Kjartan Poskitt

This book was provided to me as an advance reader copy by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

First, Martha’s mom bans her from playing soccer and Agatha and friends must get Martha back on the field. Then Agatha’s brother, James, receives an email from a mysterious girl, Bella, and Agatha secretly responds for him. It’s just one of those things that sisters have to do! Agatha discovers Bella’s love of spelling might hold the secret for getting Martha permission to play show more soccer again. Several forged emails—and a few spelling tests—later, will Martha play in the big game? And what will happen when the innocent Bella meets the real James? The irresistible adventures of Agatha Parrot continue in this funny and unpredictable installment.

This being my first experience with Agatha Parrot, I had no preconceived notions of what to expect. This book made me snicker out loud at certain points. Yes, there was some silliness, which I prefer to avoid when reading, but if one is going to convey the true behavior of 7 and 8 year-olds, there is going to be some silliness involved. Agatha and her friends felt real and I can imagine the circumstances in the book actually occurring. The children do engage in some deceit (cheating, lying), but in the end, honesty wins out (somewhat), and the characters go to bed happy. I would recommend this book to kiddos 7 to 10 years-old. They will love the antics of Agatha and her friends, and will likely clamor for more. show less

I did a whole report over this book and overall I loved it. It involves going through a mystery and solving math equations. The book does have a different format than a traditional book. It also does take a good chunk of time to go through. So that way kids can’t finish it super fast and be bored. The math in the book goes from simple to difficult so it does range in difficulty. I think this is a very good middle school book to help keep distracted kids busy. The illustrations are also fun show more to look at as well. show less

There are children's books and there are children's books. This book, wasn't just made for children, it tossed me back to my days of being a child, reading Judy Blume! The ideals, Agatha's way of thinking and how she went about the story made for a boisterous read for both my son and myself!

We finished the book in one sitting and thought,​ "I could read another one of these!" My son agreed- laughing loudly and rolling about our classroom floor (that's where we read together; in my office, show more lying about the floor is the best place).

We also found the introduction to The Gang and their qualms entertaining and good to know. Illustrations of the characters, like Ellie who's afraid of nonfat milk because she believes they come from skeleton cows- only elementary kids can think of things like that! The other illustrations of the book are hilarious, all squiggly and such. I don't see this sort of stuff every day, so it was a blast!

For the full review: http://tinyurl.com/zyrwyw4
**Book provided by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, for an honest review. show less

(ARC was provided to read and review.)

Borgon and his three friends Hunjah, Grizzy (the girl of the group) and Mungoid are savages, with Borgon being the brave and fearless barbarian.
They live in the Golgrath Basin in The Lost Desert and right at the start of the book is a wonderful map showing the whole area and giving the reader a good idea of the cheerful fantasy landscape the author has created. There's a Wandering Jungle or you can climb the Mountains of Chaos.
The Wispering Temple is the show more third installment of the Borgon series, and as the title suggests, the quartet of friends discover a temple and its secrets.

Borgon finds a blue rattlesnake and because he hasn't seen one before, he decides to take the reptil home as a pet.
But the snake has a different idea and escapes. It looks like, it's hiding a secret, is it protecting the temples entrance? The friends aren't sure.
Hunjah recognises the temple as the one of the Great Conk, the god of......well, that would be spoiling the fun, but it's a rather unusual god. And believe me, it certainly is a sensible idea to be with the Great Conk on good terms, as his wrath is evil, it involves his nose, which is very big and very runny.
The friends come across a coin inside the temple, which leads to the appearance of Zaffar and his two slaves and to quite a few funny twists and turns, when they all try to discover, what lies behind the temple entrance with the sun lock. Will they be able to open the lock? Will they meet the Great Conk? And what does a cheese and dungbeetle flan taste like?

The book is divided into twelve easily digestable chapters and beautifully enhanced with superb illustrations by award-winning illustrator Philip Reeve, who has in the past teamed up on more than one occasion with Terry Deary for his Horrible Histories.
Borgon the Axeboy is a book children will enjoy to read, but Borgon's life isn't always the typical one of a barbarian.
Borgon's friend Grizzy carries a book with her in her bag, the Book of All Things, which always comes in handy for the four to aquire knowledge, but the normal barbarian had, of course, no books for reference or otherwise. The food Borgon devours in the story, also isn't true barbarian, but at least the way he devours it, certainly is. How he and his mother enjoy their peaches was for me one of the highlights.
Another thing I loved, is that the text is packed with lots of "sounds" like: rattle, hiss, kronch, krump, krakk, etc. and children will have a lot of fun with it.

Overall, Borgon the Axeboy and the Whispering Temple is a beastly funny book, with easy to digest chapters to tempt even the most reluctant reader and barbarically brillant illustrations. show less