I Swapped My Brother On The Internet by Jo Simmons

'I Swapped My Brother On The Internet' is a Hilarious and gripping book based on brotherly love, and the fact that you should always hang on to your family, they are the people who will always love you and support you, even if you don't notice it. Jonny is an ordinary boy in his ordinary town, part of an ordinary family, however he has an annoying brother, Ted who constantly teases Jonny and makes him feel out of ease all the time. Spectacularly enough, a peculiar ad popped up on his screen saying sibling swap, swap siblings today with siblings wap.  Soon after that occured  Jonny came to his final straw and he set fouriously to the siblings wap website to swap his brother, he filed the form and sent it right away . The sibling swap team said the swap would be coming at 5 pm. He went down to his brothers room and called out “TED!” and again “TED” but no answer came. Ted was gone. After the first swap arrived it was followed by a dozen of catastrophic swaps, for example a mere boy the ghost of Henry the Eight, and a boy raised by meerkats. Jonny sooner or later realized that he may be prefered Ted out of all these other ‘Brothers’. But how was Jonny ever to get Ted back?...

My favourite character in the book is one of the swaps who faked being a Xbox addicted kid called Pete to know more about the origins of the siblingswap website, but whose real name was pip and she was really a girl. I prefer  her due to her brave, sneaky and brilliant attributes which I greatly admire. My opinion and perspective on this novel is that it is extremely readable and greatly entertaining, although contemporaneously gives an important lesson to the reader. I recommend this book to readers and fans of 'The Parent Agency' by David Baddiel and all other family based hilarious novels.  

Reviewed by Lahiri Paolella (Aged 11)

Happy reading! 

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Lullaby by Leila Slimani

“The baby is dead.” It is this genius opening line of the book that first grips you (by the throat) and doesn’t let go until you turn the final page. 

Lullaby is the story of Myriam and Paul, a young couple with two small children and their nanny Louise. When Myriam decides to return to work, a choice accepted only reluctantly by Paul, the couple hire Louise, prim and proper, with her Peter Pan collar and her hair tied back in a clean knot, to look after their children. “My Nanny is a miracle-worker," Myriam proclaims to her friends, as they file in for Louise’s perfect meals in the small but, thanks to Louise, perfectly tidy apartment. Louise adores the children who adore her right back and Myriam and Paul can’t believe their luck and return to the lives they had dreamt of for themselves.

Things are, of course, never quite as they seem and as Louise slowly weaves herself into the fabric of the family, author Leila Slimani takes the reader back into the dark story and history of this woman who while she is in control of everything in Myriam and Paul’s life has lost control of everything in her own life. Her enhanced position in the household juxtaposed with the life she lead in the shadows of French society and the dark streets of Paris.

Lullaby is a beautifully written, atmospheric thriller, but it is also a strong and deftly crafted critique of society; of those who rise up and those who spend their lives in an unstoppable freefall towards the bottom.

The ending is on the first page, but the journey back to that beginning is at turns exciting, sad, thought provoking and frightening.

Lullaby is a book that requires a few breaks, but can so easily be read in just one sitting, breathlessly, anxiously on the edge of your seat.

Do it. You won’t regret it!

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Frederik Sandwich and the earthquake that couldn’t possibly be by Kevin John Scott

'Frederik Sandwich and the earthquake that couldn’t possibly be' is a fantastic tale based in the near environment of the scandinavian countries. Frederik Sandwich was born in Frederik’s Hill where almost every male in the town was called Frederik. However he is not completely from the place, Frederick was born on Frederiks hill  because his family moved there before he was born, hoping to start a new and peaceful life. Although the fact that Frederik Sandwich was born on Frederik’s Hill he wasn’t treated the same way as the rest of the inhabitants of the hill. Frederik was constantly bullied at school and throughout his day. But when a peculiar ‘earthquake’ occurs at Frederik’s Hill Frederiks life changes forever. With Pernille tha strange and so called ‘freak’ or ‘weirdo’ of the school drags Frederik Sandwich into an investigation on the peculiar events that are occuring throughout Frederik’s Hill. The two soon discover intriguing facts on the towns history and on her ‘ladyship the mayor’ Muriel Kristensen. Frederik and Pernille discover the whereabouts of a crazy tramp and a train conductor and will do the impossible to save the mayor from being harmed.  Will Frederik and Pernille save Frederik’s Hill…

My favourite character in this fantastic book is Pernille, I love her smartness and quick-thinking, her agility and caringness. I can compare many skills and attributes to her including her love for reading and thirst for adventure. My opinion on this novel is that it is very gripping and is full to the brim with intriguing characters, marvelous plots, mysterious cases, and most of all friendship and trust. I love the way this novel makes you turn the pages non stop always looking forward for a new chapter and twist and turns to the already quirky storyline. I, Lahiri Paolella greatly recommend to all the Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart fans and all other magnificent and quirky books, and trust me this book will amaze you!     

Reviewed by Lahiri Paolella (Aged 11)

Happy reading! 

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Educated by Tara Westover

Educated reads like a novel but is a true story of the kind that is almost impossible to believe.

Tara Westover grew up on a mountainside in Idaho in a mormon survivalist family. The winters were harsh and isolating, the summers spent canning fruit, collecting weapons, learning morse code and planning for the end of the world. Tara and her five siblings, several of which were not even registered at birth, are not allowed to attend school, but spend instead their days working with their father in his scrapyard or making herbal mixtures with their midwife mother.

It is a life dominated by fear, isolation, injuries and pain inflicted by parents and siblings suffering from emotional and psychological challenges that go untreated and undetected.

The family’s conviction that the government is out to get them, that they will not be allowed to live according to their norms and beliefs and that they must therefore always be prepared to defend themselves against the outside world leads to life threatening decisions and a paranoia that colors their every move.

More than anything Tara experiences a world where there is absolutely no room for dissent, no allowance for different choices or outside voices. Even as she starts to slowly move away, to separate herself emotionally and physically from her parents and even years later when she finds herself in an entirely different life, she struggles to trust her own voice and her own strength:

“Not knowing for certain, but refusing to give way to those who claim certainty, was a privilege I had never allowed myself. My life was narrated for me by others. Their voices were forceful, emphatic, absolute. It had never occurred to me that my voice might be as strong as theirs.”

Tara Westover’s story is one of resilience, courage and grit. She succeeds in catapulting herself from no schooling to university, first in Utah and later at Cambridge and Harvard. Every decision comes with its own price tag and it is fascinating to watch Tara realize that education is so much more than math, reading and writing. It is about community, about friendships and about understanding social and cultural norms.

It is difficult to imagine what it must be like to grow up thinking that yours is the only world, only to realize at the age of 17 that everyone has lived in a different world. One where you don't have to sleep with a packed backpack under your bed ready for the world to go under; a world where historical and scientific facts matter and a world where the government, schools and doctors are your friends not your enemies.

Educated reminded me in many ways of The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. It too was the hard to believe story of a young girl growing up under circumstances that were at once, strange, terrible and fascinating. But what the two books mainly have in common is a lack of sentimentality which becomes both authors and both books. Neither woman sees herself as a victim and neither woman hates her family; both women genuinely try to understand the choices their parents made and both women rise above and go way beyond what could reasonably have been expected of them. And for that they deserve our admiration.

Educated is a fascinating and riveting read. You won’t be able to put it down - Happy reading! 

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