Two is a Crowd, by Cath Howe, reviewed by Pippa Goodhart

 

Cath Howe writes absolutely wonderful middle-grade stories set in our real world and populated by ordinary children and families faced with extraordinary, relatable, challenges. Her sixth book of this kind published by Nosy Crow is Two is a Crowd, served-up in short chapters, with stylish bold illustrations by Miguel Bustos that really show the story's emotions being played out. 

    Hattie tells her own story, covering the end of her primary school time, summer holiday, and her start at secondary school. We first meet a Hattie who is loud, funny, confident, and sure of her long-term best friend, Amber. But then something very big happens. Hattie's family one ordinary evening suddenly face having to take in Mum's dead friend's daughter Seren for the foreseeable future. The room which was to become Hattie's is now Seren's, and family life focuses on the newcomer. Hattie had always thought she wanted a sister, but Seren is unrewarding to try and chat with. She's 'blank'. And she's allowed to have and do things that Hattie isn't. Everything is unfair, and that feeling of the world being against her escalates for Hattie when she and Seren begin secondary school. Shockingly, Amber no longer wants to be Hattie's friend. Hattie's behaviour is getting her labelled as 'a bad influence'. We feel her pain and her determination, even as we smile at her bhaviour, and oh, we long for her to regain her place in her family and in school! 

    All comes good in an exciting finale up on a roof when Seren finally shows herself (and her bedroom wall under a hanging) to be very far from blank.

    Brilliantly written, this is a fast-moving easy read that delivers at a profound level. Highly recommended. 

Monkey and Me, by Emily Gravett, reviewed by Pippa Goodhart

 

    This isn't a new book, but it's new to me in board book form. Clever Emily Gravett, both author and illustrator, gives us a fun game that children can join-in with -

    Monkey and me,

    Monkey and me,

    Monkey and me,

    We went to see,

    We went to see some ... Turn the page

And we go from the child and her toy monkey acting out animal actions that let us guess what they are going to see this time. 

    Great fun! And we slow down at the end to leave the book and your child audience feeling suitably sleepy to make this a perfect bedtime read -

    Highly recommended. Tested on a one year old who immediately wanted to read it again.

Waffles & Julius NO HUGS PLEASE! by Ed Vere, reviewed by Pippa Goodhart

Bouncy enthusiastic dog Waffles longs to hug dignified cat Julius. But Julius just wants to sleep in peace.  Those opposites characters are so true of cats and dogs, and, as always, its truth that is very funny here, played-out with wonderfully observed body language and minimal text -

I have a cat and a dog who seek out each other's company, but very much on the cat's terms. You'll be glad to know that Waffles finally gets the hug that he longs for ... when Julius chooses the moment that suits him.

I also have a one year old granddaughter who tends to lunge and clasp other small children, whether they want hugs or not. I've given her this book! It's very very funny, but also a lesson in patience and respect and love. Highly recommended. 

Wishbound, by Clemency Brown, reviewed by Pippa Goodhart

I thoroughly enjoyed this book about magic, friendship, families and bravery.

The story is set in a world where children who show magical powers are taken from their parents by the sinister Wishmaker Institute to be tamed and trained ready for Matching. Being sold and Matched, aged twelve, to a rich child in our world, the Wishmaker child is then the instrument of that master; a means for them to get all they wish for. Our main character, nine-year-old Leonie, is fighting against this fate, determined to escape. After hold-your-breath failures, she does escape with the help of bodyguard Jackson, and they set up a happy home in a remote place. For three years Leonie has a happy life establishing strong best frienship with Cress, a bright girl with hearing loss. But that idyl doesn't last as Leonie's twelfth birthday looms ... And that's when the real drama and magic and desperation and determination kick in.  

A truly exciting book that pitches Leonie's freedom against the life of protector Jackson and her precious friendship with Cress. A cast that includes wicked baddies and others wanting to do the right thing but are trapped by magical powers, as well as rebellious Leonie and clever Cress, makes this a story the reader absolutely cares about. It moves fast, sweeping us onwards to a very satisfying end. I would have adored it as a junior school age child. More stories are to follow, and I'm very glad of that.

