I found this book sitting in my school library. I had to look for a new book to read, and I chose this one. Not for any specific reason, I just thought 'Down the Rope Ladder' might be good. I definitely made the correct decision. 'Down the Rope Ladder' is one of the best books I have ever come across.

It is written in chronological order, past tense and first person, from the point of view of rebel 15-year-old Mungo McFall. Mungo's father dies, and he and his mother move away from London to a village in the countryside.
This book does raise an important issue: The effect of bereavement on children. The entire story is based on how Mungo deals with his situation.

The characters are easy to relate to, since they are average people. Richardson doesn't give his characters much direct description, it is mainly how the characters deal with various problems that helps you identify their personalities.

But the one aspect of this book that made it so great was the empathy factor. I have felt empathy for characters before, in movies and in books - everyone has. But as I read that the protagonist's heart was thudding, my heart starting thudding, as I read the protagonist was frightened, I felt frightened wondering what he would do next. I have never in my life felt like that before.

Additionally, the book is very suprising. Mysteries pop up in the course of the book and they are not answered until the very end. It keeps you guessing. Funnily enough, I hated this book when I started it. The story was dragging and it felt like it was getting nowhere. But slowly that feeling disolved into a captivating reading experience. After reading it, I found myself staying still for a few minutes just thinking about the book. The whole concept of the story is something you could discuss for hours about, but I will not write any spoilers here!

'Down the Rope Ladder' by Nigel Richardson deserves five stars more than anything, because not only has in entered my coveted Top Five Books, it rivals all the other books I've read for first place.

Time travel. We have all heard of it, we've all at some point desired it, and we all think we know everything there is to know about it. The concept of time-travel in Julie Cross' Tempest is a completely different affair. In almost every time-travel movie on Earth there was the simple law that if you were to go back in time and do something, it would have an effect on your present. This doesn't happen in this story. If I were to describe exactly how time-travel works in this book, it would take up the entire review space. This book is almost 100% science fiction, although, it is very much a romance novel - at least for the first half of the story. It quickly moves from teenage-romance to confusing science fiction to cutthroat thriller. Let's go into the details. (Before I do start, just to warn you, there are a few light spoilers in this review.)

The book is described entirely in first person and chronological order. It is written from the point of view of Jackson Meyer the time-travelling 19-year-old protagonist. There are no issues specifically that Cross brings up, apart from a short feminism paragraph in the very early chapters of the book. When Jackson arrives at his girlfriend Holly's dorm, Holly's roomate Lydia answers the door. Lydia is a feminist, and simply won't let Jackson inside the dorm. A review I read of this book, written by an older reader, states that the 'Lydia the feminist' part is offensive to actual real-world feminists and portrays them in the wrong way. Being a 12-year-old reader, I am in no position to say anything about the matter, so I will just leave it at that.

The characters are effectively a pic-and-mix of various cliche characters. You have the cool time-travelling teen, his beautiful girlfriend, secretive undercover CIA dad and the protagonist's computer-geek sidekick. We have all seen these before, but Cross' narration of the story goes beyond these characters and brings them to life. A very clever idea is to have the protagonist as an average guy but with one distinguishing feature. So this way, the reader can relate to the character as well as find out more about his distinguishing feature. If there was too much of either one it would be out of balance. Character development does occur, with Jackson deciding what is more important. Himself and Holly being in love and spending their time together with the possible danger of Holly's death, or Jackson literally cutting himself out of Holly's life to keep Holly out of harm's way.

The story is enticing. To be completely honest, I didn't even realise it when it had ended. I genuinely turned the last page and expected there to be a shiny new chapter title waiting for me. The time-travelling parts were a thrill to read, especially for a sci-fi fan like me.

Even though saying this will make me seem like a complete game-addict I will say it anyway: This book really reminds me of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. If you haven't played this game, the story consists of a young boy travelling through time to save the world and the princess. I could not help but recall the game after reading how Jackson's story is almost the exact same. It just reminded me even more because of the resemblance between the game title and the main antagonist group in the story, the 'Enemies of Time'.

