Guhreten

This little book was written by Sheila Wright's great-nephew, Alistair, grandson of her late brother David Jones who was the subject of her biography, "Zest for Life". As a former primary school teacher Sheila appreciated the skilful way that Alistair, aged 12, had written his story about the dragon Guhreten and she was proud that the book had been a prizewinner. She thought that it deserved a wider readership and decided to publish it via her imprint Kisumu Books. The attractive cover was produced by Paul Chilvers from drawings by the author.

Alistair writes “when Sam and Alex make a startling discovery on a beach in France, their lives are changed forever. Meanwhile, in the heart of a volcano, deep in a mysterious rainforest, the Queen of the Witches makes her preparations – preparations which will wipe her greatest enemy off the face of the earth…”

Guhreten was written as my entry for the annual Year 7 (age 11-12 years) novel writing competition at Bedford Preparatory School. Everyone in the year participated. The book could be on a subject of our choice, and had to be a minimum of 1000 words. About 20 of the best books went to be read by the headmaster, who then had to choose a winner and a runner-up.

Guhreten was the winning novel in 2007. I chose fantasy for a change of theme, because any other stories I had tried to write had been action, and I always got stuck after the first few pages. Also, it seemed like a good idea when I was writing it, because it all just fell into place.

Guhreten is a little dragon to start with but he grew up to be a big one. Some parts of the story are scary but most parts are not. I think the author, Alistair Jones, age 12, has made a good job of it. There are only eight pictures in the whole book, not including the title page. My favourite name in the book is Alex! There are 13 chapters and 32 pages.

I would say that children under six should have it as a bedtime story but childen over six should have some time to have a go at reading it themselves.

By Adam Loader, age 7. - March 2009.