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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.
Dr Kanani is a brilliant science communicator, as she has proved in books like Can you Get Music on the Moon? Here she has written a book that, as she hopes in her dedication to teachers everywhere, is ‘The physics textbook you’ve always wanted for your students’.
With some stunning illustrations from Liz Kay and an engaging design and layout, this is indeed a very long way from a boring science textbook. It takes ten core scientific concepts and explains not only why it is important, but gives the origin of the idea or discovery and, ... View Full Review
Stunningly illustrated in the author’s distinctive style and with an inviting premise of being an actual space tour, where we the readers are boarding the spaceship with the most knowledgeable and friendly guide accompanying us, this is a highly appealing book on a very popular topic.
So, the book opens with ‘ This is your Captain speaking..’ and the itinerary (or contents list) is at the bottom of the page telling us what we have ahead of us together with a handy safety guide recommending that we stay in our seat!
Every two-page spread in this beautifully ... View Full Review
If ever a book were to be created to match the epic summer that we have just endured, then this lyrical picture book must be it.
The Green Child is a fairy like embodiment of nature, and she has an urgent message for humanity. We meet her as she wakes from a winter sleep, deep in the forest, which is captured in the most delicate detail by Brita Teckentrup’s stunning illustrations, made with beautifully textured digital collage.
Through the onset of spring and into a glorious summer, the colours and vegetation change, but ‘soon the air is ... View Full Review
This beautifully produced collection was put together as part of a British Council funded wider project, Threads of Tales, with the publisher Bok Bok Books working with the Her Story Foundation in Bangladesh.
It is so much more than a collection of retellings of traditional tales, we learn fascinating detail about the origins of these tales and how they have been passed down from generation to generation and so much about the culture and customs of the region of Bengal, which is now divided between Bangladesh and India.
The wonderfully detailed, vibrant illustrations are inspired by the traditional nakshi kantha ... View Full Review
This extraordinary heartwarming debut, from the winner of David Fickling Books’ Search for a Storyteller competition, is written in a highly accessible and attractive format with a combination of lyrical verse, letters, assorted notes and fact boxes, interspersed with delicate and evocative line drawings by Sophie Burrows, so that each page turn brings something new.
The layout and design are as exemplary as the writing, which allows Pear, a ten-year-old girl who is finding life hard, to tell her story. She struggles with self-esteem, despite her many talents and the support of a loving home. At that age, the ... View Full Review
This latest story featuring the irresistible Adventuremice, will really resonate with exhausted Early Years staff and parents, since it certainly captures the total mayhem that tiny mice or humans can create, as well as totally engaging young audiences.
As with all successful series which bridge the gap between picturebooks and chapter books, this could be children who might be proud of being able to read it for themselves or those relishing the tale being read aloud. The adults will certainly empathise with Mrs Watermouse, the headteacher of the nursery school, who absolutely leaps at the suggestion, impulsively made by Fledermaus ... View Full Review
When you open a new novel from the Costa-winning Frances Hardinge, you know you will be in for a truly original work of the imagination that will transport you entirely. This is a master craftsman of world building and character creation.
Although the initial premise, of a kingdom with castles being abruptly moved like chess pieces by mysterious other worldly players, seems almost too fantastical, she manages to make it seem absolutely real. For me, that is the mark of a good fantasy or dystopia, its internal reality must be cohesive and authentic, and its human characters must act and ... View Full Review
Once again S E Durrant demonstrates her talent for tackling difficult issues without talking down to her young readers and to create memorable and convincing characters.
Luna, our eleven-year-old narrator and maths genius, uses numbers to calm her anxieties. She dreams of being an astronaut and has a close relationship with her Dad who encourages and supports her ambitions. Together they track the International Space Station and each chapter is fronted by a report from Mimi her favourite astronaut.
This is also a brilliant way of reminding the reader of how much time is passing since Luna saw her ... View Full Review
The highly anticipated, triumphant third instalment of the incredible magical fantasy series, which has justifiably been compared with Pullman, C. S. Lewis, Tolkien and J K Rowling, gives readers both a breathtaking adventure and a deeper and highly satisfying insight into the enthralling world of the Glimouria Archipelago and the characters and creatures we meet there.
While, inevitably, if you have read the previous two books you will get a deeper and richer reading experience, it is still perfectly possible to read The Neverfear as a stand-alone adventure and to be entirely gripped from the first page. It is becoming ... View Full Review
This is the third timely and powerful graphic novel that this team have produced, following Illegal and Global, and this will be another must have for every school library.
It pulls no punches as it examines some of the effects of war on those drawn into it and in particular on two young people who find themselves on opposing sides.
14yr old graffiti artist Kat is our main narrator. We are vividly shown by the superb artwork what it would be like to live in a city that is invaded by a foreign army. Her family reluctantly decide they have ... View Full Review
There are some books so highly anticipated, and some authors so justifiably revered that you don’t want to rush your reading. You want to savour every well-crafted word. But Katherine Rundell does not let you get away with that! The story is so engrossing that you literally are swept away and cannot stop reading - you just have to settle with rushing it and then re-reading at a more leisurely pace; and my word is she a writer that can withstand re-reading!
There has been much talk of future classics and while that can often be hyperbole, it ... View Full Review
Will, Robyn and Scarlett are the titular ‘outlaws’, who are all in Year 8 at Sherwood High, which has an acting headteacher called Mr Nottingham, so we are given lots of clues that this engrossing story may turn out to be about fighting for social justice.
The three equally strong narrative voices really hook the reader in and enable us to understand their situations and why, initially, they may be afraid to share personal details with each other, having only just met in a detention which none of them deserved.
Like Jacqueline Wilson before her this is an author ... View Full Review
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