Schools & Libraries Book Reviews

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  • Young Gifted and Black: Meet 52 Black Heroes from Past and Present

    Young, Gifted and Black

    Name: Jane Rew
    17 April 2023;

    Genre: Representation & Inclusion

    There's so much to commend this book. Teachers: why not cite some of these figures in music, geography, history, science, IT and art lessons instead of, or alongside, the usual white figures? Matthew Henson and Catherine Johnson, say, as well as Columbus and Armstrong? Why not also use the boo...

  • Young, Gifted and Black Too: Meet 52 More Black Icons from Past and Present

    Young, Gifted and Black Too

    Name: Jane Rew
    17 April 2023;

    Genre: Representation & Inclusion

    This second volume, Young, Gifted and Black Too, is just as attractive as the first (Young, Gifted and Black). Indeed, in hardback, its striking blue cover and jazzy opening pages instantly...

  • A Passing On of Shells: 50 Fifty-Word Poems

    A Passing On of Shells: 50 Fifty-Word Poems

    Name: Sue Wilsher
    17 April 2023;

    Genre: Poetry

    A Passing on of Shells is a collection of 50 poems, each written using fifty words. There is much to enjoy here as Simon Lamb uses a variety of poetic styles and techniques, offering an ingenious selection of work on many themes. The collection opens with 'How to Start...

  • Clutch

    Clutch

    Name: Beverley Somerset
    13 April 2023;

    Genre: Mystery & Detective

    In Clutch, avid birdwatcher and nature lover Twitch is devastated when peregrine falcon eggs are stolen from a nest on Passerine Pike. The police are involved, but Twitch and his fellow Twitchers Jack, Ozuru, Ava, Terry, Tara and Tippi are determined to solve the crime themsel...

  • The Deadlands: Hunted: The dinosaurs are at war

    The Deadlands: Hunted

    Name: Jane Rew
    12 April 2023;

    Genre: Adventure

    That this book found a reader as soon as I was spotted reading it in the playground testifies to the power of its subject (dinosaurs) and the eye-catching cover. Delve beyond the cover, and one enters a world populated by a cast of characters including Eleri, Agostron (his brother and heir to...

  • My Life on Fire

    My Life on Fire

    Name: Sue Wilsher
    12 April 2023;

    Genre: Family & Home

    When disaster strikes and Ren's family lose their home in a fire, they feel lucky to be alive. But soon, having lost everything and having to live a very different life at her grandmother's, Ren starts to feel resentful that others have lovely things whilst she and her family have…nothing. Hav...

  • The Tiger Who Sleeps Under My Chair

    The Tiger Who Sleeps Under my Chair

    Name: Sue Wilsher
    10 April 2023;

    Genre: Mental Health & Wellbeing

    Kept in seclusion by her father, Emma Linden dreams of the time she spends at Kersbrook in Devon with her brother, James, and of following in the footsteps of Mary Anning, the famous fossil- hunter. However, she becomes increasingly concerned about James when he becomes obsessed with Bhayankar...

  • Spellstone

    Spellstone

    Name: Jacqueline Harris
    09 April 2023;

    Genre: Fantasy

    Evie is an ordinary twelve-year-old girl. Sher feels invisible much of the time and that no-one seems to notice her much. One day she meets a strange man who tells her she has magical abilities and is part of the ancient Order of the Stone. Together with the other members of the Order, she mus...

  • Spellstone

    Spellstone

    Name: Louisa Farrow
    08 April 2023;

    Genre: Fantasy

    Spellstone is a gripping piece of storytelling for lovers of fantasy fiction. The bones of the plot are familiar: a renegade wizard turned evil who is hunting down the good wizards; a mysterious Spellstone which will make him unstoppable; and a 12-year-old sorceress - courageo...

  • Alex Neptune, Pirate Hunter: Book 2

    Alex Neptune, Pirate Hunter: Book 2

    Name: Donna Chadwick
    07 April 2023;

    Genre: Adventure

    Alex Neptune, Pirate Hunter is a great sequel in the Alex Neptune series, which explores Alex's new-found powers to control the ocean. The story is full of twists and turns as Alex tries to counteract pollution and pirates to find a missing dragon egg to help clean the oceans....