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You are here: Home / Archives for picks

The Best of 2017

December 4, 2017 By achuka 1 Comment

At the end of the year, children’s books enjoy the usual flurry of seasonal roundups, in which single reviewers make personal selections of titles to highlight.  It tends to be only adult titles that are focused on in those fascinating broadsheet features in which leading names pick out three books that they have read during the past twelve months and want to recommend to others…

I thought it time to do a similar thing on ACHUKA. Rather than do a personal roundup I have invited an eclectic mix of individuals from the world of children’s publishing to name up to 3 titles they would like to recommend to others. I’m very grateful to the contributors for their recommendations. 

 

AMANDA CRAIG novelist


My choice for ages 2-5 is Coralie Bickford-Smith’s The Worm And The Bird (Penguin). The author of The Fox And The Star has produced another exquisite, moving, funny and deceptively simple book, this time about noticing what matters in life, through the consciousness of a busy worm underground, and a bird.


For 7-10, Norse Myths by Kevin Crossley-Holland illustrated by Jeffrey Alan Love (Walker Studio) is a masterly re-telling of tales about the Viking gods, their battles with giants and their betrayal by the trickster Loki. Fabulous stuff, stunningly written and illustrated, essential to get down readers before they go onto Tolkien or Marvel super-heroes.


Thirdly, Katherine Rundell’s The Explorer (David Fickling) about four children lost in the Amazon jungle after their plane crashes is a classic adventure by a brilliantly imaginative, stylish and sympathetic author whose spirit of adventure infuses every page.


JAKE HOPE freelance consultant and current chair of YLG


The Lost Words by Robert MacFarlane and Jackie Morris (Penguin)… Sometimes serious, at other points playful, there’s a rich, lyrical quality to the language used to capture and conjure the wonders of the natural world.  Drawing inspiration and influence from words that were dropped from the Oxford Junior Dictionary in 2007, the book combines breathtaking illustrations that evoke the lithe majesty of nature and a clever arc around our shifting relationship with the environment, flora and fauna that surround us.


Night Shift by Debi Gliori (Hot Key)… Depth of emotion is given great expression in this extraordinary picture book that articulates through its art and spare, staccato sentences, what it is to feel depressed.  A massively important conversation-starter and a useful and clear way to explore depression and its far-reaching roots, enabling greater understanding.


Overheard in a Towerblock by Joseph Coelho (Otter-Barry Books)…Ambitious in theme, the everyday experiences of an urban childhood are made extraordinary here through astute observation and dexterity of word play – parental discord, peer pressure and the ever expanding sense of horizons and world-views extending outwards…  Each poem offers a childlike vantage point, but collated together there are profound comments about the nature of late childhood, its shift towards adulthood, responsibility and the continuing role it exerts in determining and defining our lives.


CAROLINE LAWRENCE novelist

The only YA/kids book I’ve read this year was a proof of Robert Muchamore’s Killer T (Hot Key books) -not due to be published till Autumn 2018 – which I found unputdownable.


DAVID BELBIN novelist & blogger


I loved David Almond’s World Book Day novelette Island (Hodder), which combines many of his long standing preocupations in an absorbing story set on Lindisfarne, a place I’m fond of.


Stephan Collishaw’s The Song of the Stork (Legend Press) wasn’t promoted as a YA novel but is. Told from the point of view of a fifteen year old Jewish refugee during the second world war, it’s a gripping, harrowing, beautifully written tale.


Jonathan Coe’s first children’s book The Broken Mirror (Unbound) is a superbly illustrated fable that couldn’t be more relevant to our times.


KEREN DAVID novelist


Star by Star by Sheena Wilkinson (Little Island)… A perfectly pitched historical fiction YA, set in Ireland in 1917, when war and flu made people fear the world was ending. A plucky heroine, Stella tries to help the people around her.


Troublemakers by Catherine Barter (Andersen Press)… Contemporary YA with people you believe in. Set in Hackney where a bomber is causing panic, this debut novel is about the political and the personal.


Moonrise by Sarah Crossan (Bloomsbury)… Yet again, Crossan shows her understanding of people’s innermost emotions, telling a story in verse that gets right under your skin.


