BooksforTopics Reading for Pleasure Recommendations
Book Title: The Thirteenth Home of Noah Bradley (available here)
Author: Amber Lee Dodd
Publisher: Scholastic
Publication Date: April 2020
Most suitable for: Upper KS2
Review
A legend, a curse, a flock of blackbirds, accidents, bad luck – all of these things have tied the Bradley family together for centuries, including Noah and his brother Billy. Moving home in the dead of night is nothing unusual for these boys, as well as moving school, leaving friends and always being on the lookout for the curse. When Noah and his family move into their thirteenth home on Verity Close, a sense of normality is established and the family finally starts to settle. That is, until the blackbirds of the north arrive and calamity returns. Will Noah and the Bradleys ever become free from their ancient family curse? The story starts with a chapter about the ancient curse that has been placed upon all Bradley ancestors and then we start to learn about all of the bad luck the family has experienced. We start to get more clues about the family as the story progresses including a wooden chest with a fox door-knocker that can summon creatures. The legend starts to seem more real to Noah and his friend when his new home is suddenly flooded. A new character is introduced, the suspicious Mr Grey, who seems to know about the secret knocker and wants it for himself. Noah and his friend then need to start to link all of the clues before it is too late to save his family. This mysterious adventure story is a real page-turner and I was thoroughly hooked as I followed the story of Noah trying to rid his family of the curse along with his brother Billy, best friend Neena and pet ferret Arnold. The Thirteenth Home of Noah Bradley would be a fantastic class reader for children in Key Stage 2, due to the interesting and thrilling story and the loveable and engaging characters.
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Guest Blog Post
By Amber Lee Dodd, author of The 13th Home of Noah Bradley
As the book is about a family escaping a curse, Amber has written exclusively for BooksForTopics followers about a curse from history.
Pirate Treasure and The Thrice Cursed Islands
The famous pirate Captain Kidd was captured and hung in 1701. But not before he had buried a fortune in gold. Refusing to tell anyone where it was, he took his secret to his grave. But according to local legend, Kidd stashed his secret booty on Charles Island. It was a treasure he hoped to come back for. To protect it, the pirate put a curse on the valuables, and on anyone who might discover them. This isn’t the only curse treasure rumoured to be on the island either. A stash of cursed Aztec goods and gold lies somewhere buried on the island too. And the island itself is said to be cursed by the Paugusset chieftain who traded it away to European settlers. To this day nobody has been able to find the treasures. The island’s reputation keeps many from hunting for them.
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You can order The Thirteenth Home of Noah Bradley online or from your local bookshop or library.
Many thanks to the publishers at Scholastic for sending us a review copy.
Check out the other stops on the blog tour, too!
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> Visit our Reading for Pleasure Hub
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