Book The Thirteen Curses by Michelle Harrison - Best Sellers Books

Books - My Favourite Books

Synopsis

Trapped in the fairy realm, Red must beg an audience with the fairy court. There, she strikes a bargain. Her brother will be returned – but only if she can find the charms of Tanya’s bracelet, scattered in the human world.

Returning to Elvesden Manor, Red is assisted by Tanya and Fabian, and a desperate hunt begins. Soon they make a shocking discovery. The charms are now cursed with the twisted qualities of the thirteen treasures they represent ... and the longer they are missing, the worse the consequences will be.

Can Red, Tanya and Fabian find all the charms? And even if they do, will the fairies keep their promise?

I loved The Thirteen Treasures so was interested to see how the follow-up had moved the characters on. The first change is that Red is now the main protagonist. Tanya had her host of problems but in comparison to Red they were fairly minor. The cover and title reflect this and I’m impressed by the author’s and Simon & Schuster’s attention to detail. The world that Harrison created springs back to life, picking up where the last book left off. Because Red is the main character the book seems a little more adult too. That’s not to say that Tanya, Fabian and Florence don’t get a look in. Happily, they all play a part in this story which eased me into the change of protagonist.

We find Red in the land of fairy searching for her abducted brother. She soon falls foul of the forest’s twisted wise woman and becomes her prisoner. Warwick, the manor groundskeeper, is trapped there too and they help each other escape and search for James. The resulting visit with the fairy court leaves Warwick in prison and Red searching for the thirteen charms from the bracelet which appeared in the first book. Red’s meeting with Warwick gives her a chance to share her sad back story with the reader and, in my opinion, this gives the book a real depth. Red isn’t as instantly likeable as Tanya but I understood why and was prepared to stand by her when she snapped at people and put her quest first. In fact, it’s quite refreshing to have a main character who has outbursts of temper, isn’t always selfless and can be thoughtless!

It’s the tiny details in this book that make it stand out; the parallel world of fairy and how it relates to ours, the folk law or the bitter-sweet (or bitter-bitter much of the time) nature of fairies and how they can ruin lives. I found myself swept up in the story and often felt sorry for poor Fabian who doesn’t have the gift to see fairies but tags along throughout.

The search for the thirteen charms is thrilling and dark. Without giving too much away it gets spooky and dangerous. There are tunnels, graveyards and abandoned churches! The way that the charms have been twisted to curse the finder with their literal meaning is such a great twist! As time goes on the way that the curse reacts is more extreme. The best twist of all is kept for the end, it’s beautifully done and rounded the book off perfectly. A word about the illustrations; they’re cute and are also by Michelle Harrison. I think they help give this book a slightly old-fashioned feel. Both of these novels will stand the test of time, I think. They have a timeless air that leads me to imagine them being read twenty years from now.

Check out the author’s website at http://www.michelleharrisonbooks.com/ and watch out for the third book due out January 2011.

*reviewed by Esssjay (Sarah Bryars who is on her way to a holiday and didn't have a chance to sign in to post this!)*

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Book Children's Nonfiction Magazines: Part II Non Fiction

Children’s science magazines have evolved into well-designed, beautifully illustrated journals meant to entertain as well as inform. Animal-loving kids, especially, can revel in the options available.

The National Wildlife Foundation’s venerable RANGER RICK has been around since 1967. Ranger Rick (a raccoon) and his groups of animal pals have ongoing adventures in a comic strip. Photo essays highlight various animals, all with word and number puzzles and games, meant for ages 7 and up. YOUR BIG BACKYARD, NWF’s magazine written for ages 3-6, offers a similar format. Their third offering, WILD ANIMAL BABY, is printed on heavier stock in a smaller size and perfect for the 6 months-4 set. The NWF.org website offers free monthly e-newsletters that feature activities, crafts, and special offers.

COUSTEAU KIDS focuses mostly on the ocean – the critters that live there, people who study them, as well as environmental issues and how children’s groups are working to solve them. Teacher’s guides are available from the website: www.cousteaukids.org.

