fickling Books, June 2012, paperback

This copy: received for review from the publishers

Summer venturing with a world of stories

If you've been following our blog this August, you'll have noticed we've been reading a selection of titles (or authors) from the new Vintage Children's Classics range. The pages from those books seeped into our real lives. Here are some highlights from our adventures.

We left I Capture the Castle, and Barnaby Brocket tempted us to further shores. Little M closed the last page on Emil and the Detectives, and in Olympic speech, handed the baton to Daddy Cool. Then off we went, Emil and The Detectives and Swallows and Amazons safely tucked into backpacks and book totes (along with a few snacks).

Not having read Swallows and Amazons before, our sailing competencies were rather lacking, so we put our trust in a big engine and some natives.

We Stood Up on a ferry to Europe

We left Little M with a whole bunch of wannabe Swallows and Amazons, and off we went (that's M and Daddy Cool) - two adventurous natives hoping not to be robbed on the train. We avoided Berlin (if you haven't read Emil, that's a literary joke)!

If John Boyne's The Terrible Thing That Happened to Barnaby Brocket urged adventurous travel, the Verzets Museum was a little more sobering and came full circle back to Boyne's The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. This Amsterdam museum tells the story of the Dutch resistance to the German occupation during World War II from the perspectives of many different individuals.  I was quite taken aback when a pair of blue striped pyjamas was one of the displays. Yes, they were real. Spine-chilling moment.

Back on less wobbly territory, again we took to the trains and trams and made for the Once Upon a Wartime exhibition at the Imperial War Museum North in Manchester.

A wonderful exhibition, it featured five children's novels that explored war: The Silver Sword by Ian Serraillier, Carrie's War by Nina Bawden, War Horse by Michael Morpurgo, The Machine Gunners by Robert Westall and Little Soldier by Bernard Ashley.


Here's a page from the museum's Once Upon a Wartime activity booklet for The Silver Sword:

To cap the summer off, we communed with nature, got very wet but kept our clothes on (unlike Topaz in I Capture the Castle!). We picked up some oars and paddled across Coniston lake where much of Swallows and Amazons is set. We stayed at the southern end - I didn't want to end up in a war with those Blackett sisters (aka Amazon pirates). But we still spotted plenty of white and reddish brown sails - Swallow and the Amazon maybe?!

We hope you've enjoyed our summer world of stories. We've had a ball. Thanks to Vintage Children's Classics and their World of Stories for inspiring us and providing some of the books.

Au revoir!!!

A recap of the titles reviewed during our world of stories series:

I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome
Emil and the Detectives by Erich Kastner
The Silver Sword by Ian Serraillier
The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken
The Curious Incident of the Dog In the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
The Terrible Thing That Happened To Barnaby Brocket by John Boyne (published by Doubleday)

PS. Find out who the winner of our Vintage Children's Classics books giveaway is over here.

The Silver Sword - Nanny Bee's Review

The Silver Sword by Ian Serraillier

Guest Review by Nanny Bee

(with an extra pic at the end!!!)

The Silver Sword is a lovely book with a good adventure story. I think this edition with the Backstory section is brilliant.

The Silver Sword by Ian Serraillier

The Silver Sword is based on, or inspired, by some true stories from World War II.  It is about three children – the Balickis - whose parents disappear in the second World War. They meet a little orphan boy, Jan, who has a paper knife shaped like a silver sword. He is scruffy, roams the street and thieves.  The three Balicki children recognise this sword as their father’s and realise that he might still be alive. The Silver Sword is all about their adventures on their journey through to Switzerland looking for their father. It takes a few years!

I was impressed by the bravery shown by the three children in deciding to escape from the Germans to go and look for their father in Switzerland. Jan goes with them. I wondered if he would fit in with them or be a nuisance. He was a bit of a nuisance but he also helped them.

The Silver Sword was first published in 1956. Unlike some of the critics then who thought that it was unsuitable material for children, I think it is suitable for children. It gives them an insight into what children had to go through in the war in Europe. I think it would appeal to most children in that even though the characters were being persecuted and it was war, the story isn’t told in a gory or frightening way. The story is told in a way so that children wouldn’t get scared. The story is written well. It is straightforward and you want to read it. After each chapter, I wanted to get onto the next chapter to see what had happened to the characters.

This edition has nice little drawings at the beginning of each chapter. And there’s a map at the front which is good. It shows their whole trek. I liked the Backstory section because it was interesting. It has some facts, a bit by the author’s daughter talking about her father and a character list for the story. I did the quiz and didn’t do badly (hahaha) – I got the extra difficult question correct! And there are instructions to make your own treasure box.

 *****

Note from M: this review was dictated to me by Nanny Bee. She pretty much read the whole of the Backstory to me she enjoyed it so much!

Publication details:

Vintage, August 2012, London, paperback

This copy: received for review from the publishers

Here's an Imperial War Museum postcard inspired by The Silver Sword. It's illustrated by Mel Northover and was bought at the Once Upon A Wartime exhibition in Manchester.

Book Giveaway!!!

UK residents -today is the last day you can enter to win a copy of The Silver Sword (or any other title from the Vintage Children's Classics range). Closes 12pm.

What's going on? #7

This week: new books, book group update, Bookcrossing

New Books:

Missing Me by Sophie McKenzie (review copy): this is the third and concluding book in the Girl, Missing series. Needless to say, Little M is whooping with excitement for this young teen thriller. Published by Simon and Schuster on 13 September.

The Diviners by Libba Bray (review copy):  it’s set in 1902s jazz New York. There are murders, secrets and something eeries going on.  Not my usual thing but Libba Bray’s writing has been highly praised so I'm looking forward to finding out what this is all about. For those of you who are cover mad, this one’s a good one – and it has full colour end pages too. Published by Atom on 18 September.

School of Fear by Gitty Daneshvari (review copy): Children are referred to a summer course to have their fears conquered through unorthodox methods. It’s been described as Lemony Snicketish – so a lot to live up to and if it comes anywhere close, it’ll be a delight. This was published by Atom on 2 August.

Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume. An old favourite and it's still going strong. Little M read it in a flash and would highly recommend it to 12 year olds.

Skippy Dies by Paul Murray. This is another one of those novels where I don't know anything about the plot line but know that it comes highly recommended from a variety of people whose recommendations are usually good ones for me. And it comes as three separate books in a boxset!

Arthur: The Seeing Stone by Kevin Crossley-Holland. We're fans of the Arthur tales and this one's been highly recommended.

Book group - Angel Dust:

We had our first book group gathering this month, organised by Little M. Thanks to Hot Key Books for supplying copies of their launch title, Angel Dust by Sarah Mussi. The feedback from this will be up on the blog soon.

Bookcrossing:

We released our first books with Bookcrossing codes this month. They were both controlled releases given to individuals or organisations who particularly wanted these titles: Candyfloss by Jacqueline Wilson and Dolphin Song by Lauren St John. You can find out more about Bookcrossing here.