Tag: lisathompson

“Which books should I add to my Christmas list, Miss?”

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Yesterday, I shared 10 recommendations for emerging chapter book readers – check it out if you’re after recommendations for 6+ years! Today I’m sharing books that I’ve shared with the kids in my class, school and life! Today is the turn of those who are confidently reading longer chapter books – longer chapter books that are BLOODY BRILLIANT.

None of these books will come as a surprise to ANYONE who knows me, but nevertheless. I think one of the best books you can buy kids is a book. These recommendations are books I’ve loved, but also books that my kids have wholeheartedly taken under their wing!

2018 mg recs

(I know right, SHOCKERS)

Now, some of these are book 1 in a series that I would recommend the whole series of… but if I’d put ALL of the books in the series of, I would have been here forever!

The House with Chicken Legs – Sophie Anderson

The Polar Bear Explorer’s Club series – Alex Bell

A Place Called Perfect series – Helena Duggan

Armistice Runner – Tom Palmer

The Light Jar – Lisa Thompson

Tilly and the Bookwanderers – Anna James

The Way Past Winter – Kiran Milwood Hargrave

Snowglobe – Amy Wilson

The Nowhere Emporium series – Ross Mackenzie

Brightstorm – Vashti Hardy

The Storm Keeper’s Island – Catherine Doyle

Who Let The Gods Out series by Maz Evans (Simply the Quest review, Beyond the Odyssey review)

And there you have it… my second lot of MG recommendations which are perfect to buy for any budding bookworm in your life!

Have you read any of these?
Do you have any favourites?
Would you recommend any for me to add to my list?

Let me know your thoughts in the comments! Come back tomorrow for YA recommendations!

S x

 

S4S – Please Santa!

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Good afternoon friends! 

How are we all this chilly yet sunny Sunday?! What are you reading? How is December going for you?

Today I’m coming at you with a #SixforSunday with wishes from the North Pole. Yes we’re talking:

Six books you wish Santa would bring you

Now we all know that Santa can bring pretty much ANYTHING don’t we? My choices clearly reflect that! 

  1. Six of Crows Collector’s Edition – Leigh Bardugo
    This is actually on my Christmas list, so fingers crossed!
  2. Pages and Co sprayed edges edition – Anna James
    This is actually sold out… but Santa can work miracles, yeah?
  3. Song of Sorrow – Melinda Salisbury
    COME ON SANTA. IT IS SO CLOSE TO NEXT YEAR. IT MUST BE TIME.
  4. Against all Gods – Maz Evans
    AGAIN. HOWARE. I’ve been waiting forever.
  5. The Day I Was Erased – Lisa Thompson
    NOW would be nice Santa.
  6. The Boy: His Stories and How They Came to be – Oliver Jeffers
    I am a MASSIVE fan and would LOVE this thanks.

So there we go… challenge set Santa!

Share your #SixforSunday choices with me! I’d love to know what is on your list! 

See you next week! Keep your eyes peeled in the next few weeks for 2019’s #SixforSunday topics!

S x

S4S – Authors I’d love to see collaborate…

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STOP, COLLABORATE AND LISTEN! 

Hello there! Wecome to another installment of #SixforSunday! This week sees me take on something that took an AWFUL LOT OF THOUGHT. Mainly because I needed to get it right. And I didn’t want to miss out anyone who I loved. Mainly, I have too many choices! 

Today we take on:

Authors you’d love to see collaborate

Now… the majestic book that is Floored came along and saw many of my faves ACTUALLY collaborate in an EPIC way, so if you’ve not got on that yet, I’d really like you to. 

