This year’s Dyslexia Awareness Week falls from 3 to 9 October. So, for our What To Read Now we’re revisiting some brilliant Barrington Stoke books. We’re huge fans of Barrington Stoke, who for 20 years have been publishing super-readable, accessible books that are ideal for......
We were all on the edge of our seats, soaking up every word from Jason and Alex that afternoon in Brixton Library. If you couldn’t make it, read on: school librarian, Alison Muirhead has written a brilliant blog for us about the event. Midweek, mid-August,......
Monsters Born and Made by Tanvi Berwah Alison Palmer reviews the South Asian inspired debut fantasy, suitable for 13+ The book starts with an intriguing sentence: ‘We hunt when the world sleeps’. The action begins with a dive into the watery world of the hunters......
This month we’re reviewing Tom Palmer’s much-anticipated new novel Resist, due out on 4 August; Into the Wild Light by Jeff Zentner, the author of the Serpent King; and Skin of the Sea, one of Ali Palmer’s favourite reads of 2021, which has made the......
It’s a bumper edition of What To Read Now this month. We have five books to recommend for ages between 8 and 16+ – so many great books are out right now and we hope you love them as much as we do. What have......
Kings College School in Wimbledon hosted our first in-person event post-Covid for Merton Abbey Primary School and Southmead Primary School. Around 100 children from years 4 and 6 came along and were thrilled to hear Sita share how she became an author. Through a mix of......
We have a selection of special books this month. Keep an eye out for Phil Earle’s latest belter due out on 2 June. Lola, our 13-year-old reviewer, found Instructions for a Teenage Armageddon by Rosie Day both helpful and laugh-out-loud funny. We also feature school......
Ava has been reviewing books for us recently. We’ve loved reading and sharing her reviews. Read what Ava says about writing reviews and what she thinks of Michelle Paver’s Chronicles of Ancient Darkness series. I’m 13 (in year 9) and started working on my Bronze......
Thank you to everyone who contributed to this month’s What To Read Now: Max, Ava and Alexia. We love to share different voices on our website. Would you, or a young person you know, like to review books for us? Get in touch. The Graveyard......
The books in this month’s What To Read Now all highlight the changes you go through as you grow up. A massive thank you to our guest book reviewers. We’re always keen to include different voices on our website, please get in touch if you’d......
What we’ve been reading and enjoying recently. A huge thank you to guest reviewer, Ava, age 13 from London. Freeze, written and illustrated by Chris Priestley (suggestion for ages (+9), reviewed by Ava. Maya’s regular English teacher is absent today, and supply Mr Kumar is......
Why We Fly by Kimberly Jones and Gilly Segal It is senior year and the friendship between Eleanor and Chanel is changing. They have always been inseparable with a clear plan for their futures, but outside factors are changing their view of each other. Cheerleading......
Empress & Aniya by Candice Carty-Williams Alison Palmer reviews the first YA novel from the bestselling author of Queenie. What if there were people who actually looked out for you and cared enough to find out why you might be cross and angry about stuff?......
Mini Book Club – Year 7 Transition has been a resounding success. We teamed up with Hachette and Speakers for Schools to offer this free exciting activity for children as they move to secondary school. We wanted to provide a club to help build their confidence as readers and......
National Teen Book Club delivers book clubs to young people from all over the UK, and so far, over 1,000 young people have taken part. We partner with Speakers for Schools to run the clubs, and we launched the first club together in June 2020. ......
We are extremely proud to support the work of The Diverse Book Awards by being the headline sponsor of the YA category. And what a collection of cracking reads to make the longlist. Follow the awards ceremony on the 21 October. to find out the......
Settle down with one of these great reads, suitable for ages 9 and over, 13 and over, and 16 and above. What have you been reading? Let us know The Great (Food) Bank Heist by Onjali Q.Rauf, illustrated by Elisa Paganelli (suggestion for ages 9+),......
When The Sky Falls by Phil Earle, reviewed by Alison Palmer This is a beautifully written story of Joseph finding his forever home in the confusion and chaos of the Second World War. Abandoned by his mother, with his father fighting in France, Joseph is......
Crown of Crowns by Clara Loveman, reviewed by Tami Wylie “In a kingdom where the ruling and lower classes live and die apart by law, a noblewoman and a commoner make a fatal mistake: they fall in love.” Crown of Crowns, the debut novel by......
Wonderland by Juno Dawson, reviewed by Alison Palmer This is a story told through the eyes of Alice, a trans pansexual girl who is always on the outside of things at her very posh London school, St Agnes. After she spends a night with the......
Love Frankie by Jacqueline Wilson, reviewed by Katy Donnelly Frankie is having a hard time. At home, her parents have split up and she quarrels with her older sister. Her mother has recently been diagnosed with MS and is struggling to cope with her job......
Run, Rebel by Manjeet Mann, reviewed by Graine Milner Amber runs. Her life isn’t easy – her father, tightly controlling, a drinker and abusive, doesn’t want Amber to do anything that might in any way bring shame to the family; her mother, illiterate, works hard......
The annual Reflecting Realities report by CLPE shows just how underrepresented black, Asian and minority ethnic protagonists are in children’s books. A mere 7% of the children’s books published in the UK over the last three years feature characters of colour. Compare this with the......
The Great Godden by Meg Rosoff, reviewed by Dymphna Flynn Every summer in a holiday house by the English seaside our unnamed narrator and their family fill their days with games, laughter, wholesome outdoor activities, and this year, they’re planning a wedding. But this year......
Sofia, a Sixth Former, at St Albans School wrote about running a Book Club for pupils at Beech Hyde Primary School. Our Book Clubs in Schools model works for secondary schools to run within a single school, but also for state or independent secondary schools......