There's a ghost in my house...

I recently finished the wonderful new book by Cathy McPhail, Out of the Depths. Set in a Scottish school, it is the story of Tyler Lawless, who sees dead people. The story opens wonderfully: "I saw my teacher in the queue at the supermarket last Christmas. Miss Baxter. I was surprised to see her. She'd been dead for six months."

Image: catherinemcphail.co.uk

Tyler's ability to see ghosts is not necessarily a positive thing though; it gets her in trouble at one school, the reputation of being a self-dramatising liar, and jeapordises her ability to settle at her new school. St Anthony's Academy had been a Catholic boys' school, though it is now coeducational and multi-faith. On her first day, she notices that the statues of the saints appear to be moving. Even more strangely, she sees a boy in her classroom that nobody else has noticed. Her new friends tell her about the murder that happened at the school years ago, of a troubled boy called Ben Kincaid. Tyler realises that the boy she can see is Ben. Then he asks her to help him... A gripping story; the final twist I really didn't see coming. I can't wait for the next one!

Image: orchardbooks.co.uk

Another great series about a girl who can see ghosts is Fiona Dunbar's Kitty Slade. Fire and Roses is the second in the series; the third, Venus Rocks, has just been published. Kitty is now home schooled by her Greek grandmother (events in the first story means that she can't stay at school!) In this story, Kitty and her family are visiting an old family friend. Strange Poltergeist activity at their house leads Kitty to discover that they are under a curse because of their ancestor Sir Ambrose Vyner. Another ghost, John Wilkes, a fellow member of the Hellfire Club (a drinking club that invoked Bacchus and Venus and engaged in various practices designed to shock society) appears to Kitty, and she must solve a mystery to break the curse and ensure her friends can stay in their home. Much of the action of the book takes place in and near the Hellfire Caves in West Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, South East England; a great feature of the book is that young readers will learn some of the history and geography of the area alongside enjoying the story. 

This book is lighter in tone than Out of the Depths; Fiona Dunbar aims to write stories similar to the Famous Five; I felt it was more like Nancy Drew crossed with Scooby Doo. Very enjoyable.

Out of the Depths I would recommend to 11+, and Fire and Roses to 10+. Two very enjoyable books.

The title of this post is from the Northern Soul classic, R. Dean Taylor's Ghost In My House.

Ada Lovelace Day



Image: en.wikipedia.org


7th October was Ada Lovelace Day. Lovelace (1815- 1852) was the only legitimate child of the poet George, 6th Baron Byron, and his wife Anna Isabella (known as Annabella) Milbanke, nicknamed by her husband "the Princess of Parallelograms" due to her love of science and mathematics. Ada's parents had a very unhappy marriage and they separated a month after her birth. Unusually for the time Ada was brought up by her mother, and her father made no attempt to enforce his legal parental right. Ada had no relationship with him.

Annabella was obsessed with educating out what she saw as Ada's possible inheritance of Byron's instability and madness, and she did this by focusing Ada's education on "rational" subjects such as mathematics and logic. Through Mary Somerville , who taught her mathematics, Ada met Charles Babbage, the creator of the "analytical engine"; a machine designed to analyse mathematical formulae. Ada translated an Italian article on the engine and added notes to it. She wrote an alogarithm for the machine to compute Bernoulli numbers (although the machine was not completed during her lifetime) and is therefore considered the world's first computer programmer.



Image: fantasticfiction.co.uk

This made me think about a book I read many years ago as a young teacher: Hacker, by Malorie Blackman, probably best known for her astonishing Noughts and Crosses series, but also the author of some great picture books, books for younger readers and novels for older children.

Hacker opens with Vicky and the rest of her Year 8 class (including her adopted brother Gib and his annoying friend Chaucy) waiting to take a Maths exam. Inside the exam hall Vicky notices several people cheating, including her friend Maggie. Vicky has a programmable calculator, and writes a programme to work out interior and exterior angles and areas of shapes. Unfortunately since she finishes her exam in 20 minutes instead of two hours, her teacher assumes that she is the hacker that stole the Maths exam. She is given a letter by the head teacher to take home.

However, on returning home, she and Gib discover that something far more serious than cheating at an exam is concerning her parents. Her dad has been accused of transferring one million pounds from the bank where he works to his own account. Vicky and Gib set out to prove his innocence by hacking into the bank; however this puts Vicky in terrible danger from the real thief.

