The Recruit Robert Muchamore

The book I will be reporting on is The Recruit by Robert Muchamore. The book is part of the very popular Cherub series. Hodder Children’s Books published the Recruit in 2004. The Recruit is an action book for both boys and girls. The recruit is about the major changes in James Choke’s life.

            The book is set in England and Wales. The majority of the book is spent at the Cherub campus but it follows the places where James travels. There are many characters in the book but the main characters are James Choke (James Adams) A cheeky character that starts as a lazy boy who was clever when he wanted to be but Cherub changed him into a healthy hard working boy, Lauren Choke his smart quiet sister, Kerry Chang a confident intelligent girl, Amy is a kind supportive girls who is very fond of James, Kyle is a very neat boy and a good friend of James.

            The plot. James Choke and his sister Lauren live with their mum in a flat in London. One night James finds himself in deep trouble in school and doesn’t have the guts to tell his mum. That same night James’ mum dies. James and his sister are put into a children’s home for the night. The next morning Lauren’s Dad comes to collect Lauren but he had never like James at all so refused to take him in. James complained to the children’s home but they wouldn’t do anything. James was constantly down at the police station for hanging out with the wrong people and being forced into doing things and being tricked. One morning James found himself in a very weird place. It was definitely not the children’s home he had stayed in for the last couple of weeks.it was a large room with all the accessories James would have wanted. There were clothes laid out for him including an orange t-shirt. The orange t-shirt had a baby, sitting on a ball on it. He put them on and went outside into the corridor. He tried to ask people where he was and where to go, but all they said was “ cant talk to orange.” He followed the hand gestures and found his ways to a type of reception. He was lead into an office and the conversation that he had with the head of Cherub changed his life.      I thoroughly enjoyed this book because the action never stopped and it sounded realistic unlike some spy/ action books. The book was very well written but not suitable for young readers. I would defiantly recommend this book to a friend because it was exciting, exhilarating and full of action. The only hesitation in recommending it to a friend is if they have young sibling it would be inappropriate for them to read it. I believe this book’s overall significance is to make children aware that it is not good to join gangs and drink under age and take drugs, and it is good to keep fit and work hard. Yes I think the author has achieved his goal because the Cherub series has won awards. I think the author’s take on life’s big questions is, if offered advice, take it and the likelihood is it will help you in what ever the advice was. I believe this because James takes advice from Amy, Kyle, Bruce and Kerry and without it he would not survived at Cherub campus.

Flora MacAngus