*** Justin Thyme Contest Result

Sorry about the delay in announcing this - it has been a stupidly busy week. The lucky winner of a copy of the signed/doodled first edition of Justin Thyme is:

Danielle Smithe

Well done and thank you to the hundreds of you who entered. I will now endeavour to contact the winner through by email. Please reply within 48 hours or I will draw another name out of the hat. Many thanks to Panama Oxridge for providing the prize.

(Note: all names were drawn randomly using a nifty little freeware programme called The Hat)

National Non-Fiction Day 2010

Today is the inaugural National Non-Fiction Day, an annual celebration, initiated by the Federation of Children's Book Groups in partnership with Scholastic Children's Books. It aims to celebrate all that is brilliant about non fiction and show that it’s not just fiction that can be read and enjoyed for pleasure.

When I first received an email about this day I felt a little guilty as I realised that I had never reviewed a non-fiction book on The Book Zone. This is despite first hand experience of seeing how popular non-fiction can be amongst reluctant readers, and especially boys, but as fiction is my own personal preference (and always has been) and there is only so much time in the day to read, that is the direction I have taken with this blog. However, even boys who claim that they never read probably do read more often than they realise, but quite often they have been conditioned to believe that only fiction counts as 'proper' reading. Last year my school took part in a reading survey for the National Literacy Trust, and one of the questions asked students which, out of an extensive list, did students read outside of class at least once a month. That list included (in this order): websites; blogs/social networking sites; newspapers; magazines; comics or graphic novels; emails; fiction books; song lyrics; poems; plays; text messages; non-fiction books; and manuals/instructions. Yes... all of these count as reading, and a quick glance shows that many could be counted as non-fiction. I aim to use the rest of this post to highlight some of the great non-fiction books that are out there at the moment.

Ripley's Believe It Or Not!

Following hot on the heels of last year’s best-selling edition, Ripley’s Believe It or Not! 2011 offers a whole new feast of bizarre facts and features to enthrall and entertain. Be amazed at the pink dolphin, the girl no bigger than her schoolbag, and the island of lost dolls. Gasp at extraordinary true tales about vampires, the Ripley's waxwork gallery, and the feats of sword swallowers past and present. Illustrated throughout with colour photographs and two pullouts featuring astounding lifesize images, this fascinating book is a must-have for anyone who loves jaw-dropping images and unbelievable facts.

Without a doubt, the most popular two books in our school library are the Guiness Book of Records and Ripley's Believe It Or Not! In fact, some boys race into the library at the beginning of break time in order to get their hands on these. The first of these two books looks very different from the text heavy volumes that were published when I was a child - these days it is page after page of colour photos and images, and the text has been significantly cut down. Ripley's Believe It or Not! is a similar format, although the content (at least most of it) is wildly different. If you have not yet laid eyes on these annual volumes then you may be in for a shock - they are the printed version of the Victorian freak show, combined with myriad bizarre and amazing facts. In other words, just the kind of thing that eleven year old boys love; I have watched them devour these books at breaktime, standing around in groups laughing or squealing at its various weird and wonderful contents. And they are not just looking at the pictures, they delight in reading out loud to each other the commentaries that accompany the often lurid images.

Ripley's Believe It Or Not! is published by Random House (the adult rather than the children's section of the company), and the 2011 edition is out right now. Have a look at it - at first glance it may not look suitable, but your boy will love it. And if he does, it is worth noting that Arrow Books (an imprint of RHCB) now publish a series of fiction books under the heading Ripley's Bureau of Investigation, that are great fun reads for the 7-11 age group.

The Spy's Guidebook and The Detective's Handbook

Last month I wrote a review of one of Simon Cheshire's Saxby Smart detective books, as well as his new Detective Handbook, a non-fiction book that young detective fans will really enjoy. In that post I briefly mentioned two books that had been well-read favourites of mine when I was at primary school - The Spy's Guidebook and The Detective's Handbook, both illustrated by Colin King (with text by a variety of contributors) and both published by Usborne. Little did I realise when I wrote that review that Usborne still publish both of these books, and now my long-lost paperback copies have been replaced by two stunning volumes, spiral bound between hardcovers.

I simply cannot praise these books enough as far as encouraging boys to read is concerned. I was always an avid reader, and loved mystery stories, but my younger brother hated reading and rarely ever picked up a book voluntarily. Except for these that is: I think he wanted to learn about codes and stuff so he could spy on me, and this led to him regularly 'borrowing' my copies for hours on end, and I think modern reluctant readers between 7 and 11 will find these books just as fascinating as we did. However, be prepared to provide your new young detectives and spies with all kinds of items that they will need to equip themselves with, such as talcum powder for fingerprint kids, old clothing for disguises, torches for flashing morse code and plaster of paris for taking casts of footprints. 

