Welcome to this latest round up of what has been happening in the world of children’s books over the last month. My news round ups are usually published on the first Saturday of the month but I have brought this one forward by a week to help you with Christmas ideas for both school and home. It is impossible to include everything as this would be the most enormous article for you to read so I have tried to provide a snapshot of a busy month for you. There are book award announcements, research, resources and some Christmas related items too. I do hope something here is helpful to you.

What I’m reading…

At the start of November I participated in #WitchWeek24 which this year marked the centenary of award winning author Joan Aiken. If you missed the blogposts marking this event you can find my contribution on Chris Lovegrove’s blog here. If you are a fan of Aiken’s work I can also recommend browsing Chris’s blog which contains many fascinating reviews of her books.

Sometimes books, particularly those written for children, can provide hope and encouragement and I have recently read a really beautiful story by Coral Rumble. If ever you are searching for a book to encourage empathy and kindness, soothe a worried mind and stimulate an interest in our natural surroundings I can thoroughly recommend Jakub’s Otter. Stories don’t have to feature magic, battles and dragons to help children be brave, sometimes kind, thoughtful understanding can be empowering.

As you know we have just celebrated National Non Fiction November and I have read three recently published books that I would like to recommend. EUREK-HER! Stories of Inspirational Women in STEM  by Frances Durkin illustrated by Nur Ventura is a cleverly produced book to both inspire and encourage children to try out their own scientific discovery. It would be an excellent purchase for school libraries being both a useful reference tool and an appealing book to browse for individual interest. You can read my full review here. Become A Chess Champion: Learn the Basics from a Pro by James Canty III and Brian Lambert is suitable for beginners but would also be helpful for anyone looking to develop their skills further. Secrets of the Ocean: 15 Bedtime Stories Inspired by Nature by Alicia Klepeis illustrated by Kaja Kajfež s a winning combination of narrative and facts will have great appeal for young animal lovers. If you want to find out more about these two titles you can read my reviews here.

Lastly, I have reviewed two excellent picturebooks for Just Imagine over the last week and can highly recommend them both. Cake for Everyone is a wordless picture book encouraging children to look and find, recall and imagine, retell and discuss. A captivating book with many uses in the classroom. In Santa’s First Christmas Mac Barnett and Sydney Smith have created a Christmas picture book that captures much that children will recognise and enjoy. This is a warm and kind festive story with a difference. 

Last month I mentioned one of my two year old grandson’s favourite books of the moment, The Whales on the Bus, which I can now recite from memory! In case you are looking for recommendations for the youngest readers in your life I thought I’d pass on another of his ‘reviews’. The little chap has now been named ‘LibraryLad’ by his uncle! So without further ado, this month’s star read as suggested by him is Britannica’s Baby Encyclopedia. He spends ages poring over it and I can understand why. This would be a terrific present.

News, articles and resources…

Yoto Carnegie Nominations Announced – this announcement feels a long time ago now but took place shortly after my last Reading Matters. A grand total of 119 books have been nominated for the 2025 Medals. 64 books are in contention for the Carnegie Medal for Writing, which is awarded to a book written in English for children and young people that sparks an outstanding reading experience, and 55 books for the Carnegie Medal for Illustration, which celebrates an outstanding reading experience through illustration. This includes 3 titles that have received nominations in both Medal categories. From these nominations, the judging panel will decide the long and shortlists and finally, the 2025 Medal winners.

The National Literacy Trust: Children and Young People’s Reading in 2024: the findings of the survey carried out early this year were concerning for anyone involved in the children’s book community in any capacity. Reading enjoyment has dropped and the figures for secondary pupils and for boys are particularly concerning. There was considerable debate at the time that this report was published and I did find the levels of commitment to improving things heartening. This was particularly evident in the widespread support for the role of public and school libraries and the way in which they can make a difference. The National Literacy Trust with the tag #GrowAGenerationofReaders is committed to supporting 1.5 million young readers in the next 3 years through a task force that will combine with other agencies. I hope that the links and articles I share in this monthly round up will help support this in a small way.

