Countdown to Yesterday is an absolutely charming story about a boy who just wants his family to be happy. When James learns his parents are getting a divorce, he doesn't know what to do. He doesn't want to live two lives - half the week with Dad and half the week with Mum. He wants… Continue reading Countdown to Yesterday by Shirley Marr
I Spy: A Bletchley Park Mystery was one of my top books of 2023 so I was thrilled to find out there was a second book coming in February 2024. Hide and Seek is a beautifully crafted story of the dangers and hardships faced by those with secrets to keep during the Second World War.… Continue reading Hide and Seek: A Bletchley Park Mystery by Rhian Tracey
Going to Bat is the second book in the charming Mind and Me series. Celebrating mindfulness and positive self-talk, these stories help children think about how they speak to themselves and how they can rely on themselves in all sorts of situations. In Going to Bat, Maya is trying to write a letter to her… Continue reading Mind and Me: Going to Bat by Sunita Chawdhary ~ Blog Tour
Diamond Jack is an absolutely delightful, swashbuckling adventure. Full of the charm of time gone by, it takes readers on a high-stakes, perilous quest overrun with dastardly highwayman, carriages bursting with riches and an unexplainable magic. Bramble's parents died in a tragic riding accident leaving her and her big sister, Lena, to live with their… Continue reading Diamond Jack: Your Magic or Your Life by Anna Rainbow ~ Blog Tour
May 2024 The Girl Who Couldn't Lie is the thought-provoking and ever-so engaging debut children's book by Radhika Sanghani. Targeted at age 9+, it reaches across Middle Grade into the Teen category with important issues for adolescents. Readers will identify with first crushes, puberty, managing responsbilities and independence, friendships, bullies, teachers and homework. This is… Continue reading The Girl Who Couldn’t Lie by Radhika Sanghani
May 2024 There is no question The Wrong Shoes will be one of the most highly regarded and widely discussed books of the year - perhaps even of the decade. It is an incredibly powerful story of childhood poverty in the UK. It explores the pressures of finanacial hardship and family struggles through the eyes… Continue reading The Wrong Shoes by Tom Percival
Billy wakes up in the middle of a battlefield. Galloping hooves pound the earth. Surely he will be trampled? The Heavenly Horses or Ferghana are the fastest most beautiful horses ever. The Emperor Wudi of China wants them for his cavalry. The Horse King won't let him have them. Billy's new friend, Han, son of… Continue reading The War of the Heavenly Horses by Roland Chambers ~ Blog Tour
Eloise has a bit of a history with swords, particularly stabbing people with swords. Indeed, it is said that she was once an Olympic fencer. Others say she won three Commonwealth gold medals. And some whisper that she could kill you in a duel. Probably. Luckily, she has since discovered the pen is mightier than… Continue reading Winner Takes Gold by Eloise Smith ~ Blog Tour
Take flight with Ava, Tara, Jack, Terry, Ozuru, Twitch and Tippi in another fantastic adventure as they try to solve the mystery of a dangerous museum heist! Feather brings us to the end of M.G. Leonard's wonderful seasonal quartet of stories celebrating bird watching, friendship and the natural world. This series is so refreshing -… Continue reading Feather by M.G. Leonard
It's been a long time since I first read Jane Eyre. This version from Walker Classics took me right back to when I read the original (about age 15). Jane is a compelling heroine. She proves herself to be an intelligent young woman with so much to offer yet the world rejects her. Readers can… Continue reading Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre: Abridged for Young Readers by Patrice Lawrence
Scope for Imagination 