Grimwood is a wacky, anarchic animal story, full of nonsensical mayhem. The story will certainly appeal to KS2 (although possibly not the most sensitive in this age group – as there are incidents of biting off heads, tails or feet!). There’s a dark and whacky humour to the story that will delight fans of Dahl or Mr Gum and plenty of discussion points such as the relationship between the fox cubs, the changes in their personalities and the desire to find refuge. The book could work as a class reader and a fun and quirky independent read for ages 7-11.

If you’ve spent any time on edutwitter or children’s booktok lately, you might know that SF Said’s Tyger has been one of the most hotly anticipated titles due this Autumn. It’s a fine thing when a children’s book generates a huge buzz in the months building up to publication, and this one certainly did – after all, with a well-loved author, an early drop of signed proofs, a beautiful cover by Dave McKean and just enough intrigue in the blurb to make you sit up and wonder, how could it not? Even better is when a book like this manages to really live up to the excitement generated. Did this one deliver? We are pleased to say it did.

This is an atmospheric story set in an alternative near-future London. The city is a dangerous place for many, dominated by strict social rules, a system of racial superiority and un-abolished slavery that developed from colonialism. In this London, Adam and Zadie are both children who have been made to feel like outsiders. The story centres on their discovery of a mythical creature – a Tyger who is hiding after being hunted and wounded. Adam helps the injured Tyger and a friendship blossoms. Soon, the Tyger teaches Adam a renewed philosophical outlook on life and helps him to tap into his hidden gifts. The children set about to protect and save the Tyger, and as fear and oppression rage in the city of London, the children’s courage to save the Tyger makes wider ripples than they could ever imagine.

There’s something timelessly alluring about tigers in children’s books, especially those that have time to sit down and talk with you. This Tyger has a mystical quality that will no doubt entice and intrigue young readers anew. Adult readers familiar with the work of William Blake won’t fail to notice the allusions to Blakean mythology that filter through text, illustrations and that striking cover. The Tyger in SF Said’s book offers Adam and Zadie something of the mystical and spiritual encounter that Blake hoped to offer his readers; a temporary liberation from the ‘mind-forged manacles’ of the material world and a hope-filled reminder of the power of human spirit.

SF Said’s fanbase will be thrilled to read this new adventure – laced with danger, edged with fantasy and packed to the core with thinking and discussion points that link to very real issues in society. Despite the serious themes explored, Said writes with optimism and hope, showing how joy and light can always be found in the darkest of times. This story will no doubt find a home in the hearts of Upper KS2 readers who love mythology, quest stories and an encouter with something deeper.

Reviewer: Alison Leach

We’re big fans of Elle McNicoll’s books here at BooksForTopics HQ. We were excited to hear that Elle’s newest book takes a firm step into the magical realism genre. Elle says,”This book is a love letter to readers of A Kind of Spark who wanted to see neurodivergent girls with real magical powers. I loved magical books as a child, and still do now, so to have a neurodivergent heroine in a fantastical world, it meant a lot to me to write. I’m thrilled readers are going to meet Ramya.”

At its heart, this is an exciting magical fantasy with a quest to save an endangered town. Ramya is a feisty heroine whose dyspraxia can make her feel misunderstood and disconnected from the world around her. Ramya can also perceive things that most people can’t – seeing through the Glamour that disguises magical creatures. As the story unfolds, Ramya learns to trust her own instincts more, despite feeling weary from a world that fails to give value to the way she is. Her unique way of seeing things is her superpower and her quest confirms to her that her whole unique self is powerful, wonderful and of greater value to the world than she dared to imagine.

Fantasy lovers will enjoy the imaginative cast of magical characters (beware – the fairies in this book are not at all as you might expect) and the idea that a co-existing magical world is thinly veiled all around us is one that has a timeless appeal in children’s literature. Many young readers will relate to Ramya’s struggle to navigate the emotional connections with different family members. We were pleased to see that this is only the beginning of Ramya’s adventures and that there is more to come from the magical world she inhabits, with a sequel due in Spring 2023.

