BfK 8 – 10 Junior/Middle continued


children and siblings and people are willing to take huge risks in order to see their loved ones. I ended up really loving this story and cannot recommend it highly enough. MP


The Impossible Boy HHHH


Ben Brooks, ill George Ermos, Quercus, 268pp, 9781786540997, £9.99 hbk


Oleg and Emma have started creating an imaginary friend, after their real friend Sarah had moved away from their area, but what they didn’t expect was for that imaginary person to suddenly appear in their classroom one morning. Oleg had created Sebastian Cole when writing an essay for the class’s supply teacher Mr Clay, so where did the ‘real’ Sebastian come from and why does he not understand about basic things such as pizza? Added to this there are other strange things taking place in their town. Firstly a goat takes to wandering around the school and then a whole troupe of Snowmen (actually Snow women) start walking around the streets. To top it all there are people wearing crow masks who say they are from the Institute of Unreality and they want to destroy Sebastian as he should not exist. The question is whether Oleg and Emma can save their new friend and if they can stop all of these weird events and also save their Christmas celebrations? This is a lovely story told on several


levels. Whilst it has the magical and mysterious there


are


group of main events also underlying themes


centred on the children, their families and even some of their teachers. Oleg’s Polish grandma had been a writer but can no longer finish any of her stories, Oleg’s dad is unemployed and spends most of his time sleeping and Emma’s mum is in a dead end job that she really dislikes. The author shows us the importance of family and of friendship and how they can help us overcome many of the problems we find in life. He lets us know that working together can have a tremendous impact and that we have the ability to change our futures if we want to. One of the background stories centres around the animosity between two of the teachers and it is only at the end that we discover the bullying that had taken place by one of them when they had been in school together; a reminder that our behaviour can have a lasting impact on both the victim and the perpetrator. This is a great read that may well become a standard. MP


HUMANIMAL, Incredible Ways Animals Are Just Like Us!


HHHHH


Christopher Lloyd, ill. Mark Ruffle, What on Earth Books, 978 1 912920 00 6, £12.99, hbk


From an author critically acclaimed for the award-winning ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING comes a fascinating


book demonstrating the curious connections between us humans and many other animals. It is written with great enthusiasm, and will appeal to many children … and adults, with a keen interest in creatures. It will inspire readers to see how similar we are to those who inhabit this planet alongside us. It opens eyes to so many detailed similarities,


demonstrating many


reasons to empathise with other living things. The contents are divided into Community, Feelings, and Intelligence. We


read of Jane Goodall’s work,


watching chimpanzees over many years in Tanzania, starting in the 1960s. It was unusual for scientists at that time to observe their creatures of interest day and night over long periods, as Goodall did. She made what was until then unknown, the staggering discovery that chimps not only used tools, but actually made them. There are many examples of creatures “aping” our way of life. Many people will know that bees, on returning to the hive/nest will perform their WAGGLE dance, to communicate a site of particularly good nectar or pollen. And maybe we know that ants “farm” aphids; when hungry, the ants stroke the aphids causing them to produce a sugary drink known as honeydew. Canada geese and other migrating birds do just as cyclists/runners in a race do; one bird/ cyclist/marathon runner is selected to lead the group, taking the brunt of the wind. When tired, they drop back for an easier flight/ride, whilst another takes the lead. The chapter on LOVE includes stories of many different creatures, from primates to penguins to blue footed boobies. Aggression also gets a chapter, as does Grief. There is a recount of an orca whale being surrounded by several female orcas on the day her calf died. It was observed that after this, she carried her calf for 17 days before finally letting it go. Elephants have often been filmed returning to the site of the death of one of their family, weeks after the event, inspecting the bones. Is that a way of grieving? The glossary explains clearly vocabulary use, e.g. dopamine, a chemical released to make one feel happy; hypothesis… And before the detailed INDEX are 15 photos of ecologists, marine biologists, psychologists, with brief biographies of their work. The illustrator, Mark Ruffle, has provided impressive artwork throughout, and the whole book comes together to inspire readers to think more deeply about our relations with the animal kingdom. Quite amazing, and the author’s enthusiasm for his subject is infectious. Should be in every school library. GB


