Blog Tour: Curse Of The Nomed by BB Taylor

 

Extract:

You were meant to get lost. You were meant to feel nervous about making new friends. At no point did anyone mention the freaky Headmaster and mass army of zombie-like students. 

(Curse Of The Nomed by BB Taylor. P10.)

Synopsis:

Nora, Jacob and Stefan are late for their first day at Nomed Academy. They reckon they will be in trouble for missing assembly. Turns out trouble is an understatement. They witness the other pupils being put into a trance by the headmaster. The same trance which holds all the pupils and teachers at Nomed Academy.

This is no ordinary school. The headmaster is actually the Ancient Egyptian god Sett, and he is a danger to all the pupils. The only way to stop him is to find The Book Of Life which is held in an underground vault.

The adventure has just begun.

Review:

A short and lively adventure about a less-than-normal day at school. 

This story began with a competition aimed at children. Five groups of children pitched their story ideas, for the chance to see them written and illustrated by professionals. This story is the result. 

One of the core ideas of the competition was to write a story about the transfer to secondary school which promotes mental health awareness. I am delighted to see this issue raised because I think the difficulties some children face can be overlooked. The lovely thing is the story doesn’t spell the issues out, but the characters all have conflicting thoughts and feelings about their new school. 

I enjoyed the adventure through the labyrinth. The children encounter obstacles from quicksand to sphinxes and face up to their own internal conflicts. 

Although this was described as YA, I would suggest it is suitable for children of 6 or 7 upwards. As well as being an enjoyable adventure, it would make a lovely starting point for conversations about secondary school transfer.

 

Thanks to Faye Rogers PR for organising this blog tour, and for my e-copy. Opinions my own.