Carus Publications offers science magazines that go beyond animals. ASK (grades 2-4) and DIG (grade 4 and up) tend to focus on science with an archaeological or historical slant. CLICK (grades 1-2) and MUSE (grade 4 and up) venture forth into geography, physiology, technology, weather, and culture. Their website, http://www.cobblestonepub.com, has a “For Kids” section which offers interactive activities tied to each issue of the magazines.

National Geographic’s website is the most elaborate. Video, audio, games, contests, and more relate to the various magazines they publish. A group of classroom magazines: YOUNG EXPLORER (grades K-1), EXPLORER (grades 2-4), and EXTREME EXPLORER, like the granddaddy National Geographic, encompass nature, culture, and history, as does the home subscription magazine, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC LITTLE KIDS, for preschoolers.

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC KIDS is the only magazine of all I reviewed that features ads – many pages of ads, mostly for video games. The ads are not limited to front or back sections, but are inserted throughout the issue, often with the same rather cluttered design as the stories. I would wager that kids might not be able to tell the difference between ads and articles. I was surprised and dismayed to see this departure from the other magazines.

As I suggested last month, magazines are a great market for nonfiction children’s authors to explore, since the issues keep rolling out month after month.
And magazines are such a treat for kids. I remember the thrill of getting something in the mail, with my name on it. A book generally offers a single story, but a magazine is a party bag of surprises – and a regularly scheduled treat.

Are there more nature and science magazines I’ve missed? Do tell. Since INK is establishing a nice archive of book reviews, I’d like to keep up to date with other print media as well – magazines and websites, and perhaps even DVDs. What do you think?

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Book A Thousand Sons - Graham McNeill - Best Sellers Books

Books - My Favourite Books

The Great Crusade is at its height, and the Thousand Sons are its most dedicated warriors. Though utterly loyal, the Legion of Magnus the Red is viewed with suspicion for its arcane methods. Feared by the Imperium he has sworn to serve, Magnus is called to the planet Nikaea to answer charges of sorcery.

When the ill fated primarch foresees the treachery of Warmaster Horus and warns the Emperor with forbidden powers, the Master of Mankind dispatches Leman Russ, Primarch of the Space Wolves, to attack Prospero. But Magnus has seen far more than the betrayal of Horus and his revelations will seal the fate of his Legion forever.

When I opened A Thousand Sons for the first time, it was with unusually high expectations, contrary to my normal approach- the story of Magnus the Red and his condemned Legion has surely got to be one of the most eagerly awaited instalments of the Horus Heresy series, and combined with the knowledge of how addictive Graham's writing is and teasers like this it was nigh on impossible to avoid it.

The problem with high expectations is, of course, that it creates a greater scope for disappointment. I was expecting a lot from A Thousand Sons- I wanted to know what the Legion was about, who these Marines were who had so blatantly thrown their lot in with the forces of Chaos. I wanted to understand how their fall came about, and why. I wanted sympathetic characters, drama, and thundering action.

And Graham has delivered the goods, and more. The book comes in at 558 pages, and not one of those is wasted, the writing lean and tight. The seamless way that the various subplots and concepts come together, while still delivering a clear picture of the Legion and it's history without it ever feeling too 'heavy' is testament to Graham's ability to tell a damn fine story.

The story primarily follows Ahriman, Chief Librarian of the Thousand Sons and his relationship with Magnus the Red, but also touches on the human 'remembrancers' who follow the Great Crusade, and the picture that emerges is a far cry from from what you might expect from a Legion that history records as being condemned for their treachery and sorcerous ways.

It's an interesting mix and keeps things fresh, even while you're trying to decide whether to weep or rage as events are set in motion that will lead to the savagery of the Space Wolves being unleashed on the erstwhile brothers. As Dan notes in the clip linked above, it's a tragedy that unfolds, one that leaves you with bittersweet musings on what might have been if things have worked out differently.

But that's part and parcel of what makes A Thousand Sons, and the series, so unmissable.

..... now all I have to do is survive the wait for Dan Abnett's follow up, Prospero Burns. Aaargh.

**Edited to add Competition News!**

Just got the go-ahead to give away two copies of A Thousand Sons by the awesome Graham McNeill. This is a superfast competition - email us at: myfavouritebooksatblogspot (at) googlemail (dot) com with your name - entries no later than this Sunday, 28th February 2010. We'll announce who the two winners are on Monday and the boys from Black Library will be sending it out to you. Please note this is UK only!

