alittlebutalot's reviews
69 reviews

The Animals of Madame Malone's Music Hall by Laura Wood

funny inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Theatre isn’t just important to the humans, but it’s important to the animals. When Callie explores the back of the theatre her gran is trying to save, she realises the importance of the theatre and telling stories! Lush storytelling and illustrations! 

Nappy The Pirate Baby by Alan MacDonald

funny lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

This is cute! What happens when a crew of pirates find a baby on board their ship and no idea who he belongs to?! Well they have to work together to get him back to his Mam of course! They’re a very friendly crew of pirates who play cards and eat biscuits!! 

The Life and Time of Lonny Quicke by Kirsty Applebaum

adventurous hopeful lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

4.5

This is just wonderful. This is a glorious story about a young boy who is a lifeling - a person who can save with a touch, but it also takes from them. Lonny wants to know more about his family (his mother in particular) and the town closeby is where he goes for his answers, but what he finds isn’t all good... there’s some glorious characters in this and the ending is so wonderful it made me smile! 

Space Boy Volume 1 by Stephen McCranie

adventurous hopeful informative lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.5

This is cool. A girl moves from space to Earth and has to adjust to life with more gravity, new friends and all of the intricacies of people. This just oozed coolness from the AR glasses, the incredibly illustrative style and the ever mysterious silver haired boy! I will be investing in the rest of the series! 

Shipwreck Island by Struan Murray

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

5.0

I have NOTHING to say but oh my goodness. This is absolutely phenomenal. Just let me pick my jaw up off the floor good. THAT ENDING. Seth! Ellie! The new friends! The sea! So many unanswered questions; so much I need to know. This is jam-packed brilliance. So many twists and turns. So many new friends and old nemeses coming to join the party. I totally didn’t see this going the way it did. There’s very much a ‘two sides of coin’ going on here and I loved every second of it. I do NOT want to have to wait for book 3! 

Best Friends by Shannon Hale

lighthearted medium-paced

3.5

Oh, don’t we know the trials and tribulations of friendships and growing up. Shannon goes through it all in this! I really appreciated the mention of anxiety in this - done really well! This is brilliantly illustrated and I enjoyed the parallel story too! 

Goldie Vance, Vol. 1 by Hope Larson

adventurous lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

This is great fun and clever too. Detectives, stolen necklaces and a very 60s feel to it! It gave me like cool Scooby gang vibes. Loved the story and all the different twists and turns! I think I’ll definitely be purchasing the others now! The artwork in this is just spot on. Loved the insight into cover designs at the end too!

The Stonekeeper by Kazu Kibuishi

adventurous mysterious sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

LOVED THIS! No wonder its recommended EVERYWHERE. I need to get the rest of them now! A young girl finds a strange necklace which turns out to be a magical stone. With the help of her brother, she goes to save Mam and comes across some interesting characters on the way! This is a brilliant fantasy story with robots, talking rabbits, strange alien creatures and a walking house. Just brilliant! 

Twins by Varian Johnson, Shannon Wright

lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

This was great! Twin girls who go head to head to run for class president. Going head to head makes them drift apart and argue a lot! Loads of sibling rivalry and feeling not good enough that I think lots of people will associate with! I really liked that the girls were both very different and that really stood out! This is gorgeously illustrated too!

Space Detectives by Mark Powers

adventurous funny lighthearted medium-paced

4.0

This was great fun! Space, detectives, alien creatures and brilliant illustrations? What more does one need! Loved the twist on the characters and who truly was the evil genius in the end! I would be a rubbish Space Detective! I think this would be super popular in Year 3/4!