Lovereading 4 Kids Updates from the world of children's books

Follow

Inconsistent is the word that often best describes the UK’s weather and certainly this Spring has been no exception! However, here at Lovereading4kids, we’re confident of consistently guiding you to the best and most interesting children’s books. Read on for news about the Ian Fleming centenary, enticing younger children into some retellings of classic stories or getting your children to learn to Lovereading with the excellent Usborne Reading Programme.

Having the opportunity to read books before they are published is incredibly exciting and this month we have 4 absolute crackers. So why not download some free Opening Extracts and let your children discover some of the best new stories before anyone else?

Puppet Master by debut novelist Joanne Owen is a fairytale mystery for 11+ readers set in 19th century Prague. We were blown away by the lyrical prose, the page-turning story and the description of Prague. Don’t miss this one.

The Scribes from Alexandria is the 15th of Caroline Lawrence’s Roman Adventure series and is perfect for 9+ readers. In the port of Alexandria, a desperate quest begins to solve many riddles and codes. But will it end in treasure…or death?

Agatha Bilke is back for an hilariously dark and destructive adventure, this time in France. Now the 3rd in the series they get better and better. Great for 7+ keen and reluctant readers alike.

Finally the 2nd in the ‘Kumari’ series. The girl goddess is back home after a year in New York but all is not well or as it seems in the Hidden Kingdom. Wild and wacky and full of wit and humour 11+ readers will love it.
Other Highlights this month:

News on three special features:

Centenary for Creator of Chitty Chitty Bang and Bond!
Did you know Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was born 100 years ago on 28 May? To celebrate we have the most collectible version of his family favourite Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, with illustrations by John Burningham. Also Charlie Higson, the creator of the fabulous Young Bond has the 4th in the series, Hurricane Gold, out in paperback. So indulge your children’s love of this quintessential British hero.

Classic stories retold for younger readers?
Real Reads is a fresh and new approach to reading Jane Austen and Charles Dickens that is sure to appeal to a younger or more reluctant older reader. Real Reads are retellings of classics, shorter with simpler language. The announcement of this new approach caused quite a stir but they are proving popular So, please do have a look. If it gets more people reading, whether children or adults, it has to be a good thing.

Learn to Lovereading with Usborne
The Usborne Reading Programme is a great way to give your child a headstart with reading. From beginner readers moving off picture books, for aspiring young readers to help develop their skills, or for children to read alone, there’s a lovely mix of fiction and non-fiction books, graded in seven levels, from beginner to the newly confident reader. We’ve selected a small range from each level to help you

find just the right place to start at, whether your child is a prodigious bookworm or could do with a bit of fun motivation. By the time they’ve worked their way through to the final level, they’ll be eager and able to enjoy any book given to them. Find out more today.
If you like our website please tell your friends – thank you.

Happy Reading

Follow

Follow

One of the best things about childhood and learning to read is being able to visit hundreds of different worlds from the comfort of home. In this single email are books that will transport your children to fantastical places where squirrels plan beach holidays, princesses are brainwashed, and people can hear each other’s thoughts.

Weekly comics used to be part of a lot of children’s lives, and the characters they created live on in our hearts and minds. Comics can also be a brilliant way for reluctant readers to really get into the beauty and imagination of stories. But comics of late have, quite rightly, been criticised as having little literary or educational merit – until now!

The publishing maverick David Fickling, who discovered Philip Pullman, has created a brand new high quality weekly comic aimed at 8-12 year olds and we love it! The DFC will be 36 pages packed with superb stories from some of the greatest storytellers in the world, including Philip Pullman and Nick Sharratt to name but two. Rest assured it will bew full of excitement, adventure, humour, robots and monsters! Find out more on our site and get a special offer just for Lovereading4kids members!

Author of the Month Michelle Magorian
	Author of the Month is the critically acclaimed and multi-award winning Michelle Magorian with her long-awaited new novel Just Henry . But it’s been worth the 10 year wait. Brilliantly plotted it’s wonderfully nostalgic of time and place and a magnificent page-turner. We’re also featuring some of her fantastic older titles.

We have a bumper crop of Books of the Month to keep bookworms of every age enthralled, the highlight for us is a new series, Blade , that will be devoured by everyone from the remarkably talented Tim Bowler.Blade: Playing Dead has been receiving some rave reviews and crucial about this new series is the books are short and even the most reluctant reader will find them gripping. Perfect for 12+ readers.

Next up, three brilliant Debuts of the Month:

Milrose Munce and the Den of Professional Help is a twisted, funny and dark modern-day ghost story.

Spud, by John Van Der Ruit, sees 13-year-old John ‘Spud’ Milton make his first steps towards manhood. A wickedly funny and observant coming-of-age novel.

And Mr Peek and the Misunderstanding at the Zoo is an exuberant picture book by Kevin Waldron that parents and toddlers will enjoy together.

