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You are here: Home / Archives for BookOfTheDay

The Summer Of Diving by Sara Stridsberg tr. B.J. Woodstein ill. Sara Lundberg

July 24, 2022 By achuka Leave a Comment

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An award-winning and beautiful story of a child coping with her father’s absence. A powerfully evoked collaboration between one of Seden’s leading contemporary writers and an illustrator whose earlier book The Bird Within Me was an ACHUKA Book of the Day in March 2020.

Zoe’s dad isn’t home. She still sees him in photographs, laughing and playing tennis, but for now she can only visit him in a building where everyone looks sad and the walls are an ugly pink color. Some days Zoe’s dad is too sad to see her, but she goes to the hospital anyway. While waiting she meets Sabina who invites her to swim across the world. Zoe’s not sure it’s possible, but Sabina tells her, “A girl can do everything she wants.” Even though Sabina sometimes dives deep into her own thoughts, the two of them swim around the world many times that summer, until eventually Zoe’s dad is ready to come home.

A book full of imagination and hope with a tender child’s-eye understanding of the world. Stridsberg’s story and Lundberg’s lush and colorful paintings reflect and validate a child’s feelings of loss and longing for closeness when a parent’s joy for living temporarily fades.

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Watch an interview with the author who describes what motivates her to write:

Filed Under: BookOfTheDay, Illustrated

Maps: Learn How to Read and Draw the World – Mad For Geography by Paola Misesti ill. Agnese Baruzzi

July 22, 2022 By achuka Leave a Comment

ACHUKA Book of the Day 22 Jul 2022

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An apprentice geographer and cartographer guides children in the discovery of one of the fundamental themes of geographical knowledge: maps.

White Star is an Italian publisher of illustrated books. This title will be of special interest to primary school teachers but is appealing enough to be considered as a gift for any young child who has shown an interest in maps. It has been published in paperback rather than hardback so is modestly priced.

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Filed Under: BookOfTheDay, Illustrated, NonFiction

Rapunzella, Or, Don’t Touch My Hair by Ella McLeod

July 20, 2022 By achuka Leave a Comment

ACHUKA Book of the Day 21 Jul 2022

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A genre-bending YA that weaves together inner-city life and a wildly dangerous fairytale universe.

Cover illustration by Alex Cabal.

Rapunzella is imprisoned in an enchanted forest made of her own Afro and the might of the evil King Charming seems unstoppable. But is it? Can Rapunzella use her power to change the future?

You’re fifteen, you spend your time at school and at Val’s hair salon with Baker, Val’s son, who has eyes that are like falling off a cliff into space. The salon is a space of safety, but also of possibility and dreams… Dreams of hair so rich and alive that it grow upwards and outwards into a wild landscape, becomes trees and leaves, and houses birds and butterflies and all the secret creatures that belong in such a forest. Is there a future where such possibility and power is more than just a dream?

Ella McLeod’s debut merges poetry and prose in a stunningly lyrical, heart-piercingly honest exploration of a teenager coming into her power as a young woman.

Read this Guardian feature in which Ella McLeod talks about her changing relationship with her hair.

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Filed Under: BookOfTheDay, YA Tagged With: debut, poetry, prose

I Am a Poetato: An A-Z of Poems About People, Pets and Other Creatures by John Hegley

July 19, 2022 By achuka Leave a Comment

ACHUKA Book of the Day 20 Jul 2022

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One of ACHUKA’s favourite poets. One of our favourite collections, now available in a new edition.

Presented in a unique scrapbook style, with the author’s own drawings, this is a hilarious and exciting poetry book – even for those who think they don’t like poetry.

Filed Under: BookOfTheDay, Poetry/Tales

My Own Lightning by Lauren Wolk

July 18, 2022 By achuka Leave a Comment

ACHUKA Book of the Day 19 Jul 2022
Times Children’s Book of the Week 16 Jul 2022

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“Deep, dark and indelible.” The Times
“Steeped in themes of growth and acceptance, a solid continuation of an impactful first installment.” KIRKUS
“An exceptional sequel.” Publishers Weekly
“I write without a map. I never know what’s going to happen. I come up with the first line when I’m in the shower, almost always. When I notice patterns, I think, huh, I’ve done this before. There must be a reason why I’m doing it again. Let’s see where it goes. And if it goes somewhere interesting and different enough, I keep on, and if it feels like old hat, I stop and start again somewhere else. I once tried to write a book with a plan, and it was a bore to write. I’m sure it would have been a bore to read if anyone had ever read it. I’m intimidated by some of my writer friends who have a very good idea of where a book is going to end up.” Lauren Walk Talks With Roger

Sequel to Wolf Hollow.
Several months have passed since devastating events changed the sleepy community of Wolf Hollow forever.

Annabelle, still trying to make sense of her own part in them, is caught in a wild and sudden summer storm – and struck by lightning. She wakes with a memory: a fist, pounding on her heart, bringing her back to life. But there is no sign of whoever saved her, and Annabelle cannot understand who would do such a thing and then flee. To her surprise, Annabelle’s brush with lightning leaves her with a strange and beautiful gift: an uncanny connection with the animals around her, and an ability to understand their deepest fears and feelings. And when several newcomers arrive in her life – as well as a figure from the past – Annabelle must use her heightened senses to discover the truth about them all.

A stunning coming of age novel about forgiveness, friendship and our powerful connection with the natural world.

