Welcome to 2016

Chicken House, 9781910002704

M G Leonard is causing quite a stir with her first book “Beetle Boy” and the attention is very well deserved. this is the story of Darkus, who has been living with his uncle since his father disappeared. He discovers mysterious goings on next door, including the presence of thousands of exotic beetles. There are villains and heroes, some of them very unlikely but it really is a cracking story and is set to be a real favourite. I am lucky enough to be taking her to a couple of schools towards the end of March, so photos will follow hopefully

Katharine Woodfine

“The case of the Jewelled Moth” by Katherine Woodfine is the second in her series featuring the young staff of “Sinclair’s” store in Oxford Street. This time they are caught up with debutantes and members of London’s China Town as they fight against the villainous character called “The Baron” and try to recover a brooch containing a sacred jewel from China. As before, there is a real sense of time and place about the book and the characters are growing stronger as the series progresses. Now I just have to wait for another year until the third title comes out. (NG)

OUP, 978-0192739384

“Nancy Parker’s Diary of Detection” by Julia Lee is a wonderful look at life in the 1930s, but from the perspective of a young girl called Nancy in her first job as a housemaid, but dreaming of becoming a great detective. Once again we have a nod towards themes from Poirot novels, but this is more rooted in the reality of life for many working class people of the day. Nancy has lots of dreams but discovers that she will need to work hard to overcome the barriers that she faces. I am looking forward to reading more about this strong charactered young lady.

Chicken House, 978-1910002513

“The Great Chocoplot” by Chris Callaghan (illustrated by Lalalimola) is enough to give palpitations to all chocolate loving people. What would you do if it looked like the world is about to run out of chocolate and Cacao beans were no longer available? There is a dastardly villain and a heroine called Jelly (Jennifer) who has to undertake a lot of investigations in order to save the world and chocolate. This is a adventurous and funny story, best read with a chocolate treat at the ready.

OUP, 9780192743558

“Electrigirl” by Jo Cotterill (Illustrated by Cathy Brett) is an original and exciting story. It is partially a novel, but interspersed with sections of graphic comic, beautifully illustrated by Cathy Brett. Holly was just an ordinary girl until the day she was hit by lightening and suddenly found herself with superpowers, with the ability to use the electricity in her body to perform amazing feats. However there is an evil professor who wants to transfer all of that power to herself, meaning that Holly has a fight on her hands, not only to save herself but also to save the world. A new super heroine is born.

Walker books, 978-1406358964

“The Dark Days Club” by Alison Goodman is a new historical novel for teens, but with a large slice of the Gothic and a lot of vampires and other worldly creatures who ‘feed’ on the human world. Lady Helen discovers that she is part of the small select band of people who are fighting to preserve civilization and she has to decide whether to follow her destiny, or to live a normal society life. This is a really great story for those who in a previous generation would have been reading Georgette Heyer and who do read Jane Austen. There is a mix of romance, excitement, and a story-line that keeps you hooked. The historical background feels real and accurate and I look forward to reading the next set of adventures featuring this character.

Faber and Faber, 978-0571325252

“Rebel of the Sands” by Alwyn Hamilton is a fantastic new story where the Arabian Nights meets the Wild West. When Amani tries to escape the idea of a forced marriage, after the death of her mother, she faces dangers that she had never dreamed of. It is a teen novel that is full of magic and mystery, where science and myths conflict and the heroine must come to terms with who she is and the legacy she has been born with. if this is anything to go by then this will be a really cracking and original series. (NG)

I hope these will give you a taste of the fantastic offerings that are hitting the shelves in the months up to Easter. Needless to say I am working my way through some more really amazing titles at the moment.

As always many thanks to the publishers and to Netgalley (NG) for being so generous with titles.

September 14, 2015 by margaretpemberton

Wonderful Walker event

A new book by Patrick Ness is always something to be shouted about and this one is no exception. “The rest of us just live here” is about those who are not the superheroes, they are just kids trying to get along in life and cope with the problems of their teen years, although this does include OCD and dysfunctional families. It is a book that you would recommend to everyone and it is bound to be nominated for a variety of awards in the coming year. There are two parallel narratives and although the second is told as the short headings to each chapter, gradually they begin to seep into each other. You really must read this book.

Walker, 9781406367478

Patrick Ness and Tanya Landman

Thank you Walker books and Daunts in Marylebone for a truly lovely evening. I was lucky enough to get a photo of two Carnegie winners as the wonderful Tanya Landman was there. It was also great to see Celia Rees again and to meet Catherine Johnson and Non Pratt. As you can see it was a star studded evening but the undoubted megastar was Patrick himself.

