The Song of Somewhere Else by A/F. Harrold and Levi Pinfold

 

2017

This is a slightly puzzling book. It seems to be a book for the fluent reader at the end of junior school. Yet it contains elements for other age groups. 

It certainly has a nice fat spine and uses blocked text which suggests the fluent reader.  It also uses a serif font and includes difficult a and g which again is normal for this reader.  

It makes a concession to the new reader by containing a double-spaced text.

As in picture books for the pre-school child, the pictures add to the story, although they are in black and white and are more sophisticated than they would be for the younger child. Pictures are clearly important in this book; it was shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway prize in 2018. The text also included quite a few decorative elements. Some of the pictures, however, are very dark ,  e.g. the double spreads on pages 116-17 and 162-3, and this brings it back up into the older age group.       

There are elements also that suggest a teen reader. The protagonist reasons logically – is she in   Piaget’s formal operations stage? She behaves like a teenager. She is reluctant to tell her father about her day at school. Bullying is a teen theme. 

The children are left home alone so there is plenty of opportunity for them to have their adventure on their own.  

It includes high fantasy elements – including a troll mother and a talking cat. Shades of Alice? 

 Bordering on horror? We are also treated to the mystery woman – the agent of Extra-Existent affairs.

        

Midwinterbllod by Marcus Sedgwick

2012

It’s actually a little difficult to identify the target reader for this book.  There is no sex and there is no obvious love interest at first, yet the protagonist is a young adult – a journalist, commissioned in the near future, 2073, to write a feature about a mysterious island and its dragon orchids that have surprising properties.

There is much more to the island than Eric at first perceives. As we read we are taken back through history where Eric, Merle and Tor meet over and over again.

There is some romance and in one incarnation, Eric and Merle’s love is forbidden as Eric this time is actually Erica.     

The story may even appeal to adults.

Each story is between thirty and sixty words. The chapters within each section are short. At 263 pages it has a respectable spine. The text is blocked and uses an adult font, though it is double-spaced.      

The Stuff of Nightmares by Malorie Blackman

2007

Kyle encounters death when a train is derailed as he is travelling on a school trip. The only way to avoid death is to live in the nightmares of the other passengers.

Malorie Blackman admits that she has based the nightmares on some that she has had and that she has used some of these in other stories she has written. A full list is provided on the copyright page.  She also admits that she has been able to pinpoint the real life events that have led to the nightmares.  This is all discussed in the Author’s Note at the end of the book.  Possibly the book could lead to a discussion on the interpretation of dreams.

There is plenty of tension and pace throughout the novel and Blackman keeps us guessing as to whether Kyle will survive and if others in the train crash will live.

The hardback version is 338 pages long, uses a serif font, size 13/14 and the text is blocked. The chapters are reasonably short.