EMILY DRABBLE former co-editor of the Guardian children’s books site, now with Booktrust


Danny McGee Drinks the Sea by Andy Stanton and illustrated by Neal Layton (Hachette)… I don’t think a picture book has ever made me laugh this much (the scene when you find out where Andy is writing the book from is just too much!) and it’s just so gorgeous to read out loud.


Cressida Cowell’s The Wizards of Once (Hachette)… I was almost scared to read it because of the brilliance of How To Train  Your Dragon. But it’s totally fabulous, magical and inspiring.


Illegal by Eoin Colfer, Andrew Donkin and illustrated by Giovanni Rigano (Hachette)… A hugely important book, as well as a totally engrossing, gripping read.


NINA DOUGLAS publicist


I’ll begin with a truly magical debut. Nevermoor; The Trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend (Hachette) is the new MG fantasy I’ve been waiting for. A cursed child, a mysterious stranger offering entrance to a magical new world full of wonder (wunder), curious and brilliant new friends (both human and very much not) and desperately frightening foes… and a set of intense magical trials that will secure a home, a future and a new identity for our heroine, if she can just work out what her true power might be. I can’t wait for book 2.


The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas (Walker Books) is likely to be in a lot of books of the year lists; a YA debut that truly crosses over, and is already mid-production in its film release, slated for 2018.  Sadly all too topical, urgent and entirely necessary, Starr’s story is one with no easy answers, and one that works to be funny, sweet and incisive, alongside being gut-punchingly painful to read. The Hate U Give takes the shock, the pain, the outrage, the mechanics of such a case (of police brutality), and weaves them into something that will ensure the reader is keen to listen and learn more; it should be required reading.


The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman (Random House/David Fickling) … a book I’ve been waiting for, alongside half of the literary world, for years, and oh was it worth it. Moving from a familiar world of daemons (one of literature’s best inventions) colleges and Oxford life, but soon with a turn to the dark and violent and with a nod to contemporary woes (education, climate, the state), La Belle Sauvage is not an easy book to sum up in a sentence or two, but is an epic adventure to be savoured. (And the audio with Michael Sheen is a real treat, too).


ZOE TOFT blogger ‘Playing by the book’


Good Night Sleep Tight: Eleven-and-a-half Good Night Stories with Fox and Rabbit by Kristina Andres (Gecko Press)
You think nothing can beat Lobel’s Frog and Toad stories for charm and delight and utter wonderfulness? Think again. Andres’ Fox and Rabbit will win your heart and  leave you feeling like you’ve had the warmest hug ever. Quirky, charismatic and hugely entertaining, these bedtime stories should become part of everyone’s childhood.


The Empty Grave by Jonathan Stroud (Random House)… The weight of such expectation hangs on the final book of any much loved series, but The Empty Grave is more than a worthy finale for the fabulous Lockwood & Co stories. Funny as ever, packed with rich characterization and breath-holding developments, The Empty Grave not only answers important questions from earlier in the series but also delivers a deeply satisfying new scary storyline to salivate over.


Piglettes by Clementine Beauvais (Pushkin) … I’m also forever on the look-out for sharp, funny, clever, bold, imaginative and original books that will help my girls (and me!) navigate the hard times. This book is so brilliant on all these fronts, boldly exploring body image, female friendship, bravery and identity, all with honesty, sensitivity and real heart.


ADELE GERAS novelist


Mrs Noah’s Pockets by Jackie Morris Otter-Barry Books)… Jackie Morris in the writer’s spot this time with amazing illustrations by James Mayhew. It’s an original take on the Bible story and Mayhew’s art sings off the page and is very different from his previous work. A terrific present.


My second children’s book of the year is Fairy Tales by Hilary McKay (Macmillan) with illustrations (very lovely!) by Sarah Gibb. It’s characteristically brilliantly written, witty, wise and a must for anyone who loves these stories.


NICKY POTTER publicist


Glenda Millard’s The Stars at Oktober Bend (Old Barn Books)is a beautifully told story of forgiveness and redemption. Lyrical and lingering.


Laurence Anholt’s The Hypnotist (Random House) is a cleverly constructed novel with the kind of larger than life characters that Dickens could have created. But this fast paced story is set in 1960s America where there is an irrational hatred of people of colour. It’s a compelling read with important messages for today’s readers.


