From Catfish Rolling’s Clara Kumagai, a second novel full of longing, love and heartbreak, inspired by Puccini’s Madame Butterfly.
From Catfish Rolling’s Clara Kumagai, a second novel full of longing, love and heartbreak, inspired by Puccini’s Madame Butterfly.
We love this nature themed, short chapter book series, which includes Benji’s Emerald King. This instalment is a fantastic pick for exploring STEM topics like ecology and den-building. When Trix notices that the bees and flowers are disappearing in the nearby woods, she and the explorers team up to restore the habitat.
Presented like a field journal, the story is packed with bug facts, illustrations and wildlife project ideas. The focus on teamwork, exploring and nature make this a superb read for outdoorsy children in Years 3 and 4.
Inspired by faery myth and folklore, the haunting, heart wrenching tale of a girl called Nettle in a dark, foreboding faery kingdom, for fans of Holly Black’s The Folk of the Air series and Twin Crowns.
Welcome to a world of glittering courts, dangerous bargains and dazzling trickery…
A wild misfit in the human world, Nettle is enthralled by the glamour of the faery realm, with its two moons and scarlet stars. She grows close to Conor, a human stolen centuries before, and she also falls under the spell of mysterious Ellion, a Shadow Faery. To try to help her beloved grandmother who is fading in her world, Nettle makes a pact with the faery king. He’ll heal her grandmother in exchange for Nettle completing three tasks. She agrees, not realising that deception lurks in this enchanted place, and that she has been tricked…
In this dangerous fantasy kingdom Nettle discovers, too late, her part in an age-old love story and the price she will pay.
This is a wonderful collection of stories set in five different countries. Perfect for a rainy autumn day, dip in and be transported far, far away.
To sum it up in five words – epic, stunning, adventure, courage and resilience.
This is a nuanced and rewarding read combining so many different threads, suitable for mature readers in upper KS2.
After she falls ill, Rosie discovers family secrets buried like layers of fossils in the cliffs. On her journey to recovery, she must sift the past to find the answers, like the palaeontologist Mary Anning on the Jurassic Coast before her. 13-year-old Rosie experiences psychotic episodes. The book sensitively explores mental health and provides an honest depiction of this serious and highly distressing mental condition.
The Tiger who Sleeps Under My Chair is a powerful dual narrative which moves between Rosie’s life in the present day and that of her great-great-grandmother, Emma, as a teen in the late 1800s. This enables us to see the stark contrast between Victorian and modern attitudes around mental health. This historical perspective will be enlightening for younger readers as they are introduced to asylums, confinement, and the notion of mental illness as a weakness – and one that was associated mainly with women.
Other strong themes in the book are friendship and empathy: both Rosie and Emma’s stories centre around the girls and their close circle of friends. We witness the joy of shared experiences, and the succour and the lifeline that true friendship can provide. I particularly enjoyed the friendship between Rosie and Jude; the portrayal of a sensitive and highly-emotionally-intelligent teenage male was absolutely wonderful to see. He radiates empathy and kindness.
The book is set against the backdrop of the Jurassic Coast and its incredible geology. Emma, a talented scientist, is fascinated by fossils, rocks and shells and has a particular interest in the work and discoveries of Mary Anning. Later, inspired by some of her great-great-grandmother’s belongings, Rosie develops a similar interest. In addition, running throughout the story are references to the Indian myth – drawn from Garo folklore – of tiger transformation. This fascinating concept (the belief that a human physically transforms into a tiger) is a means of exploring and representing psychosis.
I loved the dual narrative and the parallels and connections between the two stories: the groups of four friends; the objects which bind characters from the present with those from the past; and the significance of Kersbrook – the family home which acts as a sanctuary to generation after generation. The Tiger who Sleeps Under My Chair made a real impression on me; it’s a powerful and important story, and it’s a book that will stay with me for a long time.
Phantom of the Opera meets Alice in Wonderland in prizewinning author Sally Gardner’s first middle grade novel in 14 years.
Celeste is the lowest of theatre workers in the Royal Opera House – a mere orphan whose job it is to run errands for everybody else. One day, Celeste wakes up in a costume basket to realise that everyone else in the opera house seems to think she is somebody else – a talented young dancer preparing for a stage performance. Utterly confused, Celeste also remembers fragments of a strange dream from the night before; a man in an emerald green suit, a devastating shipwreck and a dangerous game called the Reckoning, in which she is a player.
The same day, a crystal chandelier in the shape of a galleon comes crashing down from the ceiling in the opera house, causing Celeste to become too injured to dance on stage as expected. After the accident, a series of clues about Celeste’s true identity begins to emerge, including the appearance of a ghost-like girl who seems to know more about Celeste’s past and an increasing realisation that Celeste is part of a high-stakes game to which she does not know the rules. A labyrinthine mystery unfolds – with elements of the surreal giving the whole plot a dream-like quality that keeps readers on their toes the whole time.
I enjoyed the opera house setting, complete with its prima donnas, colourful costume and sham effects. I also enjoyed the unravelling of the plot, cleverly moving the reader from initial disorientation and confusion to piece together the answer to Celeste’s mystery step by tiny step . The story is quite dark in places and takes good reading stamina to move through the parts that feel surreal, making it most suitable for confident readers in upper KS2 or lower KS3 who can cope with feeling a little disorientated as a mystery unravels.
Intriguing, haunting and filled with suspense, this story will transport readers right to the gutter of time and back again and is one to recommend to those who love an other-worldly read or who are looking for something a little bit different to get stuck into.
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Does the book contain anything that teachers would wish to know about before recommending in class (strong language, sensitive topics etc.)?
Does the book contain anything that teachers would wish to know about before recommending in class (strong language, sensitive topics etc.)?
Would you recommend the book for use in primary schools?
yes
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