Assalamu Alaikum!
It's Zainab here, and today I'll be reviewing five books for young teenagers.
1. All The Wrong Questions
By: Lemony Snicket
This series is about a thirteen-year-old Lemony Snicket who is an apprentice at a secret organisation. He arrives at a town called Stain'd-by-the-Sea with a chaperone to work on a case.
Lemony Snicket encounters some good people, some bad people and some just plain unhelpful ones.
Throughout the books people go missing, fires break out(under mysterious circumstances), floors are mopped with poison, and the villain Hangfire continuously manages to slip away. There are four books in the series and I enjoyed them because they are witty and humorous, yet serious at the same time.
2. The Sinclair's Mysteries: The Clockwork Sparrow
By: Katherine Woodfine
This is the first book in a series which is set during the Edwardian era. It is about a recently orphaned young girl named Sophie who starts working at a large department store called Sinclair's. It is the largest and most glamorous(fictional) store in London and is really beautifully described by the author. Sophie soon makes friends with Lil, an aspiring actress, Billy, a porter's boy and Joe, a boy with a past that brings danger to them all. Together they help solve their first mystery: the theft of a valuable clockwork sparrow from the department store.
The descriptions are very vivid - making you really feel as though you are there. I think that the illustrations are very elegant too.
The series is complete with four books to be collected, though I have only read the first two.
3. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
By: Lewis Carroll
A young girl named Alice follows a talking rabbit down a rabbit hole and finds herself in a world where anything impossible can happen. She meets lots of animals including birds, mice, rabbits, a blue caterpillar and a grinning Cheshire cat, all while trying to find her way into a beautiful tiny garden.
I really enjoyed the story, and loved the illustrations by Anna Bond. Wonderland is a world where unusual things happen; however, they happen so often that they begin to seem ordinary.
Nothing is ever boring, and by the end of it I was sad to close the book. Insha'Allah, I hope to read it's sequel, Through the Looking Glass, someday.
4. The Trouble with Perfect
By: Helena Duggan
This is the sequel to a book I recommended a while ago called A Place Called Perfect. In this book something unusual happens to Violet's friend, Boy. He is accused of committing crimes and Violet begins to doubt his claims of being innocent. Not only that - children are going missing, Violet gets attacked by what seems to be a zombie, old enemies return and new ones are made.
It's a great continuation to the first book and I liked it a lot. It is a mixture of adventure and mystery, and the plot wasn't obvious. Looking back at the first book, I noticed a few hints the author had left of what was to come in this book.