Through the Eyes of Us HHHH


Jon Roberts, ill. Hannah Rounding, Graffeg, 32pp, 978 1912 654802, £7.99 pbk


This is the second in a series of books about the


author’s 28 Books for Keeps No.239 November 2019 autistic daughter, Kya; her best friend Martha,


also autistic, is in this story too. We meet them doing all sorts of things together, and we understand their differences as well as the ways they are alike. They both love school, but while Martha talks a lot and asks questions, Kya is quieter and prefers listening to stories. We learn about Kya’s support teacher, who helps her understand things during lessons and uses picture cards. Both girls like lots of different foods, but Martha has to be watched carefully because she doesn’t ‘know when she is full’. They both love touching things, and Martha likes


to touch people’s clothes.


Kya even likes touching things like stinging nettles and slugs because she finds them ‘interesting’. Both girls like routines, but Kya doesn’t like going to bed, whereas Martha will take herself to bed when she’s tired. Both girls are individuals – just like all of us – but when we come to know them, we love them for their quirky ways. The pictures are a treat, full of action and soft watercolour from an illustrator who understands, and the whole is redolent of a loving father and his ‘beautiful daughter’. ES


Can I Touch Your Hair? A Conversation


HHHHH


Irene Latham & Charles Waters, ill.Sean Qualls & Selina Alko, Rock the Boat, 45pp, 978 1 78607 737 0, £7.99 pbk


A very special book of poems, written by two children as a school project, this is a story to treasure, and should be in every classroom. The two children, Irene, who is white, and Charles, who is black, are horrified when they are unexpectedly


put together for the


project. Knowing nothing of each other, except that Irene is quiet and Charles talks all the time and that they are of different races, they find it difficult to begin. Charles, who loves poetry, decides they will start with poems about ‘shoes, hair, school, and church’, and so they do. In the process of writing some thirty-three poems on these subjects and many others, they grow to know each, confront their own racial prejudices (and those of classmates as well), and develop a friendship that may well become life-long. The poems are intensely moving, occasionally funny, and often revealing, and Charles and Irene find much more in common with each other


than they thought possible.


The illustrations are exceptional, very real people doing very real things, pictured on a white background with lots of intermittent touches of collage. The two children’s classmates come to know each other better too, and learn that differences in race don’t necessarily


mean differences in


people. The book is American, and there


are a few words that may


need explaining, but this is all to the good as phrases like ‘Trayvon’ and ‘Ferguson, Mississippi’ can be looked up and learned about. A superb book in a quality production, it will add greatly to the general understanding of kids of all ages. ES


The Somerset Tsunami HHHH


Emma Carroll, Faber and Faber, 194p, 9780571332816, £6.99, pbk


Fortune


outspoken – and she longs to go to sea. These are characteristics


is better, as a girl, to avoid undue attention.


There


at a time when it are


witch hunts


abroad – and when a freak storm – a tsunami strikes the Somerset coat – scapegoats are looked for.... Emma Carroll has established


herself as an author who creates engaging characters and plots that bring the past alive. Centred on real events they involve young people who have agency and step off the page to meet their readers. This is the way to ensure that history is not seen as dead and dusted; it may be the past, but emotions, situations, ideas were as important and pressing as they are today. This, her latest novel, is no exception. Fortune Sharpe is a character who impresses


from


the moment we meet her. Through her we


encounter the attitudes


and prejudices of the seventeenth century – but also the believable and universal resilience of girls – and boys. We are drawn into domestic crises, the cruelties that were – and still are – inflicted on those who are seen as different and we learn about a little piece of history that will amaze – a real tsunami on the coast of


England! Attractively packaged


and related in an easy contemporary style that will keep the pages turning this is another novel by this author to recommend and to stock. FH


A Gallery of Cats HHHHH


Ruth Brown Scallywag Press, 32pp 9781912650170, £12.00 hbk


Tom is visiting an art gallery with his granny. He will be seeing paintings by some great artists – it doesn’t sound too exciting. So when there is an opportunity to explore a small side room, Tom takes it and finds himself in a very different exhibition; an exhibition that comes alive....


Sharpe is independent, dangerous


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