The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman (Random House/David Fickling)… I prefer to recommend books that not everyone else will pick but this is my favourite book of the (21st)  century.  I remember being transported into another universe when I heard  Philip Pullman introduce Lyra at a Federation of Children’s Book Conference in Plymouth in a different century.  I’ve waited too long to hear her story. … and am savouring every moment.  Master story telling, difficult questions to ponder and beautifully illustrated by Chris Wormell.  A great adaption on BBC Radio 4 but nothing beats the book.


LINDA NEWBERY novelist


In THORNHILL (David Fickling), words and illustrations, both by Pam Smy, combine with brilliant and dramatic effect. Alternating stories of two lonely girls, Mary in the past through the words of her diary, Ella in wordless illustrations, come together with eerie inevitability.


The Lost Words by Robert MacFarlane and Jackie Morris (Penguin) is a timely treasure of a book – for all ages.  Macfarlane’s clever, evocative ‘spells’ and Jackie Morris’s gorgeous illustrations of creatures and settings invite the reader to wonder at the natural world, and to properly look at the beauties around us.


Another double-act: Anthony McGowan and Joanna Nadin have created endearing characters, Matt and Sophia, in alternating viewpoints. Everybody Hurts (Little Brown) is a teen romance that’s at once crude and tender, harsh and poignant, always witty and engaging.


MICHELLE HARRISON novelist


Squishy McFluff – Supermarket Sweep by Pip Jones (Faber)… I adore this cleverly written, rhyming series about Ava and her invisible cat, Squishy McFluff, charmingly illustrated by Ella Okstad. Ava and Squish don’t want to go shopping at first, but then discover it’s a lot of fun when they start sneaking all sorts of goodies into the trolley. The checkout assistant’s reaction to it all had me in fits of laughter.


A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness and Siobhan Dowd (Walker Books)… I wasn’t convinced I’d fall for this book the way everyone else appeared to. Firstly, the idea of ‘monsters’ didn’t excite me and, when realising it deals with a boy whose mother has cancer I was even more reluctant, having lost my own mum and stepdad to the disease this year. I was wrong. It’s deep and wise, and cathartic and affecting.


The Haunting by Alex Bell (Little Tiger Press)… I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve read by this author, but The Haunting tips the balance as my favourite. With witch bottles, a haunted pub made from the timber of a wrecked ship, the Boscastle witchcraft museum (a real place), and an adorable dog, it has all the ingredients for a chilling YA horror. Refreshingly, the protagonist is a wheelchair user. I think Alex Bell is a talent to watch.


JOELLE TAYLOR Poet & Performer


Rising Stars (Otter-Barry Books)… A vital and pioneering poetry anthology by diverse young writers for diverse readers, aimed at the bridge year between primary and secondary school. The poets included are both BAME and LGBTQI, and have created a volume in which school age readers can finally see their own selves. Soulful, inspiring and uplifting.


The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman (Random House/David Fickling)… The much awaited prequel to the His Dark Materials anthology, this book follows the story of the beginnings of protagonist Lara. What always marks out Pullman’s work is his vivid breadth of imagination coupled with circuitous philosophies, involving the meaning of religion, of God and the base nature of humanity.


Offside by Hollie McNish and Sabrina Mahfouz (Bloomsbury)… Like the Pullman novel, Offside is not exactly a YA book, but a playscript appropriate to the age group which examines the true story of the banning of women in football in the early 20th century. An easy and energising read it follows the story of two characters Lily and Carrie (both real women from footballing history). Offside is a raucous feminist tumble from two of the strongest voices in contemporary UK live literature.


CYNTHIA LEITICH SMITH novelist


Fall in Line, Holden! by debut Navajo author-illustrator Daniel Vandever (Salina Bookshelf) is remarkable for its bold, engaging illustrations and powerful celebration of a young boy’s imagination. The picture book is fully and authentically grounded in his culture while also innovating within it. An outstanding, groundbreaking example of Native voice and vision, channeled through a young hero that Indigenous kids—and, for that matter, every kid—will cheer.


