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Topic: Books of the Month - Favourite Books of 2020

My Shadow is Pink

Picturebook

My Shadow is Pink is a beautifully written rhyming story that touches on the subjects of gender identity, self acceptance, equality and diversity.

Inspired by the author’s own little boy, ‘Shadow’s’ main character likes princesses, fairies and things ‘not for boys’…he soon learns (through the support of his dad) that everyone has a shadow that they sometimes feel they need to hide. This is an important book for a new generation of children (and adults alike) which exemplifies the concepts of unconditional love, respect and positive parenting.

Cat Kid Comic Club

Graphic Novel

The perfect present for DOG MAN fans – starring some of your favourite characters from the series! Now in an epic paperback edition. Welcome to the Cat Kid Comic Club, where Li’l Petey (LP), Flippy, and Molly introduce twenty-one rambunctious, funny, and talented baby frogs to the art of comic making.

As the story unwinds with mishaps and hilarity, readers get to see the progress, mistakes, and improvements that come with practice and persistence.

Squid Kid and Katydid, Baby Frog Squad, Gorilla Cheese Sandwich, and Birds Flowers Tree: A Haiku Photo Comic are just some of the mini-comics that are included as stories-within-the-story, each done in a different style, utilizing humour and drama, prose and poetry, illustrated in different media including acrylics, pastels, coloured pencils, felt-tip markers, clay, hand-made cardboard sculptures, photographs, pipe cleaners, construction paper collages, and cookies.

Readers of all ages will be inspired to dream up their own stories and unleash their own creativity as they dive into this pioneering graphic novel adventure from Dav Pilkey and his heartfelt, humorous, and amazing cast of characters in the Cat Kid Comic Club.

A Story About Afiya

Chapter book

Some people have dresses for every occasion but Afiya needs only one. Her dress records the memories of her childhood, from roses in bloom to pigeons in flight, from tigers at the zoo to October leaves falling. A joyful celebration of a young girl’s childhood, written by the late Coretta Scott King Book Award-winning Jamaican poet James Berry.

The Lost Spells

Poetry

Beautiful books make unforgettable gifts. This pocket-sized treasure is the perfect gift for fans of nature, language and rich artwork, adult and child alike!

Kindred in spirit to The Lost Words but fresh in its form, The Lost Spells introduces a beautiful new set of natural spell-poems and artwork by beloved creative duo Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris.

Each “spell” conjures an animal, bird, tree or flower — from Barn Owl to Red Fox, Grey Seal to Silver Birch, Jay to Jackdaw — with which we share our lives and landscapes. Moving, joyful and funny, The Lost Spells above all celebrates a sense of wonder, bearing witness to nature’s power to amaze, console and bring joy.

Written to be read aloud, painted in brushstrokes that call to the forest, field, riverbank and also to the heart, The Lost Spells summons back what is often lost from sight and care, teaching the names of everyday species, and inspiring its readers to attention, love and care.

The Castle of Tangled Magic

Chapter book

The magical bestselling adventure book by acclaimed author Sophie Anderson.

Magic awaits, all you have to do is believe…

When thirteen-year-old Olia, steps through a magical doorway, she discovers another land. A land tangled by magic, where hope is lost, and a scheming wizard holds all the power.

Soon Olia learns that she is destined to save this land, but with time running out and her new friends and family in danger, she must search for the magic within herself – to save everything and everyone she loves.

The new fairy tale from Sophie Anderson, illustrated by Saara Soederlund.

An enchanting fairy-tale adventure about the power of love and courage, from the bestselling author of The House with Chicken Legs and The Girl who Speaks Bear.

Anisha Accidental Detective: School’s Cancelled!

Chapter book

“I’ve been working sooo hard with Milo and Govi to make our super-erupting volcano for the school science fair. I really thought we might win first prize – a trip to the National Space Centre. But now we’re in BIG trouble.

One minute we were in the lab practising our science demo, and the next thing we knew, our volcano exploded and flooded the corridors. School had to be cancelled!

But did we really get our project so wrong – or is someone else trying to win first prize? Looks like a case for Anisha, Accidental Detective!”

Shortlisted for a Blue Peter Book Award

October, October

Chapter book

SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2022 CILIP CARNEGIE MEDAL Katya Balen’s October, October is a very special new addition to the shelf and deserves classic status – Times Children’s Book of the Week

A classic in the making for anyone who ever longed to be WILD.

October and her dad live in the woods. They know the trees and the rocks and the lake and stars like best friends. They live in the woods and they are wild. And that’s the way it is.

Until the year October turns eleven. That’s the year October rescues a baby owl. It’s the year Dad falls out of the biggest tree in their woods. The year the woman who calls herself October’s mother comes back. The year everything changes.

Written in Katya Balen’s heart-stoppingly beautiful style, this book is a feast for the senses, filled with the woodsmoke smell of crisp autumn mornings and the sound of wellies squelching in river mud. And, as October fights to find the space to be wild in the whirling chaos of the world beyond the woods, it is also a feast for the soul.

After the War

Chapter book

Summer 1945. The Second World War is finally over and Yossi, Leo and Mordecai are among three hundred children who arrive in the English Lake District. Having survived the horrors of the Nazi concentration camps, they’ve finally reached a place of safety and peace, where they can hopefully begin to recover.

But Yossi is haunted by thoughts of his missing father and disturbed by terrible nightmares. As he waits desperately for news from home, he fears that Mordecai and Leo – the closest thing to family he has left – will move on without him. Will life by the beautiful Lake Windermere be enough to bring hope back into all their lives?

The Monsters of Rookhaven

Chapter book

Sometimes the monsters take us. Sometimes we become the monsters.

Mirabelle has always known she is a monster. When the glamour protecting her unusual family from the human world is torn and an orphaned brother and sister stumble upon Rookhaven, Mirabelle soon discovers that friendship can be found in the outside world.

But as something far more sinister comes to threaten them all, it quickly becomes clear that the true monsters aren’t necessarily the ones you can see.

A thought-provoking, chilling and beautifully written novel, Padraig Kenny’s The Monsters of Rookhhaven, stunningly illustrated by Edward Bettison, explores difference and empathy through the eyes of characters you won’t want to let go.

The Night Bus Hero

Chapter book

From Onjali Q. Rauf, the award-winning and best-selling author of The Boy at the Back of the Class , comes another incredible story, told with humour and heart.

‘The boy’s an absolute menace.’
‘He’s a bully. A lost cause!’
‘Why can’t he be more like his sister?’

I’ve been getting into trouble for as long I can remember. Usually I don’t mind ‘cos some of my best, most brilliant ideas have come from sitting in detention.

But recently it feels like no one believes me about anything – even when I’m telling the truth! And it’s only gotten worse since I played a prank on the old man who lives in the park.

Everyone thinks I’m just a bully. They don’t believe I could be a hero.

But I’m going to prove them all wrong…

Told from the perspective of a bully, this book explores themes of bullying and homelessness, while celebrating kindness, friendship and the potential everyone has to change for the good.

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Stone Girl Bone Girl

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