I thought, in the end, what a brilliant little story with so much to encourage or facilitate discussion and understanding!

Despite its bleakness the story itself is very good and has a very believable plot it’s just that Zoe is all over the place as far as her character goes and on top of that it seems like the story starts and ends in the middle. I would probably use it as a class read at the end of the day alongside another text, or as a discussion point especially in pshe or science. It’s a book packed with so, so much to learn including the environment and the aspects of human morality and mortality. The best thing about this book is that if I do not know a word I can select it and directly the meaning of the word appears.The language in the book is simple but very descriptive, with interesting discussion points too, making it a good choice of book to read/study as a class. Like Zoe, I would have liked to know more about what happened to all the people: 'Why aren't there more people here? She lives in decaying warehouses on the edge of the waters, foraging for old tinned foods and collecting rainwater to drink. saw Marcus turn his attention to books for younger readers with the launch of a humorous new series: The Raven Mysteries, narrated by a grumpy raven, Edgar. The Kiss of Death was published in paperback in April 2009, and picked up a thread from his highly acclaimed My Swordhand is Singing (winner of the 2007 Booktrust Teenage Book Award).

The belief that she will one day find her parents spurs Zoe on to a dramatic escape in a story of courage and determination that leads to an unexpected and touching conclusion.

But Eels Island, whose raggle-taggle inhabitants are dominated by the strange boy Dooby, is full of dangers too.

I'd had it for ages but didn't know where I was going to use it until the character of Edgar came along: "I suspect I may have fleas again". We meet Zoe who has become separated from her parents in the last evacuation of Norwich, and left behind.In fact, I think I like the story-telling more this way than if another hundred or so pages of explanation and backstories had been added: the reader has to make some leaps along the way. the ending came with a large dose of skepticism on my part as it was unbelievable and unsatisfactory. Along the way she ends up at another Island where she gets herself into a tricky situation and well I won't spoil any more.

We particularly liked linking William Blake's poem 'Little Girl Lost' to the book and creating our own tribal dances for the Eels, Cats and Horses. For my opinion, the ending of the book was a little disappointing, because it ended like on the middle of the story. Floodland is a children's fantasy novel by Marcus Sedgwick, published on 2 March 2000 by Orion Children's Books. Zoe discovers a small rowboat and keeps it a secret until she can set out alone on the great sea to find her parents.

I think it would have been better if it showed how Zoe and Munchkin got along and about them having their baby brother. Entirely deserving of the Branford Boase Award, Floodland is a stunning debut novel that precluded more literary brilliance to follow. With proper help from a competent editor it could have been turned into a good novel, but instead it was released while still some way short of publishable standard. We don't normally get to see the first draft of books, so this one is very informative in that regard. He is also the most noted author in the history of the Printz Award, with one win and two honour books, for Revolver, The Ghosts of Heaven and Midwinter Blood.