With heart and humor, Will Alexander’s middle grade novel, A Properly Unhaunted Place (Margaret K. McElderry), centers a fierce, formidable girl in a high-stakes, supernatural story infused with family and friendship. It’s brilliantly crafted, emotionally resonant, and an irresistible page-turner. The lingering themes (and metaphor) will haunt young readers—in the best of ways—long after the last page.


Cory Putnam’s Oakes’ magically girl-empowered YA novel, Witchtown (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) is a romantic, paranormal story steeped in mystery, intrigue and betrayal. Her seemingly effortless, conversational prose style is fueled by seamless worldbuilding and a compelling feminist character arc. A perfect teen read for a year in which women’s voices are rising in strength and number!


COLIN WEST poet, illustrator


My favourite children’s book of the year is Elli Woollard’s retelling of Kipling’s Just So Stories (Macmillan’s Children’s Books). She has turned these tales into wonderfully witty verses, and every page is a brilliantly crafted colourful work of art by Marta Altés. The book even smells great!


I also very much like Karl Newson’s large, square format book, Here Comes the Sun, with atmospheric and charming pictures by Miggy Blanco (Nosy Crow). In simple, repetitive rhyme, it tells of loveable Owl’s busy flight extinguishing stars one by one. He’s busy as he passes various sleepy creatures until the sun appears and the roles are reversed. It’s a warm and magical combination of words and pictures.


My third choice, for its pure sense of nonsense is Hamster Sitter Wanted (Maverick Arts Publishing). A family of fluffy hamsters are in need of a hamster sitter when their older cousins go off on various adventures. It’s all very humorously depicted by Hannah Marks with lots of amusing detail in her illustrations and a short, funny (sometimes punny) text by Tracy Gunaratnam. All good fun!


CYNTHIA COTTEN novelist, poet


I loved Deborah Heiligman’s Vincent And The – The Van Gogh Brothers (Henry Holt), about the amazing relationship between the two.  It’s based on more than 600 letters Vincent wrote to Theo. The research is stellar.  And Ms. Heiligman’s writing is gorgeous.


Second: The Incredible Magic Of Being by Kathryn Erskine (Scholastic).  The narration by Julian, a science enthusiast and “uni-sensor” who can sense connections and magic in the universe, is compelling and humorous.  And the way he finally faces his biggest fear in order to save his sister is moving without being maudlin.


And third–a picture book I just discovered the other day, with the wonderful title of Tyrannocaurus Rex vs Edna, The Very First Chicken by Douglas Rees, illustrated by Jed Henry.  It’s the first picture book in quite a while that made me laugh out loud–guffaw, really–and seek out my husband, saying, “Listen to this.” The illustrations in this are a hoot, and the premise is one that kids are going to love.


PAUL BLACK PR director


The Wolf, The Duck and The Mouse by Mac Barnett and illustrated by Jon Klassen (Walker Books)…Wonderfully subversive story, with Jon Klassen’s unique, atmospheric illustration combine to give a sense of a classic, but with a contemporary feel.


Turtles All the Way Down by John Green Penguin)…I absolutely sped through this in a matter of days, the story races along and maintains a light feeling whilst dealing with some very deep and pressing issues sensitively and with great feeling.


A Skinful of Shadows by Frances Hardinge… I have to confess, The Lie Tree was not my cup of tea, so approached this with caution, but loved it. It felt like a rip-roaring adventure whilst also filling in patchy bits of my history knowledge – couldn’t put it down!


BEVERLEY NAIDOO novelist


In Welcome to Nowhere by Elizabeth Laird (Macmillan), 12 year old Omar and his family are caught in Syria’s vicious war and flee with little more than their lives. Laird’s gift is to make the political personal while Lucy Eldridge’s illustrations require deep breaths.


Patrice Lawrence’s Indigo Donut (Hachette) is a gripping urban novel, both tender and fierce, by a superb storyteller who knows how to dig deep into the psyche of her main characters.


The writers in Amnesty International’s Here I Stand: Stories that Speak for Freedom< throw down their gauntlets to populism. How can I forget Sita Brahmachari’s tower-block child who is so protective of her mother, written before Grenfell?  Or Jackie Kay’s refugee who rides the buses to keep warm in Glasgow’s snow? And more…


Bottle of Happiness by Pippa Goodhart, vividly illustrated by Ehsan Abdollahi (Tiny Owl) is the stuff of fable and fantasy, inviting children to engage in philosophy.


