THE SILK SISTERS: PINK CHAMELEON by Fiona Dunbar; reviewed by Gillian Philip

There's something especially exciting about diving into a book when you really don't have a clue what awaits. I knew that Fiona Dunbar's Silk Sisters trilogy had a fashion element and that it was futuristic, but that was pretty much it. I was expecting quite a 'girly' story, what with the pink cover and the fashion theme, but what I got was something else entirely. The running girls are more of a clue, because this is a fast-paced adventure that never entirely lets up.

Rorie is a wonderful heroine. She and her little sister Elsie (who is something of a loose cannon, but a very entertaining one) have a near-ideal life until one day, their inventor parents vanish on the way to a business meeting. Taken in by their foul uncle and aunt – who make the Dursleys of Privet Drive look like models of foster parenting – they have to survive the boarding school rigours of the horribly named Poker Bute Hall, escape their relatives' dastardly clutches (for Uncle Harris and Aunt Irmine have Ulterior Motives), and discover the truth about their mother and father. And since it's a trilogy, that's never all going to happen in the first book.

What I love about the futuristic aspect of this story is the assumption that the reader is in on the details. This isn't a story full of spaceships and aliens - it's a future world you can imagine happening tomorrow, with digitalised clothing, intelligent SatNavs, 'shels' (the new cellphones) and 'slants' - the new and better version of jeans that were developed for use in mines on Mars. It all seems so very close and next-week-real, and if anything it makes the story seem more contemporary than sci-fi. That leaves the reader free to enjoy the ride as Rorie and Elsie make their escape attempts, and to wonder and fret about the awful hidden secrets of Poker Bute Hall. Because it seems there is something very, very dark going on, something that's even worse than the strict regimen of housework, cataloguing classes and hammerball...

The good news is, the Silk sisters have allies, too, very appealing characters in their own right. And the good guys' chances look up when there's an accident involving a chameleon and a lightning bolt....

There are two more books in the trilogy, Blue Gene Baby and Tiger Lily Gold, and I really am waiting with bated breath to read them. Pink Chameleon has everything a 9-12 year old reader could want – adventure, danger, technology and super powers – and please, if you know a boy who likes any of those, just wrap the book in blue paper and persuade him to read it. This is not a book the girls should be allowed to keep for themselves.


PINK CHAMELEON (The Silk Sisters Trilogy) by Fiona Dunbar (Orchard Books 2007)

www.gillianphilip.com





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The Kitty Slade Mysteries by Fiona Dunbar. Reviewed by Ellen Renner

Fiona Dunbar's Kitty Slade Mysteries series is not simply an updated take on Nancy Drew, with mysteries to solve and clever kids turned detectives. In Kitty Slade, sassy modern teen meets history courtesy of spooky ghosts. Kitty Slade herself is a streetwise and well-drawn teen, very much of our world, who turns out to have a special knack for attracting the distinctly unworldly. The series will appeal to girls who like realism as well as fantasy, and to readers who like a touch of horror, but not too much.

Kitty Slade is definitely cool: a London kid with attitude and eyeball rolling to match. But she's a teen with a secret: she has inherited phantorama from her Greek mother. Phantorama is the ability to see ghosts and, as Kitty finds out, eventually communicate with them.

Kitty finds out about her unwished-for talent in the hilarious first chapter of Divine Freaks, the first book in the series. In the middle of biology class, to the bemusement of both her classmates and least favourite teacher, a freaked-out Kitty is confronted with 'Rat-Man': a gruesomely unappealing ghost who seems intent on communicating with the living.

Once Kitty figures out that she hasn't flipped, she starts to wonder why a ghost should be resident in the school biology lab. When Rat-man starts haunting Kitty, finding out why and when he died becomes top priority. The mystery seems somehow tied to rich Roderick Eaton, owner of Eaton Antiques. Kitty, her gran and younger siblings rent the flat above his shop on the Portobello Road and now Eaton wants to evict them.

Divine Freaks is a great start to the series and with each successive book, Dunbar hones her premise. The second book, Fire and Roses, finds the Slade family travelling round Britain in a caravan, being home-schooled by the delightful Maro – their Greek grandmother. And now Dunbar introduces the element I find most appealing about these books: modern teen meets ghosts with a past. Dunbar is able to pick and choose historical periods and events that will fascinate young readers. She has fun with the Regency period in Fire and Roses, which involves a 18th century feud between members of the Hell Fire club and spooky scenes in the Chilterns cave where the notorious society held meetings. Kitty is clever and determined, and the friendship between Kitty and her younger brother and sister, Sam and Flossie, as they work to solve the mystery, is well drawn and adds real warmth to the books.

Venus Rocks, the third book in the series, boasts a girl pirate, ghost ships, and a fantastic Cornish setting. Lost love, missing treasure and a vicious ghostly villain make for a page-turning book certain to hold the attention of readers, and especially girls, aged nine plus. With each new book in the series, the Kitty Slade Mysteries become even more compulsive reading, and I'll be joining other readers impatiently awaiting the next instalment, Raven Hearts, out in August.

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