Book Monitor - books from across the world

Engaging reads for children, from Books go Walkabout

Author: The Book Monitor team Page 3 of 39

Nikhil and Jay: Off to India by Chitra Soundar & Illustrated by Soofiya

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On September 26, 2023

In Otter-Barry Books, Featured children's book

Nikhil and Jay visit India in this third book in the sparkling Early Reader series about a British Asian family. Beautifully written for children starting out on independent reading, with stylish illustrations on each page.

Nikhil and Jay and Amma and Appa are off to India for the Christmas holidays to visit Chennai Granny and Grandad. The boys have their first Chennai Christmas, with mango-leaf decorations, Indian sweets for Father Christmas, a basket of beautiful Indian wooden toys – and a special Christmas star. The family see in the New Year the Indian way. They make a Welcome poster, Granny lights a lamp at midnight and they all eat Granny’s delicious Kesala as an Indian New Year treat.

This third book in the Nikhil and Jay series written by Chitra Soundar, is perfect for children moving on from picture books to longer stories, helped by Soofiya’s lively and characterful illustrations. Publisher’s Otter-Barry Books have an excellent portfolio of engaging books for all children.

Definitely on my recommendation list for primary schools.

Sue Martin – Children’s Literacy Specialist

The Final Year by Matt Goodfellow and illustrated by Joe Todd-Stanton

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On September 19, 2023

In Featured children's book, Otter-Barry

An amazing book, with captivating text and illustrations from the beginning to the end..

‘These are my streets, these are my people, this is my story.’

The first novel, told in verse for middle-grade readers, by a leading children’s poet, with atmospheric pictures by a Carnegie-shortlisted illustrator.

Life can be tough in your last year of primary school. Tests to take, preparing for the change to high school. Nate is ready for it all, knowing his best friend PS is at his side – they’ve been inseparable since Nursery.

But when they are put in two different classes and PS finds a new friend in Turner, the school bully, Nate’s world turns upside-down. As he struggles to make sense of this and forge new friendships, he’s dealt another blow when his youngest brother, Dylan is rushed into hospital.

His new teacher, Mr Joshua, sees a spark inside of Nate that’s lit by his love of reading and writing and shows him how to use this to process what’s going on. But with so much working against him, and anger rising inside him, will this be enough?

A powerful and lyrical story about finding your place in the world and the people that matter within it.
Matt Goodfellow is a former primary school teacher and now a full-time poet living in Stockport. His visits to schools are dynamic and have lasting impact. Watch the video…

Joe Todd-Stanton is an author/illustrator who won the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize with his picture book, The Secret of Black Rock.

Otter-Barry Books have a powerful portfolio of books and The Final Year joins their strong interest in publishing children’s poetry books.

Sue Martin – Children’s Literacy Specialist

Our Rights!

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On July 19, 2023

In UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, Amnesty International, Featured children's book

Stories and Poems About Children’s Rights

Edited by Jake Hope

Illustrated by Ruthine Burton, Habiba Nabisubi and Chih-An Chen

Stories and poems from prizewinning and internationally acclaimed authors, each highlighting different rights of the child, as declared by the United Nations.

UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is the most completed statement of understanding for all children across the globe.

Our Rights is important in offering a look at some of these rights by work from a number of authors, some well known and some less well known, but all with passion for ensuring that children are respected everywhere. It looks at:


The right to life, survival and development

The right to protection from violence, abuse and neglect

The right to education, to reach full potential

The right to be raised by or have a relationship with parents

The right to express opinions and be listened to

Jake Hope, a leading authority on contemporary children’s literature, has chosen stories from Cathy Cassidy, Maisie Chan, Joseph Coelho, AM Dassu, Anne Fine, Paul Jennings, Chitra Soundar and Elizabeth Laird; and poems from Valerie Bloom, Sita Brahmachari, Dom Conlon, Nicola Davies, Jamila Gavin, Maurice Gleitzman, CG Moore, Jackie Morris, Beverley Naidoo, RR O’Neill, Rashmi Sirdeshpande, Jordan Stephens and Benjamin Zephaniah.

