"A timeless, lyrical treasure that sees a girl who’s at one with the wild struggle with the world beyond her woods"
October 2020 Book of the Month | Shortlisted for the Yoto Carnegie Medal 2022 | Shortlisted for the UKLA Book Awards 2022 ages 7-10
Raw, lingering and stirringly lyrical, October, October had me hooked from opening to end.
Conjured in language that crackles and smoulders like an autumn bonfire, this is a book of bones and bark, of frost and flame, captivating in the manner of Skellig or Stig of the Dump as it undulates towards a wondrous homecoming of the heart.
“We live in the woods and we are wild… Just us. A pocket of people in a pocket of the world that’s small as a marble. We are tiny and we are everything and we are wild.” October has everything she wants living in the woods in the house her father built. Her mother left when October was four and she’s adamant that, “I don’t want her. She’s not wild like we are.”
This year October’s euphoria at the onset of autumn is sullied when she discovers a dead owl and a motherless baby owl: “my heart won’t stop bruising my ribs.” So, she rescues the baby, names it Stig and declares it her first ever friend. Calamity strikes when the woman “who calls herself my mother” arrives as a birthday surprise - her beloved dad breaks his spine after falling from a tree and October must stay with this woman – her mother – in London while he recuperates.
In the chaotic city, October is a bird with clipped wings. Torn from her wild world, she implodes, becomes a “firework of fury”, until she strikes up a bond with a boy named Yusef and discovers mudlarking, which makes her once more “a wild animal skulking and prowling for food”, “a pirate hunting for treasure.”
An unforgettable story, an unforgettable heroine – it’s no exaggeration to hail this a future classic.
A classic in the making for anyone who ever longed to be WILD.
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IT WAS AMAZING, I LOVED IT AND YOU WILL TOO.
October, October is an amazing story with clear visions, cool and lovable characters and heart warming scenes.... Read Full Review
A classic in the making for anyone who ever longed to be WILD. October and her dad live in the woods.
The LoveReading4Kids Editorial Team have read and reviewed October, October and determined it is suitable for children aged 9-12 years old
October, October features in the following genres: Animal Stories, Children's and Young Adult Fiction, Children’s, Teenage and Educational, Books of the Month, Recommendations, Stories about Family and Friends, Featured Books for 11+ readers, Books Reviewed by our Reader Review Panels, Star Books, Featured Books for 9+ readers
Paperback. £8.09, down from the £8.99 cover price. In Stock.
October, October was written by Katya Balen and published by Bloomsbury Childrens Books an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
October, October has 290 pages
£8.09, reduced from £8.99. In Stock.
