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Previews Children’s Previews


Children's Previews October


Christmas books make their presence felt in October and this year is no exception with a plethora of festive tomes


Charlotte Eyre @charlotteleyre


O


ctober is the month for Christmas books and this year there are plent


of festive delights to cater for all readers, from picture books all the way up to Only for the Holidays, Abiola Bello’s new YA romance. My top picks from the Christmas-themed books include Alex T Smith’s re-telling of the Nutcracker and a funny picture book about a naught Robin by Rachel Morrisroe and Richard Merrit, but there is a whole host of festive fiction, including books by Ben Miller, L D Lapinski, Eva Frantz and more, with Christmas picture books from Philip Ardagh and Hollie Hughes, to name just two. The Snow Girl by Sophie Anderson is a fairy-tale, perfect for cold winter nights, and Nikita Gill’s Animal Tales fom India, richly illustrated by Chaaya Prabhat, would be a gorgeous present to put under the tree.


Submissions Please email a covering letter, AIs and materials (manuscripts, sample pages etc) to charlotte.eyre @thebookseller.com. AIs should be in a single PDF where possible. See thebookseller.com/publishing calendar for submission deadlines.


Next week 20


My editor’s choices feature two books that, although different, are about growing up and finding your place in the world: A M Dassu’s Kicked Out, a sequel to Boy, Everywhere and Lisa Williamson’s middle-grade début Bigg School: Best Friends Forever. In Kicked Out Sami and his friends organise a charitable event to help a friend, who is at risk of being deported, while in Bigg School a girl has to deal with a primary school friendship coming apart, and the pain, but also opportunities, for change that arise. Finally, my October book of the month is Adam Baron’s exquisite novel, Oscar’s Lion. With the charm of Paddington Bear and the poignancy of Tom’s Midnight Garden, this is a truly special book about a boy who wakes up one day to find his parents gone and, in their place, a friendly lion.


Book of the Month A modern classic with far-reaching appeal


Fiction


Adam Baron, Benji Davies (illus)


Oscar’s Lion HarperCollins Children’s Books, 26th, £12.99, hb, 9780008596750


Oscar is confused when he wakes up one day and there is a lion in the house who has come to take care of him. We know that Oscar is going through some tough times—his granny died six months earlier and he has been viciously bullied—but the lion takes Oscar on all kinds of escapades, letting


BookScan ratings accompanying titles are based on TCM sales (excludes e-book, export, direct, library and other sales) of the author’s most recent original work in a similar format with at least six months’ sales through Nielsen BookScan, using the notation left.


50,000+ 25,000+ 10,000+ 5,000+ 3,000+


The next edition of The Bookseller (28th July) will feature Paperback Preview covering titles released in October.


21st July 2023


him eat biscuits, sleep in a den and even transporting him to the Battle of Trafalgar. He is also gently protective, transforming into a beetle and a seagull to help Oscar when events at school or football practice go wrong. But when Oscar starts to wonder who the lion really is and where his parents are, the lion, in a wonderful plot twist, has one final transformation up his sleeve. Baron’s fifth novel is a charming magical adventure, but the author gently weaves themes of grief and trauma into the narrative, and celebrates love, in particular the deep love and protection grandparents offer their grandchildren, whose parents may be distracted by emails, anxiety or their own grief. Published with illustrations by the incredible Benji Davies for readers aged seven and up, this is a timeless classic that will have far-reaching appeal.


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