Ghosts Who Went To School by Judith Spearing

This book was written by Ladydi's, mother and I really enjoyed reading it as it was very interesting!

The book is about a ghost called Wilbur who wants to go to school. He starts going but the class notice something is going on as a pencil starts writing by itself. After a while Wilbur starts to appear, and every one in the class really likes him. The teacher Miss Hartley says he can stay if he doesn't disappear too much.

Things start to happen as the bank want to sell Wilbur's family's house but they have to do their best to get the bank not to sell it. Wilbur's family are all ghosts his mum, dad, his brother Mortimer and him all died when they were struck by lightning. Normally no-one comes near their house because it is haunted so the family get a suprise when people from the bank come to try and sell it.

This book is really interesting and it is about how Wilbur and his family have to live with other people. I really enjoyed this book even though it is really written for younger readers as it is very funny and exciting. I would give it a 9 out of 10. Thank you so much to Diana for letting me borrow this book!

Books in the post

When I started this blog I never expected people to send me books to borrow, to give me recommendations on what to read next or have conversations with me about books. But that has happened and I'm so pleased that it has!

I have received some books from Diana, Ladydi, all the way from Ohio. These book are Curtain Up by Noel Streatfeild. This is another name for the book that she wrote called Theatre Shoes. She also sent me a book written by her mother called the Ghosts who went to School. I feel very privileged to be sent this book and I really enjoyed reading it.


I also got some books from Michaela, whose blog is called the The Stash Basket. These are Mandy by Julie Edwards. It is actually written by Julie Andrews who is in a lot of films such as the Sound of Music, The Princess Diaries and many more. Michaela also lent me Feather Boy by Nicky Singer, The Black Riders and The Emerald Crown by Violet Needham.


I can't wait to read these books and I'm very grateful that Michaela and Diana sent me these! Thank you so much to everyone who reads me blog I really appreciate it!

Inkspell by Cornelia Funke

I absolutely love this book, this about the millionth time I have read it because I love it so much!
This is the second book in the Inkheart series by Cornelia Funke. My copies of Inkheart and Inkspell are very battered because I have read them so many times! My copy of Inkheart has it's covers almost completely falling off.

This book is set in the Inkworld as Meggie calls it. The Inkworld is the world inside of the Inkheart book written by Fenolgio. This is the world where Dustfinger, Capricorn and Basta came from, if you haven't read or seen Inkheart these are important characters. Dustfinger is good but very cowardly, Capricorn is an evil character who has Meggie (the main character) and her father Mo captured. Basta is Capricorn's faithful henchman and has lived with Capricorn since he was young.

Her father is one of the Silvertounge's and is able to read characters out of their stories, this is what he does ten years before Inkheart is set when he reads out Dustfinger, Capricorn and Basta. For everyone that comes out of the book some-one has to go in so Meggie's mother - Resa is trapped in the Inkworld.

In Inkspell Meggie reads herself and Farid (also from Inkheart) into the Inkworld and her father gets read in as well. Things start to go wrong as the Laughing Prince's son has died and he doesn't care about much anymore. The Adderhead who is the bad Prince is getting more and more powerful.

Things start to go wrong as Meggie's father is suspected to be a robber who the Adderhead is determined to kill. Dustfinger is meant to die at the end of the original book Inkheart so he is always scared that he will die.

This a great book and I would recommend it to anyone. I loved all 675 pages of it. I also recommend that you read Inkheart so you fully understand Inkspell. This book ends with such a sad ending that you want to read Inkdeath the last book in the trilogy.

I would give this book a definite 10 out of 10 because I really enjoyed it and every word had me hooked.

the naughtiest girl in the school by Enid blyton

Another guest post by Daisy Locket:

This is my second book i have read .

There is a little girl called Elizabeth she is spoilt and she goes to a school called Whyteleafe she is very naughty because she didn't want to go to school. Because she wanted to stay at home with all her pets. she doesn't have any friends at the school beacause she is bad .But she is great at piano and loves to play it . She dose have one freind called Joan.

The Diamond of Drury Lane by Julia Golding

This is a post written by Daisy Locket and I'm very jealous that she's writing this post as this is one of my all time favourite books ever! So I'll pass you over to Daisy for her guest post.