NB This book isn't published until June 4th. I had a preview copy from the Federation of Children's Book Groups conference. If you fancy getting your hands on preview copies of books, as well as attending interesting and important panels and presentations about children's books by authors, illustrators, publishers, librarians, educator and more, then here's the FCBG website where information about next year's conference will appear in due course - https://fcbg.org.uk/

Tiger, Tom & Tinkle, by David Wood, reviewed by Pippa Goodhart

 

        I couldn't resist ordering through Waterstones this book about three of my favourite children's book creating women; Judith Kerr, Philippa Pearce, and Kathleen Hale. David Wood is a brilliant adapter of children's books for the stage, so this book is the result of his working with those three creators towards theatrical and animated performances for child audiences over several decades. 

    I found the correspondence between David and Judith Kerr concerning turning that absolute classic picture book, The Tiger Who Came To Tea, into an hour-long show the most fascinating part of this book. The real understanding of what engages and appeals in that story, milking the anticipation of the moment that all are waiting for - the arrival of the Tiger! - by having other characters ringing the doorbell before we get to him, is brilliant! As is the magic employed to let that huge but friendly Tiger seem to actually eat all that food, and the water from the tap. And the Tiger is played by the actor of Dad. Humour, music, excitement, all there with adults playing children and props made large to fit those proportions.

    Unsurprisingly, Judith Kerr comes across as delightful and really interesting, as do Philippa Pearce and Kathleen Hale. I found the quantity of correspondence between them and David Wood published here a bit repetitive, losing my interest enough to make me skip a bit over the many pages of similar stuff. 

    But, for those who love these creator characters, and are interested in how book stories are adapted for stage and screen, I suggest this is a book to ask your library to order in. It's self-published so not stocked as generally as a traditionally published book would be.  

My Soul, A Shining Tree, written by Jamila Gavin, reviewed by Pippa Goodhart

 

I love Jamila Gavin's stories and writing, Coram Boy being a particular favourite. So I treated myself to her recently published, much admired, new book ... and found myself admiring it but wondering quite what readership it is aimed at.

This story cleverly weaves together experiences of three different young characters whose lives are horrifically affected and changed by the outbreak of the First World War as Germany invades supposedly neutral Belgium. Homes and families are destroyed and die, but the humanity of the three characters, brought together by the walnut tree that stays standing amidst the destruction, overrides the hatred of war. They save each other. 

The very beautiful book cover evokes a kind of fairy tale feel, sanitising the blood and filth and hunger and fear into pristine clothing and hairdos in stark contrast with the reality. That cover suggests a nice story for primary school age children. So, too, does the attractively short length of this chapter book. My Soul, A Shining Tree, opens with a first person account by ten year old Belgian girl, Lotte. So I was expecting this to be firmly middle grade, perhaps for children of about eight to twelve. But then we have first person telling by fifteen year old German soon-soldier, Ernst. And then by fully adult Indian soldier from a British regiment, Khudad Khan. Even Lotte speaks to us like an adult, eg, 'I felt a sudden urgency to descend' rather than a more childlike, 'I wanted to get down.' Her knowledge of the complex politics of the time feels unlikely, and the assumed knowledge of readers to recognise places and incidents referred to is going to leave child readers who have not 'done' World War One feeling left out of the story. Will they even know without more context or example what 'conscription' means, or what 'a retainer' is (as in servant rather than for teeth!), or what 'sadistic' means? 

So, this is a book I'm glad to have read, and will read again, but would only fully recommend for children already interested in, and with some knowledge of, the First World War. 

Having said that, this book has now won the Nero Book Award for 2025, and is one of the Telegraph's 50 best children's books of all time, calling it 'flawless', so maybe I'm wrong to quibble? 

Locket & Wilde's DREADFULLY HAUNTING MYSTERIES The Ghosts of the Manor, by Lucy Strange & Pam Smy, reviewed by Pippa Goodhart

 

This is an absolutely gorgeous book, heavy and glinting and choc-full of illustration and story. 