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Book CJ Skuse - Pretty Bad Things - Interview - Best Sellers Books

Books - My Favourite Books

CJ in Vegas, casing the joint

Smug cannot begin to describe the fact that I managed to get an interview with debut novelist: C J Skuse, author of Pretty Bad Things. Having read her answers, I totally now get her characters even more.

Here we go:

1. Can you introduce yourself to MFB’s readers?

My name is C.J. Skuse. I come from Weston-super-Mare, I’m 29 and I’ve been writing since I was 17. Pretty Bad Things is my first novel for young adults and is being released by Chicken House in March 2010.


2. Is Pretty Bad Things the first novel you’ve ever written?

No, I actually started writing my first novel when I was 17. I sent it out to fifty literary agents, one after the other, and got about fifty straight rejections back during the course of ten years. I wrote another one after that, but they didn’t want that one either, so then I got the hint that maybe my writing was a bit rubbish, so I enrolled at University and did two degrees in creative writing. It wasn’t until I’d graduated that people started to take me seriously. These courses, along with my two previous novel attempts, were the best learning curves, and I really couldn’t have written PBT without them.


3. What was your inspiration for Pretty Bad Things?

So many things inspired PBT! If you’re into movies, you can probably see the film references in there (Bonnie and Clyde, Thelma and Louise, Natural Born Killers, True Romance, in fact any Tarantino movie!) but it’s not compulsory to know these films to enjoy the book. Music was a huge inspiration too. I’m heavily influenced by rock music when I write, specifically New Jersey band My Chemical Romance (fyi this is the only reason the twins come from NJ) so listening to their music really helped draw certain scenes out of me. For Paisley’s more angry moments, I found Slipknot, Linkin Park and Foo Fighters particularly helpful.


4. Why write for teens?

I started writing when I was 16/17, so every time I go to write a character now, they are always around that age. I think I am emotionally stuck at 17. I still have the same hang ups, fears and rages I had then and a lot of unsolved angst from around that time too. Because I’m quite a passive person, I guess I invented a character like Paisley to kick ass on my behalf because I just don’t have the courage to, a bit like Beau!

5. Paisley is such a wild yet likeable character – how did you manage to keep her from becoming nasty enough to dislike?

I don’t know if I have kept her from being disliked. She’s one of those people for whom trust doesn’t come easy so her defences are always up, but when you know more about her and what she’s been through, you can understand why. I just hope readers will be able to laugh at the funny parts and relate to her total disregard for authority, and perhaps note those few places where her vulnerability comes through. She’s hard-edged because she’s had to be.


6. In complete contrast we have Beau – the quiet studious one, the voice of reason for most of the book. Was it a conscious decision to write Beau’s character this way?

Yes it was, because Paisley is so full on with everything she says and does, I think you need an antidote to that. Someone to point out that, in fact, what she sometimes says and does is downright ridiculous or just wrong. I’d write a Paisley chapter where she’d just be swearing and complaining and it would be one liner after one liner, and it would be a relief to get to a Beau chapter where I could change down a gear, be a bit more poetic, notice the surroundings a bit more etc. A whole book written in Paisley’s voice would be so frenetic I think it would be too much. Beau acts as the perfect balancer.


7. If money was no option and PBT was being made into a movie – who would play Paisley and who would play Beau?

Anyone I say would be way too old if it ever got made into a film but I’d absolutely love Dakota Fanning to play Paisley. Beau, for me, has always been Gerard Way (MCR lead singer) so the dream would be if Gerard Way lost fifteen years and played him because he’s written in his own image. Emile Hirsch (Into the Wild) has always reminded me of Beau too. Failing that, Chris Colfer (Kurt in Glee) and Steven R. McQueen (The Vampire Diaries) both have Beau-like qualities about them.


8. Both Beau and Paisley come with a huge amount of back story. What came first – their back story or their current story?

Back story definitely. I had a lot of time to really research these characters and their home lives (down to the kitchen cabinets they had in their home in Jersey!) because I wasn’t really working to a tight deadline, so I could really build the foundations of who they were. If there is to be a sequel, more of that will come out.