The Diamond of Drury Lane is one of my favourite books as well.

This book is about a girl called Cat Royal she is about 12 or 13. She has lived in Theatre Royal in Drury lane since she was about 2 or 3. When she was younger she was found by a man called Mr Sheridan. The story was set in 1790 some of the scenes are set on the streets of London. There are lots of characters these are all of the good ones Cat, Johnny, Syd who lives in Convent Garden, Pedro who comes to the theatre,Frank the Duke of Avon's son,Lizzie the Duke of Avon's daughter, Nick Syd's best friend and these are some of the bad ones Marzi-pain, Billy Shepherd and his gang.This a great book I loved it I hope you like my post
Daisy x

I would give this book a 10/10

The Iron Man by Ted Hughes

The Iron Man by Ted Hughes is another book that I've read recently.

This book is about a huge Iron Man which comes and attacks a village stealing all the metal and eating it, the village decide they have to do something about. Once they do they realise they need the Iron's Man help to save the world from an evil dragon that's landed on Earth all across Australia.

This was quite a good book but it was very, very , very short book only about sixty pages long and took me hardly any time at all to read. I give this book a 6 out of 10

Red Sky in the Morning by Elizabeth Laird

Red Sky in the Morning by Elizabeth Laird is another good book.

This book is about a girl called Anna. When Anna is twelve years old her little brother, Ben, is born. It turns out that Ben is severely disabled and will never be able to live a normal life. Even though he is so disabled Anna adores him and thinks that he is perfect.

Without meaning to Ben turns the whole family upside down. Anna's mum because extremely stressed, her dad's never around, Anna's seven year old sister, Katy, becomes very jealous and Anna feels like she's the only sane person.

Even though Anna loves Ben with all her heart she doesn't tell her class mates because she is scared that she will get teased even more. Every body thinks that Ben can hardly do anything when they find out but Anna knows that he is very clever, she can teach him to do things like kiss people.

This book was quite good and you never knew what was going to happen next so I give it about a 7 out of 10

Threads by Sophia Bennett

I absolutely adored Threads by Sophia Bennett, this is the second time I have read but I still loved it as much as the first time I read it.

This book is mainly about fashion and also the Invisible Children living horrible lives in countries where terrible things happen. Threads is about four girls Nonie, who tells the story, Jenny, Edie and Crow. They all have completely different personalities. Nonie has always wanted to work for some massive fashion designer(even if it's just making the tea) and she wears some pretty weird clothes. Jenny has recently starred in a Hollywood movie called Kid Code. Edie wants to save the world and get lots of CV points to get to Harvard University. Crow is a girl of twelve who comes from Uganda and she draws and makes fantastic clothes.

Jenny and Nonie first spot Crow in their favourite museum in London (the Victoria and Albert Museum or the V and A) wearing pink fairy wings and a tutu sketching clothes. But when Crow is provided with the right materials she can make amazing dresses and clothes and even ends up making them for celebrities.

This is a great book for anyone who loves fashion or just wants a great, interesting read. The book is also about the Invisible Children who live in countries where there are terrible wars and they have to walk every night to find safety. I absolutely loved this book so I give it a 9 out of 10.

Patsie's Bricks by Lillian Staple Mead

Patsie's Bricks is an absolutely beautiful and very sad book.


It is about a little girl called Patsie, her older brother Tim and her mother who has a terrible cough, they are extremely poor. Patsie and her mother stay in a lodging house and Tim has to sleep outside at all times of the year.

The book is set around the 1900's and this copy was given to my Great-Great-Aunt in 1906 and was passed down to her sister, my Gran-Gran, who used to read this book to my mum when she was a little girl. Gran-Gran gave it to mum in 1982 when she was 11 and it is her most treasured book.

The story really starts when Patsie and Tim's mum dies and they go to live in two separate Orphanages a girl one and a boy one. There isn't enough room for their little friend Blossom, whose parents died when she was very young and she has been living on the streets ever since. Patsie has always wanted to be a servant and learns to be one, she thinks that reading and writing isn't worth doing if she's going to become a servant, but she learns a valuable lesson from her lovely house-mother, Mrs Grant.

