Young Werewolf by Cornelia Funke

My teacher asked me to review this book as I read it first in our class. It is a spooky story about a boy and he gets bitten. He then turns into a werewolf. His teacher knows a lot about weird creatures and starts to follow him about so his friend tries to help him. Her name is Lisa and the boy's name is Matt. The teacher's name is Mr Foulweather which is a good name for him.

I liked reading this book. It wasn't too scary for me and it was lots of fun to read. I am in Year 4 and I think other children who are in Year 4 too would like to read it. Especially people that like stories about werewolves but not really scary ones.

The cover is really nice and quite shiny. The writer of this book always uses good words like squinted so well done to her. I will read more books from her soon and I am pleased I read it first.

Here is the cover.

From Thomas.

4JB's Top Ten Books

Today we all voted on what our favourite books are. Here are the top ten:

1. Billionaire Boy by David Walliams
2. Demon Dentist by David Walliams
3. Tom Gates by Liz Pichon
4. Stinkbomb & Ketchup Face and the Badness of Badgers by John Dougherty
5. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
6. Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
7. The Gizmo by Paul Jennings
8. Doctor Who (various authors)
9. The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien
10. Mr Gum by Andy Stanton

Almost in the top ten:

The Magic Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton
Stitch Head by Guy Bass
Tin Tin by Herge
Matilda by Roald Dahl
The BFG by Roald Dahl
Anything else by Paul Jennings
Anything else by John Dougherty
Anything else by Roald Dahl

How many of these great books have you read? Do you agree with the list? What other books do you think should be on there?

Author quiz

Do you know the name of the author who wrote each of these books? List your answers below. You can use the local library or the internet to help you! There will be a fantastic prize for the winning entry.

1. Zeus On The Loose

2. The Longest Whale Song

3. A Medal For Leroy

4. You're A Bad Man, Mr Gum!

5. The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe

6. The Iron Man

7. Young Werewolf

8. Bill's New Frock

9. The Grunts All At Sea

10. Angela Sprocket's Pockets

11. Demon Dentist

12. My Uncle Is A Hunkle, Says Clarice Bean

Home Sweet Horror by James Preller

Unfortunately I got this just too late to read to my class for Halloween, but it's a wonderfully spooky story which we'll definitely enjoy together on a dark and wintery afternoon. It's similar in style to Nick Shadow's Midnight Library books, which I also enjoy reading whenever I get a spare minute.

Liam, Kelly and their dad have just moved into a run-down and empty old house. As they pull up to the front door, Liam immediately realises that there is something creepy about the place as he notices that all the lights are flickering on and off. The next day, their father calls several local workmen to try and get them to come and help repair the house. Very few of them even return his call, and those who do all offer him the same advice; leave the house now before it's too late! As the days pass, Liam and Kelly start to hear menacing noises and voices from within the house's walls. Kelly's best friend, Mitali, comes to stay for a weekend visit and suggests that they try and summon up the ghost of the house. Unsurprisingly, this turns out to be an absolutely terrible idea, and things go very wrong, very quickly.

This creepy book can easily be read in under an hour as it has a simple plot which moves along at a great pace. There are spooky illustrations all the way through which help add to the atmosphere that the author creates. Of the hundreds of books published which tell the story of a family moving in to a haunted house, this is probably one of the best. Highly recommended for Year Five and Year Six.

Definitely read this if you enjoy creepy ghost stories (Horowitz Horror, Midnight Library, Chris Priestley's Tales of Terror).

Definitely DON'T read this if you are easily scared!

I'm now trying Home Sweet Horror with some of our braver Year Six book reviewers. I'll let you know what they think.

Cool Addiction- a poem

I found this great poem about reading today. Read it and let me know what you think. If you enjoyed it, you can read more of Neal's poems at www.cccpworkshops.co.uk.

Cool Addiction by Neal Zetter

My head is stuck inside this book

I only meant to take a look

Till I saw what had been written

Instantly my mind was smitten

In a land of fascination

Sparking my imagination

Passions burning like a flame

Pictures dancing in my brain

My head is stuck inside this book

Just one page was all it took

I was focused and engaged

Thrilled, enthralled and entertained

Title, cover - so inviting

Words speak to me - so exciting

Such adventure, such intrigue

In a world of make believe

My head is stuck inside this book

Superglued, completely hooked

Unaware of all around me

Once this magic story found me

Characters feel like my friends

Plot unfolding till the end

Whether fact or whether fiction

Reading is a cool addiction

The Treasure House

Hello, Mrs Smith here, finally taking some time out from reading to review one of our new books in the library!
   The Treasure House by Linda Newbery caught my attention because of the unusual front cover, then when I read the blurb I thought it seemed even more mysterious....and I wasn't disappointed.
   The whole story is about the strange disappearance of the main characters mother, and her attempts to work out where she is, (and why she left). Along the way we meet many of her friends and family who are quite quirky and good fun.
   I'd recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a mystery, as it has a great twist at the end. In addition I think the family and friends relationships in the story would appeal to Jacqueline Wilson fans too.

Patron of Reading display

Thank you Mrs Smith for putting up a great John Dougherty display in the library! We are all getting very excited about his next visit in January. The coloured sticky notes are already filling up quickly with books that we think he should read.