ANTHONY MCGOWAN novelist

My favourite children’s book from 2017 is Mind the Gap by Phil Earle (Barrington Stoke). Earle’s books always feel utterly ‘true’, and that truth can be gruelling or funny. Mind the Gap has its darker moments, but ultimately it’s an uplifting tale of redemption.  Published by Barrington Stoke, who specialise in books for reluctant readers and those with dyslexia, it’s an ‘easy’ read in one way, but has real depth.


Faye Bird’s What I Couldn’t Tell You (Usborne) is a rich and dark piece of writing – YA at its best. It deals with serious issues – selective mutism, a teenager in a coma, love, violence – but the issues never get in the way of the superb storytelling. It came out last year, but I’ve just got round to it, and I can’t recommend it strongly enough.


For younger readers, my book of the year is Danny McGee Drinks the Sea by Andy Stanton and illustrated by Neal Layton (Hachette). A funny, clever, surreal adventure, told in wonderfully rhythmic verse.


CHARLOTTE HACKING CLPE


Oi Cat! By Kes Gray and Jim Field (Hodder)…The ‘Oi’ series (Oi Frog, Oi Dog, Oi Cat) never tires or feels forced. Kes Gray’s clever, highly sophisticated wordplay immediately engages the reader in the fun and patterns of language. Jim Field’s captivating illustrations bring the characters to life and add to the depth of the humour, making this a text that readers of all ages will enjoy and want to read again and again.


The Poet’s Dog by Patricia MacLachlan, illustrations by Kenard Pak (Pushkin Press)…An expertly crafted and emotional narrative; a beautiful tale of love, loss and a powerful underlying message of the sophistication of the art of poetry. Reading this was like a cup of hot chocolate on a winter’s day; warm, rich and intensely satisfying. I read this in one sitting, but I know it’s a book I’ll return to again and again.


Straight Outta Crongton by Alex Wheatle (Atom Books)… A hugely powerful and compelling read further exploring the world of Crongton first introduced in Liccle Bit and Crongton Nights. The richness and rhythms of the language carry the reader along on the emotional journeys the characters share. The subject matter is real and expertly handled, not shying away from the truths experienced by many. Essential YA reading.


ELIZABETH ‘Betsy’ BIRD blogger & children’s librarian, Illinois


Crown by Derrick D. Barnes, ill. Gordon C. James (Surrey Books)… It is rare that a book exemplifies this much pure uncut strut, spunk, and liquid poetry as what you’ll find here. Barnes and James take a trip to the barbershop and with a combination of thick paints and seemingly effortless storytelling transform what could be interpreted as a mundane experience into narrative gold.


Wolf In the Snow by Matthew Cordell (Feiwel & Friends)… Near wordless watercolors accentuate the differences between a little girl caught in a snowstorm and the pack of wild wolves she encounters. Textless eloquence and gentle imagery show young readers that even children can do much to move beyond differences towards a common good.


Orphan Island by Laurel Snyder (Walden Pond Press)… Shocking in its simplicity, on this island no one knows where they’re from or where they’ll go when they leave. Nine children must deal with the eldest’s efforts to resist change, confronting notions of faith, memory, and narcissism in the face of the unknown.


CLARE PEARSON Agent


Moonrise by Sarah Crossan (Bloomsbury)… Sarah Crossan’s brilliant novels have brought narrative free-verse to a new generation of young adult readers. When you read her books the space around the words lets the story expand in your mind – fabulous!


The Land of Neverendings by Kate Saunders (Faber)… An uplifting middle-grade story that is also spot-on in its treatment of bereavement. My nine year-old self would have loved it.


Overheard in a Towerblock by Joseph Coelho (Otter-Barry Books)… A stunning – and stunningly illustrated by Kate Milner – poetry collection. You can dip in and out of it (‘City Kids’ is my current favourite) but there is also a narrative vein running through it. It is powerful and atmospheric, and has true ‘crossover’ appeal.


HILARY MCKAY novelist


The Lost Words by Robert MacFarlane and Jackie Morris (Penguin)… I’ve bought this book four times now, and I still don’t own a copy. The youngest person I’ve given it to is five, and the oldest eighty three. It’s beauty and poetry spanned that lifelong age gap as effortlessly as a rainbow spans a landscape. (I do know the origin of the title, but I have to say, in this book there are no lost words.)


