Buy from our bookstore and 25% of the cover price will be given to a school of your choice to buy more books. *15% of eBooks.
Andrea Reece - Editorial Expert
Andrea Reece has spent almost her entire working life in children’s books, first as publisher, latterly as consultant, project manager and critic.
She has reviewed for LoveReading4Kids since 2015, is editor of the leading children’s books review journal Books for Keeps and administrator of the Klaus Flugge Prize and Branford Boase Award.
She was children’s programme director of the FT Weekend Oxford Literary Festival until 2023, spent three years as manager of National Poetry Day and works with CLPE on the CLiPPA (CLPE Children’s Poetry Prize) and with The Full English on the Poetry By Heart national competition. She has judged children’s prizes including the Costa Children’s Book Award and Alligator’s Mouth Award.
Latest Reviews By Andrea Reece
The hens on Worrall’s Farm are a special bunch of chickens, and not – despite what we’re first told – because of the dazzling nature of their eggs.
No, Jenny Peckles doesn’t lay eggs with speckles any more than Featherley Botts lays eggs with spots, or Chuckleston Barclay lays eggs that are sparkly. They are good at rhymes though, and even better at defending themselves when danger looms.
This rhyming story is eggs-eptionally funny and engaging, full of twists and surprises that young children will love. With their clever rhymes and no-nonsense approach to ... View Full Review
Tess has skin that is ‘green-yeller like the inside of an apple’. She has webbed fingers and toes and can feel the beginning of a fin growing down her spine. She lives with her Aunt Peg in damp, dark tunnels underneath the River Tees, eats raw fish, their home furnished with human flotsam and jetsam salvaged from the water. Also living there is the terrifying Unkle Darkwater, a malevolent presence and a monstrous figure, kept chained in a pit but still a constant threat.
When Unkle finally breaks free, and Aunt Peg is lost, Tess is helped by ... View Full Review
Ziggy has never had any trouble getting to sleep at night, their bedtime routine with mum and dad – shower, toothbrushing, pyjamas with comets on warmed on the radiator, bedtime story – makes sleep come quickly and easily. But the night their parents explain they are going to be living apart, everything changes.
That night Ziggy asks for a light to be left on and when they do finally fall asleep, find themselves in the Night Forest, a dark wood, filled with rustlings and spooky noises. No matter where they go to sleep, at Dad’s or a friend&... View Full Review
Two young people are left to survive alone in a dangerous wilderness, far from any other humans in this unusual future-set story.
It’s 2050 and Astrid and her little sister Indie are travelling by train from London to Glasgow, a journey that takes them through the Wildlands, a huge area of northern England and southern Scotland forcibly cleared of its human inhabitants and rewilded as a sanctuary for wildlife, wolves and bears included.
Their mum was involved in its creation and Indie is excited to look out from the train windows, Astrid less so, particularly as she’s ... View Full Review
Mirabelle and her family are off to stay with her mum’s friend who owns a dragon sanctuary and Mirabelle can’t wait! She loves all the dragons of course but especially the set of mischievous baby dragons who are so cute and playful.
Mirabelle and her brother Wilbur volunteer to look after them but it turns out to be much harder than expected, and Mirabelle begins to regret telling the seemingly stand-offish stable hand Ember that she is a dragon expert.
Various near-misses occur, and it doesn’t help when Wilbur accidentally conjures up an ... View Full Review
This charming picture book has an unusual protagonist: Wolf, a statue of a wolf who graces the centre of a small square in a lovely Italian city.
Wolf feels overlooked, no-one seems even to notice her anymore, let alone pay her any attention, and when a pigeon poops on her head, it’s the final straw. She decides to move into the very centre of the city and live with the statues there.
The other statues turn out to be a snobby, shouty lot, however, and poor Wolf, thoroughly disheartened, eventually limps back home, to be greeted with lively ... View Full Review
When newly orphaned Puloma runs away from her uncaring aunt she finds herself a job in a travelling circus. It’s there she meets another lone creature who needs to escape as much as Puloma did.
Nyla is a sloth bear, kept in a cage all day and forced to perform for crowds in the circus at night. The circus offers Puloma a home, a new family even, but she can’t stand to see Nyla suffering; what will she do?
Jasbinder Bilan puts readers in Puloma’s shoes: their hearts will go out to Nyla, they ... View Full Review
Jenny Pearson is the clear winner when it comes to writing stories that stretch credibility just as far as it can go without snapping and can turn, on a sixpence, from hilarious action to moments of real insight and tenderness, especially when it comes to family relationships: in all these respects, Speedwheels 3000 The Race Against Crime is classic Pearson.
Evie Clutterbuck is determined to accompany her dad as navigator on the epic Speedwheels 3000 race – think the Mille Miglia or RAC Rally crossed with Taskmaster – even though it means stowing away in the boot. They need some proper father-daughter ... View Full Review
Tilly Redbrow is thrilled when her mentor, champion rider Livvy James asks her to accompany her to the Luhmühlen horse trials in Germany, as groom for her thoroughbred Seasonal Jester.
The competition turns out to be as exciting as Tilly expected, and she learns lots about eventing, how to prepare, and how to care for your horse throughout.
Readers will feel as though they are there too and will learn just as much as Tilly. Meanwhile, Magic Spirit is at home at Silver Shoes stables, and when Tilly gets another threatening call from someone claiming to be his ... View Full Review
The Easter holidays will be eggs-tra fun thanks to this delighted interactive Easter egg hunt in a book. Who could resist joining in its chorus of, ‘If you’re hoppy and you know it,/ Hunt for eggs!’, or not want to lift the flaps to find hidden eggs and find the next line of the song?
Each of these is an encouragement to action: clap your hands, shake your tail, jump for joy, shout hooray. There’s a band of super-cute little animals to lead the sing-along and this will leave every reader hoppy happy and ... View Full Review
Saturdays are really busy in Meena’s house. It’s the day when all their friends and family visit. Almost from the moment she gets up, Meena and her sisters are busy helping their mum, cleaning the house, doing the shopping, making chai for all their visitors, helping her aunties cooking in the kitchen. She gets to sit down and watch Indian films with her cousins before it’s time to help make dinner for everyone.
Yasmeen Ismail’s wonderful illustrations, full of detail, movement and characters, make sure we feel all the busyness and the ... View Full Review
All of little cat Nylah’s friends are busy it seems – tidying and cleaning, putting up decorations, cooking special dishes, wrapping presents. She’d love to be involved but they all – kindly – shoo her away, ‘We don’t have time to play now.’
Next morning everyone is up early and now Nylah understands what all the business has been for: it’s Eid!
This is a lovely book to celebrate Eid. The text, with its repetition is perfect to read aloud and the illustrations full of warmth and family detail. For ... View Full Review
