Author Ashley Thorpe joins us to talk about his middle grade books The Boy to Beat the Gods and Spirit Warriors. Find out about how he was inspired by West African and Jamaican mythology and how long it really does take to have a breakout success as your debut book.

There is also a new Loki book out by Louie Stowell - A Bad God's Guide to Causing Chaos and there is a giveaway for a signed copy (UK only) - details will be on our socials. Also find out about her Lokifesto.

If you are looking for any of the books we talk about on the podcast, they can be found in our Bookshop.org shop here (and if you buy them we earn a small commission and a donation also goes to support independent bookshops). Win, Win.

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We are joined by Maisie Chan to talk about her latest book, Nate Yu's Blast from the Past. It's a draws on the untold history of the Chinese Labour Corps in WW1 in a story that combines a ghost story with a warm and humorous exploration of belonging, friendship and family. 

Look out for the event that Maisie mentions at the British Library in September which can be found here 

Maisie's website can be found here with lots more information about her books and other resources.

Her other books include:

Danny Chung Does Not Do Maths

Keep Dancing, Lizzie Chu

Tiger Warrior: Attack of the Dragon King: Book 1

We also talked about books set at the seaside. These included:

The Last Pebble, by Alex Horne

Changing Tides, by Julia Moscardo

Our Pebbles, by Jarvis

Vanishing Edge, by Zillah Bethell

Turtle Moon, by Hannah Gold, illustrated by Levi Pinfold

If you have any book recommendations or topics you would like us to cover, get in touch.  

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In this episode we talk with Justin Somper about the latest book in his Pirate Academy series, Sword Echoes. It came out in the UK in May and the series sets sail in Australia next week. Full of adventure and intrigue - perfect for a summer read. 

Justin can be found on Instagram here

And links to his books are below:

New Kid On Deck: Pirate Academy #1

Missing at Sea: Pirate Academy #2

Sword Echoes: Pirate Academy #3

Demons of the Ocean

Tide of Terror

The Week Junior's Book Awards can be found here

And the apps we talked about are (no sponsorship involved!)

The StoryGraph

Novellic

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We talk with Tom McLaughlin about his graphic novel Alan, King of the Universe. Alan is an orange cat convinced he is born to rule. Blessed with opposable thumbs and a side kick called Fido, he spends his days dreaming up ways to take up the universe.

Tom's website can be found here and here are some links to his books:

Alan King of the Universe

The Day that Aliens (nearly) Ate our Brains

The Day I Became the Most Wanted Boy in the World

The Accidental Prime Minister

You've Been Werewolfed

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Join us to hear all about Jasbinder Bilan's new book, Naeli and the Secret Song. Find out where the idea came from and the research she did. 

Here are links to all of Jasbinder's Books

Naeli and the Secret Song

Aarti and the Blue Gods

Tamarind and the Star of Ishta

Asha and the Spirit Bird

India, Incredible India, illustrated by Nina Chakrabarti

Xanthe and the Ruby Crown

Calling the Whales, illustrated by Skylar White

Nush and the Stolen Emerald

Paloma and the Bear, illustrated by Skylar White

Anya's Quest, illustrated by Jane Ray

And links to the book prizes we mentioned;

Jhalak Prize

The Women's Prize

The Week Junior Book Awards

Branford Boase Award

Keep up to date with Mostly Book Talk's newsletter on Substack

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We are joined by Alison Jewitt a teacher from South London who leads a Carnegie Shadowing Group at her school and Sophia Bower a school librarian from Durham who is a Carnegie judge this year. 

We talk about shadowing groups and then all of the books on the Carnegie Medal for Writing shortlist. Sophia then hides while the rest of us make our predictions about who wins - we were completely wrong last year, can we do better this year?

Carnegie Medal Short Listed Books

All That it Ever Meant, Blessing Musariri

Glasgow Boys, Margaret McDonald

King of Nothing, Nathanael Lessore

Little Bang, Kelly McCaughrain

Play, Luke Palmer

The Final Year, Matt Goodfellow

The Things we Leave Behind, Clare Furniss

Treacle Town, Brian Conaghan

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Join us talking with Cath Howe about the latest book in her Call the Puffins series, Tiny and the Cave Ghost (illustrated by Ella Okstad). We talk about the importance of early reading books and wonder whether there is a big meeting of authors where they decide which animals they are going to write about (you never know...)! We also go down memory lane with the Tufty Club and it all gets a bit silly...

Cath's other books include:

In the Call the Puffins series (all illustrated by Ella Okstad):

Call the Puffins

Tiny's Brave Rescue

Muffin and the Shipwreck

Her middle grade books:

Ella on the Outside

Not My Fault

How to be Me

My Life on Fire

The Insiders

Cath's website is here with resources to go with her books and information about school workshops.

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In this episode we talk with Professor Teresa Cremin, the co-director of the Open University's Literacy and Social Justice Centre, discuss what the research says about children's reading for pleasure and the work the OU is doing to support teachers develop reading for pleasure cultures in their schools.

You can find out more about the OU Reading for Pleasure activities here.

Some recent books by Teresa Cremin include: 

Reading Teachers: Nurturing Reading for Pleasure, ed. Teresa Cremin, Helen Hendry, Lucy Rodriguez Leon and Natalia Kucirkova

Reading for Pleasure: International Perspectives, ed. Teresa Cremin and Sarah McGeown

Teaching English Creatively, by Teresa Cremin

Children Reading for Pleasure in the Digital Age: Mapping Reader Engagement by Natalia Kucirkova and Teresa Cremin

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Listen to Lisa Thompson talk about her new book, The Boy in the Tree (illustrated by Katie Kear), and also her many other books including the forthcoming follow up to The Goldfish Boy - The Skeleton Puzzle  (out in September.)

Information about all Lisa's books and also extra resources can be found at www.lisathompsonauthor.com

Links to the books we talked about

The Goldfish Boy

Owen and the Soldier

The Treasure Hunters

Sidney and Carrie Have a Party

Worry Boots

The Boy in the Tree

The Magpie Riddle

The Skeleton Puzzle

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In this episode we talk with Tom Percival about his book The Wrong Shoes and also about some of his picture books. 

Tom has a website here, but probably the best way to stay up to date with what he is up to is on Instagram @tompercivalbooks or on X @TomPercivalSays

His books can be found here:

The Wrong Shoes (currently in hardback, paperback available 8 May 2025)

Quiet (illustrated by Richard Jones)

The Invisible

Perfectly Norman

The Bridges

Squirrel and Duck - Mission Improbable

Some of the other books mentioned:

The Harder they Fall, Bali Rai

It's a No-Money Day, Kate Milner

The Great (Food) Bank Heist, Onjali Q Rauf

If you are doing something interesting in a school or other setting to support young people's reading for pleasure and would like to come and talk on the podcast, get in touch at [email protected]

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