Category: Scottish fiction

Night of the Living Ted by Barry Hutchison

When Lisa Marie and her step-brother Vernon pop into town to get their dad a birthday present, they discover the Create-a-Ted shop is offering free Halloween bears! Making two grisly bears for themselves and choosing an Elvis bear named Bearvis for Dad, they head home. That night the shopkeeper brings the bears to life for nefarious purposes … but Vernon’s bear, Grizz, doesn’t want to be a slave to humans – he wants to rule the world! Converting the shopkeeper’s Stuff-U-Lator into a machine for turning living matter into stuffed bears, he begins to prowl the streets. Can the children and Bearvis save themselves – and the world – from being stuffed?

 

Very good book, to me of course because I like evil things like that. RB (S1) ****1/2

Black Cairn Point by Claire McFall

Heather agrees to a group camping holiday with Dougie and his friends because she’s desperate to get closer to him.9781471404870
But when the two of them disturb a pagan burial site above the beach, she becomes certain that they have woken a malevolent spirit.
Something is alive out there in the pitch-black dark, and it is planning to wreak deadly revenge.
One year later Heather knows that she was very lucky to escape Black Cairn Point but she is still waiting for Dougie to wake from his coma.
If he doesn’t, how will she prove her sanity, and her innocence?

Amazing story. Well Written! EM (S3) *****

The Blitz Next Door by Cathy Forde

9781782502036Pete has never even heard of Clydebank in Scotland, but when his dad finds a new job at last, Pete finds himself leaving his home in London overnight.
There are advantages to his new life, including a massive new bedroom and his first ever garden, complete with a real-life bomb shelter.
He’d even be ok with the sound of the girl next door crying all the time — except that there is no house next door…Pete makes two new friends: Dunny, who knows all about the Second World War, and Beth, the girl next door who somehow seems to come from it.
He slowly realises that Beth has returned from the 1940s for a reason.
But does Pete have the courage to step into the past to solve a mystery that’s over seventy years old?

It was a really good book because of all the characters. I loved the character Beth Winters. RW (S1) *****

Dark Spell by Gill Arbuthnott

15-year-old Callie Hall has just found out she’s a witch, and things keep going wrong. Sometimes her mind seems to make things happen, things she can’t control. She can set fire to things without a match, and when she’s angry people can get hurt.
Her friend Josh understands she’s a bit weird, but it’s only on a dark and dangerous visit to the tunnels under the ruins of St Andrews’ Castle that he realises just how strange she really is. Something comes back with Callie — in Callie — something she can’t escape. Can Callie control her power long enough to send back the darkness, before it takes over her life? And will Josh ever understand her secret? A brilliant, engrossing teen fantasy from the author of Winterbringers and The Keeper’s Daughter.

It is a really gripping book and I would recommend it. (S1) *****

Intriguing, mysterious & good. (S1) ****1/2

Ferryman by Claire McFall

When teenager Dylan pulls herself free from a train wreck and emerges onto an almost deserted Scottish hillside, she believes she is the only survivor. Seeing the figure of a boy on the bank she enlists his help. But Tristan is no ordinary passerby, and Dylan soon learns that instead of being the only survivor of the wreck, she is in fact the only fatality.

 And, Tristan is no normal teenage boy – he is her ferryman tasked with guiding her through the wasteland to her afterlife. As the pair journey further together through the dangerous wraith-infested wasteland, they fall deeply in love. When they reach the other side, Tristan promises to cross over with Dylan, but when she steps across the threshold and turns back, he is not there. Confronted with life without Tristan, Dylan vows to find him, but that means traversing the dangerous wasteland without a guide.

I thought this book was great. I loved the story and the characters. This is a book well worth reading. P (S1) *****

Not my kind of book but I may buy it for somebody else maybe, but not me. J (S2) ****1/2

The Book of Doom by Barry Hutchison

There’s panic up in Heaven. They have mislaid the Book of Doom – the most important object in existence. Oopsy. They think Satan might have stolen it, the sneaky little devil, so to save the world – plus, you know, quite a lot of embarrassment, fifteen year old Adam and his angelic guide Angelo are sent to retrieve it.

I really enjoyed this book. There are lots of details and it’s really funny. I would really recommend this book. J (S2) *****

This book is confusing but its very good and interesting. I (S2) ***

It was an awesome book you don’t want to put it down. I would recommend this book. 😛 J (S2) ****

The Seeing by Diana Hendry

The second world war is over in the quiet town of Norton. When wild, dangerous, break-all-the-rules Natalie arrives, thirteen-year-old Lizzie is drawn irresistibly to the new girl from the wrong side of the tracks. Desperate for Natalie’s friendship and respect, Lizzie soon discovers a side of the town – and of herself – that she had never imagined.
As the girls grow closer, Natalie and her strange, eerie brother, Philip, reveal a shocking secret. For Philip has a second sight, and all around them he sees evil – ‘left-over Nazis’ lying in wait until the time is right for revenge. Natalie and Philip believe it’s up to them to root these people out of Norton.
Lizzie is swept up in what starts as a thrilling game – but the consequences of Philip’s ‘gift’ quickly spiral into disaster.

It was OK. Beginning was very slow & about the middle something happened which made me think that it mught actually become exciting but I was wrong. This book was boring and (did not) grip me at all. Suitable for ages 9 or 10 up to 13, I think.  L (S2) **1/2 

It was a dark out of the ordinary book in a good way. I (S1) ****

I thought the start was a bit creepy but it got more interesting later in the book. I (S1) ***

It is a good book but I don’t really like it because that isn’t the kind of book that I like. J (S1) ***

Exciting. Keep wanting to read on. J (S2) ****

Good book but very slow. J (S3) ***

The Robe of Skulls by Vivian French

“All is not well in the crumbling castle high above the mountain village of Fracture. The sorceress Lady Lamorna has her heart set on a new robe. It is a very expensive new robe. To get the cash she will stop at nothing, including kidnapping, blackmail and more than a little black magic. But she reckons without the heroic Gracie Gillypot, not to mention a gallant if rather scruffy prince, two chatty bats, the wickedest stepsister ever, a troll with a grudge – and some very Ancient crones.”

A great book with three very funny stories. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys books about witches. *****
Anon, S1 (2009)