Our Junior Book Club (The Magical Mystical Book Club) has 5 members aged 7 – 10. All the children are independent readers and enjoy the opportunity to discuss their thoughts and preferences. We engage in a variety of activities which require the children to remember characters, sequence of events and themes.
We chose a variety ofjunior fiction books and thoroughly enjoyed most of them.
Book #1 The Wolves of Greycoat Hall by Lucinda Gifford
This is a story about anthropomorphic wolves who live side by side with humans. The wolves travel to their ancestral Scotland where they discover they are the heirs of a castle which is about to be demolished to make way for a hotel. In the process of trying to save the hotel they befriend many people who are happy to help them overcome the villains. A sweet story with lovely drawings and some laugh out loud moments about food and not letting the wolves get too hungry.
Rating: One ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Two ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Two ⭐⭐⭐
Book #2: Pawcasso by Remy Lai
This is a graphic novel written and illustrated by Australian author Remy Lai. One of the main characters is a dog who puts a basket in his mouth and goes shopping for his owner. The other main character, a lonely, bored young girl, befriends the dog, tells a lie which spirals out of control and in the process finds some friends and learns the value of true friendship.
This book stole the hearts of all the children in the book club.
Rating: Four ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ One ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Book #3: Drum Roll Please… It’s Stevie Louise by Tanya Hennessy
Stevie is an exuberant character and it’s a fun fast-paced story with lots of laughs. It deals with many relatable issues such as anxiety, shyness, friendship and jealousy with a light but realistic touch. This story was definitely more popular with the girls in the book club than the boys, especially the older boy.
Rating: One ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ One ⭐⭐⭐⭐ One ⭐⭐⭐ One ⭐⭐ One ⭐
Book #4: Brain Freeze by Oliver Phommavanh
The short stories in this collection are current and hilarious. They appear to be more suitable to the older cohort of the book club but it was a nice change to read short stories.
There was a lot of discussion about what brain freeze really is and who has and hasn’t experienced it.
Rating: One ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Three ⭐⭐⭐
Book #5: Devils in Danger by Samantha Wheeler
Killarney, a 11 year old girl, is the main character of the story who discovers a Tasmanian Devil making a den under the kitchen floor. The community objects and Killarney loses her school friends because of the ‘dirty animal’ living under her house. Killarney then meets a young scientist studying wildlife and so starts keeping a journal with lots of interesting facts and information about Tasmanian Devils and how endangered they are and what is threatening them. This is a fantastic authentic read on positive action to protect endangered wildlife. It is a longer read and some of the younger book club members found it quite a challenge- would suit slightly older middle grade readers due to the themes.
Rating: Two ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ One ⭐
Book #6: Mim and the Baffling Bully (The Travelling Bookshop #1) by Katrina Nannestad
This is a sweet and lovely story about a magical travelling bookshop. The bookshop is a small caravan pulled along by Flossy, the magical horse, to exactly the right place to ensure the right book goes to the right person at the right time.
The bookshop arrives in a little Dutch village where a young girl is being bullied and the magic of the bookshop and the friendships help to transform relationships for the better.
Rating: Two ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Two ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Book #7: Megamonster by David Walliams
All the children thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is full of onomatopoeia and lots of action and suspense. The children considered the middle of the book to be a bit boring but still found lots to talk and laugh about when we reviewed the book.
Rating: 3 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Two ⭐⭐⭐⭐ One ⭐⭐⭐
Book #8: Wednesday Weeks and the Towers of Shadows by Denis Knight and Cristy Burne
This is an excellent mixture of science and magic. Some of the concepts are possibly better suited to slightly older readers but the magical elements are enjoyable and fun.
There is some repetition which the children found a bit boring, but overall they enjoyed it.
Rating: Three ⭐⭐⭐⭐
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