9. Are you a big fan of Las Vegas? I ask as I had this impression whilst reading PBT that I was there, experiencing the noise, the glitz and the heat of the Strip.

I only went there for four days and I wasn’t really a fan until I left it. I found it pretty scary. It was like entering a board game. I gradually came to realise that when you’re there, you just have to play the game, have the experience, and try not to lose all your money.


10. What do you do when you’re not writing?

I re-write. Or I read. And I go to the odd rock concert. That’s pretty much all I’ve ever wanted my life to be until I can afford my dream smallholding in the Lake District. Of late I’ve been Googling Robert Pattinson quite a bit too which takes up a fair bit of time.


11. What are your favourite TV shows?

At the moment, Glee and Being Human are my appointments-to-view. Anything else I can take or leave. I get sucked in to things like X Factor, I’m a Celebrity…and all of that, because it’s total light relief. I love sitcoms from the 70s onwards too so I’ll always watch an episode if anything’s on, regardless of how many times I’ve seen it before. I also find Robson Green’s Extreme Fishing strangely watchable.


12. Did you have a soundtrack for writing PBT?

Big time! The soundtracks and the movie posters to my books are always worked out before the books are even finished! MCR, Paramore, Slipknot, Linkin Park, Foo Fighters, Biffy Clyro, Kings of Leon etc etc. Music is a huge inspiration for my writing and I could go on for days listing bands and songs that have helped me write particular scenes, but they’re the main ones.


13. Can you hint to us about the follow-up novel to PBT or is it Top Secret at the moment?

I’m working on about three different books at the moment, most namely my second book for Chicken House which is due for release in 2011. I’m always a little hesitant to say too much about it too early in case a sneak steals my idea, but I’ll happily tell you more nearer to publication! I’m also working on a very tentative sequel to PBT, though depending on how well PBT is received, it may never see the light of day. And I’ve also gone back to the book I was writing before PBT to see if I can patch it up, more because it’s just something I need to finish for myself.


14. What are you reading / what do you enjoy reading when you’re not head down writing?

I like YA books. I can relate more to teenage characters than I can to adult ones. I loved the Twilight books and I’ve just finished reading all the Harry Potters straight through, which I thought were incredible. I like Christopher Moore, Kevin Brooks, J.D Salinger, Stephen King, those kind of geniuses. I read graphic novels and comics as well. My New Year’s resolution was to read more classic novels, so I’ve started with the Narnia books and To Kill a Mockingbird. I’m gearing myself up for Charles Dickens too.


15. Any advice for young aspiring authors?

There’s no point doggedly sending your work out to agents and publishers if it’s not as good as it can possibly be, so I would recommend anyone truly serious about getting published (if they can afford it) to do a creative writing degree and preferably an MA in Creative Writing. Your writing will improve ten times over I guarantee it and you’ll meet some incredible people and make good contacts too. It’s the best thing I ever did and I would definitely not be published now without it.

*** Competition News***

So, as a superfast competition, one lucky person gets the opportunity to win my finished (and unread) copy of Pretty Bad Things before it's release in March 2010. I'm letting this run until Sunday, 28th Feb. I'll announce the winner AND post the book out to said winner on Monday, 1st March.

Tell MFB who would be your perfect partner in crime (famous or non-famous) and why. The winning comment will be twittered and you'll receive the tidy copy of PBD to read at your leisure. The competition is open to UK peeps only as I'm paying postage. Random.org will choose the winner!

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Book Guest Blogger Dan Gurney: UNK, INK's foul relative Non Fiction

This month I am thrilled to turn over my column to my friend Dan Gurney, who is a master Kindergarten teacher and a great enthusiast of non-fiction for kids. Dan is a blogger at Misterkindergarten and MindfulHeart. He is the creator of Soundabet.

David

INK’s foul relation, UNK

by Dan Gurney


David Schwartz, who is visiting schools in Asia, emailed me to ask if I would fill in for him this month. He thought INK readers would enjoy hearing from me, a public school kindergarten teacher with 30 years of experience.

