I hope you’re all enjoying the Summer holidays! I’ve not had much time for reading recently, but I came across this on my reading list which I’d completely forgotten about, and thus I decided that I really needed to turn my attention to it… Rosalind, the lead character of Being Miss Nobody, has selective mutism. …
Patina by Jason Reynolds
Patina, the second in Jason Reynolds’ middle grade Track/Run series, has just been published in the UK by the brilliant Knights Of and it’s so good I read it in one sitting. Patina is the fastest runner on the team: she is fiercely independent, sets herself high standards and she’s all about the win. Her…
The Starlight Watchmaker by Lauren James
I’ve unexpectedly found myself with a spare 5 mins and so I thought that I’d quickly tell you about a new sci-fi mystery novella published earlier this month. The Starlight Watchmaker tells the story of an android, Hugo, who was abandoned at an elite academy, but who luckily managed to establish himself as a watchmaker…
The Lost Tide Warriors by Catherine Doyle
Catherine Doyle’s first middle grade book, the award-winning The Storm Keeper’s Island, was one of last year’s stand out reads for me, and so I couldn’t wait to read the sequel – The Lost Tide Warriors – which came out earlier this month. While I’m always a tad apprehensive about reading a sequel to a…
Brilliant Maverick Picture Books
Now that both of my children are independent readers I don’t buy as many picture books as I used to, and so I was delighted when the lovely Val from Maverick Arts Publishing sent us a selection of latest picture books to take a look at. Seeing the children react so enthusiastically to them was…
Astronomy for Kids by Michelle Nichols
To celebrate today’s 50th Anniversary of the Moon landing, we’ve been having fun with this brilliant Astronomy for Kids factual book, which is crammed with space-related activities for children of all ages. Engaging, concise and informative, I really like the variety of experiments: some are quick and simple; others are more detailed, requiring observation over…
Lego Star Wars – Choose Your Path
Followers of the blog will know that I am all for embracing the principle of reading for pleasure, and thus I encourage my kids to read whatever takes their fancy. I bought this Choose Your Path book on a whim for my 6-year-old-son as he loves interactive books, and what a great buy it’s been…
Science is Magic by Steve Mould
This is my son’s favourite factual book at the moment, and if you know of any children who fancy becoming science magicians, then I think they’ll love this too! It’s packed with what the author calls ‘experiments that explore the magic of science and the science of magic’, which are simple enough for children around…
June Reading Round-Up
When it gets closer to the Summer I always find it difficult to keep up with longer-length reviews due to other commitments. To counter that this year, I thought I’d post a ‘short review’ round-up, as it would be such a shame not to share some really good books that I’ve read recently. I’m going…
Who Would Win? – Battle Royale
My 6-year-old son is obsessed with Who Would Win? books at the moment. As I’ve mentioned before, he is a huge fan of non-fiction and this series has been cleverly crafted to engage children right from the front cover. As the title suggests, the purpose of the book is to analyse various facts about each…