Luke's Reads: Behind the Scenes

I have recently finished a challenge in which I read 50 books that Michael Grove;s comments prompted three authors and two reporters to choose. The article is here. This challenge has broadened my reading knowledge and nearly put me in an early grave. I found some new favourite books (The London Eye mystery!) and wanted to burn others (How to be topp!). 

The challenge was a very hard project and took a lot of time and hard work from me and my mum Jay who has supported me throughout the challenge and provided most of the books. She was actually the one who suggested that I did the challenge. One day while I was playing video games she got me pause (A feat in itself) and said “I bet you a tenner that you can’t read 50 books in one year!” 

I replied“No problem, prepare to lose your money, Mum” And so the challenge began.   I hope you are ready to experience Luke’s Reads (Behind the scenes).

Pros of the challenge

 I discovered many new books to my liking: things like Ender’s game, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time and the London Eye mystery. Because of the challenge I was pushed into new unfamiliar territory and didn’t know what to expect while I was there. It was an interesting experience full of books that it turns out are really good. The most surprising reaction was when I read Swallows and Amazons and found it not that bad. Read the review 

Cons of the challenge

While I did discover some new favourite books the challenge was full of books that I wanted to burn like How to be Topp, the Old Man and the Sea and After the First Death. I HATED these books. The other thing that I hated was when I did not reach my intended target by Christmas. I was incredibly angry and upset when this happened and I felt that getting an extension was like cheating. But in the end I swallowed my pride and took the extension.

My list of 20 books for 11-12 year olds

• Silver Tounge by Charlie Fletcher
• Artemis Fowl  by Eoin Colfer
• Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy
• Wolf Brother by Michelle Paver
• The River of Adventure by Enid Blyton
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
• How to be a Pirate by Cressida Cowell
• Percy Jackson and the Last Olympian by Rick Riordan
• The Throne of Fire by Rick Riordan
• Time Riders: Day of the Predator  by Alex Scarrow
• H.I.V.E. by Mark Walden
• C.H.E.R.U.B. :The Recruit by Robert Muchamore
• Heroes of Olympus: the Lost Hero by Rick Riordan
• Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert O'Brien
• The Carpet People by Terry Pratchett
• Only You Can Save Mankind by Terry Pratchett
• Johnny and the Dead by Terry Pratchett
• The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd
• Enders Game by Orson Scott Card.
• The Magic Scales by Sam Wilding

In Conclusion…

While the challenge was full of obstacles and required lots of time, work and attention it was also educational, interesting and really helped my reading ability. I feel very privileged to be able to do this challenge in the year. I would like to thank my mum Jay and:

Mark Tranter for The Owl Service and A Christmas Carol.

Sarah who sent us When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit

Immi Howson  for Mistress Mashem's Repose and People Might Hear You.

I am very grateful to all of these people that helped me and I hope that they say you’re welcome. So to finish off I hope to make those who read my blog laugh by saying I give this challenge 1000/100.   


Jay Writes - 
Thanks also to our friends and well-wishers who left comments on Luke's blog over the year. They have really encouraged him. I think Luke's done a super job with this challenge and I'm proud of him for persevering. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading most of the books along with him (although I was less keen on having to nag him to write the reviews!)

Wild Card 3

The Knife Of Never Letting Go


Now a lot of people have said this book is amazing; that it is the book of the century and everyone should love it unless the book comes to life and ruins everything you love. If that happens then you have a reasonable excuse to dislike it. But apart from that then you must love it, love it, love it. Everyone I know has said this, including my parents. But to be perfectly honest I don’t see what all the fuss is about.

Now don’t get me wrong OK, I liked the book. But it just isn’t as amazing as everyone was saying it was. It had some good positives and some annoying negatives (I will go over these in a minute). So while the book didn’t live up to what it was built up to, it did have its moments.

Let’s start with the positives: First I want to say that the idea that the story had was simply fantastic. Coming to a new world to find that it has a chemical that broadcasts your thoughts to everyone? Genius! And the characters in it are so well written I was jealous that I would have to wait 10 years to get close to that sort of writing.

However. The book did do a few things that I hated. The first is how stupid the people were when it came to plans. I mean the settler plan. Come on. 20 odd villages and not one mechanic that can fix a spaceship. Not ONE?! No way of contacting them when the purpose of these people was to check it out and then CONTACT THEM! That was a bit of a design flaw don’t you think?

