I found this confusing for a children's book, it seemed a little erratic, but perhaps that was the point. It was interesting to see depression and eating disorders represented so well to younger readers. But, sadly, I DNF'd at 25% as I couldn't get to grips with the style of it.

Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this prior to publication in exchange for my honest thoughts.
A middle-grade adventure that covers a lot of ground, takes us on a frenetic journey of mayhem but ultimately keeps us in the dark about what’s happened.
Alfie and his family have moved to a new home after his sister has struggled with the effects of bullying. Alfie finds a friend and seems to have settled in, but when he starts to notice mysterious events taking place around the village it sets up a quite incredible series of events.
Alfie notices bizarre weather situations. He is convinced that the mysterious man in the village known as the Moth Man knows more, and goes to his home to investigate. While there he finds a mysterious box that freezes his trainers. When he opens it, Alfie unleashes something he’s never see before. It’s something fast...and it doesn’t want to be found.
What follows is bizarre event after bizarre event. Alfie finds himself wrongly accused of arson and his attempts to try and return the thing he’s nicknamed Whizzy cause chaos.
All’s right in the end, but we never get a full explanation of what Alfie found or what happened. As a adult reading this I found myself frustrated by some aspects...but I can see the pacing and exhilaration Alfie shows at everything getting younger readers quite engaged.

This exciting story is told in the form of journal entries written by the protagonist, Alfie Bradley who has moved to the village of Folding Ford with his mother and older sister, and finds himself in the centre of some rather strange happenings from the freak weather to a man who seems to be taking moths for a walk! Can he and his new best friend, Sam, solve the mystery of Folding Ford? What is the truth behind the mysterious Nathaniel Clemm: is he friend or foe?

When Alfie goes to Nathaniel’s home, Ash House, to investigate, he discovers a hairless cat and a strange metal box. Unable to resist the temptation, he opens the box and something fizzing with electrical energy escapes, something that will change his life, that of his family and the entire village …

When the creature that escapes the box follows Alfie home, he is determined to find out more about it and to keep it safe, but is the creature who he has named Whizzy a danger to Alfie and the village? Will it be responsible for destroying him before he can save it?

This is a fast-paced, science-fiction mystery which sparks with energy and humour as well as addressing some difficult issues such as bullying and family trauma. It is also a story of friendship, resilience, adjusting and healing.

I really liked Alfie who is determined, curious and brave. My heart ached for him as he faced terrible circumstances with resilience and fortitude. He has had to take a back seat in the family as they are focussed on helping his sister overcome previous trauma which has necessitated the move to Folding Ford.

Overall, this is an electrifying, action-packed read that kept me caught in its intrigue and mystery throughout.

This book is a story of both science and fantasy, friendship and bullying, and I was an absolute wild ride from start to finish. Every time I thought I knew where and how the story was going to go, things took a sudden turn, and I was honestly kind of in shock for an or so after finishing the book. In a good way, I promise.

I'm honestly no sure what else to say about this book wihout spoiling important plot points... The characters were absolutely spot on, even the more minor ones, and you really get attached to the main character, Alfie. Part of the reason for that is that you are constantly kept guessing as to whether the lightning creature is just in his head and representative of his moods, or if it's actually real (not saying which). The purposefully intense consequences of 'Whizzie' reacting to Alfie's moods, along with the 'diary' format, are incredibly evocative and help you empathise with him quite strongly. Which makes the big event and his time away from home in the latter half of the book all the more powerful.

This book touches on a lot of different issues, particularly changing family dynamics in the face of bullying and dealing with false blame and other people's assumptions, reminding kids not to judge a book by it's cover, and to always try to be kind. Like 'Whizzie', this book just got more and more powerful as it went. I'm really looking forward to recommending this one!

I really enjoyed this, making me laugh throughout. It’s a fun, rollercoaster of a book with real imagination.

Thanks to NetGallery for the chance to read this in exchange for an honest review

Alfie and his family have moved from a city to Folding Ford in the countryside. He and his sister are the only non white children. Alfie makes a new good friend Sam and they start to notice strange weather patterns - perhaps a frozen pocket in unexpected places, or a tiny whirlwind out of nowhere.
One day, following something into someone’s garden, Alfie finds a strange box which he absolutely has to peek into. This lets out something very fast and very sparky. Alfie is determined to discover more, especially when this electric current seems to cause havoc around Alfie and gets him into trouble with their new neighbours in the village.
There is quite a bit of science incorporated into this diary format story. Alfie’s sister Lily also has a story of her own as she was the reason why the family moved, but Alfie hasn’t been told the full story, although anorexia is involved, but never thoroughly explored. The children’s Dad works away and their video calls always revert to Dad enquiring how Lily has been, while only half listening to Alfie.
When this electric something starts to cause trouble between Alfie and Sam as well as the local busy body, Alfie knows he has to consider the feelings of others as well as his own.

