Hedgewitch by Skye McKenna and Tomislav Tomic

I admit to really loving books about magic, witches, and the mythology surrounding the Fae folk.  This belief in the fairy people has its roots in Celtic myths, as far as I know and you can forget any thoughts of pretty little fairies with tinsel and wings.  The characters in this story are human sized, powerful and have a very strong dislike for humans, although they have a fondness for young children and often kidnap them.  In the land of fae there are also creatures ranging from goblins to pookhas, all of which are a danger or at least an irritation to the human world.

Cassandra, or Cassie Morgan has been at the really awful Fowell House School for seven years, ever since her mother left her there at the age of five.  When she is told that her mother has been declared officially dead, she does not believe it and runs away, to avoid being sent to an orphanage.  But that is when things become very strange; firstly she is attacked by six very small men and then she is saved by a talking cat (yes, really!) and a flying broomstick.  The cat, Montague, tells Cassie that he has been sent by her unknown Aunt Miranda, to bring Cassie to the family home and when she arrives she discovers a world that she had dreamt about, but had not really believed existed.

Aunt Miranda is a witch, as are some of the locals in the village of Hedgely and her duty is to protect the ‘Hedge’, a dense wood that creates a barrier between the human and faery worlds.  It seems that creatures are trying to break through the barrier and they have been stealing children to take them back to sell to the ‘Lords and Ladies’ as the Fae are called.  Cassie finds that life has become very complicated; not only is she is starting lessons at the witch version of the girl guides, trying to navigate between several friends and getting to know her new family, but above all she is trying to find clues about her mother’s disappearance.  As you can see from the brilliant map, this is a small and tightly knit community, but it is still wonderful to be able to visualize it in this way.  There are also some marvellous illustrations throughout the book.

This is a truly fantastic story of witchcraft and magic, mixed with that slightly dark version of Celtic mythology.  Cassie is one of those characters that you can’t help but like, even though as an adult I find her very frustrating at times.   The friction between her and her aunt  is caused by the difference in the way they see the world.  Cassie, like many young people sees the world in fairly straightforward terms, unlike her aunt, who has learnt that there are all kinds of nuances and you often need to tread carefully.  Mixed with the search for the missing children and mother we also have multi-layers of friction between individuals and witch families.  You can see that there are echoes of other stories featuring young witches, but of course it is what the author does with the story that makes all the difference.  I first read this story in preparation for attending the Federation of Children’s Book groups’ Conference last month; as you can see from the photos, I had the pleasure of meeting Skye, as she launched her book with a selection of cakes.  I have now re-read the book ready for this blog and I am really delighted to say that the book is even better the second time around.  We are treated to adventure, intrigue, family and some fascinating characters, although I think that my favourite is that cat with attitude, Montague; he has that hint of sarcasm in his comments and yet we feel that he would do anything for the Morgan family.

This is one of those books that you give 10 out of 10, or even 5 stars, but if you bring it all to a basic level then this is a brilliant read and I can’t wait for the follow up, “WoodWitch” due to be published in April 2023.  It is a must have for any lover of fantasy stories.

 

The Author

Skye McKenna grew up in a mining town in the Australian outback. Surrounded by the red dust of
the Pilbara, she developed a healthy respect for wild things and wild places at a young age. Seeking
adventures of her own, she travelled to the UK and fell in love with the British countryside.
Skye now lives in Scotland and works for a heritage charity, with whom she recently curated an
exhibition on medieval magic. When she’s not reading and writing, she goes looking for stories in
the hills and forests of her new home.

Hedgewitch is Skye’s first novel.
For further information, images please contact Lorraine Keating
Head of Children’s Marketing and Publicity at lorraine.keating@welbeckpublishing.com
@KidsWelbeck @WelbeckKids

Cover illustration  Saara Katariina Soderlund

Interior illustrations   Tomislav Tomic

The Truth be Told by Sue Divin

I am absolutely delighted to have been asked to start off this blog tour for the new book by Carnegie short-listed author Sue Divin.  Thank you Sue, for writing this guest blog which explains your thought process and the background to the story.  I spent 18 months in Northern Ireland in the 1970s, working at a library headquarters and I have fond memories of colleagues who worked so hard to bring books and the joy of reading to the people they served.  This brings Northern Ireland life up to date, but of course there are always the underlying shadows of the past.  I will be adding my own review to this blog in the near future, but until then, I hope this inspires you to read the book.

 

The inspiration behind Truth Be Told

Truth Be Told is about truth, forgiveness and the stories that do not fit. Up front, it’s the story of two sixteen-year-old girls, Tara and Faith – imagine ‘Parent Trap meets Derry Girls’. It’s a pacy, contemporary YA novel set against the real backdrop of events in Northern Ireland in Autumn 2019. Readers should expect laughs, tears, smiles and a roller-coaster of a read.
Tara has been raised by her mam and nan in Derry City. Faith lives in rural Armagh. Their lives on opposite sides of a community / political divide couldn’t be more different. Until they come face-to-face with each other and are shocked to discover they look almost identical. Are they connected?
In searching for the truth about their own identities, the teenagers uncover more than they bargained for. But what if finding out who you truly are means undermining everything you’ve ever known? Sometimes who you are, is not what you expect.
The overarching plot was just something that landed into my head in the space of a day. I’d been toying with a trilogy based on characters from Aidan’s family in Guard Your Heart, or a sequel, or going a different direction completely and writing a dystopian environmental story. None of these fully settled. There was a sense of wanting to write something similar in style to Guard Your Heart, yet different.
Another gnawing in my brain was that, whilst Guard Your Heart told a valid and authentic story from Northern Ireland, it wasn’t the only story. I wanted to tell the stuff that didn’t ‘fit’. In a writing sense, I also wanted to challenge myself to write strong, female protagonists. I’d found Aidan far easier to write than Iona in my début novel so it was like throwing down a personal gauntlet to decide to have two female protagonists.
My writing often reflects contemporary issues in Northern Ireland – stories brew and write themselves in ‘real time’ in my head. In Autumn 2019, the backdrop was no government for three years (yes, you read that right); and campaigns for LGBT rights, Women’s rights and pensions for victims and survivors of the conflict.

