A Beginner’s Guide to Ruling the Galaxy
David Solomons
Nosy Crow

Gavin, a pupil at Middling High School prefers to keep himself to himself so he’s far from pleased when a new and exceedingly annoying girl starts following him around. This girl is Niki, who announces she’s a galactic princess and says such weird things as “ I claim this adequately rated secondary school in the name of the Galactic League.” and almost immediately starts tucking into his packed lunch. A boy also joined the school at the same time as Niki and is supposed to be her brother Bart, but we have our doubts from the outset. Surprisingly to Gavin, other members of the school community are ‘spellbound’ by this extraterrestrial female. But what is her secret?

After some time Gavin sees her following what seems to be a talking cat; and then Niki turns round and calls him intrusive. What on earth is going on? Suddenly Gavin finds himself entangled in a situation where the whole of humankind could be doomed unless he can fix the spaceship so Niki can escape from Earth.

Full of twists and turns, this pacy story has lots of humour – some relating to how things work on planet Earth and some I suspect adult readers like myself will appreciate more than the target audience; indeed there’s never a dull moment throughout. There are some great characters and there’s also a lot of heart when it comes to friendship, kinship and family. Gavin is a foster child and desperate to belong; you’ll likely find yourself rooting for Niki too as the tale develops.

All in all, a clever sci-fi comedy for older KS2 readers and beyond.

Dragon Storm: Mira and Flameteller
Alastair Chisholm
Nosy Crow

In this fourth book in the magical Dragon Storm series for younger Alastair Chisholm fans, Mira’s dragon Flameteller is still working out what his special power is. However they both enjoy discovering how things work so when a visit to an ancient waterwheel, The Rivven Wheel, is announced, they are excited and Mira eagerly tries to find out everything about it.

However, on their return to the city Mira hears a worrying announcement: on account of the loss of an ancient magical object – a tool of dragon magic – that was under royal protection, the King of Draconis plans to root out and destroy all dragons and those who work with them.

Then she is given an opportunity to visit a part of the caves that she’s never been to before and see how the Dragonseer Guild is powered. She even has the chance to work with Grimbal who keeps everything going there, although he is not at all enthusiastic about having two assistants. When an issue arises with the magic powering the Guild, Grimbal assures the two that he has it in hand, but they both feel something is wrong.

Can Myra and Flameteller find a way to fix things and so prevent King Godfic’s soldiers finding the Guild and the dragons? They’re certainly going to need help from her fellow dragon seers and their dragons

and they’ll need the materials to do the work required on the machinery; and maybe Flameteller’s special power can come into play too.

With plenty of excitement and superb illustrations by Eric Deschamps, this is another fire-cracking, compelling adventure that will thrill new solo readers.