Tag: history

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

Kim

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

Lynda

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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83 Days in Mariupol graphic novel cover for review. Image shows a family, mother in the middle holding hands with a child on each side, with their backs to the viewer. They are silhouetted against city buildings in the distance that are crumbling and burning. The image is mostly in shades of grey, with the fires in bright reds and oranges. The title is in dark red at the top.
Book Reviews

83 Days in Mariupol: A War Diary | Graphic Novel Review

Kim

By Don Brown (Clarion Books, imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, this format 2025)

Could Mariupol, and Ukraine, survive? As Russian rockets threatened the city, Ukrainians resisted, and with a heroic combination of sacrifice and bravery, the besieged city endured…for months. But it all came at a steep cost.

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Covers for book recommendations May 2025
Book Reviews

Monthly Book Recommendations: May 2025

Lynda

Welcome to our monthly book recommendations post for May! Who knows what the weather might do next, which is why it’s always best to have a book (or three!) to hand. Check out what we were reading over the previous month below, and see what you want to add to your TBR pile!

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Songs for Ghosts book cover for review - image shows a young Japanese woman in a kimono holding a biwa. She has a blue filter over her. The landscape around her is puffy like clouds, a pale pink colour, with large blue flowers growing from it. White butterflies fill the red sky above.
Book Reviews

Songs for Ghosts | YA Book Review

Kim

By Clara Kumagai (Zephyr, 2025)

‘Who are you?’ I burst out. ‘How did you—’

She raised her head slowly. Her hair was long and dark and straight, half-covering her face, a pale oval. Her lips moved, but I couldn’t hear what she said. Benny quietened. Her eyes were like mine.

There was a noise from another room – my room – and I half-turned towards the sound, then remembered, caught myself and whirled back to the crib. There was nobody there, no woman, nothing. Only Benny, blinking his eyes, clenching and unclenching his little hands.

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Covers for book recommendations April 2025
Book Reviews

Monthly Book Recommendations: April 2025

Lynda

Welcome to our monthly book recommendations post for April! Both health and house have improved, which means we’re back to our regular recommendations. Take a look below at what we were reading over the previous month!

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Covers for book recommendations March 2025
Book Reviews

Monthly Book Recommendations: March 2025

Lynda

Welcome to our monthly book recommendations post for March! Unfortunately, due to ill health on one side and a house move on the other, we’ve been unable to do our regular level of detail for this month. But we haven’t stopped reading, and it doesn’t stop us recommending those books!

So if you’re looking for a book to pick up, or perhaps give as an Easter gift, here are some to look out for.

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Covers for book recommendations Feb 2025
Book Reviews

Monthly Book Recommendations: February 2025

Lynda

Welcome to our monthly book recommendations post for February! Last month our reading travelled all over, from history and nature, to mystery and friendship. Come along with us below, and see what we’ve been reading!

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Image shows book cover for review; an observatory is silhouetted at the bottom in a green field, with an orange glow above and behind it. Above is a dark blue sky, with lighter lines whirling across it. In the middle at the top, a bright orb shoots across. Between this and the observatory is the title 'The Others'.
Book Reviews

The Others | Book Review

Kim

Written by Sarah Merrett, illustrated by Ewa Beniak-Haremska (pub. Everything With Words, 2024)

‘There!’ Grandma’s face lit up. ‘Tell me you heard that!’ She ran to the machine and flung herself in the chair.

Reuben’s limbs locked tight. He stared, his mind running wild. The machine had never made a sound like it. He knew it wasn’t from this world.

He listened, waiting, holding his breath.

The machine remained silent, but he knew those few strange sounds had changed everything.

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Book Reviews

Our Top 5 Books of 2024

Lynda

We read some absolutely fantastic books over the past year, and we’ve enjoyed sharing them all with you! Some books didn’t make it into our recommended lists however (there were some crackers released at the end of the year!), and they were some of the best – so here we’re sharing with you our top 5 books from 2024.

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