Lucy Strange has written a ghostly mystery full of wonderful characters and humour and genuine ghosty thrill  ...   despite one of the child heroes being one of the ghosts. Pam Smy's wonderful illustrations on almost every spread, filling some spreads, properly play the story between words and images, again achieving atmosphere, character and humour. And the odd clue to spot! 

Matilda has to play 'dead Edna', a ghost child brought to life during her Aunt's ghostly stage show, but then the two of them, along with Uncle Barnabus and Colin the parrot, get employed at a mysterious manor house where there seems to be at least one real haunting. There is. But there's also dastardly thievery afoot, and its up to Matilda and the ghost boy she befriends to bring the culprits to justice. Meanwhile, exactly what are her 'Aunt' and 'Uncle' up to? 

Great fun, and offering the highest quality illustration and writing for middle grade readers. I'm very glad there are more stories about these two to come!

New You For Ever, written by Steve Cole, illustrated by Chris King, reviewed by Pippa Goodhart

 

The title of this book makes it sound like a self-help manual, but its actually a futuristic thriller aimed at teenage readers. Published by Barrington Stoke, it's a short novel designed to be accessible to struggling readers. It's fast-paced, exciting and thought-provoking.

Anders works with his Dad on a short good news slot of television news. But this is in a future where climate change has destroyed much of our world and enabled those in power to manipulate world populations. The immediate threat is being advertised as a panacea. Swap your human body for a Pleeka one, short of 'Replica'. Those fake bodies are perfect, not needing food or exericise or to learn anything, and they'll never get ill. They're already programmed, even promising perfect dancing skills! They're sold as a solution to climate breakdown because they save on foods and medicines. But their batteries die, and only the richest can afford to replace them. And how much power is used to create them? Worse than that, the authorities can control Pleekas. In a clock-ticking life or death adventure, we battle with Anders to get the truth out to the world, and change things for the better. 

A story to make young people think about the future ahead for themselves and their world, and to question what is, and isn't, true. 

Mullets, by Nick Sharratt, reviewed by Pippa Goodhart

 

    If you, or a small person you know enjoy the completely daft, then this wonderful picture book is for you.

    'Lets spend a whiles

    on Mullet Isle.

    Everyone there

    has SPECIAL hair!'

They all, people, cats, frogs, sharks, even bumble bees have mullet hair styles, and we're given a guide so that we, too, can become expert in spotting the iconic 1970s mullet hairstyle.

All fun and good, but how is Nick Sharratt going to conclude this fun in a satisfying way? I'm not going to tell you because it would spoil things for you, but I can promise you not one, but two, final spreads which both deliver laugh out loud surprises! 

My Book of Classic Nursery Tales, by James Mayhew, reviewed by Pippa Goodhart

 

    This beautiful new book is my book of choice to welcome my new wee grandson to the world, and I hope it will accompany him through his life as a joy and comfort. I suspect that these images of the classic tales, and the voice telling them, will be the ones that always feel to the be the only right ones for him forever! 

    James Mayhew has both written and illustrated this collection of eight stories, seven very familiar, one new to me. We have Goldilocks, the Gingerbread Man, The Enormous Turnip, The Tortoise and the Hare, and more. These stories come to life with lively and beautiful collage artwork.

    And then there's the one story which is new to me. The Vain Little Mouse is of Spanish origin, a sweet story of a foolish mouse who thinks she wants more than kind Senor Perez mouse for a husband ... until he rescues her from the toothy jaws of the cat she was flirting with. 'So they got married at once, by the light of the moon, dressed all in ribbons and lace.' James tells these stories with a lovely storytelling voice, drawing his audience in. 

    

A very special book. 

The Coming of the Iron Man, written by Ted Hughes, illustrated by Mini Grey, reviewed by Pippa Goodhart

 

Ted Hughes' Iron Man is one of Faber Publishings treasures, and this new picture book edition, carefully edited and beautifully illustrated by Mini Grey, is a total treat. 

The story starts in the familiar way -

    'The Iron Man came to the top of the cliff.