Oh, and of course there was cake! Lovely little cup cakes with a miniature book on the top.

June 17, 2015 by margaretpemberton

Walker books at the Barbican

What an amazing evening this turned out to be. the conservatory at the Barbican was jam-packed with librarians and publishers as well as the megastars that are the authors and illustrators. It was a night that I will remember as I saw people such as Shirley Hughes, Anthony Horowitz, Chris Riddell, Jez Alborough and the main speaker Patrick Ness.

the purpose of the evening was to introduce us to the books that will be hitting the shop and library shelves in the autumn and I think it is going to be quite a fantastic offering. There are several titles that are celebrating anniversaries in the next year and the publisher will be setting up activities and events to mark the occasions. However there are also many new and exciting books, from picture books to top teens, that will have the reviews and blogs buzzing about them.

This looks as if it is going to be another bumper year for Walkers and I am looking forward to reading some of their offerings.

May 3, 2015 by margaretpemberton

Federation of Children’s book groups conference

My first big gathering of this year and so many friends to catch up with. I have now been back from the conference for two weeks and I am just coming down from the clouds. It really was an amazing event. As always the exhibition was full of children’s publishers showing us their latest wares and sharing their knowledge and enthusiasm. It is always such a pleasure to meet up with these wonderful people and to come away with such goodies to read.

2015-04-10 17.33.55 2015-04-10 17.37.30

One of the things we love about children’s book conferences is the opportunity to meet and listen to so many stimulating and exciting speakers, both writers and illustrators, as well as the amazing Kate Wilson of Nosy Crow books. As always we were treated to a generous amount of cake over the weekend, washed down by cups of tea and coffee.

2015-04-11 21.05.27 2015-04-10 16.10.44
The weekend started with a truly inspirational talk about poetry by Sarah Crossan, the author of “Weight of Water” and “Apple and rain”. As small children we are totally surrounded by rhyme, from nursery rhymes to the work of people such as Julia Donaldson and Lynley Dodd,but as we get older poetry is moved within a fence that many find difficult to overcome. There are some authors who use rhyme in their novels but it is a concept that we need to get back to. If we look at the history of storytelling we find that many of the major cultural tales are told in a poetic form; just like song lyrics, which we find easier to remember.

Saturday morning started with a session on writing non-fiction, with a panel of Nicola Davies, Nicola Morgan and Marcia Williams in conversation with Zoe Toft. All three authors have carved out a niche for themselves in this area and although they have very differing styles, they all appeal to their intended audiences. Nicola Davies writes narrative non-fiction and approaches the task in the same way as writing fiction. Nicola Morgan on the other hand feels that the two disciplines are very different and that over the years she has “lost the fiction muscles in her brain”. Marcia Williams was enthused by a teacher who would read out loud to the class. All three described how they had gradually developed their writing style and what influences had affected them.

The next session was with Tom Moorhouse who has written “The River Singers” and “The Rising”, about a family of water voles. Tom is a naturalist by profession and spoke about the reality of life for these animals as opposed to the images from books such as “Wind in the Willows”. It was a fascinating talk and I know it will have made many new converts to his books.

The afternoon was taken up by the larger than life characters of Kjartan Poskitt, Philip Ardagh and Simon Mayle. All three authors write humourous novels for primary age children, although Kjartan is renowned for the way that he brings maths alive to his audiences. Our speaker at dinner was the amazing Frank Cottrell Boyce who was celebrating the launch of his latest book “The Astounding Broccoli Boy”

Sunday morning was another action packed session with a talk by Kate Wilson about Nosy Crow and how they have developed both their apps and the hard copy versions of the books. It was great to hear that books are still a top priority, not least because they are such a variable size and format, whereas with technology you are limited by the size of the screen. The other two sessions were an Illustrators’ panel with Rob Biddulph (Blown Away), Sophy Henn (Pom Pom gets the grumps) and David Shelton (A boy and a bear in a boat) and then a young adult panel with Non Pratt (Trouble), Alice Oseman (Soliaire) and Lisa Williamson (The Art of being Normal). We then finished off with discussions with Steven Butler and the really great Jonathan Stroud (Lockwood and Co.).

By this point were were all totally exhausted but very happy at having attended such a stimulating and very friendly conference. I have still only looked at the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the books I brought home, but I look forward to many hours of great reading.