Also the book did what How To Be Topp did: deliberately misspell words. I HATE that.  SHAME ON YOU STORY! But apart from those rather large cons the book does alright on my scale. I will give the book 71/100 for excellent story writing and good execution of an idea.

This is the last challenge review I am doing so when I next post something I hope to be £10 richer.

Jay Writes

Look guys - it's the last review of the 50! 
It came as no surprise to us that Luke used his final Wild Card to avoid reading Little Women. That's the one I'd pegged from the start as the least likely to appeal to him. Instead, we chose the start of an award-winning trilogy of modern YA fiction. 
I hope Luke is immensely proud of himself for finishing this challenge. We're all chuffed to bits!

Wild Card 2

Ender's Game

This book has recently become one of my all-time favourite sci-fi books. A really positive review. 

For a big book (and it is big) it doesn’t over explain things or leave loads of plot holes for me to fill in and gets the story across to the reader at a good steady rate. The gist of the book is that in the far future the race of humans are preparing to go to war with the insect race of the buggers (clever). For the best results they get people to help them genetically engineer amazing super generals to lead their armies to victory. 

Ender Wiggin is one of these kids and after he is pulled away from his home and placed in battle school only then does he unlock his true power as a leader of the human space fleet. TO WAR. At least that is what everyone tells him. But he doesn’t want that to be true. He just wants to go home. 

A fantastic book for all people with two digits in their age. I hope the public enjoys it as much as I do. For the amazing piece of art that is this book 99/100.   

Jay Writes - Luke cashed in his second Wild Card to replace Mistress Masham's Repose.  Our lovely friend Immi loaned it to us and he just didn't fancy it. (I enjoyed it!) We chose Ender's Game as a classic science fiction story that had an awful lot to say. I'm so glad he embraced it with such enthusiasm

Greek Myths

Well this review is gonna take me a while because I have to write 300 words before my mum and dad can finish their work so here we go:

The Ancient Greeks is my favourite point in history after the Egyptians. Their mythology is fascinating. It is filled with everything from arrogant kings who challenge the gods to noble heroes who simply ask for the gods blessing on their quest to save the damsel in distress. And there are plenty of damsels who are in distress. Many of these situations are caused by Hera queen of the gods. She deals with most problems by turning into an old woman and planting seeds of doubt in people’s minds.

My favourite story is the story of Melampus, the man who could understand animals big and small. One day he was walking along the road when he found a dead mother snake. Instead of just kicking it of the road like most people would he gave the snake a proper funeral and took care of the babies. When the snakes grew older they licked his ears so clean that he could understand what all creatures were saying. He used this ability to learn the secrets of nature and to help people with their problems. Like when he put out a large hunk of meat and two vultures came down and discussed how to heal a very sick prince who was watching.

 The Greek myths have lots of stories like this except in the others the blessed man usually gets cocky and angers the gods who make him spend the rest of his life as some kind of wild animal. As well as having many good stories the Greek myths also make good reading material for all ages. Little ones will marvel at the great tasks of Hercules while older readers can enjoy the tale of Oedipus.

Great stories for the whole family 89/100        

Jay Writes - 

Luke reviewed D'Aulaire's Book Of Greek Myths.  It's the book I grew up with too. I highly recommend it for readers age 7 and up. Its family trees and memorable illustrations are a great introduction to the myths. As Luke says, these stories are great for everyone.

The Hobbit

The Hobbit

This was one of the books in this challenge that was much more to my liking. Unfortunately my brand new game Skyrim (EPIC!) had arrived and a lot of my spare time was going into that. But I finished the book all the same and managed to enjoy it as normal. I really enjoy the sci fi and fantasy genre and this book was not a let down to its relations.

The story focuses on a group of fourteen, thirteen dwarves and a hobbit. The hobbit Bilbo Baggins is the hero of the story and discovers many things about himself and Middle Earth on his journey to the lonely mountain to claim the treasure of Smaug the last of the great dragons.

My favourite character in this story is Gollum. When he talks to himself and how he says it, he creeps you out to no end. He and Bilbo have a competition where they take turns to tell riddles and whoever cannot answer the others riddle first, loses.

