Another fabulous addition to this awesome little book series, this time celebrating a truly creative person who dreamed up amazing story worlds for us to play in.

"Little People, Big Dreams: Astrid Lindgren" by Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara and Linzie Hunter is the story of a little girl with a colossal imagination.

From a very early age, young Astrid Lindgren loved to dream up stories and characters, fairy tales and adventures.

Growing up on an old farm in Sweden, young Astrid was inspired by her surroundings and her happy childhood life - so much so that she never wanted to grow up.

After she was read her first story, Astrid fell completely in love with books and stories, and vowed that one day she would write her own. Once she began to read she would read until the wee small hours.

In this mini-biography, learn how Astrid turned her love of books and stories into her eventual career as one of the world's best-loved children's authors, dreaming up the most amazing stories and her best-known character, Pippi Longstocking.

Sum this book up in a sentence: A gorgeous celebratory book all about the life of one of the world's most famous and best-loved children's authors.

"Little People, Big Dreams: Astrid Lindgren" by Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara and Linzie Hunter is out now, published by White Lion Publishing (kindly supplied for review). 

I'm really going to struggle not to vent my spleen about the state of the world while reviewing this book but I'll start by saying how disappointed, nay how flipping ANGRY I am that we still need books like this in 2020.

In fact if anything we need them now more than ever. I grew up in the 70s and 80s where I thought we humans were making progress, beginning to do away with racism, sexism, homophobia and all the rest of society's ills - moving towards something more like a utopia where folk could live in peace and harmony with each other, and all that stuff would be consigned to the bin of history.

Sadly we do still need "This Book Is Anti-Racist" by Tiffany Jewell and Aurelia Durand - and kids are our best hope for taking on this book's fantastic 20 lesson plan, absorbing the information within and acting on it - to hopefully undo the utter mess certain grown-ups are creating in the here and now.

The book doesn't shy away from the tough questions that need to be asked at the outset. What is racism? Where does it come from? Why are people racist and what can you - as an individual or as part of a collective of like-minded kids - do about it.

Tiffany is an anti-bias anti-racist educator who brings her extensive experience and knowledge, and her absolutely brilliant gift for being able to engage with kids on their own level and in their own language to make these 20 lessons feel less like finger-wagging and more like a common sense approach that just plain works when you begin to embrace her ethos.

Punctuated by Auriela's colourful and engaging illustrations, this is more than just a handbook for becoming an anti-racist activist yourself. Children often need more information, but also something that inspires them to be brave and speak up - particularly against racist adults in their own social circles, or worse, in their own families - where racism often trickles down like rot from one generation to the next.

Powerfully written and absolutely vital in today's society where, sadly, racism comes to the fore almost on a daily basis and is largely the driving factor behind the utter mess we find our country in at the present time.

Sum this book up in a sentence: Bang up to the minute wisdom, action plans and brilliantly written in a language kids can truly engage with - it's sad we still need books like this in 2020 but we do, and this is one of the best anti-racist tomes we've seen for my daughter's age group (11 plus).

"This Book is Anti-Racist" by Tiffany Jewell and Aurelia Durand is out now, published by White Lion Publishing (kindly supplied for review). 

This is a superb idea for a book, making the enjoyment of classical music enjoyable and accessible at the same time, while teaching children some fascinating facts about iconic classical pieces and their composers.

"The Classic FM Family Music Box" by Sam Jackson and Tim Lihoreau is a fantastic interactive book featuring 8 short snippets of music from world famous composers, as well as a ton of facts and information about the music, the figures behind those amazing pieces of work, and their life and times.

It's an awesome way to introduce children to classical pieces they may know from movies, TV or games, brought to life with fabulous illustrations to underpin the collection of facts crammed between the covers of this intriguing title.

Readers will be introduced to the genius of legendary artists such as Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Elgar, Handel, Verdi, Vivaldi and Strauss, and will experience their lives, inspirations and music in a whole new way. 

The life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart