lovereading4kids Latest: Books of the Month - February

Pendragon Legacy: Sword of Light - Katherine Roberts

Pendragon Legacy: Sword of Light
Katherine Roberts

Format: Hardback - Released: 01/02/2012
Lovereading4kids Price: £7.49 - Saving £2.50 (25%)

A cracking page-turning adventure that brings a new twist on Arthurian legend. The future of Camelot is in the hands of Arthur's secret daughter, Rhianna. Utterly gripping, this is the start of a series for 10+ year olds by an award winning author. It's a magical quest based adventure that will appeal to Harry Potter and Tolkien fans. In a sentence, it's Arthurian legend reinvented for a new generation of readers! Author Katherine Roberts said: “As a big fan of Arthurian fantasy, I’ve always wanted to write my own version of the legend but didn’t want to repeat the old stories. When I found red-haired Rhianna, King Arthur’s daughter, hiding on the enchanted island of Avalon, I knew she would make a great young warrior princess to carry the Pendragon legend to a new generation.”

Gregor and the Marks of Secret - Suzanne Collins

Gregor and the Marks of Secret
Suzanne Collins

Format: Paperback - Released: 02/02/2012
Lovereading4kids Price: £4.49 - Saving £1.50 (25%)

Gregor and the Marks of Secret by Suzanne Collins - the author of the blockbusting Hunger Games – is the story of a perilous fantasy adventure for young Gregor and his talkative little sister Boots, in their bid to save the Underland. It's only a few months since Gregor and Boots returned from the Underland, leaving their mother behind to heal from the plague. Though Gregor's family receives frequent updates on her condition, they all know Gregor must return to fulfill his role as the warrior who is key to the Underlanders' survival. This could be the answer for parents with teens and younger siblings. if your teens are mad keen on Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games and you're being badgered by younger siblings to read it too, then give them Suzanne's Gregor series instead. It's a wonderful adventure. This is Book Four in the Underland Chronicles series. The others are: Gregor the Overlander: Book One Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane: Book Two Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods: Book Three Gregor and the Code of Claw: Book Five (to be published in the UK August 2012)

Katy's Wild Foal (Katy's Ponies) - Victoria Eveleigh

Katy's Wild Foal (Katy's Ponies)
Victoria Eveleigh

Format: Paperback - Released: 02/02/2012
Lovereading4kids Price: £3.74 - Saving £1.25 (25%)

How Katy discovers a newborn Exmoor foal on her birthday and persuades her family that she can look after it launches a tender and convincing story of one girl’s passion for ponies. Victoria Eveleigh gives enough details of pony care and training to make the story essential reading for all those who are pony-mad and enough delightful general background about friends, family and farming to make it an enjoyable story for all. Adopt an Exmoor Pony: Want the chance to adopt an Exmoor pony at the Exmoor Pony Centre for one year? All you have to do is email competitions@orionbooks.co.uk with the subject heading 'Exmoor Pony' and one lucky winner will win a year's pony sponsorship. Closing date for entry is 1st September 2012.

One Cool Cat - Susannah Corbett

One Cool Cat
Susannah Corbett

Format: Paperback - Released: 01/03/2012
Lovereading4kids Price: £5.24 - Saving £1.75 (25%)

Meet One Cool Cat. He’s got it all: the swagger, the looks, the coolness, so what else could he possibly need? Certainly not luck - One Cool Cat puts this theory to the test as he walks under ladders and confidently breaks a few mirrors. That is until his coolness is his downfall and he runs out of luck! This is a funny, charming and of course, chic book that parents will love reading to their child.

My Uncle Foulpest: Dinosaur Disaster - Timothy Knapman

My Uncle Foulpest: Dinosaur Disaster
Timothy Knapman

Format: Paperback - Released: 16/02/2012
Lovereading4kids Price: £3.74 - Saving £1.25 (25%)

Foulpest returns - our unlikely hero in the form of an ogre! Welcome back to Wally’s world - a hilarious offering of ogre uncles, evil weevils and more! My Uncle Foulpest: Dinosaur Disaster is the hilarious second instalment in the series by Timothy Knapman. Bringing more mad-cap adventures from Wally and Foulpest - an ogre with the best intentions who never quite gets it right! - young readers will giggle with glee. With adorable and hilarious illustrations by Sarah Horne, this is a surefire winner for young fans of humour, with two stories in one brilliant package.