The Explorer by Katherine Rundell (David Fickling)… The Explorer feels timeless already, a classic adventure story, detailed, witty and with every character alive. However, what really sets it apart for me is the joie de vivre that comes leaping from the pages. It’s infectious, and so I loved it.


Tangleweed and Brine, Deirdre Sullivan (Little Island)… These fairy tale retellings are remarkable: they stop you in your tracks. They make you exclaim ‘What! What did I just read?’ I turned the pages backwards as often as I turned them forwards. The inky woodcut style drawings are an added bonus from Karen Vaughan. They exactly match the text, dark and light, astonishing, flowing. (The one in ‘Doing Well’ caught my heart.)


PIERS TORDAY novelist


The Guggenheim Mystery by Robin Stevens (Penguin)… Not only a wonderful, pitch perfect follow up to the Siobahn Dowd’s original London Eye, but a glorious mystery in its own right, diverse, accessible, moving and fiendishly impossible to predict.


Who Let the Gods Out? by Maz Evans (Chicken House)… Maz is fast becoming this generation’s Douglas Adams with her ability to effortlessly mix deep erudition and knowledge with outrageous, silly, classically British humour. A very, very funny and enthralling adventure about the Greek gods, which children adore.


The Loneliest Girl in the Universe by Lauren James (Walker Books)… I was gripped by this original YA thriller, which is not only powered by tremendous scientific knowledge, but first class storytelling. Ice sharp twists, dark romance and sci-fi eeriness to keep you turning the pages – a movie must be on the cards soon.


CHRIS MOORE Host of #YATakeover and member of YAfictionados


Laurence Anholt’s The Hypnotist (Random House) has all the makings of a modern-day classic. With issues as relevant now as they were in the 1960s when the story is set, the powerful writing, expertly-crafted characters and messages of racial inequality and love make this one of the most impactful books you’ll read this year.


The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas (Walker Books) explores the racial injustice around African-American lives; a theme that echoes the Black Lives Matter movement and the current political climate in America. Told from sixteen-year-old Starr’s viewpoint, it offers cut-to-the-bone writing, memorable characterisation and layered storytelling that will touch and affect all that read it.
 
Will Hill’s After the Fire (Usborne) is a powerful contribution to the YA canon. Protagonist Moonbeam must decide between the lies she has been fed her whole life by Father John and the contrasting reality she is now faced with in the outside world. Hill’s story will have you devouring the words right to the last page.

MICHAEL THORN

The O’Hara sisters’  (Natalia & Lauren) debut picture book Hortense And The Shadow (Penguin) is the illustrated highlight of the year for me. The book beguiled me first at a spring & summer highlights event and when I eventually had a finished copy in my hand I was even more in its thrall.  It’s a very special picture book indeed and I can’t wait to see what the sisters produce next.
 
Saint Death by Marcus Sedgwick (Hachette) is a devastating thriller set on the Mexican/US border. Superbly realised and containing one of the best, sustained gambling scenes I’ve ever read. Extremely cinematic and moving book.
 
My third pick of the year is for a collection rather than an individual title. Jim At The Corner by Eleanor Farjeon is one of the most recent releases in The New York Review Children’s Collection. These collectible, keepable hardbacks in distinctive red cloth spines will make bibliophiles of all those who receive them. 

Filed Under: Blog, Books Tagged With: best, picks, year

One Man’s Faves – Educator & Blogger Simon Smith Chooses His Picture Books of the Year

November 23, 2017 By achuka Leave a Comment

It’s getting to that time of year. Here is part 1 of my favourite picturebooks released in 2017. Part 2 next week. #FavePicturebooks2017. Laughter, tears, emotion. Just fab books. pic.twitter.com/1prsQtWfff

— Simon Smith (@smithsmm) November 18, 2017

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Wilde Awards: The best children’s books of 2016

November 24, 2016 By achuka Leave a Comment

This ‘award’ list is extensive and definitely worth a look:

newsandobserverFor 30 years Susie Wilde has been reviewing children’s books for various media (including her monthly column in this section), hosting workshops for teachers and would-be writers of children’s books, working with students in classrooms, libraries and community centers. For the past 20 years, she has presented her Wilde Awards, which recognizes the diversity of voice, characters and plots in 2016’s best picture books and novels. The list is a good place to start when you’re considering books as gifts this holiday season. Here is a sample of her suggestions.