All the characters in this book are brilliant the story is fantastic and the ending is well written. I hope everyone who reads the book enjoys it as much as I did 99.9/100             

Carry On Jeeves

The Jeeves and Wooster series is a fantastic set of small stories written by PG Wodehouse about a rich man named Bertie Wooster and his new butler Jeeves and their experiences in New York and London. 

These stories are very entertaining and interesting. The character design is excellent, the story lines are great and the made up words that the author uses are really weird and yet very good. But while the made up words are funny they really have to said out loud in order to understand them. 

As well as that there is also the continuing joke that Jeeves always throws away one of the items of clothing that Bertie has. At first it was pretty funny but after that it got a little repetitive. 

Over all it is agood book with funny jokes and strange words but to really get the feel of the book you have to read it aloud. 79/100           

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is a series of short stories told from the point of Dr John Watson, Sherlock's friend and companion in his investigations.
I am very fond of these 'shorts.' Each one had a different storyline and is full of excitement. The formula is that someone comes to Sherlock Holmes with a problem and tells his story. Sherlock Holmes says 'of course,  will solve this,' goes off and does strange things that no one understands and at the end Holmes catches the killer/thief/criminal and explains to everyone in the room how he solved the mystery. My only criticism is that in some stories when he is catching the killer/thief and explains what he'd done, I didn't have a clue what he was talking about. That and in some stories I had to ask my mum what they meant when they said so and so or such and such.
My favourite story was The Speckled Band but that was just because I loved the killer's method.
A really good set of stories based on the phenomenal character of Sherlock Holmes. 77/100

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time

This is an interesting book because instead of having normal chapter numbers this book's chapters go up in prime numbers like this: Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 5, Chapter 7, Chapter 11 and so on.
This book is told by a 15 year old boy named Christopher who has been diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome and hates touching people.  His mother dies in a hospital and he lives with his father. When he finds his neighbour's dog speared by a garden fork he decides to conduct a full investigation.
His father has other ideas and tells him to "Stay the f**k out of other people's business." So Christopher stops investigating. Then he talks to Mrs Alexander who sheds some interesting light on his mother's death. After that Christopher discovered that the person who killed the dog was   (not telling)     so he runs away from them and gets into a LOT of trouble.
This was a good book with a great storyline and a fantastic character design. I loved Christopher's way of seeing the world. This book earned a 99/100

Stormbreaker

The has got to be one of the best books for 12 year olds around. Certainly one of the best I've seen - and I've seen a lot. Stormbreaker has everything from teenage spies to deadly jellyfish. If you like books full of adventure and near death experiences READ THIS BOOK NOW. If you are reading this review stop reading, shut down the computer and pick up the book. This is the most important decision of your lifetime so choose carefully.
Will you
A. Shut down the computer and read the amazing and sinister story of teen spy Alex Rider and his quest to save the world
B. Read the rest of this review and then go and read the Alex Rider story of creepy scarred men and psychopath millionaires
C. Stop reading the review and go and play Scrabble with your family

If you chose A then Go! Read the story, your life will improve, HURRAY!
If you chose B then fine, enjoy your mediocre life/
If you chose C then get out. You have your short sad life so stop wasting it.Goodbye!

99/100 for awesomeness

Skellig

WARNING - this review contains a spoiler

This is a story that focuses on a boy named Michael and how his life changes when he moves house to a place 2 bus rides away from his school.But the most important change in his life is that thing he finds in the garage covered in dead bluebottles and spider webs. What is this strange being asking for Chinese food? And why does it cough up bones and fur like the owls do? It'sup to Michael and his newly found friend Mina to discover the truth behind Skellig.
Wow, that is the most dramatic review I've written but the book really is that good. I love the references to evolution through the book even though it is themed around angels. (That was the spoiler)
I think this book has all of the requirements of a great book. 1. A good plot 2. Great character design 3. a fantastic conclusion. Oh, wait, it looks like I was wrong, it only has 2 out of the 3 requirements. (Guess which one it lacks) 88/100 for this book's fabulous writing and plot. (that leaves a 50/50 chances of you getting it!)

The Tygrine Cat

The Tygrine cat is a fictional story written by Inbali Iserles about a cat named Mati and what happens when he meets the Cressida Cats of London. Mati comes from Egypt and know very little about his past. He can't even remember the name of his mother. All he knows is that he must learn the Three Pillars Of The Cat. Unfortunately he does not have much time to learn them because his mother's deadly enemies, the Cats of Sa, are determined to destroy him and take his unknown power.