  1. Melinda Salisbury and Sara Barnard
    This is a YA collab I will shout about forever. LADIES I NEED THIS TO HAPPEN. (C’mon, none of you will be surprised by this at all)
  2. Kiran Milwood Hargrave and Piers Torday
    I think this MG book would break my heart and be the most beautiful book ever!
  3. Sara Barnard and Alice Oseman
    This one literally just came to my brain and I think my brain is a genius. I think this could be such a brilliant combination!
  4. Sara Barnard and Laura Steven
    GUYS. I need this to happen… I just think these 2 would boss a YA contemporary that punched me in the face and made me cackle with laughter.  
  5. Maz Evans and Lisa Thompson
    I just think this would be a BRILLIANT MG book pairing… happy to read WHATEVER!
  6. Melinda Salisbury and Alice Broadway
    I think this would be such a brilliant meeting of minds… 

So if there’s anyone reading this who can make these things happen, that’d be amazing thanks!

Remember to share your #SixforSunday posts with me and I look forward to going “OMG YES THAT WOULD BE A MINT PAIR THANKS!” at all of your suggestions! 

S x 

S4S – Ultimate panels

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Hello everyone!

Sorry for the hiatus this week… there was just a little need for my brain to take a break after a very busy half term! I am back though! And today’s #SixforSunday sees me taking on:

Dream panels/events

So, my dream panels? WELL THIS IS GONNA BE FUN. I’m gonna go 3 MG and 3 YA because LOVE.

“Contemporary YA: Why it matters” with Laura Steven, Alice Oseman, Sara Barnard and Katherine Webber.

“Writing badass characters” featuring Leigh Bardugo, Melinda Salisbury, Alice Broadway and Alwyn Hamilton.

“Writing stories that make our readers cry (we love it)” featuring C.G.Drews, Karen Gregory, Lisa Healthfield and Adam Silvera.

“Creating worlds kids want to read about” featuring Helena Duggan, Maz Evans, Ross Mackenzie and Kiran Milwood Hargrave.

“Writing incredible characters” featuring Peter Brown, Lisa Thompson, Alex Bell and Jessica Townsend.

“Books: an ode to books” featuring Anna James and Piers Torday in conversation.

Side note: I am still waiting for a Floored Seven panel. 

There we go! I LOVE hearing authors talk about their books, so please GET ME MORE EVENTS IN THE NORTH. I’m more than happy to host any of these *wink*

Remember to share your dream panels using #SixforSunday! I can’t wait to see what you all think! 

S x 

S4S – Autobuy authors

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Hello Sunday! Hello #SixforSunday pals. 

How are we all today? 

Today on #SixforSunday, we are talking:

Authors I will always pick up

Now… I’m technically going to do 2 #SixforSunday posts in one here… 6 YA authors, and 6 MG authors. (Hey, I’m the creator of #SixforSunday, I can bend the rules!)

6 YA authors that are automatic buys:

  1. Melinda Salisbury (I KNOW! WHAT A SHOCKER!)
  2. Sara Barnard (again… WHO AM I?)
  3. Alwyn Hamilton 
  4. Katherine Webber
  5. Alice Broadway
  6. Alice Oseman

6 MG authors that are automatic buys:

  1. Maz Evans (I bet you didn’t see that coming!)
  2. Lisa Thompson
  3. Katherine Rundell
  4. Ross Montgomery
  5. Kiran Milwood-Hargrave
  6. Abi Elphinstone

Shout out to Matt Haig too… who doesn’t fit into these 2 categories, but who is 1100% an auto-buy in my life.

None of these names will come as a surprise to long time, or even short time, followers of my blog! 

Remember to share your #SixforSunday post with me on twitter! I’m loving all of the posts! Thanks guys!

See you next week for Authors who surprised you!

S x

 

#BookBuddy

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'Book Buddy' by Emma Reynolds(Picture courtesy of Book Buddy website)

HELLO.

I’d like to take a little moment today to talk about the amazing movement #BookBuddy, started by the incredible Maz Evans (yes, that Maz Evans, author extraordinare!).

