Book Giveaway: The Mystery of the Clockwork Sparrow

[TinaMumsnet]

Calling all burgeoning detectives! We're giving away 20 copies of The Mystery of the Clockwork Sparrow, a sumptuous mystery adventure story set in an Edwardian department store. Click here to find out more and apply for a free copy.

Don't forget, if you're lucky enough to receive a free copy of this book we do ask that you tell us what you (or your DC) thought about it on the thread below, or in our Book Reviews section.

This giveaway is sponsored by Egmont Books.

I received a copy of The Mystery of the Clockwork Sparrow, thank you.
A pure gem of a book, which I'm thoroughly enjoying reading.

My 8 yr old daughter absolutely loved this book and galloped through it in a few days after I started her off by reading the first chapter aloud. Thank you Mumsnet!

She's a fairly sophisticated reader (e.g. has read all Harry Potter and many old-fashioned children's classics) so I'd recommend it for ages 8-12. Apparently, parts were truly scary but the violence seemed comfortably age-appropriate.

There were enough new words and unfamiliar historical details to challenge her and start interesting conversations with adults but not so many as to break the flow of her reading.

The London department store setting was familiar so we discussed whether the fictional store seemed more like Harrods, Liberty, Fortnums, Selfridges etc.

My daughter's only complaint is that the sequel won't come out for another year (pout, humph).

Excellent, well-written book with plenty of interesting twists and turns - thank you

Thank you MNHQ for our free copy of "The Mystery of the Clockwork Sparrow", my 8yo DD and I thoroughly enjoyed reading this together. I read a few chapters a night to her, and she was often either bouncing up and down on the edge of the bed with excitement, or hiding under the duvet at the slightly scary parts! She has since read it herself in a few hours as she is an avid reader.

I particularly liked the well developed main characters, and it was odd to be reminded that at 14 years old children had to earn their own living, even though my own DM had a weekend job from that age!

Katherine Woodfine is a clever writer who managed to make everything pacy and intriguing without dumbing down the vocabulary. In fact it was a pleasure to read the book aloud as the sentences flowed, there was never a word out of place, and the descriptions were so vivid that I knew my DD could visualise all the settings quite clearly. The illustrations were top notch too.

My DD and I look forward to reading more in this series.

PS if you weren't lucky enough to get a free copy, it 99p on Amazon this month. I'd recommend it for all keen readers aged 8 to 12 or so.

Thank you for my free copy of the book. I gave it to my daughter to read and although she enjoyed it a little she did not find it very gripping and gave up about half way through although she flicked through to find the ending. She didn't find the characters very empathetic. Sorry not to be more positive. Please don't stop sending me books as a result as I've been fortunate enough to get some good ones.