Ethan's review:

I think that my favorite character is my man Peter. He is my favorite because who in their right mind would bring a cat as his defender. I also think he is cool because he is a smart boy.

The character of Clara is kind of annoying, she is always complaining “My uncle abandoned me!” However, this happens to many people so does it really matter.

I did not learn much from this book unfortunately.

It was not that interesting, I am more into military history. That would definitely be more interesting for me. I would not recommend this book to people that like more war type themes like myself. Otherwise maybe some other people might like it.

James' review:

I really enjoyed this book because it was exciting and interesting. I really enjoyed the story as it was very mysterious but cool.

I found the character of Peter really interesting because his fondness of ballet was unusual.

The historical era of this book made it really interesting because of the defectors from the USSR as part of the story.

I found the plot very easy to understand, which is a positive in my opinion.

The standout part of the book was the historical context. Some books have similar stories but in a modern context, so the historical context makes this book stand out.

I would recommend this book to other pupils as it is quite informative about the period of history it covers.

Julia's review:

The character I found the most interesting was the mother of Clara, Christobel Starling. At the exposition of the novel she was simply not to be spoken of however as the plot progressed on, her involvement in the story became crucial as she was that first clue of what was really going on outside of Clara’s life in Braithwaite Manor. The uncle, Mr Edward Starling, was a promising character with mystery surrounding him as to why he is so stern and monotone; the insight of Clara’s thoughts even gave a possible reason - the tragic death of his parents and then his sister’s. However towards the end of the novel it was revealed that he was nothing but a gambler with some questionable motives which wasted the opportunity of making the character more intricate with a purposeful backstory. The plot of the story is exhilarating as it fastens towards the end where Clara and Peter rush from place to person to solve their questions of what happened and why did it happen. The fast pace grips the reader as they follow the two through an omniscient narrator which helps to see the plot unravel to the reader as it does to the protagonists. The novel is set mid-cold war which helps later understand the lack of a father figure in Clara’s life. The defection of Rudolf Nureyev (a real historical person) and political refugee in France while on tour embarrassed the USSR so as a consequence they recalled many Russian ballerinas including Clara’s father, Sergei Ivanov, as a way of preventing future defections and escaping from the Soviet Union. Without this Ivanov may have been able to stay with his sweetheart, Starling, and cared for her during her pregnancy (of Clara) which he unfortunately didn’t know about in Russia due to ballet companies often hiding pregnancies of their ballerinas. I would recommend this book to other students because of it’s gripping storyline which involves a wider and greater, historical reasoning to the characters. I would also recommend this book because of the two charismatic protagonists whose intricately detailed remarkable adventure makes the read worthwhile.

Kate's review:

I liked the secret starling because it had an interesting plot with lots of twists. It took me a while to work out that it was set in the 70’s. It was like reading the secret garden mixed with the famous five.

I found the character of Amelia interesting because although she was not a lead character, the author had spent more time describing her than she did Clara. From her description you cannot work out if she is supposed to be older than the others. I like her confidence but some of the things she does are not so nice. I didn’t like Peter as a character as I thought he was a bit boring and predictable. I thought Clara was okay but her character was very much what you come to expect from this type of story, a young girl alone in the world, befriends staff who work for an evil relative and she has an adventure where she is wilful and it all ends happily ever after with her finding a new happy place to belong. I would have liked to have not been able to predict the ending quite so early on. Yes the book was set in the 70’s but I am not sure if that really makes it historical fiction. The use of language gave it a regional feel and maybe showed a glimpse of what was available in the 70’s. I think we were meant to think children then had much more freedom but I don’t think even then an 11 year old would be allowed to travel half why across the country by themselves. The author did mention a few historical events in passing like the immigrants in London and the Soviet era. But I do not think this makes it anymore of a work of historical fiction than Enid Blyton’s famous five or Twins at St Clare’s.

The tone of the book was quite upbeat, and had a nice twisty mystery to it I enjoyed the descriptions of the places, but what stands out for me in the book is how the characters are so trusting and how the adults just leave them to get on with it. I didn’t really learn any new words or phrases as the language was quite simple. There were lots of little facts strewn across the book but the author never really develops any of them beyond the surface particularly with the descriptions of the Kirov Ballet. I enjoyed reading it as a piece of fiction but not as a piece of historical fiction. I would recommend this book to younger readers, who like a simple old fashioned mystery story but I would not recommend it as a piece of historical fiction.