And not forgetting our Green Reads category designed to foster everyone’s environmental consciences: The heart-soaring Varmints by Helen Ward is a story about one of the most overlooked environmental problems on earth today: the loss of peace and quiet.

Five Little Men is a board book for toddlers to introduce them to green ideas right from the start of their lives.

And Charlie and Lola: Look After Your Planet by Lauren Child, is another great book for 0-5 year-olds to introduce them to environmental themes and there’s a great competition running alongside this one.

This month’s author from Walker’s New Voices, showcasing new talent, is Patrick Ness, whose book The Knife of Never Letting Go is the first in a compelling trilogy in which everyone can hear everyone else’s thoughts, whether they want to or not. Brilliantly written and a book that will stick with you long after you’ve turned the last page.

So download a few free Opening Extracts, and find the books

that will let your children go on some extraordinary journeys from the sofa at home. And you can buy them all at a refreshing 25% discount off the RRP.

This month’s ‘featured books’
Age 0 – 5 years

The Bear In The Cave Michael Rosen From the brilliantly talented author of We’re going on a Bear Hunt, comes a wonderfully warm and funny story about a bear who lives by the sea but thinks life in the city will be more fun – until he… Download Extract Buy £5.24 Save 25%	Mr Peek And The Misunderstanding At The Zoo Kevin Waldron Delightful and distinctive retro artwork and stylish typography has helped to create a hugely appealing picture book featuring Mr Peek, the zoo keeper, his son Jimmy and the case of the wrong jacket. Likely to be the first of many… Download Extract Buy £8.24 Save 25%	Lulu’s Shoes Camilla Reid An utterly fabulous interactive book for shoe-obsessed toddlers. Guaranteed to keep toddlers engaged for hours with laces, velcro straps and buckles to name just three. Download Extract Buy £5.24 Save 25%
Harry And The Dinosaurs Make A Splash Ian Whybrow Meet Harry and his bucket full of dinosaurs. They go for a splosh, a splash and a swim, with Nan and they learn how to be brave even when water is scary. This book teaches us how to pronounce words… Download Extract Buy £4.49 Save 25%	You Can Do It, Lola! Lindsey Gardiner Lola is adored by everyone, so much so that all the doggy tit-bits she’s given are making her very out of shape. All her friends seem to be enjoying the doggy playground so much more than her and when it… Download Extract Buy £4.49 Save 25%

This month’s ‘featured books’
Age 5+ readers

Jamie And Angus Together Anne Fine This is a touching collection of stories about a boy Jamie and his very best friend Angus. Angus is a Highland Bull and a soft toy but he and Jamie do everything together. In this delightful book for the newly… Download Extract Buy £3.74 Save 25%	Beryl Goes Wild Jane Simmons A touching story of piggy survival. Daring piglet Beryl escapes from the van on its way to the abattoir. Anything will be better than that, she thinks. Soon she is befriended by a wild pig and meets the Sisterhood of… Download Extract Buy £6.74 Save 25%	The Practical Princess Rebecca Lisle This entertaining and enormously funny story tells how a modern day Cinderella may find her Prince Charming. When the Royal Palace holds a competition to find a perfect princess, farm girl Molly seizes her chance. Luckily, she has long blonde… Download Extract Buy £3.74 Save 25%
Dilly’s Bumper Book Of Stories Tony Bradman Dilly the Dinosaur, famous for his exceptionally loud, 150 mile-an-hour scream when he doesn’t get what he wants, is here celebrated in a dozen stories. Unfortunately, Dilly always attracts disaster so, it is not surprising that in each of this… Download Extract Buy £3.74 Save 25%

This month’s ‘featured books’
Age 7+ readers

Ordinary Basil and The Island of the Volcano Monkeys Wiley Miller Ordinary Basil is an indomitable character who gives up at nothing and here sets off on another action-packed adventure to put the world to rights along with her erstwhile friend, Louise. Basil’s fantastic journey will spark the imaginations of readers… Download Extract Buy £7.49 Save 25%	Foul Play Tom Palmer Football mad boys and girls will devour this all-action adventure novel, virtually in a sitting. Hopefully, even the most reluctant reader, just like the author himself was at school, will devour it too. It’s part of Puffin’s ‘Football Detective’ series… Download Extract Buy £4.49 Save 25%	Fibby Libby Ros Asquith Lovereading review to appear soon… Download Extract Buy £3.74 Save 25%
Fairy Secrets Gwyneth Rees Do you believe in fairies? You will when you’ve read Fairy Secrets. Ellie and her brother David are spending their holiday with their aunt in Wales. Ellie meets Bronwen and Myfanwy as soon as she arrives and she very quickly… Download Extract Buy £3.74 Save 25%	Lotta Says ‘no!’ Astrid Lindgren These Lotta stories are charming, funny and convincing. Lotta is a little sister who never seems to be far from trouble. In this story Lotta and her younger siblings have all kinds of adventures including making their pancake tree. Astrid Lindgren is best known for… Download Extract Buy £2.99 Save 25%