Patsie starts going to stay with some lovely people who live in the country at the summer. These people are called Aunt Rachel, Grandmother, Grandfather, Winnie and Elsie. Patsie loves staying with them.

Patsie, Blossom and Tim decide to collect as much money as possible to help for a new orphanage to be built where Blossom can live and Patsie decides to make a little chart with bricks on to sell - each brick is worth six pence.

One day Aunt Rachel, Winnie, Patsie, Elsie and a few little children who live in the country go on a picnic. It suddenly starts to rain and they all get drenched. Patsie develops a cough which gets worse and worse. It is so bad that Patsie needs to go to hospital. Patsie's situation worsens and eventually, sadly, she dies.

Patsie's grown-up friend Miss Pearl who is quite rich promised Patsie that she would collect the rest of the money for her (they need three thousand pounds to build the orphanage). Miss Pearl collects the money and the new Orphanage is built which Blossom goes to. Meanwhile Tim gets the chance to go and live in Canada and work as a farmer.

This book is very beautiful and very sad because of this I will give it a 9 out of 10. (Although mum is really cross about this. She thinks it should definitely be a 10/10!)

9/10

Finding Violet Park by Jenny Valentine

Finding Violet Park is another good story, it was really interesting to read and quite funny.


It is about a boy called Lucas who finds the ashes of Violet Park in a taxi place, he takes pity on her and lies to the taxi company saying that she was in his family.

Throughout the book he slowly realises how important Violet is to him and his family.

Lucas has a strange family his Mum is very depressed, his Dad left them five years ago, his older sister Mercy is always getting on his nerves and he has a funny little brother called Jed.

Lucas begins to realise that Violet is linked with his dad and that through her he might find out the whereabouts of his Dad. Loads of his family and friends actually knew Violet or heard of her.

This is a really good book and it is very funny and witty and because of this I'd give it an 8 out of 10.

8/10

Ostrich Boys by Keith Gray

This was quite a good book and I enjoyed reading it.

The book is about three boys - Kenny, Blake and Sim. Their best friend Ross had recently died by being run over by a car when he was on his bike. Ross' funeral was very disappointing and they thought that the vicar hadn't put enough into the sermon.

The three of them decide that the best thing to do is to make their own funeral for Ross. Ross had always told them that he wanted to go to a little village called Ross in Scotland so they steal Ross' ashes and make their way by train to Ross.

One by one things happen preventing them to get to Ross the way that they want to. Things start to go wrong so do they eventually get to Ross? Well you will have to read the book and find out!

This story is told by Blake one of the boys who is about fifteen. It is set nowadays. I would give this book a 7 out of 10 because I really enjoyed reading it and recommend it to other people - although there is quite a bit of swearing.

I think that people reading this book should be at least 12 plus as there is lots and lots of swearing in it which I didn't realise when I bought the book!

7/10

Golden Pavements by Pamela Brown

This is the third in the series of The Swish of the Curtain. Again it's a great book!
The book is about the older six of the children in The Swish of the Curtain, these are: Nigel, Jeremy, Sandra, Lynette, Vicky and Bulldog. They have promised their parents that they will make a theatre back at home after they have had their training and the book is about how they all go to live in London and go to an Academy of drama.

It is about how they get on at the Academy and how they all get better and better. At some point they got to theatres to learn how to make a really great one. At one point one of them (no I'm not saying who, that would ruin the story) plans on not joining the others back at Fenchester to make a professional theatre because she is told that she has such a great career.

They all realise how expensive things can be and they have to get used to living off not very much money. There wasn't that much of a plot to this book and most of the important things happened at the end, but I still really enjoyed it.

I would give this book a 8 out of 10.

8/10

Maddy Alone by Pamela Brown

Maddy Alone is the second book in the series of The Swish of the Curtain.


It is hard to say what happens in this book without giving away the ending of The Swish of the Curtain. What happens is that Maddy gets a part in a play about a local historical legend. This is a big achievement for Maddy as she is the youngest of the group as she is only twelve and the others have left so school.

Unfortunately this book is only 125 pages long! It is also a bit expensive probably because it has only recently been re-printed.

I would give this 8 out of 10.

8/10

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

To Kill a Mockingbird is a bit of a let down compared to the last three books that I've read.

