Diver's Daughter by Patrice Lawrence, reviewed by Pippa Goodhart

Never have I held my breath as long when reading a story as when I read this one! The story starts with a near drowning, and there's more to come along with betrayals and a hunt for treasure, kidnapping, and more. Here is how this story, set in the reign of Elizabeth the First, opens -'I hit the water. No, it hit me. It slapped me in the face then pulled me under. My head filled with its stink. I tried to hold my breath, but the water's wet fingers were in my nostrils, inching up and up. I couldn't open my mouth to scream; if I  did, I'd be dead. But at this rate, I was going to be dead anyway. The River Thames's strong arms yanked me, away from the boat, away from my other, away from life.'Vivid writing, and a fast pace as the story twists and turns to make for an exciting read!'Diver's Daughter' is one of the Voices series of short novels for 8-12 main readership age, with historical stories featuring immigrant characters who have tended not to be mentioned much by history or fiction. Eve's mother was taken into slavery from Mozambique by Portuguese slavers, then sold, and sold again to land in England. So Eve herself is from Southwark in London. But Jacque Francis was a real man, come as a slave from Africa where he had learnt free diving techniques, and off the English coast put to work to dive for lost treasure from the Mary Rose. Eve tells her story in the first person, addressing us as she tells it. This book would make a wonderful story for a teacher to read aloud to their class. And libraries should stock it. Who could resist that beautiful cover artwork by Alette Straathof?

Teen/YA reading group favourite books of 2017 by Savita Kalhan

Here’s my yearly round-up of some of my teen reading group’s favourite library books of 2017. The reading group ranges from ages 11 to 15 years old, and is a mix of boys and girls – with most of them reading three or four library books a month on top of any other reading they do. The kids are enthusiastic and love talking about the books they've enjoyed, books they would recommend, and books they haven't liked as much. They write review cards, which go up on on the teen reading group board in the library. 

In many ways it was a challenging year for us: the library was closed for two months while it moved premises, the catalogue of books available has diminished, with many books that are ‘missing’ not being replaced, and many books published in 2016 and 2017 not being bought for the library.

But, nonetheless, here is the list of some of my teen group's favourite books, in no particular order -

Orangeboy by Patrice Lawrence

The Last Leaves Falling by Sarah Benwell

The Unlikely Hero of Room 13B by Teresa Toten

Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys

Beetle Boy by MG Leonard

Holding Up the Universe by Jennifer Niven

Shadow Magic by Joshua Khan

Gorilla Dawn by Gill Lewis

      

Booked by Kwame Alexander

The Harder They Fall by Bali Rai

Phoenix by SF Said

The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak

Goodbye Stranger by Rebecca Stead

The Astounding Broccoli Boy by Frank Cottrell Boyce

We all like having a choice in what we read. Some of us can buy books, and some of us use the library. I would really like to see 2018 be the year which brings back more choice of books for kids, and for their availability to be better reflected on the book shelves. And there should be at least one copy of every teen and young adult book published in a year on the library shelves.

Don’t you agree?

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