Mostly Book Talk

An  interview with Abiola Bello, author and also founder of  Hashtag Press and The Diverse Book Awards and a chat with Sarah Stuffins from The Federation of Children’s Book Groups  about their Children's Book Award.

Abiola’s Middle Grade Books

Emily Knight I am…
Emily Knight I am... Awakened
Emily Knight I am... Becoming
The Very Merry Murder Club
The Very Sunny Murder Club 

Abiola’s YA Books

Love in a Winter Wonderland
Only for the Holidays
The Love Dare 

The FCBG Children’s Book Award Shortlist 2024

Books for Younger Children
Gigantic,  Rob Biddulph
The Big Dreaming,  Michael Rosen and  Daniel Egneus
The Fastest Tortoise in Town,  Howard Calvert and  Karen Obuhanych
The Princess and the (Greedy) Pea, Leigh Hodgkinson

Books for Younger Readers
Adventure Mice: Otter Chaos, Philip Reeve and  Sarah McIntyre
Marv and the Killer Plants, Alex Falase-Koya and  Paula Bowles
Press Start! Game On, Super Rabbit Boy!,  Thomas Flintham

Books for Older Readers
Code Name Kingfisher,  Liz Kessler
Deadlock,  Simon Fox
The Final Year, Matt Goodfellow and Joe Todd-Stanton

Books we have been reading
The Eyes and the Impossible, Dave Eggers
Keedie, Elle McNicoll
When I Feel Red,Lily Bailey
The Song Walker, Zilla Bethel
Secrets of the Snake Stone,Piu DasGupta
Tariq and the Drowning City, Sarwat Chadda

Death Under a Little Sky and Death in a Lonely Place, Stig Abell
Sufferah, Alex Wheatle

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We talked to Rose Edmondson at Falinge Park High School about her brilliant science book club.  She can be found on Twitter/X @snotlady5

Here are some of the books she mentioned:

Global - a graphic novel adventure about hope in the face of climate change

The Moth Keeper - can be hard to find in UK - available second hand

The Curie Society

Graphic Science- Seven Journeys of Discovery

Am I made of Stardust

I Ate Sunshine for Breakfast

The Observologist

We also talked about what we had been reading.

Northern Soul

The Dog that Saved the World (Cup)

The Humiliations of Welton Blake

Featherlight

When I Feel Red

I am Rebel

Tomorrow, Tomorrow and Tomorrow

Wonderscape

And information about Book Clubs in Schools’ Summer Book Club can be found here.

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A fascinating interview with Dr Alexia Casale, author and Senior Lecturer and Course Leader on MA in Writing for Young People at Bath Spa University.  Her website can be found at http://www.alexiacasale.com/ 

Her books can be bought through these links: 

Sing if you Can’t Dance

The Bone Dragon

The Best Way to Bury Your Husband

And the books Alexi mentioned include:

Howl’s Moving Castle, Diana Wynne Jones

Daughter of Darkness, Katherine and Elizabeth Corr

We also talked about bookish things we had done and what we had been reading.

Ali visited:

Battersea Power Station World Book Day Lift 109 event (on until 28th March)

Battersea Book Shop

And was reading:

London Belongs to Me by Norman Collins

Katy attended:

Inclusive Books for Children Awards

And the winners and shortlisted books were:

Baby and Toddler Books for ages 1–3

Too Green! by Sumana Seeboruth, illustrated by Maribel Castells (winner)

Zeki Goes to the Park by Anna McQuinn, illustrated by Ruth Hearson

Zeki Hikes with Daddy by Anna McQuinn, illustrated by Ruth Hearson

Picture Books for ages 3–7

You’re So Amazing! by James and Lucy Catchpole, illustrated by Karen George (winner)

Dadaji's Paintbrush by Rashmi Sirdeshpande, illustrated by Ruchi Mhasane

The Missing Piece by Jordan Stephens and illustrated by Beth Suzanna

To the Other Side by Erika Meza

Faruq and the Wiri Wiri by Sophia Payne, illustrated by Sandhya Prabhat

Children's Fiction for ages 5–9

Meet the Maliks, Twin Detectives: The Cookie Culprit by Zanib Mian, illustrated by Kyan Cheng (winner)

Budgie by Joseph Coelho, illustrated by David Barrow

Lizzie and Lucky: The Mystery of the Lost Chicken by Megan Rix, illustrated by Tim Budgen

Sona Sharma, Wish Me Luck by Chitra Soundar, illustrated by Jen Khatun

Too Small Tola Makes It Count by Atinuke, illustrated by Onyinye Iwu

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