ACHUKAblog
Told through court testimony, interrogation records and fragmented flashbacks, The Kingdom has the futuristic appeal of Westworld and the twists and turns of a true-crime thriller.
A gripping fantasy thriller that blends Disney-esque fairytale, android scif-fi and courtroom drama to wonderfully disorientating effect. Beneath the flash and sparkle, though, lies a subtle treatise on political and moral corruption.
published 1 Nov 2019
ACHUKA Book of the Day, Mon 21 Oct 2019
Gripping and humorous debut novel from Norway about friendship and family.
Shortlisted for the Italian equivalent of the Carnegie Medal, the Premio Strega in 2018.
The author is also a scriptwriter and puppeteer.
The illustrator is from Oslo. Her book Jungle Machine is published by Gecko Press.
Follow her on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/norabrech/
A page-turning and immersive YA novel in verse, telling the story of Lily who is mercilessly bullied at school and who turns to boxing in an attempt to fight back; a story of hope and resilience breaking through even the most difficult situations.
A child’s grandfather (‘Umpa’) teaches them to read and to follow the words, out the garden gate and all the way to the sea. Every day is a new adventure. They visit castles in the air, feast with friends and sail away on the rains. But then one day, Umpa isn’t there…
A moving tale from author-illustrator Victoria Turnbull speaks of the power of books to bring people together, and to help us remember loved ones when they’re no longer with us.
Turnbull writes on her website: “I love stories. I have always loved stories. However, it was a long time before I could see myself as a storyteller. I was born in York, in the North of England. My childhood was spent drawing and making things. I got in to writing later in life, on a masters degree in Children’s Book Illustration at the Cambridge School of Art. It was there I discovered picture books to be the most wonderful way in which to tell stories.”
In this Books for keeps feature she describes how she “combined my pencil drawings in Photoshop and printed them out onto watercolour paper. I used washes of pigment and linseed oil to build up colour before adding more detail in coloured pencil. I wanted this illustration to have a warm colour palette. My own childhood memories have a yellow colour cast like an old photograph. Yellow is the colour of summer; the colour of my grandfather’s favourite flowers; the colour of hope.”
“A mysterious, entrancing debut” GUARDIAN REVIEW
Margarita was born and raised in Lithuania. She received her BA in Graphic Arts from Vilnius Academy of Arts. In 2012, she became interested in picture books while studying in the UK as an exchange student. The following year she joined the MA Children’s Book Illustration course at Cambridge School of Art, which she completed with a Distinction in 2015.
Margarita has a twin sister, Alina Surnaite, who is also a children’s book author and illustrator.
A really beautiful, airy and minimalist soft-palette picture story from a talented Korean artist.
Inspired by the Kennington loop on London Undergorund’s Northern Line:
On her twelfth birthday Cecilia goes out with her parents and sister to celebrate with a visit to a museum. On their way Cecilia drops the marble that her sister gave her as a present, and running to pick it up she is taken away on an empty underground train into a dark and deep tunnel. The fun family outing becomes a much more serious mission when Cecilia finds that she and her marble have a very important role to play in freeing the inhabitants of the tunnels from the tyrannical rule of the Corvus. A truly inventive, clever and magical story about the power of friendship and the importance of self-belief by debut novelist Nadine Wild-Palmer.
A beautiful picture book about hope, change and the passing of time. Winner of the Caldecott Medal 2019.
On the highest rock of a tiny island at the edge of the world stands a lighthouse. From dusk to dawn, the lighthouse beams, sending its light out to sea, guiding the ships on their way. As the seasons pass and the waves rise and fall, outside, the wind blows; inside, the lighthouse keeper writes, and the rhythms of his life unfold. But change is on the horizon…
Times Children’s Book of the Week, 9 Feb 2019
When Semira discovers a diary written by Hen, a girl living over one hundred years ago, she finds the friend she has been desperately seeking. An unforgettable tale of friendship, hope, and finding the courage to fight for what you believe in.
Gill Lewis is the multi-award-winning and best-selling author of novels including Sky Hawk, White Dolphin, and A Story Like the Wind.