About BBNYA
BBNYA is a yearly competition where book bloggers from all over the world read and score books written by indie authors, ending with 15 (17 in 2025) finalists and one overall winner.
If you want some more information about BBNYA, check out the BBNYA Website https://www.bbnya.com/ or take a peek over on Twitter @BBNYA_Official.
A Gift of Words was the 14th place BBNYA 2025 finalist!
I was delighted to read this book whilst on holiday in the last week. It is aimed at the younger end of the Middle Grade age range and has a mix of magic and down to earth life at as a year 7 pupil at an ordinary secondary school. The central character Cam has just reached his 12th birthday and is about to follow in the family tradition of signing a special book, called “Libris Sapienta”, or the Book of Wisdom. The idea is that he will then discover what his hidden ‘witch talent’ is. Unluckily for Cam, nothing seemed to happen, so he thinks that he is a failure and will not be following in the footsteps of his mother and aunt (both of whom have witch powers). The other main character is Cam`s best friend Alice and they have known each other since their early days in primary school. Alice is something of a loose cannon, but there appears to be an underlying issue that means she is having regular meetings 
with the school counselor.
Cam begins to realize that perhaps he does have some special talent when strange things start to happen at school, the day after he signs the book. During an English lesson about Beowulf he writes that he wishes that Loki, the Norse trickster god, was real. Then a new pupil called Loman arrives and Cam finds himself involved in some very unusual happenings.
What follows is a mix of magical adventure and some quite worrying events at school. There is bullying and some very strong hints that Alice is leading a double life, hiding the traumatic events that take place in her home. How all of these events are resolved makes for a tense and often sad read. Thankfully Cam has the support of his mother and aunt and they are also there to help Alice as much as they can. This is a lovely book, where you really feel for the main characters and want there to be a positive outcome. It is also something that could prove helpful to the young readers in need of support.
Author Bio
Rosalind Dando is an author, artist, and primary school teacher living in the north of England. She has written several novels, and her debut, A Gift of Words, is
published in April 2024 by Shadow Spark Publishing. She can be found on various social media sites, including Bluesky, X, and Facebook.
Contact her through any of the above sites, or email: rosalinddando@gmail.com
Book Details
Page Count: 201 Pages
Genre: Fantasy, Contemporary Fiction
Age Category: Middle-Grade
Date Published: April 29, 2024
Amazon Link: https://a.co/d/53GKq0t (Canada) https://a.co/d/g6um4gi (USA) https://amzn.eu/d/cEfrXA0 (UK)
Goodreads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/212346189-a-gift-of-words
The Story Graph Link: https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/b75f3a64-013f-45b9-92de-703bdb250234
This story is set in a magical world, where the normal people live side by side with the Veg Witches and the Drupe Mages (wizards) and depend on the witches to help grow their crops, as well as provide medical care and advice. The mages, live in a castle and tend to keep away from the locals and they are also not very good at commonsense magic! The main character is Glunda Ashwillow, who is about to become the current head witch and Holder of the Golden Key; unfortunately the mages, in the guise of Alar Reave have decided not to hand over the Key (which is shared every six months), but intend to carry out all the magic themselves. As I am sure you can imagine this turns out to be a recipe for disaster. The question is whether the mages can be made to see sense, the local farmers can save their crops and the veg witches can get enough food to last the winter?
strange things start happening to people in the village; they appear to have been taken over by a spirit and are digging around, trying to find a mysterious treasure. Mixed with this we have the arrival of an Irish witch called Aoife Early and then Carrie’s uncle arrives, bringing her cousin Sebastien to stay and it is fair to say that the young man is less than happy at finding himself in a place without all of the modern amenities that he expects.
One of the things that I love about Skye’s writing is her power of description. There is a lyrical quality that draws the reader in and gives a sense of tranquility , calm and well-being, whether it is describing a special type of tea or or the trees in the Hedge. However she can also use this skill to heighten tension and frighten us as we face some of the servants of the Erl King (the King of Faerie). Her ability to change mood in the space of a few words means that the reader is constantly on their toes, waiting for the next situation to occur. I must mention the illustrators for the cover and the two representations of the village and the main street, these add an additional layer to our understanding of the world the story is set in and allows us to follow the journeys that the girls go on as they try to solve the mysteries they find.
Sparkledale Dance Academy, brings a flyer into school, Autumn gets very excited; the Academy is about to hold trials for young people to try out for their competitive dance team, The Black Cats. However, Autumn’s nasty neighbour Severina is also determined to make the team and she is willing to go to great lengths to achieve her end, even putting a spell on Autumn that turns her into a black cat. The question is, will our heroine achieve her dream?
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.
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.
seem possible for the general population. But is everything really better?
There is something quite fascinating about pirates and even ex-pirates; the stories have been sparking the imagination of readers both young and old for many years. As a child my first encounter with the idea was watching episodes of ‘Captain Pugwash’ on the television and then later on discovering the wonders of ‘Treasure Island’. If I thought really hard about it, I am sure that there were other pirates in books, but I definitely remember those to be found in the swashbuckling adventures of actors such as Errol Flynn and Burt Lancaster; Sunday afternoon was full of old films that kept us happy on a cold winter’s day. Today we have the whole range of films such as ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ and ‘The Goonies’, as well as a host of books for all ages. As a librarian for a School Library Service I was constantly being asked for collections of titles about pirates and whilst there are lot of amazing titles about real-life buccaneers, it is also fantastic to be able to create imaginary worlds with a wide range of characters. This would definitely have been part of my collection at work..
the cabin boy aboard the vessel “The Black Hound” , but the crew are not what you might expect. They are all ex-pirates and have become ‘Pirate Investigators’ who help retrieve stolen treasure. This second adventure sees them asked to retrieve a precious gold goblet that has been stolen from Fergus McSwaggers, the chief of one of the clans in the Boglands; the only problem is that he is the brother of the cook on board the ‘Black Hound’ and they have not spoken for quite a while. The plot deepens as they try and discover who has stolen the goblet. The consensus is that it was probably a giant cat-like creature called the Mogdrod, that is feared but rarely seen and is said to love shiny things. When Flyntlock, his friend Red and the rest of the crew are captured by Gretel the Sea Witch, they discover that Mogdrod is her ‘Kitty’ and that she had taken the goblet. To further complicate the story, the treasure is then taken by the Ice Pirates and it is up to the crew to rescue it again.
Derek Keilty lives in Belfast and is the author of over ten books for children. His work has been translated into many different languages, selected for the Richard and Judy Club and shortlisted for the Children’s Books Ireland Book of the Year.
Mark Elvins lives in Yorkshire. When he’s not drawing pirates he’s a print-maker and recently won an English Heritage competition to illustrate the displays at Whitby Abbey.