Recommended English Books

[The Alternative Story]

Brenda10:

Hi TAS

Thank you for the brief introduction to the book.

It seems that dd has no problem with the book and she is about to finish soon.

Wish you a nice day. :lol:

Hi Brenda10,

No problem It seems that she likes fantasy stories and can
digest more challenging material.

Since she likes fantasy stories, has she read Keys to the Kingdom
by Garath Nix?

He is quite a good writer and his fantasy stories are quite gripping.

TAS

[Joy]

Hi TAS


Do u have good books to recommend that is full of suspense,for instance, besides GONE, what other titles would u recommend?

Thank you.

Joy

[The Alternative Story]

Joy:

Hi TAS


Do u have good books to recommend that is full of suspense,for instance, besides GONE, what other titles would u recommend?

Thank you.

Joy

Hi Joy,

We have a number to recommend, we will list out a few first
and continue with the rest as we go on

1) The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline B Cooney

In this story, Janie, finds herself looking at a picture of a girl
on a milk carton that she is drinking during her recess break.
That little girl is Janie. On the carton, it says that the little girl
was missing and there is a number to contact.

Janie then begins a journey unravelling the truth about her
life and her family. Is the family she is leaving with her real
one? If so, who is the little girl who looks exactly like her on
the carton? If not, then why is she living with a family that is
not her real one?

This is an intriguing read and it is the first book in a series
to unravel the truth about Janie.

2) Locked in Time by Lois Duncan

Lois Duncan's books are full of suspense but there are some like
'Down a dark hall' that can be eerie. However, Locked in Time
is suspenseful without being too eerie. In this story,
Nore is very excited when her father remarries some time after
her mother's death. However, her step-mother, step-brother
and step-sister are not who they seem to be. Firstly, her
step-mother looks too young to be a mother of teenagers.
Secondly, her step-sister, Josie, keeps making remarks about
the family being 'stuck' and 'time not counting for anything'.

Later on, Nore finds her step-mother's diaries and discover that
her father and her are in grave danger and she must do all she
can to stop her step-family from doing what they have always done.

3) Monster Republic by Ben Horton

In this book, Cameron wakes up from an explosion in a nuclear
power plant to discover that he has been retrofitted with different
body parts and bionic implants. He now has powers he never had
before but he looks like a monster as his whole face and body is
a patchwork of different parts of other bodies and implants.
He discovers that some kids and him have been made into such
'monsters' for a political purpose. Their parents all think they are dead
and now they must find a way to make sure that they are not used
for the evil intent that they were revived for.

Interesting read!

Where to get them: Libraries and bookstores
(The face on the milk carton and Locked in time should be only
available at Borders)

We carry Monster Republic. We will update the booklist with the
price of Monster Republic on the Marketplace thread- The
Alternative Story Parent's wkshops and classes
by this weekend.

Will add on to this collection of suspense books again

TAS

[Village Girl]

Hi TAS


I managed to borrow The Black book of colours and The light in the Attic from the library (only these 2 are available right now). My girl enjoys the books. So many questions about the blind now. Thank you for your recommendation.

[The Alternative Story]

Village Girl:

Hi TAS


I managed to borrow The Black book of colours and The light in the Attic from the library (only these 2 are available right now). My girl enjoys the books. So many questions about the blind now. Thank you for your recommendation.

Hi Village Girl,

Glad to hear that she likes the books. If she is interested to know
more about the blind and braille, there is another book that is good.

- Secret Code by Dana Meachen Rau

Oscar, a blind boy, explains to his friends that his books are not
written in secret code but rather in braille, there are illustrations
besides some of the braille alphabet so the children can learn a
bit of the braille alphabet and help to decode a letter Oscar writes to
his friends.

TAS

[The Alternative Story]

Hi parents,


We would like to recommend a series of books under the
Fantasy genre. Recently, because of the popularity of Harry Potter,
more children have been reading fantasy books.

This series is not as complicated as the plots in Harry Potter and thus
the books are not as thick. Children from the age of 9 to 12 would like
it.

Title of series: Charlie Bone series by Jenny Nimmo

You can get your children to visit the website http://www.charlie-bone.com/about.htm to play certain games on it and
get interested in the book. (esp if your child is a reluctant reader,
playing the games might get him/her more interested to read)

What is it about:

Charlie Bone discovers one day that he can hear what the people in
a photograph are saying.

His paternal grandmother and aunties are delighted with his gift and they
send him to Bloor's Academy (a boarding school for the musically
gifted and those who have special 'gifts')

His grandmother and aunts have done so because they want his gift
to be controlled and used by the headmaster of the academy.
They threaten to stop supporting his mother and him financially
unless he enrolls in the academy. His father died when
he was 2 years old.

Through the photograph that he first could hear the people talking,
he finds out that there is a girl his age trapped in the Academy and
she has been hypnotized for 8 years and the only way to free her
would be to go to the Academy and find her. It also seems too much
of a coincidence that 8 years ago, his father died. At the Academy,
he finds that there are 2 main groups of children, one who use their
gifts to harm and one who do not really know what to do with their
gifts. He becomes a leader to the children who are clueless about
their gifts and together, they find a way to free the girl and to find
out what really happened to Charlie's father.

This is the plot for the 1st book, there are 8 books in total for this
series. All the books are interesting, a child does not need to read
the first book to be able to read the other books, as each book
is a different adventure in itself. However the main characters are
the same. In one of the later books, they discover that Charlie's
father is actually a teacher in the Academy but he too has been
hypnotized to such a degree that he has forgotten who he is.

Where to get it: Most bookstores and libraries.
We also do sell them at a discount and there are
creative writing phrases that will be given along with the books.
We will post up the details about this series on our
Marketplace thread by this weekend.

TAS

[paper-ring]

Hi TAS,


do you have any book to recommend to a K2 reader?

[KoalaMummy]

The Alternative Story:

We will post up the details about this series on our
Marketplace thread by this weekend.

TAS

yes, please, i have been trying to get the books from you but to no avail...

[The Alternative Story]

paper-ring:

Hi TAS,


do you have any book to recommend to a K2 reader?

Hi paper-ring,

here are some books which would be suitable for K2 readers:

1) Usborne Young Reading series
We talked about this series in our earlier posts

2) Books by Shel Silverstein
Shel Silverstein has many illustrated books which caters to the younger
readers and most of them are poems.
For one of his books, The Giving Tree, it offers a simplified
interpretation of the gift of giving, and it teaches us a heart
of gratitude. A very moving story, definitely a great book to
teach the younger children about loving and giving.

3) \"Guess How Much I Love You\" by Sam McBratney
This story talks about a little hare who wants his daddy
to know just how much he really loves him. Having a
hard time expressing his love for his father, little hare
keeps coming up with more and more ways.
This book is fun to read together and endearing to
parents and children alike.

4) \"Peek-A Who?\" by Nina Laden
This is a book filled with colourful illustrations where
there are windows to look into to guess what is
hiding behind the scenes. From a cow to a train,
this is a book that will offer the excitement needed
to let your children learn in a fun way, and start
loving to read!

TAS

[The Alternative Story]

KoalaMummy:

The Alternative Story:

We will post up the details about this series on our
Marketplace thread by this weekend.

TAS

yes, please, i have been trying to get the books from you but to no avail...

Hi KoalaMummy,

Sorry for the delay, the prices for Charlie Bone
series had just been updated at the Market Place!

For any other enquiries, you may call us
at 67588744 or email us at
[email protected]

TAS