This book was a very strange read. Not only was it confusing to follow at times - which ive put down to it being the POV of an easily distracted young boy - but the way that his sister's anorexia is portrayed made me uncomfortable(the insults/threats were VERY on the nose and any sufferer/survivor will be triggered), but the condition itself was never mentioned and was as a result of her being bullied - given the age group I feel like the focus could have just remained on the bullying with this condition never mentioned as it doesn't add anything to the story or character.
And then I feel the need to mention that the MC is a POC, and whilst diversity is important, the fact that this is from a white author isn't great.

The story itself was intriguing enough to keep me reading but thought it was wrapped up too quickly.

Sadly, I was very disappointed with this. The idea was an original one and some of the themes covered were appropriate to this age group but I felt that the relationship between the characters wasn’t as developed as much as I felt it should be and the plot ,although fast-paced felt quite thin at times.Maybe this would have been better if it wasn’t in diary form..At the beginning,the reader had to infer a lot about the various characters which might be too much for some children.There were some lovely descriptions of the “science “ parts but “ whizzy”.? for a name seemed trite for such a central part of the story.

Trying to fit in to new surrounding is never easy especially when you stand out for all the wrong reasons. It’s not Alfie’s fault that Mr Lombard has taken a dislike to him and when you have a strange electrical force drawn to you, things are going to get out of hand.

I honestly thought I would love this book, the blurb sounded right up my street, but I just couldn’t connect to it. At times, I was irritated with the main character and really wished that Lily was the main focus instead of Alfie. The ending felt rushed and lacklustre. It was overall a slightly disappointing read but with some positive elements which meant that I gave it a slightly higher rating that I thought I initially would.

Other readers may find that special joyous nugget to adore in this book, but sadly it never shone through for me.

Wow! This story zips along and has more twists and turns than a bolt of lightening.

Alfie is new in town and is fascinated by strange weather occurrences. As he goes to investigate, whilst avoiding the strange and elusive Mr Clemm, he discovers something unexpected. Something like no other.: Whizzy!

This book deals with some tricky subjects and in my opinion deals with them really well. It touches on bullying and anorexia but doesn’t dwell on anything not relevant to the story. Alfie’s voice shines proudly and at times I yearned to step into the book to give him a hug, Clare Weze has written a fun, gripping and gritty story and just when I thought that the story was going to go one way, she flipped everything on its head.

As much as I enjoyed the plot, it was the characters that I found the most compelling. Sam, Alfie’s best friend is funny and the voice of reason and it was lovely to see both parents in this story with both flaws but ultimately love for their son. It was Alfie’s sister Lily however, that stole my heart. She was both feisty, caring and had so many layers to her that I loved reading about her. I hope she finds her happy ending along with everyone else.

What an original story and a fantastic debut!

Was really excited to read this as there's been a lot of buzz on twitter about it. It also featured key themes I'm always on the lookout for in terms of classroom links, with a black family as main characters and issues of bullying and eating disorders, as well as the obvious science links to the curriculum. Add an eye-catching cover and the adventures of a young boy who gets the blame even though he's innocent, and it should be an ideal KS2 read....however, it just didn't gel for me. I read around 5 MG books a week, and even though it might not be my type of novel / storyline / genre, I always try to give a fair, respectful review. I'm not sure why this book didn't work for me...the characters are likeable enough but given that it's written in first-person, diary format, there isn't a strong 'voice' for any of the youngsters, with no reference to current kid culture. There's plenty of action, but each event isn't explained either way - via a scientific phenomena or strange-old-man's inventions or Alfie's imaginary friend. It didn't even give a conclusive ending, or leave me wondering or caring enough about a sequel. I feel uncomfortable leaving such a negative review, but wanted to be honest - it could just be me, and perhaps others will love it!

The Lightning Catcher by Clare Weze

Thank you to @bloomsburychildrens publishing, @netgalley and @clarelweze for allowing me to read this Advanced Reader Copy. This is the first time I've read a book online at home (we use tablets at school sometimes) rather than an actual book.

