Thank you to Zephyr Books for this review copy!
Circus Maximus: Rivals on the Track is a fantastic story full of bold characters that will stick with you long after reading. Dido and her beloved horse Porcellus are on the run. The insane emperor Caligula has put a bounty on her head, as well as Porcellus'. It's up to Dido and Porcellus to outrun and outsmart the bounty hunters. Along the way she must cope with a huge family secret that could put her even further in danger. I love this series, it combines, mystery, thrills, adventure and epic action that keeps rolling on page after page. I recommend it for ages 9+ Recently, Annelise was asked about her five favourite female characters in children's books, here is her response: My Favourite Female Characters in Children’s Fiction The seed for the Circus Maximus series was planted when an image of my main character, Dido, popped into my head while I was watching a Formula One race on television. There was never any story without her. Growing up, I loved books and films centred on quirky, brave and clever female characters who found growing up as difficult and awkward as I did. Dido’s closest literary cousin is probably Velvet Brown from Enid Bagnold’s National Velvet. But there are others here with whom I think she would have made friends. Velvet Brown in National Velvet by Enid Bagnold I’ve made no secret of the fact that National Velvet was one of my main inspirations for the Circus Maximus series. It’s the story of a girl who wins a horse in a raffle and dreams of training and entering him for the Grand National, where female jockeys aren’t allowed to compete. Part of what I love about the book is the relationship between idealistic, brace-wearing Velvet and her stoic mother Araminty, who lends Velvet the entry money for the National from the winnings she earned as one of the first women to swim the English Channel. A gorgeous story about the power of ordinary women and girls to do great things. Anne Shirley in the Anne of Green Gables series by L.M. Montgomery Anne (with an ‘e’ as she would be quick to remind you) is a passionate and eccentric eleven- year-old orphan who is adopted by Matthew and Marilla, a childless pair of siblings living in the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island. Over the course of six books, we see Anne dealing with what she perceives as the curse of her red hair, finding lifelong friends, getting into scrapes, negotiating a long love-hate relationship with her schoolfriend Gilbert Blythe and eventually going to college and beginning her adult life. This series captured my heart when I was growing up and I still re-read my very dog-eared copies. Mildred Hubble in The Worst Witch series by Jill Murphy I loved this series when I was young, partly for the brilliant set-up (a boarding school for witches) but also because of Mildred herself, the worst witch of the title. There was something so comforting in reading about a character who despite her best intentions, cannot help getting things wrong. Her struggles against her bullying nemesis Ethel Hallow and the imperious Miss Hardbroom are relatable and funny. You just root for her all the way. Dinah Glass in The Demon Headmaster series by Gillian Cross When we meet Dinah Glass in the first book of Gillian Cross’s series, we see her holding out a ‘cold, rigid hand’, to her new foster family. Fiercely intelligent but private with her emotions, Dinah finds herself isolated at her strange new school but soon realises that her classmates are under the mind control of the sinister Demon Headmaster of the title. Only Dinah is smart enough to outwit him. I felt a strong affinity with Dinah, who like me, found it hard to open up and let people in, but found great friends in the end. Rebecca Mason in the Trebizon series by Anne Digby Rebecca Mason is a shy loner when we meet her in the first book of these terrific boarding school stories and that – plus the fact that she is a keen writer - made me empathise with her immediately. Eventually, over the course of the series, Rebecca makes friends and discovers she has a talent for tennis, which was also my favourite sport at school. Anne Digby is brilliant at writing sporting set pieces and I still remember vividly the excitement of Rebecca’s big match against her friend and rival Joss Vining. When I spotted last year that Anne Digby was following me on Twitter, I have to admit I let out a blood-curdling howl of excited disbelief and had to message her immediately to tell her how much her books inspired me.
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One freezing winter's night, Max and Lucy and their new friend Joe spot a strange figure on the beach. He's waving a lantern at them and acting very odd. A myriad or conspiracies and ideas are swirling around in their heads as to who he might be. Determined to learn more, they become engrossed in local history but end up embroiled in a dangerous game involving treacherous smugglers! Now in trouble with the police, it's a race against time to stop the smugglers before it's too late. A really fantastic new series with danger, adventure and laughs! I'm very excited to have been asked by Bloomsbury to take part in the blog tour for the hilarious series The Worst Class in the World by Joanna Nadin. Perfect for ages 6 and up, it chronicles the misadventures of notorious class 4B. They have been christened the worst class in the world by their headteacher, Mrs Bottomley-Blunt. Each book contains multiple capers and plans by the students which often go awry. The books are fantastically illustrated by Rikin Parekh, bringing this colourful cast of characters leaping off the page. A wonderful book to read aloud, these need to be in every school library shelf, accessible, gut-busting-ly funny, a superb set of books, I highly recommend them!
