John Townsend (2) (1955–)

The book stands out from other World War One childrens books for its plot, split in time between WW1 and the present day, and the codes featured in the book. By having a contemporary narrator and codes to break, my boy seemed to feel quite involved in the story. And its merciful brevity allowed him to dispatch the book rather quickly, rather than letting it become a marathon to drop out of. Well worth a look. I paricularly enjoyed the poem featured in the story, although my son rushed show more through that! show less

A crime has been committed and Eliot knows who committed it. Within this novella, he tells the truth through a serious of anagrams and other puzzles.
A really good quick read, literally took me an hour! Loved the originality and loved trying to work out the anagrams and clues within this novel. The only reason this did not get five stars is because I unfortunately guessed the ending :( I wish I had been wrong as it would have made it a massive twist, however I thought it was slightly too show more obvious and could have been done more subtly by John Townsend. Still, it's a really good zoom in of life for a twelve year old at secondary school and gives a true insight into the how intelligent, strategical and logical some children are.
A must read! It won't take long! show less

Cursed cars, weird objects that move, disappearing people - you name it, this book has all the old cliche ghost stories and more. Its not very hard to read (I took about 40 mins to finish it) and the page colours alternate to white text on black to add to the spooky atmosphere of the book. Short stories for Easy Readers without too much horror.

As Chris rides his bike home on Christmas eve, an angel falls from a Xmas tree in front of him & an old lady gives him a chilly warning. When he meets up with his new girlfriend Angela, even stranger things start to happen – what is the text message REV10 and why does the car that rescues them when they are stranded in the snow have the same message.