Invention, light-hearted, illustrated, secrets, adventure
Leonora Bolt: Secret Inventor
by Lucy Brandt
Key information
Author: Lucy Brandt
Illustrator: Gladys Jose
Release Date: 20th January 2022
Book type: Short chapter, 208 pages, paperback
Star rating: ★★★★★
Reader level: Developing reader (6+)
Series: First in a series of 4
Age: Year 2+
Overview
Leonora Bolt is a young girl who LOVES to invent things. She spends most of her days tucked away in her laboratory creating new and crazy inventions such as Flameproof shampoo, musical socks and magnetic cheese. Leonora loves to spend time with her adorable companion, Twitchy Nibbles (Twitch) her pet otter, who keeps her company on an otherwise extremely lonely island.
Although her life seems fun, Leonora is an orphan and lives on Crabby Island with her evil, wicked and ghastly uncle, Uncle Luther. This evil man steals Leonora's inventions and secretly sells them on the mainland where he is rich and famous for his unbelievable creations. Luckily, Leonora's life takes a turn for the better when a random boy called Jack is washed up onto her island on an inflatable lobster. With her new guest providing news from the mainland, Leonora soon realises that her Uncle is even more evil than she had thought, and sets off on an expedition to the mainland with the hopes of exposing his lies to the rest of the world.
After a choppy journey to the mainland, Leonora find herself face to face with the hidden truths of her past - are her parents really dead? Were they really shopkeepers? Or are they actually geniuses who went missing on an expedition to the Arctic Circle? To find the truth, Leonora and Jack must find their way into the heart of the Society of Ingenious Geniuses, and overcome a dozen crazy hurdles that get in their way.
Key concepts/themes
Considerations
- Inventing
- Friendships
- Adventure
- Independence
- Strong female protagonist
- Science
- Missing parents
Additional teaching points
1. Reading
- Strong female protagonist
2. Science
- inventions (electricity, cars, telephone etc)
3. Writing
- Explanation text (how to create an invention)
- Autobiography (Leonora)
- Setting description (laboratory)
- Character description (Leonora)
- Newspaper article (missing parents)
Vocabulary
Very accessible language on the whole (excluding invention names) but filled with excelled tier 2 vocabulary:
| Tier 2 | Tier 3 |
|---|---|
| awestruck, spluttering, magnificent, scampered, plummeted, fumbled, chaotic, idle |
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