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The Robber Baron's Daughter

The Robber Baron's DaughterMore suitable for teenage readers
by Jamila Gavin

So far we have received 16 reviews of The Robber Baron's Daughter. You can read them below.

Jack from Year 9, Danum School Technology College:

Well, The Robber Baron's Daughter was the second book I read on
the longlist this year, and I have to say, it was once again,
pretty impressive! The story is about a girl called Nettie who
lives a very luxurious life. She has a home that could be seen
to be a palace, with grand ornaments, and many more...
basically all a girl could want! She has her own private tutor,
and her own bodyguard, not to mention a swimming pool, tv room,
and music room which also are the houses' belongings. Yet, the
moral to this story basically could be seen as, money and
luxury doesn't necessarily make happiness. You see, as the
story proceeds, which very frustratingly goes quite slow from
the start, (having to go a few chapters in to finally reach the
storyline) problems start arising for Nettie, as her very own
tutor Miss Kovachev goes mysteriously missing. Miss Kovachev,
as the first few chapters explain, was Nettie's probable only
"real" friend, who Nettie adored, and loved. Miss Kovachev
would teach her the most strangest things, and manage to keep
Nettie interested... so when she goes missing, as the final
line on the blurb suggests... "Nettie's world is about to
shatter." And it really does. Nettie becomes agitated and
worried about her beloved tutor, and tries to find out
information about her disappearance, but as the story goes on,
horrible lies (or maybe white lies as her nanny calls them)
start being shared out, and Nettie accuses her mum and dad of
hiding things from her. It comes as a shock at first how her
mum and dad, who she had seen previously to be caring, loving,
possibly perfect parents could actually tell a lie to her. In
confusion, there is also some kind of ghost hanging around the
house, (which at first, makes you believe the genre of the book
could be horror) but later on, Nettie discovers the "so called
ghost" to be a boy called Bennie, who is very different from
Nettie, as he has completely the opposite of Nettie's luxurious
life. Instead, he goes to a "shabby, old school" and lives in a
secret part of the house where his dad and he hide, in fear of
being caught by the "impaler". The boy Bennie has many things
to shock Nettie with, inviting her into a whole new mystery of
the dissapearance of Miss Kovachev. With mystery, display, and
drama, the book makes a great scene, and is one to watch on the
longlist this year. I have to say, I did enjoy this read, and
would recommend it to teen readers, as some of the actions in
this story can be quite humiliating and shocking to younger
readers. I am not sure if it will attract so much of an
audience though, as the storyline probably, although written
with precision and endless detail, is not as interesting as
many of the other books on the longlist this year seem to be.
For that reason, with such a good qualty longlist this year,
and with many powerful and influential storylines, I don't
think The Robber Baron's Daughter will get the votes to proceed
to the shortlist this year, but, as I have been successively
wrong about guessing the way the votes will go for the last two
years, it is unpredictable for me to guess which books will
make it to the shortlist this year, I guess we will just have
to wait and see!!! I will rate the book a 9/10 because of the
detail and drama to the story, but to reach a 10/10 for me,
there needed to be more of a mind-clenching mystery, not one
which was as predictable as the one displayed in this book.
However, I am being very harsh, and I guess many others may
disagree!

Marks out of 10: 9

Emma from Year 8, De Warenne Academy:

It starts off very simple, but when you think it wont get
interesting, she springs this 'ghost' at you, and you can't put
the book down. The ending is very unexpected and the way she
threw in the tutors diary was great. I really loved this book.
10/10 :)

Marks out of 10: 10

Hannah from Year 11, Don Valley School and Performing Arts College:

This book is good and I enjoyed reading it. The story has a
slow start but once in to it the book is quite good as the main
character Nettie's life changes when her tutor Miss Kovchev
disappears and Nettie tries to find out what has happened to
her. However, some of the things she finds out should stay
hidden as they start to ruin Netties life. When reading this
book it made be think of a typical victorian setting however,
it actually has a modern setting as the characters have mobiles
and a TV room. I would reccommend this book to any confident
readers.

Marks out of 10: 8

Chloe from Year 6, Hatfield Manor Junior School:

The Robber Barrons daughter is very good but i've given it 7
cos the beginniing was why it lost marks.

Marks out of 10: 7

Emma from Year 8, De Warenne Academy:

The Robber Barons Daughter is quite boring at the beginning, it
is almost bragging about living in a big house. But then you
get a ghost shoved in aswell and it makes you not want to put
the book down!

Marks out of 10: 10

Eden from Year 7, Ridgewood School:

i thought that the book was very intresting i really liked the
bit where nettie'z tutour went missing !

Marks out of 10: 5

Sophie from Year 10, Ridgewood School:

Frozen in time was quite an enjoyable read. However, I have not
yet found a book to match up to my favourite, (Blood ties.)
Frozen in time is about two young teenagers, slightly younger
than myself, who end up in a hazardous mystery, thanks to their
curiosity. Naturally, diggingup in the back garden is our
common pass-time these days. Except two of the main characters,
Ben and Rachel, stumble upon a large underground laboratory.
Inside they meet their great-aunt and uncle, which as you can
imagine is quite disturbing. Their names are Polly and Freddy,
and entering the world of 2009 is "awfully confusing" for them.
However, my favourite character by far, is Ben and Rachels
uncle. He is a slightly insane scientist with a passion for
experiments, reading about him gave me a good laugh.
I gave this book 7/10, as it was interesting and yet you could
still have a laugh with it.

