The boy king, a dystopian world and a scheming fox by various authors – children’s book reviews –

Age 8 plus:

Tutankhamun: The tale of the child pharaoh and the discovery of his tomb

Àlex Novials and Eva Palomar

The face of the Ancient Egyptian boy king Tutankhamun has become an iconic image across the world... but what do we know of his life and reign over three thousand years ago?

Step back in time and discover the extraordinary story of the famous young pharaoh, and find out how English archaeologist and Egyptologist Howard Carter found his resting place in the Valley of the Kings in 1922, exactly one hundred years ago.

This fascinating, illustrated journey into the life (and elaborate tomb) of Tutankhamun, who died when he was only nineteen, has been written by Spanish author and journalist Àlex Novials who directs the Petit Sàpiens magazine in Barcelona, the only existing publication that spreads historical knowledge in an entertaining way.

As a self-confessed and frustrated Egyptologist, this book fulfils one of his dreams to put into words everything you could want to know about the boy pharaoh... a task that has been given extra life and vigour by the lavish illustrations of Spanish artist Eva Palomar who graduated in graphic design in Barcelona.

Nine-year-old Tutankhamun became the ruler of Egypt 3,353 years ago so what do we know of life in Ancient Egypt over the ten years he ruled a great empire, and imagine Howard Carter’s amazement when discovered that his elaborate tomb was filled to the roof with over 5,000 treasures.

The thrilling tale of the boy king and Carter’s discovery of his resting place have been cleverly intertwined for the first time. Learn how the tomb had been lost to the sand dunes for centuries, see some of the treasures found inside, and find out how people lived three thousand years ago.

Discover the secrets of the Ancient Egyptians, such as remarkable constructions like the pyramids, the different steps of mummification, how papyrus was made and what hieroglyphs say, in three fantastic fold-out pages.

This fun and fact-filled book – packed with Palomar’s stunning, intricately detailed illustrations – reveals the magical secrets of the long-ago past, and is a superb introduction to Ancient Egypt and an exciting read for history fans and budding Egyptologists.

(Orange Mosquito, hardback, £14.99)

Age 10 plus:

The Raven’s Song

Zana Fraillon and Bren MacDibble

When two of Australia’s finest, award-winning authors combine their talents on a gripping eco-novel that time travels between present and future, the result is The Raven’s Song, a thrilling adventure full of danger and daring.

Bren MacDibble’s books are often set in climate-changed worlds and feature wild adventures, while Zana Fraillon’s passion is to empower young people to find their voice, and their collaboration for this heart-stopping story began on Twitter when Fraillon fell for MacDibble’s suggestion of a story about a ruined future city.

It was an idea born pre-Covid and one that, spookily, involved a world hit by a pandemic. And despite all the problems posed by lockdowns and restrictions, the story continued to pick up speed until The Raven’s Song arrived ready and waiting to be published... without the two authors having once met each other.

It’s a unique adventure that alternates between the stories of Phoenix, who lives in a near-future world impacted by climate change and a devastating pandemic, and Shelby, one hundred years in the future in a post-pandemic, post-pollution, post-city world where each community is exactly three hundred and fifty people sustainably subsisting on seven hundred hectares. This is a world that is beginning to fall apart, but with a chance to see it all put back together, The Raven’s Song is a vision of hope for the future, seen through the eyes of the young people who will fight for it.

Published by Old Barn Books, an independent publisher of picture books and fiction for children up to age 14, this is an inspirational story of survival, determination and courage... both a call to arms and a timely reminder that changes in the present mean a better life for all in the years to come.

(Old Barn Books, hardback, £12.99)

Age 9 plus:

The Tale of Truthwater Lake

Emma Carroll

One of middle grade fiction’s most acclaimed storytellers is back to win hearts and minds with a coruscating and cautionary tale about climate change set in a frighteningly close dystopian future.

Award-winning Emma Carroll, whose books have sold over half a million copies and whose trademark is to write stories with powerful contemporary messages, sweeps us away on a thrilling time-travelling adventure that explores the before and after of global warming.

With a story line that has echoes of the real-life flooding of villages in both the Lake District and the Peak District in order to build reservoirs, The Tale of Truthwater Lake speaks loudly and resonantly about learning from the past as we look to the future.

It’s 2032 and Britain is having yet another heatwave. Of course, the government have put in the normal curfews for this kind of weather, and shops are forced to shut again. For Polly, it’s the sort of heat that makes her do wild, out-of-character things just to cool down. Like face her fear of deep water, something that is essential now that she and her brother Joel have been sent to their aunt’s eco lake-side house for the summer. But Truthwater Lake is beginning to dry up and as the water level diminishes, a lost village emerges. Swimming over the rooftops at midnight, Polly dives down and is suddenly able to breathe, see gravestones and hear to hear church bells and bird song... Polly has discovered an underwater gateway to the past!

