Home > Categories > Books > Kids - Middle > The True Colours of Coral Glen review
An inventive, spooky and heartfelt story of a girl on a race-against-time, gothic-tinged treasure hunt.
Coral sees the world around her through a rainbow of colours not visible to others - an afternoon of adventure is Treasure Island Gold but a morning with a maths test is Stormy Canyon Grey. When her beloved grandma dies, Coral can't find the colour to match how heartbroken she is.
She makes a bargain with a ghostly boy - she'll stop an evil spirit from breaking the spell imprisoning him in a graveyard and he'll find a way for her to say goodbye properly to Grandma.
Product reviews...
This is one of those books that helps prove the old adage, don't judge a book by its cover. In the case of The Colours of Coral Glen, the cover was gorgeous (if I could have it without the words, as a poster, I would), both back and front, but what was held within the covers struggled to keep me reading for the first five chapters and after that had me shifting between enjoyment and irritation. Once you get halfway through the book the pace really does begin to speed up, she was only given three days to get everything sorted, but it feels like so much got left out and there is one character issue that gets forgotten about in favour of ending the book.
The author tries to inject a bit of difference to her story by having Coral describe the colours by using the names that are given to the multitude of paint colours there are (this is also to aid why she can see the ghost when no one else can), this could have been good but there are more moments than not where I was getting fed up with these descriptions, far too many in one go instead of more evenly spaced out. The characters are fun enough but they aren't consistent enough to improve the book and don't even get me started on Coral's parents, who whilst they are grieving too, can't seem to decide how to treat Coral at any given time.
I'm in love with the cover but beyond that, this wouldn't be a book I would recommend to any of my friends children.
Random listing from 'Books'...
Look out! Tom, Delta and the whole Gates family (Fossils included) are going on holiday. How will Tom manage to keep himself busy on he most boring campsite ever? By doodling, of course! An exciting new story with pages for your own doodles from award-winning and best-selling author.
All trademarks, images and copyrights on this site are owned by their respective companies.
KIWIreviews is an independent entity, part of the Knock Out News Group. This is a free public forum presenting user opinions on selected products, and as such the views expressed do not necessarily reflect the opinion of kiwireviews.nz and are protected under New Zealand law by the "Honest Opinion" clause of the Defamation Act of 1992. KIWIreviews accepts no liability for statements made on this site, on the premise that they have been submitted as the true and honest opinions of the individual posters. In most cases, prices and dates stated are approximate and should be considered as only guidelines.
"Action may not always bring happiness, but there is no happiness without action."
Benjamin Disraeli