    How far had he walked? Nobody knows.

    Where had he come from? Nobody knows.

    How was he made? Nobody knows.'

- and we are in the hands of a poet. 

The story, as ever, thrills as the gigantic Iron Man falls and crashes apart, then his component parts find each other and re-make him. As he eats the farmers' tractors and they dig a trap to bait him to his death. And small boy Hogarth lures him by clanking iron things together. And then .... But you must read the book to find that out! Exciting, scary, funny, satisfying.

But it's Mini Grey's illustrations which are new. They are wonderful, similarly full of drama and beauty and humour (note the riveted divide between images!) -

I love the details of light and natural settings -

Printed on luxuriously thick paper, large format and with almost twice the number of spreads of a standard picture book, this book is stunningly good value at £7.99

Dance of Resistance, The Josephine Baker Story, written by Catherine Johnson, reviewed by Pippa Goodhart

 

    This is an astonishing story, all the more powerful for being true. 

    Catherine Johnson has already published with Barrington stoke two compelling stories of the lives of two pioneering black men, Olaudah Equiano who achieved freedom from slavery and recorded his own story, and Mathew Henson the Arctic explorer. Now we have the story of the breathtakingly brilliant and surprising black woman dancer, comic, actor, singer, spy Josephine Baker, here telling her own story.

    What a story it is! Wonderfully suited to a child readership because Josephine's huge show-business ambitions began in childhood, as did significant events that made her the woman she became. She became a live in maid with responsibility for a baby at the age of seven! Ran away from a sexually predatory boss at the age of thirteen ... then got married at that same age, and married again at fifteen! But all this time she would spend any money she could on going to see shows, and discovered that dancing in the street to ragtime music coming from a bar could earn her an audience and sometimes money. 

    We sweep on through a career of boldness and originality, wit, determination, hard work, a complex private life, and travel. You can look on Youtube to see Josephine in her glorious and daring costumes dancing her heart out. 

    But underlying all that is the stark realities of racial segregation in Josephine's home country, America. Even at the height of her fame, hugely rich and famous as lead attraction at Paris' Folies Bergere, a visit to America meant being turned away from hotels, not served in restaurants, bad reviews for shows. Shocking. 

    So she stayed loyal to France which treated her so much better than the US did. During World War Two she actively used her skills to spy for the French against the occupying Nazis, transmitting signals, smuggling documents, helping Jewish people escape, winning her top military honours from her adopted home country. 

    She was then active at a distance in the American Civil Rights movement. What a woman!

    A gorgeous book cover and an engrossing read.  

DRACULA, retold by Tanya Landman, reviewed by Pippa Goodhart

 

    

I'm somebody who has been aware of Dracula, book and character, most of my life, but never actually read the original by Bram Stoker. I know what a brilliant children's novelist Tanya Landman is, trusting her to give me the essential atmosphere and story without having to wade through the much longer original. So, I was delighted to open the blood-dripping cover of this Barrington Stoke abridged version, and find out what I'd been missing.

Aimed at children in KS3, so early years of secondary school, I can imagine this book grabbing readers from the off. Told in the first person, eventually from more than one viewpoint in protagonist's journal entries, this horror story is delivered in small chunks that give a 'just one more sweetie' feeling to tempt us to read on; perfect for those who have struggled to read longer books. The opening has innocent Jonathan Harker looking forward to meeting Count Dracula, unaware of what child readers will surely already know will be BIG trouble ahead!

We're soon into entrapment, a host with pointy teeth, no reflection or shadow, hairy palms, and a penchant for leaving his castle by scuttling like a lizard, head down, straight down the wall of his castle. Weird beautiful women want to be kissed. Coffins arrive. Then live children in a sack to feed those vampiric beauties (the origin of the Child Catcher?). We move from Transylvannia to Whitby, and now it is heroine Min who tells everything as her innocent lady friend is punctured and blood-sucked, becomes a vampire herself, and has to have a stake hammered through her heart before her head is cut off and mouth stuffed with garlic. The horror escalates with a chase over sea and land to try and kill Count Dracula before Min now a vampire herself, is totally lost. 