The illustrators are Ruthine Burton, Chih-An Chen and Habiba Nabisubi, who have just graduated from the Pop-Up Pathways project, a national initiative sponsored by the Arts Council, that develops emerging illustrators from under-represented groups.

Otter-Barry Books are the publishers and have produced this excellent book, which I am sure will be well used by schools across the country. A very powerful book and perfect for readers around the age of 9-13 years, with a diversity of stories and provides a ‘way in’ to difficult conversations about how children are treated in different countries including our own.

Sue Martin – Children’s Literacy Specialist

The World’s Most Atrocious Animals by Philip Bunting

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On July 13, 2023

In Happy Yak, Featured children's book, Quarto KNows

This witty, quirky, colourfully illustrated and fact-filled book features some of the most terrifying and shocking animals on the planet! 
The third title in the series from the hilarious Philip Bunting is filled with facts about some of the scariest creatures in the natural world.

Meet the enormous murder hornets of east and southeast Asia, the poisonous blue-ringed octopus, Africa’s hungry but deadly hippos and some truly shocking electric eels, among many more truly scary creatures!

The antagonist voice (speaking though cheeky annotations) points out the most frightening aspects of each creature’s characteristics, while the narrator’s voice describes engaging, factual information about each animal’s seemingly scary characteristics. Are they really as scary as they seem?

With hilarious text throughout and bright, contemporary illustrations, this guide to terrifying animals contains funny labelled diagrams and fabulous facts. It will help teach kids about the animals we fear and whether their gruesome reputation is deserved!

Philip Bunting’s books have been translated into multiple languages, and published in over 25 countries around the world. Since his first title was published in 2017, Philip has received multiple accolades, including Honours from the Children’s Book Council of Australia. His titles include Mopoke and How Did I Get Here? Philip’s work deliberately encourages playful interaction between the reader and child, allowing his books to create a platform for genuine intergenerational engagement, and fun. Philip lives in Queensland, Australia.

Happy Yak are the publishers, an imprint of Quarto Knows with an amazing portfolio of intriguing books for children.

Quirky Creatures is a series dedicated to seeking out the weird and wonderful denizens of the natural world and explaining why they are so strange, from the ridiculous to the truly terrifying. Also available in this series is The World’s Most Ridiculous Animals and The World’s Most Pointless Animals.

Sue Martin – Children’s Literacy Specialist

Sala, Mountain Warrior

By

On July 11, 2023

In Featured authors, Featured children's book, Featured illustrators, Otter-Barry

By Wakanyi Hoffman

Illustrated by Onyinye Iwu

A story of adventure and courage for all children. It is wonderfully illustrated and expresses just how we can all overcome our fears to achieve amazing skills and journeys.

Sala has a real mountain to climb in this authentic story set among the Samburu people of Kenya. There’s a school trip to climb the mountain near Sala’s home and she’s excited – but nervous too, because she’s the only girl to take the challenge….

But Grandmother shows the way, inspiring Sala with her mountain lore, her special beads and her storytelling. Can Sala climb to the top of the mountain and be the first warrior girl of her clan?


Set in the Samburu region of northern Kenya, this is an exciting, inspirational story about courage and empowerment.

Wakanyi Hoffman was born in Kenya and recalls visiting her grandmother’s home, with snow-capped Mount Kenya in the background, and listening to stories that not only entertained but told her about the world. Wakanyi is a storyteller, author, journalist and keeper of indigenous wisdom.

Onyinye Iwu is a secondary school teacher and freelance illustrator. She was born in Italy to Nigerian parents and moved to Britain as a teenager. She has a degree in Architecture and a Masters in Cultural Diaspora Ethnicity. Her work as an illustrator is inspired by Africa and especially her Igbo heritage. She is the illustrator of the Too Small Tola books by Atinuke. Onyinye lives in London.

Otter-Barry Books publish a portfolio of diverse and incredibly interesting books. Sala, The Mountain Warrior is a great story and new book.

Sue Martin – Children’s Literacy Specialist

A Hero Like Me by Angela Joy and Jen Reid, illustrated by Leire Salaberria

By

On June 9, 2023

In Frances Lincoln Children's Books, BookMonitor, Children's books, Featured children's book

Empower children to stand up for what is right with this picture book inspired by the real-life events around the statue of a slave trader, its toppling and heroic replacement.
 
