Noah's Gold

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Fully illustrated in black and white throughout by Steven Lenton, this is perfect for readers of 9+. Her quirky pictures will keep the reader entertained and focused as they work through the book, or simply dip into the pages for ten minutes of calm colouring. In common with some of his previous books, there is some mild peril involving dastardly criminals up to no good, whom - in the manner of Scooby Doo - the meddling kids thwart. They get into scrapes together, bake some poisonous cakes, almost ruin their school assembly and finally have a twintastic birthday party.

I can’t even tell you how many times this book made me chuckle and fully laugh out loud, which I always find rare with books. How is Noah communicating with his parents when technology doesn’t work and the kids are stuck on an island in the middle of the sea – Letters of course! It was shortlisted for the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize 2008 and the inaugural Roald Dahl Funny Prize.But, when he stows away in the back of the school mini-bus, on his sister’s geography field trip to Wonder Warehouse, his ‘skill’ has mammoth repercussions that affect more than just him and his family. I just feel like this book was strong without this extra seemingly quite random aspect to the story that also didn’t feel fully fleshed out. He is also the author of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again , Cosmic , Framed, The Astounding Broccoli Boy and Runaway Robot . With no way of knowing when, or if, they’ll be rescued, Noah and his sister’s classmates must learn to work together if they’re going to survive. He has also written his own picture book Princess Daisy and the Dragon and the Nincompoop Knights' and his new young fiction series Genie and Teeny .

His second book, Framed was inspired by a news story he’d read in an old scrapbook: During the Second World War, a collection of valuable paintings from the National Gallery was hidden in a slate mine for safekeeping. Yourself and Bob are much cherished in our booky world and I personally really appreciate everything that you do. You guys were so fab and Dawn was such a lovely presence in the schools - I will absolutely be in touch next time I'm in your neck of the woods. It is filled with adventure and characters that are very believable, especially when you realise how much they relied on technology to get by and didn’t know what some natural items were as they didn’t have labels on them.A geography trip for some year 9's (the nicest year 9's I've ever come across, I have to say, being a school employee for a good number of decades now) and a stowaway younger brother, the title hero Noah, goes wrong and they find themselves stranded in an island, somewhere off the coast of - er, Ireland. However, during a short-lived career as an assistant at a puppet show, he earned a fortune entirely in small change.

As worrying matters escalate, a treasure map is discovered and then the unthinkable – a stash of gold bullion is found. At another point, I thought I'd spotted a hiccup in the timeline: at the end of one letter, Noah learned that he had received a letter from his family; we were then presented immediately with said letter, which talked about events which had only just happened. There’s also a gentle message about the value we can find in everyday things when we are forced to put our phones and laptops away, and the firm friendships that take hold in times of uncertainty.It seems that Noah’s managed to break the island’s internet connection, leaving the minibus crew without any phone connection. His sister is pretending she doesn’t know him, their teacher disappears, nobody knows how to source food without Alexa… and what’s this about a treasure map?