The book is set in a place called Alabama in America in the 1930's. The main character in the book is Scout whose real name is Jean Louise Finch and her elder brother Jem. Scout, Jem and their friend Dill try to encourage Boo Radley, who has stayed inside his house for years and years, to come out.

Meanwhile their father - Atticus - is trying to defend a coloured man - Tom Robinson - who is believed to attacked a white girl. Because this book is set around the 30's when most people were racist, most people hate Tom Robinson. Personally I think that racism is bad but at the time the book was set it was acceptable. The author has the same opinion as me and agrees that racism is bad.

I didn't really enjoy this book that much because it was complicated and harder to get in to - but I know it is a classic. I would give this book a 5 out of 10.

5/10

The Swish of the Curtain by Pamela Brown

The Swish of the Curtain by Pamela Brown is another fabulous book!

The book is about seven children who find an unused church and use it to make their own theatre. They all have skills in performing arts: Vicky is a fantastic dancer, Bulldog can make any audience laugh, Nigel a good actor and also good at art, Sandra who designs the costumes, Maddy who can cry convincingly, Lynette who is the best actress between all of them and Jeremy who writes all the music for their plays.

The children start putting on plays for audiences whenever they can and by the end of two years everyone realises how brilliant actors and actresses they are. From the help of Mr and Mrs Bell and the kind Bishop they find excuses to put on more shows.

This is a fantastic novel every second of it made me want to be an actress myself and put on a show. The book is set in about the 1940's so things are a bit different from now. But again this book left me amazed about how great it was.

The author was only fourteen when she wrote this and it really inspires me to write my own story! I would give this book a 10 out of 10.

I would say that anyone 10 plus can read it and likes drama related things will enjoy this!

10/10

Holes by Louis Sacher

Wow! Another amazing book! I read this book because my friend recommended it to me and then when I saw it in Waterstone's I bought it with my Christmas money.

The book is about a boy called Stanley Yelnats (notice anything strange about the name?) who was accused of a crime that he did not commit. Stanley was given the choice between going to jail or going to a detention centre for boys called Camp Green Lake. In the end he chooses Camp Green Lake. Everyday the boys have to dig a hole five foot wide by five foot deep to help build their character and turn them good. The boys have all strange nicknames for each other such as Armpit and X-Ray.

This book is set in Texas and the area it's set in is the only place around where there is any water.

The book goes back and forth between the present and the past giving clues about how everything is going to work out. At the end everything comes together and makes sense. The Warden says that digging the holes is character building but before long the boys realise they must dig up truth of what's happened.

I loved every second of reading this book and couldn't stop reading it - finishing it in a day. The only bad thing about this novel is when you finish it and have to stop reading!

The funny thing about reading this is that I have started reading it as my class reader in English! I would give this book a 10 out f 10.

10/10

White Boots by Noel Streatfeild

White boots is a brilliant story by Noel Streatfeild.

It is about a little girl called Harriet who has been told by her doctor that she needs to take up ice-skating for her health. Harriet's family is quite poor and they can't really afford the skating lessons or boots. The manager of the ice rink kindly lets her go to the rink for free. She then makes a new friend, Lalla, who helps her with her ice-skating. Lalla has been skating since she was three and as Harriet gets better and better at ice-skating the more jealous Lalla becomes. I loved the family that Harriet had a kind nice family, her mother, father and three brothers, Alec - who knows his dream job,Toby - a brilliant mathematician and Edward - the show-off who everybody loves. Lalla's family is completely the opposite her Aunt Claudia - who wants her to be a skating star, her kind step-uncle David and her nurse Nana. The characters in this story stay with you forever. This book is set and written in the early 1950's. You want this book to go on and on and are sad when it's ended. The only criticism I have about it is that the end is rushed otherwise it's a fantastic book and I strongly advise you to read it. I would give this book a 9 out of 10.

I would say this book is probably from 9 upwards and anyone older will also probably enjoy it!

9/10

Introduction

This is my new blog about all the books I read since Christmas 2009. I will be writing book reviews about them and I hope that I can refer you to some great books and that you will enjoy reading them just as much as I do! As you can tell from the name it's written by me - Dottie Locket - NOT Lucy Locket!. Hope you have fun reading!