Foundling by D.M Cornish

Written by D.M Cornish this book is one of my favorites, nearly beating the best book I've ever read ("Abhorsen"). It is set in the land known as the Half-Continent, this land is shared by humans and monsters. It begins in a orphanage known as "Madam Opera's Marine Society for Foundling Boys and Girls" or something along the lines of that, the term "Foundling" in this book means, "also wastrel. Stray people, usually children, found without a home or shelter on the streets of cities or even, amazingly, wandering alone exposed to the wild".

Well it begins at this orphanage where a boy with a girl's name (Rossamund) is left at the orphanage as a baby. Rossamund grows up in this place, unexposed to the world outside his city containing monsters and horrible creatures, but for the first time, he must leave. At a certain age, the children are selected to a career by employers, Rossamund is selected to be a "Lamplighter", a job that involves travelling and being vunerable to monsters in the outside world. He ventures to a city called "High Vesting" where is will recieve instructions, if he ever gets there.

I give this book 4.8 stars, it is awesome! I have never seen an author go to so much trouble over their book. That meaning for "Foundling" was taken from the second half of the book which contains a dictionary for the Half-Continent, it is also complete with nearly 200 pages of maps, diagrams and information about the Half-Continent. I look forward to reading the second book in this series.

Artemis Fowl Book 1 by Eoin Colfer

This book is the first in a best-seller series by Eoin Colfer. It features two different settings and two different characters; Artemis and Holly.

Artemis is only twelve years of age but is already an academic prodigy, producing, using and developing ideas and technology to manipulate ways in the business world to restore his family's fortune which had been lost by his father who went missing on a trip to the artic circle.

Artemis' first idea is to uncover an ancient and secret civilisation known commonly as sprites or fairies, his body guard; Butler is doubtful at this initially and comes to realise there is a civilisation that runs bellow Earth hidden from man-kind for centuries.

Meanwhile, in the spirte civilisation, Holly is the only female officer of the sprite's police, the LEPrecons; hence where the name leprecon started. She is having trouble fitting in with all the male officers of the force yet is keen on her assignments. Holly is the forces best pilot, but on a trip to stonehenge to replenish her magic she is kidnapped by Artemis who has a few theorys of taking advantage of Holly to gain gold.

Together, the two come to realise that they are not so different from one another.

A great childrens fantasy book with a modern twist. Eoin Colfer is a genius, I give it 4 out of 5 stars. This is currently in a series of six.

The Ashleys, Lipgloss Jungle - Melissa De La Cruz

Lipgloss Jungle is not the first in the series. I have never read the first book but I still understood the story.

It is about the three Ashleys, Ashley Spencer (known as Ashley), Ashley Alioto (A.A.) and Ashley Li (Lili). They are the queen bees of the school and all wear the same style of clothes, have bags by the same designer and wear the same shade of pink lipgloss.

I gathered that in the previous book, Lauren Page, whose family had recently gained a lot of money, hatched a plan to join the Ashleys and break them up from the inside.

Everyday, the Ashleys (and Lauren successfully continuing her quest) go to Starbucks and have a Soy Latte each (Ashley’s favourite drink) and then they sit on the bench outside their school and “help the fashionably challenged” (make mean comments about the other girls’ clothes).

Trouble stirs when the mysterious S. Society sit on the bench and the war begins. Ashley is horrified and orders the attack. But maybe A.A. and Lili don’t want to be the same anymore?

Each chapter focuses on a different girl and I liked it because I could see what each of them were thinking and if they were planning anything that they haven't told the others. It also gives all four sides of the story so you can decide who was in the right.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book because it was fun to read and it was exciting finding out what they were going to plot next. I wish I could read the rest of the series. I would recommend it to girls between the ages of nine and fifteen.

By Zobdy
Age 12

just dropping in

to say how gorgeous is our new logo?

The Fire Within by Chris d'Lacey - Review + Interview

It starts in the small and rather odd town of Scrubbley, where a man called David seeks a home while doing University/College. David finds a place with only two occupants, a woman and her daughter. At first they seem like very ordinary people, the daughter Lucy is just what a small child should be like, imaginative and slightly rude. Mrs. Pennykettle (Lucy's mother), makes pottery, not just any pottery, but dragons. Her and Lucy's lifes seem to revolve around dragons, as a housewarming gift, David is given a dragon with a notepad and a pencil in his hand. They tell him to try and speak to it, strangely, the dragon beings to write, giving him ideas for a story to give to Lucy, based on a true story, one that continues throughout the book.

I give it 3 stars out of 5, I think it is mainly for children up to 13, interesting and different.

Interview:

Which is your favorite book of all time?
The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien

Which genre of reading are you most interested in?
Nothing specific. I liked Science Fiction when I was younger.

Did you read or write at all when you were a kid?
I read (comics mostly) but I didn't write.

When did you start writing?
When I was 32.

Do you picture any of the characters from "The Fire Within" as yourself?
David is based on me when I was younger, but there are shades of an author's personality in all of the characters they write.

Out of all your books, which is your favorite?
Dark Fire

Out of your characters, which one is your favorite?
Bonnington!

When and why did you get into writing?
When I was 32 and to try something different from songwriting.

Are you currently writing anything now?
The next dragon book, as yet untitled.

And the random question (do not be offended, it's just a bit of fun
and it is interesting to see replys)....
If you accidently swallowed a T.V, and it was electricuting you, how
would you stop it?
I like to think I'd pull the plug out!

Pizza
Age 14

Logo Update

I just wanted to pop in and say, in the next couple of weeks my darling of a designer is going to produce a proper graphic for Young & Un:Bound. He has some amazing ideas and I can't wait to see what he produces.

The Fall by Garth Nix

"The Fall" is the first book in "The Seventh Tower" series. It is about a boy who lives in a castle, along with other high or low ranking dormitories, and they have all never been to the world outside of the castle.

The world he lives in is always dark, there is a veil which keeps it dark, this is important to uphold the rule of magic.

When any of the "Chosen" turn thirteen, after, on the Day of Ascenation where they all enter the spiritual world (Aenir) to get a Spirit Shadow. When the Chosen are under the age of thirteen, they are given a Shadow Guard, which is similar to a Spirit Shadow but less important. When his father has disappeared on a mission for the empress, he has the families primary sunstone.

All of the Chosen have at least one sunstone, they can be used for many things: Healing, Music, Heat etc. But a primary sunstone is essential to enter Aenir, if you don't have one you join the Underfolk who work as servants for the Chosen. Desperate to get a sunstone, he tries to still a primary sunstone from the Seventh Tower. He falls back through "The Veil" and falls to a place he is not familiar with. He begins a quest with a "mad-girl" back to the castle.

I think this is a great science fiction book. It is about a whole other world, the author (Garth Nix) did a great job of it and I look forward to reading his other books.

Pizza

Age 14