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Zo and the Forest of Secrets by Alake Pilgrim

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When Zo decides to run away from home, she isn’t scared; after all, she knows the island like the back of her hand. But, as she journeys through the once-familiar forest, terrifying creatures and warped visions begin to emerge. With a beast on her heels and a lost boy thrown into her path, could a mysterious abandoned facility hold answers? Zo must unravel the secrets of the forest before she is lost in them forever…

Blake Pilgrim’s stories have twice won the regional prize for the Americas in the Commonwealth Short Story Competition. They have been published by The Center for Fiction in New York, the Small Axe Journal, and in the groundbreaking international anthology New Daughters of Africa, edited by Margaret Busby (Myriad Editions and HarperCollins).

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The Animal Lighthouse by Anthony Burt ill. Ciara Flood

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Brought up by a wonderful group of animals on a hidden island somewhere deep in the Caribbean, Jim knows no other life or who his real parents are. He washed up on the island as a baby in a barrel of rum and treasure, and has been helping run its special lighthouse with the animals ever since. But now, trouble is brewing …

Someone, or something, has stolen the lighthouse bulb filaments. If Jim, Oscar and the rest of the animals can’t get the lighthouse beams working again, the hidden island will no longer be a secret. And with a pirate ship on the horizon, danger is about to smash their tranquil island apart …

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Kemosha of the Caribbean by Alex Wheatle

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Times Children’s Book of the Week 15 Jan 2022

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“Wheatle has a big heart, an easy style and natural empathy and doesn’t compromise on the grim details as he introduces us to a little taught period of history through a girl with many of the same dreams as today’s teenagers.” The Times

Kemosha and her brother have lived their whole lives in slavery. Sold away to work in lawless Port Royal, Kemosha takes her chance to escape brutal treatment. With fortune on her side, Kemosha befriends Ravenhide, a man with a mysterious past who teaches her the art of swordfighting, and introduces her to the beautiful runaway Isabella. Yet Kemosha’s greatest test yet is upon the deck of the Satisfaction: the notorious Captain Morgan’s ship. The Captain’s next adventure on the high seas could be the making of Kemosha – and her one chance to earn enough pieces of eight to buy the freedom of her brother…

Read this Books for Keeps interview with the author.

Stars With Flaming Tails by Valerie Bloom ill. Ken Wilson-Max

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ACHUKA Book of the Day 16 Feb 2021
Shortlisted for 2022 CLiPPA Award

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Valerie Bloom is one of ACHUKA’s favourite poets and this is her first new solo collection for several years. Bold black illustrations from Ken Wilson-Max throughout.

Organised into poems about Family And Friends, Fun With Forms, Our World, and Unbelievable.

Bloom is a poet who never seems short of material. She can write about anything. And there are poems here about welcoming a new child, pancakes, washing and tidying, hair combing, extreme weather, a volcano, a forest, dangerous animals, a dissatisfied nose, the colour of dreams and many more (in excess of 60 altogether).

The section giving examples of different poetic forms (Echo Verse, Rondel, Skeltonic Verse etc.) makes this an invaluable collection for teachers and young writers looking to experiment.  And, more generally, Bloom’s mastery of rhythm and rhyme and the natural way in which she slips from the concrete to the figurative, will have readers spellbound.

Very highly recommended.

When Life Gives You Mangoes by Kereen Getten

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ACHUKA Book of the Day 21 Dec 2020
Sunday Times Children’s Book of the Week 18 Oct 2020

A wonderful evocation of a Caribbean island childhood and a gripping mystery debut with a jaw-dropping twist…

Nothing much happens in Sycamore, the small village where Clara lives – at least, that’s how it looks. She loves eating ripe mangoes fallen from trees, running outside in the rainy season and escaping to her secret hideout with her best friend Gaynah. There’s only one problem – she can’t remember anything that happened last summer. When a quirky girl called Rudy arrives from England, everything starts to change. Gaynah stops acting like a best friend, while Rudy and Clara roam across the island and uncover an old family secret. As the summer reaches its peak and the island storms begin, Clara’s memory starts to return and she must finally face the truth of what happened last year.

The jacket design is by Bex Glendining.
Follow her on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lgions/