Nobody in Portico Reeves' life knows he has a super alter-ego: Stuntboy! Stuntboy's priority is ensuring all of the people that are important to him are safe, like his parents and his two friends. In his apartment building, which he considers his very own castle, Stuntboy keeps lots of people safe, and not just people, the cat (called New Name Every Day) is super safe because of him. It's the reason New Name Every Day has nine lives! There is one villain that Stuntboy can't seem to vanquish, and that is the fighting that goes on between his parents. When his parents tell him to check on his neighbors "in the meantime", this is code that they are going to have a big fight. Meantime equals the "Mean Time" for Stuntboy. All Stuntboy has to do is figure out how to save his parents along with all of the people he saves in the apartment building everyday. Problem is, all of this worry has given him anxiety, another villain to add to the list. This is a heartwarming, sad yet funny adventure story for anyone who has experienced the gut-wrenching feeling of a parental separation. It is the story of a young boy trying to do the best with what he's been given, even if he doesn't fully understand the meaning of everything going on. I know this story will have a great impact on the students that read it in the library, I'm very excited to get it into their hands. I recommend it for ages 8+. Set in Derry in 2016, this is the heart-wrenching and engaging story fo two teens, Aidan and Iona. Aidan is Catholic and Irish whereas Iona is British and Protestant. Aidan's mother has passed away from cancer, his father is also gone, an ex-political prisoner, he is not with the family. Aidan lives with his brother who is acting increasingly suspicious. All Aidan wants is a ticket out, that ticket rests on his exam results which he will receive soon. Iona's brother and father are both in the police, she has a strong sense of faith and is wary of the desires of teenage boys. One night, their paths cross when Aidan is brutally attacked on a bridge, the entire thing filmed by Iona. When the two meet, they end up striking up a friendship that both hope will turn into more. However, is it safe for them to even be together? This is a really lovely story, I was completely engrossed from page one, I can't recommend it enough. Having knowing nothing about The Troubles growing up in Canada it was truly an eye-opener for me. This is a brilliant story for ages 13 and up, awesome writing. Paige works on her high school newspaper, she enjoys the idea of being a reporter but struggles with the fake school garbage that surrounds her. not only that, she's been asked to work on the school yearbook. Attached to this are some awfully mean students, Grace & Laura for example. These two make a point to highlight the embarrassing moments of others, they want these toxic moments put in the yearbook, making Paige's life even harder. In addition, Paige's home life is a mess. Her father is a monster, the entire family has to walk on eggshells around him. Her brother, Adam, is the one the family adores, but he's gone off to university, leaving the brunt of her father's insecurities and outrage on Paige and her mother. Paige's only solace is her aunt Polly and someone else, a mysterious stranger in her school who leaves messages written in red ink in her assigned reading. Desperate to find out who it is, Paige tries to find out who she is at the same time, because nobody in her immediate life seems to care. The Yearbook is a searing look at the toxicity of high school, the social pressures that pile up along with the educational ones. In addition, it has some very real moments regarding family tensions. Her father is a brutal ogre but his sinister nature isn't all yelling and breaking things, it's the subtle ways the family must dance around him, creating prepared statements for him, readying the house before he gets home. This is how people must deal with a true narcissist, and true narcissism is a very, very scary thing to behold. Holly Bourne is a master at writing for the teenage heart in all its broken glory. I highly recommend this for ages 13 and up! Sarah is a young teen who is obsessed with basketball. She wants to be the best, because being the best is what makes her feel like she's important, like she matters. However, she's got a problem, she's no longer as fast as she used to be. Her legs feel sluggish, she sometimes feels lightheaded, it's like her body is fighting against her. It doesn't help that Sarah has a secret, her mother doesn't feed her well. Sometimes there is food in the fridge, sometimes there isn't. Sometimes Sarah has to reach into the bottom of her backpack and eat a crushed granola bar for breakfast. Her mother hides candy throughout the house and will occasionally only eat that. Sarah's friends know her mother is "weird" about food but they don't know how far it goes. Sarah has lists in her head of the good food and bad food, most of the "bad" food is food that her friends would consider healthy, but not Sarah, and definitely not her mother. Sarah decides the only way to get better at basketball is to lose eight and meticulously count her calories, because skinnier means healthier, right? When Sarah decides to join a cooking competition with the boy she likes, her issues with food come to the forefront. Taking Up Space brought to light an issue that I have had no experience with and that is a great thing to discover as a reader and more importantly as someone who works with teenagers. This novel sheds light on eating disorders in a way that is informative and never heavy handed. It's also a great story about friendship, competition, familial pressure and more. The clique that Sarah once belonged to largely abandons her because of gossip and misunderstandings. I felt myself getting outraged on Sarah's