Young Readers

5-8 years | 8-11 years | 11-13 years | Teen/Young Adult

Cloud Boy by Marcia Williams

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Cloud Boy

8-11 years

A bittersweet tale in honour of best friends everywhere

Inspired by the daily scud of clouds across the sky, best pals Angie Moon and Harry Christmas are experts on weather fronts and formations of cloud, be it candy floss wisp or rain-swollen knot. Born two days apart, Angie thinks of Harry as her almost-twin, but their easy, uncomplicated friendship is about to be tested beyond endurance when recurring headaches lead to a grave diagnosis for Harry. Cloud Boy by Marcia Williams is a touching and unusual story of love and resilience. Keep a tissue to hand.

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Goodbye, Perfect by Sara Barnard

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Goodbye Perfect

Teen/Young Adult

Brilliant YA Book Prize winner throws spotlight on teen taboos

Bonnie Wiston-Stanley is 15 ¾ years old, a fact of some significance in this unputdownable novel. She is also, according to her best pal, Eden ‘…the most steady, most reliable friend in the world.’ Except, wouldn’t you expect your closest friend to tell you if she was planning to run away with a secret boyfriend? And what horrors would be unleashed if that boyfriend turned out to be your school music teacher? Recently crowned winner of the YA Book Prize 2019, Goodbye Perfect by Sara Barnard is simply the most riveting book I’ve reviewed so far this year.

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Proud by Juno Dawson

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Proud

Teen/Young Adult

Glowing with pride

‘Welcome to being LGBTQ+. Your life is inherently political.’ Stirring words from Proud by Juno Dawson (editor), an uplifting anthology of stories, poetry and art on the broad theme of Pride. 2019 marks 50 years since the Stonewall Riots and a sea change in the course of LGBTQ+ history. With the annual Pride Parades in both London and New York commemorating this half century, now is the time to press this book into your teenager’s hands and introduce them to a glorious rainbow of party and protest.

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My Little Book of Big Questions by Britta Teckentrup

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My Little Book of Big Questions

5-8 years

An engagingly creative introduction to philosophy

Now here’s a wondrous book to behold. A combination of philosophical conundrums and thoughtful artwork, My Little Book of Big Questions by Britta Teckentrup is unlike anything I’ve seen before. It’s aimed at wide-eyed and curious little readers, those fizzing with wonder at life and the universe. ‘Why can’t I fly?,’ ‘Do twins want to stay together forever?’, a plethora of thorny questions designed to prompt contemplation, debate, and engrossing parent-child reading time.

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Cinderella Liberator by Rebecca Solnit

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Cinderella Liberator

8-11 years

A dusting of millennial glitter for an old favourite

Cinderella Liberator by Rebecca Solnit enticed me not only with its striking title and cover, but also the improbable pairing of author and illustrator. Rebecca Solnit, high-profile writer and spirited activist, and traditionalist Arthur Rackham, classic book illustrator from the Edwardian era. In this modern take on Cinderella, Solnit aspires to release the cast of characters from their seventeenth-century shackles. Does she succeed in bringing Cinders marching into the 21st-century, and is it possible to march in glass slippers anyway?

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The Lost Book of Adventure: From the Notebooks of the Unknown Adventurer edited by Teddy Keen

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The Lost Book of Adventure: From the Notebooks of the Unknown Adventurer

8-11 years

A unique and joyful call to the intrepid

‘Remember: Be good, be adventurous…and look after your parents.’

These are among the last words of the Unknown Adventurer, a globe-trotting explorer whose notes and sketches have been discovered in a remote part of the Amazon. Apparently intended for two young relatives, her (or his) work has been faithfully reproduced here, in The Lost Book of Adventure: From the Notebooks of the Unknown Adventurer edited by Teddy Keen. Contemplation of our beautiful planet is combined with practical instruction and field-notes. All that is required is one sensible adult, to assist young readers with the practicalities of becoming a fully-fledged adventurer.

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On the Road by Jack Kerouac

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On the Road

Teen/Young Adult

Required reading for aspiring young bohemians

The only people for writer, Sal Paradise, are ‘the mad ones.’ The type who ‘burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow Roman candles…’ The type like Dean. Fresh from reform school, charismatic Dean Moriarty covets the East Coast intellectual life that Sal represents. Each can provide what the other needs, and as they gravitate inexorably towards each other, their resultant hedonistic adventures reflect a new generation, ‘…the sordid hipsters of America.’ A book rich with the possibilities of being young and alive, On the Road by Jack Kerouac is an essential teen read.

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The House With Chicken Legs by Sophie Anderson

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The House with Chicken Legs

8-11 years

A dazzling and original contemplation of death

Does the name Baba Yaga provoke a frisson of unease in your mind? It did for me as I dredged up vague childhood reading memories of a forest-dwelling crone whose hut stands on the spindliest of chicken legs. An enduring character from Slavic folklore, Baba Yaga has been reimagined in The House with Chicken Legs by Sophie Anderson.

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White Rabbit Red Wolf by Tom Pollock

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White Rabbit Red Wolf

Teen/Young Adult

Fiendishly clever thriller makes YA Book Prize shortlist

The shortlist for this year’s YA Book Prize is brilliantly eclectic, but White Rabbit Red Wolf by Tom Pollock lured me with a cover blurb promising maths, murder, and the human psyche. This startling combination will mesmerise you in the unfolding story of young maths prodigy, Peter Blankman. Prone to extreme anxiety, a public awards ceremony triggers a severe panic attack and an inexplicable sequence of events, including the stabbing of Peter’s mother and the disappearance of his beloved sister, Bel. Sharpen your brain. You’ll need it in this complex encounter with the darkest workings of the mind.

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The I Wonder Bookstoker by Shinsuke Yoshitake

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The I Wonder Bookstore

5-8 years

Quirky and charming Japanese bestseller

As discerning readers and bookshop browsers, no doubt you’re familiar with all the great book emporiums within a 50-mile radius of your home. I am, however, willing to bet that you’ve never once visited a meta bookstore. So, with much fanfare, I’d like to introduce you to one, as presented to us in The I Wonder Bookstore by Shinsuke Yoshitake. This quirky Japanese bestseller reveals a typical day in the life of a bookstore that only sells books about books. Prepare to be charmed.

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