ACHUKAblog
Aaron Rowe walks in his sleep. He has dreams he can’t explain, and memories he can’t recover. Death doesn’t scare him – his new job with a funeral director may even be his salvation. But if he doesn’t discover the truth about his hidden past soon, he may fall asleep one night and never wake up.
“I have never read a book more gripping, nor more triumphantly alive…” John Marsden
Times Children’s Book of the Week 26.05.2108
“Likely to be the best children’s book you will read this year.” Alex O’Connell, The Times
When a man returns to his childhood home and visits the derelict tree house in which his father once chose to live, he recalls the past unravelling of his family, the unspoken strangeness of their lives, and the impact on his own adult life. Beautiful, sparse and insightful storytelling. Particularly suitable for struggling, reluctant or dyslexic readers aged 14+
About the illustrator: Emma Shoard
“In this dark and twisted thriller, nothing is what it seems; but Pollock’s greatest triumph is the portrait of a psyche at war with itself.” Guardian Review
“A gripping and gloriously treacherous thriller without guide ropes or safety nets. Leave all certainties by the door.” Frances Hardinge
David Almond says of this book, which chronicles a day in a boy’s life, based on the author’s own childhood memories: ‘I guess it embodies my constant astonishment at being alive in this beautiful, weird, extraordinary world.’
“A furious dystopian shoulder-shake” Guardian Review
After withdrawing from the EU, Britain is governed by a far-right nationalist party. Its flagship policy is the British Born edict, which allows only those born in Britain to live here. Everyone else is an “illegal”, subject to immediate arrest and deportation. But an election is coming soon, and all the polls point to a big loss for the ruling party.
A moving YA novel from one of the UK’s leading spoken-word poets. Steven Camden (aka PolarBear) writes, “When I was seventeen it felt like what I wanted was at war with what I was supposed to do. Pressure came from all sides and sent me inwards. I hope Marcie and Thor’s story shares my belief that passion will find a path and that our only duty is to the truth.”
“Set in a plush rehab facility, Dawson’s latest novel mingles pitch-perfect pop-culture references with the layers of lies and self-justification in which the addict’s mind wreathes itself; it’s compulsively readable, hilarious and filled with uncomfortable truths.”
Imagine Russell Williams, The Guardian
“The culmination of Sarah Govett’s gripping trilogy set in a climate-changed Britain in which only teenagers who pass a rigorous exam earn a place in the safety of the Territory… Dystopian YA is frequently cliche-prone, but Govett’s humorous, unflinching handling of plot and character, particularly her irrepressible protagonist, makes this feel vivid and fresh…”
Imogen Russell Williams, The Guardian
“Delivers powerful, finely crafted verse, each poem-chapter blending elegantly with the next. Xiomara, daughter of Dominican parents living in Harlem, is allowed almost no freedom by her devout mother, though she still attracts the attention – often unwanted, occasionally exciting – of men. The most important thing about Xiomara, though, is her unique voice, which she sets free in her poetry. Readers will yearn to finish this verse novel in a single sitting, but its echoes will remain with them much longer.”
Imogen Russell Williams, The Guardian
A debut title from an American author and the first part of a projected trilogy.
Worth a try by those with a taste for quasi-historical fantasy adventure.