The team at Barrington Stoke have been busy and there has been a flurry of new titles published recently or due out this month. Here is a selection suitable for an age range from 5 to teens including humour for our youngest readers, adventures for animal lovers and sensitive stories depicting family situations. I hope something included will tempt the young readers in your lives.
The Little Gem series of books are pitched perfectly for new readers, cleverly designed to be super readable they are presented in a chunky format and the activities, jokes and puzzles hidden on the inside jacket flaps add to their appeal. Ross Montgomery’s second book for these younger readers, Porky Pies, has the added bonus of plenty of humour so is sure to be popular. Young Porky is a mischievous little chap and loves nothing more than playing tricks on his brothers and sisters, pretending that the Big Bad Wolf is back. But when he plans his most elaborate and scariest prank of all perhaps things won’t go quite as he planned!
This amusing take on The Three Little Pigs and The Boy Who Cried Wolf is great fun and the jolly illustrations by Marisa Morea complement the text well. Children will enjoy the little pigs’ expressions and trying to work out what may happen next in the story plus some examples of Porky’s jokes inside the front cover. This is a great follow-up to Sheep School and sure to persuade new readers that books can be fun! Suitable for children with a reading age of 5+
Helen Peters has several bestselling children’s books to her name, notably Anna at War which was nominated for the Carnegie and The Secret Hen House Theatre which was shortlisted for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize. Her new series for Barrington Stoke draws on her experience of growing up on a farm and walks through the Sussex countryside. New Arrivals at Willow Farm is the first in the series and features some unlikely friendships among the animals on the farm.
There are in fact two new arrivals, Snowy the Sheepdog and Cowslip the Calf, in separate but linked adventure stories in the book. Each of these young animals get off to a slightly rocky start with Snowy rather better at making friends with the sheep, whom he closely resembles, than herding them and poor Cowslip is missing her mum and feels rejected by the other animals. Animal loving young readers will quickly care about Snowy and Cowslip and will enjoy following their progress as despite a little drama along the way they do gain confidence and settle into their lives on the farm. The charming stories are accompanied by appealing illustrations by Isobel Lundie and New Arrivals at Willow Farm is kindly and gentle in tone making this a lovely book for readers of about 7+.
Another new series, this time written by Gill Lewis, begins with The Island Vet: Pirates and Sea Monsters in which we meet young Tia who is accompanying Mum who is a vet to her new job on Gull Haven Island. As soon as the two of them get off the ferry they are met by a queue of people anxious about animals and birds of all shapes and sizes and all of them in need of help. Tia quickly gets involved with helping her Mum both capably and kindly. But then an urgent call for a vet to help a sick cow on a nearby island means that Tia’s Mum has to leave and then she is trapped there by a storm. Tia is left in charge of the animals’ care supported by the friendly postmistress, Peggy and despite much drama and excitement Tia rises to the challenge.
Gill Lewis is a vet herself, always writing with warmth and understanding in her animal stories and this is evident in The Island Vet. This charming story is accompanied by lovely illustrations and chapter headings by Irina Avgustinovich bringing the characters, both human and animal, to life for young readers. This is a lovely, immensely readable, satisfying story and a great start to a new series so the good news is that we don’t have to wait too long until book two is published in August. Suitable for readers of 7+.
Sometimes books deal with subjects that are part of children’s lives but may be difficult for them to navigate themselves and a story can help them understand a situation more easily and to realise that they are not alone in dealing with the problem. In When Saturday Comes award winning author Tony Bradman depicts a a young boy experiencing family separation in an accessible and sensitive manner.
Since his parents split up Daniel has lived with his Mum while his Dad found a new job abroad. The change in his circumstances resulted in Daniel having to change schools, something else he found hard initially. However through a love of and talent for football he has formed a new friendship, gained confidence and discovered that life can be happy again. His football team are doing well in the league and Daniel is one of the star players. But then Dad returns following another change of job and wants to see his son again on Saturdays at exactly the same time as Daniel’s football team always play their matches. Daniel is torn between loyalty for his new friends and a desire to support his Dad and maybe even prompt a reconciliation between his parents.
Tony Bradman deftly handles the issues raised and sensitively portrays the impact of divorce and separation on young children. Whilst avoiding the cliché of a happy ending he does offer his readers a comforting and positive outcome. Centring the plot on football will attract some young readers who may not think reading is for them but you would not need to be a football fan to find this an enjoyable book. Despite being less than sixty pages long this is a story with strong characterisation and an empathetic feel and I would definitely recommend this for primary school library collections as both a useful PSHE tool and a satisfying read for children of about 9+.
For slightly older children of about 11+ Sally Nicholls’ new book, Too Nice, explores the dynamics of a newly formed stepfamily with sensitivity. Abby is used to it being just her and her dad at home, but now her dad’s new girlfriend Jen is moving in and everything is changing. Abby is finding it hard to adapt to the new situation, although Jen is far from the ‘evil stepmother’ stereotype Abby resents the disruption to the life she knew and the fact that Jen is ‘too nice’. Jen is talkative whereas Abby likes quiet time to be able to be herself, Jen is constantly complimenting Abby which the teenager finds a little patronising and possibly insincere. But Jen has not done anything wrong but is in fact making their home life more comfortable with her home cooking and her care so Abby struggles to convey her unhappiness to her Dad. For the reader though Abby’s emotions are conveyed well and no doubt many young people will empathise with her position. Abby feels guilt at her attitude but nonetheless resents the fact that her relationship with her Dad no longer feels the same. Things deteriorate a little but common sense and compromise do eventually heal the hurt and Abby and Jen discover what they have in common and Abby and her Dad readjust to the changes with compromise.
Through the careful storyline Sally Nicholls demonstrates the need for honest conversations in situations like this and there is a positive tone to the book that will encourage young people to be both self aware of their own needs but acknowledge the needs of others too. This is another slim volume with an emotional punch and Too Nice has been edited to a reading age of 8 broadening its accessibility for teens. Another title I would recommend for inclusion in school library collections.
I should like to thank Poppy McLean and Barrington Stoke for providing my review copies.