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Kevin vs the Unicorns by Sarah McIntyre & Philip Reeve

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New book in the Roly-Poly Flying Pony series…

Max and his best friend Kevin, the only roly-poly flying pony in Bumbleford, decide to enter the Magical Pony Club Steeplechase. Kevin is not particularly keen, as the other participants are all unicorns, and everybody knows that unicorns are quite snobby. But biscuits are promised, and Kevin wants to make Max proud. As the competition heats up, our inseparable duo uncovers a conspiracy to steal the precious Periwinkle Cup. Max and Kevin will have to intervene to stop the thieves and retrieve the stolen trophy.

Shadowghast – An Eerie-on-Sea Mystery by Thomas Taylor

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The third book in this MG mystery series.

A creepy magician with a shadowy act. A legend that goes back to the dawn of time. Eerie-on-Sea just got stranger. And darker…

A mysterious stage magician has set up in the theatre at the end of the pier, with an act so hypnotic and strange that Herbie Lemon and his friend Violet Parma suspect dark forces are at work. Meanwhile, folk are disappearing from Eerie-on-Sea, and no one knows why. There is an Eerie legend that goes back to the dawn of time, about a creature made of darkness that devours the shadows of the living. But could the Shadowghast really have returned?

Mr Penguin and the Tomb of Doom: Book 4 by Alex T. Smith

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Follow Mr Penguin and his trusty sidekick Colin (the spider) as they head into the desert! When their good friend Edith is kidnapped, they’re on their most important mission yet. Can they survive a perilous train journey to the great pyramids? Will Mr Penguin complete the three impossible tasks – and get home in time for a fish finger sandwich …?

Find out in the fourth Mr Penguin book with plenty of slapstick humour, mystery and adventure.

Robin Hood 3: Jet Skis, Swamps & Smugglers by Robert Muchamore

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Robin and Marion are taking on the authorities again in the third action-packed adventure from international bestseller Robert Muchamore.

There’s a price on Robin’s head, one that has attracted a gang of ruthless mercenaries who are determined to track him down and hand him over to Guy Gisborne. So Robin is hiding out by the sea, but trouble has a way of finding him. Before long he is helping to rescue refugees and trying to avoid the attentions of Customs and Immigration officials. Then he and Marion discover a people-smuggling operation: desperate people brought into the country to work in slave-like conditions making cheap goods. It’s only a matter of time before the two of them are trying to find out who is behind it – and Robin is again making the headlines with spectacular raids on the rich and powerful.

Nightfall in New York – Taylor and Rose Secret Agents by Katherine Woodfine ill. Karl James Mountford

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The fourth and final adventure in the action-packed Taylor & Rose series by bestselling author, Katherine Woodfine.

Top secret agents, Sophie Taylor and Lil Rose have set sail to New York City on an elegant ocean liner, ready to face their enemies and settle old scores. These two brave friends will need all of their detective skills, courage and derring-do as they race against time to rescue a beloved friend …

The Tindims and the Floating Moon by Sally Gardner ill. Lydia Corry

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In the fourth adventure from mother-daughter writer-illustrator team, the Tindims can hardly see each other! A grumpy Gupper fog is swirling all over Rubbish Island and it won’t leave the Tindims alone. And now their world has turned upside down as Ethel B Dina thinks the moon has fallen into the sea! Scrunch me a teabag, how are they going to get out of this pickle?

Printed in dyslexia-friendly font with pictures on every page and perfect for the reluctant reader, the Tindims show keen young ecologists how to help protect our planet for the future.

Follow the illustrator on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lydiacorryillustration/
Look out for her latest picture book Mooncat And Me

Enola Holmes 2: The Case of the Left-Handed Lady by Nancy Springer

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Reintroducing London’s newest and greatest detective: Enola Holmes in this second exciting mystery (f.p. 2007) from the series that inspired the film starring Millie Bobby Brown.

Millie Bobby Brown Enola Holmes is on the run from the world’s most famous detective – her brother Sherlock Holmes. As she roams the dark and dangerous streets of London disguised as a doctor’s secretary called Miss Ivy Meshle, Enola is reminded more and more that her name backwards spells ‘alone’. But when she finds a concealed cache of dazzling charcoal drawings, she feels drawn to the girl who drew them. Only, that girl, young Lady Cecily, has mysteriously vanished. It’s up to Enola to find her, but false appearances can only last so long…

The Super-Secret Diary of Holly Hopkinson: This Is Going To Be a Fiasco – Holly Hopkinson Book 1 by Charlie P. Brooks ill. Katy Riddell

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These are the memoirs of ME, Holly Hopkinson, aged almost ten, except without any of the rubbish adults usually put in, thank you very much. My dad just lost his job, which means me and the rest of my family have to leave London and move to the middle of nowhere, which is a TOTAL DISASTER! There’s no Wi-Fi, the local kids are FERAL and there’s animal poo EVERYWHERE. But then for my birthday, my eccentric aunt gave me a magic pocket watch, which I can use to hypnotise and CONTROL people. I actually wanted a new phone, but I won’t complain because this new power is REALLY FUN and has led to the MOST unexpected things – including a visit to the QUEEN. Maybe the countryside isn’t so bad after all…

A charming domestic comedy, with a dash of magic, and the occasional moment of mayhem!
First in a new series.

A Girl Called Joy by Jenny Valentine

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ACHUKA Book of the Day Fri 23 Apr 2021
Sunday Times Children’s Book of the Week 16 May 2021

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“Over-flowing with good humour and a fount of lively suggestions when it comes to devising new imaginative games, Joy deserves her happy ending. She even manages to bring crusty old grandpa round just as so many other small fictional children have always managed to do with their grumpy elders from Heidi and Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm onwards.” Nick Tucker 5 STAR Bfk

Meet ten-year-old Joy Applebloom, a girl with a knack for finding the silver lining in even the darkest of rainclouds. After years of travelling the world with her parents and older sister, Claude (Claude rhymes with bored, which is just about right), Joy and her family move to suburbia – back to school, back to her grumpy, rule-obsessed grandad and back to normality. Joy soon finds her usual irrepressible positivity and zest for life waning, but when the powers that be threaten to pull down a mighty oak tree, Joy decides to fight back, and realizes that not all magic requires wands and spells, and perhaps the most important sort of magic is the power, resilience and courage that was there all along .

Jenny Valentine is an award-winning writer for Young Adults. Hello Now was a Sunday Times Children’s Book of the Week last year. Fire Colour One is simply one of my favourite YA novels of all time. Her first novel Finding Violet Park won the Guardian prize in 2007.

https://youtu.be/1YfhpAsPqfk

From a few years ago now, but still worth a watch: Jenny Valentine talks about some of her favourite children’s books set in London…