Plenty to thrill young readers, but will they 'get' why holding a communion wafer would be a weapon of choice? I'm not sure I understand quite what's going on here as 'the body of Christ' who 'rose from the dead' is used against 'the undead'. 

I'm glad to have read this, and its retold beautifully, but I would perhaps point child readers towards much better horror stories written by brilliant contemporary writers such as Chris Priestley, Tom Palmer, Cathy MacPhail, Chris Wooding, and more.  

Ghostlines, written by Katya Balen, reviewed by Pippa Goodhart

 

    I have read and enjoyed Katya Balen's 'October, October', so was already keen to read the new middle grade novel by this Carnegie Medal-winning fresh-voiced author. But I admit that what confirmed my choice of this book rather than other attractive options on display was this lovely play with the page edges! -

    Told in the first person by Tilda who loves her home Scottish island of Ayrie, this is her story about her relationships with two boys, and their relationships to that island. 

    The immediate story involves the novelty of a new boy arriving on this small island. He's angry with having to be there, and Tilda is given the tricky job of trying to befriend him. That story builds slowly through many very short chapters, letting us, as well as Albie, get to know this wonderful place and community. Then comes drama involving dangers kyaking at sea, a secret island haunted by stories, a storm, an accident, an incoming tide ...

    The older boy Tilda is preoccupied with, again needing to mend and renew his relationship with the home island, is one hinted at for many chapters before the facts are revealed. Tilda's beloved big brother and soul mate has left, cutting off communication with his family, and Tilda thinks she is to blame for that.

    All resolves happily. Children of perhaps seven to eleven will love the adventure, the puffins, the wonderful dog, the ultimate safety of parents and community in this beautiful book. 

Birdie, by J.P. Rose, reviewed by Pippa Goodhart

                 Author J.P. Rose tells in her Acknowledgements that 'Birdie is a book drawn from my heart'. It certainly engages readers' hearts, and had me sobbing (happily!) at its end.

                Set in 1950s Yorkshire Dales, this is the story of a child moving from a children's home in Leeds to live with an unknown great aunt in a small mining village. Such a change would never be easy, but its made harder for Birdie, and for her aunt, by her looking different from other villagers. She's of mixed race. The stupid school teacher assumes she'll be unable to keep up with others, when in fact she's ahead of them. Bullies taunt her. Parents don't want their children to befriend her. She runs from bullies, finding a hiding place at the old coal mine ... and soon finds herself down in the mine itself. It's empty, except for one old pit pony. 

                That pony becomes her friend. Birdie defies the adults to help the pony, and the story works into an exciting adventure of escape and peril and lives saved, before a return to the village for a tense heroic rescue that changes village attitudes to both girl and pony.  

                The story, told in short lively chapters, gallops along. It's a very appealing middle grade read that raises issues about identity and racism and friendship and family and love for animals whilst fully delivering on plot and character. Recommended.  

Becoming Grace, written by Hilary McKay, illustrated by Keith Robinson, reviewed by Pippa Goodhart

        What a wonderful book this is! As with all Barrington Stoke books, this story is told simply and efficiently, here in ten short chapters. And yet Hilary McKay's writing feels relaxed and welcoming, vivid and exciting, full of love and fun.

    Rather than plunging straight into the drama of young woman Grace Darling's heroic rowing to rescue those shipwrecked in a storm, here we get to know Grace the child, her big family of characterful siblings, her parents and animals, and their lighthouse keeper life. Grace's childhood experiences all feed into that story finale of the famous rescue, making us feel very personally for Grace and her family. We know and love them by that point, and I read some of that last part of the story through tears because I'd been made to care and believe so strongly.

    Keith Robinson's illustrations match the writing for atmosphere and character and beauty. Here, for example, 'The little lantern they'd hung up rocked so hard in the wind that all the shadows jumped' -

Very highly recommended for almost any age. 

