What All Teenagers Should Read: Part 3

 Over on Substack, I'm doing a series on what all teenagers should read. Here is part 3, on Ursula Le Guin.

What All Teenagers Should Read: Part 2

 Over on Substack, here's part 2 of what all teenagers should read.

April Children's Book Round Up for Literary Review

 

Here's my April Children's Book Round up for Literary Review. I'm reviewing books by Geraldine McCaughrean, Anthony McGowan, Zillah Bethell and Georgia Channon.

Review of Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins

 Here's my review of Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games prequel, Sunrise on the Reaping.

Haymitch

 

Live Twitter Takeover of Little Island

 On Monday, I'll be doing a LIVE Twitter takeover of the Little Island account. Drop by!

When Mr Dog Bites by Brian Conaghan: review

Hello all, I've reviewed When Mr Dog Bites by Brian Conaghan for The Guardian. Read it here.

Paper Aeroplanes by Dawn O'Porter: Pink Party

Head pupils: O'Dowd and O'Porter

To the basement of an art gallery in trendy London's trendy East trendy London (is that enough trendies?). The walls were white, and ready to be graffitied, for it was the launch of Dawn O'Porter's teen novel, Paper Aeroplanes, which is set in the 90s. 1994 was the year of my musical awakening, so I was mightily pleased to hear Greenday's Dookie on the soundtrack; accompanied by Wotsits, Wham bars and rosé champagne we all got down to merrily defacing the wall with felt tip pens. I kept fearing that the headmaster would walk round the corner and bust me (my inner goodie goodie) so wrote some Catullus; alas such was the exuberance of the night that I got it slightly wrong, which I suppose is what a graffiti artist would do anyway. It was pleasing to see so many Romani eunt domuses, though.

Also eating Wotsits was O'Porter's husband, Chris O'Dowd, proudly sporting a Head Boy badge. The singer Kate Nash was present, looking remarkably gothic; the tv presenter Cherry Healey, wearing some very large glasses; Derren Brown's boyfriend, who allegedly drew a penis on the wall and then left.

The book comes out in May: it's a touching, truthful tale of becoming a teenage girl. There was a copy of Cosmopolitan and a tampon in the goody bag. Not quite my target market, but I'm sure there will be loads of girls out there who'll find much to enjoy. Now, excuse me, I've got to meet someone behind the bike shed. Someone's selling Wotsits on the cheap.

Children's Books for the Summer: Magic, wine and butterflies

On the first genuinely sunny day this (purported) summer, it seems appropriate to post my round ups of summer reading for children and teens - I've done them for The Telegraph. You can check them out here and here - they included the ever-brilliant Caroline Lawrence and Marcus Sedgwick, a fantastically delightful comic book-style adventure from Guy Bass, Philippa Gregory's first teen novel and a mysterious fantasy from Frances Hardinge.