Pam Dix is a former librarian and chair of Ibby UK
Corey’s Rock by Sita Brahmachari and Jane Ray is very special book, a collaboration between two children’s book creators at the height of their powers. Its format is unusual but very pleasing, one that it would be lovely to see more frequently. More text than a normal picture book, more images than a novel of this length, but how well the two work together to tell the story so poetically.
It is
simple in the telling but deals with complex emotions: bereavement, sadness, displacement, legend. 10-year-old Isla relocates to Orkney with her Scottish mother and African-origin father after the death of her brother and their loss becomes entangled with the local selkie legend. The sense of a life lived at the edge of the land and of the healing power of the sea is what really endeared the book to me. This is beautifully captured in the delicate watercolour illustrations, the wonderful cover and the endpapers. I would briefly like to mention Bright Sparks – Amazing
Discoveries, Inventions and Designs by Women by Owen O’Doherty too. This has introducing me to a host of wonderful amazing women who I had never heard about before and who designed things I have never really thought about – Monopoly, windscreen wipers. It’s an endlessly delightful list. And I am thrilled that Knights of are publishing more books by Jason Reynolds whose Long Way Down was my book of the year 2018.
Fen Coles, Letterbox Library
The Letterbox Library book of the year is Child of St Kilda by Beth Waters and it deserves to be far, far better known. Inspired by the life of John Gillies, the last child ever to be born on the barren archipelago in the outermost Outer Hebrides, this nonfiction narrative layers up and sweeps over much more expansive thoughts, taking in the environment, precious conservation, vanishing ways of life, kinship, community and resilience. An ambitious presentation of a fragile island ecosystem, executed through extraordinary illustrations of mono prints and digital edits, bound into a book which feels lush and luxurious in its care and detail.
Caroline Fielding is a school librarian and chair of CILIP YLG London
Choosing my book of this year is as hard as choosing Carnegie Kate Greenaway nominations, but also an opportunity to mention an absolute fave: The Deepest Breath by Meg Grehan is a verse novel about eleven-year-old Stevie, questioning her feelings for a girl, and includes a wonderful librarian. Bali Rai’s Now or Never: a Dunkirk Story is my favourite historical novel this year. Kick the Moon by Muhammad Khan is my top YA, it has such great characters and touches on so many relevant issues. Finally, because my daughter Bea started school this term, my number one picturebook has to be Lulu’s First Day!
Nicholas Tucker is honorary senior lecturer in Cultural and Community Studies at Sussex University.
I’ve chosen The Odyssey, text by David Walser and illustrations by the one and only Jan Pienkowski. The best stories ever brought to life by a long-serving duo themselves of rare excellence. More outsize characters but this time all too human in Sharon Dogar’s Monsters, the story of how Mary Godwin, later Shelley, came to write Frankenstein while coping with an unrelentingly roller-coaster private life And of course Hilary McKay’s The Time of Green Magic, more evidence that she is the best contemporary children’s writer we currently have.
Dawn Finch is a children’s author and librarian. She is Trustee of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) and Chair of the Society of Authors’ Children’s Writers and Illustrators Group committee (CWIG).
I must confess to a serious bias when choosing this book because I first had a copy back in 1977. When Usborne said they were going to republish their classic Ghosts from the World of the Unknown series I was beyond excited. This book was a defining one for me as a child and I can vividly recall the delicious prickly fear of the unknown and the possibilities of The Things That Go Bump In The Night. This book had profound effect on me, and I’m delighted to share that with a whole new audience. Republished in Oct 2019, it is every bit as thrilling as it was when I was ten.
In one list, all the books we recommend for giving 2019:
http://booksforkeeps.co.uk/issue/238/childrens-books/articles/the-books-for-keeps-christmas-books-gift-list-2019
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34