I’ve been doing some more vicarious travelling during lockdown, this time to the Sri Lankan jungle… In her small village ruled by a selfish King, Chaya is a modern-day Robin Hood, stealing from the rich to help the poor. One day she goes too far, though, stealing jewels from the Queen and unwittingly implicating her…
Goodness me, what a book this is. It tells the story of Olive, who lives with her father and grandfather after the loss of her mum. She seems to be the only person who can see a big grey elephant following her dad around as he struggles with his grief and she sets out to…
This has been such a useful book for us during lockdown 3. My daughter and I have dipped into it regularly to help us manage our ‘raincloud’ thoughts: yesterday neither of us did very well, but today has been better. Don’t let the ‘first mindfulness book’ fool you, it’s not just for traditional picture-book-aged children…
I immersed myself in this gem of a read last night – James Haddell’s debut book, The Lost Child’s Quest (swipe for synopsis). For those of you who follow James’ book reviews on Instagram and Twitter, you’ll know he is an eloquent writer and so it’s no surprise that this crosses over into his storytelling.…
Does anyone else suffer from the phenomenon that is the TBR (To Be Read) black hole? I was so excited to read this sequel to Brightstorm that I had it on pre-order: it arrived on publication day last year, was placed on my TBR trolley (which is now a TBR cupboard 😱), and then got…
I take my hat off to picture book authors who have the emotional intelligence and skill to take difficult topics and distil them in such a way that young children can understand them. These superb books are a fantastic example of this, helping children to explore and better understand their emotions, as well as offering…
A very belated Happy New Year to you all. Being back in lockdown again means that this homeschooling malarkey is seriously getting in the way of my reading and reviewing schedule! I had some time to myself last night, though, because the third story in the Dragon in the Library series arrived and I couldn’t…
This is the perfect book to feature on Christmas Eve. Set in Norway in the late 70s, The Good Bear is a beautiful, atmospheric story about connection, blended families and acceptance (see synopsis in photo below). It’s the sort of book that creates a bit of a dilemma: do you take your time reading it…
After reading the first in this great, junior fiction time-slip series a month or so ago, we were keen to catch up with Ruby and Alex’s adventures in this festive story. A Christmas in Time takes us back to the Victorian era, and like the first book, is rich in historical details: fashions, festive activities,…
Here come the girls… (if you’re a person of a certain age in the UK, you’ll now have the old Boots Xmas advert song playing in your head – sorry about that!). Tinsel is a funny, magical and empowering Yuletide adventure for readers aged 8+, which is served with a satisfying side dish of friendship…