Lovereading 4 Kids Updates from the world of children’s books

Featured Books Age 0 – 5 Years

1		Dogs Emily Gravett Prize-winning illustrator Emily Gravett delights with another wonderful new book. Apparently a celebration of dogs of all kind, this is also a book with a witty twist at the end. Gorgeous pictures of big dogs and small dogs, hairy dogs … Download free opening extract
2		I Love You Through And Through Bernadette Rossetti-shustak and Caroline Jayne Church Brim full of the overpowering emotion of unconditional love for all the aspects of a baby, this robust board book is perfect for sharing again and again and again. Each page shows the smiling – and sometimes not so smiling … Download free opening extract
3		Happy Birthday Chimp and Zee Catherine, Anholt, Laurence Anholt “Ha, ha, ha! Hee, hee, hee! Happy Birthday, Chimp and Zee! Mischievous twins Chimp and Zee are celebrating their birthday. There are birthday cards and presents and, as with everything to do with this delightful pair, absolute chaos everywhere they … Download free opening extract

Featured Books for 5+ readers

1		The BFG Roald Dahl This is a delightful, funny and exciting story about a special friendship between two people from different worlds – a giant and a child. As the story develops it shows how trust and love develops between them. It also … Download free opening extract
2		Weird Street: The Curse Of Captain Cross-eyed Margaret Ryan Weird Street is a terrific little four book series that will get 6-9 year old boys (in particular) and girls really reading and enjoying it.  Weird Street is on Johnny’s paper round, a bizarre, scary and extremely unusual paper round, where he … Download free opening extract
3		What Mr Darwin Saw Mick Manning & Brita Granstrom This picture reference book provides an absolutely terrific insight into one of the world’s most famous scientists and is a great introduction to youngsters of an important piece of history.  Darwin’s adventure on the Beagle and his findings on the islands … Download free opening extract

Featured Books for 7+ readers

1		The Monkey Pirates Mark Skelton Imagine monkeys dressed as pirates travelling through space and time in search of treasure and adventure and along the way in their wardrobe they pick up a quite normal girl called Emily Jane and head off in search of her … Download free opening extract
2		Tom Trueheart And The Land Of Dark Stories Ian Beck More fabulous adventures as Tom Trueheart and his brothers return but this time, there may be no more Happy Endings. Perfectly pitched to newly independent readers, this second book about the young and diminutive hero Tom Trueheart takes a different look … Download free opening extract
3		Charles Darwin Alan Gibbons Discover the world of Darwin through the diary of a ship’s boy.  Combining non-fiction and fiction but factually absolutely accurate, this book is published to coincide with Darwin’s 200th birthday.  It begins with a diary, told from the point of view of … Download free opening extract

Featured Books for 9+ readers

1		Then Morris Gleitzman In Once, Morris Gleitzman created a brilliant and unusual way of telling the story of how two children survived in Nazi Germany. In the sequel Then, Felix and Zelda continue on their journey to safety. Felix, who tells the story … Download free opening extract
2		The Sandfather Linda Newbery This is a gripping, fast-paced and at times heart-stopping read about a 13 year old boy’s search for identity by the winner of the 2006 Costa Children’s Book Award. Hal’s exclusion from school leads him to a period of discovery … Download free opening extract
3		Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules Jeff Kinney Take a peek into Greg’s diary and find out the story of his life – and especially about his relationship with his older brother Roderick. Wittily told in words and pictures, this diary charts the trials and tribulations of a … Download free opening extract

Featured Books for 11+ readers

1		Just Henry Michelle Magorian Winner of the 2008 Costa Children’s Book Award – What the Costa judges said: ‘This is a master storyteller at work with the sort of descriptive writing that is a joy to read. Just Henry is a soaring, uplifting warm … Download free opening extract
2		Chains Laurie Halse Anderson With a rare and compelling voice, this haunting novel tells not only the story of a remarkable girl and her incredible strength, but also of a time and place in which slavery was the order of the day and lives … Download free opening extract
3		Invitation Only Kate Brian For a teen read Kate Brian really hit the spot with the first in the ‘Private’ series published quite recently and which we at Lovereading picked up on early. Now, with the second in the series beginning where the … Download free opening extract

Featured Books for 14+ readers

1		Before I Die Jenny Downham Winner of the Branford Boase Award 2008. This is a haunting yet truly amazing read but don’t read it too young. Definitely not for someone less than 14 years old. If you knew you were going to die what would … Download free opening extract
2		Malice Chris Wooding Enter this terrifying parallel world if you dare! From the dramatic 3-D cover onwards, everything about Malice is original and just a little bit different. Cleverly told as both a novel and a graphic novel, this is the scary story … Download free opening extract
3		Twilight Stephenie Meyer Deeply seductive and irresistibly compelling, this is an extraordinary love story that will stay with you long after you’ve finished it. It’s the first in the Twilight series and is a captivating sage of vampire romance. The 2nd … Download free opening extract

Happy 2009!

