Gill Arbuthnott

"15-year-old Callie Hall has just found out she's a witch, and things keep going wrong." What an understatement! Callie's friend, Josh, comes to visit her for 2 weeks on break from school, and while she's taking him sightseeing at the ruins of an old castle, she releases something dark and evil from the tunnels under the castle, and that something latches on to her and follows her home, unbeknownst to her or Josh. From there, all hell breaks loose.

I enjoyed this book very much, and I especially liked that it was a children's horror story that didn't talk down to them, and was honestly scary. The kids were likeable, the pacing was great, and the plot was well written. All in all, a great book!

Highly recommend - 5 out of 5 stars.… (lisätietoja)

Gill Arbuthnott and Joanne Nethercott, the author/illustrator team behind Lost at the Zoo, the story of Rory the mouse and his adventures at the Edinburgh Zoo, return to that same milieu in this second title for Floris Book's Picture Kelpies line, intended to highlight and promote Scottish-themed picture-books. When Sunshine the giant panda is despondent, believing that no one will remember his upcoming birthday, his friend and partner Sweetie decides to arrange a birthday surprise for him, convincing all of the other animals to join her in a special serenade...

Although I wouldn't describe the narrative here as a particular favourite - I'm always leery of stories in which zoo animals have more freedom than they would do in real life - I did find the contrast between Sweetie's internal response to each animal's 'singing,' and her spoken response to those animals quite amusing, and I imagine young readers and listeners will feel the same. The concluding scene, in which all the animals add their voice to Sweetie's birthday song would make for an excellent read-aloud moment, I think, providing lots of opportunities for sound-word fun. The colourful artwork by Joanne Nethercott was immensely appealing, from the lovely endpapers to Sweetie's many droll expressions, and adds to the overall enjoyment of the tale. Recommended to children who enjoy animal stories, who like pandas, or who are heading to the Edinburgh Zoo.… (lisätietoja)