'The best books, reviewed with insight and charm, but without compromise.'
- author Jackie French

Tuesday 1 December 2009

Review: Battle Boy: Open Fire

Title: Battle Boy: Open Fire

Author: Charlie Carter

Publisher: Pan Macmillan, $4.99 (special price)

Format: Softcover

Language: English

ISBN: 9780330425018

For ages: 6-10

Type: Junior Fiction/Reader

About: When Napoleon Augustus Smythe finds a mysterious note in the local library asking him to meet real life war heroes from the past, he can never imagine the astounding operations that lay in store. Operations you ask? That’s right – Operation Battle Book.

Wearing his special high tech ‘skin’ suit and equipped with all manner of cool, time-travelling devices, Napoleon (or agent ‘BB005’) opens his very first battle book which sends him screaming back to the past – to Spain in 1587 where he finds himself aboard the ship of the great Sir Francis Drake. His mission? to collect Drake’s DNA for the Warrior Gene Bank.

The first in this amazing series – Battle Boy: Spying on the Past – Carter’s books are designed specifically to engage reluctant readers and so feature large type and concise text that doesn’t compromise on a hightech vocabulary – perfect for cool dude boys in the primary school age range.

Younger competent readers will enjoy a reading challenge and older less competent readers will enjoy a totally rad storyline coupled with relatable text. The books also feature plenty of action-style illustrations and varying text type, making for a read that very dramatically combines history with cool. Education and entertainment?

The perfect book, really.

Teacher's Notes

More in this series:

Red Devil Down
Destroy Troy
Bloodaxe
Battle Bust-up
Aztec Attack

This book is available online:

Fishpond - A$3.95
QBD - $A4.99
Dymocks - A$4.99