They call him ‘HERO’, but he’s no HERO – not to me.

This inspiring picture book of events through the eyes of a young girl; called Jen, who, every day, on her way to school, sees a towering statue. A statue of a man who sold freedom for cotton and tea. The world around her says this man is a hero. But she knows he’s not a hero – not a real one.

Heroes are hard to find. The girl looks for them around corners, under rocks, and on TV, but there are none that she can see. And so, she marches and shouts for them instead. And that statue – he doesn’t belong. He doesn’t stand for Kindness. He doesn’t stand for Peace. Maybe he shouldn’t stand at all.

 
A Hero Like Me is inspired by the events of 7 June 2020, when a statue of seventeenth-century slave trader Edward Colston was pulled down and thrown into Bristol Harbour during an anti-racism protest. Co-author Jen Reid was one of the protesters that day, and despite being afraid of heights, she spontaneously climbed onto the empty plinth and raised her fist high above her head – a moment that was captured on camera and shared around the world.
 
On the morning of 15 July, a statue of Jen by Marc Quinn was added to the empty plinth. It was called A Surge of Power and it gained national attention for the 24 hours it was in place, and beyond. 

A Hero Like Me empowers children to have courage to stand up for what is right and be their own hero. It shows every child that they have a voice in their community and a say in who is on their streets. That they too have power, just like Jen.

Another brilliant ‘fact finder picture book’ from publishers Frances Lincoln, part of Quarto Knows.

Sue Martin – Children’s Literacy Specialist

Sea Change, Save the Ocean edited by Tobias Hickey, published by Otter- Barry Books

By

On June 5, 2023

In Featured children's book

What a captivating book!

The foreword from Ambassador Peter Thomson, United Nations Secretary General’s Special Envoy for the Ocean describes how, ‘we cannot have a healthy planet without a healthy ocean’.

This is a ‘red alert’ for humanity. Where better to start than with children who already know the dangers we are facing, and are prepared to start actions to save our world for future generations

Otter-Barry have published this unique book with a collection of original postcards and messages from 50 illustrators across the world, working to celebrate and protect the precious life in our oceans. This is an amazing collection and will provide schools with a catalogue of illustrators to follow.



Each illustrator has provided an image of sea creatures, fishes or other sea life, with a message of inspiration to help point out the massive and imminent dangers climate change, pollution, over fishing and other human-led interventions are having on our oceans. The postcards are displayed under three headings: Celebrating the Ocean; The Danger to the Ocean; Take Action for the Ocean.

The world-class illustrators include Axel Scheffler, Roger Mello, Isol, Barroux, Piet Grobler, Yuval Zommer, Petr Horáček, Jackie Morris, Nicola Davies, PJ Lynch and Jane Ray.

The countries represented include Argentina, Austria, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Estonia, France, Germany, Ghana, Iran, Ireland, Israel, India, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Norway, Russia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Syria, Turkey, UK, USA.

Otter Barry are the publishers and Sea Change is a beautiful books with enormous potential for changing lives and attitudes for young people and adults too.

 This book is staying on my sofa table! But its effect will go far.

Sue Martin – Children’s Literacy Specialist

English Association Winners of 2023 English 4-11 Picture Book Awards

By

On June 2, 2023

In Picture Book Awards, Featured children's book

The English Association is proud to present the winners of the 2023 English 4-11 Picture Book Awards.

Established in 1995, the awards are presented by the English Association to the best children’s picture books of the year.  Awards are given to Fiction and Non-Fiction in age ranges 4-7 years and 7-11 years.

The winning books are chosen by the editorial board of English 4-11, the journal for primary teachers published by The English Association and the United Kingdom Literacy Association, from a shortlist selected by a panel of teachers and Primary specialists.

Each year, one of the books submitted to the English 4-11 Picture Book Awards is selected as the recipient of the Margaret Mallett Award for Children’s Non-Fiction. The winners in each category, plus the winner of this year’s Margaret Mallett Award for Children’s Non-Fiction, were announced at the online Awards Ceremony on Thursday 25 May 2023.