The Biggest Breakfast, written and illustrated by Richard Jones, reviewed by Pippa Goodhart

 

This beautiful new (hardback) picture book from Richard Jones is a simple joyful story of animals and food, giving and receiving. And counting. But the counting, if you want to engage with it, comes in doublings of numbers to dramatic effect.

The child narrator meets a little blue bird, and offers crumbs to be pecked from a hand. 'See you tomorrow'. And next day the bird is joined by two mice. The day after that, by four squirrels. And soon the breakfast feast is getting out of hand with increasing numbers of wolves and elephants and puffins and ring-tailed lemurs and round-bellied frogs in a glorious gate-fold -

It's all a bit much, so, next day, the child stays in bed, wondering, 'Who will make breakfast for ME?' Just then there was a knock at the door ... '  And you can guess who come, delivering '1 huge, ginormous, delicious breakfast!'

 

The Beck, written by Anthony McGowan, reviewed by Pippa Goodhart

 

        This new short novel by Carnegie Prize winning author Anthony McGowan is excellent. Funnier than his wonderful 'Lark', but equally insightful about adolescent characters, families, and the natural world. 

    Thirteen-year-old Kyle, 'only ever got left with Grandad when all the other babysitting options were used up. It was like when you look in the cupboard for some biscuits, hoping for maybe a Jaffa Cake or a Jammy Dodger, and all your find is a cracker.' Grandad's boring and embarrassing (insisting on wearing his Elvis impersonator wig). But of course Grandad actually leads Kyle into a naughty scrape, into becoming friends with a girl, making his tormentor bullies change their minds about him. 

     After showing Kyle the wildlife in and around the beck, and also showing where developers are about to concrete that life out of existance, Grandad intends to do something naughty, borderline illegal, to stop this from happening. But then he's hospitalised with a stroke, and Kyle decides to do the deed himself. So the triumphs of friendship and protecting wildlife are properly his own achievements. 

    Thought-provoking, involving, moving and funny, this makes a very satisfying read, and a quick and accessible one as you'd expect from Barrington Stoke.

    Oh, and Grandad's three-legged dog is called Rude Word. 

The Bicycle, written by Mevan Babakar & Patricia McCormick, illustrated by Yas Imamura, reviewed by Pippa Goodhart

This is a very special book; one which I think children will remember forever. Why? Because it shows the very worst and the very best of humanity. It shows those things particularly powerfully because this story is true.

Mevan and her family had lived in Kurdistan for generations. It was a place 'where figs fell from the trees and the air smelled like honeysuckle'. It was where Mevan's family and friends were. My four-year-old grandson was particularly interested in the grocer who gave Mevan a sweet!

                    

                But then the Iraqi government forced Kurds like Mevan and her family to flee their                    homes.

                

                    

Mevan and her parents travelled to Turkey, on to Azerbaijan then Russia, unwelcome and with poor Mevan feeling smaller and smaller. 

But they found kindness in the Netherlands where  Mevan was fascinated by all the people riding bikes. She'd never seen bikes before. She longed to ride one, but she had no bike until ...

 

 ... Egbert, caretaker of the building she was living in, gave Mevan a red bike that 'made Mevan feel a hundred feet tall'.

A year later, Mevan and her parents were told that there was a new home waiting for them 'in a country where they would be safe, where they would never have to leave. Mevan and her family had to leave in such a hurry that she never got the chance to say goodbye to Egbert.' 

              

.

They settled in the UK, and Mevan 'never forgot the man who taught her how big a small act of kindness can be.'

In a heartwarming Epilogue we learn that Mevan grew up and visited that land of figs and honeysuckle, seeing grandparents but, poignantly, 'the grocer was gone', as were many others.

Grown-up Mevan also visited the Netherlands, and she asked if anybody knew of kind Egbert who had 'seen her when others hadn't' and give her that important red bike? They did ... 

 

What's Mevan doing now? She's doing important and positive work towards a better world for everyone 

                              https://mevanbabakar.com/     

It's an astonishing story, as you can tell beautifully told and illustrated. Highly recommended.

               

Devil Bird Island, written by Gill Lewis, illustrated by Irina Avgustinovich, reviewed by Pippa Goodhart