We'll swiftly slap a "YA / Adult Only" label on our Chapter Book for this week, a delicious slice of hard-fi that will set your senses ablaze...

Our second Picture Book of the Week this week is something truly special, proving once again that the French really know how to create stunning children's books...

Oh wowsers, this week's first Picture Book of the Week is a real blast from the past, quite literally...!

September 21st is "International Hobbit Day", a celebration of the original publication of J.R.R Tolkien's amazing piece of work.

We narrowly missed the deadline but I didn't want it to pass without saying something about this incredible book, mainly because it was one of the first 'proper' books I read as a kid, and one that definitely played a huge part in making me want to read for pleasure.

Stretching back to junior school, I would have been quite a bit younger than Charlotte is now - in fact without trying to sound too smug or precocious about it, the main reason I ended up reading this book at the tender age of 5 was because I was lucky enough to have an incredible teacher who, these days, would probably have been disciplined for what she did.

Miss Cox was my class teacher and English teacher, and recognised early on that I was struggling with my reading. Not because I had problems reading, I just had problems reading the sort of stuff I was supposed to be reading at that age.

Most kids in the class were beginning their first reading journeys, years before phonics were a thing. I'd been taught to read in a pretty harsh way. Without going into detail I should have actually been put off reading for life at a time when children are beginning to first find their love of stories and tales.

Miss Cox realised why I wouldn't read classroom books, and switched me onto "The Hobbit". I still have no idea whether this was an experiment in 'bringing me down a peg' or whether she actually did so because she somehow knew this book would appeal. The effect on me though was electric. The copy had the cover you see in the article above, and even the cover made me want to find out more.

Separate to the other children going through the Ladybird books and "Peter and Jane / Janet and John" books she encouraged me to read the book in class, and (unheard of at the time) let me take the copy home to read there too.

I did exactly that, in fact I read it through 3 times before I'd let her have it back. It became a subject of discussion and it also became part of projects I was given in class based around reading, to the point where I felt so familiar with Bilbo and Middle Earth I had to voraciously track down and read just about everything else I could get my hands on in the fantasy genre (including, of course, the rest of Tolkien's books). Thank gawd that back then libraries were still commonplace, both in school and outside of school as we had little or no money to buy books with back then.

All in all, Miss Cox started a lifelong love of books and reading that has stayed with me and I now pass on to my daughter, often with the same books that I was won over by all those years ago.

Why "The Hobbit" though? For me it was the fact that Tolkien, for all the various criticisms levelled at his work over the years, could build book worlds like no other. He drew on his own experiences of the local countryside and places he visited to bring an air of believability to fantasy realms. Likewise with his characters, he introduced all of the human strengths and weaknesses into the mix, even with the non-humans. Vanity, covetousness, hope, resilience - so many qualities extend across the amazing folk found in his books that everyone can identify themselves, or people they know, amongst the likes of Bilbo, the dwarves or perhaps even Gandalf himself.

I still love the book and still treat myself to a re-read quite often, and it always seems to manage to feel fresh and vibrant, original and yet still has the ability to delight and surprise me just as it did at the tender age of 5.

I hope one day if you've never read it, you discover it and can get a taste of what I mean from it too. In the meantime, I am always indebted to Miss Cox and many other amazing teachers out there who fully understand, nurture and encourage a love of stories and books in their pupils, far beyond league tables and statistics-driven expectations.

Ever fancied becoming an Entymologist when you grow up? Studying insects all day long? Well here's a great place to start your journey - a fantastic new book on bugs!

Welcome, welcome to our September Chapter Book Roundup. By now most of you will be back at school (boo hiss!) and the long summer days are starting to change as our favourite season Autumn is ushered in. We've got some great books to tuck yourselves up with, so let's get started right away.

First is a new tale from Gill Lewis, author of "Sky Hawk" and recent fave "A Story Like the Wind"

"Sky Dancer" is the story of young Joe. He has always loved the moorlands above his home: the wildness, the freedom, the peace.

But when Joe's father dies, everything changes and the moors are no longer a place of refuge, more a place of darkness and gloom, foreboding and grief.

Now the whole community is divided over the fate of the hen harriers that nest up there in the heather - and Joe is stuck right in the middle, with a choice to make, and a huge secret to keep.

Joe can't do what's right for everyone. But can he find the strength to fight for what he really believes in?

With wonderful reminders for me of books like "Tarka the Otter" and "Kes", Gill has wrought a beautiful tale of loss, expectation, and change - with an important and thought-provoking environmental message.

