A charming feminist retake on the Santa story, Tinsel is set in Victorian London, where penniless orphans Blanche and Rinki carve out a life for themselves on the mean streets. When a mysterious old lady gives Blanche a Christmas bauble, telling her to never underestimate the gifts she has within her, and to use them well, the course of Christmas is set to change forever. Teamed up with the magical Rinki, Blanche Claus sets out to ensure every child receives a gift at Christmas.
Meesha is a warm, inventive little girl who loves to make drawings and music. The one thing she can’t seem to make is friends and, no matter how hard she tries, she just can’t seem to get it right. Eventually, she begins to wonder if she will ever be able to make friends.
Charlie’s long-awaited baby brother is born gravely ill. Angry, inarticulate and confused at this unexpected turn of events, ten-year-old Charlie runs to the woods, a familiar and favourite site for escape and escapade in more manageable times. An impossible adventure begins to unfold.
Kate’s life is a bit too ordinary for her liking. All she wants is for things to get real. Her parents are too busy at work for her and she wishes for something exciting to happen. Little does she know that the adventure of a lifetime is awaiting her. On her eleventh birthday, her mysterious Uncle Herbert gifts her a real-life steam engine, The Silver Arrow. Naturally, Kate’s parents are not impressed by this and say that Kate can only keep it for a week. A disgruntled Kate and her brother Tom go to explore the engine in her back yard, when suddenly it starts moving on its own.
It is refreshing to read historical fiction for children; offering the reader a chance to experience different realities. The book is set in 1939 where two brothers, Ronnie and Jimmy, are being evacuated from London to Wales. Jimmy is twelve years old, and he struggles to come to terms with having to leave London and move to a small rural town, living with strangers. Until, one day, Jimmy finds a human skull.
Alfie, his sister and his mum move to a village where everything seems quiet and boring at first, until the weather starts to behave as though it has a mind of its own: things freeze over in the middle of summer; mini tornadoes appear in glasses of water. Alfie is keen to investigate and is on the lookout for the source of these disturbances – and why wouldn’t he start with the strangest man in the village?
Cardboard Cowboys tells the story of Lenny Lambert, a troubled but kind-hearted boy in his first year of secondary school in Scotland. Lenny is having a hard time in school: his classmates make fun of him because of his weight and he is struggling with the absence of his brother, Frankie. His parents refuse to speak about Frankie, and Lenny feels intense guilt over the situation (which we are not told about for the majority of the book) and finds himself feeling increasingly isolated – from his school, his parents and Frankie himself.
Be Wild, Little One is the book we all need right now, at this very moment in time. A poetic text, filled with love, wisdom, energy and encouragement, this is the perfect book for supporting young children to shake off all hesitancy and venture out into the world again, wildly.
Take a trip through the world’s oceans and seas aboard an adorable submarine (with a lovely character and their dog!) in this beautifully illustrated picturebook. Meet the Oceans is the follow-up to the successful Meet the Planets by the same author and illustrator duo and, in similar fashion, it explores in a gentle yet informative way the most wonderful and also not-so-great things currently happening in our oceans today.
Do you fancy the sound of Extra Minty Grapefruit and Smoky Bacon Flavour Ice Cream? The Cow People of Pluto certainly can’t seem to get enough of it, as best friends Connor and Ethan find out when they agree to run Ethan’s Uncle Nick’s ice-cream stall on the mind-boggling space station Starville during the summer holidays.
