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Joy Court - Editorial Expert
Joy Court is co – founder of All Around Reading, having previously managed the Schools Library Service in Coventry, where she established the Coventry Inspiration Book Awards and the Literally Coventry Book Festival, as well as being the Reviews Editor of The School Librarian and Chair of the CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals. She now just concentrates on books and libraries as a freelance consultant while continuing to be an activist with the Youth Libraries Group and sits on the National Executive of the Federation of Children’s Book Groups. She has chaired and spoken on panels at festivals and conferences around the UK as well as delivering keynotes and workshops.
She is a Trustee and member of the National Council of the United Kingdom Literacy Association, where she sits on the selection panel for the UKLA Book Awards, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and of The English Association and an Honorary Fellow of CILIP. Author of Read to Succeed: strategies to engage children and young people in reading for pleasure (2011) and Reading by Right: successful strategies to ensure every child can read to succeed (2017) FACET.
Based upon an earlier title for teenagers, Know Your Rights, this is aimed at readers of eight plus and every effort has been made to make complex and difficult issues understandable and relatable and to make the book engaging and inviting. Largely this is achieved through the excellent and lively illustrations by Sue Cheung and through a very clear layout and page design. The addition of little jokes and Not a Child Right boxes, which highlight some hilariously strange laws which still exist around the world, also add to the appeal.
Wisely, the book starts with advice to readers about ... View Full Review
There can be absolutely no doubt that Turtle Moon will simply leap off the shelves, and not just because of the stunning cover by Levi Pinfold. Hannah Gold has established herself as the go to author of fast paced, engaging, eco adventures that not only raise the issues of dangers facing animals on our planet, but also offer the reader so much more in terms of relatable, engaging characters, who are often facing some deeper dilemmas, which are honestly and sensitively explored.
This story follows Silver, an only child, who is struggling to understand the pain her parents face from ... View Full Review
The latest endearing animal story from this esteemed storyteller takes inspiration from the astonishing true stories of the drovers, who would take the farmer’s sheep and cattle to market in the big cities, always accompanied by a good reliable dog. The most remarkable fact is that the drover had to stay in the city for weeks selling the sheep and cattle and so these dogs would find their way home on their own, stopping at nights in the same inns, where their food had been prepaid by the drover. In particular the dogs they used on the 250-mile ... View Full Review
Chosen by Guest Editor, Lisa Williamson as her Book of the Month.
With money tight, 10 year-old Solo’s mum Morag is forced to come up with imaginative solutions to their money woes, like crashing funerals for a free meal! Solo meanwhile is desperate to fit in and be normal for a change – not easy when you’ve just gone viral for all the wrong reasons. With the cost-of-living crisis affecting more and more of the population, this book could not be better timed. Honest, funny and touching, Solo’s story will stay with you long after ... View Full Review
Pairing for the first time the mesmeric, imaginative storytelling of Costa Award-winning author Frances Hardinge, with illustrations by Emily Gravett, two-time winner of the CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal and here obviously relishing illustrating a book for much older readers, has produced a book to treasure.
Much shorter than a normal Hardinge novel, there is not a wasted word, and an utterly compelling coming of age story with themes of death and grieving, is told in its 121 pages. Set on the strange small island of Merlank, where, for generations, a single family has produced a Ferryman. Their vital task is to ... View Full Review
What a joy to renew acquaintance with the redoubtable Trixie de Santos, in this sequel to Old Gods, New Tricks, where she had delighted us by tricking the most infamous trickster gods into helping her to save the world. But as we know, she also unwittingly unleashed magic into the mortal realms, and she now finds herself in a very dangerously different world, one where you set off for school armed with sufficient snacks to get past the hungry troll lurking under a bridge that you have to cross.
She returns home late one day only to discover the news ... View Full Review
The distinctive Collins trademark bold colour backgrounds to each page serve to highlight the hugely characterful and expressive animals that should be the stars of The First Book of Animals except, as we the audience can blatantly see, a very excitable dog has decided that he is the only animal that counts. He has acquired a pencil (no doubt from the artist) which is going to come in very handy. Dog enjoys the first page This is a Dog. It certainly is – very perky and proud- but he doesn’t want to lose the spotlight. He ... View Full Review
In her first picturebook, the award-winning author returns to the issue of the arrival of refugees in our schools, which she tackled so memorably in the bestselling The Boy at the Back of the Class. Perfectly pitched for younger children and with stunningly effective illustrations, this story is told by Adam, a young boy in a very diverse classroom who tells us about the arrival of a new girl to join their class. She does not speak or answer him and does not want to join in any of the activities, but their teacher suggests she could draw instead. Adams ... View Full Review
With a concept based entirely upon the universal truth that as soon as somebody tells you not to think of something, you immediately do so and the quite philosophic concept of visualisation of language heard or read, this book will have young( and old) readers in stitches. Stamped with a No Silliness Allowed warning on the front cover, we can anticipate plenty of silliness ahead despite the firm instructions from the very serious scientist introducing the amazing book that has the power to show a picture of the reader’s thoughts. Sadly, it all goes wrong for him as ... View Full Review
From a brand-new publisher, Rocket Bird Books, we have a gorgeous picturebook that will facilitate deep and meaningful conversations at home or in the classroom setting.
A child’s sense of self does not really develop until they are at least two. Prior to that they cannot distinguish their body from their mother’s and they imperiously own them both! Here they can begin to learn the language to be able to talk about what it means to be a self and how we are all unique.
It is never too early to be hearing the message that ... View Full Review
Publishing just before the onset of the Paris Olympics, this motivational guide aimed at 9-11 year olds, will be bound to attract interest since the author, Paralympic champion and "Strictly Come Dancing" star Jonnie Peacock, will be endeavouring to add to his gold medal collection. Whilst it will speak most directly to children learning to live with their own differences or to those with sporting ambitions, it has much to offer us all.
Written in collaboration with child mental health expert Laura Earnshaw, the emphasis is very much on building a positive ‘growth’ mindset and to find ... View Full Review
This fantasy story is a clever and satisfying blend of fairy tale and ecology. A short read with fast paced chapters and brilliantly illustrated throughout, it is a perfect choice for children who are emerging as independent readers.
The first in a series of Wildsmith books, Into the Dark Forest introduces us to Rowan, a lively and adventurous girl, who has her world turned upside down by the threat of an imminent war. It means that she must leave her father behind whilst she, and her mother, will travel into the forest to stay with a grandpa she had never ... View Full Review
