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 define. A few of these would be borderline chapter books; a few would be borderline young adult.The Racehorse Who Wouldn't GallopWriter: Clare BaldingIllustrator: Tony RossPublisher: Penguin UKAs a child, I loved the Animal Ark series so much that I longed to be a vet. When I learned that studying medicine involved cutting things up, I balked. Yet, animals were special to me, and I would go as far as to say that they are special to most children.The Racehorse Who Wouldn't Gallop is a charming story of love for animals. It is a tale of friendship and grit: friendship among animals, people, and animals and people. Once more, it is a story that explores the idea that children can do … [Read more...]
The One and Only Ivan
I just went onto Goodreads and saw that The One and Only Ivan has over 110,000 reviews. I'm not surprised, though. It's exactly that kind of book, the kind that makes you want to tell everyone about it. It's achingly sweet: a lovely story that leaves you sad, happy and everything else in between. Things aren't perfect, but somehow, in the only possible way given the circumstances, amends have been made.Ivan is a gorilla who deludes himself into believing that the glass cage in which he lives is his domain. He is a silverback, the leader of his troop. Except that in his new domain - with a tyre swing and paintings of nature - there are no other gorillas. Instead, next door, he has Stella the elephant, who has a sore foot, a remnant of her time in a circus. She does tricks to entertain human visitors.Ivan, who watches TV and draws, never gets his hopes up too high. He has learnt … [Read more...]