Gates of Rome (Time Riders Book 5) - Alex Scarrow

Gates of Rome (Time Riders Book 5)
Alex Scarrow

Format: Paperback - Released: 02/02/2012
Lovereading4kids Price: £5.24 - Saving £1.75 (25%)

Liam O'Connor should have died at sea in 1912. Maddy Carter should have died on a plane in 2010. Sal Vikram should have died in a fire in 2026. But all three have been given a second chance - to work for an agency that no one knows exists. Its purpose: to prevent time travel destroying history... This is book five in the bestselling TimeRiders series by Alex Scarrow. Ancient Rome gets a time-travel makeover! Book 1 in this series was the winner of the 2011 Red House Children's Book Award for older readers and was nominated for the Galaxy Children's Book Award and the Carnegie Medal. It was also Penguin UK's first ever number one on the iBookstore. Click here to visit the TimeRiders series website.

The Worst Thing About My Sister - Jacqueline Wilson

The Worst Thing About My Sister
Jacqueline Wilson

Format: Hardback - Released: 02/02/2012
Lovereading4kids Price: £9.74 - Saving £3.25 (25%)

Best-selling Jacqueline Wilson understands perfectly how the needle sharp jealousy of sisters is matched only by the strength of their underlying affection. Marty and Melissa are not in the least little bit like each other; Marty is a tomboy and Melissa is as girlie as a girl can be. What on earth will happen when they have to share a bedroom? What looks like a disaster turns out surprisingly well as the girls learn just how important they are to one another – despite their differences!

The Great Explorer - Chris Judge

The Great Explorer
Chris Judge

Format: Paperback - Released: 02/02/2012
Lovereading4kids Price: £4.49 - Saving £1.50 (25%)

Resourceful Tom has a great fantasy adventure in this exciting and action-packed story with clear, bold illustrations. Setting out to find his father who has gone missing on an expedition to the North Pole, Tom sails through icebergs, flees from a giant walrus, loses his tent and builds an igloo. Just when the sun is setting and he’s almost given up hope, Tom spots a familiar tent… Chris Judge’s debut picture book, The Lonely Beast, won the Specsaver’s Irish Children’s Book of the Year 2011 and is nominated for the CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal 2012.

Mortal Chaos - Matt Dickinson

Mortal Chaos
Matt Dickinson

Format: Paperback - Released: 02/02/2012
Lovereading4kids Price: £5.24 - Saving £1.75 (25%)

'The Butterfly Effect' - otherwise known as the scientific theory that a single occurrence, no matter how small, can change the course of the universe forever - is the central premise of this stunning debut. This heart-stopping adventure by writer, film maker and climber Matt Dickinson will leave readers breathless. Heart-stopping and adrenalin fuelled, Mortal Chaos flashes between four locations and a number characters around the world including the North Face if Everest, Washington DC, Wiltshire and Malawi. It's the book Jack Bauer would have read as a teenager!

Mice - Gordon Reece

Mice
Gordon Reece

Format: Paperback - Released: 02/02/2012
Lovereading4kids Price: £5.24 - Saving £1.75 (25%)

