Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide. Get started Close At the moment I want to read a lot more Middle Grade fiction, as I’ve fallen behind and there’s so much great new work out there. However, the Mermonkey wouldn’t give me what I want, he would give me what I need. And what I need right now is hard for me to say. However, if I did throw a coin in the Mermonkey’s hat right now, I suspect I’d get a book about the importance of living in the moment. Or about not eating too many biscuits. Really, it could go either way. Eels uses the egg to replace Captain K’s hook with a “red crab pincer” and then turns the malamander body into multiple sea creatures. “Captain Kraken’s body trembles and ripples, then collapses into a mass of squid and jellyfish and sea slime.”

Mrs. Fossil receives treatment for her wound and reports that she “can already move [her] fingers again.” You can also complete the second activity that encourages your class to use the appropriate words to complete the sentences. This is a spelling activity that cover the following words: guarantee, through, surprisingly, embarrassed, doubt, probably, special and though. A simile is a way to describe something by comparing it to something else. The two things are seemingly different but share a characteristic. It is important that similes make sense to create the correct effect. Herbie often internally describes the museum owner as having a “Julius Caesar nose” or a “beaky nose.”The characters occasionally “swear” to show honesty. Jenny says Violet’s father “swore blind that he saw things” that were supposed to be only legend, not real. Violet discusses the legend of the malamander, including its annual move “near the town to hunt” and lay its egg, which it then “devours.”

Very comprehensive list of quality vocabulary in such a fabulous book. Thank you for all the time and work this must have taken.

Discover July’s book club title, winner of the 2021 Awesome Book Award, Malamander by Thomas Taylor (Walker Books). We’re thrilled to be sharing this wonderfully imaginative and atmospheric adventure with you to enjoy in a book club setting – whether with friends, family or your school mates. After hugging Herbie, Violet “looks a bit embarrassed and tries to hide it by punching [Herbie] on the arm.”

Young Herbert Lemon has an honest heart and that matters a lot in Thomas Taylor’s story of magic and mystery. Herbert lives in the Grand Nautilus Hotel in the seaside town of Eerie. The hotel is right on the sea front and the mist that rolls in could be hiding all sorts of things, even the scaly Malamander, subject of so many town legends. Helping his new friend Violet find clues to the whereabouts of her missing parents – Herbert is a lost and found expert – results in the two children coming closer to the Malamander than they could ever have expected. Eerie is a wonderfully edgy place, strange, gothic and inhabited by some singular people, and Herbert and Violet’s adventures are equally unique and totally enthralling.Lady Kraken calls Herbie an “incorrigible dunderbrain.” She also asks if he has “cloth for brains.” This delightfully spooky fantasy series opener for big kids and tweens drips with charm and chills, thanks to sprinklings of magic, humor, and mystery along with a dash of steampunk. Malamander is populated with colorful, quirky characters led by the clever and intrepid duo of 12-year-olds, Herbie and Violet. The plot moves along at a brisk pace with plenty of twists and turns along the way. Author Thomas Taylor's entertaining use of language, especially when it comes to people and place names; his sly sense of humor; and chapters with cliffhanger endings make it a great choice to read aloud. Sprinkled throughout are vivid illustrations that bring the story to life. It is filled with tension and with danger lurking at every turn as Herbie and the strange girl race around the town searching for clues and trying to uncover the mystery of her missing parents. Along the way they encounter an eclectic mix of characters, some trustworthy, some shady and some are downright dangerous. People that at first seem friends become foes and foes become friends - you are never quite sure exactly who someone is and Taylor keeps readers guessing right until the end. The character names have been carefully chosen, as have the place names and it all makes for delightful reading. Thomas Taylor was born in Norwich, but grew up by the sea in Wales. His childhood was mostly about drawing, something he learnt to do in Maths classes.