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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
This author and illustrator have produced handsome volumes of illustrated Scottish legends and folktales, here they turn their attention to dragon tales from across the world, in stories that are elegantly told and compelling.
This is a wonderfully varied collection with water dragons, feathered serpents, even a seven-headed fire-breathing dragon and, equally enthralling, some sharp young people to stand up to them.
Theresa Breslin is an accomplished storyteller and Kate Leiper’s illustrations are wonderfully vivid and dramatic, especially the full-page ones. A treasury indeed. View Full Review
A team of unusual superheroes take on an unscrupulous band of villains in this new comic strip adventure.
A meteor has crashed into The Warren releasing … no-one is quite sure what but the effect on the animal residents is transformational. The range of superpowers developed is phenomenal, eg. of our heroes, Sunny, a squirrel, can glide through the air and grow supersized, while his friend Blaze Bunny can blast fire. Are they super enough to defeat F.A.R.T. (Federation of Animals with Radioactive Talent) though? Let’s hope so, as the FA.R.T. villains are ... View Full Review
A young bear cub finds a piano in the forest and after a first hesitant ‘PLONK’, he returns to it every day for years until he has grown strong, and the sounds that he makes on the piano are melodic and beautiful.
The other bears love listening to him but one day a girl and her father overhear his concert and persuade him to go with them to the city and play in front of thousands. Swapping the tranquillity of the forest for the bright lights of Broadway brings the bear fame, but he misses his friends and ... View Full Review
Hands up if you love – or loved – the Magic Faraway Tree stories? Jacqueline Wilson adored them as a child and has written new adventures for the characters with all the love and understanding that only a true fan can bring.
In these new stories, the lucky children who become friends with Silky, Moonface, the Saucepan Man, and other residents of the Tree, are Milo, Mia and Birdy. They have just as much fun as their predecessors and amongst the magical lands they find at the top of the Faraway Tree are the Land of Sunshine – very appealing ... View Full Review
There’s nothing the young narrator of this book likes more than dancing at ballet school and her little dog loves it just as much.
When their teacher announces that the Christmas show will be The Nutcracker, Biff the dancing dog’s tail starts to wag. He wants the fluffy tutu, the twinkly tiara, he wants to be the Sugar Plum Fairy!
Instead, the two are cast as bonbons. Disappointment overcome, they decide to dance like no bonbons have ever danced before! Their Sherbet Shuffle, Lollipop Bop and Jellybean Jive bring the house down and we readers have ... View Full Review
Isadora Moon is disappointed when she’s left off the guest list for a friend’s ice-skating party but a visit from her snow fairy aunt Crystal soon cheers her up.
She’s even more excited when the snow boy she makes out of her aunt’s magic snow comes to life – but now she needs to find somewhere he can live without melting.
Hugely popular with young readers and deservedly so, these sparkling littles stories are very special. Isadora’s world is magical but familiar too and she is a wonderful character, warm, ... View Full Review
The heroes of the Super Happy Magic Forest are off on a new quest, and it might just be too hot for them to handle. For reasons that we won’t go into – but are definitely Blossom the unicorn’s fault – Tiddlywink, the Super Happy Magic Forest’s short-tempered pixie counsellor has been trapped in a Cube of Doom (like a malevolent Rubrik’s Cube) and releasing him means visiting the Almighty Oracle, an additional quest to collect three Desert Trial Gems and assorted trials associated with this. Phew!
Our heroes undertake this in ... View Full Review
Amid the current concerns around the decline in children’s reading for pleasure, poetry is a bright spot and young readers will be surprised, engaged, made to laugh and above all entertained by this collection, which is every bit as vibrant as its pink cover.
It starts with a hi-ku and ends with a bye-ku, with a lie-ku halfway through for good measure. The poems are loosely themed around the school year and subjects – all keenly observed – include school lunches, friendships, rivalries between friends, new school shoes and the huge emotion of the leavers’ assembly. Others ... View Full Review
You, the reader, are the star of this book, and you decide what happens. Along with your fellow crew members on your spaceship, you’ve travelled from Earth to Titan and are ready to return when the emergency alarm goes off: alien life has been detected on the ship. Can you track it down? Has it already attacked your friends? What are you going to do?
As the story develops, you’ll need to be on your toes – the wrong decision will lead to disaster, while there are logic puzzles and brain teasers to test you too. ... View Full Review
Picture books are generally a child’s first introduction to art and they can have no better guide than Brian Wildsmith.
This book gathers together his glorious exploration of the natural world, paintings of animals, birds and fish. First published in the 1960s, they are as luminous and inspiring as ever. The images are quite beautiful, rich in colour, texture and pattern, whether bringing us the wrinkled skin of an elephant, the beady eye of an owl, or the flitting colours of a school of butterfly fish.
Children of all ages will be fascinated by these portraits which capture ... View Full Review
The Knave of Hearts, the Mad Hatter, the Queen, the White Rabbit … Lewis Carroll’s inspired fantasy adventure Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland has become an integral part of childhood. Even those who haven’t read it will be familiar with phrases such as ‘Curiouser and curiouser’ and ‘Off with her head!’. But why wouldn’t you read it given that it was created entirely for the amusement and entertainment of children and works just as well today for readers (of all ages) as it did when first published in 1865.
In ... View Full Review
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