CLPE Reflecting Realities Report 2024 – For the first time in its history, the annual CLPE Reflecting Realities survey, funded by Arts Council England, reported an overall drop in the percentage of racially minoritised characters featured in published children’s books reviewed, from 30% in 2022 to 17% in 2023. The percentage of books featuring a main character from an ethnic minority had halved to 7%. To view CLPE’s Reflecting Realities Survey of Ethnic Representation within UK Children’s Literature in full please use the link above. While the results of this year’s survey may be sobering, CLPE point to their wider available body of work and the guidance provided in 7 years of Reflecting Realities reporting as a tool to ensure representative literature is a permanent, integrated feature of industry output.

A response to the 2024 CLPE Reflecting Realities Survey from Darren Chetty and Karen Sands-O’Connor – please do read this article from Books for Keeps magazine which provides background and helpful comment on the results of the Reflecting Realities survey.

BookTrust Early Years offers: Year two headline findings – this report made for more hopeful reading. In this briefing, Book Trust share 10 key findings from the second year of their BookTrust Early Years offers (Bookstart Toddler / Bookstart 1-2 Years and Bookstart Pre-schooler / Bookstart 3-4 Years). One key point that I noticed was that 96% of partners say these Early Years offers are effective at getting families with young children reading together.

Death to Non-Fiction! – as National Non-Fiction November comes to a close this article by author Andy Seed poses some interesting questions about the naming of factual books for children.

Non-fiction that makes you feel (with Mini Grey) – an absolutely lovely blogpost by Mini Grey on the emotional pleasures of reading non-fiction, highlighting The Fossil Hunter, The Biggest Footprint and The Observologist. Thank you to Mat Tobin for flagging this article up to me.

Royal Society Young People’s Book Prize 2024 – the shortlist for the Royal Society Young People’s Book Prize 2024 was announced recently, with six books chock full of tales of Arctic adventures, amazing ancestors and astrophysics. The winner will be chosen from among these six by over 19,000 young people across the country. Do have a look at the website to find out more.

2024 Books Are My Bag Readers Awards – Launched in 2016 and voted for by both booksellers and readers, the Books Are My Bag Awards feature the following categories – Fiction, Non-Fiction, Poetry, YA Fiction, Children’s, Break Through Author & Readers’ Choice. The winner of YA Fiction Award 2024 was Holly Jackson’s The Reappearance of Rachel Price and I am Rebel by Ross Montgomery was the Children’s category winner. Congratulations to all the winners.

Waterstones Book of The Year – another win for Ross Montgomery’s I am Rebel in the Children’s Book of the Year category. “At a time when children’s literacy and reading for pleasure should be at the top of everyone’s agenda, I Am Rebel stands out as the perfect book to press into the hands of children and the adults who care for them.” Bea Carvalho, Head of Books, Waterstones.

Books For Keeps November Issue – regular readers of this blog will know how highly I rate Books for Keeps as a source of information about children’s books. This latest issue is another gem. Regular contributors to Books for Keeps highlight the books that have given them the most enjoyment in 2024, Piers Torday is interviewed by Nicolette Jones, Sue McGonigle selects information books for the Christmas stocking, plus poetry picks for the festive season and regulars including Beyond The Secret Garden and reviews.

The Times/Chicken House Children’s Fiction Competition 2024 Winners – the 25th anniversary of Chicken House publishers also saw the announcement of this year’s winners of their writing competition. Huge congratulations to superstar school librarian Lucas Maxwell who has won the Times/Chicken House award, the prize of which is a £10,000 publishing contract and the offer of agent representation, for his novel You Have Selected Power Drive. Congratulations also to Tommy Finlayson who won The Lime Pictures New Storyteller Award for The Cornershop on Apocalypse Street.

Open University Reading For Pleasure Newsletter Live – don’t miss out on this free magazine style rapid CPD : Rich text recommendations, bite size research, practical ideas, and poetry plus a guest appearance by Laura Muchau. A lovely way to join a reading community and share ideas. December 4th 7.30pm – 8.30pm online. Booking via the link above.

Children’s and teens roundup: the best new picture books and novels – A sensational sleigh ride; joyous poetry; amazing animals; a sinister seaside town; a deadly forest; a thrilling heist and more in Imogen Russell Williams selection for November.

Unlock the Magic of Christmas Reading with Reading Rocks’ Classroom Advent Calendar – make reading part of your class’s Christmas tradition with a virtual Advent Calendar designed to inspire a love of books and bring festive joy to your classroom. Each day, your pupils will open a new “window” to discover a special video message from a well-loved author or illustrator. This is free with registration.

Winter Wonderland Resources from The National Literacy Trust – Whether you’re celebrating Christmas, Hanukkah or simply wish to set aside a time for cosy reading, this resource offers lots of ideas for literacy activities to mark this Winter period, including: Writing ideas such as winter Haikus, festive science experiments and grammar games, Book recommendations to read aloud with pupils aged 3 to 14 and suggestions storytelling and performance poetry. Free to download if you register.

Sprouts: Imagine a Christmas in 4024 with Sibéal Pounder – Tuesday 10 December 11.00am – 11.45am join Sibéal Pounder online hear a special reading from the book and explore the book’s themes and Sibéal’s inspiration for writing. There will also be a live Q&A section for children to find out what it’s like to be a published author in this event for age 9-11 from the National Literacy Trust.

Books for Topics Book Gift Guides – Books for Topics have created some great lists of book suggestions for different age groups for parents and carers to give at Christmas. There are bedtime stories, information books and special gift books to choose from. Suitable for the primary age group and the lists are free to download.

Christmas is Coming: A Festive Panel with Hazel Gardner, Pippa Goodhart, and Jarvis – if you missed this Just Imagine Festive Author Panel you can now catch up with it on the link above. Special Christmas books, both old favourites and new titles are featured plus the authors’ favourite read. Great for adults but you could share clips with children too.

Poetry By Heart Festive Poetry Showcase – Poetry By Heart, the nation’s favourite poetry speaking competition, is celebrating the best festive poems in a special Poetry Showcase and encouraging everyone, young and old, to create a new seasonal tradition by gifting a poetry performance this Christmas. This poetry advent calendar also includes Poetry By Heart ‘Give it a Go’ tips to enable visitors to the website to learn their favourite poem by heart. 

Tom Palmer: Christmas News Extra – there are free Christmas resources, stories, activities, films and a lovely short story available on Tom Palmer’s excellent website.

Finally, some book reviews that caught my eye recently…

The Christmas Pine by Julia Donaldson & Victoria Sandoy – reviewed on Storysnug, The Christmas Pine, a beautifully illustrated, rhyming picture book, tells the true story of the Christmas tree that stands in Trafalgar Square. A book to share with young children of 3+ with beautiful illustrations.

The Christmas Wish-tastrophe by Cariad Lloyd, illustrated by Ma Pe – if you are looking for stories on a festive theme to get young readers in the mood this lovely review by Veronica Price may help you. This Christmas mystery set in 1812 sounds delightful and being an illustrated hardback may be a good present idea too. Veronica recommends it as ‘an essential addition to Christmas book collections‘ which is good enough for me!

The Eyes and the Impossible by Dave Eggers illustrated by Shawn Harris – this book has been receiving a great deal of attention online recently and I am most tempted by this thoughtful review by Stephen Dilley for Just Imagine. Please do read his review to find out more.

Well, that’s it for now. Having said I would try to avoid an enormous article that would be too much to read it has rather grown as there is so much happening that merits inclusion. I hope that this round up has been helpful and interesting. Over the coming weeks I will continue to share book reviews and possibly snippets of Christmas news as I come across it. Reading Matters will be back in 2025 all being well. Happy reading!