I am pleased to announce that today is my stop on the The Light Thieves Search for the Black Mirror by Helena Duggan blog tour. This is the second adventure in the gripping and mysterious eco/tech series, The Light Thieves.

The energy from the sun is being stolen. It’s a catastrophe for the planet and every living thing on it. Friends Grian, Jeffrey and Shelli are desperately trying to work out how it’s happening. They know tech genius Howard Hansom is behind the theft and they’re determined to stop him. But they can’t use any of Hansom’s smart technology in their quest as it will track them wherever they go.

The three young heroes need to find a strange black mirror to help them save the sun. They unwittingly uncover the massive hoax tech-billionaire Howard Hansom has planned and refuse to stay quiet whilst he hoodwinks people into thinking only he can save the world. But who would you trust, the adult or the kids? Time is running out. Can kids really save the world?

Helena Duggan is from Kilkenny, a medieval, haunted city in the south of Ireland. She writes stories for middle grade and they are always full of adventure. She’s also a graphic designer, which means she draws and colours pictures for a living. She writes in a treehouse built by her husband Robbie and his brother in the bottom of their garden. She lives in a small house with Robbie, their daughters Jo and Bobbie and dog Tinker.

A Place Called Perfect was her first book. It was published in August 2017 and was a Waterstones Book of the Month. It won numerous awards including Crimefest Children’s Book of the Year and was nominated for the Irish Book Awards and Waterstones Children’s Prize.

My stop on the tour will take the form of a book review.

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Title: The Light Thieves Search for the Black Mirror

Written by: Helena Duggan

Illustrated by: Katie Kear

Published by: Usborne Publishing

The Light Thieves Search for the Black Mirror is a dystopian middle grade action-packed eco-adventure.

The world has been tilted by a huge earthquake leaving a shadow across the sun which is gradually getting bigger until the sun will eventually be extinguished. We all know we can’t live without the sun and this becomes evident with the consequential changes in the environment and the way the days are gradually becoming shorter.

The Light Thieves Search for the Black Mirror startsfrom where the previous book left off but I found it a little frustrating that even though a detailed flowchart had been provided outlining the events in the previous book of the trilogy, a lot of the beginning of this book was spent summing up and reflecting on the first and yet throughout, the first few chapters I had the distinct feeling I was missing something.  

The tech billionaire Howard Hanson has built the Tipping Point and persuaded volunteers to move there by claiming with enough weight in that particular location the world will shift back to its original axis and everyone will be saved. However, the Tipping Point was not the technological haven Howard Hanson claimed it to be.

I thought it was clever the way Helena Duggan used the idea of ‘fake news’ to show how Howard Hanson manipulated people to believe the children were responsible for the catastrophe and how other events (fake or otherwise) were used to distract people from what he was doing right under their noses. This would be an ideal discussion point in the classroom to highlight how similar techniques have been used in real life

Our main character, Grain has been set the task by his grandad of finding three more letters containing clues which each lead to a separate piece of a larger puzzle. When they find all four pieces they have to find grandad who can put them together to reverse the destruction to the sun.

The relationships between the three friends is well established and I liked the way they contrasted each other with the intelligent yet socially awkward best friend Jeffrey and the nature-loving Shelli. I thought it was good the way Grain was a little slow and depended on his friends to help him, which broke the usual stereotypical role of the hero. His lack of confidence in his abilities and the feeling of ‘imposter syndrome’ worked well and is realistic of how many young children feel.

I also enjoyed the way Grain finds it difficult not to use the smart technology he has become dependant on and how lost and inadequate he feels without it. This is true of many children and adults today and I have heard it said there whole life is on their phone, their calendar, their banking, contacts, etc. This reflection on our increasing dependency on technology that is only going to increase in the future struck a chord with me.

I think The Light Thieves Search for the Black Mirror is ideal for KS2, especially years 4 ,5, and 6. It is full of twists and turns which grip the imagination, making the reader want to find out more.

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​You can find out more about Helena and her books on her website: www.helenadugganwrites.com You can follow her Twitter: @Heldideas and on Instagram: @helddesign

To see the rest of the tour check out the Tour Schedule below:

I would like to thank Bee from Kaleidoscopic Tours for inviting me to take part in this tour. Thank you.