Schools & Libraries Book Reviews

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  • What is Mental Health? Where does it come from? And Other Big Questions

    What is Mental Health? Where does it come from? And Other Big Questions

    Name: Dan Katz
    23 January 2020;

    Genre: Mental Health & Wellbeing

    What is Mental Health? Where does it come from? And Other Big Questions by Lucy Maddox is the latest title in Wayland's 'Big Questions' series. As the title suggests, it provides an overview on issues surrounding mental health, including what it is, why it's important and how...

  • One Fox: A Counting Book Thriller

    One Fox: A Counting Book Thriller

    Name: Elen Green
    23 January 2020;

    Genre: Picture Books

    I love how One Fox is described as 'a counting book thriller' - which is just what it turns out to be; giving it a lot of scope for being used as more than a counting book. In the story, one fox, with two 'sly eyes' sees 'three plump hens' (the text gives us both the nu...

  • Armadillo and Hare

    Armadillo and Hare

    Name: Carol Carter
    22 January 2020;

    Genre: Adventure

    Armadillo and Hare is a collection of wonderful, whimsical stories about our odd-couple eponymous friends and the other resident of the Big Forest. A departure from Jeremy Strong's usual more mad-cap style, Armadillo and Hare is a gentle, calming collection perfect for bedtime...

  • Crater Lake

    Crater Lake

    Name: Clare Wilkins
    21 January 2020;

    Genre: Horror

    A perfect middle-grade horror featuring zombie teachers, bug-eyed students and a school trip like no other! Lance and his friends are headed for Crater Lake, a supposedly new and innovative activity centre. With his nemesis Ms Hoche in charge and annoying Head Boy Trent for company, Lance feels...

  • Superhero Gran

    Superhero Gran

    Name: Judith Greenall
    19 January 2020;

    Genre: Adventure

    This rhyming story is a celebration of all the wonderful things grandmothers do to deserve the title of Superhero! The gran in question has a home full of appealing playthings to create a day full of fun for her two visiting grandchildren, including a fabulous collection of dressing-up clothes a...

  • Monsters: The passion and loss that created Frankenstein

    Monsters

    Name: Amanda Hamilton
    17 January 2020;

    Genre: Adventure

    This book was wonderful, I found myself completely absorbed into the tale of Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Woolstonecraft Godwin and Claire Clairmont and their fight against the conventions of a society that rigidly rejected their way of life. Percy, or Bysshe as he was known, infatuated all three...

  • Orion Lost

    Name: Charlotte Weatherley
    17 January 2020;

    Genre: Science Fiction

    I absolutely loved spending time in outer space reading Orion Lost; not a given for me as I tend to avoid books set in the future. In the story, a number of families are heading into space to a far galaxy and a new life and the plotline seems to suggest that the excitement is all to come, with...

  • Monsters: The passion and loss that created Frankenstein

    Monsters

    Name: Charlotte Harrison
    15 January 2020;

    Genre: Adventure

    Wow! Few books that I've read recently are as pathologically compelling as this one was. A recount of the woman who starts at Mary Godwin and ends as Mary Shelley. The book opens in her teens, with Mary being idealistic, bored and cynical. When Percy Shelley enters her life, it instantly change...

  • The Midnight Swan

    Name: Janet Fisher
    12 January 2020;

    Genre: Magical Realism

    This is the third in Catherine Fisher's trilogy about Seren and the clockwork crow, full of magic and Welsh folklore. I did review the first book The Clockwork Crow (2018), which was very good and this does not disappoint. Seren, Tomos and the Crow are still trying to find the Swan's egg and...

  • How to Make a Better World: For Every Kid Who Wants to Make a Difference

    How to Make a Better World

    Name: Bryony Davies
    11 January 2020;

    Genre: Adventure

    How to Make a Better World by Keilly Swift is aimed at 7-9 year-olds and is a large hardback book filled with bright colourful pages. The attractive presentation make it inviting and I know that children will enjoy dipping into it and learning more about the world around them and how to help. T...