I have rated Tempest by Julie Cross five stars simply because it has earned a place at least fifth or higher on my top ten. The story is superb, the characters literally come to life and the ending is among the best endings I have ever read.

I like The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips because of the plot. This story is about a little girl whose city is badly destroyed by war. It was bad enough with the war, but when they have to move house things go from bad to worse!This little tearjercker is a very good book and that is why you should read it!

I like this book because of all the funny fibs Pippi tells. She says that in Egypt everybody walks on their hands! Pippi is very strong; she can lift a horse! Pippi is an very extraordinary girl she says her father is a king of a cannibal island and her mother is an angel! Pippi Longstocking is a book you must put on your “must buy list” because of all the fun and laughter!

CORALINE could be described as 'the adventure to end all other adventures'. I don't disagree, as the plot is original and the plot twists ensure the reader is kept engaged. CORALINE is a very fast-pace book, and children love that since it moves from one part to another quickly. As I began this book, I was left wondering how Gaiman could make it extremely fast-paced, without losing long descriptive paragraphs - which is needed just as much as dialogue and action. As I got deeper and deeper into the book, I realised how. Gaiman cleverly uses short effective descriptions of events/things, usually using smiles or metaphors, and this is all the reader needs. The reader has grasped the situation, exactly according to Gaiman's plan. I find it quite amazing how he manages to pull this off. Keeping it fast-paced means its the best book ever for kids, but with a lack of description the reader will have questions in his mind about plot holes, and afterwards it falls apart. Gaiman avoids this with excellence.

I honestly do not think that the characters could be any more original. Other than Coraline, who is the typical 'bored' girl whose parents are too busy for her. Everyone has seen this character before, its very common. But the rest of the characters are as unique as can be: An old eccentric (possibly insane) man who trains Rats to perform, Two old theatre-has-been ladies and a group of phantom 'other' family members. There is a lot of character development, with Coraline learning to be happy with what she has; which is the main moral of the story.

Its interesting to note that both the old man who trains rats and the two theatre ladies are both very involved with theatre. Gaiman also directed theatre, and wrote two plays: 'Mr. Punch' and 'The Wolves In The Walls'. Coraline's 'Other Mother' in the story bears complete resemblance to a spider - making Coraline the fly, in this case. I saw the 3-D Movie first, quite a long time ago, and I am shocked to find out that I am only hearing that it was originally a book until now. Watching the movie first does not ruin it at all for you, despite what you may think, it is still as gripping and as thrilling as Gaiman intended, I am pleased to announce.

Despite the stars I have rated it, I give CORALINE 3 and a half stars, for one reason. CORALINE is a very good read, and exactly what I needed to wake me up after taking a long break for horror stories. It is not wrong to say I missed a good thrill of a horror book! I am reluctant to give CORALINE 4 stars though, because I feel other books I have rated with 4 stars I would rate higher than this book. So for that reason, CORALINE gets a 3 and a half stars. And it is as legendary fantasy author Terry Pratchet (author of the Discworld Series) said and I quote: "You will never think about buttons in quite the same way again.'

This is the best book in the world and i think anyone who struggles looking for a book about dark romance should get this book!

In a series of Horowitz Horror stories, Killer Camera is a small book of two mini horror tales; Killer Camera and Light Moves. I have read Horowitz's books before (The Alex Rider Series) but his knack for horror outclasses his knack for spy stories. I shall start with Killer Camera.

Killer Camera is told in first person, and describes things enough to get the story moving along. No noteable description technique were used, although suspense started to grow rapidly. Of course, reviewing a short story such as this one is often difficult since being unfair and reviewing it as a novel is not an accurate review at all. In this way, the fact that Horowitz used enough first-person description to get the story 'started up and moving' is expected.The protagonist Jamie is curious at what he finds at the carboot sale and acts as a detective, trying to find out the grim truths behind the camera's hellish powers.Horowitz writes the beginning of the book normally, as other authors would, but his talent shows in writing the ending. His plot twists are truly unthinkable, and I didn't expect any of the ending of Killer Camera. Killer Camera is one of the best Horowitz horrors I've read, but I have certainly read better, even from Horowitz himself.

