As we approach the first anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the media spotlight has occasionally dimmed. Published in association with the UN Refugee Agency, You Don’t Know What War Is by Yeva Skalietska serves as a heartfelt reminder, while offering young readers a window into the war through the eyes of a child. Yeva’s diary documents the early days of the invasion in her home city of Kharkiv, and her escape to safety, often via the kindness of strangers. Supplemented with photos, verbatim text messages from her left-behind friends, and news headlines, it’s a humbling read.

Read full Review

Cheerfully irreverent, The Asparagus Bunch by Jessica Scott-Whyte is one of the most entertaining books we’ve read this year. It tells the story of Leon, who is precisely 4,779 days old. The confectionery-obsessed owner of fourteen identical yellow hoodies, Leon has been told he has an attitude problem. This could be why he’s been moved on from six different schools. Or maybe he’s just been terribly misunderstood. We join him at school number seven, as he navigates life as a square peg in a round hole.

Read full Review

When the school bell sets the kids free, what do they get up to on their daily walk home? In the Carnegie Medal winning Look Both Ways by Jason Reynolds, we join a bunch of urban American schoolchildren in this precious liminal space. Old enough to walk unsupervised, and with the adult world and its accompanying complications looming on the horizon, this astute and empathetic book grants us a window into their dramas, comedies, and rich interior lives.

Read full Review

Imagine a computer chip in all its complex miniature glory, and then your soul, mind, and lifetime of memories installed upon it in the creation of a ‘you’ hologram, the perfect comforter for your loved ones after your death. Digital immortality and peace for the bereaved, what’s not to like? We find out in Show Us Who You Are by Elle McNicoll, as we follow intrepid schoolgirl, Cora, into the AI world of the intriguing Pomegranate Institute. Sci-Fi thriller and fizzing celebration of neurodiversity, it’s one of my favourite reads of the year to date.

Read full Review

The highly coveted Kate Greenaway Medal for illustration 2020 has been awarded to the magnificent Tales From the Inner City by Shaun Tan. Described by the man himself as ‘a strange book for strange times,’ this darkly beautiful collection of stories and paintings explores the dynamics of human and animal urban co-existence. City-dwelling animals, birds and fish live alongside us, submitting to our authority. Tan envisages what would happen if they tried to reclaim the cities and how humanity is inexorably entwined with the natural world in memory and spirit.

Read full Review

The wonderful shortlist for this year’s Carnegie Book Award included such luminous characters as a rapper, a drag artist, and a lighthouse keeper’s daughter. But in the end, two everyday teenagers from Yorkshire have scooped the coveted Carnegie crown in Lark by Anthony McGowan. Brothers Nicky and Kenny may seem ordinary but their tale is anything but when they become stranded on the Yorkshire Moors during a day trip. What was meant to be ‘ a stroll, a laugh,’ a lark, is set to become a test of brotherly bonds and a fight for their very survival.

Read full Review

‘Our apartment door was unlocked when I got home from school that Friday, which was strange.’ Nothing appears to have been stolen from 12-year-old Miranda’s home but she subsequently discovers a cryptic note, informing her that someone she loves is in mortal danger. In order to avoid catastrophe, Miranda must turn detective cum scientist and challenge her own received notions of the nature of time. A 2010 Newbery medal winner, When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead is an inventive time travel mystery set in 1970’s New York, ideal for canny young sleuths in search of an invigorating read.

Read full Review

Summertime brings one of our favourite book prizes, the Little Rebel’s Children’s Book Award. Honouring storytelling that challenges stereotypes and discrimination, the shortlist is often more radical and interesting than other contemporary prizes. Freedom by Catherine Johnson takes the 2019 award, and what an important book it proves to be, relating the story of Nat, a young Jamaican slave, and his journey to an England that he believes will set him free. Interwoven with real events and characters, it’s a compelling and enlightening read.

Read full Review