With beautiful artwork by Daniela Jaglenka Terrazzini, this fast-paced story connects the past to the future in the cleverest and most compelling way as summertime Polly meets Nellie in the winter of 1952 and the two girls build a warm and lasting friendship across the timelines.

Writing with both skill and empathy, Carroll perfectly captures the essence the past and the future as she harnesses the threat from climate change and puts it at the heart of an enthralling adventure steeped in mystery, danger, discovery and determination.

Totally captivating!

(Faber & Faber, hardback, £12.99)

Age 10 plus:

The Mummy’s Curse

M.A. Bennett

If mystery, daring and the discovery of the thrilling secrets of Tutankhamun’s tomb tickle your reading taste buds, then feast on the second book of a rip-roaring, time-travelling mystery by the bestselling STAGS author, M.A. Bennett.

At Greenwich in London in 1894, Luna, Konstantin and Aidan are all members of the Butterfly Club, a society with an unusual secret… they are all time-travelling thieves who steal artefacts from the future to bring progress forward. And they are about to venture on their most treacherous mission yet because the Butterfly Club has its eyes on a shiny new prize. In Egypt’s Valley of the Kings an archaeologist named Howard Carter is going to stumble upon an unimaginable treasure... Tutankhamun’s mummy in an elaborate tomb. And it’s going to be the greatest archaeological discovery of all time. The three children are given what seems an impossible task... they must travel to 1922 and uncover the mummy first. But when the time thieves disturb Tutankhamun’s long sleep, they awaken something else too... a deadly and ancient curse. And now they must face the terrifying consequences of their actions!

Packed with fascinating real history, heart-pumping thrills, a gripping race against time, and an exciting cast of characters, this fantastic mystery tale asks youngsters to consider if they would risk the future to change the past. Fantasy, history, mystery and adventure... what more could you want with from those time-travelling thieves!

(Welbeck Flame, paperback, £7.99)

Age 9 plus:

Flember: The Power of the Wildening

Jamie Smart

If your youngsters like laugh-out-loud comedy, lots of madcap action and a poignant reminder of how important friendships are, then gift them the fourth book in extraordinarily talented illustrator and author Jamie Smart’s brilliantly entertaining Flember illustrated novel series.

Packed with all the outrageously comical, addictive and high-energy action we have come to expect from Smart’s work, this series has a warm heart and certainly hits the mark with middle grade readers.

Here we meet up again with boy-inventor Dev, who has a strange and mystical power called Flember, and his best friend Boja, a lovable, larger-than-life robot bear. The two chaotic adventurers embark on a thrilling journey towards home, through the chilling Wildening forests of magical Flember Island. To protect both himself and Boja, Dev’s only hope is to truly grasp the extraordinary power of Flember. Because a scary creature is on their trail, their new friends are counting on them, and Boja is behaving very strangely.

Smart has proved to be a comic genius and there are plenty of snorts, sniggers, ooh and aahs to enjoy on every page of this gloriously fantastical, anarchic, uplifting quest celebrating friendship, creativity, invention and loyalty.

(David Fickling Books, paperback, £7.99)

Age 9 plus

The Fox’s Tower

Sam Thompson and Anna Tromop

Enter – if you dare – a dark and magical animal world where danger is never far away... and a scheming fox is hatching an evil plan!

Award-winning fiction writer Sam Thompson, who lives in Belfast and teaches English and creative writing at Queens University, made waves with Wolfstongue, his first novel for children which was acclaimed as a modern classic. And now he’s back to bewitch and beguile us with another thrilling adventure with the natural world at its fast-beating heart.

When Willow witnesses her animal-loving father, Silas, getting kidnapped by a group of foxes and a huge wolf-like creature, she pursues them into the secret world of the Forest. There she meets wolves who tell her they know her father. Together, they boldly enter the enormous, magical tower the foxes have built deep in the forest, a place where statues walk the streets, spires reach to the stars and a lion called Noble wants to be king. And it’s in the tower that Willow discovers the dark project of the foxes’ silver-haired leader, Reynard... to create new life forms from magical clay buried in the Deep Forest where few can enter. To rescue her dad, Willow must brave the Deep Forest and dig deep in herself to foil Reynard’s evil scheme to remake the world... but she also finds herself siding with the foxes against their new oppressor, the charismatic but wicked Noble. And now disaster is near because magic is running out and soon the Tower will fall. Can Willow save her dad and find a way back to safety?

