Sycamore Hill Mystery : The Tower Ghost Written by Natasha Mac a'Bháird Sycamore Hill Boarding School, Donegal 1963 Clare is excited to start her first term at Sycamore Hill. New sports, new subjects, and new friends – chatty, confident Rose and quiet, nature-loving Molly. But something strange is going on. The girls see a face … Continue reading Middle Grade Must Reads – January 2025
Written by Abi Elphinstone Illustrations by Kristina Kister Published by Simon and Schuster The second instalment to the new Ember Spark trilogy (though I hope it ends up being an entire series *fingers firmly crossed) arrived in bookstores in October, and I obviously ordered the Indie Bookshop edition - with sprayed edge design - from … Continue reading Ember Spark and the Frost Phoenix
Santarella Written by Suzy Senior Illustrated by Lucy Semple Published by Little Tiger As the tagline on the front cover states this book is 'A festive twist on Cinderella', and I love this picture book twist on a classic. Cinderella is left to do everything at home whilst her sisters are attending a ball, and … Continue reading The perfect Picture Books to share this Christmas 2024 (Part Three)
How Does Santa Go Down The Chimney? Written by Mac Barnett Illustrated by Jon Klassen Published by Walker Books I had the pleasure of sitting and reading this with my 4 year old nephew yesterday, and oh how he loved it. I don't even know if a chimney is something he is familiar with specifically … Continue reading The perfect Picture Books to share this Christmas 2024 – Part Two
Night Night, Sleepy Elves Written by Selina Wood Illustrated by Gareth Williams Published by Little Tiger When I got a copy of Night Night, Spooky Friends I struggled to be able to enjoy it fully because my four year old nephew had swept it up and was enjoying it over and over, and it found … Continue reading Beautiful Board Books to share this Christmas – 2024
Clive Penguin Although this book isn't necessarily marketed as a Christmas title, it has certainly become one in our home, with it being read and reread at bedtime now the nights have pulled in and the temperatures are dropping too. I also have a huge fan of penguins in my family, so them being in … Continue reading The perfect Picture Books to share this Christmas 2024 – Part One
Where's Mr Penguin? Buggy Book We are massive fans of this series from Ingela P, Arrhenius and Nosy Crow, and so imagine our delight at finding out there is now this buggy book format added to the collection! If you follow me on Twitter you will have seen I shared the announcement of this book … Continue reading Festive Board Books and Picture Books – Christmas 2024
You can never go wrong with a Tom Percival title, and this one has been on my pile of picture books to read for some time because I wanted to take the time to really appreciate it, and I've made sure to keep it safe as it looks stunning from the front cover design and … Continue reading Quiet
I Love You Forever and and a Day As if I Love you to the Moon and Back wasn't cute enough, here we have the sequel to it, I Love you Forever and a Day, which is just as heartwarmingly beautiful, and a fabulous addition to your little ones library, or accompaniment to I Love … Continue reading Beautiful Board Books – November 2024
feature post by Ain Heath Drew Even though my 11-year-old son has apparently “aged out” of picture books, my collection of children’s literature is constantly growing. And as the publishing industry becomes more diverse and self-published authors have more platforms to share their work, my collection has expanded exponentially. I’ve always prided myself on having … Continue reading Why I Wrote a Children’s Book about the African Diaspora
samjdthomas.home.blog 