What is #BookBuddy?
The aim of this site is to help schools match up with interested donors to get books into their libraries. For some children, school is the only access they have to reading books and it is vital to keep new books coming in so that all children see books and reading as an activity that they can (and are allowed) to participate in.

Are you a school teacher/librarian/head that would like to the chance to be involved in an incredible movement that gets books into your school? Are you a brilliant human who has books lying around in your house that you’d like to donate to a school? Then sign up for the #BookBuddy website. It is SO simple. Follow this link. School or donor, you can sign up. 

I am VERY lucky in that my school was paired with the absolutely gorgeous Lisa Thompson (author of The Goldfish Boy, The Light Jar) and we have already had one box of books from her. The books have been GRATEFULLY received by my kids and they are LOVING them. Some of them are even pretty gobsmacked that a REAL author sends us books. 

It’s an absolute joy looking through the hashtag #BookBuddy on twitter – so many incredible people sharing books with Primary schools and Secondary schools. So many school libraries are underfunded (or unfunded) so to see people sharing books with these libraries makes me so happy. As someone who wants all school libraries to have the most high quality texts, and for kids to grow up as readers, this scheme makes me so so so happy. 

If you want to know more, you can check out the website: BookBuddy.org.uk and check out the hastag on twitter to see some of the amazing parcels that have been sent so far!

S x

 

 

BLOG TOUR: The Light Jar

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Today is a very exciting day!
Today I get to share my review of one of the most gorgeous MG books I read last year… AND THERE’S A GIVEAWAY!! Wooohooooo (more on that at the bottom of this post!)

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The Light Jar: an incredible tale of friendship, strength and family.

I was lucky enough to be sent a proof of The Light Jar by the publishers, and read it back in November. It is a book that has stuck with me though. It’s one of those really powerful tales that will do that, it’ll stick with you for a while. Shout out to the incredible proof… I can’t decide if I love the proof or the final copy more!

“Nate and his mother are running away, hiding out in a tumbledown cottage in the middle of a forest. When Mum heads off for provisions, and then doesn’t return, Nate is left alone and afraid, with the dark closing in all around him.

But comfort can come from the most unexpected of places – a mysterious girl trying to solve the clues of a treasure hunt and the reappearance of an old friend from his past.

Will Nate find the bravery needed to face the troubles of his present and ultimately illuminate the future?”

I didn’t know that much about this book when I started to read, but I had read Lisa’s other book The Goldfish Boy and absolutely adored it. From that I knew I needed to read this. You meet the amazing Nate and his mum who are running away from a horrible situation, they need refuge somewhere, so they arrive at an old cottage owned by a friend of the family. Nate doesn’t want to be there, he wants to be at home with his things and his friends. One day his mum leaves to get some shopping but she doesn’t come back. What ensues is an incredible tale of bravery, friendship and the strength of humans. 

The characters in this book are brilliant. Nate in particular stands out as one of the bravest young boys I’ve read in a long time. He stands up to a lot. He fights through a lot of fears and a lot of worries to get to the end of this story. There’s some strange goings on and he tries not to let himself be frightened. There’s also a mysterious friend from his past who comes along. Initally, I was a little afraid of this friend. He does some pretty creepy things. There’s also a young girl, who helps Nate get through the horrible days by giving him things to focus on. Their friendship builds and it’s an incredible jouney the way they go from strangers, to friends. Yep. You guessed it. I cried.

This book is incredible. I read it in a matter of hours. A brilliant story about the bravery of a young man, on a journey to save himself and his mother. 

TheLightJar_CVR 17.08.56 - FINAL

Now the extra exciting bit!

The bit everyone wants!

THE GIVEAWAY. 

The gorgeous humans over at Scholastic are giving you the chance to win a signed copy of this incredible book! To enter the giveaway, you need to follow me on twitter and RT my tweet about the giveaway. Closes 12th Jan 23:59, winner announced 13th Jan over on twitter. or an extra entry: comment on this post, telling me something to lighten my day!

