Boys Read Books

Following a traumatised teen witnessing his grandfathers death at the hands of a seemingly fictional monster to a magical orphanage where he discovers that these peculiar events might just be real after all.  This is a book where you’re almost immediately thrust into the action. Sure, it may start off innocently enough with your average teen at a summer job and then BAM! Death, monsters, and traumatised children.  It’s quite a dark beginning for a book that has a pretty happy and relaxed middle. It explores some really fascinating ideas, the concept of peculiardom is awesome to think about and the many abilities that could be possible. The time loops are also a very interesting idea when you consider what could be done with them. You could effectively time travel by hopping from one period of time to the next. I hope that that’s explored later in the other books of the franchise because it would be really cool to see them time hopping.  The main villains of thi...

Parents seem to really panic if their kid doesn't like reading, but there is no point getting stressed about it. So here are 5 ways to encourage a reluctant reader and be chill about it too. 1. Don't force them to read No kid ever learned to love something they were forced to do. If you don't want reading to be a chore like eating broccoli or making your bed, then don't make it a big deal! Have loads of books available in the house or visit a library, but leave it up to your kid to decide when to read (although you might want to switch the wifi off every now and again to encourage them). 2. Don't be snobby about their choices OK, not every kid wants to read Tolkein or some other massive book that you think is 'quality' fiction when a book full of fart jokes is much more fun. Reading is reading (and yes, that includes the Argos catalogue) and it is all good. 3. Find their interests Kids are much more likely to pick up a book if it is about someth...

This is the book for you if you like having to think A LOT.  The first half was quite confusing -  it starts with a boy dying and BAM... here we are in some strange place. Is it the after life? Is it the underworld? Is it hell? It’s completely baffling and really alien for both the reader and the main character. He has no idea what’s going on either and for whatever reason can’t remember his previous life and it comes back to him in random, often traumatic flashbacks.  After spending around 75 pages with our main character seemingly the only person in this strange, new world, two new people suddenly ride up and rescue him from what looks to be Death (if Death drove a van and dressed like a biker). These two new characters are here to confuse us further with their garbled explanations of what is going on.  As you read on, things are explained in a bit more depth through logical conclusions, a fair bit of guesswork and some more trusty flashbacks. You can piece tog...

I picked this book up on a whim as I hadn't heard of the Mortal Instruments series beforehand, and bought it after skim reading in the shop for a bit (I am going to get banned from bookshops for doing this!).  T he first 5 or so chapters were actually really good at getting me interested, i t starts off with normalcy from the main character's (Clary) point of view as we would see things and then unexpectedly shifts to the perspective of a demon in a world that’s completely new to us, which was enough to keep me reading. The books follows New York based teens Clary and her best friend, Simon as they are introduced to the world of the Shadowhunters following some close encounters with demons. They uncover  a world that is very different to the one they thought they knew. The Shadowhunters are a secretive group who protect humans from demons and when you get your first glimpse of the Shadowhunters, you don’t know whether or not you like them because even though they’re cle...

To be honest, Percy Jackson is probably the series I have read the most. I started reading it when I found it in our local library when I was 11 . I read almost the entire book before I even left the library, then I bought the others and spent the entire weekend reading them.  They were just the balance of reading I needed, because other books for people of my age, I found too boring and I was forbidden from reading many of the young adult books because they were allegedly too inappropriate (thanks parents  🙄 ).  This was also before I got the Harry Potter books, which I would also have liked back then too.  I read and reread the Percy Jackson series so many times that I can still recite pieces of the books by heart and still remember every encounter, monster and deity in the series. It satisfied my love of mythology and also fast paced action. The cross over between the ancient and modern world gave the old myths a new spin and kept them interesting. I have re...

1. Peeves the poltergeist Peeves was featured in every single book, constantly making trouble for teachers and students alike. From alerting Argus Filch to Harry and the gang being out of bed at night in Book One, to helping Fred and George make Umbridge’s life a nightmare in Book Five. He even helps in the battle of Hogwarts in The Deathly Hallows. Sadly, he didn't even get a mention in the movies. 2. Dobby The movies failed to give Dobby the credit he deserved for key events in the series. He was the one who gave Harry Potter the gillyweed for the second challenge of the Triwizard Tournament, he also was the one to tell Harry about the Room of Requirement when they needed ir for Dumbledore’s Army. He was also randomly useful at different times. In the movie, the credit for both of these things, goes to Neville rather than the house elf. 3. Winky and S.P.E.W In the Goblet Of Fire, Winky is the house elf belong to Barty Crouch, originally accused of firing t...