The Spy's Guidebook: A classic Usborne title for anyone who wants to be the best spy in the business.Packed with tips, hints and advice on all the tricks needed to be a super spy, including how to write and break codes, how to use disguise to avoid detection and how to stalk and shadow enemy spies effectively. Includes spy-tests, observation quizzes and code-cracking challenges to check how much budding Bonds have learnt.

The Detective's Handbook: Packed with tips, hints and advice on how to be an intrepid, quick-thinking super-sleuth.Includes how to identify fingerprints and handwriting and how to examine witnesses and find clues. Contains observation tests and code cracking quizzes to hone those investigative skills.

Horrible Histories by Terry Deary

I am not sure these really need much of an introduction but they are huge favourite of mine, and they turned my godson's brother on to what we think could be a life-long love of history. Written by Terry Deary, and illustrated in the most part by Martin Brown, these books have become firm favourites with children all over the country since The Terrible Tudors was first published back in 1993 (that one is still my favourite but it is a little scary to think that these have been around for more than seventeen years). Everybody talks about the Harry Potter books being the publishing phenomenon of the world of children's books, but surely some of that honour should go to Mr Deary and this incredible series. 

The Horrible Histories books have become such a huge part of the lives of many children since then it is hard to believe that in their early days they met with quite a lot of resistance from teachers and parents. But Terry Deary was spot on with his vision of fuelling an interest in the past in children by giving them "history with the nasty bits left in", in much the same way that thousands of children have been turned on to reading in recent years by the wave of horror books that have been published. Kids like gore, they love uncleanliness and they adore rude jokes, and the Horrible Histories books have all of these in abundance. Another wonderful aspect of these books is that they are timeless; barring a return to a society akin to the Puritan period that followed the Civil War I think these books will be enjoyed by children for many, many years to come, especially now that there is also a hugely popular BAFTA Nominated TV series to accompany them. New editions of the books have been published to tie in with this TV show, but more excitingly Scholastic and Terry Deary have also now started producing a brand new series, with the subtitle "A High-Speed History". There are two books in the series so far (Egypt and Tudors) containing all the nasty facts that made the original books so appealing, but presented in comic strip form and therefore being far more attractive to reluctant or struggling readers than their text heavy predecessors.

Horrible Science by Nick Arnold (illustrated by Tony de Saulles)