March 18, 2015 by margaretpemberton

A bunch of books for the Spring

The end of January brings the bi-annual listing of new children’s books from Bookseller magazine. It is always great to sit and check which of my favourite authors have got a new titles in the next few months. This latest offering has got me all excited about those books appearing over the next months, but also those that have been appearing in the post for me to look at. I still think we are lucky to live at a time where so much writing and illustration talent is on offer.

HarperCollins, 978-0007545766

The other week I was lucky enough to be invited to meet new Irish author Shane Hegarty, whose book “Darkmouth” has just been published. It is a dark and atmospheric book about a small seaside village in Ireland where there exists one of the last doorways between the world of ‘Legends’ and our world. The hero is a young boy called Finn, who is being trained as a Legend Hunter by his father, but he is not very successful. It is an action packed story for both boys and girls and there will be more to come in the series.

Corgi, 978-0552568531

For those who like their mysteries to be more linked to the modern world then the new book by Amanda Mitchison, called “Crog” might fit the bill. the ‘hero’ Wilf is something of a kleptomaniac, although he steals because he is bored. A less than inspiring person who has an extremely wealthy father and a very normal sister, he finds himself in real trouble when he steals a bowl from a local museum and the next morning finds a 3000 year old man in his room, who says he has to guard the bowl. There are great adventures and many
twists in the plot before the truth is discovered. A real page turner for the middle years.

“Big game” by Dan Smith is a really strong story, which has just been made into a film, starring Samuel L Jackson. Imagine being out in the snow in Finland, undergoing a trial to prove your manhood, and then finding a crashed escape pod containing the president of the United States. The problem comes when you find there are men out there who want to kill the president – and you. A great adventure thriller.

Chicken House, 978-1910002797

Walker books, 978-1406354928

One of my favourite books of the last couple of months is “Julius Zebra: rumble with the Romans” by Gary Northfield. This is a hysterical story of the less than brave Julius who is captured by the Romans and ends up fighting in the Colosseum in Rome. It requires a huge amount of disbelief around the idea of anthropomorphic animals. There is wonderful humour, mixed with a fair amount of information about gladiators, which will be great for young readers, both boys and girls.

Chicken House

For a young teen audience there is a really heart wrenching book being published by the great Chicken House. It is called “The Honest Truth” by Dan Gemeinhart and is the story of Mark, a twelve year old who is terminally ill with cancer and decides he is going on one last big adventure while he can. It is a fantastic story of grit and determination, fighting against the odds and also about the families and friends who care. I strongly recommend this one.

HarperCollins, 978-0007589180

“Scarlet and Ivy” by Sophie Cleverly is a first novel, by one of the graduates from the truly amazing Writing for young people course at Bath Spa. they have produced some of the best authors of the last few years. This story is about mysteries and missing people; with all kinds of twists and turns as Ivy tries to find out what has happened to her missing sister.

OUP, 978-0192737748

For younger readers we have the funny and truly imaginative story of “The Accidental Prime Minister” by Tom McLaughlin. The premise is totally impossible but it makes for a good read and I think some of the contenders for the real office might learn a thing or to about working for the people, if they read this book to their children.

Bloomsbury, 978-1408854136

“The Last of the Spirits” by Chris Priestley is a wonderful re-telling of the story of “A Christmas carol” but told from the perspective of a destitute boy and his sister. It is one of those books that just grabs you, and I finished it in one sitting. It is also going on my list of those books which have to be read every year; probably just after I have watched the ‘Muppet Christmas carol’.

Hot Key Books, 978-1471404597

“The door that led to Where” by Sally Gardner is yet another real winner from a truly superb writer. It is a time travel novel, set in modern and Victorian London, but with the twists and turns that keep you hooked into the story. The ending seems to give hope that there will be a follow up, I do hope so.

Randomhouse, 978-0552570732

“Arsenic for Tea” by Robin Stevens is the second in the series featuring the girl sleuths Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong and set in a Poirotesque time frame. I have to say that this one kept me guessing and I was really disappointed
when the murderer was announced, because all of the suspects were such nice people, in fact the only nasty person turned out to be the victim. I have just heard that a contract has been signed for more books by this author and I can’t wait.

Curious Fox, 978-1782022527

My last offering is the first in a new series by Vicki Lockwood, called ” The Magnificent Lizzie Brown and the Mysterious Phantom”. It is set in Victorian London and surrounds the adventures of Lizzie Brown, who runs away from her drunken father and finds herself joining a circus. Whilst assisting the fortuneteller, Lizzie discovers that she has a true ability to see into the future, not something she really wants. the story deals with her attempts to unmask a mysterious thief, with the help of her new circus friends. I am looking forward to the next in this exciting series for the ‘tweens’.