This book is about Alfie who discovers a tiny electrical creature (who can grow to the size of a cloud and control the weather) at Mr Clemm's house and accidently sets 'her' free. Mr Clemm had found her and was studying her to find out where she came from and how to help her get home. Whizzy causes lots of chaos but she doesn't realise it - she is just playing. She just wants to play with Alfie and be his friend.

I really liked Whizzy! from the description I think she looked a bit like Rotom (a pokemon!) so I could imagine her in my head moving as fast as lightning, shaping in to different shapes and sizes.

What I liked most about this book was how the descriptions made me imagine the characters. I particularly laughed ALOT at the description of capybara and the hornbill.

I also learnt some new science facts from this book which was really cool.

You should read this book as soon as it comes out if you like books about science, made up creatures and adventures!

Released 13 May 2021

Thanks for the ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This book had me super excited to read it after seeing it all over social media. The cover is enticing, and the blurb seems a tale of fun and adventure!

In reality, the book wasn’t quite “there”. I can’t say what it was missing, there just wasn’t a rounded ness to it that I missed - and opportunities to support the story were missed.

Appreciated the bullying and eating disorder angles but could have done more.

This book was one I had heard about and was excited for it coming onto NetGalley. Unfortunately, the hype doesn’t live up to its potential. Alfie lives with his sister and mum in a new town they moved to in order for Lily to have a fresh start. Straightaway it talks about the impact of bullying and eating disorders. Then we have the fantastical side of Alfie trying to tame Whizzy, who he released and is now causing lots of electrical disturbances.

I felt that there were many missed opportunities with this book and that the stories potential were not met. Coupled with the writing style (journal / diary but mixed in with usual first person narrative) and I just couldn’t get on with it unfortunately. It just fell short every time I thought we were getting to it.

With a lot of hype surrounding this book on Social Media, and seeing the beautiful cover image, I was keen to give it a read. Unfortunately, I was left somewhat disappointed.

The book was by no means awful, and I didn't have to 'DNF' it, but it just seemed lacking.

The premise of the plot feels like a brilliant concept, but it wasn't executed well. There seemed no real depth to the story, it jumps from problem to problem with no real substance or analysis of events. This may be due to the fact that the book is partially written in journal form and jumps from date to date, with a brief description of what has happened from the perspective of the MC. I feel had this been written fully as a story, a telling, and not included the journal portions it may have made more sense, and flowed better.

The characters are again intriguing on the surface, great ideas for them with subplots of racism, eating disorders, bullying, peer pressure - but I just didn't gel with them. So much more could have been explored around feelings and experiences to do with this and not been just layers that are touched upon but not fully explored or explained.

For me it felt like the book was a list of events, this, this, then this, with some wacky weather descriptions thrown in, which rather than portraying mystery or magic fell flat, and seemed confusing more often than not.

I feel that this type of story would have been better written for younger readers, younger than Middle Grade, who like a quick, odd story, without the need for that extra oomph that grips a slightly older reader. For Middle Grade readers I would have liked more substance, less confusion and jumping from event to event, as well as to flow more easily when reading.

This is an unusual story. Alfie and his family have moved to a new home following some difficulty with bullies experienced by his sister.
Alfie comes across a 'giant' who turns out to be someone that lives in the village.
Alfie and his friend find something strange whilst trespassing and this leads to all sorts of problems.
At first I was enjoying the story but then it got a bit confusing and I'm still not really sure what the point of it was. It doesn't feel like the story, and elements within, were really resolved.
Having said that, I did like the writing style and was initially drawn in, but the second half of the story just didn't sit right for me.

TW: bullying, mentions of eating disorder

Thank you to NetGalley and Bloomsbury Children's Books for allowing me to read an eARC of this book! All opinions discussed here are my own.

The only way I can think to describe this book is weird. I thought it sounded really good in terms of the synopsis but when actually reading it it just became a very bizarre book which was hard to follow. At times some of the language seemed made up - like slang words for this world, which never works for me.

But just the whole story started off as an intriguing sci-fi story and then became some bizarre story with clear racism themes (that were never addressed), a sister with an eating disorder, a best friend who's grandfather has a stroke, an absent father, and then our main character ending up in a youth prison... before he breaks out and rides on a cloud and ends up in his own bed. I just couldn't keep it straight in my mind - at times it felt like a parody...

This just wasn't a winner for me - despite the very catchy cover.

Out 13th May 2021 for you to read yourself!