Definitely one for bird and animal lovers, "Sky Dancer" by Gill Lewis is out on October 1st, published by OUP / Oxford Children's Books.

We just couldn't wait to dive into our next book. Maz Evans' utterly fantastic follow-up to "Who Let the Gods Out" is now with us, and you know what? It's "Simply the Quest!"

(We mean best! Best!)

Rejoining young protagonist Elliot Hooper, we pick up the story directly from the first book and Elliot's troubles are far from over.

Mum is still ill, in fact her health is getting worse. Elliot's grades are also tanking at school as other distractions firmly get in the way of any dwindling academic leanings he had. Oh, and there's that tiny matter of a bunch of crazy Greek gods who have taken up residence in Elliot's house. Most distracting of all is teen goddess Virgo, who has 99 problems of her own (and Elliot isn't one).

As if all that wasn't enough to be dealing with,  death-daemon Thanatos and his scary mum are also at large. More immortal allies and enemies emerge as Elliot's story continues. Can Virgo and Elliot learn how to be heroes?

Our description might not make this sound like the funniest book ever written, but once again Maz's amazingly fine tuned humour bursts out from every page with enough moments to make you grin like an idiot and perhaps mumble 'ew, gross' quite a lot at the same time. Utterly perfect!

"Simply the Quest" by Maz Evans is out now, published by Chicken House Books. 

Next, a girl full of joie de vivre, and something of a YouTube Superstar. Let's meet Mango!

"Mango Delight" is the stunning debut from author Fracaswell Hyman, with brilliant cover and illustrations from Frank Morrison.

Mango Delight Fuller is one lucky girl.
Pongwiffy has just moved into a new cave, and it's dirty, smelly and damp - in other words it's perfect for a witch like Pongwiffy!

"Eloise Undercover" by Sarah Baker (Catnip Books)

We're delighted to welcome author Sarah Baker to the blog today, to talk about her exciting new World War 2 adventure.

"Eloise Undercover" is the story of a plucky young girl who is in hiding during the Nazi occupation of France in 1944.

12 year old Eloise’s father is missing.

Eloise is desperate to find out what’s happened to him, and joins the French Resistance movement.

It's the begining of a dangerous adventure in a story full of secrecy and suspense.

Full of emotion all the way through, and perfect for middle grade readers who love books like "The Silver Sword" or "The Owl Service", we'll now hand over the blog to Sarah to tell you a little bit more about her writing and inspirations for the story.



Eloise Undercover – from idea to finished book

I first had the idea for a story set during WW2 when I was about 12.

Let's zoom out into the stratosphere in a colourful and vibrant journey of discovery - You Choose your adventure in "You Choose in Space" by Pippa Goodhart and Nick Sharratt...

Once again we're taking a deep dive into all things comic-flavoured with a triple-themed comic round up, celebrating the brightest, best and some of the newest comics to hit our review pile over the last month.

Kicking off with a comic series I've absolutely fallen in love with, now reissued in a new print run.

Neil Gaiman's "Marvel 1602" with art by Andy Kubert and Richard Isanove basically takes all the amazing Marvel heroes you know and love (or loathe, depending on your loyalty and allegiance, true believers) and dumps them back in time to the titular date.

Here we see well-known superheroes reinvented in such an amazing and engaging way that you (like me) will end up completely hooked.

The first chapter in the series, gathered together in a nice fat Graphic Novel format, begins in Elizabethan England. Strange things are stirring and dark forces are rising. In the service of Queen Elizabeth, court magician Dr. Stephen Strange senses that the bizarre weather plaguing the skies above is not of natural origin.

Her majesty's premier spy, Sir Nicholas Fury, fends off an assassination attempt on the Queen by winged warriors rumored to be in service to a mad despot named Doom.

News is spreading of "witchbreed" sightings - young men bearing fantastic superhuman powers and abilities. And in the center of the rising chaos is Virginia Dare, a young girl newly arrived from the New World, guarded by a towering Indian warrior.

Can Fury and his allies find a connection to these unusual happenings before the whole world ends? This awesome version of the stories collects together volumes 1-8 of the comics, and is dazzling and sizzling with originality and Gaiman's amazing storytelling. Art is also fantastic, so if you're a bit jaded with the whole MCU this might just reinvigorate your enthusiasm.

"Marvel 1602" by Neil Gaiman, Andy Kubert and Richard Isanove is out now, published by Marvel Comics. 