I loved this book. Not only is it a thrilling adventure, but Vicky and Gib's relationship is very believable, as is the ebb and flow of "tween" friendships. Vicky is mixed race, as is her adopted dad, and the detail of her darker skin making her feel as though she doesn't quite belong to the rest of her family rings very true. Identity and ethnicity are not the most important aspects of this book, but it is great to see that the problems needing to be solved in this story. And as children pick up the ideas of "girls' subjects" and "boys' subjects" so early, it is very positive to have a book aimed at 8+ featuring a girl computer programmer! It is unfortunate that the computing aspects of this book have dated, but I would hope that the thriller plotline and believable characters would carry young readers through.

This book is a good one for teaching Primary children about Ada Lovelace and her importance in the history of computing.

About a Girl

The Bookseller recently reported what seems to be a downturn in sales of titles by top selling women authors, which was reported in The Guardian as "the death of chick lit". At the same time, it seems that children's books are outperforming adult fiction, which is good news for children's book week. So what is there for girls to read ? Well, I recently read three books that teenage girls should enjoy.

Image: bookdepository.co.uk

Lauren Laverne, BBC 6Music DJ, TV presenter and erstwhile indie pop star with Kenickie, (and they were as much fun to see live as they look!) writes about 15 year old Candy Caine, who lives in a small seaside town. She and her best friend Holly hang out in the cafe/ record shop The Bluebird eyeing up the gorgeous Dan, and hatch plans to rid Candy's glamorous mum of her boring fiance and to find Candy's birth father- could he really be 90s indie star Nathan Oxblood? To placate Candy, her mum and Ray buy her a battered old cherry red Gibson SG guitar, and when Candy strums a B chord, out pops a supernatural being called Clarence B Major, to assist her. Candy and Holly form their band, the Broken Biscuits, and their plan for finding Candy's dad comes together. It's very funny book, encapsulating embarrassing teenage party behaviour, feisty octogenarian Gladys, and lots of music references (as you'd expect from Lauren's encyclopedic knowledge). One rainy day I'll make a playlist! Here's Lauren talking about her "indie fairy tale". I've passed a copy on to a friend's 13 year old bass playing daughter, who loved it as well. I can't wait for the sequel, although of course Lauren has been rather busy with baby no. 2... but come on, Lauren, please!

Image: Jessieheartsnyc.wordpress.com

I read Keris Stainton's Jessie Hearts NYC while commuting. This is always dangerous; fine on my way ti work since it is at the train's final destination, but more tricky on my way home, and I nearly ended up in North Essex on more than one occasion. This is an interesting book. English Jessie and her best friend Emma head to New York to visit Jessie's playwright mum, hoping to forget her awful ex boyfriend. New Yorker Finn is in love with his best friend's girlfriend, but also needs to find a way to tell his dad that he doesn't want to study business at University and go into his firm. Jessie and Finn could be perfect for each other; as long as they get to meet... This book has three protagonists: Jessie, Finn and New York City itself. I loved it; the city is evoked perfectly, and the dynamics (between Jessie and her mum, Jessie and Emma, Finn and his family, Finn and Scott, Finn and Sam, Scott's girlfriend) are pitch perfect. Keris very kindly sent me a copy of the book, but this is my honest impression of it. Here is one of favourite New York- related songs: Belle and Sebastian's Piazza New York Catcher. Incidentally, also one of the best gigs I've ever been to!

Image: thebookpeople.co.uk

It's a truth universally acknowledged that many teenage girls dream not of becoming a footballer or rock musician themselve, but becoming a WAG (wife and girlfriend) of one. Michelle Gayle should know; she was married to footballer turned pundit Mark Bright (although having played Hettie on EastEnders and been a pop star it could be argued that he was the BAH- boyfriend and husband).  Her novel Pride and Premiership is about seventeen and a half year old Remy Bennet and her gorgeous older sister Malibu, who are both beauticians working in the same salon. Malibu has devised a WAG's charter, which includes such gems as "Pretend you don't know he's a footballer" and "Never dispute a thing his mum says"- since all footballers worship their mums. Written as Remy's diary, the book charts her meeting with footballer Robbie Wilkins (he doesn't play for a premiership team, but he's gorgeous) and her relationship with him. Can she trust him on a lads' holiday to Ayia Napa? has he really broken up with his ex girlfriend? Can she believe his excuses for not contacting her for long periods? And is Malibu following her own rules? It's a fun read, more Bridget Jones than Pride and Prejudice; Remy's voice is believeable, and Michelle Gayle workshopped the novel with a number of groups of girls; perhaps for me this is where it doesn't quite work: the message overpowers the medium. It feels a little contrived. However, I really rooted for Remy and found myself willing her to dump Robbie and believe in herself more in parts of the novel. Here is a clip of Michelle reading from Pride and Premiership.

I'd recommend all these books for 14+. They're fabulous! The title of this post is from one of my favourite Nirvana songs.