Now I shall move onto Light Moves.

Light Moves is also told in first person through the eyes of Henry. After reading this story, it is clear to see what the ideal character Horowitz uses: the fourteen year old male teenager, highly curious but at the same time frightened at what he might discover. Henry is gifted a computer that he is sure is haunted, and it seems to have a habit of gambling. Reading this story after Killer Camera was disappointing, since Light Moves is not half as interesting as Killer Camera was.

The plot and ideas are original, but the story itself was not interesting. I kept reading, waiting for the Horowitz twist, but it did not appear in Light Moves.I do hate to mention it, but it seems to me that without the plot twist, a story such as this does not have enough to appeal to a 12-year-old reader. Horowitz Horror books do gain much popularity, but he has written far better stories than Light Moves.

I have given Killer Camera three stars, mainly because of the first story, 'Killer Camera'. The said story was suspenseful and had a unexpected plot twist, but was not unique and have been outclassed by other Horowitz horrors. Light Moves had an original plot and great storyline, but it was not suspenseful enough to be grouped with Killer Camera.

Known as the 'long short story that became a novel' Daniel Keyes' Flowers for Algernon is a modern classic, winning the Hugo Award (as a short story), the Nebula Award (as a novel) and it was then adapted into an Oscar winning film (Charly). I have been reading this for about a month, every day on the train and back I read pages and pages and really couldn't get enough. I've talked about many books that are among my favourites, and this is no exception, yet this book is unique, and nobody will ever be able to group this with any other book in existance.

The book is written from first person, in the eyes of the protagonist. The entire book is made up of Progress Reports, bearing close resemblance to diary entries that tell the story in chronological order. It is very much a science-fiction novel, and the part of the book that is fact makes it clear to see Keyes has thoroughly researched the information needed. A science-fiction novel (especially one with such detail) is not the same as an author typing a novel from the ideas he has exploding in his brain. A novel like this needs a foundation of knowledge and then imagination to make it a novel. The book is much like an exploration of life, as the protagonist Charlie Gordon learns how to read, how to talk, how to work, how to love etc. It is almost as if the book is a lifespan of a young child growing into an adult. In this way, in raises several issues, the main being on the whole fact of scientific experimentation, on animals and humans. Is it right? Is it wrong? All these thoughts bounce into the reader's head as Charlie also makes his decision - of course, Charlie IS the exhibit in the story. It also raises the issue of how institutes treat the mentally disabled.

If there is one character tool I can point out from the book, its character development. Its pure genius itself, how Keyes can show a man developing mentally without actually printing down the words 'I am more intelligent now.' You get the sense of this just through the words, bearing in mind its in first person, so just the style of Charlie's writing, the grammar, the spelling, all of this gives the reader an accurate judgement of how Charlie progresses. I believe this is why Flowers for Algernon won the Hugo and Nebula Awars - this technique of development that is very rare to find in other books.

I am certain books with a similair theme exist, but I am also certain Flowers for Algernon is the book with this theme and the descriptive techniques needed to label it a masterpiece.

I would recommend it to 12+, because of a small amount of strong language and sex.

Flowers for Algernon deserves five stars, because it is the perfect science-fiction novel. Romance, hard science facts, pure writing skill and imagination.

Junaid

I like 'Good Idea Amelia Jane' because it is a funny and witty book. My favourite character is a doll called Amelia Jane because of her naughty ideas. The setting is a nursery where children play. The toys hate Amelia Jane because of her nasty plans but see what happens when the other toys make up their own plans. She squirts water and once she ate all the sweets in the sweet shop and left none for the others! The only thing I do not like about this book, is that it should have some more characters. But still, I bet if you read this book you will laugh your head off! It is a great book and that is why you should read it.

This is a completely crazy book, but I love it!!! Although the first chapter is nothing but xxxxx and so on, and the next is fretting about you knowing too much, after that it's full of adventure and mystery and it's absolutely EPIC!