I’m sticking with the panda theme today, albeit red pandas this time. This is the first in Jess Butterworth’s new junior fiction series and I’ve got to say I really like it. The story revolves around 8-year-old Tilly who wins a competition to take part in an expedition to Nepal to monitor red pandas. She…
We’ve been ratcheting up the miles over the past week, and while we often listen to audiobooks to help while away the time, I always struggle to find a story that both kids enjoy as they have such different tastes in literature. I absolutely struck gold with this, though, as both of them were absolutely…
It’s a truth universally acknowledged (well, it is in my house, anyway!) that Julia Golding is fast becoming one of my favourite authors. After diving into the mystical world of the Companions series, and travelling back in time with The Tigers in the Tower, I was delighted to be invited to join the blog tour…
But imagine if every single person on the planet just did one thing. This debut middle grade book (aged around 9+) has received rave reviews over the past few weeks, and after reading it last night I can absolutely see why. It tells the story of April, who spends 6 months on Bear Island in…
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…
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…
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…
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…
With trips restricted at the moment, I managed to travel vicariously to the streets and underground tunnels of Paris last night, thanks to this fab adventure. Nell Magnificent takes the opportunity to visit France with her (downright horrible) parents to try and track down her old friend and nanny, from whom she hasn’t heard lately.…