Although this was told from the point of view of a cat, the cats all had very human traits like betrayal, suspicion, laughter and homesickness. It wasn't at all cutesy, unlike some cat things can be, nor any old puns about things being purrfect. The author treated the characters as people, which I liked.

This was a very good adventure story with action, mythological references and magic. Because I love Egyptian mythology I'm giving this book 87 out of 100.

The Story of Tracy Beaker

The Story of Tracy Beaker is based on events happening all over the country in, as Tracy calls them, dumping grounds (children's homes). The author of this book, Jacqueline Wilson, often writes about problems that affect children such as being left at children's homes, divorcing parents and moving to new places.

Tracy Beaker is a 10 year old girl who has an extra 10 years of attitude. She is waiting for her Hollywood movie star mum to pick her up in a limo and take her to a tropical island where she will swim with the dolphins and fly with the eagles. Unfortunately, until that happens she is stuck with Justine No Good Littlewood and everyone else in the dumping ground.

Because I loved the character of Tracy Beaker so much, and her opinion of the world, the humour in this book has gained it a 96 out of 100.

Jay writes -

This is my first Jacqueline Wilson and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I guess she is the Judy Blume of this generation, tacking issues and emotions affecting kids in a funny and realistic way. Tracy is a wonderful character. Much of the pathos comes from what she doesn't say - her Hollywood mum is really a young woman with an abusive partner and Tracy has no idea how to find her. Tracy's angry, destructive streak and her passionate creativity never let her slip into someone you pity. She'd be very hard to be friends with but probably worth it.
We both liked that Tracy 'never cries, just gets hayfever,' which happens to coincide with being upset.

Just William

Just Williams is an interesting set of stories written by Richmal Crompton about the 11 year old boy William Brown and his adventures in his small village in the country. He and his group of friends, the Outlaws do many things from kidnapping kids to setting up marriages.

I found the book very humorous and witty. The plots were interesting and lifelike. Williams behaves like lots of young boys do: challenging every rule and finding loopholes for everything.

A good classic LOL book. Because of Richmal Crompton's excellent writing I'm giving this 90 out of 100

Pig Heart Boy

Pig Heart Boy is about a boy named Cameron ans his experiences as he is informed that in order to stay alive he must have a heart transplant from a pig.

This like many of Malorie Blackman's books raises issues - such as "should animal experimentation continue?" and trust between friends. I was interested to find out how it ended.

The plot is that Cameron is told by doctors that he has about 1 year left to live and the only way to stay alive is to have a heart transplant. But since they don't have enough human donors they want to give Cameron the heart of a specially bred pig. The story then continues as his life is thrown this way and that because of the transplant. I enjoyed the book and was fascinated by every opinion of this operation.

Malorie Blackman is an excellent author. I give the book 77/100

Jay Writes - This book is one I chose for Luke to replace the second of the Moomin books on his challenge list, as both people who chose a Moomin book said any of the others would so just as well.

The London Eye Mystery

The London Eye Mystery is a book by Siobhan Dowd about a boy named Ted who has Aspergers and so thinks 'like a computer,' and the mystery of the disappearance of his cousin Salim.

This is a great story with suspense at every turn. Ted and his older sister Kat become sleuths to try to figure out what went on when their cousin went up in a London Eye pod and didn't come down again. A great thriller for the whole family. It was one of my favourite books so I'm giving it 100/100

Enjoy!

Private Peaceful

This story was written by a well-known author called Michael Morpurgo, and according to many reviewers this is one of his best pieces. While I may not share their enthusiasm for the book for the book I do see much to admire in it.

The story is about a boy nicknamed Tommo and his journey through life from his first day at school to his experiences in the Great War. I think Michael Morpurgo did and excellent job of conveying Tommo's feelings through his writing. While I knew what was coming around the corner it was still a good book with a fantastically written ending.

When I read this book I learnt a lot about WWI. I discovered that soldiers were shot if they disobeyed the suicidal orders they were given and their awful living conditions in the trenches. I learnt how brutally they could be treated by their commanders and about the stupidity of some of the World War One leaders, generals and sergeants.

I give it 77.

Star of Kazan

I liked this story because while predictable it was one of those good old classic adventure stories that had a bit of everything: hidden jewels, long lost children, chases, plots, betrayals and Christmas fish.

