By Lesley Parr (published by Bloomsbury Children’s Books)
‘One boy, I believe,’ Mr Bevan says.
One.
I think I might be really sick, properly sick, all over my shoes sick. I just want to go home.
I’m gripping Ronnie’s shoulder so tight I must be hurting him but he’s just watching her. Then the woman called Mrs Thomas looks at me and I get the same smile.
‘I’ve changed my mind, Ceri,’ she says. ‘We can make room for two.’
Continue reading “The Valley of Lost Secrets | Book Review”
By Katya Balen, with illustrations by Angela Harding (published by Bloomsbury Children’s Books)
She wanted me to go to school and spend my weekends with her far away, but then when would I ever be wild and free and climb trees and scavenge for treasure and tell stories by a fire?
I don’t want her.
She’s not wild like we are.
Continue reading “October, October | Book Review”
By Gill Lewis (published by Oxford University Press)
Semira looked behind her as if she felt someone was watching her. A diary was personal wasn’t it? Private?
But surely if it had been written over a hundred years ago, the writer of the diary would be dead by now.
It wouldn’t matter if she read some of it.
Would it?
Continue reading “The Closest Thing to Flying | Book Review”
By Neil Gaiman (Bloomsbury Publishing)
The old man leaned down, so close that the bottom of his moustache tickled Coraline’s ear. ‘The mice have a message for you,’ he whispered.
Coraline didn’t know what to say.
‘The message is this. Don’t go through the door.’
Continue reading “Happy Halloween! | Coraline | Book Review”
By Lavie Tidhar, with illustrations by Mark Beech (Scholastic Children’s Books)
“If I’d ever thought about it before, I imagined the candy trade was just a game, a handful of chocolates at a time, but this shocked me – the scale of it was much bigger than I’d expected. It didn’t feel so much like a game, all of a sudden.”
Continue reading “Candy | Book Review”
By author Jason Fry and illustrator Phil Noto (Disney-Lucasfilm Press via Egmont UK Ltd.)
“A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…”
Continue reading “Happy Star Wars Day! The Weapon of a Jedi | Book Review”
They say you should never put your head inside an alligator’s mouth…we think we’re willing to make an exception for this one though!
Continue reading “The Alligator’s Mouth Award is newest children’s book award on the block!”
“It happened Once. Surely it couldn’t happen Twice?”
Cressida Cowell went around visiting Waterstones bookshops recently to promote her new book Twice Magic, the second instalment in her ‘Wizards of Once’ series, and we were lucky enough to catch her at one of these signings.
Continue reading “Wizards of Once: Twice Magic with Cressida Cowell”
By Christopher Edge (Nosy Crow)
‘There’s no resistance – no change in temperature as my hand moves from inside to out. But as I push against the darkness I can’t help feeling scared that the darkness will push back.’
Continue reading “Give It A Go! The Infinite Lives of Maisie Day | Review”
By Abi Elphinstone (Simon & Schuster Children’s UK)
‘A voice is a mighty thing, Eska. When everything is taken from you – your family, your home, your friends, your dignity – you still have a voice, however weak it sounds.’
