The Ice Monster
7+ readers 9+ readers 11+ readersThis is the story of a ten-year-old orphan and a 10,000-year-old mammoth... Read all about it! Read all about it! ICE MONSTER FOUND IN ARCTIC! When Elsie, an orphan on the streets of Victorian London, hears about the mysterious Ice Monster - a woolly mammoth found at the North Pole - she's determined to discover more... A chance encounter brings Elsie face to face with the creature, and sparks the adventure of a lifetime - from London to the heart of the Arctic! Heroes come in all different shapes and sizes in David Walliams' biggest and most epic adventure yet!
The Afterwards
9+ readers 11+ readersNovember 2018 Book of the Month | A powerful, poignant, darkly comic and deeply moving story about friendship at its most extraordinary.
Dog Diaries: Happy Howlidays!
5+ readers 7+ readersDecember 2018 Book of the Month | Irrepressible young dog Junior is back with a dog’s-eye view of Christmas, or as he knows it Crisp-Mouth.This will be his first Crisp-Mouth, but he’s heard all about it from one of the old dogs at the dog’s home, and now settled with the Khatchadorians is very excited at the prospect of filling his mouth with canine crispy crackers! His enthusiasm knows no bounds, and it proves a real struggle to be good, especially as Junior consistently gets things WRONG… Junior’s breathless narrative style and Richard Wilson’s illustrations make this super-readable, and newly confident readers will love this funny story and its bouncy, endlessly optimistic narrator.
Atlas of Adventures: Wonders of the World
7+ readers 9+ readers 11+ readersA Julia Eccleshare Pick of the Month November 2018 | Stunning, large scale illustrations capture some of the most thrilling places to visit in the world. Broad in its vision and range, this incredible Atlas includes both natural and man made places. The juxtaposition of the two is an excellent way of celebrating both. Readers can be amazed by Pantanal, the astonishing tropical Brazilian wetland with its vibrant and original wildlife. And they can be equally impressed by the Great Wall of China or Machu Picchu, two man made structures that have survived over hundreds of years. Examples of Wonders of the World are taken from all around the world making this an exceptional journey of exploration and adventure in a visual format that makes it fun to visit and re-visit looking for cleverly illustrated details on every spread.
Only the Ocean
13+ readers YA readersNovember 2018 Book of the Month | One of our 2018 Books of the Year | A stunningly original ocean adventure by a one-of-a-kind author whose work defies convention and abounds with a purity of ideas and execution. Kel was “always running away from something”, seeking escape “from the world she inhabited within and the world that bullied her from the outside”. She’s a swamper, born oceans apart from the wealthy tower people who live in the same Cornish coastal community. She’s also an unforgettable heroine, a girl with danger in her eyes, a baby to care for and “a stupid heart that beat wrong and was shaped wrong and had wrongness stretched clean through it”. Kel “didn’t want what the tower people had; she only wanted two things, a heart she could rely on and freedom from kin”, which is why she kidnaps Rose, the daughter of a cargo ship captain. Kel plans to use her ill-gotten gains to travel to South America to have a heart operation, because in the UK “swamp folk don’t get operations”. Aboard the ship Kel tracks down Rose and forces her to board a smaller vessel, soon running into trouble when the engine fails amidst scenes of devastation on the mainland. Steering clear of well-worn clichés, Carthew’s stories cut to the heart of human experience, often portraying and championing life’s underdogs and outsiders. What a thrilling, thought-provoking novel this is, brimming with perilous encounters, and the rawness of real-life relationships.
