Asterix and Cleopatra by Goscinny and Uderzo

This is the sixth Asterix adventure and possibly one of the best. Cleopatra makes a bet with Caesar to prove that Egypt is a great nation. “In three months’ time I’ll have a magnificent palace built for you in Alexandria!” 

Cleopatra gets local architect Edifis to build it but three months is not enough time, although he has an idea. He can use the magic powers of his friend the druid Getafix. 

So Asterix, Obelix and Getafix, or as Caesar describes them, “an old druid with a white beard, a cunning little one and a stupid great oaf” go to Egypt to help build the temple 

Of course things aren’t plain sailing with Edifis’s rival architect Artifis doing his best to scupper their efforts, and Caesar himself interfering, but in the end the job is done.

There are lots of jokes in this one with clever use of hieroglyphics in speech bubbles for example. All-in-all this is one of the best Asterix stories.

Amazon UK link: Asterix and Cleopatra

Publication date: 1963

The River Singers by Tom Moorhouse

This story follows Sylvan the water vole from his early days in the burrow with his mother, brother and two sisters. Very quickly it is clear that danger is everywhere as the outside is “full of weasels and owls and things that want to eat us”.

However these are dangers they can deal with, but a new danger arrives, “I hear whispers of a new enemy, a black creature, more vicious than the others.” This danger leaves the young motherless, and Sylvan, as the oldest, has a new found responsibility. “Yesterday life had been a game. Now he was a small, scared vole, huddled in a burrow, responsible for his siblings. And tomorrow they would have to fight or be driven from their home and into the unknown.”

This forces Sylvan to lead his family downstream, past other dangers. “Somewhere downstream was a home for them, he was sure of it. It was his job to get them there.”

Overall it has a plot similar to Watership Down, except it is about voles, or river singers as they are also known. This doesn’t matter too much of course. The fact that voles, minks, otters, herons etc. feature in the book gives children the ideal chance to learn a little more about these creatures in a fiction setting, a much easier environment to learn in my opinion than non-fiction texts. There is a little death along the way so your child will have to be able to deal with that, but if so this is a little gem of a book.

Amazon UK link: The River Singers

Publication date: 3 Oct 2013

Luton Town: The Modern Era second edition by Roger Wash

This second edition of “Luton Town: The Modern Era” carries on where the first edition left off with extra chapters covering seasons 1998-99 though to 2003-04

Overall it has short matter-of-fact chapters taking in every Luton season from 1967-68, when they won the Division Four title, through to 2003-04, the John Gurney season. The focus of these seems to be very much the transfer activity, these mainly being the days before the restrictive transfer windows were introduced, with some of the key games or runs being picked out too.

Also there is a “match of the season” feature each year where a key match is brought out in more detail, e.g. 1982-83 Manchester City 0 – 1 Luton Town.

There are black and white photos in the middle too, perhaps being moved here after being a little out of sync with the chapters in the first edition. The photos here are also different ones from those from the first edition. 

And at the end there are statistical summaries of each match for each of the seasons covered, although these are restricted to League, FA cup and League cup only, so no Auto Windscreens Shield for example. And if you want to flick between the statistical summaries and the written summaries for each season you need to be checking in different areas of the book.

The ending as a Town fan is a bit better than the first edition as after a long decline following relegation from the top flight in 91-92 through to being in the bottom division there is a promotion season near the end (2001-02). 

Overall then this is a useful bit of history for Town fans to read and find out more about their club.

Amazon UK link: Luton Town: The Modern Era (2nd edition)

Publication date: Feb 2009

Luton Town: The Modern Era first edition by Roger Wash

This first edition of “Luton Town: The Modern Era” has short matter-of-fact chapters taking in every Luton season from 1967-68, when they won the Division Four title, through to 1997-98. The focus of these seems to be very much the transfer activity, these being the days before the restrictive transfer windows were introduced, with some of the key games or runs being picked out too.

Also there is a “match of the season” feature each year where a key match is brought out in more detail, e.g. 1982-83 Manchester City 0 – 1 Luton Town.

There are black and white photos along the way too, although these are slightly out of sync with the chapters. And at the end there are statistical summaries of each match for each of the seasons covered, although these are restricted to League, FA cup and League cup only, so no Auto Windscreens Shield for example. And if you want to flick between the statistical summaries and the written summaries for each season you need to be checking in different areas of the book.

The ending as a Town fan is a bit sad as they are in decline from their relegation from the top flight in 91-92 through to a mid-table finish in the third tier in 1997-98 but overall this is a useful bit of history for Town fans to read and find out more about their club.

Amazon UK link: Luton Town: The Modern Era (1st edition)

Publication date: 1 Sep 1998