With that cocktail of things mixing in my brain, it makes sense to me that Truth Be Told was the story that emerged. It’s a story with layers. Truth Be Told is about both ‘the Troubles’ and the legacy of that conflict today. At its deepest level, the novel is the story of women across three generations in Northern Ireland. Stories that are often left untold. Stories that are deliberately left out. Stories that challenge patriarchy. Woven into the narrative are also big questions. Where (if anywhere) is the line between freedom of religion and homophobia? Is violence (in many forms) ever justifiable? What’s the relationship between truth, justice and forgiveness? These are heavy themes, but honestly, there is also a lot of light, hope and humour in there too!

Truth Be Told by Sue Divin is out now in paperback (£7.99, Macmillan Children’s Books)

Small by Hannah Moffatt and Rory Walker

This is a perfect read for young readers who enjoy a really good laugh, together with giants, goblins and even a school inspector, who turns out to be a fairy called Ms Sugar Plum!  I am sure that this gives you a hint of the heights (or depths) to which this humour can go.  Anyway, this really is a great story to relax with.

Everything with Words, 9781911427278

The action starts when Harvey’s mum enrolls him at ‘Madam Bogbrush’s Academy for Gifted giants’, the only problem is that his family are not giants, so he has to wear stilts and very long trousers to try and blend in.  Now, Harvey has a history of being somewhat accident prone at school hence this latest option, as all the other local schools have thrown him out.  The problem is that the curriculum is nothing like he has come across before and even worse, giants really dislike “smalls”, otherwise known as humans, so Harvey is definitely going to have problems.  Thankfully he makes friends with a giant called ‘Walloping’, who is able to help him with his stomping and grunting classes among other things.  School becomes a lot more complicated and even dangerous when the school inspector arrives, but particularly when the resident School Fortune Teller predicts that someone will go missing and that the ‘Unspeakable Circus’ will be responsible.  The pupils find themselves faced with secrets, danger and trying to save their school.  Will they be up to the challenge, will Harvey find his perfect school?  It is just a matter of holding your breath as we go on a roller coaster of a ride, with a few bumps on the way.

This is a glorious romp of a story, but at the heart of it is the theme about not judging people by their looks, but by their actions.  Harvey has spent his life moving around with his mother and attending a multitude of schools, all of which seemed to have problems.  With this latest school, Harvey is more concerned about not being stomped on, rather than whether he can avoid causing a disaster; in fact helping his new friends is something that he really wants to do.  One of the things that we see highlighted is the fact that various communities differ in their likes and opinions and we see how important it is not to lump all giants, or smalls, together.  The illustrator Holly Ovenden has produced a fantastic cover, which is then complemented by the very funny illustrations by Rory Walker; all of which really adds to the overall humour of the book.  It is  really great read for all middle grade readers.

This book is published in the middle of June, so look out for it then, or pre-order from your favourite bookshop.  Thank you to the publisher ‘Everything with Words’ for the chance to read an early copy.

 

Author Picture

Hannah Moffatt

Hannah Moffatt is a creative director at a language and behavioural science consultancy, where she spends her days writing very sensible things for businesses. At night, she escapes into the beautifully bonkers world of middle grade fiction, where she writes significantly less sensible things for children.

Hannah lives in London with her husband and a sombrero-wearing toy hedgehog named Cedric.

Big Sky Mountain by Alex Milway

We seem to be in a really great period for those books aimed at newly confident readers. Not many years ago, this was an area that seemed to suffer from a lack of titles and a real sense that publishers were too concerned with the academic side of the reading process.  Luckily there is now a much better understanding of  the fact that if you want children to read, then they will do so if they really enjoy the stories that are being presented to them.

This is a delightful new series by Alex Milway, featuring a young girl Rosa, who has to go and live with her grandmother in the Canadian wilderness; you can tell it is wild because Rosa arrives in a seaplane, which is delivering Nan’s winter supplies, before the weather freezes.  Nan seems somewhat grumpy to begin with, but accepts that Rosa is family and they settle into the small cabin that is now home to two of them.  Rosa gets a great surprise when a moose puts its head through the open window, but the greatest shock comes when he actually starts talking to her!  What follows is totally fantastical, but Rosa finds that she is surrounded by amazing talking creatures such as a very grumpy hare, a bear and newcomers, the beaver sisters.  We follow all of the characters as they discover the balance that is required to make the environment work for everyone; they need to consider the others in the area and not just think about their own wishes.

The second story in the series has several new characters and the action starts when Rosa discovers a wolf cub who has become lost in a great storm.  This leads Rosa and her Nan to go in search of the pack and find out why they have moved from their old home.  We also get to met a group of Moose, an owl called Little Pig and a family of hedgehogs, all of whom have to work together to try and repair the damage that has been done to the river bank and surrounding area.  At the same time Rosa and her Nan are extending the cabin, so that Rosa will actually have her own bedroom, a move that really emphasizes how he has become part of her grandmother’s life.  We are promised  third title in the series so I look forward to reading about adventures with “The Sea Otters”.

These are a really great read for younger readers, with brilliant illustrations full of humour and energy.  The underlying themes about the environment and living with nature mix with the need for family and friendship.  There is also the need to try and understand those who are different and not to just go with the public perception, as with the wolves.  this series is highly recommended and I can’t wait to read more about our bold heroine and even more feisty Nan.