When I was a child, I loved the "Choose Your Own Adventure" books. If you want to explore the castle, turn to page 71. If you want to battle the troll, turn to page 96. There were so many possibilities and so many endings. This week, I was thrilled to discover two new books that… Continue reading Choose Your Own Adventure for the next generation
Curse of the Dearmad is an engaging new middle grade fantasy from Emma Mylrea. Twins, Percy and Nell, are starting high school. As if that isn't challenging enough, there is something the matter with their mother and she has to go away to get well. Heartbroken, Percy and Nell struggle to think of anything they… Continue reading Curse of the Dearmad by Emma Mylrea
The Royal Rebel is the inspirational story of Sophia Duleep Singh, granddaughter of Maharajah Ranjit Singh, heir to the Sikh Empire in India. As goddaughter of Queen Victoria, Princess Sophia lived a life torn between two nations. She never felt completely at home in England or in India. This book tells her story as she… Continue reading The Royal Rebel: The Life of a Suffragette Princess by Bali Rai
The Chime Seekers is a magical story of an unusual world that exists alongside our own. A world where faeries rule and nothing quite makes sense. On nights when the veil between this world and our own is thin, anything can happen. Darkness creeps in, tricks are played, babies stolen and lives changed. When Yanni… Continue reading The Chime Seekers by Ross Montgomery
Hide and Seek is a thrilling historical adventure from acclaimed children’s author and former BBC sports journalist Robin Scott-Elliot whose debut, The Tzar’s Curious Runaways was a Telegraph and an Observer children’s Book of the Year. Summer, 1942. Paris is boiling hot and thirteen-year-old Amélie Dreyfus is hiding in the dark cool of her mother’s wardrobe. The sound of heavy boots signals… Continue reading Hide and Seek by Robin Scott-Elliot ~ Blog Tour
Hal and his Uncle Nat are back with the fourth Adventures on Trains mystery! This time, they find themselves journeying across Europe to the mountains of Germany to find the answers to an old family curse, an unexplained death and a missing will. They’ve packed plenty of intuition, deduction and determination to see them through.… Continue reading Danger at Dead Man’s Pass by MG Leonard & Sam Sedgman
The Week at World’s End has shot to the very top of my list of favourite books of 2021. Pulling me in from the very first line, it took me on a challenging, entertaining and eye-opening journey. I know a book is powerful when I keep going back to it, thinking about the story, characters… Continue reading The Week at World’s End by Emma Carroll
When tragedy and trauma strikes, what is the best way to cope with difficult memories? Should we push all the feelings aside and try to forget what’s happened or face the pain and try to deal with it? The Memory Thieves explores this question and how to find true healing. This book had me hooked… Continue reading The Memory Thieves by Darren Simpson
It’s October in Eerie-on-Sea and the nights are drawing in. Ghastly Night is approaching – a night when a shadowy story threatens to take control of the town. In this third book in the Legends of Eerie-on-Sea series, Shadowghast is a monster you definitely don’t want to meet on a dark night! Herbert Lemon is… Continue reading Shadowghast by Thomas Taylor
I have been looking forward to this wonderful sequel for such a long time! The first The Orphans of St Halibut’s book was one of my absolute favourite reads of 2020. I love its wonderfully dark, Dickensian comedy of errors with chapter after chapter of hilarious, twisted escapades – it’s one of those books where… Continue reading The Orphans of St Halibut’s: Pamela’s Revenge by Sophie Wills
Scope for Imagination 