February half term is never my
favourite time of year, grey, wet and cold it was this year enhanced by some
wonderfully sunny days but more so by a lovely big pile of new children’s
books. Some of the books I have had the
pleasure of reading are not to be published for a couple of months yet – one of
the benefits of being part of the industry – being able to read in
advance. However I will tell you about
them nonetheless as you can then add them to your wants list!
Despite the apparently large
selection I am about to share with you here there are still more on my pile and
I will find time to get to them all so if, publishers and authors, you are
reading this, I will get to your books very soon!
I am regularly asked if I have a
favourite author or indeed book and I can honestly say I don’t, not for
children’s or for adult literature. I
have favourites whose books I love to return to or make a point of reading when
a new one comes out but one single favourite is impossible to choose and so it
is with this selection here, there were some I loved but I enjoyed them all.
Starting with books for teens, the
ones I have quite literally just read Ann Brashares The Here and Now (Hachette Children’s) is an exciting and quite
different time travel romance, it is at once entirely believable and also
wonderfully futuristic. I found myself
willing Prenna to make everything right, to fall in love and for it to work for
her, she is a brilliant heroine, strong, clever, and feisty, someone to look up
to. Prenna must live by a set of rules
in a community driven by fear. She knows
that there is always a second chance.
She knows that there is more-than-meets-the-eye taking place. A gripping thrilling romantic story this book
had me gripped and I know it will you too.
Another thriller, this one
contemporary and equally believable is A J Grainer’s Captive (Simon & Schuster).
Robyn Elizabeth Knoylls-Green is 16, the daughter of the prime minister
and survivor of an assassination attempt.
This makes her an A-List celebrity and a target. Kidnapped by a mysterious game, caught in a
web of deceit and corruption Robyn must keep reminding herself of the most
basic facts including that she is still alive.
But who is the mysterious and melancholy boy in charge of guarding her? Can she find a way in and a way out, can she
unravel the deceit in time? This is a
most intelligent thriller, one which makes you feel you know where it is going
only to surprise you again!
The
Accident Season by Moira Fowley-Doyle (Penguin Random House) may not
be published until July but it is a debut not to be missed. This MUST go on
your to-buy list. Whilst I worked out
the twist quite early on there were strands to be followed and understood that
kept me reading and meant I got through it all in one sitting! Intelligent, dark and bewitching this is the
story of one family and the mysterious curse that hangs over them.
Now to books for Junior readers
and I will start with a sequel, one that I hope is only the second in a new
series. I thought that A Murder Most Unladylike by Robin
Stevens (Penguin Random House) was rather like a cross between Famous Five and
Agatha Christie! Arsenic for Tea is the second Wells and Wong Mystery and is equally
fun and intriguing Schoolgirl detectives
on the case of a mysterious poisoning, can they solve the mystery before
another victim succumbs? Wonderful fun.
Cathy Cassidy is an author with a
strong and loyal following. Alice in
Wonderland is a classic title. Put the
two together and Looking Glass Girl
by Cathy Cassidy (Puffin Books) is the modern day Alice, a girl who falls down
a hole and finds herself. A growing-up
fantasy with echoes of realism, this is a perfect modern retelling.
A
Whisper of Wolves by Kris Humphrey (Stripes) has echoes of
Michelle Paver’s Wolf Boy but is a
unique story of one girl, her power to understand wolves and the danger she
faces when it appears no-one will believe the demons have returned. This is the first of four stories in a new
series of adventure, fantasy and war, family and courage.
On the subject of courage I come
to the new novel by Lucy Coats. Known
for her stories of ancient myth this one is no exception. A young Queen Cleopatra is the heroine of Cleo (Hachette) and with all the glamour
of Ancient Egypt, the glory, the wealth and the power we learn of her struggle
against monstrous half-sisters and blood-thirsty gods. A gripping and exciting read.
Well that is it for my half term reading but I would love to know about yours!
