Brightstorm: 1 (The Brightstorm Chronicles)

Product Information

I was eagerly awaiting the publication of Vashti Hardy’s Brightstorm after hearing so many great things about this debut on Twitter and it was certainly worth the wait! The vivid description of the airships and explorers’ society is fun, and the adventures will keep the reader on edge. If you have a young reader interested in adventure, books about animals, and airships, this is a perfect book for them. Shortlisted for the Waterstone’s Children’s Book Prize 2019 A fast-paced fantasy adventure that will set your imagination soaring!

They escape slavery, join a ragtag crew of a Skyship captained by Harriet Culpepper, and start a journey to South Polaris to retrieve their father’s reputation and investigate what happened to their father during the expedition. They decide to join Miss Harriet Culpepper, who is also an explorer just like their father, and her team (which includes Felicity Wiggety) on a race to South Polaris. I loved this middle grade which was a mixture of sci-fi, fantasy, adventure and an ecological fable as well. As the rumours of more ‘super’ sapients arise, the Wide is split in two: those who wish to protect them and those who see them as a threat to human superiority.I've included this as my last choice because it so perfectly shows how being an 'explorer' is as much about the simple joy found in discovering the everyday outside your doorstep as it is the great feats of exploring the wider world. At this point it becomes clear that that, for Maudie and Arthur, the ‘expedition’ is just as much about exploring their own identities as it is about reaching the edges of the map.

This is a great adventure story with lots of twists and turns along the way with an eco message at its heart. This amazing book by Vashti Hardy keeps the reader engaged and hooked as you go on an epic adventure.There are notes in the back of the book for further information about the expedition for those whose interest is sparked. This pack is a great resource to help your class to identify expanded noun phrases used within Chapter 18 of the story.

Orin Crowfall loves with his parents, grandad and 'pet' robot/friend Cody on Ironhold - an island of industry and strict rules. Not only the darkwhispers themselves, great sapients with an ominous gift for feeding on human memory, but the secret land and people beyond.

You cannot fault Vashti's writing style, it's so engrossing and I always get this warm fuzz whenever I start one of her books because I know I'm in great hands. After joining the crew of the innovative explorer Harriet Culpepper, the twins embark on an skyship adventure during which they encounter increasingly perilous landscapes, friendly kings of foreign worlds, intelligent animals (including the wonderful thought-wolves who communicate with the twins not through words or actions but through thoughts and feelings) and a villainous antagonist on a competing ship who will stop at nothing to get what she wants. Orin and Cody made an adorable duo and the world and concept of the story was extremely well realised, kind of reminded me of Avatar. I normally don’t really love political statements, but the environmental issue is near and dear to my heart. As for the future of this world, there is a very recognisable tension between the desire to explore and conquer and an underlying concern for environmental issues (exemplified by Harriet Culpepper discovering a way to power her ship by water instead of conventional fuels).