The Highland Falcon Thief (Adventures on Trains, 1)

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There are also specialist categories for Reluctant and Dyslexic Readers that can make a real difference to those who struggle with their reading. We follow Hal who joins his uncle on the last journey the Highland Falcon is ever going to make. Not only that, but he is the only child allowed on board due to the journey also being part of the royal tour. Jewellery begins to go missing and Hal is the prime suspect due to him being the only child on board - but Hal swears he has seen a young girl on the train! Thus begins an adventure and a rather exciting mystery.

The fact that these shortlists are judged by class teachers and can be heartily recommended to their peersmakes them particularly useful as co-sponsor Deborah McLaren, Director of Lovereading4kids said: “What a beautiful selection of winning books! Some of our absolute faves of the year; the UKLA committees and teacher judges have done a wonderful job of curating a stunning selection of quality texts and great reads to engage every age range. LoveReading4Kids and LoveReading4Schools are delighted to again partner with the UKLA to help encourage reading for pleasure and engender a lifelong love of reading in children”. I also found the characters really interesting. Hal starts the journey as quite an anxious, timid boy. He's worried about his mum having a baby, and he's shy around this group of eccentric adults. However, through the course of the story and with his determination to solve the mystery he overcomes this shyness to climb moving trains, speak to a room full of adults, and hopefully solve a crime. His uncle Nat is the strong guiding hand that Hal needs, ever present yet always calm and collected. And Lenny is the daredevil, the companion to bring out the brave in Hal. They all work so well together. Este un drum de 4 zile, o călătorie pâna in Scoția si înapoi, cu un tren regal cu abur, un drum de onoare a celui mai luxos tren care existase vreodată, și care urma să se retragă, să fie expus în muzeu Alex kan ook geweldig tekenen. Zo te zien loopt er dus genoeg creatief bloed door de familie. Want zijn oom is een beroemde schrijver. Additionally, I loved how Hal and his Uncle Nat's relationship grew over the course of the story. While Hal was always respectful and a bit in awe of his Uncle, you could see as the story progressed how they learned to really trust and love one another.Lenny was een leuk personage. Ik vond het stoer van haar dat ze als verstekeling mee is gekomen en dat haar vader dat, ondanks alles, toch toe laat. Hij had ook makkelijk haar kunnen laten ophalen door haar moeder bij een station maar hij laat haar lekker rondlopen. Ik vond de vriendschap tussen Alex en Lenny erg leuk geschreven en ik was blij dat ze elkaar vonden.

Join Hal and Uncle Nat on the next stops in this thrilling series, Kidnap on the California Comet, Murder on the Safari Star and Danger at Dead Man’s Pass.

A super-fun middle-grade mystery with steam-trains and samoyeds. I loved it! -- Peter Bunzl, author of Cogheart I finished the book thinking, if I ever wondered if you could take a Watson/Hastings character and successfully blend them with a Mary Sue/Damsel in Distress trope now I know you can. Not that I'd ever wondered that. Or wanted that. I feel like the useless "partner" who just follows the detective around for narration purposes is a trope we've long outgrown and I'm confused why it was put into this book. What was Lenny's purpose? Train things? The story either needed Lenny to be a more involved detective (which would have matched her personality better) or leave her out. After what seemed like forever, a copy arrived and jumped straight to the top of my reading queue! And deservedly so, it was great.