Sticking with Marvel for a moment, and ahead of the new Punisher TV Series upcoming on Netflix, it's time to take another look at the skull-t-shirt-wearing vigilante who is seemingly unstoppable. But what happens when The Punisher meets the Merc with a Mouth? Definitely not one for kids but rocking-cool stuff all the same.

"Deadpool Versus The Punisher" by Van Lente, Perez and Redmond begins with a man known simply as the Bank hiring Deadpool to kill Frank Castle.

Should be a relatively simple task for Wade Wilson to execute, right?

Except taking out the Punisher is a lot harder than Deadpool could have anticipated--especially since he likes the Punisher.

A straightforward job becomes a knock-down-drag-out fight as they trade shot for shot. But things get complicated when the mercenary and the merciless Castle wind up embroiled in a bigger, messier conflict with the Bank front and center.

The bloody and brutal fight never ceases regardless of what side Wade and Frank are on, even when it's seemingly the same side--just because they have a common enemy doesn't make them partners in crime. To the victor belong the spoils, but is there a clear winner here?

As the cover says, it's strictly NOT for kids, this one - but it's a riotous chaotic battle royale between two of the most deadly characters in the MCU.

"Deadpool Versus The Punisher" is out now, published by Marvel Comics. 

We've covered this next fantastic graphic novel elsewhere on the blog but really wanted to make sure you caught it, so it gets a mention in our comic book roundup too.

"Spinning" by Tillie Walden is one of the most affecting comic memoirs we've read in a very long time, again establishing Tillie as one of the hottest new talents on the planet.

The story details Tillie's formative years as an award winning ice skater. Growing up, it was the same every morning. Wake up, grab the ice skates, and head to the rink while the world was still dark.

Weekends were spent in glitter and tights at competitions. Perform. Smile. And do it again.

She was good. She won. And she hated it.

Poignant and captivating, Ignatz Award winner Tillie Walden's powerful graphic memoir captures what it's like to come of age, come out, and come to terms with leaving everything you used to know behind. It was a well deserved book of the week here on the blog, so definitely grab it as soon as you can!
Nadia - AKA The Unstoppable Wasp has spent the entire first half of her life as a captive of The Red Room. Trained to become a super spy and combat specialist, Nadia is on her own for the first time. Now this teenage super scientist is ready to spread her wings!

We're huge, huge fans of Yuval Zommer's fabulous story books but he's also a very talented chap when it comes to non fiction titles.

We've previously enjoyed both "The Big Book of Bugs" and "The Big Book of Beasts" by Yuval, and now we're delighted to see a pair of accompanying books for your minibeast and big beast fans to enjoy and get involved with.

"The Big Sticker Book of Bugs" is a huge book full of the sort of delicious little details Yuval is famous for, this time with over 500 reusable stickers to stick down in various scenes and habitats.

Learn all about the insects of the world with this book that encourages children to go on their own investigative journey of the animals we share our living space with (whether we like it or not!)

Absolutely fantastic for Charlotte, who can't seem to resist cuddling woodlice or playing with ladybirds on her fingers.

"The Big Sticker Book of Bugs" by Yuval Zommer is out now, published by Thames and Hudson. 

If you like your beasts a big bigger, perhaps more furry and less inclined to crawl up your trouser leg then this one's for you!

"The Big Sticker Book of Beasts" features altogether larger prey, again with over 500 reusable stickers to place in all their different habitats and homes around the world.

Cuddle up to a Koala or two, stomp around the savannah with an Elephant or perhaps hibernate with some Canadian Grizzlies, there's definitely something for everyone in this fabulous activity book.

The books are of the highest quality, with easy-to-peel stickers throughout, and loads of lovely colour illustrations and opportunities for you to get busy with your own pens and pencils to create your own fun scenes.

"The Big Sticker Book of Beasts" by Yuval Zommer is also out now, published by Thames and Hudson (both books kindly supplied for review). 

More nautical naughtiness on the high seas, but this time the trouble is pint-sized...

Our Chapter Book of the Week continues a series I've completely fallen head over heels in love with. The sizzlingly brilliant "Black Light Express" by Philip Reeve...

I'm pretty sure just about every book blogger out there is going to kick off their review of our Picture Book of the week this week with "We need to talk about Kevin..."

Without a doubt, one of the big lures for many kids when it comes to books is seeing brilliant cover or internal illustrations that let their imaginations fly to other worlds, or introduce them to amazing characters they could never have dreamed up themselves.