This is a story of adventure and friendship. The relationship between Selvi and Amir takes a while to build and it shows that friendships take work to be successful. The setting of the Serendib mountains will transport children to a place that many are likely to know very little about and provides an opportunity to introduce them to different lifestyles and cultures. The issue around animal hunting is an interesting one to explore and would make the basis for a good class discussion. The relatively short chapters help to keep the story moving at a good pace and make it an easy book to dip in and out of. For children who are daunted by longer chapters and books, this will make it all the more appealing.

Grandpa Frank’s Great Big Bucket List takes the reader on a journey of excitement, adventure, humour and discovery and leaves them understanding life just a little bit more.

Frank sets off to meet his grandpa with high expectations. What he finds is a very sad and lonely old man living in a nursing home who has no interest in establishing any kind of relationship. Not wanting to give up on his chance for happiness (and because Davenport men don’t quit), Frank comes up with the idea of a bucket list of activities to inject some joy back into Grandpa Frank’s life, secretly harbouring hopes of a grand family reunion somewhere along the line. Soon, Grandpa Frank finds himself participating in a whole array of activities most OAPs wouldn’t be expected to do. As they venture together through: hot air ballooning; parkour; synchronised swimming and monster truck driving, Grandpa Frank learns that maybe there are more opportunities for joy (and bruises) in life.

Despite the blossoming relationship with his grandfather, it seems that Frank’s dream of a family reunion will never happen. However, after the middle Frank steps a little further over the line than usual, it will take all of Frank Senior Senior and Frank Junior Junior’s newly-learned skills to save the day.

Alongside the humour in this story, there are many opportunities for the reader to see through societal stereotypes of older people and also begin to understand the impact of dementia.

India, Incredible India written by Jasbinder and brought to life by artist Nina Chakrabarti is a joyful celebration of India. For years the BooksForTopics inbox has received requests for recommendations of good books to support curriculum learning about India – and for the first time we really do have a book that hits the spot. Layered between the information is a story of the bond between Nanijee (Grandmother) and Thara (her granddaughter). Each night when Thara sleeps over, Nanijee lets her choose an object from her beautiful carved trunk. Each of the objects has been lovingly collected over many years and when it is taken out, Nanijee tells a story of the object and where it is from over a series of beautiful and informative double-page spreads.

Press Start! is a series of books aimed at readers who are ready for their first chapter books or those who feel overwhelmed by longer chapter books.

‘Game On, Super Rabbit Boy’ is set in the game of Super Rabbit Boy Land, a platform game that is activated when the boy in the story presses start. For this book, Super Rabbit Boy has to save Singing Dog who has been captured by the game’s main enemy, King Viking. Once he starts the rescue, he is faced with the challenge of successfully completing six levels of increasing difficulty with only limited lives. As the game progresses, failure occurs and Super Rabbit Boy has to learn from his errors as he restarts a level. He has to remember what he has learned, apply his new knowledge, overcome his fears and go for the win. Not only must Super Rabbit Boy not give up, but nor should the boy who is playing the game – the theme of resilience and perseverance is very strong and would suit classroom conversations about not giving up.

Children who love gaming would very likely be attracted to the book – it reflects the visual style of Minecraft of Roblox, but it will appeal to a wide audience because of the level of detail, bright colours and range of illustrations page after page. The speech bubbles, relatively simple sentences, repetition and short paragraphs will make this work well as an independent reader for the more confident, as well as a shared reader.

The first book in the ‘Lizzie and Belle Mysteries’ series sees the young best friends and amateur detectives use their skills to investigate odd goings-on in a theatre, which in turn reveals further mysteries and crimes which they must solve.

Set in Georgian London, this book illuminates the multiracial history of Britain, and the struggles and injustices faced by Black people in a place where many powerful people thrived on keeping slavery alive. It also demonstrates that White people had an important role, as well as responsibility, to offer support to Black anti-slavery activists and to challenge the White slave owners of the time. Many of the characters and events in this book are based on real people and things that happened, and there is a lot of scope to research real stories. The real Elizabeth Sancho was daughter of the African-British writer and abolitionist Ignatius Sancho. Dido Belle was the daughter of Maria, an enslaved young African woman, and John Lindsay – captain in the British Royal Navy.

