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The Secret of the Blood Red Key by David Farr – Blog Tour: Extract and a Giveaway
About the Book
The dazzling follow-up to the phenomenal The Book of Stolen Dreams from master storyteller David Farr, perfect for fans of Katherine Rundell and Philip Pullman.
Step inside the pages of an immortal adventure…
Rachel and Robert have defeated the tyrant Malstain and become the heroes of Krasnia, but all is not how it should be. Robert is swept away with his new friends, leaving Rachel alone to take care of her ailing father, who’s lost without their beloved mother.
From nowhere, a boy appears knowing the secrets of the hidden blood-red key. For the key is a way into the Hinterland – and Rachel must promise that, as a new key keeper, she will answer when it calls. When a young girl, Elsa Spiegel, is illegally smuggled into the Hinterland, Rachel has no choice but to use her key to save Elsa. But her fate is linked to Krasnia, and Rachel must battle to save her home as she knows it.
About the Author
David Farr is one of the UK’s leading screenwriters and directors for film, TV and theatre. In 2009, he was appointed Associate Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, where his productions of The Winter’s Tale, King Lear and The Homecoming all opened to critical acclaim. David is known for his work on Spooks and his 2016 BBC adaptation of The Night Manager, starring Hugh Laurie and Tom Hiddleston. He completed his first feature film, Hanna, in 2009, and has since adapted it into a hugely successful series for Amazon Prime, and has recently adapted The Midwich Cuckoos for Sky. The Book of Stolen Dreams is his first novel.
Extract
Here is a short extract of Chapter 13 The Lock which also demonstrates the wonderful illustration in the book. PDF version of the extract for download below.
Giveaway
The publisher sent me an extra copy of book one so I’m hosting a giveaway. To enter comment below where you would want the key to open to (U.K. addresses only).
What I Thought
To come… unfortunately I have been unwell again so have been unable to read this one. I will reshare this blog post with my review later in the month when I’m feeling better.
Do check out what everyone else on the blog tour thought – follow along on social media using #TheSecretToTheBloodRedKey and #TheStolenDreamsAdventures
Thanks to Bee at Kaleidoscopic Tours and the Publisher Usborne for the copy for review. The blog tour poster is below for reference.
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Scareground by Angela Kecojevic – TWR Blog Tour Book Review
About the Book
Roll up, roll up, the Scareground is in town!
Twelve-year-old Nancy Crumpet lives above a bakery and her life is a delightful mix of flour, salt, and love. Yet her mind is brimming with questions no one can answer: Why did her birth parents disappear? Why can she speak with the sky? And why must she keep her mysterious birthmark hidden?
Everything is about to change when the Scareground returns to Greenwich. Nancy is convinced it holds the answers to her parents’ disappearance. Nancy and her best friend Arthur Green meet the fair’s spooky owner, Skelter, and discover a world full of dark magic and mystery. Nancy must confront her greatest fears to get to the truth. But is she ready for all the secrets the Scareground will reveal?
About the Author
Angela Kecojevic is a senior librarian, author and creative writing tutor. She has written for the Oxford Reading Tree programme and the multi-award-winning adventure park Hobbledown where her characters can be seen walking around, something she still finds incredibly charming! She is a member of the Climate Writers Fiction League, a group of international authors who use climate issues in their work. Angela lives in the city of Oxford with her family.
What I Thought
Nancy Crumpet is a girl at home on the rooftops of Greenwich and with her family of baker parents. She knows she is adopted but when black balloons, raven feathers and music only she can hear arrive in town, she begins to realise that maybe they didn’t tell her the truth about her origins.
Along with her friend, Arthur, Nancy gets a ticket to the mysterious Scareground and although she’s made a promise to stay away it’s one she simply can’t keep when the truth is out there on the wind.
Author Angela Kecojevic has created a perfect spooky middle grade read with sumptuous writing. The descriptions leap off the page and the scares leap out at the scareground’s participants. It’s not too frightening for the reader but, as the book describes the Scareground, it is macabre. I think this would make a marvellous Tim Burton cartoon.
But are the scares as innocent as they seem and are the enigmatic Skeltor and his fairground crew to be trusted? After all the fair takes in boys that are otherwise unwanted. Waltzer, Shy, Racer and Dodge remind me of Fagin’s boys but they deal with illusion rather than thievery.
Without giving things away, and probably because people reading this will be too young to remember, but this gives me the same vibes as one of the 80s Care Bears Movies. But there are no Care Bears here to save the day it’s up to Nancy and Arthur and the Sky!
