The Secret Lake
Karen Inglis
Subjects
- Action Adventures - chills, thrills and plenty of spills
- History Time - blasts from the past
A lost dog, a hidden time tunnel and a secret lake take Stella and Tom to their home and the children living there 100 years in the past. A page-turning time travel adventure for children aged 8-11. Now enjoyed by over 250,000 young readers! When Stella and her younger brother, Tom, move to their new London home, they become mystified by the disappearances of Harry, their elderly neighbour's dog. Where does he go? And why does he keep reappearing wet-through? Their quest to solve the riddle over the summer holidays soon leads to a boat buried under a grassy mound - and a tunnel that takes them to a secret lake. Who is the boy rowing towards them? Why is he so terrified? And whose are those children's voices carried on the wind from beyond the woods? Stella and Tom soon discover that they have travelled back in time to their home and its gardens almost 100 years earlier. Here they make both friends and enemies and uncover startling connections between the past and present. The Secret Lake has been described by readers as a modern Tom's Midnight Garden and compared in atmosphere with The Secret Garden and the Enid Blyton and Nancy Drew mystery adventure stories. Its page-turning plot, with its many twists and turns, makes it a firm favourite with both boys and girls. Karen Inglis describes it as: ""a time travel mystery adventure with modern twists - the kind of story that I loved to read as a child, but brought right up to date"".
Reviews
This book is a really enjoyable portal story. There is a mixture of mystery and fantasy and readers quickly become intrigued by the different puzzles and mysteries along the way: the disappearance of Harry, the mystery boy, the tunnel itself. I think children will really relate to the main characters Stella and Tom and enjoy both the mystery and the heart-warming moments of this story.
lind
Creepy, entertaining and suitable for Year 6
GeorginaAllen
Enjoyed this fiction book. A great adventure with some danger as well as right and wrong dilemmas. The sibling protagonists are brave and true. Nicely rounded ending.
N@yl@nd5
The Secret Lake is a mix of fantasy and adventure and is focused around 2 children who travel back in time through. mole holes. Suitable for readers aged 8+. Inglis keeps the momentum of the story going through twists and turns through out the story and interweaving characters through both the present day and the past that they children travel back to. Inglis drops clues throughout the text that more confident readers will be able to draw on to start to make the connections and make informed predictions about what will happen. The story follows two children who have recently moved back to the UK and are living in environment very different to their previous hime, where they have a communal garden and most of their neighbours are elderly. One neighbour has a dog, Harry, who regularly goes missing. Harry is key character in the story as is his owner as the children soon discover when they start entering the tunnel! The children are very wary of the hardener who appears grumpy and to dislike them playing in the garden. However, they soon understand why this is so ! I would recommenced this to those who enjoy adventure with a time-travelling experience via a portal with a slice of history thrown in for good measure. !
jpickering
Lovely book that reminded me of Tom’s Midnight Garden. The story was well written and the characters engaging.
KTBryant
Fiction, exciting and full of mystery
Mrs Binnie
This book reminded me of Enid Blyton's adventure stories. There is something quite quaint about it but children would enjoy the time travel and mystery genre. It is set out in short chapters so ideal for children who want a chapter book which isn't weighty.
ZRob11
It reminded me of a mix of; The Secret Garden, Tom's Midnight Garden and Peter Pan. Exciting to read and a lovely plot line.
rmcdonald