Sixteen-year-old Shelley tells this dark and gripping story. Bullied so badly at school that she has to leave and surviving – just - her parents’ bitter divorce, Shelley and her mum hole up in an isolated house, miles from anywhere. When their private peace is shattered by a violent intruder Shelley unleashes all her anger and takes matters into her own hands. But Shelley’s actions create new shocking new problems; how do you dispose of a dead body? And how do you stop anyone else finding out about it? A tense thriller with an unflinching heart. A Piece of Passion from the Publisher of Mice, Maria Rejt:"Mice is not a thriller that conforms particularly to what a bestselling thriller purports to be these days – there are no serial killers, no high-octane car chases, no baroque methods of torture. It begins as a simple tale of domesticity which, within a matter of pages, has evolved into an edge-of-your-seat psychological thriller that literally will not let you go. "The set up is simple. A middle-aged woman and her teenage daughter escape to a rural idyll. They are retreating from the miseries of failed relationships and vicious school bullying. Together and alone in the country they are safe. Until a stranger intrudes and a split second decision sends their world into tailspin."Gordon Reece is an author who has such empathy with his characters and such control over his plotting that the reader is held in a vice-grip. Once started, there is no escaping his story which hurtles to a truly chilling and haunting climax. I loved its simplicity and power but it is the ending which stays with you long after the last page has been turned." The Lovereading view... A gripping, unique suspense thriller with a chilling twist . . .

Keeper of the Realms: Crow's Revenge (book 1) - Marcus Alexander

Keeper of the Realms: Crow's Revenge (book 1)
Marcus Alexander

Format: Paperback - Released: 02/02/2012
Lovereading4kids Price: £5.24 - Saving £1.75 (25%)

This is Book one in a great new fantasy adventure series that was picked up by Puffin after it became a self publishing sensation. For Keeper of the Realms, think Lemony Snicket meets The Wizard of Oz! Charlie Keeper has been forced from her home by a bloodthirsty and terrifying stranger. But in escaping she discovers her house holds the gateway to the Realm of Bellania - a place of myth, magic ...and an evil Lord with a very bad attitude. Now its fate rests squarely upon Charlie's shoulders. Game on! Click here to visit the Keeper of the Realms website, jam-packed with book and author information, plus videos and artwork.

Goat Goes to Playgroup - Julia Donaldson

Goat Goes to Playgroup
Julia Donaldson

Format: Hardback - Released: 03/02/2012
Lovereading4kids Price: £8.24 - Saving £2.75 (25%)

Playgroup has begun. Time to have some fun. A comforting story for any child starting at, or already attending, a playgroup. Perfect for reading aloud, even the youngest toddler will enjoy Goat's antics.

Gladiator 2 : Street Fighter - Simon Scarrow

Gladiator 2 : Street Fighter
Simon Scarrow

Format: Hardback - Released: 02/02/2012
Lovereading4kids Price: £9.74 - Saving £3.25 (25%)

A second thrilling adventure for young Marcus, now perfecting his gladiatorial skills with further training in the palace of Julius Caesar himself. Marcus’s fighting skills have gained him the role of body guard of the Emperor’s niece Portia. And still his training in the art of fighting continues as does the danger from violent gangs in Rome. Marcus needs his physical skills as well as his courage and his intelligence when he is deployed undercover to protect his Emperor. Simon Scarrow portrays physical and mental courage is this gripping story of loyalty and bravery.

Downtown Dinosaurs: Dinosaur Olympics - Jeanne Willis

Downtown Dinosaurs: Dinosaur Olympics
Jeanne Willis

Format: Paperback - Released: 24/02/2012
Lovereading4kids Price: £4.49 - Saving £1.50 (25%)

Daft dinosaurs create delightfully madcap fun in this hilarious family saga with a difference. When gang warfare between Darwin the stegosaurus and T Rex Flint Beastwood breaks out, the exuberant mayor Boris comes up with a great plan. Why not hold a dinosaur Olympic games as a way of bringing peace? Will Boris’s plan work? It certainly sparks some very lively action amongst the dinosaurs…

Clare Beaton's Bedtime Rhymes - Clare Beaton

Clare Beaton's Bedtime Rhymes
Clare Beaton

Format: Board book - Released: 01/01/2012
Lovereading4kids Price: £3.74 - Saving £1.25 (25%)

Classic bedtime rhymes for small children, including favourites like ‘I See the Moon’, ‘Wee Willie Winkie’ and ‘Brahms’ Lullaby’. Soothing poems have been chosen to develop language and learning skills, while also encouraging peaceful and relaxing bedtimes. Click here for more by Clare Beaton.