Author:Adeline Yen Mah
During her lonely childhood in Shanghai, Adeline Yen Mah wrote adventure stories to escape from her terrible step-mother and cruel siblings. The characters she created often became more real to her than her own family. In Chinese Cinderella and the Secret Dragon Society, Adeline tells the story of Chinese Cinderella, a young girl who, after being thrown out of her home, has no choice but to go out and seek her own destiny. Soon she meets up with a group of children, all orphaned but each from a different background, who live with an old lady called Grandma Wu. Chinese Cinderella, or CC for short, decides her future after consulting an ancient book which helps to show her the way forward. And her choice takes her on a mission to save the lives of others. Based on a true-life incident during World War II. CC and the others bravely rescue a group of American pilots whose plane crashed after a bombing raid on Japan. Although her father is looking for her, CC knows that she can never go back to live with her cruel stepmother, and now there is no turning back.
This series is the "must-read" of the summer. The books' travel-based themes also make them ideal for holiday reading
—— Jacob Hope , AchukaThe Jack Stalwart books have been a great weapon in the bookseller's armoury for hooking reluctant readers. Now re-launched, they are set to reach a much wider audience of young readers who want a piece of the secret-agent action
—— Sarah Moore , Publishing NewsRyan excels with description
—— Writeaway.org.ukThe Road of Bones is a startling achievement, not least for its refusal to wrap it all up into a neat and tidy happy ending. It will leave its young readers with a great deal to think about. Most children will know of the Holocaust, but few will realise how many perished during Stalin's purges. This alone is a story worth telling. Cleverly though, The Road of Bones also makes its warnings contemporary, timeless even
—— thebookbag.co.ukBeneath its cold white cover a story of magnitude unfolds
—— Diane Samuels , GuardianAll demand to be read in translation of the originals and not sanitized retellings. Here, by examining letters, journals, annotations and posthumously unavailable papers, Zipes found some hitherto untranslated "ironic and macabre fables, humorous anecdotes, stories about the crusades, Norwegian legend, one 'feminist' tale among other things
—— Buffalo News