‘Don’t forget who you are. You are a fighter. As the dark in the sky makes the stars shine brighter, you will find the bad stuff has good bits too. The bad days are the days that make you you.’ This book caught my eye as the author, the phenomenal Matt Haig, described it on…
‘For the record, seeing your mum miserable is one of the worst things in the world. Being separated from your almost-twin is another. Knowing it was your fault is a third… All of them together is a pancake stack of bad things.’ Apologies – due to some technical difficulties, we have been off-line for what…
‘Often the journeys we take inside ourselves are more difficult than the stormiest seas’ The Storm Keeper’s Island by Catherine Doyle is the #PrimarySchoolBookClub read for August, and was also the Waterstone’s Children’s Book for July 2018. Some people might be aware of Catherine Doyle through her Young Adult trilogy, Blood for Blood, but this…
‘My sister is beautiful… My sister has the kindest heart of anyone I know. My sister is a better person than you will ever be. Having Down’s syndrome doesn’t make her weird or ugly or thick. It makes her extraordinary.’ If you haven’t come across Jo Cotterill’s books before then you are seriously missing out. An…
The Summer holidays are a great time to try out new books and I have been asked for some illustrated fiction recommendations for younger readers. All of the books featured in today’s blog are suitable for children in either Key Stage 1 or lower Key Stage 2 (or even older, depending on the type of…
The Rainbow Magic books by Daisy Meadows (a collective pseudonym for a number of writers) are the literary equivalent of marmite for parents – you either love them or you hate them, but there’s no doubt that this best-selling series has sold millions of copies worldwide and its winning formula of friendship and magic appeals…
With 7 historical fiction books under her belt, and another about to be published imminently, Emma Carroll has earned her title of Queen of Historical Fiction and has been on my radar for some time; indeed, for the last 6 months I have had 3 of her books in my To Be Read (TBR) pile,…
‘Fear kills more dreams than failure ever will. You can be comfortable or courageous – never both at once’ Brightstorm is Vashti Hardy’s debut children’s novel, which was released in March this year in a blaze of critical acclaim. It was no surprise, therefore, that the members of #PrimarySchoolBookClub voted to make it April’s read…
After a few weeks away from the blog in order to get my allotment up and running for the growing season, I’ve really enjoyed being able to return to my towering book pile. The most difficult thing has been deciding what to read first, as the pile has grown exponentially over the past month, with…
‘My name is Estelle Mills, and I am not nobody – Mrs Grayson would say that’s a double negative. Well, I’m here to say I’m not no negative. I am me, and that’s a fact’. Stella by Starlight is a powerful, moving story set in the segregated South in the 1930s. The author, Sharon M…