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Find out moreAll the books we feature on LoveReading4Kids are selected because we think they deserve to stand out from the crowd of the many thousands of other titles published each month.
November 2019 Book of the Month | A Julia Eccleshare Pick of the Month November 2019 | The best-selling series of Usborne touchy-feely titles get a welcome addition with this great new title. Perfect for very small fingers to explore, these books combine strongly outlined pictures which include patches of different textures. These patches invite very young children to get up close to the animals and engage! Just like the little mouse in the pictures does. Here he checks out the polar bear’s claws which are too shiny, nose which is too squashy and tongue which is too rough. It is only when he gets to the lovely fluffy tummy that he knows he’s found the polar bear that belongs to him!
November 2019 Book of the Month | A Julia Eccleshare Pick of the Month November 2019 | The delightful Meerkats are back for a new and special Christmas adventure. Everyone in the Meerkat family is excitedly getting ready for the perfect Christmas in their home in the Kalahari Desert. But Sunny is sure that something is missing. Well, many things! His Book on Christmas tells him that the perfect weather needs to be snow, the perfect presents have to be in a huge pile, the perfect dinner has to include well-boiled sprouts while the perfect music to accompany it all has to be Christmas carols. Donning his Christmas hat, Sunny sets off on an adventure to find somewhere more Christmassy. Visiting his friends around the world, Sunny finds that some have snow, some have presents, some have sprouts but all have something missing …
November 2019 Book of the Month | Greta Thunberg is the inspiration for this heartfelt and moving allegory. A little girl lives happily in a beautiful forest until the actions of neighbouring giants start to threaten her home and the wild animals who share it. The fictional Greta, like her real-life counterpart, begins a strike and is gradually joined by more and more people until the giants take notice. In this story they change their ways and everyone lives happily. Simply but powerfully the story explains the impact of human activity on the climate and our world, but reassures children that there’s something they can do: within notes about Greta Thunberg at the end is her quote, “No one is too small to make a difference.”
November 2019 Book of the Month | ‘‘Twas the night before Christmas …’ but we’re on a snowy hillside where a lonely tree shivers in the cold. As it longs to be in the brightly lit little town below, suddenly footsteps suddenly approach. Somebody very important collects the tree and puts it at the centre of some special celebrations, before leaving with the familiar words: ‘Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!’ Taking inspiration from Clement C Moore’s classic poem, Chris Naylor-Ballesteros’ new book is filled with the joy of Christmas, and captures all its sense of magical anticipation. In a handsome small format, there’s a full page illustration on each right hand page and they tell the story with as much vivacity as the lines of verse opposite. It all concludes with a sparkling double page spread, the tree glowing in the foreground as St Nick flies off into the Christmas night silhouetted against the moon. If this doesn’t set you up for Christmas and its jollities, nothing will!
November 2019 Book of the Month | A Julia Eccleshare Pick of the Month November 2019 | Winner of the 2018 Caldecott Medal | A stunning near wordless picture book which will inspire the story teller in all of its readers. While Matthew Cordell draws on some themes familiar from the traditional Red Riding Hood story he has created a quite different and hugely heart-warming drama about trust and friendship. Dressed in a bright red coat a little girl sets off to walk home from school. Snow is beginning to fall. At the same time, a pack of wolfs, including a young wolf cub, set out into the same falling snow. The snow turns into a blizzard and soon both the little girl and the wolf cub are lost. How can either of them survive? Luckily, they come together so that bth can get home safely.
November 2019 Book of the Month | Not since The Snowman have readers been taken on such a magical, snowy journey of love and adventure. Phoebe lives in a gloomy orphanage run by the cruel Griselda Bone. The two clash frequently, and often over Phoebe’s creative response to her school work: Griselda does not approve of words like ‘whispery’ and ‘flumping’. Locked up in the snow overnight, Phoebe and her little dog Herb are surprised by a huge and magical snow dragon, who takes them on an extraordinary ride through the skies. Filled with snowflakes, starlight and revelling in the power of the imagination this is a gorgeous story for Christmas nights and Fiona Woodcock’s illustrations are very special indeed.
November 2019 Book of the Month | Amy Wilson’s new novel is just the thing to curl up with as the nights draw in. Stella Brigg lives with her nan and friend Peg in a little house on the edge of the forest and if that sounds normal enough, Nan is actually a ghost, and Peg is an imp. All three are in hiding from the Shadow King whose creeping magic is slowly destroying the forest and the creatures, magical ones included, who live within it. Lonely and isolated, there’s one thing Stella wants more than anything, and that is to go to school. She finally does, only to discover that there’s almost as much magic in the corridors of Broadmere Academy as there is at home. With new-found friends, and a new determination and confidence, she’s finally ready to take on the Shadow King. Friendship and fun are as important to the story as magic and spell-making, and it’s a cleverly crafted and thoroughly entertaining adventure. A story to recommend to fans of Sophie Anderson’s fantasy adventures.
