James's Top Ten!

There are so many great books, it's hard to choose. But here are my top ten!

James's Top Ten books:

1. Land of stories (6 books)

2. Pokemon series (9 books)

3. How to train your dragon series (12 books)

4. Dragon Rider (2 books)

5. Atticus Claw series (7 books)

6. Kaspar: Prince of Cats

7. Cornflake the Dragon

8. Lonely Lake Monster

9. Charlotte's Web

10. Ottoline Series (4 books)

My runners up are: To be a Cat by Matt Haig, The Misadventures of Max Crumbly by Rachel Renee Russell and Enid Blyton's Famous Five series.

I hope you enjoy reading these!

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1. Land of Stories by Chris Colfer (6 books)

These are my most favourite books because they are thick and they've got loads of things happening inside of them. There are also very funny characters, such as Froggy, who is one of the long-lost Charming brothers. The main characters are Alex and Conner who fall into a fairy tale book that their Grandmother gave them. They have to travel into the books lots of times to save the fairy tale world from lots of harmful creatures and people.

I love these books because Alex and Conner are very adventurous and they meet the most unusual characters at very unusual times. I hope you enjoy reading these too!

For more about these books see: http://thelandofstories.com

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2. The Official Pokemon Fiction series (9 books)

These are Pokemon's fiction books for kids, not the Pokemon manga comic books. The main characters are Ash, Misty and Brock who go around the Orange Islands competing in Pokemon battles and making sure that Team Rocket doesn't catch Ash's pokemon Pikachu as they pop up everywhere Ash and his friends go. They make lots of different friends on their adventures and collect lots of unusual pokemon.

I love all of the pokemon as they are really cute and I love finding out all about them.

I love the movies too! They are different stories from the books.

Here's some info about these books: https://www.hachettechildrens.co.uk/titles/none/the-official-pokémon-fiction-ashs-big-challenge/9781408351833/

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3. How to Train your Dragon by Cressida Cowell

These books tell the story of a viking boy called Hiccup who takes the hard path to become a hero. Together with his dragon Toothless, he has to escape jail, fight sword fights with his evil enemy Alvin the Treacherous and try to fit in with the rest of the more viking-like boys.

The movies are based on these books but they are actually very different. In the movies, Toothless is giant and black, but in the books he is as small as my hand and green.

I think you will probably get addicted to these books by the time you've read the first one!

For more about these books see: https://www.cressidacowell.co.uk/books/how-to-train-your-dragon/

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4. Dragon Rider and Dragon Rider: The Griffin's Feather by Cornelia Funke

This book is about a boy called Ben, a brownie called Sorrel, and a dragon called Firedrake, who have to try to save the dragons from humans who are trying to flood their secret valley and catch them. They have to fly to a secret place in the Himalayan mountains, but there is another human-made dragon called 'The Golden One' that is trying to capture and eat the silver dragons including Firedrake so they must be careful.

I like this story because it's a thrilling tale and you never know what is going to happen. It's also very emotional and funny, and it's also all about one of my favourite mythical creatures. This book is great and so is the second book called 'The Griffin's Feather.'

Here's the publisher's website: https://www.chickenhousebooks.com/books/dragon-rider/

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5. Atticus Claw series by Jennifer Gray (7 books)

These books are about a cat who solves mysteries and has arch enemies who are magpies that like to steal shiny things. Their main target is Atticus because they want warm fur for their nests. He is based on the author's cat. I think people who like mysteries will really like these books because in one chapter it will say what's happening with Atticus, and in the next chapter we will see what's happening with the bird burglars, Jimmy, Thug and Slasher. When you are reading it, you have to try to solve the mystery as well. I like that there is always a connection between Jimmy and his gang and Atticus and his people, and it is interesting how it all comes together. I also like how he's a burglar in the first one, but then becomes a police cat in all of the other ones.

The author's website is here:

https://jennifergraybooks.com/series/atticus-claw/

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6. Kaspar: Prince of Cats by Michael Morpurgo

This is the story of Kaspar, who is the only animal to survive the sinking of the Titanic.

The main narrator is an orphan called Johnny, who is a bellboy in The Savoy. He later gets adopted by a rich family with a child called Lizziebeth, who is Johnny's best friend. When Kaspar's owner dies, Johnny has to try to save Kaspar from the Titanic's shipwreck, even though no animals or luggage are allowed on the rescue boats. One of my favourite cliffhangers is when there are no rescue boats left for the men and the titanic is sinking quickly. What will Johnny do?

I liked this book because it's got lots of cliffhangers in every chapter so it keeps you excited till the end where everything finally goes right and makes sense.

There's more information on this website: https://www.michaelmorpurgo.com/book/kaspar-prince-of-cats/

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7. Cornflake the Dragon by Ruth Symes

I have taken this book out of the library lots of times because I like it so much. It's about some children who really want to take a pet home from school but their teacher doesn't choose them. However, the teacher had forgotten about the library's lizard, so she gave the children permission to take it home. While they were looking after it, they realised he loved Cornflakes, so they called him that. After that, they realised that he was actually a dragon!

When a man from the 'Secret Animal Society' comes looking for a dragon on the loose, the children don't want to lose Cornflake! What will they do?!

I really like this book because it's hilarious and also because it has dragons in it and I love dragons. But this dragon is especially cute because he's a baby. I insist you read this too!

There are 2 other books in the Secret Animal Society series. Have a look on Ruth Syme's website: http://www.ruthsymes.com/project/secret-animal-society/.

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8. The Lonely Lake Monster by Suzanne Selfors

When a girl called Pearl unwillingly finds a loose sasquatch roaming the hills, she discovers it comes from a worm hospital that is actually an imaginary creatures vets. After she becomes an apprentice, she and her friend Ben find a lonely lake monster in the lake at the back of the hospital and have to find a friend for it.

I liked this book because it's all about imaginary creatures and I love sea monsters. And also, they have to keep the secret from the rest of the village and just pretend it's a worm hospital, even though no one has any pet worms, which is quite funny.

There are other books in the Imaginary Veterinary series, but I haven't read them yet. You can find out more here: http://www.theimaginaryveterinary.com

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9. Charlotte's Web by E. B. White

This is one of my favourite books because it is about a girl who lives on a farm who has a pet pig, Wilbur. When he grows up, her father is going to take him to market but Fern likes him too much so she won't let her father take him away. This is the story of how Fern and the other animals try to save Wilbur the pig.

I like this book because I love animals and it is a very gripping story.

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10. Ottoline books by Chris Riddell

Ottoline and her Norwegian bog troll, Mr Munro, are the main characters in these books. When Ottoline's parents get jobs as collectors that travel the world looking for odd things, they send Mr Munro to look after their daughter Ottoline. While her parents are away, she has to solve many mysteries to find out what crimes are going on in her city.

I like these books because they are very emotional and I like trying to figure out the mystery before I read the bit where they do.

There is more information about the series here: https://www.panmacmillan.com/authors/chris-riddell/ottoline-series