The Yellowcake Conspiracy

by Stephen Davies

"Get back on the bus!" One of the policemen was walking towards them holding his pistol. Haroun flicked on his helmet-lamp and peered in through the window of the car. Claude Gerard was dead! When the Director of the Saharan uranium mine where he works is mysteriously murdered, 14-year-old Haroun embarks on a dangerous new role as a spy in the service of the French Government. A shocking conspiracy is unearthed—somebody is trafficking "yellowcake," a key ingredient in the production of nuclear bombs. Faced with the threat of the yellowcake falling into the hands of a rogue state, time is running out.

Genres: Young Adult, School

224 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2007

About the author

Stephen Davies is the author of more than thirty children's books, with a particular interest in Ancient Egypt. Stephen's bestseller THE ANCIENT EGYPT SLEEPOVER is widely used as a whole-class read in Key Stage 2, while the Comic Book Myths books are perfect for reluctant readers.

Stephen loves visiting schools in the UK and overseas, helping young people with their own creative writing.

Agent: Julia Churchill

Events: Authors Abroad

Reviews

[Jasmijn Hospers · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ik heb 'm volgens mij echt vorige week ofzo uitgelezen maar ik was vergeten te doen.
Dus
Aan het begin vond ik hem heel saai en sommige random dingen gebeurde ook op random momenten maar later in het boek toen snapte ik die dingen wel en ik vond het boek later in het boek wel prima

[Manon · Rating 3 out of 5]

An exciting read, although the main character is a little flat. An interesting and informative book.

[Evy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Still don’t really understand what this was about but I guess it was fine? For a school book!!

[Grant Gardner]

So this book is one of the first novels I read here in Tanzania, so it’s quite special to me. I picked it up in the library, and having been 13 at the time of reading it, I gave it a pretty high rating.

Now, though the Yellowcake Conspiracy is still nostalgic four years later… it just doesn’t live up to its original hype.

Don’t get me wrong - it has some redeeming qualities: a bit of action, solid dialogue, an interesting premise… it’s just that those qualities weren’t done well enough to be anything more than mildly entertaining. It felt like the execution was the bare minimum.

There was an overall lack of stakes, character depth, and voice, and I never felt grounded in the setting. Haroun was a flat character, and his overuse of proverbs came across as very cringey. We also never learned what happened to Burayma(I think that was his name), either. He was never an important character anyway though, so I’ll let that slide.

Overall, though there were some fun moments, this novel didn’t leave me with anything. It didn’t have anything to say, and I won’t remember much about it. But, if you like short, action packed stories with a basic but intriguing premise, you enjoy this one.

[Gabriel Clarke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Efficiently, economically written (and with a lot of respect to the tribespeople it depicts) but somehow less than the sum of its parts. It should have been more exciting than it actually was. Possibly because I never really felt that the main character really engaged with his predicament - somehow, I was kept resolutely outside of his head.

[Lucy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really did not like this book , I thought the plot was hard to follow and some parts of the book was confusing and hard to understand because the location of the book is France it's not the worst book I've read but it's close I had to read this book at school in my English lesson if I jade chose to read it i would've stop reading after the first chapter

[Charlotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice to read, thrilling at times, also with some humour. You get a interesting view of a certain way of local life. A brave main character. Not 5 stars because the story remains a bit simple, with somewhat superficial characters.

[Cocoa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this. Fast and thrilling. Especially the end.

[Lara-Lara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Super leuk boek. Soms een beetje oninteressant maar erg cool en baddie