Middle Grade | Big Bearded Bookseller

Chibundu Onuzo. Bloomsbury Children’s, (288p) ISBN: 9781526661005. Middle Grade, read 14/05/25, Paperback ★★★★☆

Mayowa and the Sea of Words

I’ve got to admit when I received this I was a bit trepidatious as the cover reminded me of so many book in the past several years and the blurb reminded me of a couple of books I had read and enjoyed in the past.

I needn’t have worried as the story of Mayowa and her growing ability to channel emotions through jumping on books, or as her Grandad calls it logosalting (yes I know, a bit of a mouthful) turned into an amazing adventure with appropriate baddies.

This is the first of a new series which explores this power and follows Mayowa as her skills develop and a good first book it is.

Mayowa has always been told by her mum and dad not to jump on books and not to copy Grandpa Edwards, but circumstances conspire to have her staying a summer with him and this is where she learns about her family secret (on dad’s side anyway), logosalting and how it has been used in the past for good and evil and that it should only be used if it causes no harm.

Mayowa and her Grandpa (Baron Edgerley) get involved in foiling nefarious racist bigots from getting a piece of legislation through parliament that would mean refugees would be left to drown if they capsized, this is being pushed through by evil logosalters who shouldn’t exist according to Grandpa.

Lots of adventures, training montages, upsets, evil twins, new friends, and family, always family makes this a well-paced read that you don’t want to put down. Read it in three commute sessions and would have read it in one long sitting if given half the chance.

“These aren’t the droids you’re looking for.”

The end was exciting and satisfyingly left a lot open for book 2, especially mum’s side of the family, I think…

I received this from Bloomsbury Children’s in exchange for an honest review.

Robin Stevens. Penguin. (352p) ISBN: 9780141369761. Middle Grade, read 21/02/18, Paperback ★★★★☆

Murder Most Unladylike

Just before Christmas (a couple of years back) we found out that Robin Stevens was coming to one of our local schools to talk to the pupils about her books and writing mysteries, have to say I jumped at the chance to organise something to support the schools librarian and the school (but also to meet Robin 😉 ).

Robin was kind enough to give me a few of her lovely US editions of the series, Murder is Bad Manners being the US name for Murder Most Unladylike, and they are such beautiful editions too, strikingly different art from the UK editions, reminiscent of the 30s John Buchan/Agatha Christie covers.

In this first book, Daisy and Hazel seem to be ironing out the kinks in their relationship whilst trying to discover who murdered their teacher, Miss Bell.

This involves following various clues, red herrings and threads to their conclusion, and in the tradition of all good murder mysteries the reveal is surprising but follows from the clues sprinkled throughout the book.

The pace was well-judged, moving along quickly enough to keep a reader interested but not so quick as to lose the thread of the plot, Hazel is a wonderful narrator in the style of a Watsonesque sidekick, but with a bit more personality than that much maligned assistant.