To the bottom of his email, he appended the following quotation:

“You can almost divide [children’s] nonfiction into two categories: nonfiction that stuffs in facts, as if children were vases to be filled, and nonfiction that ignites the imagination, as if children were indeed fires to be lit.” — Jo Carr

INK readers come here to learn about the second category.

Here, however, I wish to discuss nonfiction that’s so bad, I’m not sure Ms. Carr would stick with only two categories.

I want to talk about INK’s foulest relation, UNK.

UNK, is the acronym for Uninteresting Nonsense for Kids. The first thing you need to know about UNK is that he is crowding INK right out of my kindergarten day.

I searched the INK website to see if anyone had already blogged about UNK and was surprised to see that so far he’s escaped notice.

UNK, of course, doesn’t saunter onto websites or into classrooms using his real name. He’s got an alias: DIBELS. Let me introduce you to UNK, I mean, DIBELS.

DIBELS—a reading assessment system in widespread use across America—is making learning to read more stressful and less meaningful. It is changing the kindergarten language arts curriculum for the worse. And it’s stealing untold hours that could otherwise have been spent reading interesting nonfiction.

What is DIBELS?

DIBELS is the acronym for a collection of reading assessments given three times a year to kindergarten students called Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy. Kindergarten DIBELS uses timed tests to measure four discrete skills:

• initial sound fluency,
• letter naming fluency,
• phoneme segmentation fluency, and
• the ability to quickly decode nonsense words.

What Makes DIBELS Stressful?

Ask any kindergarten teacher with a DIBELS-issued stopwatch hanging from her neck what she thinks of DIBELS. She’ll likely roll her eyes in exasperation, sigh with frustration, and say something like this, “DIBELS is stressing me out. It’s meaningless. It doesn’t tell me anything I don’t already know. And it’s demeaning. It presumes that I’m not competent to make instructional decisions.”

In its full implementation, DIBELS tests are given three times a year, fall, winter, and spring. These tests are designed to ferret out kids headed for reading trouble. DIBELS computers classify students into three categories: “Benchmark,” “Strategic,” and “Intensive” which mean, respectively, “OK,” “Borderline,” and “You’re in for it.”

Students who are classified as “Intensive” undergo “Progress Monitoring,” DIBELS-speak for on-going, preferably weekly, DIBELS testing. DIBELS scores are uploaded to a national computer which generates individual student charts and saves the scores to an enormous and growing national database. If the DIBELS computer deems any student’s progress to be inadequate, the computer will prompt the teacher to apply new instructional activities.

Scrutiny like this might have been just the ticket for banks and investment firms on Wall Street. But for kindergarten classrooms?

Nonsense

Careful monitoring might make sense if what was being monitored was meaningful. But it’s not. It’s nonsense. Literally nonsense. If this sounds like hyperbole, consider this: DIBELS calls their final test in kindergarten “Nonsense Word Fluency.”

Not that I’m against nonsense. When nonsense is used to lighten us up, to help us take ourselves less seriously, I’m all for it. But DIBELS nonsense has a different purpose: to sort and classify kindergarten students into high and low achievers, to record that information in a nationwide database, and to urge teachers to apply instructional strategies to see that low achievers get higher scores. Serious nonsense.

On this test, kindergarten students are expected to demonstrate fluency in reading consonant-vowel-consonant nonsense words like “sim” “lut” “vaj” and “cun.” Student progress is thus measured. Sadly, some of UNK’s “nonsense” words are actual words. “Wan” is one example. If a precocious, imaginative, or curious student should pause to ask her examiner why a real word is inserted among the nonsense words, her fluency score would plummet.

Because teachers are likely to teach the skills upon which their performance will be evaluated, DIBELS influences the way reading is taught in ways that may contribute to the emergence of a generation of students who may well resent reading as difficult and meaningless work. (DIBELS officially insists that their scores should not to be used in teacher evaluations, but I cannot imagine whom they think they are kidding.)

It Doesn’t Make Sense

Slipping in almost unseen is an important premise of DIBELS: that utter nonsense is appropriate for five year-old children in their first year of formal education.

