Schools & Libraries Book Reviews
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How to be Me
Name: Nicola Jenkin
30 June 2021;Genre: Friends and family
How to be Me is a beautiful book. Cath Howe has perfectly captured just how important the creative arts are can be. Whether that be in finding self-confidence, making friends, or dealing with trauma. Lucas is feeling very alone. After the death of his mother, his father...
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Children of the Quicksands
Name: Rhiannon Cook
30 June 2021;Genre: Myths & Legends
Simi has always lived in Lagos, a bustling city full of noise and people, so it comes as a huge shock when she is sent to stay with a Grandmother she has never met, in the remote village of Ajao, a quiet place unconnected to modern Nigeria. An air of secrecy shrouds Simi's family life and her...
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Protest
Name: Jane Rew
20 June 2021;Genre: Representation & Inclusion
I like the colour scheme: shades of fluorescent orange and monotone. I like the bold design: the use of placards for headings, the inclusion of a Contents page, Introduction, Note to Reader, and concluding Thanks. I like the humour, evident in the choice of examples covered and in the illustra...
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Noah's Gold
Name: Donna Burkert
18 June 2021;Genre: Adventure
It is a well-known fact (in his family) that Noah breaks everything he touches. But, when he stows away in the back of the school mini-bus on his sister's geography field trip to Wonder Warehouse, his 'skill' has mammoth repercussions that have an effect on more than just him and his family. F...
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Earth’s Aquarium
Name: Sharon Porter
10 June 2021;Genre: Environment & Nature
This dazzling picture book has 15 watery environments for the reader to explore, each with a double page spread with an introduction describing the habitat, followed by another double page spread of the creatures which live there. We didn't realise there were so many different water hab...
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Escape the Rooms
Name: Nicola Mansfield Niemi
10 June 2021;Genre: Funny Stories
Escape the Rooms is a laugh-out-loud, surrealist tale that leads our two main characters through a journey that is so much more than it seems. It starts when we meet Jack at the fair, doing anything he can to just get through the day, when he suddenly finds himself in a 'Room'. Here he meets C...
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The Girl in Wooden Armour
Name: Jo Clarke
10 June 2021;Genre: Fantasy
The Girl in Wooden Armour is a vividly written fantasy story, jam-packed with exhilarating action. The pace and suspense created by Conrad Mason will have readers gasping for breath as they follow Hattie Amiri-Gavell on her unplanned adventures in the seemingly quiet village o...
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Skyborn
Name: Kelly Buxton
10 June 2021;Genre: Magical Realism
Skyborn is a tumbling, twisting and turbulent adventure akin to that of Peter Bunzl's Cogheart series. Alice, who has a 'firemark' on her cheek, has turned her back on her privileged life. She is on the run from her grandfather, Lord Pattern, longing for a life of acceptance for who she is. Wh...
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Otherland
Name: Nathan Cox
09 June 2021;Genre: Fantasy
Otherland by Louie Stowell is an excellent adventure, fantasy story that opens up a whole new realm of magical fairies, gods and creatures where things aren't always as they appear. This story has something for every reader and is very hard to put down. Myra and Rohan are lifelong friends with...
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How I Saved the World
Name: Louisa Farrow
08 June 2021;Genre: Adventure
According Billy’s mum, the rules of survival matter more than anything Billy can learn in class - so he's more often then on 'adventures' with her than in school. Billy adores his mum, although she's different from everyone else's, but after she lights a fire in their living room, he is sent t...
