Fiction 9-12
Anthony McGowan ( 7) The Beck Barrington Stoke, 13th, £7.99, PB, 9780008722296
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McGowan returns to Barrington Stoke, publisher of his Carnegie Medal-winning Lark, with this uplifting environmental tale. Kyle doesn’t initially want to spend time with his eccentric grandfather but they bond at the local beck, and together they hatch a plan when it comes under threat of development. McGowan is writing at the top of his form in this perfectly crafted novella, which is warm, wise and often hilarious. He manages to avoid the didactic tone that is present in so many children’s books with environmental themes.
Fiction 9-12
Zohra Nabi ( 3) Deep Dark: A Cassia Thorne Mystery S&S Children’s, 27th, £7.99, PB, 9781398532922
5 Teenage & YA 6 Teenage & YA
Suzanne Collins ( 4) Sunrise on the Reaping Scholastic, 18th, £19.99, HB, 9780702340574
Scholastic is planning a North America, UK/Ireland and Australia release for this prequel to The Hunger Games, set 24 years before the events of the original series. Unsurprisingly, reading material was not available but Scholastic says the book will be about Haymitch Abernathy, whose name is called with three other District 12 tributes. Ellie Berger, president of Scholastic Trade, says the novel will bring “new complexity, perspective and revelations to a piece of the story that readers have longed to know more about”.
Zillah Bethell ( 9) Vanishing Edge Firefly Press, 6th, £8.99, PB, 9781915444844 Firefly is publishing a series of short novels inspired by contemporary Wales, the first of which is this story about two teenagers in Port Talbot. Charlie and Apricot are living with unreliable parents and dream of life beyond their small town when a strange man, calling himself the Baglan Giant, knocks at Apricot’s mum’s door. There is death, drama, drugs and depression in this astonishingly beautiful, slender and poetic novel that defies categorisation.
An exciting magical middle-grade release in March is the first in a new historical fantasy series by Nabi, author of The Kingdom Over the Sea. Her heroine is Cassia, a talented songwriter in Victorian London, who lives with her father in Fleet Prison. When she hears that children are being snatched off the streets she decides to investigate, aided by pickpocket Teo and aspiring lawyer Felix. With mysterious men in blue coats and rumours of a monstrous beast, this is a spine-tingling, Dickensian adventure.
7 Graphic novels 8 Non-fiction: science
Amy Atwater ( 5), Nat Cardozo (illus) The Fossil Keeper’s Treasure Magic Cat Publishing, 13th, £16.99, HB, 9781917044127 This ingenious “scrapbook” about fossils, written by American palaeontologist Atwater, is being published with “real” fossils embedded into the pages for readers to touch and feel. There is a
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different fossil on each spread, from the humble Trilobite (one of the world’s first animals) to the Smilodon, a sabre-toothed cat whose fossils have been found in Brazil. Beautifully presented, with fun fact files and a timeline, this is a fascinating, interactive gift title.
Liz Pichon ( 10) Meet the Mubbles Macmillan Children’s Books, 13th, £9.99, HB, 9781035041695 Tom Gates creator Pichon signed with Macmillan for this series set on the Isle of Smile, which is populated by a variety of different characters, including the Wibbles of Wobble Mountain, the Earworms and the one-eyed Drib Drabs. Eccentric and sweet, this series is perfectly pitched at children aged 5+, and the brightly coloured artwork taps into the trend for graphic novels in the young fiction space. Pichon has plans for a YouTube channel showing original Mubbles music and activities,
10 13
LARA DOWNIE
SIAN TRENBERTH
TODD PLITT
JULIEN BEHAL
STEVE ULLATHORN
IVAN WEISS
Books
Children’s P
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