Schools & Libraries Book Reviews
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Name: Joanna Hewish
31 October 2020;Genre: Social Issues
Unique and interesting to share with young people. This book is a great starting point for teaching a wealth of themes such as poverty, mining and inequality.'Diamonds' is an original style of picture book that relies heavily upon the artistry to tell the narrative. Due to the orig...
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Name: Louisa Farrow
29 October 2020;Genre: Mental Health & Wellbeing
Luke's summer holiday is in tatters. His father has left for a new family and his mother, wrestling with depression, has decided that a summer holiday on a remote Scottish island will be good for them both. Luke is torn between a sense of responsibility for his Mum and his own feelings of loss...
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Name: Hayley Summerfield
29 October 2020;Genre: Magical Realism
Tinsel by Sibeal Pounder is a brilliant new Christmas book with a twist. The story is seeped with powerful themes of friendship, feisty girls, gender roles and adventure. This refreshingly original story on the origins of Santa is hilarious and heart-warming and crammed full o...
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Name: Donna Burkert
29 October 2020;Genre: Magical Realism
Many moons ago, Christmas wasn't the magical time of year that it is today. There was no one to deliver presents, no one for children to write to, no tinsel, no reindeers, no magic. Until of course, a young girl called Blanche, who lived all alone under a bridge, met a mystical old lady, who g...
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Name: Hayley Summerfield
29 October 2020;Genre: Magical Realism
The Greatest Inventor by Ben Brooks is a magical new adventure story that takes the reader on a journey through numerous villages to rescue people who have become lost within themselves. The story starts when a writer wanders into an unknown wood and comes across a rather unus...
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Name: Jacqueline Harris
26 October 2020;Genre: Historical Fiction
Robin Scott -Elliot's first book The Tzar's Curious Runaways is an historical novel, and this is too, though set at an entirely different time and place. It is India in 1857 and the British rulers are at war with the Indian nationals. The entir...
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Name: Sam Phillips
20 October 2020;Genre: Magical Realism
The Midnight Swan is the third book in Catherine Fisher's Clockwork Crow trilogy and, while this was a great, magical adventure as a 'standalone' read, I am sure that it would have been even better if I had read the first two Seren and Crow stories beforehand. I have no doubt that The Midnight...
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The History of African and Caribbean Communities in Britain
Name: Clare Wilkins
20 October 2020;Genre: Adventure
The History of African and Caribbean Communities in Britain by Hakim is an important and timely re-edition. Beginning with the earliest known Africans in Britain and moving onto the triangular trade and eventually World War Two and beyond, this book shows how and why African a...
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Name: Alison Kelly
15 October 2020;Genre: Poetry
The contents of Coral Rumble's Riding a Lion are usefully divided into themes. They are all great but my favourites lay in the 'Let Me Tell You a Story' section. Prefaced with Emily Ford's atmospheric illustration of a reader shining torch light on the book she is so intently...
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Name: Jane Gould
15 October 2020;Genre: Bullying
In The Night Bus Hero, we meet Hector who has been getting into trouble for as long as he can remember. He doesn't mind being in detention often, because that's when he comes up with his best ideas. Along with his two friends, Will and Katie, Hector is feared by all the pupils...