The story is about a young Austrian foundling called Annika who, after living with her foster mother Ellie as a servant girl for 12 years, is suddenly claimed by a woman and is taken to their mansion in Germany. There she meets a stable boy named Zed and she slowly uncovers the dark secret of her family...

As I had said, a predicable story, and it was easy to tell what was coming around the corner but great fun to read. To be honest, my mum probably enjoyed this book far more than I did. I would recommend this book to anybody who wants one of those classic adventure stories without being bored by all the archaic language. I'm giving it 82 out of 100

Jay Writes

Luke's right, I loved this one. Set in the late days of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it had all the fun of an old fashioned adventure story with none of the pacing issues that have bedevilled Luke's other recent books. A modern novel written in an old fashioned mould, if you see what I mean. The heroine and her friends are well drawn, many minor characters get their moment in the sun and there is much humour as well as tension and excitement. I'd recommend it for 9 to 10 year olds, I think.

The Elephant's Child

This is from Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories, all of which are told in the style of two people (you and the storyteller) sitting down together by a campfire.

The Elephant's Child is one of the longer stories. It's a little bit like a creation story of How The Elephant Got Its Trunk. The Elephant's Child is a young elephant who has a boot-sized nose and all he can do with it is wiggle it. He is also full of 'satiable curiosity (This is from insatiable, which means unquenchable). Because he is full of 'satiable curiosity he asks all his family - including his mother and father, his aunts the ostrich and hippopotamus and his uncles the giraffe and the baboon. Whenever he asks a question all his relatives spank him incredibly hard. but he still asks questions.

One day he asks the question "what does the crocodile have for dinner?" Nobody answers and they spank him harder than usual. Then he ask the Kolokolo bird who tells him to go to the Limpopo River. He walks all the way there, meets a bi-coloured python rock snake and the crocodile. He asks the crocodile what he has for dinner. The result and his revenge on his relatives is great.

It was an amusing and witty story so I give it 74 out of 100. I liked it.

Alice's Adventures In Wonderland / Through The Looking Glass

I think it is unfair that I had to read two books and they only count as one on the list. Out of the two books I think I liked the second one the best because I could act out the whole book on my chessboard. I liked this prospect a lot and tried it out. Surprisingly it works perfectly, you just have to figure out the terms.

In terms of the books themselves, the first one was very odd and it was difficult to keep up with all the strange characters. I think that the best character in the first book is the Cheshire Cat. I liked him the most because of his attitude and evaporating skills.

In the second book the plot is a game of chess and Alice's quest to be a queen by crossing to the other side of the board. I think everyone knows enough about chess to follow this book, plus at the start of the book it says that all the moves correspond and stay within the rules of the game.

I think I give the first book 47 out of 100 and the second book 62 out of 100. This gives a mean score of 54.5 (My mum made me do the maths)

Jay writes - I always struggle with Alice books. The dreamlike surrealism and the nonsense gets on my nerves. I much prefer the poems within the books to the stories, and I am glad Luke could find things to enjoy in these classics that mostly don't appeal to me.

Moving Pictures

This is the first Discworld novel that I've read. While it was rather a long and confusing book, it was quite amusing and witty.

The book is set in a strange world that is a flat disc carried on the back of four elephants which stand on the back of a giant turtle swimming through space. On the Discworld there are loads of different types of creatures including wizards, dwarves, vampires and witches. The basic plot of the book is that the alchemists of the Discworld have made a silver screen capable of showing moving pictures. They make the moving pictures in a place called Holy Wood Hill and everyone wants to be in one.

My favourite character in this book is Gaspode, who is an old grey street dog who temporarily knows how to talk. What I liked about him the most was that when people came along he literally said the words 'Woof woof.' He's got a sarcastic sense of humour and likes to think he doesn't care about humans.

My favourite bit in the book is when two characters are discussing hieroglyphics and they point out that sometimes two hieroglyphs put together can mean a new word. For example, says one character, 'woman' plus 'slave' means 'wife.' I found that hilarious.

Moving Pictures has lots of references to old movies and Hollywood - stuff like Gone with the Wind, Lassie, and the Oscars. This might be good for people who are older than me but my age group don't know enough about the history of Hollywood to get all the references. Despite this, it is still a very funny book and I give it 78 out of 100