Check out the rest of the blog tour below, there are some brilliant posts!

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November books!

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Well hello compadres. 
The year is almost coming to an end! What happened there? 

The day is December 1. I have read books. I have done things. November came and went. It was a pretty stressful month. My poor bullet journal was abandoned due to stresses. I bought a Fitbit and I am coming to terms with the fact I have VERY expressive hands! Also though, I didn’t realise just how many steps I did do in a day. Anyway. 

Books.
November.

I was poorly for most of November, and we had that lovely Ofsted thing come visit us, so I didn’t get as much read as I would like to BUT I did manage to read 5 books! Not bad going for a month filled with illness and winter SAD. 

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Christmas Dinner of Souls – Ross Montgomery
The gorgeous author, Ross, sent me this book and it was a brilliant final book to read this month! It is dark and dastardly and delicious. There’s some brilliant short stories in this and my kids are already going mad for it! Plus there are some incredible illustrations by David Litchfield.

Goodreads
Rated: 5 stars
“Devilishly good. Fiendish and delicious. I really loved this. One story with mini scary tales in – Perfect! It would be INCREDIBLE to read aloud to kids too!”

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The Extinction Trials – S.M.Wilson
(release date: Jan 1 2018)
I was very VERY lucky that the lovely humans over at Usborne sent me a copy of this and I just HAD to pick it up one day and I devoured it within a few days. I absolutely ADORED this book. Just exceptional. Storm and Milo are the best. 

Goodreads
Rated: 5 stars 
I absolutely adored this story, from the first page to the last. Dinosaurs, peril, dystopia… what else do you need? I can’t wait to read the second one!!

36472397(not the final cover, but the cover of the proof which I might actually be in love with!)

Sky Song – Abi Elphinstone
(release date: Jan 25 2018)
Again, the gorgeous humans over at Simon and Schuster sent me a proof copy of this about a month or so ago and I wanted to wait until it was cold enough for this. I am SO SO glad I read this. I just absolutely adored it. Abi continually amazes me. Her books are exceptional.

Goodreads
Rated: 5 stars
“This is a story filled with snow, magic, adventure, friendship, finding yourself, your clan and a whole load of hope and courage. I just adored this. Abi has an incredible way of ensuring you get lost in her world, but always feel looked after. I just adored it. 

Plus the acknowledgements had me BAWLING.”

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The Light Jar – Lisa Thompson
(release date: Jan 4 2018)
This was another proof I got that I needed to get into QUICKLY. I love Lisa so much and she just writes so incredibly. This book very nearly broke my heart. I absolutely loved it. One of my boys has this at the minute and he is LOVING it. 

Goodreads
Rated: 5 stars
“An incredible tale about the strength of the human mind, friendship and imagination. I loved this book SO SO MUCH.”

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How To Bewitch a Wolf – Abie Longstaff
Again, this was a book from the lovely people of Scholastic (thank you lovely humans!). I really love Abie Longstaff (as do my twiglets, so this book will be promoted to their shelves) so this was a great read. It’s one of those great books about magic and friendship and hope. 

Goodreads
Rated: 4 stars
“A great tale of friendship and magic. I know that 10 year old me would love this book. It’s got all the elements of a brilliant book: a great story, loveable characters, witches and magic, warmth and a bit of danger.”

So there we go! I got through some BRILLIANT books in November! It was a MG heavy month, but hey my mood will read what my mood wants to read! I am very much a mood reader. Reviews are to come for all of these books, but I would totally recommend ALL of them (once they’re released, obv)

I’m currently on 101 books read this year; I am DETERMINED to get to 104. I can’t wait for the Christmas break to get some proper reading in! I should be MUCH better by then (let’s forget all of the work I have to do…!)

What did you read in November?
What was your favourite November read?
Are you a mood reader? Or are you great at following your TBR pile?

Talk to me! Comments are lush, twitter chats are lush, emails are lush! 

S x