The Turkey Shed Gang by Ruth Young

Welcome to my stop on Zooloo’s Book Tours for The Turkey Shed Gang.  I’m always looking for books to read with my kids and I thought this would the perfect one.

Joe had a bad day at school. Everything went wrong…

FIRSTLY, he had to read to the class and that was his worst nightmare, reading in front of everyone. THEN, he scored an own goal in football. LATER, after eating three chocolate eclairs at Gran’s house, she tells him about a raid in the bank this morning. The robbers had guns and monster masks! To Joe it sounded exciting, if only he could have been there too!

But his opinion soon changes when he realises the danger his Gran is now faced with. She shows him a bag full of money that she picked up by mistake, thinking it was her shopping after the raid. Joe decides the only thing to do to keep her safe is for them to go on the run. They must go before the police come to arrest her or worse still, the robbers find out she has their money. To add to his problems, Gran wants to take Mr Percival with them, a talking parrot she inherited from a neighbour.

A school boy, his gran and a parrot on the run, what could possibly go wrong?

Review:

This is an upper elementary age book. It is a highly enjoyable story about Joe taking care of his grandmother. A comedy of errors makes the journey even more eventful. My personal favorite character was the parrot. He added comedy to the story and was so fun to read about. This is a great book for ages 7-10+. It has age appropriate words and is the right length to keep them engaged for several reading sessions.

About the Author:

Ruth has been a teacher for a very long time. She loves being in the classroom making learning fun and specialises in teaching reading and spelling.  Now retired, Ruth teaches children with learning difficulties at her home and it doesn’t matter how old they are, she loves to help!

Ruth has always told stories to the children she teaches. Her book, The Turkey Shed Gang, is for 7–8-year-old independent readers. She also writes for dyslexic children in mind so that they can read a book, maybe with a little help, which is age appropriate for them.

When she’s not teaching, Ruth loves walking in the Surrey Hills where she lives with her husband, who is a retired airline Captain. They take every chance to travel worldwide and it’s on trips away that Ruth comes up with her ideas for her books, always scribbling notes down in her purple notebook which she carries everywhere.

Ruth loves baking bread and cakes and is always in the kitchen with her vast collection of cookery books. She has been interviewed by the BBC three times about writing, environmental issues and her work with dyslexic children, and had an article published in a national magazine for parents