This is a fantastic mystery story, which could also lead to discussions about race, theatre, slavery and family history.

Author JT Williams also visited our blog to discuss the role of fiction in bringing history to life for children.

An exciting, edge-of-your-seat adventure.

Onyeka and her best friend, Cheyenne, are both Nigerian living in London. Whilst Cheyenne is confident and not bothered what others think, Onyeka feels like she doesn’t fit in. Her hair in particular causes others to stare. It has a mind of its own and no matter what her hairdresser mum does to it, it’s out of control. Onyeka’s mum doesn’t talk about Nigeria or why they left and least of all, what happened to Onyeka’s dad.

One day, Onyeka’s hair literally has a mind of its own when it glows blue and crackles with electricity when Cheyenne is in trouble. Onyeka’s mum is forced to tell her that she is ‘Solari’ and has inherited this trait from her dad. When Onyeka struggles to control her power and it starts to make her sick, her mum decides it’s finally time to return to Nigeria and try and locate Onyeka’s dad and learn to control her powers. Despite being surrounded by other Solari, Onyeka still feels like she doesn’t belong. The other children have lived with their powers for years, but Onyeka has only just discovered hers. If only her mum could find her dad and maybe she could get some answers!

‘Onyeka and the Academy of the Sun’ is an exciting edge-of-your-seat adventure with interesting and unique characters. I loved the development of the relationships between Onyeka and the other children as she got to know more about them. I became totally lost in Onyeka’s world and couldn’t wait to find out what would happen next.

This story would make a fantastic read for Upper Key Stage 2 children, particularly for those that are fans of superhero stories and films. Tola Okogwu says in the author’s note in the book that she hopes it will “act as both a mirror and a window” in terms of representation, and I think lots of people will agree that it does. What a wonderful book.

Reviewer: Kristen Hopwood

This is a story of adventure and friendship. The relationship between Selvi and Amir takes a while to build and it shows that friendships take work to be successful. The setting of the Serendib mountains will transport children to a place that many are likely to know very little about and provides an opportunity to introduce them to different lifestyles and cultures. The issue around animal hunting is an interesting one to explore and would make the basis for a good class discussion. The relatively short chapters help to keep the story moving at a good pace and make it an easy book to dip in and out of. For children who are daunted by longer chapters and books, this will make it all the more appealing.

Alex Neptune lives in the seaside town of Haven Bay, which is rather unfortunate as he thinks the sea is trying to kill him. He is not allowed to go anywhere near the sea; his grandad has forbidden it. However, this only makes Alex’s fear of water worse. Zoey Wu is Alex’s best friend and an inventor. She does have a tendency to blow things up or set them on fire though…
One day, their new friend Anil Chatterjee finds an octopus that takes a liking to Alex and seems to be trying to communicate with him. A whole host of other seaside creatures start acting rather strangely as well: Pinch the seagull, a group of sea otters and an army of crabs. The water in Haven Bay has recently turned foul and the locals are determined to find out why. Does it have something to do with a strange new building called the Station? And why do the animals seem to want Alex to visit the abandoned aquarium?

It’s not long until the annual ‘Water Dragon ceremony’ which celebrates the local legend of a mythical creature called the Water Dragon that supposedly created the bay. Alex, Zoey and Anil find themselves investigating the mysterious goings-on and uncovering more than they bargained for.

I really enjoyed the eco-themes mixed with magic in this book – a great combination! The humour and development of friendship between the characters were enjoyable elements as well. The friendship dynamics are something that children most likely will relate to, with Alex and Zoey being best friends and Anil being a new friend that comes along. ‘Alex Neptune’ will be enjoyed by fans of ‘Malamander’ and other legend-based adventures. It would also make a good class read for children in Year 5 or 6 and could link to a topic that covers pollution or be a good starting point for writing their own legends.