The team at Barrington Stoke have been busy and there has been a flurry of new titles published recently or due out this month. Here is a selection suitable for an age range from 5 to teens including humour for our youngest readers, adventures for animal lovers and sensitive stories depicting family situations. I hope something included will tempt the young readers in your lives. The Little Gem series of books are pitched perfectly for new readers, cleverly designed to be super readable they are presented in a chunky format and the activities, jokes and puzzles hidden on the inside jacket fla ..read more

Lenny In The Garden by Ken Wilson-Max The Lenny series of stories are perfect picture books for the very young, celebrating the everyday life of little ones and their families and great fun to share at home and in early years settings. This latest title, Lenny in the Garden depicts Lenny and his Mum, and the dog Wilbur, experiencing the joy of spending time together in the garden. Mummy is gardening while Lenny and Wilbur explore discovering all sorts of interesting creatures. Lenny delights in the feel of the grass on his bare toes and a butterfly tickling his nose while watching the tiny cr ..read more

After an absence from blogging and book reviewing over the last couple of months these are just some of the recently published books for children of all ages that have lifted my spirits or offered hope and kindness. A jolly picture book celebrating the delight to be found in stories, a charming first chapter book for pet lovers, a humorous sci-fi story, a poignant family tale full of care and understanding, an exciting mystery set on the Mediterranean Sea and a wise portrayal of a family coping with trauma and difficulty with hope. Wild Book Day by Karl Newson and James Brown Each year in Mar ..read more

Welcome to today’s stop on the blog tour celebrating the publication on 14th March by QuestFriendz, of the latest book in the Super Questers series, The Case of the Angry Sea. The fourth instalment in this series, explores STEM learning through a unique blend of adventure story and interactive play focussing on environmental themes including recycling, water pollution and sustainability. Readers are encouraged to help solve the new quests in Questland with superheroes, Lillicorn, Bea Bumble and Leo Zoom. In this newest adventure Lilli, Bea and Leo journey to Questland to research ideas for a ..read more

I am pleased and honoured to be taking part in the blog tour celebrating the recent announcement of the Children’s Book Award shortlists. The Children’s Book Award is the only national award for children’s books that is voted for entirely by children. It is owned and coordinated by the Federation of Children’s Book Groups and is highly respected by teachers, parents and librarians. It has brought acclaim and strong sales to past winners such as J.K. Rowling, Patrick Ness, Andy Stanton, Malorie Blackman, Anthony Horowitz and Michael Morpurgo, who has won a record four times. The award has often ..read more

Adventures are a bit like hiccups. They can happen to anyone at anytime…” Mrs Rickety-Knees page 3 Ember Spark and the Thunder of Dragons For as long as she can remember ten year old Ember Spark has yearned for adventure and the opportunity to follow in the footsteps of her comic book heroine Gutsy Wonder. However Ember lives in the sleepy, Scottish seaside village of Yawn where there is little in the way of excitement. Ever since her Dad left Ember has withdrawn from her old friends spending time at home with her Mum meaning that life is even more dull than previously. But then one day her ..read more

Welcome to this month’s look back at what has been happening in the world of children’s books. It has been another busy few weeks with a focus on school libraries and librarians, awards shortlists, longlists and winners plus events and resources linked to children’s books and reading to catch up with. What I’m reading… A new picture book tiger to love, an action packed story of superheroes, a paperback version of an award winning information book and the first in a brand new spooky series have been part of my reading over the last month. You can read my reviews here and I hope that one of the ..read more

A new picture book tiger to love, an action packed story of superheroes, a paperback version of an award winning information book and the first in a brand new spooky series have been part of my reading over the last month. I hope that something here will tempt the young readers in your life. There’s a Tiger on the Train written by Mariesa Dulak illustrated by Rebecca Cobb This debut from Mariesa Dulak accompanied by illustrations by award winner Rebecca Cobb has a delightful appeal and reminded me a little of a well-known and much loved classic tiger picture book. There’s a Tiger on the Train ..read more

Regular readers will know how highly I rate the publishers Barrington Stoke for all they do to encourage reading for pleasure for every single child. These three new books written by acclaimed authors published this week are a wonderful example of this publisher’s growing success and I would recommend each of them. Sidney and Carrie Have a Party by Lisa Thompson illustrated by Jess Rose The Little Gems series by Barrington Stoke are perfectly put together for younger readers aged 5+ being presented in a chunky format with a well designed layout. They are ideal for new readers just gaining ..read more

There are times when I wonder how on earth I will ever manage to catch up with the daunting pile of books that crowd my ‘must read soon’ shelves. This is hindered further by the many excellent books that are published each month to tempt me. Throughout December I have tried to balance the brand new and those that I have wanted to read for months but just have not got around to. My plans were hindered more than a little by Christmas preparations and Covid rearing its ugly head again, this time I escaped it but Mr T. did not. However these four books, although very different to each other, were ..read more