Gathering together all the book reviews to make things easy for you!
Welcome to our first monthly book recommendations post! We realised that we read SO many books that we simply don’t have time to fully review, but still want to share with the world. So going forward, we’re hoping to do a post at the start of each month, covering what we read last month. Here’s our books from March 2024!
Continue reading “Monthly Book Recommendations: March 2024”
Written by Isabella Tree and illustrated by Angela Harding (published by Macmillan Children’s Books)
Did you know that butterflies have long tongues to drink nectar? Or that jays bury their acorns like squirrels, but forget where? Or that a single farm in Sussex reintroduced storks to the UK?
Continue reading “Wilding: How to Bring Wildlife Back | Review”
By Maria Kuzniar, with illustrations by Nakul P. (published by Puffin Books, 2024)
Continue reading “The Girl Who Dreamed in Magic | Book Review”‘The girl will dream magic.’ Her lined face drooped. ‘And she holds the fate of the North in her hands.’
By Julian Sedgwick and Chie Kutsuwada (published by Guppy Books, 2023)
Continue reading “100 Tales from the Tokyo Ghost Café | Book Review”“You think you can decide what is real and what is imaginary, what is alive and what is dead. But who is to decide who is alive and who is merely dreamed into existence? I listen to you lot argue about whether ghosts or fox spirits exist, and you forget to check how real you are.”
Written by Susie Dent, illustrated by Harriet Hobday (Puffin Books, 2023)
Continue reading “Non-Fiction November | Roots of Happiness | Book Review”We have so many words for sad thoughts and emotions, which means it is much easier for us to moan rather than celebrate. In fact, many more positive words did once exist, but they have been left behind over the centuries, and others have been forgotten altogether.
We cover a lot of fiction books here at Libraries 4 Schools, so we wanted to take this month to shine a light on a couple of the great non-fiction books out there for children right now!
Continue reading “Non-Fiction November | The Magnificent Books Review”
Written by Lora Senf, illustrations by Alfredo Cáceres (published by Atheneum Books, 2022)
Continue reading “The Clackity | Happy Halloween! Book Review”In the far corner of the abattoir, on the other side of the back wall below the shaft, the shadows were unnaturally dark. And they shifted and churned. Something was there. Something else was in the abattoir with my aunt.
“Des!” I screamed it. “Get out!”
I couldn’t see her face, but the terror in my aunt’s voice told me everything I needed to know. She didn’t scream at me, or even yell. Instead her voice came out as a wailing sort of moan.
“Baby. Run.”
By author Emma Reynolds and various illustrators listed at the end of the review (published by HarperAlley, September 2023)
Continue reading “Drawn to Change the World | Book Review”This book is not about putting the sole responsibility on young people’s shoulders to fix this crisis. It’s about celebrating the activists who are doing incredible things, and encouraging whoever is reading this book that you can make a difference too, no matter your age. You are not too old, and you are not too young, to begin.
By Nicola Davies (published by Firefly Press)
The sounds of hard breathing and the scrunch of footfalls enclose them as they run. There are shouts behind, voices yelling orders, more shots. Harlon gives Xeno and Ash a stream of small orders and encouragements to stop them thinking.
In Harlon’s head, her ma’s voice speaks.
When you are in danger, the most dangerous thing is to wish you weren’t. Accept the reality of danger, then you can survive it.
Climb, she tells herself. Get away.
Continue reading “The Song That Sings Us | Book Review for Older Readers”
By Zillah Bethell (published by Usborne Publishing, 2023)
Continue reading “The Song Walker | Book Review”The bottle is removed from my lips. I try calling out for it to be returned, but then a hand – wet with water – runs over my brow, cooling my forehead. It feels so good.
“Wait here,” the voice says. “I will be back soon. A few minutes. Don’t move.”
I hear feet scrunching against the dirt. Running. Away from me. I raise my arms in the air. Please don’t go, I try saying, but nothing comes out of my mouth. Please stay. Don’t leave me alone here.
