For the last 3 years, I’ve really loved New Year as it has meant a new release from the fab author, Lisa Thompson. She’s the sort of author I would have loved to have read when I was younger, as she focuses on real-life, often gritty, issues. The Day I was Erased is no exception…… Read More The Day I Was Erased by Lisa Thompson
To my mind, there is something very special about festive reads – while the children clearly don’t need any help to get excited, I find that snuggling down with the kids to share a Christmas story actually helps me to be a little less scrooge-like! While most book blogs tend to focus on new festive… Read More Favourite Festive Picture Books
This is my first Christmas book purchase of the year, and what a cracker (excuse the pun…) it is! How Winston Delivered Christmas has been ingeniously devised, written and illustrated by the multi-talented Alex T Smith (of both Mr Penguin and Claude fame) and is certain to be a festive hit. The book has been… Read More How Winston Delivered Christmas by Alex T Smith
‘Don’t forget who you are. You are a fighter. As the dark in the sky makes the stars shine brighter, you will find the bad stuff has good bits too. The bad days are the days that make you you.’ This book caught my eye as the author, the phenomenal Matt Haig, described it on… Read More The Truth Pixie by Matt Haig
‘For the record, seeing your mum miserable is one of the worst things in the world. Being separated from your almost-twin is another. Knowing it was your fault is a third… All of them together is a pancake stack of bad things.’ Apologies – due to some technical difficulties, we have been off-line for what… Read More What Lexie Did by Emma Shevah
‘Often the journeys we take inside ourselves are more difficult than the stormiest seas’ The Storm Keeper’s Island by Catherine Doyle is the #PrimarySchoolBookClub read for August, and was also the Waterstone’s Children’s Book for July 2018. Some people might be aware of Catherine Doyle through her Young Adult trilogy, Blood for Blood, but this… Read More The Storm Keeper’s Island by Catherine Doyle
‘My sister is beautiful… My sister has the kindest heart of anyone I know. My sister is a better person than you will ever be. Having Down’s syndrome doesn’t make her weird or ugly or thick. It makes her extraordinary.’ If you haven’t come across Jo Cotterill’s books before then you are seriously missing out. An… Read More A Storm of Strawberries by Jo Cotterill
The Summer holidays are a great time to try out new books and I have been asked for some illustrated fiction recommendations for younger readers. All of the books featured in today’s blog are suitable for children in either Key Stage 1 or lower Key Stage 2 (or even older, depending on the type of… Read More Illustrated Fiction for Younger Readers
The Rainbow Magic series by Daisy Meadows (a collective pseudonym for a number of writers) is the book equivalent of marmite for parents – you either love it or you hate it, but there’s no doubt that this best-selling series has sold millions of copies worldwide and its winning formula of friendship and magic appeals… Read More What to Read After Rainbow Magic……
With 7 historical fiction books under her belt, and another about to be published imminently, Emma Carroll has earned her title of Queen of Historical Fiction and has been on my radar for some time; indeed, for the last 6 months I have had 3 of her books in my To Be Read (TBR) pile,… Read More Letters from the Lighthouse by Emma Carroll