A beautiful morning here in South Lincolnshire, with such a lovely book keeping me company. The Book Cat is based on real-life cat, Morgan, a stray who set up home at Faber and Faber during WW2 as resident mouser and door cat. In this story, Morgan embodies the Blitz spirit, helping those felines less fortunate…
I absolutely love this picture book – a joyous celebration of black hair and culture, with glorious illustrations (and the most superb endpapers) to match. A young girl needs a new hairstyle in time for her birthday. After rejecting her dad’s offers for a trim (in fairness, he has been practising on the dog!), she’s…
This fabulous book is the only ray of sunshine to be found in South Lincolnshire this morning – what a miserable day weather-wise! I love it when I discover new books that I haven’t seen or heard of before. I was mooching around WH Smith on Thursday, killing time while waiting for a school music…
My daughter loves books that feature her hobbies and interests, so this brilliant chapter book series, The Fabulous Cakes of Zinnia Jakes, is perfect for her. The Super Spy is the latest book to be published and just like the first 2 books (which can be read as standalones) it’s full of adventure, fun and…
Today’s Saturday morning ‘hanging around in the car park’ read was the first book in the Planet Omar series – Accidental Trouble Magnet – and what a brilliant story it is. Not many books can boast a new school, a stinky class bully, a dragon and a zombie, an Eid fest and presents, and a…
Right, I’ve got a HUGE apology to make to Maverick Books. The lovely Kate kindly sent us this brilliant picture book last Summer, but a couple of days after it arrived, it disappeared off my review shelf and despite searching high and low, I couldn’t track it down for love nor money. Until last week,…
It’s a glorious, if a bit cold, day here in south Lincolnshire and I’ve really enjoyed reading with the sun on my face while waiting for my daughter to finish her drama class. Keeping me company in the car park has been the brilliant Dog Ears by Anne Booth, an empathic, moving story of a…
I was in #readingmyshelf mode last weekend, and really enjoyed this lovely book that I found buried in my Kindle. It tells the story of Libby, a bright, intelligent girl who wants to be a scientist when she grows up (her hero is the American astronomer Cecilia Payne, who first determined the composition of stars).…
It’s fair to say that I’m one of those mums who, quite frankly, has no particular standout skills in her locker. I’m not sporty, creative or endlessly patient, I can’t cook for toffee (the kids both agree that toast is my best meal ?), my husband thought the light sabre birthday cake I created for…
Peace obviously means many things to many people and can be quite a difficult (but very necessary) concept to explain to a young audience. This book absolutely nails it, though, by collating the inspirational stories of a number of Nobel Peace Prize winners across the 20th and 21st centuries. Endorsed by Amnesty International, it’s a…