This month’s ‘featured books’
Age 9+ readers

Grk Smells A Rat Joshua Doder Grk, the loveable doggy star of four previous adventures, is back with a thirst for something new. A great boys-own read, with no magic, no fairies but plenty of fast-paced action. Now in Delhi for a tennis championship, Grk and… Download Extract Buy £3.74 Save 25%	Monster Blood Tattoo D M Cornish Prepared to be scared by this rollercoaster fantasy and the cast of brilliantly conceived and depicted monsters who inhabit it! Orphaned Rossamund must take a trip to the city of High Vesting. It’s a journey fraught with danger and Rossamund… Download Extract Buy £4.49 Save 25%	Septimus Heap: Queste Angie Sage Utterly spellbinding, fast-paced and brilliantly plotted, this is the fourth in the Septimus Heap series, the fantastical adventure that is gripping the nation. Septimus faces yet another fantastical quest to rescue friends trapped back in time. The first was Download Extract Buy £9.74 Save 25%
Septimus Heap: Physik Angie Sage Packed with heart-stopping action and endless wit as well as brilliant characters, this novel continues the magical Septimus Heap series that began with Magyk and continued in Flyte. The author opens up an array of dazzling and bewitching… Download Extract Buy £5.24 Save 25%	The Tiger’s Egg Jon Berkeley The story of Miles, the boy whose home was in a barrel and the only person to see a magical circus roll into town in the wonderfully inventive Palace of Laughter has now joined the circus and along with… Download Extract Buy £5.24 Save 25%

This month’s ‘featured books’
Age 11+ readers

Blade: Closing In Tim Bowler The second in the Blade series, this is another short, very accessible novel for teens. Pacy, gripping and packed with action, and a central character that’s incredibly engaging, even the most reluctant reader will devour it. Blade is on the… Download Extract Buy £4.49 Save 25%	Fly On The Wall Emily Lockhart A fabulous and fun novel. Ever felt like wanting to be a ‘fly on the wall’ in order to glean information? Well art school student Gretchen Yee feels ordinary unlike everyone around her, so much so that despite a crush… Download Extract Buy £4.49 Save 25%	Dragonfly Julia Golding Fun to read, Dragonfly is a sweeping story on an epic scale. Princess Tashi and Prince Rami are forced into marriage for the future of both their countries. Given such an unpropitious start, it is not surprising that they hate… Download Extract Buy £4.49 Save 25%
Just Henry Michelle Magorian Warmhearted and full of period detail, Just Henry is a wonderful story of growing up and seizing life’s opportunities. It’s post war Britain and life should be getting better for all – and some things are. But Henry finds an… Download Extract Buy £5.24 Save 25%	Spud John Van De Ruit There’s a warning attached to this book. It is side-splittingly funny and it will find you rolling around on the carpet – laughing hysterically and gasping for air. Focus on, an elite boys boarding school, a boy called Spud, parents… Download Extract Buy £4.49 Save 25%	Steel Trapp Ridley Pearson A sharp, fast-paced thriller featuring a 14-year old whose photographic memory causes him to get embroiled in a complex puzzle of kidnapping, bribery, terrorism and on the run from the federal agents. The author is an established writer of suspense… Download Extract Buy £5.24 Save 25%
Milrose Munce Douglas Anthony Cooper A hilariously dark tale from the self-proclaimed evil novelist Douglas Anthony Cooper. Milrose Munce is blessed or rather cursed with the ability to see ghosts. Rather unfortunately for him most of his best friends have died in science experiments gone… Download Extract Buy £5.24 Save 25%

This month’s ‘featured books’
Age 14+ readers

Shooting The Moon V M Jones A coming-of-age novel of a young man whose life is a balancing act between his passion – rock climbing – and his domineering father’s ambitions for him. As he confronts his life head on, events spiral out of control and… Download Extract Buy £4.49 Save 25%	Blade: Playing Dead Tim Bowler Totally gripping teens thriller written in a direct and compelling style. Tough kid Blade wants no one to know him. He’s a loner and wants to keep it that way. It’s the best way to keep out of trouble. But… Download Extract Buy £4.49 Save 25%	The Truth About Forever Sarah Dessen A kind-hearted and intuitive account of a young woman dealing with the private issues in her life, chiefly the death of her father. She joins a gang of artistic friends through the Wish catering company and she begins to understand… Download Extract Buy £5.24 Save 25%
The Amethyst Child Sarah Singleton A gripping and thoughtful story about the power of a cult leader on young people. When conventional Amber meets Dowdie she gets drawn into the Community which appears to offer all kinds of interesting alternatives to her own boring, everyday… Download Extract Buy £5.24 Save 25%	The Hundred-Towered City Garry Douglas Kilworth Nail biting adventure powers this time slip story in which three young people are transported back in time to search for their missing parents. Will they find their parents and, even if they do, will they be able to return… Download Extract Buy £9.74 Save 25%

Follow