behalf, it's hard to know that there many children out there going day to day with these kinds of challenges around food. I feel this novel is a wake up call and it is important that teens and adults read it. As with all of Alyson's novels, I will be championing this one in the library, I know the students will engage and connect with Sarah immediately. Highly recommended for ages 11 and up! When eleven year old Noah sneaks onto his sister's school trip, he thinks it's going to be a good way to get away from school for the day. Think again! The group of six children are left stranded on a mysterious island without food, water or mobile phones (long story). Told through a series of letters Noah writes home, this is a hilarious story that will be hugely popular with our students at Glenthorne and countless more. This is for anyone who dreamed of getting lost with their friends, surviving the odds and being bold. These children all have several differences between them but this doesn't stop them sticking together and being friends through all of the hardships they encounter, and they encounter a lot! Through all the jokes and gut-busting humour is a really heartwarming theme plus commentary about our ridiculous dependency on mobile phones and the internet in general. I loved this story, it's another great addition to Frank Cottrell-Boyce's amazing canon of material. Great for ages 8+! The blog tour of the new First Names book about Einstein continues! Did you know that when Einstein was young he was given the nickname "The Dopey One"? Or that when he was ill in bed as a boy he was given a compass to pass the time and it changed his life? Or that he revelled in tormenting and annoying his teachers and professors and even FAILED tests and exams at school? Neither did I! Reading this fast-paced, funny illustrated non-fiction title about Einstein opened up a whole new world to me. You really feel like you are living Einstein's life beside him, all of his challenges and successes, his frustrations and his triumphs. I also really enjoyed seeing his more complicated theories explained using illustrations and language that younger readers can understand. It's a truly fascinating read packed with information and a ton facts that highlight why Einstein was so unique, a true genius that was often misunderstood. He was someone who had pure curiosity about the universe and how it worked. I loved this story and I recommend it for ages 9+ The No Country Blog Tour Continues! This is an amazing graphic novel that I highly recommend. See my interview with creators Joe and Patricia below! What prompted you to create a story about a civil war and its impact on families? JOE: I was prompted by the nativist reaction to the refugees around the world. There is such a deep empathy deficit that we need to work to address. Part of the reason for this empathy deficit, I believe, is down to a narrative bias in even sympathetic portrayals of refugees: people fleeing their home – strange and far away – to create a home here. Home is such a personal and individual thing to each of us – senses, memories, foods – it’s tactile, and it’s different to different cultures. How do you empathize with someone who has left somewhere strange to come somewhere familiar? It asks us to conceptualize what their journey means to them, and make an imaginative leap between their home and ours. And that’s what No Country is – bridging that gap for the readers. It’s a story that starts in a collapsed warring state that feels like home, and moves to a functional society that feels strange and foreign. From the perspective of the people fleeing violence, that’s what happens. The specific sense of home is really important to me because I’m not from here. I moved to England in 2008 While my personal experience is categorically different because I was not forced to leave my home, I feel a persistent longing toward that place where I’m from – even though it doesn’t exist in the same way as when I left it. Basically, I’m happy here in England and at the same time I’m homesick all the time. On the surface, No Country is a story about refugees, but to me, deeper down, it’s also about the longing to be home and how being forced apart from that specific place tears you in two. The goal is not to be every refugee story, let alone to replace even one of them. Rather, I’d like No Country to touch on one very personal aspect of the experience as a bridge for the readers to what’s happening in the world. In No Country, democracy in Britain dies, do you think your outlook for the future of Britain is generally positive or negative? JOE: I’m an optimist. Thinking about it historically, we have inherited huge progress in the fight for justice and equality. Go back a century or so, and women couldn’t vote. Go back two centuries in this country, and slavery was legal. Go much beyond that, and think about the bare realities of living in a country of kings and serfs and endless disease and perpetual wars. Our society today is rife with injustices, but it’s also filled with people willing to work tirelessly solve them and popular will to support the ideal of equality. Historically, we have always met the challenges that faced us enough to keep going, and I believe we will rise to challenges that face us today. Do you think people take democracy for granted? JOE: We take democracy for granted when we confuse the process by which we govern ourselves with what it means to govern. People in the UK treat the elements of democracy like voting as sacrosanct, and that’s true for governments all around the world. Think about how even in clear dictatorships they still have farce elections, and in some places they even have farce opposition parties. I imagine the Prime Minister in No Country is elected by margins of 80-90%, but he still holds elections every five years. But