If the quality of children’s books scheduled for publication in 2009 that we’ve so far read here is anything to go by then there’s going to be no shortage of some terrific literature for the whole family to enjoy throughout 2009 and hopefully our expert guidance will help you to choose between them and in turn help your kids start the new year as you’d like them to go on – reading and learning and enjoying some dazzling stories.

But before going on to the January titles we’ve personally selected for you here at Lovereading4kids, first up is the winner of Costa Children’s Book Award, which has just been announced. Michelle Magorian’s Just Henry, according to the Costa judges ‘is a soaring, uplifting warm bath of a book a wonderful roller-coaster of a story which we all absolutely loved’. At Lovereading4kids we’ve championed it since its publication back in May last year. Whilst on the subject of awards don’t forget to take a peek at the shortlist for the Marsh Award for books in Translation.

There’s also a new category on the site where we’ve gathered all our free-to-enter competitions and prize draws; a one-stop shop for amazing give-away goodies!

Author of the Month

Author of the Month is the brilliant Chris Higgins, whose new story Love ya Babe gives a very astute insight into teenage troubles. Not only does Gabby have to put up with an outrageously embarrassing mum, troubled brothers, and friendship problems at school; but the arrival of a new baby sibling brings chaos to the whole family.

There are three great Books of the Month:

Then, by Morris Gleitzman, tackles a topic most children’s authors would shy away from, following Felix and his friend Zelda as they witness the atrocities being committed by the Nazis in Poland in 1942. 9+ readers will be hooked.

Between Two Seas was a sensation in 2008 and one of our most successful debuts of the year. The Lady in the Tower (3760) is Marie Louise Jensen’s second novel. A rich tapestry of 16th century life centred around Eleanor, a tomboyish young girl who is betrothed to be married, but would rather be riding horses and jousting.

Everything Beautiful is the eagerly awaited and brilliant second novel by the author of Notes from the Teenage Underground.

And January seems to be the month of debuts we have 7 crackers:

Numbers, by Rachel Ward, is a spooky story for teenagers about a girl who can tell the date people will die by the numbers that pop into her head. Waiting to go on the London Eye, she sees everyone in the queue has the same number – something terrible is going to happen…

For 11+ readers

there’s The Bad Tuesdays 1: Twisted Symmetry. An action-packed novel about three street rat children who are being mysteriously pursued by two sinister organisations.Zelah Green – Queen of Clean by Vanessa Curtis deals with the serious subject of OCD by way of a charming tale about a girl coming to terms with personal grief and
The 13 Treasures by Michelle Harrison, is a gripping story about a girl who gets in trouble and is sent away from home because nobody believes she can see fairies.

For 9+ year old boys there’s Johnny Macintosh and the Spirit of London, by Keith Mansfield, in which a 13-year-old boy’s life change forever when his computer, Kovac, detects an extraterrestrial signal.And for the girls, How Kirsty Jenkins Stole the Elephant is a brilliantly accomplished debut that packs a lot of punch touching as it does on family death and relationships. Finally for 7+ year olds, a mad-cap adventure, The Monkey Pirates, by Mark Skelton will take you on a ride through space in wardrobes in the capable or not so capable hands of some pirate monkeys searching for treasure.

Now to two special promotions:

Firstly, you probably can’t fail to have missed the major TV drama of Anne Frank each day last week and if so, perhaps now is the time to read the full unabridged Diary. Secondly, we were so bowled over by Chains, which tells the story Independence who pursues her own fight for freedom during the American civil war, that we thought we would select a small number of titles that we feel will provide a terrific insight into a time and a place when slavery was the order of the day and in some places still is. So from Roman to contemporary times you’re sure to find something that fascinates.

Finally, race headlong into the new year and keep ahead of the crowds, by discovering our latest exclusive Pre-Publication titles:

Henderson Boys – The Escape, is an exciting adventure by Robert Muchamore about child spies helping the British Secret Service win the war.

The Sandfather by Linda Newbery is a wonderful story about a boy searching for some grounding in life, and doing a lot of growing up along the way.

And Dogs, by Emily Gravett, is another awesomely satisfying picture book filled with gorgeous bounding canines of every sort – and a twist in the tail.

So download a few free Opening Extracts for your children and suss out which are going to get their 2009 off to an energetic flying start.