Covers for book recommendations January 2026
Book Reviews

Monthly Book Recommendations: January 2026

Welcome to our monthly book recommendations, and it’s our first post for 2026! Depending on where you are in the country, the weather has been pretty grim, so we believe the best thing to do is settle in with some fantastic reads. Here’s the ones that got us through January!

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Book cover for book review. Image shows a young boy in a red t-shirt, sat in a boat on a turbulent sea. It's raining, and the boy is facing away from the viewer, towards the horizon, where the first light of dawn is beginning to show. Towards the bottom of the image, overlaid on the water, the title REFUGEE is written in red in all caps; in white underneath that it says 'The Graphic Novel'.
Book Reviews

Refugee: The Graphic Novel | Review

Written by Alan Gratz, illustrated by Syd Fini (pub. Scholastic Graphix, 2025)

I see it now, Chabela. All of it. The past, the present, the future.

All my life, I kept waiting for things to get better. For the bright promise of mañana.

But a funny thing happened while I waiting for the world to change. It didn’t. Because I didn’t change it.

I’m not going to make the same mistake twice.

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Image shows two girls silhouetted in white and pink against a dark blue background. Each is standing on a locked book, and they are both reaching up towards a butterfly above them. In the background there is a palace in pink, loomed over by a silver mountain. The image is dotted with white and silver snowflakes. At the top, the title 'Snow' is in white all caps. The author's name 'Meera Trehan' is in dark blue against a pink background at the bottom.
Book Reviews

Snow | Book Review

By Meera Trehan (pub. Walker Books, Nov 2025)

Cunning stops in front of her. The Princess exhales as she waits for it to go.

Instead, it takes another step forward. Two arm’s-lengths away.

What is going on? It’s supposed to know her. It’s supposed to leave. Is it confused by the extra tools on her back? Or is it distracted by the Mists?

Her mind flicks back to last night, the foot, the hand. Please don’t come back now.

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Book cover for review: image shows a blue background that turns into a skyline at the top of the picture. In the centre-left is an arched window, through which we can see three children climbing some stairs. The girl at the front is red-haired and holding a torch. Behind her is an Indian boy looking around cautiously, and behind him is a smaller girl with a blond ponytail. Vines are growing through and around the window. The title 'Murder at the Ivy Hotel' is in large across most of the image. The small middle words are on a silver tray being held up by an unseen waiter. In the 'o' of 'Hotel' is a suspicious silhouette of a person.
Book Reviews

Murder at the Ivy Hotel | Book Review

By Emily Hourican (pub. Scholastic, February 2026)

Bob’s words hung in the air. It could be murder.

And suddenly, the giddiness went out of everything they had discovered. A chill descended over them all, and the satisfaction of tracing clues and finding pieces of the puzzle vanished. If it ever had been, this was no longer a game. There was, Meredith realized with shock, a big difference between thinking something was murder, and knowing it truly could be.

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Book for review: image shows a young Black girl dressed in working gear (boots, pouches), with goggles pushed up into her hair, holding a screwdriver and pointing up off to the left. On the right behind her stands a large mechanical dog with pointy ears. On the left behind her is a young boy with blond hair, dressed neater and carrying a square backpack. Behind them is a underground city in a cavern, the lights of the buildings piercing the blue mist that shrouds it. To the left is the title 'Underlings: The Spark Engine', written in caps with a dirty metal colouring.
Book Reviews

Underlings: The Spark Engine | Book Review

By Murray Fisher (pub. Toller Press, September 2025)

This was no way to die.

She closed her eyes, steadying each shallow breath, her heartbeat squelching in her ears.

Think, Evin. Think!

Deep in the city’s bedrock, face down, sandwiched in a collapsed section of tunnel, there was nobody to help her. If she couldn’t save herself right now, she may as well give up.

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Covers for book recommendations September 2025
Book Reviews

Monthly Book Recommendations: September 2025

Welcome to our monthly book recommendations post for September! The days are getting shorter now, and the grey weather gave us the perfect excuse to stay indoors and do some reading (well, except for a jaunt to some bookshops in Norfolk!). Check out below what books we enjoyed over last month.

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Book cover for review: image shows four children - a black girl with blue hair on the front left, a blond-haired boy on the front right, a ginger girl in the back left, and a brown-haired boy back right - running in fear towards the camera through broken branches and vines. Behind them, chasing them, is a giant lizard surrounded by flames. The title 'Sin Bin Island' is at the top in bright blue; the A of Island has clawed feet, and the hole is shaped like a skull.
Book Reviews

Sin Bin Island | Book Review

By Doug Naylor (pub. David Fickling Books, 2025)

‘Read it out loud, then,’ Mr Menton prompted. Digs began.

My dear Digs, it’s very important you don’t read this note out loud.

‘Ah, best not to read it out loud, then,’ Mr Menton chortled.
Digs read the rest of the note to himself.

You’re about to embark on an incredible adventure. An enterprise so petrifyingly terrifying it would make most boys your age quake in terror if they knew what was ahead of them. Thankfully, you don’t, which is a HUGE bonus.

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Covers for book recommendations August 2025
Book Reviews

Monthly Book Recommendations: August 2025

Welcome to our monthly book recommendations post for August! We’re making our way into cooler weather now, but we still did a lot of reading over the last summery month. So check out what books we enjoyed during August below!

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A Box Full of Murders book cover for review: two worried-looking children stand in the open; a girl on the left holds a cardboard box, the slightly smaller boy on the right holds a torch. In the background there is a campsite, with tents on both sides and a campfire on the left. Behind this there are trees, then yellowish clouds. Above that is the night sky, over which the title 'A Box Full of Murders' is written in orange. There is a red pin on each side with red string wrapped around them. Above this is the author's name, Janice Hallett.
Book Reviews

A Box Full of Murders | Book Review

By Janice Hallett (pub. Puffin Books, 2025)

1983. A hot summer. Bright sunshine. Starry nights. No parents. A happy group of children enjoying a camping trip together. The perfect summer…

Except…

A terrible crime was committed and no one knows who did it.

Not then. Not now.

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Covers for book recommendations July 2025
Book Reviews

Monthly Book Recommendations: July 2025

Welcome to our monthly book recommendations post for July! We may be a little late this month, but it certainly doesn’t mean that we’ve skimped on our reading. So check out what books we enjoyed last month below!

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