Love that this is all wrapped up but with the promise of a new adventure. I think our protagonists are ready to tackle the next one.
Huge thanks to The Write Reads tours and Neem Press for the gifted copy. Opinions are, as ever, my own.
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Norah’s Ark by Victoria Williamson – Blog Tour Book Review
About the Book
Two very different lives. One shared hope for a brighter future. No time to waste. The flood is coming…
Eleven-year-old Norah Day lives in temporary accommodation, relies on foodbanks for dinner, and doesn’t have a mum. But she’s happy enough, as she has a dad, a pet mouse, a pet spider, and a whole zoo of rescued local wildlife to care for. Eleven-year-old Adam Sinclair lives with his parents in a nice house with a big garden, a private tutor, and everything he could ever want. But his life isn’t perfect – far from it. He’s recovering from leukaemia and is questioning his dream of becoming a champion swimmer. When a nest of baby birds brings them together, Norah and Adam discover they’re not so different after all. Can Norah help Adam find his confidence again? Can Adam help Norah solve the mystery of her missing mother? And can their teamwork save their zoo of rescued animals from the rising flood? Offering powerful lessons in empathy, Norah’s Ark is a hopeful and uplifting middle-grade tale for our times about friendship and finding a sense of home in the face of adversity.
About the Author
Victoria Williamson is an award-winning author who grew up in Scotland surrounded by hills, books, and an historical farm estate which inspired many of her early adventure stories and spooky tales. After studying Physics at the University of Glasgow, she set out on her own real-life adventures, which included teaching maths and science in Cameroon, training teachers in Malawi, teaching English in China and working with children with additional support needs in the UK. Victoria currently works part time writing KS2 books for the education company Twinkl and spends the rest of her time writing novels, and visiting schools, libraries and literary festivals to give author talks and run creative writing workshops.
Victoria’s previous novels include The Fox Girl and the White Gazelle, The Boy with the Butterfly Mind, Hag Storm, and War of the Wind. She has won the Bolton Children’s Fiction Award 2020/2021, The YA-aldi Glasgow Secondary School Libraries Book Award 2023, and has been shortlisted for the Week Junior Book Awards 2023, The Leeds Book Awards 2023, the Red Book Award 2023, the James Reckitt Hull Book Awards 2021, The Trinity School Book Awards 2021, and longlisted for the ABA South Coast Book Awards 2023, the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize 2020, and the Branford Boase Award 2019.
Her latest novel, The Pawnshop of Stolen Dreams, is a middle grade fantasy inspired by classic folklore. Twenty percent of the author royalties for this book are donated to CharChar Literacy, an organisation working to improve children’s literacy levels in Malawi.
You can find out more about Victoria’s books, school visits and free resources for schools on her website: http://www.strangelymagical.com
What I Thought
This was such a heartfelt and emotional book featuring two loveable young protagonists.
It also touched on a range of tricky topics but handled them with nuance and a light touch. This could have been a very heavy and preachy read but it isn’t.
Topics covered include: Poverty, homelessness, food poverty, foster care, childhood cancer, gambling and addiction, climate change.
This could have easily become an overly saccharine portrayal of a Pollyanna type figure but Norah is not perfect and her flaws and judgments make her a much more interesting character, along with her desire to strive to make good any mistakes she makes. This book makes me look back with some shame in terms of how I maybe treated kids at school from poorer backgrounds and I wish that there had been books like this to teach me better empathy and how to challenge pervasive societal attitudes.
Adam’s story of surviving childhood cancer but struggling to return to normal life is also relatable. My one wish would be that the parental roles in this maybe weren’t as stereotypical – only because I do feel that focusing on an overanxious mum character perpetuates the gaslighting that can occur in medical settings.
Unlike in many books the parents have a hugely important role in this story and that was refreshing to see. The relationships between child and parent were complex and reciprocal. The empathy that both Norah and Adam showed to their parents demonstrates why it is so important to have an open dialogue with children about thoughts and feelings and beliefs because children often hold a lot which can weigh them down.
Using the animals as a shared focus for Norah and Adam’s friendship worked well. Overall this was a quick, enjoyable read with just enough peril to keep me on tenterhooks wondering if everyone – animal and human – would end up with a happy ending.
Thanks to The Write Reads and Neem Tree Press for the gifted ARC for the purposes of an honest review. Do check out what everyone else on the tour thought – spoiler everyone seems to be loving this one.
kirstyes 