Tom Palmer (2)Reseñas

Jack's father is a soldier. Jack has just been given a new dog Finn that he has been training and has developed a deep connection with. He is just about to go off to an excursion to Normandy in France and has been learning about the D-Day invasion. Initially he thinks war is very exciting but then he reads about a man called Emille and his paratrooper dog Glen and what happened to them during WW2. He is appalled by the notion of "collateral damage" and how animals have no choice in the matter of fighting for a war. Jack also learns about his classmate Kassie, a refugee from Syria and finds war disgusting - and this is all further compounded when he learns his father has been deployed to the Middle East. Jack reluctantly leaves his dog behind to go on the camp and learns a few things about himself, war and his friends.
Nice, well-researched book about war and its consequences. Suitable for Grade 5-6 readers.½

Two stories in one book. Lily is a runner who is preparing for a cross-country race across the mountains in England known as fels. She is also dealing with her grandmother's on-going decline into dementia and sadness as a result of it's toll on the family. Her grandmother gives Lily her great grandfather's running logs from WW1 and the second story opens. This is Ernest, who signs up to fight early after his older brother Fred is killed and becomes a runner relaying messages between trenches. One day, he has to deliver the most important message ever - that war is over and fighting will cease at 11am on 11th Nov. Will anyone believe him? Will it really stop the killing? Meanwhile Lily's Gran has disappeared and the day before her big race Lily must venture up into the hills at nightfall to see if she can find her before its too late.
Lovely story from Barrington Stoke. Sepia paper for easy reading.½

Fairly average story about three boys who decide to camp overnight in a deserted football stadium. Once there they hear strange noises and one of them keeps thinking he sees a man. Is it anything to do with the rumoured ghost/ story about man who died there/ story about embezellment of funds?½

Similar to other books like the Girl in the Blue coat about the Dutch resistance in the Netherlands. Edda decides to strike back after the capture of her brother by the Nazis who have also killed her uncle.

There have been several books in the past on what it’s like to follow Leeds United, notably Jeffries’ and Marr’s Love hurts, and there will no doubt be more, but Palmer’s year in the life as a White will be hard to beat. From the highs to the lows, this book captures perfectly the agony and ecstasy of following a club, and while you never know what is going to happen next, there always seems something worth looking forward to. From radio, to tele-text, to away matches, sometimes you wish you were there; sometimes you have to put up with people wondering why you bother. For fellow Leeds fans though, it all makes perfect sense.

3rd in series but you do not need to read the first 2. Danny is a mad soccer fan and amateur detective. He has a blind father, an obnoxious older sister, a strained relationship with his best friend who is a girl and a driving ambition to be a private detective. His attempts to spy on the goings on at his beloved soccer club City, in an effort to discover who is bidding to take over the club however, lead him to be arrested by the police for trespassing and it seems all his dreams of being a policeman will be shattered by this one silly act. These concerns however are nothing compared to the fate of Kofi, a talented Ghanaian soccer player who is supposedly "talent scouted" by City from the slums of Africa. The dream of helping his family out of poverty lead him to risk his entire extended families' earnings (they even sell the family home) in an effort to get him to England. However, when he arrives at Heathrow, there is no-one to meet him and it is all a terrible sham. Kofi, overcome with the shame of letting his family down, walks from Heathrow to the City oval, hoping for a tryout. He meets Danny who convinces him to go to his friend in the press Anton and tell his story. But little does Danny, Kofi and Anton know who they are dealing with, as the unscrupuolous con-man kidnaps Anton and threatens to kill Kofi and his family in Ghana if he breathes another word to the press. A gripping and poignant story of risks people take when faced with very little choice. Gripping and engrossing from start to finish. Highly recommended for teenage boys.

A funny crime book about spies