Bittersweet- By Cathy Cassidy

Shay is the love interest of Cherry and the ex-boyfriend of Cherry’s stepsister Honey, and this short story is told from the viewpoint of Shay as he experiences lots of ups and downs. How can he stay with Cherry, whilst Honey is trying so hard to break them apart? And can he convince his fame-hating dad to let him go for a record deal after being spotted by a talent scout?

I read Cherry Crush, the first in the chocolate box girls series, ages ago. I have never been that much of a fan of teenage chick-lit stories, but I loved Cherry Crush, and all of the rest of Cathy’s books, so I just had to get her world book day title! I read this in about half an hour, and enjoyed it so much. Shay is one of the coolest characters in Cathy’s current series, as he’s the breezy surf boy with the guitar. It was great to read from his point of view, and experience his feelings about the raw jealousy and hatred of Honey towards Cherry. It also gave me a good insight into his problems at home- his over reacting father who won’t let him pursue his dreams. The story was fun to read, with quite a lot of exciting events packed into a roughly 100 page story. I loved it!

Hang in there Bozo- The Ruby Redfort emergency survival guide for some tricky predicaments- by Lauren Child

Ruby Redfort- thirteen year old school girl, spy, detective… and now survival expert. Have you ever found yourself in some tricky predicaments? Any involving man eating snakes, bears, the Queen of England, or a hot and dry desert? Well, don’t worry- Ruby Redfort has some great tips to show you how to survive, and keep you hanging in there, Bozo.

Confession; I have never ever read one of the Ruby Redfort books. So I thought reading her world book day title would be a pretty good introduction! However, it wasn’t exactly a story- it was a chapter by chapter survival guide, mostly based on the thirteen year old spy’s encounters. It was great, anyway. Ruby’s narration was brilliant- she was witty, and got straight to the point. I liked the snippets of chapters from her two books, every few pages, which showed what she did to get out of her own ‘tricky predicaments’. Also, there were some very informative-and very funny- diagrams of things too. Now I know how to kill a man eating snake, survive a forest fire, and escape a rip tide. Woo!

I’ll definitely read the Ruby Redfort books soon, they sounded great from the extracts in this hilarious short story.