The Christmasaurus
7+ readers 9+ readersGet into the Spirit of Christmas! A Julia Eccleshare Pick of the Month October 2016 Celebrity Dad of the Year 2016, Tom Fletcher brings Christmas and Dinosaurs together in a warm hearted, rollickingly magical story inspired by his love of both. Young William Trundle loves dinosaurs better than anything else in the world and all he wants for Christmas is a dinosaur – a real one if at all possible. William and his dad love Christmas too especially this year when things have not been going too well. Waking up on Christmas Eve William finds the amazing Christmasaurus in his bedroom, and is soon off on a dazzling adventure full of snow and elves and flying reindeer and Santa Claus himself. Packed full of warmth, this is a story that will delight all readers and especially those who love Christmas. ~ Julia Eccleshare Julia Eccleshare's Picks of the Month for October 2016 Kim by Rudyard Kipling The Fox and the Ghost King by Michael Morpurgo Coming to England by Floella Benjamin Owl Bat Bat Owl by Marie Louise Fitzpatrick We Found a Hat by Jon Klassen The Christmasaurus by Tom Fletcher The War Next Door by Phil Earle
Santa's High-tech Christmas
3+ readers 5+ readersDecember 2018 Book of the Month | Santa turns to modern gadgets to deliver his presents in this gentle, humorous story. He still uses reindeer, though the sleigh has been updated to a nice old open-topped car, but resorts to a jet-pack in busy cities - well, it makes parking much easier - and he keeps a check on deliveries via an iPad. His best laid plans go wrong though when he drops it but fortunately the little girl he’s delivering to is a digital native and can fix it for him. The story may hinge on modern technology for its drama but there’s a charmingly vintage feel to Angela Perrini’s illustrations and the final message - one of kindness and generosity- is thoroughly traditional.
Father Christmas's Fake Beard
7+ readers 9+ readersClever, funny and on occasion just plain daft, this is the perfect stocking filler for kids and Terry Pratchett fans alike. Open the pages and find eleven short stories which have been fabulously illustrated by Mark Beech. The text marches up hill and down dale, in between, over and under the illustrations, shouting, bursting, capering across the page so the story and illustrations become a glorious Christmas pudding mix of a read, give it a stir and get ready to duck as the tales take flight. The stories made me chuckle, in fact as soon as I had read the first offering, ‘Father Christmas’s Fake Beard’, I promptly insisted my husband read it too (it’s always the sign of a good book when I do that!). Yes this is a kids book, and yes I fully expect that adults will get just as much enjoyment from the stories as the children. A Terry Pratchett book was always on my Christmas list, I treat each and every one of them with love… set a new fan in motion, or delight a well established one - this is a proper little gem.
The Silk Roads A New History of the World - Illustrated Edition
11+ readers 13+ readersAdapted for a younger readership from the author’s celebrated adult book of the same name, this illustrated history of the Silk Roads, bound in a majestic gold and blue package, is the perfect present for fledging historians. The book’s journey leads armchair adventurers along thrilling, far-reaching roads, taking in the history of ancient Persia, Constantinople, Rome, Attila the Hun, the emergence of Islam, Viking slavery, Genghis Khan, Columbus - and more - from a holistic perspective. “You might even think of the Silk Roads as the world’s central nervous system, linking all the organs of the body together”, the author suggests in the introduction, and his engaging exploration of the interplay between politics, science, religion and trade certainly gives this book far greater tang than your standard textbook. Indeed, generously spiced with exquisite illustrations and maps that inform as they enthrall, young history buffs will undoubtedly devour this pitch-perfect treasure, and grown-ups will get much from it too.
Hamish and the Terrible Terrible Christmas and Other Stories
7+ readers 9+ readersI If you want to guarantee smiles and laughter on Christmas morning, stick a copy of Hamish and the Terrible Terrible Christmas under the tree. It features three self-contained stories starring Hamish, Elliott and Alice, stars of Wallace’s Worldstopper series, and as with the longer novels each story serves up a brilliant helping of comedy and excitement live from Starkley. Officially Starkley may be the fourth most boring town in Britain but as fans of these books know, it’s often the scene for bizarre happenings and a magnet for marauding creatures including the beastly Terribles. Plenty of scope therefore for wild adventure and that combined with Danny Wallace’s humour make this irresistible reading. Jamie Littler’s illustrations are the icing on the Christmas cake.
LoveReading4Kids Top 10
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The Ice Monster
1
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The Afterwards
2
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Dog Diaries: Happy Howlidays!
3
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Atlas of Adventures: Wonders of the World
4
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Only the Ocean
5
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The Christmasaurus
6
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Santa's High-tech Christmas
7
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Father Christmas's Fake Beard
8
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The Silk Roads A New History of the World - Illustrated Edition
9
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Hamish and the Terrible Terrible Christmas and Other Stories
10
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