The 20th annual Wilde Awards recognizes the diversity of voice, characters and plots in 2016’s best picture books and novels.

via Wilde Awards: The best children’s books of 2016 | News & Observer.

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The best new children’s books for the summer | The Guardian

July 30, 2016 By achuka Leave a Comment

guardiansmall

picked by Imogen Russell Williams

via The best new children’s books for the summer | Books | The Guardian.

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The Most Anticipated Children’s and YA Books of Fall 2016

July 29, 2016 By achuka Leave a Comment

Drawn from the pages of PW’s Fall Children’s Announcements issue, here are our editors’ picks for the most notable and hotly awaited titles for children and teens out this fall. (Click here for PW’s list of most anticipated fall adult books.)

Here are the junior fiction pics

Middle Grade

Ashes by Laurie Halse Anderson (Atheneum/Dlouhy, Oct.) – Anderson brings her Revolution War–era Seeds of America trilogy to a close as Isobel, a onetime slave, is finally reunited with her younger sister, Ruth. Much remains for the sisters to resolve, however, and Anderson provides a visceral account of the hardships, conflicting loyalties, triumphs, and losses that defined the birth of the nation.

 

The Best Man by Richard Peck (Dial, Sept.) – In his first book in three years, Newbery Medalist Peck combines the close-knit family stories he’s known for with a thoroughly modern setting as he introduces Archer Magill, a boy learning what kind of person he wants to be. Peck mixes media circuses, gay rights, budding friendships, and other topics with a featherlight sense of humor and a deep understanding of human character.

 

Ghosts by Raina Telgemeier (Graphix, Sept.) – Sisters Cat and Maya face the prospect of imminent loss as their family moves to a foggy, coastal California town, where the sea air may help Maya’s cystic fibrosis. Incisive dialogue and telegraphic comics paint a vivid picture of the sometimes uneasy dynamic between the sisters, as well as their growing awareness of mortality once they discover that the town is home to some very real ghosts.

 

The Inquisitor’s Tale: Or, the Three Magical Children and Their Holy Dog by Adam Gidwitz, illus. by Hatem Aly (Dutton, Sept.) – Gidwitz, author of the bestselling Grimm trilogy, shifts from fairy tales to the illuminated manuscripts and oral storytelling traditions of 13th-century Europe in a dazzlingly inventive story about three (possibly miracle-working) children and one (possibly reincarnated) dog, told in multiple voices à la The Canterbury Tales.

 

The Littlest Bigfoot by Jennifer Weiner, (S&S, Sept.) – Fitting in isn’t easy, and that’s true whether you’re human or a not-so-mythical Bigfoot. Weiner, the bestselling author of numerous books for adults including Good in Bed and In Her Shoes, makes her children’s book debut with an entertaining yet empathetic story of cross-species friendship set at a boarding school in the country.

 
for Picture Book and YA picks visit  The Most Anticipated Children’s and YA Books of Fall 2016.

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All they could ever want – Nicolette Jones’ end of year roundup for The Sunday Times

December 9, 2015 By achuka Leave a Comment

ACHUKA usually sees eye to eye with Nicolette Jones when it comes to book recommendations and this is especially so in her final two picks for 11+

sundaytimes

Finally, two further outstanding YA books: Jenny Valentine’s wise, brilliantly plotted Fire Colour One (HarperCollins £6.99), the story of a troubled girl, her unconventional best friend, a father-daughter relationship and machinations about inheriting a valuable art collection; and Jon Walter’s morally complex narrative of a slave during the American Civil War, My Name’s Not Friday (David Fickling £12.99).

via All they could ever want | The Sunday Times.