December 9, 2014 by margaretpemberton

Christmas is almost upon us.

Every year we seem to find Christmas preparations getting earlier, with the shops starting the marketing as early as the end of August. However I try and keep things in perspective until the beginning of December, although you do have to think of cakes and puddings a bit earlier. The build up to the festivities has always started with the arrival of the latest Christmas/winter themed picturebooks and ends with a surfeit of “Muppet Christmas Carol”. This year I am going to highlight a couple of new books and several ‘old’ favourites and I hope that you enjoy them as much as I have done.

The Christmas Eve Ghost by Shirley Hughes

Walker books, 9781406320633

This wonderful evocation of Christmas in the 1930s is really something special from the amazing Shirley Hughes. It is set in working class Liverpool and gives us an insight into how people were influenced by their religious upbringing. When their widowed mother has to leave them for a short while, Bronwen and Dylan are frightened by the odd thumping sound coming from their outhouse. Lucky their neighbour, Mrs O’Riley took them in to her home and found the reason for the sounds. The story is full of pathos and has a real lesson for us all about the meaning of goodwill to all men.

Alfie’s Christmas by Shirley Hughes

This book came out last year and stars one of the favourite characters in children’s picturebooks. Perhaps Alfie and Annie Rose live a somewhat idealized life compared to many, put they still have to go through all the worries and hopes about the coming festivities. This story perfectly shows the excitement that the children experience in the weeks leading up to Christmas. From Christmas carols and plays, to making decorations and mince pies, we join Alfie and Annie Rose in their preparations and their enjoyment of the big day.

Red Fox, 9781849416498

One Little Angel by Ruth Brown

Andersen Press, 9780862648467

Although this book was first published in 1998 it is still one of my favourites. The gentle humour surrounding the young angel is a reminder that not everyone wants a halo and wings. The twist at the end is something of a lightbulb moment that makes sense of the whole story and Ruth Brown did a magnificent job in leading us away from the real plot. It should be read in every primary school at this time of year.

Cat in the Manger by Michael Foreman

Andersen Press, 9780862649277

An enchanting retelling of the nativity story, but from the perspective of a cat who takes shelter in the stable on that cold winter’s night in Bethlehem. It is a very grumpy cat, so we get his opinions about cattle, donkeys, sheep and all the other animals and people who arrive to see the new baby that has been born. However, the lives of all there were changed by that event and even the cat is mellowed by his experience.

The Snow day by Richard Curtis and Rebecca Cobb (illust)

Whilst this new book is not specifically about Christmas it is about the simple joys of snow and the magic of imagination which can flourish when we change to our normal routines and attitudes. This really had me chuckling at the events and the two characters. It is a gentle book , full of hope and a belief in the simpler ways of enjoying life. I am preparing a longer review of this book for the School Librarian, but it had to make an appearance in my own listing for this year and will definitely be on my annual “to read” list.

Puffin, 9780723288923

Snow by Walter de la Mare and Carolina Rabei (illust)

I first spoke about this book in my previous review of picture books. It is a lovely re-drawing of the poem by de la Mare, with a slightly 1950s feel to the illustrations with their simplicity and limited colour palette. there is that really simple joy which comes from making the most of what surrounds us and which we often forget in the hustle bustle of the modern world.

The final two books have elements that bring them together. They have gatherings of people, although in some stories it is a greater number than in others. There is a strong sense of family and friendship and also of making the best of things when there are a few problems.

The first of the books is a very old favourite that I have told on endless occasions in libraries and schools

One Snowy Night by Nick Butterworth

Harpercollins, 9780007146932

A wonderful story of friendship featuring the loveable Percy the Park keeper and the wide assortment of animals that live in his park. When the snow falls heavily the animals arrive at Percy’s hut for a bit of shelter, and how things work out makes for a magical tale which never fails.

Christmas in Exeter Street by Diana Hendry and John lawrence (illust)

Amazingly this book was first written in 1989 and I can only suppose I missed it because we moved to Cyprus at the end of that year. It is a very funny tale of what happens when a house if filled lierally to the rafters with people seeking shelter for the Christmas break. We end up with 18 children that father Christmas has to remember, never mind all the adults. It is rather like a festive game of ‘sardines’. Thankfully the book was republished last year by Walker books, so it is available to a whole new audience.

Walker books, 978406343038

I do hope that you get the chance to read some of these books and in particular have the chance to read them to a young audience because they really do add to that magical feel that we have for Christmas.

Margaret's reading shelf

a personal look at a reading life.

Walker Books