November 2019 Book of the Month | Reading a new Frances Hardinge novel is always an adventure into a new, carefully constructed world - where things are never quite as one might imagine as you begin. Here two friends, raised together in poverty and scavenging are leader and led, counterpoint to each other, one believing in friendship above all, the other of a very much darker outlook. They live on one of a series of islands that form the Myriad, each island with its own long dead gods, each with its own strange traditions and stories. The sea surrounding the islands hides many things within it, wrecks, bones as one may expect, but also the undersea where danger lurks ready to take any who venture too far and spit them out utterly changed. In this world Hardinge has created a masterpiece of tension, fear and friendship. A slow coming to the realisation of the world that they inhabit, and a look at power and how it can be manipulated for politicians, gods and evildoers own nefarious ends. It makes your mind race with the adventure but pulls you up to consider the philosophy behind the characters motivations. A truly great read – I think I may have to read it again now!
November 2019 Book of the Month | Prepare to explore ten of the most haunted places on Earth in this striking book, and then to learn their secrets ingeniously with the help of coloured lenses. With the naked eye, the huge colour illustrations are just a jumble of lines; enticing, but baffling. View the same pages through one of three different coloured lenses, and suddenly a whole new vista springs into life. The red lens shows the people who inhabited these special places (ranging from Bran Castle, Romania to San Juan Chamula Cemetery, Mexico), the green lens shows us the place and its surroundings in detail, while best of all the blue lens magics up the ghostly and supernatural beings that haunt it. Short, sharp snippets of information accompanying vignettes on the following page tell us more about our discoveries. It’s a treat to explore, deliciously spooky and the illustrations are super stylish.
A Lovereading4kids 'Great Read' you may have missed 2011 selection. A truly special picture book. It's the story of Zou the Zebra as he spends his first night away from his parents. Both endearing and reassuring for both parent and child, this is a wonderful book to read aloud. Zou discovers he can cope on his own and even offers to comfort other little zebras with the help of something very special... Publisher Julia Marshall on why she chose this book: "In this book, Zou forgets his own fear and sadness when he helps others, especially those smaller than him. But Michel Gay is never smarmy. This book makes you remember exactly what it was like to be on your own for the first time."
March 2013 Book of the Month Best-selling Darren Shan, master of the dark story, spins another horrific thriller set after the zombie apocalypse. In the world of the dead, a terrifying battle is taking place over who will control the streets of London. Will it be the dead? Or the alive? Darren Shan’s fans, their tastes for terror sharpened by Cirque de Freak, will love this third volume in the Zom-B series.
The exciting new series from the master of teen horror. Zom-B is a radical new series about a zombie apocalypse, told in the first person by one of its victims. The series combines classic Shan action with a fiendishly twisting plot and hard-hitting and thought-provoking moral questions dealing with racism, abuse of power and more. This is challenging material, which will captivate existing Shan fans and bring in many new ones. As Darren says, It's a big, sprawling, vicious tale...a grisly piece of escapism, and a barbed look at the world in which we live. Each book in the series is short, fast-paced and bloody. A high body-count is guaranteed!
March 2013 Book of the Month The first book in the explosive new zombie series from the master of horror, now in paperback. The exciting new series from the master of teen horror. Zom-B is a radical new series about a zombie apocalypse, told in the first person by one of its victims. The series combines classic Shan action with a fiendishly twisting plot and hard-hitting and thought-provoking moral questions dealing with racism, abuse of power and more. This is challenging material, which will captivate existing Shan fans and bring in many new ones. As Darren says, It's a big, sprawling, vicious tale...a grisly piece of escapism, and a barbed look at the world in which we live. Each book in the series is short, fast-paced and bloody. A high body-count is guaranteed!
Join the loveably lively Zoe and her devoted dog Beans in a world full of fun, friendship and magical adventures. It's a case of hide and seek as Beans loses his favourite toy.
Join the loveably lively Zoe and her devoted dog Beans in a world full of fun, friendship and magical adventures. It's a case of hide and seek as Beans loses his favourite toy. There's now a delightful new adventure about Zoe and Beans, called The Magic Hoop. Click here to see this title.