The award for 2023 was won by Narwhal: The Arctic Unicorn by Justin Anderson and Jo Weaver (Walker Books).

The Chair of the judging panel, Dr Sally Wilkinson, commented that…

It is a pleasure to honour prolific and well-loved children’s non-fiction authors like Nicola Davies, Anita Ganeri, and Justin Anderson, who have won many awards for their writing, film, and television work, all in celebration of our amazing natural world. These authors have worked in partnership with illustrators Abbie Cameron, Jianan Liu, and Jo Weaver to create rich, engaging texts for us to dive in to. Our fiction winners, Mariajo Illustrajo and Levi Pinfold, represent new, emerging talent and established, award-winning author-illustrators, both with lyrical, detailed works to share with us. We’re thrilled to announce this year’s winners, and look forward to seeing what next year’s competition brings!

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all the publishers, authors, and illustrators who sent in books to the Awards.  

A very exciting short list of books for these categories of children’s books from The English Association.

Sue Martin – Children’s Literacy Specialist

It’s Her Story: Irena Sendler

By

On May 12, 2023

In World War 2, Sunbird Books, Featured children's book

This is a fascinating graphic novel about Irena Sendler, a humanitarian and social worker in Nazi-occupied Poland during World War II.

Her job allowed her to pass through the armed gates of the Warsaw ghetto, bringing limited aid to the 450,000 Jewish people who were forcibly moved there. In secret, Irena built a network of people to smuggle 2,500 children out of the ghetto, saving their lives. And in a hidden jar, she kept their family names.

This is her story. Part of the It’s Her Story series from Sunbird Books.

Margaret Littman, the author  lives in Nashville, Tennessee and is a writer  and editor. She writes stories about people who have done amazing things and explored country music  and huge amounts of different and exciting projects. In her book Irena Sendla, Margaret retraces some of her ancestry from Poland.

Sara Luna is an illustrator from Los Angeles with a wonderful portfolio of illustrations for children’s books.

Sunbird Books are the publishers with a portfolio of innovative and original books for children. From board books to picture books to graphic novels, their  titles represent strong, lively, and diverse voices that reflect children’s realities and feed their imaginations.

Sue Martin – Children’s Literacy Specialist

Books Go Walkabout

The Secret Life of Oceans by Moira Butterfield and illustrated by Vivian Mineker

By

On May 4, 2023

In Happy Yak, Featured children's book, Quarto Kids

The Secret Life of Oceans is a stunning book, full of wonderful images with delightful stories and engaging facts. It will enable a love of Oceans and nature on the next generation, inspiring them to look after the world around them.This book has been on my coffee table and is a real joy for anyone visiting. It just looks so inviting and is a ‘Wow’ with everyone who opens the book!

For instance , did you know that blue whales are the largest creatures on earth? And that corals are actually tiny creatures?
Tia the green turtle guides you through this beautiful first guide to ocean life around the globe. Learn about ocean homes and who lives where, big creatures (whales and whale sharks), little creatures (baby animals to zooplankton), incredible journeys, sea weather, and how to help save our oceans.  Intertwined in the facts you can read magical folklore sea stories from around the planet.


Following on from The Secret of Trees, The Secret Life of Bees, and The Secret Life of Birds, Oceans is the next book in the series. Sumptuous and detailed illustrations have pride of place in this magical book that mixes natural history with a splash of fantasy, creating a book to be pored over time and again.

Moira Butterfield is an internationally published children’s book author. Her work includes picture books, board books, fiction and highly commended non-fiction books that seek to spark a child’s imagination about our world. She currently lives in Bath, UK, with her family, where she loves to cycle, sew and sing. 

Vivian Mineker is a Taiwanese American from Taipei and Portland, currently working out of Ljubljana, Slovenia. Her interest in art began at a young age, using drawing to express herself and her inner imaginary world. She uses watercolour, coloured pencil and digital processes to create a blend of traditional texture with a modern look and feel.

Happy Yak are the publishers and are part of Quarto group of publishers, they have a great range of eye catching designs bringing non-fiction title to life.

Sue Martin – Children’s Literacy Specialist

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