When I began teaching in the 1970s, a kindergarten teacher’s job was to teach manners, develop social skills, generate generosity, and, yes, to ignite imaginations. We read books—interesting nonfiction books—to inform, to entertain, and to inspire sustained investigation.

If we were feeling ambitious, and we thought the kids were ready, we might introduce the ABCs at a leisurely one-letter-per-week pace. Kindergarten teachers liked to think more about how to get schools ready for children than how to get children ready for school.

Back then, we educators waited, patiently, wisely, compassionately, until late in second grade before we expected students to master letter sounds.

It never occurred to me that someday I would be told to teach very, very young children—many with lagging listening and speaking skills—to read nonsense quickly.

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Novel Nonfiction Monday: Up Close: John Steinbeck Synopsis

John Steinbeck (Up Close Series) By Milton Meltzer. 2008. Penguin. 208 pages.

Foreword: No matter where travelers go round the world, they run into people who have read John Steinbeck. His deep understanding of human emotion, his sympathy with those who have been abused or neglected, his defense of their struggle for a decent standard of living, have made him one of our most beloved authors. So powerful was his writing that it earned him the world's highest award for literature, the Nobel Prize.

Chapter One: Salinas? Who ever heard of that place? Maybe not you, but millions of people around the world who've read the stories of John Steinbeck.

Milton Meltzer's biography of John Steinbeck is interesting. I was curious to learn more about this (relatively new-to-me) favorite, favorite author. (Last week, I reviewed Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday.) And Meltzer's biography did a fairly good at job at introducing the subject. Readers get some details on his life, descriptions of his works, a quick examination of how the public responded to his works--how critics and readers alike responded to his books.

This is my first encounter with the "Up Close" series of biographies. And I still don't know quite what to think. There were things I liked about this biography. (The foreword was great. I think Milton Meltzer genuinely cared about John Steinbeck, that he did appreciate Steinbeck's work.) But there were things that bothered me as well. For example, the flow of the text, the narration. It wasn't always as smooth as I'd have liked. There were some bumpy paragraphs that didn't really fit in with what came before or after. I think one of the biggest problems I had was the insertion of general information and background material about twentieth century America. Young readers may need extra help in placing Steinbeck within a greater context. But these 'asides' interrupted the flow of the text. Perhaps if the text had been placed within a box of its own, been an 'article' or 'sidebar' within the text it would have been less awkward? I've seen this done in other biographies, other nonfiction books, so I know that it can be done in such a way.

The intended audience of this one is probably students. Those who may (or may not) have an option in reading Steinbeck or reading about Steinbeck. I do think this one would come in useful for writing about Steinbeck for various assignments.

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

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Book Pretty Bad Things by CJ Skuse - Best Sellers Books

Books - My Favourite Books

Synopsis

When they were six, twins Paisley and Beau Argent made the headlines. They were the “wonder twins”, found alive in woods after three days missing– spent looking for their dad. But now at sixteen, life’s not so wonderful. Lied to by their money-grabbing grandmother they’re still clueless about their dad’s whereabouts. Until they find an old letter. That’s when they decide to hit the road – and make headlines again. Holding up candy stores in Las Vegas might be extreme but if they can get on the news, and tell their dad they need him, they might get the reunion they never thought could happen.

**please note, there are some slight spoilers further below in this review, but none should detract from the awesomeness of this book**

I read Pretty Bad Things in maybe four hours, maybe a bit less. Not because it’s lightweight. To the contrary: PBT is a wild ride and the story has these chunky boots that climb into your head, with its hang-ups, attitude, sass and all.

At the age of six Paisley and her brother Beau became famous overnight. They survived for three days, on their own in the forest, eating a packet of sweets Paisley had in her pocket. Their mother had just died from an overdose of drink and drugs and there’s still no sign of their dad. Well, it turns out that good old dad did something really silly: he decided to try and rob a well known establishment and got nicked for it, sent to jail.

So the twins got to grow up with their ruthless and grasping grandmother who toured them around tv shows and radio stations, letting them tell their stories over and over again. Meanwhile the money came rolling in to secure their future.

But it doesn’t end there. In fact, it’s just the start of an amazing story that had me alternatively sobbing / shouting with joy, into a tissue on the 73 bus.