October 2015 Book of the Month A group of Californian teenagers with superpowers should be having the time of their lives, right? Wrong… This action-packed page-turner about the self-proclaimed Zeroes shows that superpowers come at a cost. In fact, Ethan’s power, an all-knowing voice that speaks through him, has torn the group apart. And that’s also what lands him in serious trouble when he finds himself in the throes of an armed robbery. After being taken in for police questioning, Ethan, aka Scam, is compelled to call on the Zeroes for help. While still angry about the insults his voice poured on them, the old gang comes to his rescue. Chizara uses her superpower to crash the police station's systems so Ethan can escape. But that’s not enough; the shockwaves are already out there and the Zeroes, a collection of six compellingly realised characters, are drawn into increasingly high-stake situations. The first in a trilogy, and the result of a collaboration between three esteemed writers, this is an exhilaratingly original take on superpower-themed fiction. And, as the extraordinary teenagers are forced to find a way to harness their powers, it’s also an allegory about stepping up and taking responsibility. - Joanne Owen
Explosive and compelling, this is the third part of the bestselling Joshua Files sequence in which an ancient prophecy is predicting the end of the world in 2012. Don’t feel it’s essential to read the first two titles to enjoy this 3rd heart-stopping adventure, as the author cleverly interweaves the story to date at the beginning of this one. That said, the first two are so good, you will miss some of the detail. In Zero Moment, Josh is convinced he’s discovered the key to time travel but dare he use it to save his father? When his great friend Ixchel is kidnapped by the very people intent on the world’s destruction, he must take things into his own hands to save both Ixchel and the world. To read the titles in order start with Invisible City then Ice Shock and finally Zero Moment.
February 2018 Book of the Month The story of a young man and the special relationship he forms with the lollipop man who once saved his life, Zebra Crossing Soul Song is an original and touching coming of age story, full of insight and set to a playlist of songs that will have all readers swaying in time to its music. Lenny is eighteen and resitting his psychology A level; revising episodic memory sets him thinking about his friend Otis, and how their conversations over the years at Otis’s zebra crossing have left ideas and music imprinted on his mind, more indelibly even than those black and white marks on the road. It’s a relationship strong enough to endure through the different pressures on both of them. Scattered with song lyrics, and seeded with truths, this memorable and absorbing story moved me to tears. ~ Andrea Reece Particularly suitable for struggling, reluctant or dyslexic readers aged 13+ Barrington Stoke is the foremost publisher of dyslexia friendly books and those for reluctant readers. Here on Lovereading4kids we are constantly selecting new titles and refreshing our special dyslexia friendly category. Click here to view our current selection which is broken down by age range.
Addictive, scandalous and glamorous fiction from a brand new author writing for sophisticated teens! As its title implies this is not for the faint-hearted. If you're up for a wild read where clubbing or holidaying in St Tropez is the order of the day when not at school, where meeting up off school grounds with the biggest heart-throb from the nearby boys school is seriously cool and where girls get together and 'B' about others particularly when an American beauty arrives at the school and threatens to ruin everything. It's page-turning stuff.
With fast-paced action and non-stop adventure from page one no reader can fail to be hooked in to this terrific series set on the high seas in and around 17th century Japan. The series will captivate young readers including the most reluctant. This is Book 7 in the blockbuster Young Samurai series by Chris Bradford. Young Samurai was shortlisted for the Red House Children’s Book Award and nominated for the Carnegie Medal.
April 2013 Book of the Month Best-selling Julia Golding tells a fast paced, time-travelling fantasy adventure based on the legends of King Arthur that cleverly provokes thought about contemporary life too. Stolen away by the Fey in infancy, Rick has been taught to believe that humans are his enemy. All his training in magical Avalon, has been designed to make him a warrior fit to fight humans and the evil they represent. But, when Rick slips through time and finds himself as a human teenager, nothing has prepared him what it will really be like. In addition to our Lovereading expert opinion for Young Knights of the Round Table a small number of children were lucky enough to be invited to review this title. Here's a taster....'I really like this book because it’s full of adventure and the author describes the characters and settings in such detail which make them really easy to picture'. Scroll down to read more reviews...
At LoveReading4kids we’re passionate about all the books we feature.
All the books we feature on LoveReading4Kids are selected because we think they deserve to stand out from the crowd of the many thousands of other titles published each month. However, sometimes in a month, we wish to give that little bit more emphasis to a title or titles and to make it a 'Book of the Month' within its age range.
You’ll find those titles here in our Books of the Month page.
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