Street-smart Tilly ropes Poesy in to audition for the Lilliputians, a children’s theatre group that is to travel to America. Poesy qualifies, only to discover that the world of acting […]
Three hOle Books
Who doesn’t love a hole in a book? I love the idea of the hole, and I do wish it were possible to make the holes part of every illustration! […]
Top Ten: Young Adult Books
Being a young adult is to inhabit a complex and confusing world. When books address this phase of life beautifully, they can be breathtaking. Here are my top ten YA […]
Top Ten: Middle-Grade Books
Narrowing down to my top ten middle-grade books is always the hardest of all! Some of these books are younger than others, as always, because age ranges are hard to […]
Top Ten: Chapter Books
Calling all the books that I’ve listed here ‘chapter books’ is perhaps unfair. Some are quite a bit longer than others. I’m uncomfortable defining books on the basis of age […]
The Racehorse Who Wouldn’t Gallop
Ooh! That’s Polly! Let me wave out to her!Oops. I’m at an auction and I just ended up buying a horse for a thousand pounds. No, I’m not quoting, but […]
After Tomorrow
Flawed narrators make me squirm. When I read a story from the point of view of a character who does not make the right decisions, I often don’t know whether […]
The Island at the End of Everything
Amihan lives with her nanay on Culion, the island at the end of everything. Unlike most of the others – who came by boat to this beautiful, lush green island […]
The Boundless
The Boundless starts slowly; I almost did not read it. But that’s what made me realise once again how important reviews are: I read on only because Katherine Rundell was quoted […]
Pig Heart Boy
Cameron’s heart is weak. He does not know how long he has to live. But there’s a doctor who believes that a heart transplant from a pig will give him […]
Making Millions
Nicholas wants to go for a masterclass, but his parents refuse to shell out the money he would need. What do real friends do when a friend is in need? […]
Radhika Takes the Plunge
A little over a year ago, I read the picture book Clumsy! by Ken Spillman and I enjoyed it. It is a sweet, heart-warming story about a girl who is […]
A Place Called Perfect
I was a bit apprehensive about reading a book that promised to be ‘Perfectly Creepy’. I’m not a big fan of creepy stories. But I loved the cover and the […]
The 1,000-Year-Old Boy
“References to historical dates, places and words in old languages are accurate only in the sense of being ‘not very’. Ross Welford in his Author’s Note to The 1,000-Year-Old Boy Isn’t that […]
Mockingbird
Several years ago, I read The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. That was when I came across Asperger’s Syndrome for the first time. I read up bits and pieces about it, and was overwhelmed by […]
Stargirl
Sweetness is such a wonderful ingredient, and so rare in a YA novel. When Stargirl joins regular school after having been homeschooled most of her life, she is something of […]
Diamonds and Daggers
When Piotr’s father is suspected of having stolen celebrity actor Betty Massino’s diamond necklace, the boy’s world seems to fall apart. For Piotr, the UK is home, but his father […]
Catching Up: MG and YA Books
So many wonderful, wonderful books and so little time! Here are a few middle-grade and young adult books I read in the last couple of months. Gorilla Dawn I know […]
Seven Fictional Teachers I Love
It’s Teachers’ Day – the day when every teacher goes home with a mountain of cards. As a writer and teacher, how can I not celebrate all the fictional teachers […]
Touching Spirit Bear
I’m usually not one of those readers who sits and finishes a book in a day. Unless a story is really compelling, I get distracted easily. I have a hundred […]
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