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Joy Court - Editorial Expert
Joy Court is co – founder of All Around Reading, having previously managed the Schools Library Service in Coventry, where she established the Coventry Inspiration Book Awards and the Literally Coventry Book Festival, as well as being the Reviews Editor of The School Librarian and Chair of the CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals. She now just concentrates on books and libraries as a freelance consultant while continuing to be an activist with the Youth Libraries Group and sits on the National Executive of the Federation of Children’s Book Groups. She has chaired and spoken on panels at festivals and conferences around the UK as well as delivering keynotes and workshops.
She is a Trustee and member of the National Council of the United Kingdom Literacy Association, where she sits on the selection panel for the UKLA Book Awards, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and of The English Association and an Honorary Fellow of CILIP. Author of Read to Succeed: strategies to engage children and young people in reading for pleasure (2011) and Reading by Right: successful strategies to ensure every child can read to succeed (2017) FACET.
Astonishingly, this intense and compelling thriller is this author’s debut novel, but it is so well crafted and with such thought-provoking themes, that I am sure she will quickly become one to follow with eager anticipation.
In an original, magical realist twist on the thriller genre, the emotionally complex central character, Sariyah, has an uncanny psychic ability to sense what people need. Often these are small things that the recipient doesn't yet know they'll need, but these needs invade her mind, making it difficult to concentrate and any unfulfilled needs give her intense migraines.
How such a ... View Full Review
This debut fantasy and series opener transports us to a richly detailed alternative world where magic is powered by Ink, a precious and expensive liquid, and under strict control. It is also where every ten-year-old looks forward to finding out their fate, which tells them what they are destined to become. They will be Inkbound by a magical tattoo on their hand. But our heroine, Meticulous- Metty- Jones, is horrified to receive a tattoo of a skull, signifying death and murder, held by a gloved hand, signifying magic. She concludes she is destined to be a murderer and resolves to ... View Full Review
Another gloriously enjoyable historical adventure from Judith Eagle, which skilfully transports the reader to a vividly evoked setting of London in the 1930’s with brilliant historical detail, so that we can get thoroughly immersed in the atmosphere of Theatreland and the Jazz Age.
From its Dickensian opening, with a foundling baby rescued from the River Thames and a generous benefactor, unaware that he is being spied upon in a sinister fashion, our imagination is gripped. The baby, Toby, grows up to take over the running of the tiny Wren Theatre in Soho, when his benefactor retired to Ireland.
Toby ... View Full Review
This remarkable debut and series opener is set in an alternate 1923 where dragons and humans coexist after a Peace Agreement ended their war, but the human regime is authoritarian, with strict class divisions and a rebellion is brewing.
Vivien Featherswallow, our narrator fluent in “three human languages and six dragon tongues”, plans to follow the rules, secure an internship as a Draconic Translator and make sure her sister never has to risk growing up third class. However, everything changes when her parents get arrested for being in the resistance and with her sister missing, she is forcibly recruited ... View Full Review
A fantastic start to what is obviously going to be a brilliant new series from a bestselling and award-winning author, this was literally unputdownable!
A fast moving and actioned packed time travel adventure that also revels in loads of historical and geographical detail (in this case of Ancient and modern Egypt) that will fascinate and inform as well as entertain. It is also so refreshing to see an adventure where the relationship between parent and child is so positive and where the parent does not have to ‘disappear’ but is very much a partner.
Sim’s martial ... View Full Review
This is so much more than the love story proclaimed by the title, it is also a remarkable work of historical fiction and a valuable addition to the canon of World War One novels and from an author that we are more used to producing fantasy, dystopia or crime stories. But it is certainly a compelling, lyrical, tender and important queer love story because it depicts so vividly the added dangers that forbidden love brought to the trauma of warfare and life in the trenches.
The story is told by 19 year old Lieutenant Stephen Wraxall and set in the summer ... View Full Review
Any fantasy in which libraries and librarians have a major role is going to be a hit with me, but there is so much more to enjoy in this blockbuster start to a new series by debut author Ash Bond!
Firstly, we have brilliant world building, where the Terran Realm is life as we know it, but it sits alongside the Cosmic Realm, home to the Immortals. Famous libraries in the Terran Realm ( like the Bodlean Library in Oxford where the story starts) house portals to the Cosmic Realm.
Each portal is guarded by an immortal librarian. There is a ... View Full Review
Debra the Zebra is possibly the cutest zebra you will ever see, with her huge inquisitive eyes and cheeky grin. Her stripes are set off beautifully against a vivid African savannah landscape brought to life by award-winning illustrator Nila Aye.
Smriti Halls once again demonstrates her fluency in rhyming picturebook texts that are simply a joy to read aloud. Debra, like any small child will be, is so proud of herself for learning to count and she gleefully demonstrates her skill by counting from one – the sun - all the way through to ten blades of grass. She asks ... View Full Review
Jenny Downham is one of our foremost writers for young adults, winning national and international awards with her extraordinary debut, Before I Die, also becoming an Hollywood blockbuster, and now she here she is with another debut! This time as a coauthor for the first time with a novel which began as a lockdown writing challenge with her actor and playwright son, Louis Hill.
Together they have written an unforgettable and deeply moving novel about siblings Leah and Charlie, with each taking on one of the narrative voices. Both are trying to cope, in their very different ways, with the ... View Full Review
From the author of Four Good Liars, we have another gripping psychological thriller. Narrated by Grace, who has been uprooted from her life in London ‘ for her own good’. A ‘fresh start’ in rural Devon is what her dad is seeking for them both after an unspecified trauma involving Grace. Accompanying them is the adorable Shelby, an equally traumatised dog, passionately devoted to Grace, as she is to him.
It is apparent that Grace’s mental health is not good and on one of her sleepless nights, the smart speaker in the kitchen of ... View Full Review
Inspired by his collaborations with orchestras and musicians on stage, presenting concerts that incorporate stories, music and art, the author has compiled a wonderful collection of sumptuously illustrated stories taken from six iconic and much-loved pieces of music.
A companion piece to the acclaimed Once Upon a Tune, this stunningly beautiful book features works by familiar names such as Saint-Saëns, Vivaldi, Debussy, Holst and Stravinsky and also introduces us to a famous Chinese piece by Chen Gang and He Zhanhao.
Most of the stories are retold in a lively and engaging fashion from the original tales that inspired ... View Full Review
Narrated by a young girl in gently rhyming and thoughtful text, she tells us that a refugee girl is coming to her home and is told that ‘she won’t understand ‘ when they try to speak to her. But our narrator is undeterred, despite being puzzled by her visitor’s sadness and unresponsiveness.
She comes up with an inspired idea to help them communicate. She draws pictures of her life and friends and when her visitor, Ana, starts to draw her life, Olive understands just why she is so sad.
This is a powerful tool for ... View Full Review
