Mayowa and the Sea of Words

Chibundu Onuzo. Bloomsbury Children’s, (288p) ISBN: 9781526661005. Middle Grade, read 14/05/25, Paperback ★★★★☆

Mayowa and the Sea of Words

Mayowa and the Sea of Words

I’ve got to admit when I received this I was a bit trepidatious as the cover reminded me of so many book in the past several years and the blurb reminded me of a couple of books I had read and enjoyed in the past.

I needn’t have worried as the story of Mayowa and her growing ability to channel emotions through jumping on books, or as her Grandad calls it logosalting (yes I know, a bit of a mouthful) turned into an amazing adventure with appropriate baddies.

This is the first of a new series which explores this power and follows Mayowa as her skills develop and a good first book it is.

Mayowa has always been told by her mum and dad not to jump on books and not to copy Grandpa Edwards, but circumstances conspire to have her staying a summer with him and this is where she learns about her family secret (on dad’s side anyway), logosalting and how it has been used in the past for good and evil and that it should only be used if it causes no harm.

Mayowa and her Grandpa (Baron Edgerley) get involved in foiling nefarious racist bigots from getting a piece of legislation through parliament that would mean refugees would be left to drown if they capsized, this is being pushed through by evil logosalters who shouldn’t exist according to Grandpa.

Lots of adventures, training montages, upsets, evil twins, new friends, and family, always family makes this a well-paced read that you don’t want to put down. Read it in three commute sessions and would have read it in one long sitting if given half the chance.

“These aren’t the droids you’re looking for.”

The end was exciting and satisfyingly left a lot open for book 2, especially mum’s side of the family, I think…

I received this from Bloomsbury Children’s in exchange for an honest review.

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A Box Full of Murders

Janice Hallett. Puffin Books, (464p) ISBN: 9780241636183. Middle Grade, read 17/04/25, Paperback ★★★★☆

A Box Full of Murders

A Box Full of Murders

I was very excited and intrigued when I saw a middle grade murder mystery from Janice Hallett as her murder mysteries for adults are extremely popular and will have instant name recognition for adults buying for their kids.

Ava and Luke’s parent have separated and Ava is with Mum and Luke is with Dad, when Luke finds a box full of secret papers in the loft.

This separation gives the vehicle to show the documents that were found as Luke texts them to Ava, we also follow their text conversations as they discuss the mystery as it unfolds.

Well-paced and full of clues and red herrings, but also has a lot of information on how to look at evidence so that younger people can interrogate the text better and learn the conventions of murder mysteries as the book goes on.

Set in 1983 on a Scouts and Guides last camp as the site has been bought and going to be developed into a waste processing plant by what seems like a very dislikable company and brimming with comic characters (Officers Grudge and Grimm for a start), miscreants, obvious suspects, and intrepid investigators.

A great little mystery that had one or two little things that niggled me but wouldn’t be noticeable by the target audience, well-paced, funny, tense, and a great start to reading murder mysteries for the younger audience.

I received this from Puffin Books in exchange for an honest review.

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Ghost Town

Eric Colossal, Abrams, (256p) ISBN: 9781419745850. Graphic Novel, read 02/04/25, Ebook ★★★★☆

Ghost Town

Ghost Town

Loved the palette and energy throughout this graphic novel, never slowed down and was completely supported by a palette that changed with the mood and energy of each episode.

Set in the town of Crater (which is old and falling to pieces, nothing ever changes) during the Summer that Lily has to move, going to a new town and a new school away from her friends and everything she has ever known, and she doesn’t want this change, not at all.

At the start of the vacation there is an angry baseball incident which resolves itself with them having to go into a creepy house, and of course in that house is where they discover that ghosts are real!

Also within that house they find the means of trapping the ghosts, phew! Let the fun begin.

Lily and her friends spend the next few weeks catching ghosts and figuring out Crater’s secrets.

A great ghostbusting adventure on pushbikes for all ages, lots about accepting change and trusting friendships.

I received this from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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The Girl Who Sold Time

V S Nelson, Troubador Publishing, (224p) ISBN: 9781836280989. Middle Grade, read 30/03/25, Ebook ★★★★☆

The Girl Who Sold Time

The Girl Who Sold Time

I was humming and hawing when I saw this on NetGalley, my TBR from them has got a little big right now.

I’m so glad that I did.

This is about the Earth in the future where humanity has basically destroyed the world through it’s machinations and waste, the scientists had developed a space elevator and a space ring to work at saving the rest of humanity and the planet.

Meanwhile within the ever dwindling forest that is constantly mutation lives Violet and her companion Jackdaw, a robot programmed with the personality of a young boy as her protector, this is because her dad went up the space elevator to work on a solution there. Violet is adamant that she is going to save the forest and keeps inventing things hoping that the next one will be the one.

Violet is the only person who can handle the time marbles safely without too much confusion. Yes, time marbles, small marble-like objects that when placed in the mouth and swallowed freezes time for the person who consumed the marble.

DO NOT EAT MARBLES!

A brilliant science fiction adventure with lots of twists and turns, also takes an interesting exploration of time and how it interacts with other fields in physics, but at its core its about friendship and family in the face of difference and adversity.

The reveal is absolutely heartbreaking and the banter between Violet and Jackdaw so funny, stormed through this.

I received this from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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The Lost Sunday

Ileana Surducan, Oni Press, (72p) ISBN: 9781637157756. Graphic Novel, read 23/03/25, eBook ★★★★★

The Lost Sunday

The Lost Sunday

Again I chose to ask for this on NetGalley because of the beautiful artwork on the cover, and the story sounded really interesting.

Both didn’t disappoint, the artwork is glorious throughout and has an energy and life that really makes you embrace the storytelling full-heartedly, exploring each page for all the lovely detail that expands the story from the words to much much more.

The story takes us to the world of Nina, a world where there is no free time only drudgery, each day is full of work, but work that is never satisfying or completed. There are always mistakes or ways of making more work.

and most importantly of all there is never a Sunday, a day to rest, a day to relax, a day of frivolity and food in your best clothes.

Nina sets out to find what has happened to Sunday and see if she can restore this to the town.

Full of wonderful characters which support Nina there is a strong fairytale feel to this story, to be more precise a Slavic influence, especially in dress and the Wolves but this there is also a strong thread of this in Germanic storytelling.

I wolfed this down and had to go back and read it again immediately, this is also a book I’m going to have to buy for myself as a keeper, loved it!

I received this from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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Grumpfort

Jamie Hammond, Usborne, (288p) ISBN: 9781835400951. Middle Grade, read 28/02/25, Paperback ★★★★☆

Grumpfort

Grumpfort

A great fun adventure for 7 and above readers.

A forest full of monsters and a village under siege which has always needed Wardens to protect them.

Into this comes Mo (Monday the Fifteenth). Wardens are meant to be fearless, skilled in weapons, and unrelenting… Mo is none of these, he is timid, and bookish but really doesn’t want to disappoint the village and live up to the legacy of the Wardens.

To this end Mo hatches a cunning plan, he will go into The Forest (not allowed!!!) and capture a monster (ill advised) to bring back to the village so as to prove his worth.

A fun adventure about outsiders and acceptance, finding friends, and growing up and realising that what everyone else wants for you might not be what you want for yourself or even what’s best for you.

I received this from Usborne in exchange for an honest review.

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