Schools & Libraries Book Reviews

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  • No Ballet Shoes in Syria

    Name: Donna Burket
    03 May 2018;

    Genre: Representation & Inclusion

    In a community centre in a run down area of Manchester where 'Manchester welcomes refugees', 11-year-old Aya sits day after day, hour after hour, to see the case worker who can hopefully help them to claim asylum. Her mother speaks little English and is withdrawn and poorly. Around her is a ho...

  • How to Bee

    Name: Aidan Severs
    03 May 2018;

    Genre: Environment

    Children's publishing seems to be experiencing a time of growth; the shelves of book shops are bursting with newly-published books for kids - so much so that it can be hard to choose which books to read. Some seem to garner much attention whilst others arrive quietly, waiting to be picked up a...

  • No Ballet Shoes in Syria

    Name: Clare Wilkins
    01 May 2018;

    Genre: Representation & Inclusion

    In No Ballet Shoes in Syria, eleven-year-old Aya is a dancer. Her head full of dreams of ballet, music and her wonderful teacher, Madame Belova. She is also an asylum seeker. Recently arrived in Britain from Syria, she and her mother and baby brother find themselves entangled...

  • SLAY

    SLAY

    Name: Clair Bossons
    30 April 2018;

    Genre: Adventure

    Think Buffy the Vampire slayer meets The Vamps. A fantastic blend of fantasy fiction and contemporary teen. This is light-hearted demon slaying peppered with witty one-liners with a few music references thrown in. The cover is eye catching and I have already had students asking to borrow it ha...

  • The List of Real Things

    The List of Real Things

    Name: Josie Age 11
    29 April 2018;

    Genre: Friends and family

    I would recommend this book because

  • A Galaxy of Her Own: Amazing Stories of Women in Space

    A Galaxy of Her Own

    Name: Sue Wilsher
    29 April 2018;

    Genre: Adventure

    Starting with a timeline of space exploration which runs alongside Libby Jackson's introduction to the book, A Galaxy of her Own then introduces the reader to a wealth of wonderful women who reached for the stars! The books is organised chronologically into sections from the origins to the future...

  • The Book of Comparisons: Sizing up the world around you

    The Book of Comparisons

    Name: Jacqueline Harris
    27 April 2018;

    Genre: Adventure

    This lovely book, with great illustrations by Paul Boston, is packed full of the sort of facts children love. The large pages are stuffed with extraordinary details, comparing everything from animals, to space to machines. Aimed at 7+, this seems like a book that could last for years, as it is so...

  • No Ballet Shoes in Syria

    Name: Lucy Russell
    25 April 2018;

    Genre: Representation & Inclusion

    Eleven-year-old Aya has arrived in Britain from Syria. She has left her homeland behind, lost her father and is holding the rest of the fragile family together, responsible beyond her years. When she glimpses the dancers in the community centre's ballet class, she longs to dance again - ballet...

  • THINKER: My Puppy Poet and Me

    Thinker: My Puppy Poet and Me

    Name: Alison Kelly
    23 April 2018;

    Genre: Adventure

    It's not often that I get to review poetry collections written by a dog. It feels like no time ago that I was chuckling over Moses' and Stevens' Waggiest Dogs anthology and now the delightful Thinker has arrived. This unusual collection (Pub: Tiny Owl) opens with 'Naming me' in which a new puppy...

  • Wild World

    Wild World

    Name: Alison Kelly
    23 April 2018;

    Genre: Adventure

    Wild World (Wide Eyed Editions). A trainee teacher recently asked me if I had any recommendations for good cross-curricular poetry. There are, of course, many such poems to be found in different anthologies. However, it was a delight to meet this gloriously illustrated collection of poems by Ang...