The Weirdstone Of Brisingamen by Alan Garner I always wanted to be a writer, but the book that made me, as a child, want to write for other children in particular was Alan Garner’s first book The Weirdstone Of Brinsingamen. It hasn’t been out of print for a single day since its publication in 1960, which should tell you everything you need to know about how good it is. Colin and Susan stumble across a hidden world of wizards and dwarfs and elves and ancient evil whilst staying in Alderley Edge in Cheshire. The chapters where they have to squeeze their way through old mineshafts to escape from ..read more

I'm delighted to welcome Helen Harvey, author of Emmy Levels Up, to The Reader Teacher today where she has specially chosen her top three recommended children's books about gaming... 1) A Pocketful of Stars by Aisha Bushby This is a moving story about a girl whose mother has fallen into a coma. As Safiya waits at her mum’s bedside, she finds herself transported into another world, with an enormous house covered in silver branches. The more she explores, the more she discovers that this world is like a videogame. She must solve each puzzle in order to unlock the next piece of the story and soo ..read more

Today, I'm delighted to have been invited by Puffin Books to share an EXCLUSIVE extract of Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 of Shipwreck Island, the much-awaited sequel to Orphans of the Tide, by Struan Murray on The Reader Teacher. Below the extract, you can find links to pre-order your copy after reading! Shipwreck Island, the sequel to Orphans of the Tide, continues to follow Ellie and Seth on their journey for freedom and peace. Having escaped the dreaded Inquisition, the pair are now sailing across the ocean in search of an island to call home... Chapter 1 – A Contest of Hopes The boy spied the p ..read more

In The Boy Who Sang With Dragons, we reunite with Tomas and the superhero squad for one last time and we really start to see how far they have all now come. Tomas is now a fully-fledged expert dragon grower and protector of the dragonfruit tree. Compared to his experiences of dealing with dragons in the first book, he's now gone through learning how to nurture them and is firmly in control of them or so it seems until huge secrets are revealed in this adventure about new friends. When Tomas realises that Aura’s links with the dragons go back further than his, he can't help but feel upset. But ..read more

Fighting fake news, being critically literate and questioning everything are high on the curriculum at this moment in time to teach our young people. This is because we live in a world that is rapidly changing where information is being broadcast so widely and so quickly that it is at our fingertips and in our brains before we've even had a chance to digest it, understand it and analyse it for what it is worth. But behold this brilliant non-fiction guide book, from the same partnership that brought us books like Real-Life Mysteries, to explaining how we can combat this controversial news-era ..read more

To celebrate the publication of Coming to England: An Inspiring True Story Celebrating the Windrush Generation, a new retelling of Floella's story for younger readers, I'm delighted to welcome illustrator Diane Ewen to The Reader Teacher where she shares a Q&A with editor Grace Gleave all about illustrating this book, researching the specific details of the time period and sketching the settings of the story. 1. Did illustrating Coming to England feel like a slightly different process for you, given that it is the true life story of Dame Floella Benjamin, rather than a 'made-up' picture b ..read more

The Reader Teacher Review You can order ,The Monsters of Rookhaven online, ,,buy it from your local bookshop or reserve it from your local library. Many thanks to Macmillan, the publisher, for sending me a review copy of this book and to Jo for inviting me to be kicking off the The Monsters of Rookhaven blog tour ..read more

The Reader Teacher Review You can order ,The Tigers in the Tower online, ,,buy it from your local bookshop or reserve it from your local library. Many thanks to Lion Hudson, the publisher, for sending me a review copy of this book and to Fern for inviting me to be kicking off the The Tigers in the Tower blog tour ..read more

The Reader Teacher Review You can order ,Oi Aardvark! online, ,,buy it from your local bookshop or reserve it from your local library. Many thanks to Hachette the publisher, for sending me a review copy of this book and to Lucy for inviting me to be a part of the Oi Aardvark! blog tour as letter 'E ..read more

The Reader Teacher Review I'm so delighted to share an exclusive extract & illustration on The Reader Teacher today from The Silver Arrow, by Lev Grossman & interiorly illustrated by Tracy Bishop. Extract & Illustration A small gray fox bent down and placed its ticket carefully on the platform. “Hi,” it said “Hi,” Kate said. “Been a long time since a train came through here,” the fox said. “Very long,” said the badger, transferring its ticket to its paws. Kate thought of saying Is that so? or How about that! but rejected both ideas as fatally uncool. “How long?” Tom said. “About ..read more