We've written many times in these ReadItTorials about the worth of illustrators in helping to convey stories effectively but all those illustrators have one thing in common - they use their amazing imaginations to produce those believable characters and worlds.

Most artists (including myself) will readily admit to using references, researching image libraries and sometimes to using models or maquettes to get a particular pose or illustration 'just right' but many just seem to have the knack of hacking into their own natural born talent with amazing works that look real enough to leap off the page and actually 'exist'.

A lot of that comes from things they may have learned from school, with a good art tutor who engages with the subject enough to want to teach as many different aspects of illustration, from the important stuff like perspective, observation and anatomy through to colour, arrangement and form.

What we seem to find - not just in school but beyond that into further education too is that folk who love to draw often say they're not allowed to or are frowned upon for drawing from imagination.

Quite often art lessons still seem to rely heavily on those dreadful old standards of sticking a bunch of objects on the work table, then getting kids to draw and paint them in order to understand the shapes, the way to depict objects with light and shade, and to get proportions and scale just right.

Yes - those are important skills and there's nothing wrong with them - but as we've found with reading, there's a huge gulf between drawing and painting to gather the requisite skills for illustration, and drawing for the sheer pleasure of just coming up with something from your vivid imagination.

Learn how to draw just about everything with Lorenzo Etherington, half of the incredibly talented Etherington Brothers

I guess what we're talking about here is more of a mix of disciplines when it comes to teaching drawing, painting and illustration to kids. For example, not just relying on the hoary old standards that have been in place for years, but perhaps engaging kids with more up-to-date artists, methods and means of producing stunning work. Does anyone know of any school that, for example, bothers to touch digital art at all, other than perhaps slinging a couple of photos into a package and messing around with them for posters etc?

Regular blog visitors will know that we're huge fans of The Etherington Brothers, and really love Lorenzo Etherington's art.

Lorenzo's the sort of guy you'd love as an art teacher, with an obvious passion for his work and sharing brilliant tutorials that go beyond the usual "Start here, then draw this, then draw this and VOILA!" approach

Lorenzo's tutorial series "How to Think when you Draw" which has been put together both for the Etheringon Brothers blog and for The Phoenix comic is exactly the right balance of imagination vs real-world art skills. It's the perfect mix to encourage kids to think before they draw, think while they're drawing, and think about how they can take the tips and tricks learned into their own works of art.

Angry faces! (C) Lorenzo Etherington

I really like the approach of letting kids loose on drawing from their imagination, but also encouraging them to think about the component parts of their drawings, those bendy 'rules' and also a little bit about the mechanics of the very thing they're trying to draw.

It's fair to say that Lorenzo does make it look easy (and believe me, it really isn't!) but with practice and determination, you can start to build up a whole new internal symbol set - and way of thinking about your drawing - that will stand you in good stead when you start to build up your own portfolio.

For kids, I think it's just as important to encourage and develop a love of doodling and drawing for pleasure as it is to develop a love of reading for pleasure. We've always, always made sure there are art materials around at home for Charlotte to use - and that there's always somewhere in our dwindling spare time set aside for drawing, painting, sketching and doodling together (and it's been wonderful to go out to museums and other places and draw alongside my daughter, as bonding experiences go, it really doth rock!)

It has worked wonders for art lessons at school too, as it means she actively engages with the subject, enjoys it - and also appreciates the way the lessons are taught (even though she shares my absolute hatred of drawing still life or landscapes - and is also pretty bloody minded when it comes to advice from her teacher that she doesn't agree with!)

But there's still loads and loads of room in schools to let kids just go crazy and see what they can dig out of their own internal symbol sets and their own imaginations - if for no better reason than to let them just chill out, take the brakes off and just have some fun.

It's not easy being the smallest in any family, just ask baby elephant!

Here's a fabulous companion activity book to one of our favourite books ever...!

Now here's something we can really get behind - a fantastic activity book featuring a cast of completely chaotic characters, oh and of course a metric ton of snorty snuffly snuggly pugs!

Be careful what you wish for when you wish upon a star...but sometimes things have a habit of working out just fine in the end...

Once again, non-fiction experts Dorling Kindersley have come up with a truly stunning and superb fact-filled book to dazzle and delight you...

I must admit, I never really understood the whole fidget spinner thing...but kids are absolutely crazy about the things!

Dealing with childhood anxieties really isn't easy in a children's picture book...