Book recommendations covers for August 2024
Book Reviews

August 2024 Book Recommendations

August has been a busy month, what with travelling (and maybe seeing a few bookshops on the way!), as well as prepping for our next big giveaway. We always find time to fit in a few books here and there though!

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Book recommendations covers for summer 2024
Book Reviews

Summer 2024 Book Recommendations

Hurrah for summer! A time to relax, rejuvenate, and read, read, read. Here we share just some of the many brilliant books we’ve enjoyed this summer so far.

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Book recommendations covers for June 2024
Book Reviews

Monthly Book Recommendations: June 2024

Welcome to our monthly book recommendations post for June! Last month was a busy one with visiting bookshops (you can see where we want and what we bought on our social media), but we still found time to knock out a few fantastic non-fiction books, graphic novels, and picture books. Here’s what we read in June 2024!

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Book recommendations covers for May 2024
Book Reviews

Monthly Book Recommendations: May 2024

Welcome to our third monthly book recommendations post! For some reason, last month was picture book heavy, though with a good mix of non-fiction and fiction – and many of them carry important messages we can all benefit from. Here’s what we read during May 2024!

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The Shadow Order book cover for review
Book Reviews

The Shadow Order | Book Review

By Rebecca F. John (pub. Firefly Press, 2022)

Throwing out her arms and tossing back her head, she shouts again. ‘I know what happened! If anyone can hear me, listen carefully. It’s a game. It’s the Unified Government’s game. They’re playing with our lives. They shifted the shadows. I can prove it. I can prove it and they’ll kill me for it. Listen!’ Her voice catches as she strains to bellow as loudly as possible. Effie feels an ache in her own throat, imagining the woman’s vocal chords stretching and snapping. ‘LISTEN! Find the orrery!’

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Wilding: How to Bring Wildlife Back book cover for review
Book Reviews

Wilding: How to Bring Wildlife Back | Review

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?

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Drawn to Change the World book cover for review; cover is orange, with a white circle with the title in the middle. Emanating from the circle are petal shapes, each featuring the drawing of a different youth activist. The orange background features more drawings, in a darker orange. At the bottom, the tagline says "16 Youth Climate Activists, 16 Artists".
Book Reviews

Drawn to Change the World | Book Review

By author Emma Reynolds and various illustrators listed at the end of the review (published by HarperAlley, September 2023)

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.

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The Song Walker book cover for review; a white ship faces us in the middle of a blue-green sea. Closer to us, a white whale leaps up on either side of the ship, while behind the mast rises a large snow tern, its wings reaching up into the dark green sky. The title is in gold, and flanked with gold lines forming a semi-circle. In the sky behind the ship, there is the shadow of a tiger's face.
Book Reviews

The Song That Sings Us | Book Review for Older Readers

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.

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Stone Age Fiction review book covers
Book Reviews

Stone Age Fiction Review Round-Up

Recently we’ve read three books with a Stone Age/Late Neolithic setting that we think would be ideal for adding fiction texts to your teaching topic, especially as fiction based in this time period is relatively rare. Each one focuses on journeys into unknown lands.

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The cover for the book Tyger for review, showing a close-up of the Tyger's face looking straight at the viewer with orange eyes, surrounded by orange, black and white striped fur.
Book Reviews

Tyger | Book Review

Written by S.F. Said, illustrated by Dave McKean (published by David Fickling Books)

‘Nothing is ordinary,’ said the tyger. ‘Everything is extraordinary. In all of infinity and eternity, that flower exists only in this world; this precise position in space and time. Everywhere else, there is a different flower, or no flower at all. And the same is true of you. Nothing special? You are miraculous beyond measure, both of you.’

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