Marks out of 10: 7

Vicki from Year 10, Don Valley School and Performing Arts College:

I found that this book took me a bit to get into it but once I
did get into it I really enjoyed it. The main character in this
book is a young girl called Nettie. In this story she is trying
to find out off her parents why her old tutor left. Her old
tutor Miss Kovachev was found to be very interesting by Nettie
and after she leaves all of a sudden without even saying good
bye nettie wants to know why but her parents wont tell her. She
has also been seeing a boy around her house and she wants to
know who he is, when she eventually gets to speak to him she
finds out that his name is Benny and his father works for her
father, they live in the basement of her house. While having
lessons on ballet with her great aunt and wandering everywhere
with her new friend Benny, Nettie is having quite an adventure.
I found this book to be very interesting once I got into it and
I actually quite enjoyed it. I would say that it was a slightly
difficult read but I would definitely recommend it. Bits of it
confused me slightly and that is why I graded it as an 8 out of
10.

Marks out of 10: 8

Maisie from Year 7, Ridgewood School:

The story is about a girl called Nettie who
lives a very luxurious life. She has a home that could be seen
to be a palace, with grand ornaments, and many more...
basically all a girl could want! She has her own private tutor,
and her own bodyguard, not to mention a swimming pool, tv room,
and music room which also are the houses' belongings. Yet, the
moral to this story basically could be seen as, money and
luxury doesn't necessarily make happiness.

Marks out of 10: 8

Maisie from Year 7, Ridgewood School:

The story is about a girl called Nettie who
lives a very luxurious life. She has a home that could be seen
to be a palace, with grand ornaments, and many more...
basically all a girl could want! She has her own private tutor,
and her own bodyguard, not to mention a swimming pool, tv room,
and music room which also are the houses' belongings. Yet, the
moral to this story basically could be seen as, money and
luxury doesn't necessarily make happiness.

Marks out of 10: 8

Lewis from Year 6, Hatfield Manor Junior School:

I love Robber Barons Daughter it is a great book and quite
confusing.

Marks out of 10: 8

Callum from Year 8, Ridgewood School:

The robber barons story is really good. At first there is an
ordinary rich household but how they became rich is a mystery
to there little daughter. When her tutor goes missing she
begins to hunt for her tutor. Little does she know it could
force her father to flee and the real identity of her familys
wealth to come forth.

Marks out of 10: 8

chloe from Year 7, Ridgewood School:

I gave this book 6 out of 10. I gave it 6 out of 10 because i
didn't really like the book but it was better then some of the
over books .I didn't really like the book much.

Marks out of 10: 6

Maleeha from Year 9, Don Valley School and Performing Arts College:

This story is about a girl who is very rich and doesn't know
much about the outside world. She knows something has happened
to her favourite tutor and thinks something is wrong. I enjoyed
this book because it ells you how Nettie survives, even when
she hasn't got a clue how people live in London and thinks
everyone has a bodyguard like she has. I liked the character
Benny best because no-one knows that he sneaks around the
house, Auntie thinks he is a ghost.
The book is a long read and easy as it is set in present
(modern) London.

Marks out of 10: 8

Andrew from Year 9, Danum School Technology College:

This book was the very first book I read on the DBA long list.
I have to tell you that so far this book has been my favourite.
It's ram packed with action and adventure plus puzzling, this
is what all children my age younger and older want when they
open a book.
This book involves a girl called Nettie who lives a far better
life than you and I. She would say "I'm off home" What she
should say is that "I'm off to my mansion" her house is that
big. she doesn't have to go to school. She has her own private
teacher to teach her. Not to mention her personal bodyguard who
is at her disposal 24/7, she also has a massive tv room, well
she makes it out to be massive. A music room and a swimming
pool outside. A downside to this book is that you have to wait
quite a lot of chapters till you get to the main story line but
when you do got to the story it is brilliant. Later a few
problems start to hit Nettie as her very own Private
tutor Miss Kovachev goes missing, it's just explainable. Nettie
has emotions and feelings about her tutor that know one not
even herself can understand. I could see that there was a
special bond between the too of them. Probably that she has to
go to a normal school like all of us. Why is she so worried
about about a normal school like me and you go to? I think if
the book went straight into the story line it would be much
better. But overall this book should be shortlisted and at
least make it into the top 3 books. Maybe though the long list
may be just as far as this book goes because it could be a lot
better, the writer obviously didn't think about expanding the
story line and shredding the first few chapters.

Marks out of 10: 8

Jake from Year 9, Danum School Technology College:

This is a mediocre book. It was a pretty good plot but I found
that it didn't make me interested in the book I doubt the book
will get to the shortlist because of the way it is and Ireally
dislike it apart from the plot of the story, that was like I
said, not that interesting but ok.

Marks out of 10: 5

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