School for Heroes

Lessons for a Werewolf Warrior

by Jackie French and illustrated by Andrea F Potter

Harper Collins Publishers Australia. Australian, Fantasy, Junior. Paperback rrp $20.00


Guest Reviewer - Tenaya aged 11

This book, falling into the fantasy genre, is about a young werewolf, Boojum Bark, who is living life happily with his mother running the “Best Ice Cream Shop in the Universe”. On Christmas Eve he sniffs out trouble and finds his mother stuck to the ground with strawberry jam, and he is stuck as well, while an evil creature, Greedle, steals his mum and the best ice cream in the world. He gets himself and the town mayor, who came to help, out of the trouble but his mum is gone.

A Hero is called to the trouble and tells Boo that he has the destiny to become a Hero. Boo is shocked but takes up the challenge to go to the School for Heroes, mainly to try to find his mum. After a very embarrassing first day, he pursues and makes friends with Mug and the mysterious Yesterday, all the while trying his hardest to please Princess Sunbeam Caresse von Pewke. Using their unique talents, the five (four, mainly - the princess seems to always forget something back in her own universe) can overcome even the hardest of challenges.

I liked the humour of this book, and the cleverness of some of the sentences.

There was nothing I disliked, because the whole book was great!

I would rate this book 8 out of 10, because at the start it didn’t really intrigue me much.

I think it would be suitable for 9-12 year olds.

http://www.jackiefrench.com/

Editors Note: Two of our young readers chose to review this book. Check out Josie's review at http://thereadingstack.blogspot.com/2010/07/school-for-heroes.html

School for Heroes

Lessons for a Werewolf Warrior

by Jackie French, illustrated by Andrea F Potter

Harper Collins Australia. Australian, Fantasy, Junior. Paperback rrp $20.00

Guest Reviewer - Josie aged 12

School for Heroes: Lessons for a Werewolf Warrior is a 378 page book filled with black and white drawings by Andrea F Potter, that help you to understand the storyline better, if you are having trouble to understand the story. However, Jackie French described the characters so well that the picture she painted inside my head helped better than the pictures drawn by Andrea F Potter.

The story is about a young werewolf named Boo, who smells something in the ice cream factory- ‘The best ice cream in the universes’ – which is owned by Boo’s Mother. When Boo walks in he sees the Greedle, inside the shop, with the best ice cream in the universes, AND Boo’s Mother! Boo manages to save the ice cream, but the Greedle escapes with Boo’s mother.

Determined to rescue his mother, Boo is then sent to the School for Heroes where he learns to fight bogeys, and finds new friends including a mysterious girl named Yesterday. When reading this book you wil find out:

1. Why Yesterday takes home the school rubbish.
2. Whether or not Boo rescues his mother.
3. And many more, that you will have to read about to find out!

This book always kept me on my toes, wandering what was going to happen next. It was very exciting, yet humorous at the same time. Jackie French did an absolutely marvellous job of creating fun characters you could really imagine, I found the story line a little bit silly, and not very believable, however I had a good laugh!

I recommend this book for girls and boys aged 8-12, so I as a mature 12 year old reader found this book a little bit easy and it wouldn’t be good for children over 12. Overall I rate this book 7/10 because it was a great book, but I would’ve enjoyed it more if I was younger.

http://www.jackiefrench.com/