Christmas Children's Books Round-up for Literary Review

As sure as eggs are eggs, here comes my 94th Children's Book Round up for that estimable organ, Literary Review. You can read it here. Featured books are:

Dark Peak by Marcus Sedgwick

The Chime Seekers by Ross Montgomery

The Red Gloves and Other Stories by Catherine Fisher

Utterly Dark and the Face of the Deep by Philip Reeve

Sisters of the Lost Marsh by Lucy Strange

The Shadows of Rookhaven by Padraig Kenny

Fireborn by Aisling Fowler.

Literary Review Christmas Children's Books Round Up

I've been reviewing children's books for Literary Review for about 15 years now... and it never fails to please me how many powerful and wonderful books there are. I wish I had space to cover more. This year, I've reviewed:

 

The Monsters of Rookhaven by Padraig Kenny

The Midnight Guardians by Ross Montgomery

Voyage of the Sparrowhawk by Natasha Farrant

I, Ada by Julia Gray

The Midnight Swan by Catherine Fisher

The Haunting of Aveline Jones by Phil Hickes

The Great Godden by Meg Rosoff 

You can read the review here, but do get the December/January issue - a bumper double one. 

One other small item of news: I received the CD audioboook of How to Teach Classics to Your Dog. I always enjoy the physical versions, rather than the digital ones - somehow it makes a more satisfying experience to load the CDs into the machine. My lurcher, obviously, is already listening...

Children's Book Round Up: Literary Review, December 2017

Hello, my Christmas round up of children's books for Literary Review is in the December / January issue, featuring:

Nevermoor by Jessica Townsend
The Land of Neverendings by Kate Saunders
Mike by Andrew Norriss
My Side of the Diamond by Sally Gardner
The Empty Grave by Jonathan Stroud
Witchborn by Nicholas Bowling
Christmas Dinner of Souls by Ross Montgomery.

Read the full piece here.

Bath Festival of Children's Literature & War Girls review

This year I'll be appearing at the Bath Festival of Children's Literature; the Telegraph asked me to do a round up of some of the authors who are also doing events, from September 26th to October 5th. The round up is in the paper today, (not online yet - I'll post it when it appears) and features:

A Song for Ella Grey by David Almond
Terror Kid by Benjamin Zephaniah
Wild Boy and the Black Terror by Rob Lloyd Jones
The Tornado Chasers by Ross Montgomery
Secret Agent Mummy by Steve Cole
Boy Face and the Tartan Badger by James Campbell
Papa Chagall, Tell Us a Story by Laurence Anholt

My review of War Girls, a collection of short stories about girls in the First World War, published by Andersen, was cut, so I've pasted it here below:
 

 War Girls: A Collection of First World War Stories (Andersen Press, 258pp, £6.99), is a welcome addition to the reams of books commemorating the Great War. The nine stories here cover a wide range of the feminine perspective: among them Berlie Doherty’s outstanding “Sky Dancer”, in which a young singer goes to the front to entertain troops; Anne Fine’s tightly-wound “Piercing the Veil” which deals with spiritualism; and Theresa Breslin’s finely-cut “Shadow and Light”, about an artistic ambulance driver. All nine engage thoughtfully with the battles that girls faced: to love, to work, and to become themselves whilst all around the world exploded.