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Filed Under: BookOfTheDay, Fiction, YA Tagged With: coming-of-age, sequel

The Girl Who Noticed Everything by Jane Porter ill. Maisie Paradise Shearring

July 18, 2022 By achuka Leave a Comment

ACHUKA Book of the Day 18 Jul 2022

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A new book from the team behind 2020 Little Rebels Award winning The Boy Who Loved Everything.

Stella is a great detective. She can’t help noticing everything around her – clouds shaped like horses, wheelie bins with faces, a lonely glove on a fence, people that look like their dogs and even a man with a furry hat that looks like a cat on his head. Stella tells Dad about everything she’s seen but Dad is worried that she’s going to hurt people’s feelings. But when Stella spots a sad lady in the park she knows that speaking up is just the right thing to do.

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Filed Under: BookOfTheDay, Illustrated Tagged With: observation, observing

Amazing Animal Treasury by Chris Packham ill. Jason Cockcroft

July 15, 2022 By achuka Leave a Comment

ACHUKA Book of the Day 15 Jul 2021

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For the very first time, all three books in Chris Packham and Jason Cockcroft’s Amazing Animal series have been brought together to create the perfect animal treasury for young nature lovers.

Our world is home to billions of animal species, and each one has its own remarkable way of life. Discover the extraordinary places that animals live, how they look after their families, and the incredible journeys that take them huge distances across our planet.

Filed Under: BookOfTheDay, Gift, NonFiction

The Queen of Junk Island by Alexandra Mae Jones

July 14, 2022 By achuka Leave a Comment

ACHUKA Book of the Day 14 Jul 2022

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“Unapologetically tackles biphobia, generational trauma, misogyny, and slut-shaming… this intensely personal and moving narrative adeptly captures the often nerve-wracking complexity of queer adolescence.” Publishers Weekly
“A story about intergenerational love; understanding ghosts, both internal and external; and becoming a person who will allow others to love them. Haunting, unusual, and real.” KIRKUS

We drove out to the cottage with all our things in June, a week after the phone call came and two weeks after Christopher Smith ruined my life.

YA debut from a young Canadian author who in her spare time paints, sings, knits, and makes ukulele covers and DIY videos for her YouTube channel.

Still reeling from a recent trauma, sixteen-year-old Dell is relieved when her mom suggests a stay at the family cabin. But the much-needed escape quickly turns into a disaster. The lake and woods are awash in trash left by a previous tenant. And worse, Dell’s mom has invited her boyfriend’s daughter to stay with them. Confident, irreverent Ivy presses all of Dell’s buttons–somehow making Dell’s shame and self-consciousness feel even more acute. Yet Dell is drawn to Ivy in a way she doesn’t fully understand. As Dell uncovers secrets in the wreckage of her family’s past–secrets hinted at through troubling dreams and strange apparitions–Ivy leads her toward thrilling, if confusing, revelations about her sexuality and identity.

Set during a humid summer in the mid-2000s, The Queen of Junk Island simmers with the intensity of a teenage girl navigating the suffocating expectations of everyone around her.

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And on TikTok

@alexandelljones sometimes you just gotta knit the book cover for your debut queer YA novel what can I say #knitting #knittersoftiktok #knittok #booktok #authorsoftiktok #queenofjunkisland #booklook #ootd ♬ original sound – Kira Kosarin

Filed Under: BookOfTheDay, YA Tagged With: bisexual, Canada, Canadian, debut, queer

How to Train Your Dad by Gary Paulsen

July 13, 2022 By achuka Leave a Comment

ACHUKA Book of the Day 13 Jul 2022

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“Funny, sure-handed, wise.” KIRKUS

Twelve-year-old Carl is fed up with his dad; he may be brilliant, but bin-diving for food, scouring through rubbish for ‘salvageable’ junk and wearing clothes fully sourced from garage sales is getting old. Increasingly worried by what his schoolmates will think – and encouraged by his riotous best friend – Carl decides to use a puppy-training pamphlet to ‘retrain’ his dad’s mindset . . . a crackpot experiment that produces some hilarious results!

Gary Paulsen died last October.
You can read the obituaries to him here:
https://www.achuka.co.uk/blog/gary-paulsen-obituaries/

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Filed Under: BookOfTheDay, Fiction

My Life at the Bottom: The Story of a Lonesome Axolotl by Linda Bondestam tr. A. A. Prime

July 12, 2022 By achuka Leave a Comment

ACHUKA Book of the Day 12 Jul 2o22

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“Each spread bursts with colour against dark suggestive backdrops. The suspense is skilfully built with the help of the drama in flicking through the pages. Underwater scenes and waves surge, stretching the imagination. The reader is invited to descend to the depths and be dragged along by the monster wave that rushes forwards over the pages of the book, bringing the terrified axolotl into the future where there’s a surprising outcome.” Nordic Cooperation

 

At the bottom of a lake in Mexico City, our axolotl narrator goes to underwater school, collects treasures tossed away by the big lugs on land, and has dance parties with tiger salamander friends. Life is good! But as the world gets hotter and hotter, the water gets murkier. Friends become harder to find, and the lonesome axolotl grows even lonelier. Until one day when, out of the blue, a colossal wave carries the axolotl into a surprising new future….
A story of catastrophe that bursts with life.

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Filed Under: BookOfTheDay, Illustrated, In Translation Tagged With: climate change, Finnish, Mexico, Nordic, translated, translation

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