Book review: Bloomsbury’s recommended summer reading

The good folk at Bloomsbury publishing have come up with a whole host of titles to keep the little ones entertained. All are available via www.bloomsbury.com

The Alice in Wonderland and Garage Workshop activity books (£4.99 each) are packed with stickers, colouring in and fun things to do, linked of course to the fairy tale and all the exciting goings-on in the garage.

Draw It! Animals by Sally Kindberg (£5.99) is published on July 7th and is ideal for animal lovers everywhere, because as well as being crammed full of quirky animal pictures, there is also space for the reader to include their own.

The Cloudspotter by Tom McLaughlin (£10.99) tells the story of Franklin, the cloudspotter, who doesn’t have many friends and is more intent on spotting clouds. That is, until he meets an unexpected visitor. A lovely book about forming friendships.

Yikes Ticklysaurus! By Pamela Butchart and Sam Lloyd is published on July 30th (£6.99) and is real fun! Flora (5) loved it, as it was all about tickling and had lovely squidy cartoon drawings to keep us all entertained, when weren’t tickling!

Fuzzy Mud by Louis Sachar (£12.99), published on August 30th tells the tale of Tamaya and 7th grader Marshall who walk together to school every day and when they arrive at school, they stop as its uncool, especially when Chad is about. But one day, they take a detour through the woods to avoid Chad and guess what they see?

Teenagers will love A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas (£7.99). This trilogy is pure high fantasy featuring Feyre the huntress, who thinks nothing of slaughtering a wolf to caputure its prey. But what she does fear, is what is out and beyond in the forest.

The Silly Book of Weird and Wacky Words by Andy Seed (£5.99) will have you tongue twisting for hours upon end. Its full of rhymes, puns, games, jokes and well, just gibberish!

Concentr8 by William Sutcliffe (£12.99) and published on August 27th is an arresting novel which explores how children are easily labelled and failed by the system and is intended to help children with behaviour disorders.

There Will Be Lies by Nick Lake (£7.99) tells the tale of Shelby Jane Cooper, 17. She lives with her mum, a court stenographer who likes to do cross-stitch and wants to keep Shelby safe, so safe she barely goes out. But one day, she does and gets knocked down in the process, sparking off a strange set of circumstances.

And lastly Cherry Blossom Dreams by Gwyneth Rees (£6.99) featuring Sarah, nearly 13 and whose life is getting complicated with best friends and a boyfriend. She tries to escape it all, but gets roped into a very strange situation.