Following the huge success of the Horrible Histories books, the all-knowing people at Scholastic must have put their heads together and brain-stormed what they should publish next that would be in a similar vein. They came to the same conclusion that I am sure many primary school teachers would have...... science. Kids love science and all those messy and incredibly exciting experiments! And so was born the Horrible Science series, with the writing baton passed to the hugely talented Nick Arnold, ably assisted by illustator Tony de Saulles. Titles such as Chemical Chaos, Disgusting Digestion and Deadly Diseases soon saw this series producing a legion of young science buffs, and I am sure that there will be many a university science student who can trace the genesis of their passion back to reading these books at primary school. More recently Scholastic have also published a series of Horrible Science handbooks, larger format books, with full colour throughout, that are page after page of really cool experiments that kids can easily and safely (but possibly messily) carry out. Confession time - I tried a few of the activities out in this book and they were so much fun; if you're kids like science then they will have hours of fun out of this book.  

~~~

This has been such a great fun post to write, and I really will try to feature more non-fiction books on The Book Zone in the future. My huge thanks go to the generous people at Scholastic and Usborne for providing me with review copies for this National Non-Fiction Day post.

Review: Red Leech by Andrew Lane (Young Sherlock Holmes)

Sherlock knows that Amyus Crow, his mysterious American tutor, has some dark secrets. But he didn't expect to find a notorious killer, hanged by the US government, apparently alive and well in Surrey - and Crow somehow mixed up in it. When no one will tell you the truth, sometimes you have to risk all to discover it for yourself. And so begins an adventure that will take Sherlock across the ocean to America, to the centre of a deadly web - where life and death are cheap, and truth has a price no sane person would pay . . .

Edit: I have a contest now running on my blog where you could WIN a copy of Red Leech. Contest closes on Friday 12th November - full details can be found here.

Anyone who read my review of Death Cloud, the first book in the Young Sherlock Holmes series from author Andrew Lane, will know that I am a huge Sherlock Holmes fan, and I loved that first outing. Taking on a task as huge as writing the back story for the world's most famous detective is bound to attract a lot of attention from die-hard fans, and I know that some of them have been somewhat critical of Mr Lane's efforts, stating that there was little of the Holmes power of deduction that they have come to know and love. I sometimes wonder how intelligent people can sometimes act so unintelligent when it comes to a subject they feel so strongly about: of course, the young Sherlock character is different from Conan Doyle's creation, he is after all only fourteen! Why can't these detractors look beyond this and spot the subtle details and experiences that Andrew Lane spread throughout his story that are the seeds from which the adult character will grow?

Hopefully, this minority of angry fan boys will be silenced by Red Leech, the second volume in these chronicles of the young Holmes as I feel it is even better than Death Cloud. Having met the character in that first book we are now given a chance to get to know him properly; this is often difficult in a first-in-series book for young readers who demand fast pace and regular action scenes, and so second-in-series books are all the more important when it comes to character development. Andrew Lane certainly rises to this challenge with Red Leech as we start to observe the genesis of some of the mannerisms and beliefs that are so well known in the full formed adult version. Some of these moments in the story are very subtle, some are far more obvious, but almost every one I spotted sent a small shiver of delight down my spine, and created a smug knowing grin on my face. Mr Lane also pays more attention to the legendary Holmes thought process in this book, as the young Sherlock reflects on things that he sees or events that happen. Not all of these minutiae are directly related to the adventure he finds himself on, but many of them demonstrate the birth of a very logical mind. We see him thinking about coded messages for the first time, and admiring "the logical processes that could be used to deconstruct them"; and we witness the dawning of a theory in his mind that the creation of an encyclopaedia of tattoos could be a useful tool in identifying people and solving crimes. These and many other such moments are what make this book even more enjoyable than the first.

Death Cloud was packed full of great action sequences, and the sequel is no different in this respect. Sherlock finds himself escaping from the jaws of certain death time after time as the story progresses, but unlike modern heroes such as Alex Rider he does not have gadgets to help him out of sticky situations, he has to rely purely on his own intelligence and desire to stay alive. He is of course aided in this by his good friends Matty and Virginia, although quite often the final life-saving decisions end up falling to Sherlock as he finds himself having to get all three of them out of perilous situations. In Red Leech we also see the growing bond between Sherlock and Virginia, although given the misogynistic views of the adult Holmes I fear that Andrew lane may be slowly setting his readers up for a big upset sometime on the future.

As in Death Cloud, we see Sherlock continuing to be tutored by the charismatic American, Amyus Crow. We also learn a little more about Crow's background and the reason he his living in England. The author ties this in with real events of 1860s America, revealing that Crow is an agent for the American government, sent to Britain to track down war criminals from the Civil War, a war that caused so many men to lose their lives at the beginning of that decade. We discover that John Wilkes Booth, the man who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln, is possibly alive and well and living in Surrey, rather than having been killed in 1865. This is the premise on which the rest of the plot is built, and in my opinion it works very well. It also sees Sherlock travelling across the Atlantic with Amyus Crow to help him track down Booth and his co-conspirators. Crow is the major influence on the young Sherlock and the development of his personality towards the adult character, but there were aspects of Holmes' character that haven't come from Crow, and so Mr Lane now also introduces us to Rufus Stone, a violin player whose voice holds "a slight Irish brogue". Yes, this is where we see Sherlock learn to play the violin for the first time, and I feel we will be seeing more of Stone in future outings.

Another similarity that this book has with its predecessor is a particularly nasty villain. Death Cloud brought us the deranged and deformed Baron Maupertuis, Red Leech introduces us to the just as deranged and deformed Duke Balthassar. I won't say much about this particularly evil man other than that he has a fondness for leeches, using them, on...... let your imaginations run wild at the thought of that! Some might say that the two Andrew Lane created villains we have seen so far are over the top but I love them, and so did the Victorians - their penny dreadfuls and other publications were full of them.

One part of the adult Holmes' character that we know so well his is overwhelming sense of what is right and what is wrong. I don't want to go into any detail here but there is a scene towards the end of the book where the young Sherlock finds himself having to agonise of the planned actions of others, actions he disagrees with despite these others being on the same side as him. I will not say what decision he comes to but it is a decision that will resonate with Holmes fans everywhere, and also reveals an early glimpse of the rebellious streak that lies at the heart of the adult Holmes.

I am not sure when the next instalment of the Young Sherlock Holmes series will be released, although I have it on good authority that it will be entitled Black Ice. Red Leech however is scheduled to be published on 5th November although I wouldn't be surprised if it is in a lot of stores already. My thanks go to Dom and Macmillan for sending me a copy to review.