even holding fair elections is not enough to create a truly just society. My concern is not that people take democracy for granted, but that they don’t see through it when it functions as a smoke screen for deeper injustices. Government to me is about the management of power across society, and democracy is an attempt to manage that power in a just way. Our government needs to be a mechanism for us to take care of one another. To keep each other safe. To use our resources collectively when necessary to solve a problem that we can’t solve as individuals. To protect everyone from all forms of hate and violence. In a true democracy, government is not this separate organization that rules us, it is us. The process of how we achieve this is of course incredibly important, but ultimately what we need to be striving for is justice; simply being a democracy is not enough. In dictatorships all around the world, it seems that if enough people feel economically secure, they turn a blind eye to the injustice of the government. This is also true in democracies. There are deeply entrenched power structures – deep ruts in the roads of class, wealth, race – that we allow to continue. There’s a wonderful saying (that has been attributed to so many people, I don’t know who actually said it first), ‘Democracy has to be more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner.’ We used it in a comic for The Phoenix a few years ago about elections (art by Dan Boultwood, copyright held by The Phoenix). To me, the point is that the purpose of a democracy is as a system by which we take care of one another – particularly the most vulnerable among us – and never leaving anyone out. The government and democracy are only one method in achieving that.
Did you model the story after an event in a particular country where this type of event actually happened? JOE: It started that way, but quickly grew into something else. I started thinking about Syria and the war there. For example, the Free Kingdom is in my mind the English equivalent of Isis. But so much has happened since I started. Brexit. Covid. Cages on the American border. When I started, I had never heard of the Proud Boys or the Oath Keepers, and now they’re in the news almost daily. The population of people who have been forced to leave their countries because of violence is roughly equivalent to the population of the UK. And that’s to say nothing of the untold billions of people who live under the threat of oppression, or even the ones who haven’t survived to tell their stories. Sadly, the world is a font of source material for books like No Country. When illustrating a serious topic such as this, do you have to adopt a particular mood for each scene or panel? PATRICE: Comics are created organically, with the underlying mood making a wide sweep across all the scenes and panels. I need to draw the reader into the story, and that means establishing some kind of consistency of mood to keep from breaking the spell. It's a scary story! At the same time, the pictures are trying to remind us that there are soothing, hopeful elements in what seems to be growing chaos. Bea's notebook of comics also helps lighten the tension. We'll be seeing more of the stuff she draws in the next book, and hopefully it will serve as a balance, like an uplifting change of key in the middle of a song. Are there any particular books or stories that helped inspire you to create this graphic novel? PATRICE: When Joe and I first talked about this book and what themes it was going to explore, I thought I must look again at How the World Was and Alan's War, both by Emmanuel Guibert. They're in black and white and they aren't written for children, but the assured sense of place and concentrated focus in the middle of frightening events is staggering. And I wish I could draw as well as he can! Both books sit next to my drawing table all the time. Did the unrest and chaos that occurred in the United States shake your confidence in security and democracy? PATRICE: I grew up in the United States. As an African American I have never had any confidence whatsoever in security or democracy. In developing a graphic novel do you create the story first and then have the images drawn around it or vice versa? PATRICE: There were times when I thought I had just the right treatment worked out for a particular scene only to find it looked awful once I'd drawn it. Joe would have a number of ideas for how much to show of this or that backstory, only to find it distracted from the flow. Characters changed personalities. Things were taken out and then got put back again. I tried (unsuccessfully) to keep in some wonderful exchanges Joe wrote between a couple of the characters, but... Graphic novels are not illustrated stories. There's a conception stage, and then there's everything else all at once, in and out and back and forth. We're both artists and we're both writers, only using different tools. We have numerous budding illustrators in the library, what advice would you give to anyone interested in making a career out of illustration? PATRICE: In a strange reversal of the elders-and-betters teaching their offspring, the best advice I've heard (for any art form) came to me from my daughter. Do It Now. You might think the art you're making isn't good enough, or your project doesn't quite come up to standards, but there is no way to get better, or find out what you're really good at except to Do It. Don't put off trying out that crazy idea, or not get round to applying for that trainee spot or online workshop because of doubts or a lack of confidence. Do It Anyway, and Do It Now. (My daughter is a musician, but I've come to realise that in all art there is a storyteller, you just have to find which way of telling stories is best for you.) |
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