Paisley is the girl most of us wish we could have been at school. The wild child. The destructive one. The one you were a little bit afraid of but admired nonetheless. She’s got an awful relationship with her grandmother (affectionately known as the Skankmother) and has been sent to be educated at a variety of boarding schools after it transpired that she could not be controlled. She got herself tossed out of four or five different schools for a variety of reasons. She is on her way to the loony bin if she doesn’t watch her step.

From the above description you may think “why the hell would I care about such a monstrous child?” and the honest answer is: Paisley’s voice. You can easily appreciate exactly where she comes from. As the more dominant one of the twins, she’s the one who took care of them in the forest when they got lost. She’s the one that stood up to her mother when her mother beat her and Beau and put them in the basement or locked them in cupboards whilst going on a drinking binge. Paisley and Beau have not had pretty lives.

Paisley managed to escape to a certain extent, with her grandmother paying for her to be educated elsewhere, where she would be less inclined to influence Beau. It’s hard on the twins. Beau acts as the voice of reason in their relationship. He’s steady but scared of his grandmother and would rather do her bidding than rock the boat.

When Beau discovers an entire box full of letters from his father which had been hidden from them, he sits down to read them all; ten years worth of letters. The most recent letter is a revelation. Their father is just up the road in Las Vegas! Beau sends Paisley a letter which completely takes the wind from Paisley’s sails: her father is alive, out of jail and he is living in Las Vegas.

She beats up another girl in school to secure her expulsion and flies to California where she rescues Beau from her grandmother’s house and together they embark on an adventure the likes of which America’s not seen since Bonnie and Clyde/Thelma and Louise.

After fruitlessly searching Las Vegas, with no sign of their dad, Paisley comes up with this idea to steal sweets from various sweet and candy shops dotted all around Las Vegas. The reasoning is: their exploits would no doubt go up on the large external tv screens that line the streets and this would mean that their dad would know that they were around and try to find them.

It’s an insane plan and one that works, eventually, and then stunningly well. With each robbery their fame grows. Different factions form – those who are Team Paisley and Team Beau – and they garner a huge following online. Their most dedicated fans realise there is definitely something behind them holding up these candy shops. The media goes mad, they can’t believe that America’s sweethearts from ten years ago have turned into villains – robbing shops and creating all kinds of chaos. They search for the twins’ grandmother who runs around giving various heartbreaking interviews about how she’s tried to control them but all they ever did was break her heart, steal her things and burn down her house.

Most poignant for me was when the twins had the opportunity to go online and check out these forums that had been set up on their behalf. How people and kids identified with them, what they were doing (even if it was a bit villainous) and how they rooted for them because it would mean that if Paisley and Beau could get their dream fulfilled of being reunited with their dad, anything could happen for anyone else. Beau and Paisley were living the lives many kids were too scared to live for themselves. They identified with the twins and it meant that their fanbase just keeps growing and growing. And it’s not just kids. It’s adults too. Soon the twins are almost too famous to pull off any robberies. They become victims of their own fame.

Beau and Paisley become true anti-heroes. Their actions become wilder and wilder. Yet they aren’t purposefully malicious. Just clever and desperate to find their dad and they are prepared to do almost anything to realise their dream. Add to that their psychotic grandmother who has machinations of her own and a will as stubborn as Paisley’s and you just know you’re heading for a disaster of some sort.

Pretty Bad Things will raise several eyebrows once it’s released. Some people are bound to be upset by the language, the way Beau and Paisley go about trying to find their dad, the blatant references to sex and drugs (and rock n roll) but for those who can take this in their stride, and see past the brazenness of the characters, you’ll be swept off your feet, rooting for these two amazingly real and honest characters.

I can’t recommend Pretty Bad Things enough – it is definitely for a slightly older audience, fifteen upwards or for younger mature readers who won’t be cowed by the characters or their actions. And to be honest, I’m pretty sure that a lot of adults / older readers, will easily be able to identify with the characters and appreciate the breathless quality of the writing as they rocket around Las Vegas on their quest.

This is CJ Skuse’s first novel and it’s being published by ChickenHouse. Find the Facebook page for Pretty Bad Things here.

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