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What’s Selling at Inklings Bookshop

September 26, 2015 By achuka Leave a Comment

amongst this bookseller’s recommendations from the latest crop of children’s and YA titles:

pwlogoA book that I am really looking forward to is The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness. I absolutely cannot wait to share it with school librarians, teenagers, their parents, and people my age – I’m 34 – who like to read YA. It’s the perfect send-up of fantasy and paranormal genres, and focuses on normal kids who are surrounded by supernatural things going on around them, but still have to cope with the everyday issues of being a teenager. Ness is one of those authors who can be funny and poignant at the same time, and this is a book that is both tongue-in-cheek and sincere. It’s a novel I think everyone will enjoy – we’ve ordered it in quantity.

via What’s Selling at Inklings Bookshop.

Filed Under: Blog, Books Tagged With: picks, recoemmendations

ACHUKA’s Recommendations Explained

February 3, 2015 By achuka Leave a Comment

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ACHUKA’s Recommendations Explained

We’ll be shortly adding our Picks pages back and, as announced at the end of last year, these will revert to a fixed focus on children’s and YA books.

There will be a number of ways in which books can get a mention and be covered on ACHUKA, so here’s a breakdown and a rationale:

Our regularly updated Picks Pages are to be thought of like a bookshop’s special display tables.

These are the books we want to bring to your attention.

They are not books we have necessarily read, and in some cases they may be books we haven’t even been sent for review (they may have come to our attention via a catalogue or when browsing in an actual bookshop or by some other promotional means), but they are books which, whether it be by virtue of their authors, their packaging or their resumes, we feel are worthy of prominent display.

The new ACHUKA listings will consist of:

  • Picture Books
  • Fiction
  • Non-Fiction
  • Poetry & Retellings
  • Classics & Reissues
  • Young Adult

with occasional specially themed feature listings.

Books can also get a mention on the blog, sometimes just in passing, but more particularly with one of the following two tags:

Worth A Look
How About?

Worth A Look – means we have an instinct, based on years of experience in reviewing and appraising children’s books, that books so marked will at least be worthy of consideration. The recommendation will not have been based on any direct reading or necessarily any physical contact with the book.

How About? – on the other hand a book tagged with How About? will be one that we have received for review, one we have handled and examined, and at least dipped into.

How About? is therefore a stronger recommendation than Worth A Look.

It is probable that there will be some overlap between books tagged in either of these ways, and with books on our Picks pages.

 

Lastly a book can be reviewed in full, and will then be listed in ACHUKAreviews.

To appear in ACHUKAreviews a copy of the book must be sent in to ACHUKA, and a full mailing address can be obtained by filling out the Contact form.

 

 

Filed Under: Blog, Books Tagged With: categories, explained, picks, recommendations

The best YA books of 2015 – Telegraph

January 13, 2015 By achuka Leave a Comment

Martin Chilton writes in the Telegraph:

2015 promises to be another exciting year in young adult fiction after a great year of YA books in 2014, a period that included the UK’s first YA conference, curated by Children’s Laureate Malorie Blackman. Sales of young adult fiction in the UK increased in value by 25 per cent in the first three quarters of 2014. This guide to the best YA books will be updated weekly.

His first pick is:

CAPTIVE BY AJ GRAINGER (SIMON AND SCHUSTER)

There is a grim reality to Captive, the debut YA thriller by AJ Grainger, partly because it involves a terrorist (eco-terrorist) incident in Paris, where there is an assassination attempt on the British Prime Minister. Back in London, some time later, the same group manage to kidnap his 16-year-old daughter Robyn Elizabeth Knollys-Green, who tells the story of how this drama unfolds.

Some of the best moments are when we are shown Robyn’s sense of bewilderment at her tricky family life and having to live in the public eye. The drama is initially taut (after she is kidnapped) but begins to stretch credibility, and there is a sense that the story is striving too hard for the “cinematic” drama marketed in the promotional blurb. The saddest message of the book, however, is when Robyn says: “The world is not safe. I know that now and I can’t unknow it.”

    • The 45 best YA books of 2014

via The best YA books of 2015 – Telegraph.

Filed Under: Blog, Books Tagged With: picks, review, reviews, teen, YA

New York Public Library’s 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing 2014

December 18, 2014 By achuka Leave a Comment

New York Public Library

Really slick visual representation, with a filtering panel at the side.
Recommended.

via NYPL | Children's Books 2014.

Filed Under: Blog, Books Tagged With: best books, library, New York, picks, roundup

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