Young Readers

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

Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas

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Concrete Rose

Teen/Young Adult

Astute and impassioned prequel to The Hate U Give

Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas is the third novel from this brilliant chronicler of young, urban black experience. Having previously tackled institutional racism and stereotyping, here she turns her gimlet eye on the complexities of black manhood. In this prequel to her outstanding debut novel, The Hate U Give, Thomas presents us with a morally conflicted young man named Mav. Firmly entrenched in gang life, an unexpectedly early fatherhood shocks the 17-year-old into reconsidering life’s priorities. Maybe it’s time for this self-confessed ‘drug-dealing, gangbanging, high-school flunk out’ to go straight.

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Why Your Parents Are Driving You Up the Wall and What To Do About It by Dean Burnett

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Why Your Parents are Driving You Up the Wall and What To Do About It

Teen/Young Adult

Defusing domestic dramas

Why Your Parents are Driving You Up the Wall and What To Do About It by Dean Burnett, a marvellous title that delivers on its promise. In a world full of books advising parents on how to deal with their troublesome teenagers, how refreshing to discover a manual for dealing with parents, ‘…literally the most annoying people in the world.’ Covering potentially volcanic issues, from school to social media, to leaving wet towels on the floor, advice is on hand from a friendly neuroscientist.

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Punching the Air by Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam

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Punching the Air

Teen/Young Adult

A vital and profound contender for our favourite YA read of 2020

In this year of racial unrest and protest, the world of children’s literature has responded with a welcome wave of history and fiction books concerning multiculturalism and prejudice. Several of these make it their business to shine a light on systemic racism, the very brightest being, for me, Punching the Air by Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam. Applauded as a depiction of what it means to be young and black in America, this is the story of Amal, a thoughtful and artistic teenager, convicted of a crime he didn’t commit.

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There Must Be More Than That by Shinsuke Yoshitake

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There Must Be More Than That

5-8 years

A reassuring read for anxious times

Named one of The New York Times best children’s books of 2020, There Must Be More Than That by Shinsuke Yoshitake provides a welcome antidote to anxiety for our youngest readers, particularly during these Covid dominated days. Fans of Yoshitake’s marvellously offbeat books will know his gift for unpicking knotty issues in a humorously philosophical way, and in this sweet new picture book we meet a young girl beset by fears of a disastrous and doom-laden future.

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Voyage of the Sparrowhawk by Natasha Farrant

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Voyage of the Sparrowhawk

8-11 years

Costa Prize winner weaves spirited adventure into the aftermath of war

It is the first April since the Great War, and spring 1919 brings welcome blue skies and the anticipation of new beginnings. For Ben and Lotti, it also heralds the most fantastical adventure, as the fellow orphans embark on a self-manned boat journey to France, in search of missing loved ones. An old-fashioned tale of valour and determination, Voyage of the Sparrowhawk by Natasha Farrant has just scooped the Costa 2020 Children’s Book Award. It is a novel rich with the kindness of strangers and the affecting consequences of war.

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The Black Flamingo by Dean Atta

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The Black Flamingo

Teen/Young Adult

Validation and freedom in 360 wonderfully poetic pages

Did you know that the collective noun for a group of flamingos is a flamboyance? A flamboyance of flamingos, how well that rolls off the tongue, and such a fitting word too for this gloriously 21st century coming-of-age novel. The Black Flamingo by Dean Atta gives us Michael’s story. From birth to the cusp of adulthood, we bear witness to Michael’s voyage of self-discovery, via the challenges of growing up as a mixed-race gay teenager in London and the electrifying allure of the world of drag.

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The Worst Class in the World by Joanne Nadine

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The Worst Class in the World

5-8 years

A wonderfully silly read

In need of some chuckles? The Worst Class in the World by Joanna Nadin is the perfect pick-me-up for dark January days. As the exuberant front cover suggests, we’re in for some fun and mayhem with a rather challenging bunch of school kids, in this case, the irrepressible 4B from St Regina’s primary school. Previously on the naughty step for such incidents as trying to tunnel under the playground to Finland, and smuggling a penguin onto the school bus, here we join them as they aspire to become young entrepreneurs and Show and Tell champions.

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The Hungry Ghost by H.S. Norup

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The Hungry Ghost

8-11 years

A potent ghost story set under sultry Singaporean skies

It is the seventh month of the Chinese Lunar Calendar and in Singapore, The Hungry Ghost Festival is under way, a time when the gates to the underworld are flung open and the dead roam freely among us. In this new novel from the wonderfully globetrotting Pushkin Press, we’re transported there, along with troubled Danish schoolgirl, Freja. A reluctant new arrival into her dad’s second family, Freja is struggling to belong. She is far from being the only uneasy soul in The Hungry Ghost by H.S. Norup, an evocative exploration of family, memory and the nature of grief.

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On the Move: Poems About Migration by Michael Rosen

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On the Move: Poems About Migration

8-11 years

A poignant and compelling collection

I cannot remember a time when Michael Rosen wasn’t part of my reading life. As a London school kid, I vividly recall his organised poetry events and his books of joyously informal verse gracing our school library. In this latest collection, the theme of migration is explored through the lens of his own family history. Complemented by the evocative illustrations of Quentin Blake, On the Move: Poems About Migration by Michael Rosen takes us from Nazi-occupied Europe to the present day, and reminds us that ‘Home is where you find it.’

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Where Snow Angles Go by Maggie O'Farrell

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Where Snow Angels Go

5-8 years

A sweet fairytale elevated to beauty by captivating illustration

When did you last make a snow angel? Can you recall the powdery chill of the snow and the sweeping of arms and legs ‘back and forth, back and forth?’ Maybe you witnessed it thaw and dissolve, and mused on the ephemeral nature of snowflakes. Well, Where Snow Angels Go by Maggie O’Farrell holds no truck with temporary magic. In this tender story of salvation, we encounter the notion that an angel made in the snow remains in service to its creator forever.

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