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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
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
No-one expected team Triple Trouble to do well in the Dungeon Runners trial, required viewing for everyone in the land of Zerb, but together our young heroes, gnorfs Kit and Sandy (half gnome, half dwarf) and vegan vampire Thorn got through and now they’re officially part of the Bottom Feeders League and ready to compete as actual Dungeon Runners. They’ll need more brawn and brains than ever, as they come up against the terrifying Crowgre and to make things harder, their fellow competitors aren’t all ready to play fair either.
Once again, this ... View Full Review
Opening this beautiful, illustrated book is like going on an adventure through the world on our doorsteps. Each page presents a different garden or outdoor space for readers to explore, from herb gardens to ancient woodland, wildflower meadows and grassy lawns to vegetable gardens.
Readers can spot different plants, trees and birds in the full colour double page illustrations, each named and labelled with reader-friendly information. There are activities at the end of each chapter to help us grow, harvest and care for some of those plants in our own gardens.
By the end of the book, readers will understand ... View Full Review
It’s holiday time for little mermaid Emerald and her family and she persuades them to go camping. She always loved the camping holidays she had with her mum and dad, but maybe her stepdad and stepsister won’t find it as much fun; they are royal after all and used to luxury.
Sure enough, King Auster brings along a stack of luggage and then uses magic to turn his tent into a canvas palace. Emerald is annoyed, it doesn’t feel like real camping. But a late night adventure with her little stepsister Princess Delphina helps ... View Full Review
Half fairy, half vampire, Isadora Moon can do all sorts of things, but she’s never learned to ride a bike. When her human friend Zoe tells her how much fun it is, she’s determined to learn, but as most of us know, learning to cycle is harder than it looks, even if you have magic to help.
After quite a few tumbles and some hairy moments, Isadora fins her wheels, and her mum and dad take up cycling too. The charm of Harriet Muncaster’s Isadora Moon stories lies not just in the magic and ... View Full Review
With its refrain of ‘Leave the trees, please’, there’s a dreamlike quality to this picture book and a sense of passionate intensity, both perfectly captured in Melissa Castrillon’s beautiful illustrations. Benjamin Zephaniah’s text is short, conversational but urgent, exhorting us not just to protect the trees but to appreciate their majesty and the crucial role they play in all our lives.
A rich, colour-saturated palette of reds, browns and greens depicts trees in all their glory, with children and adults, birds and insects sheltered under their boughs and among their roots.
Benjamin ... View Full Review
This fun, rhyming story about a young fairy will have the world at its feet!
Fairy Femi loves nothing more than kicking a ball, or any ball-shaped object – pumpkin, apple, you get the picture. When the other fairies lose patience after one mis-kick too many, she’s banished, only to meet an elf who gives her the confidence to believe in herself and her shooting skills. It all ends well, with the ball in the back of the net and Femi signed up to play for Happily Ever After FC.
Fans of football, fairies, and finding your ... View Full Review
Award-winning author Katya Balen writes for animal-loving readers of seven and up in this lovely new story.
When Mattie wishes on a shooting star for a puppy, she doesn’t really expect her wish to come true. Her dad is adamant that she’s not ready for the responsibility of caring for a pet so Mattie has to make do with playing with her friend Zoe’s little dog and helping the village vet whenever she can.
When a new vet arrives to do holiday cover with her young son and a menagerie of animals from the ... View Full Review
Who doesn’t love a story about an odd couple, best friends who seemingly have little in common? Maybe your favourites are Pooh and Piglet, or Rabbit and Bear; now meet Cat and Dumpling.
Busy, knitting-loving, guitar-playing Cat needs somewhere new to live, with lots of cupboard space. Quiet Dumpling needs somewhere new to live with a garden big enough for all his plants. They end up as flat mates almost by accident, but discover they like each other very much, their new flat becoming a real home sweet home.
With its short chapters, fun story and lovely full ... View Full Review
One little girl is determined to find a Mother’s Day card that truly reflects her lovely mum. One that will show Mum in her gold necklace, bangles and earrings, or in her silk kameez and chiffon chunnies, with her long dark hair and flashing eyes, as they do things together, cooking, shopping, dancing.
When she can’t find a card like that, she realises she’ll have to make her own, and does, beautifully. It’s a book to make all readers think about what makes their mum special to them, but it also puts ... View Full Review
Animal migrations are the subject of many fascinating information books for young people but this adaptation of David Barrie’s award-winning book for adults, explaining the wonders of animal navigation, is much wider in scope than most and goes much further in explaining the science of remarkable journeys.
Over carefully designed and illustrated pages, it follows different creatures and explains how they are able to navigate using sound, sight and smell, as well as more unusual methods – magnetism, electricity, gravity and more. The extraordinary abilities of cataglyphis fortis, a species of desert ant, is an example of how ... View Full Review
Tilly and her beloved Magic Spirit’s adventure continues as they and fellow Junior Squad team members get to train with top eventer Livvy James.
Tilly wants more than anything to follow in Livvy's footsteps, find a career with horses and become a champion rider and she’s determined to impress her idol. But the sudden arrival of news she’s been dreading makes it hard to concentrate. Can she show Livvy how talented she is and protect Magic Spirit from those who want to take him away from her? Fans of this super-satisfying series will be ... View Full Review