With the dazzling and atmospheric illustrations of Anna Tromop bringing all the action to life, The Fox’s Tower delivers all the thrills, chills and extraordinary storytelling that delighted readers of Wolfstongue. With stories that resonate with originality, imagination, the natural world, and the frailties of humanity, Thompson is fast becoming an exciting middle grade author.

(Little Island Books, paperback, £9.99)

Age 8 plus:

Bright New World

Cindy Forde and Bethany Lord

With news reports telling us almost every day that the planet is in the throes of a climate crisis, here’s a book that raises young spirits and offers hope for the future.

Bright New World is a climate change book with a difference, offering a clear road map to a safer world... a lavishly illustrated glimpse into a future not too far ahead in which today’s children have grown up and tackled the world’s most pressing social and environmental problems.

Written by Cindy Forde, founder of Planetari, an organisation dedicated to worldwide environmental education, this big, beautiful and inspirational book tells youngsters that by stepping out of powerlessness, bewilderment and anxiety, and turning in new directions of thought and action, we can help to shape a brighter future.

Through a series of Bethany Lord’s lush and richly detailed illustrated scenes, readers enter a world of solar-powered vehicles, regenerated rainforests, skyscraper farms, insect-based snacks, recovering coral reefs, wave-powered electricity, and so much more.

From eating healthy and sustainable food, building cars that run on sunlight and creating green spaces in cities, to recycling and catching rainwater, making sure factories purify the air rather than pollute it, and re-using and recycling everything, Bright New World’s vision may be bold and optimistic, but everything in the book is based on genuine science, including many projects which are currently being developed.

Once readers have seen the possible bright future, they will also learn all about the perils facing the Earth, as well as the solutions to each problem, with practical steps that they can take to help save the planet and make the dream a reality.

And as well as profiling the biggest names in eco-innovation today, readers will learn about today’s less well-known young inventors, entrepreneurs and activists who are making the world better, one step at a time.

Bright New World is the blueprint for how to fix the future and proof, says Forde, that change is real and is already under way. The solutions are within our grasp... if we really want them.

Inspirational for all generations, written with a genuine passion for our world, and with the light of hope and transformation burning brightly, this is a must for every school and home shelf.

(Welbeck Editions, hardback, £18.99)

Age 8 plus:

The Ministry of Unladylike Activity

Robin Stevens

Who knew spying could be dead funny?

Robin Stevens, the multi-award-winning author of the Murder Most Unladylike series, gathers up her murder-mystery loving fans and sweeps them away to wartime and into the life of a feisty ten-year-old girl who is hell bent on saving the world. And with spills, thrills and laughter all the way, this all-action new series looks set to be another all-round, hands-down, dead-cert winner.

In 1940, Britain is at war and a secret arm of the British government called the Ministry of Unladylike Activity is training up spies. Enter May Wong (soon to be eleven)... she’s courageous, stubborn, and desperate to help end the war so that she can go home to Hong Kong (and leave her annoying school, Deepdean, behind forever). May knows that she would make the perfect spy. After all, grown-ups always underestimate children like her. When May and her friend Eric (who is kind and sensible, and usually right about everything) are turned away by the Ministry, they take matters into their own hands. Masquerading as evacuees, they travel to Elysium Hall, home to the wealthy Verey family, and that includes snobby, dramatic Nuala. They suspect that one of the Vereys is passing information to Germany. If they can prove it, the Ministry will have to take them on. But there are more secrets at Elysium Hall than May or Eric could ever have imagined. And then someone is murdered...

California-born Stevens is the best thing since Agatha Christie when it comes to murder mysteries for young readers. Packed with a dazzling cast of goodies and baddies, rich in seductive period detail and exciting backdrops, and with a plotline that includes bags of intrigue, some deft detective work and a gang of the canniest kids in town, this series looks set to be another Robin Stevens classic.

(Puffin, hardback, £12.99)

Age 7 plus:

Big Ideas from History: a history of the world for you

The School of Life

Looking to the past can speak volumes about the present and the future...

With the many crises and challenges of the modern world pressing in from all quarters – not least the media – the world can often feel overwhelming, dispiriting, and even scary, for younger children.

So here is an engaging, alternative and easily accessible history of the world for children... a book of thought-provoking ideas and facts which helps youngsters to understand and make sense of the world they see around them every day.

Big Ideas from History is the work of The School of Life, a global organisation which is helping people to lead more fulfilled lives by providing resources for exploring self-knowledge, relationships, work, socialising, finding calm and enjoying culture through content, community and conversation.

Headquartered in London, and with campuses in other cities including Melbourne, Paris, Amsterdam, Sao Paulo, Istanbul and Tel Aviv, this groundbreaking enterprise is led by founder and series editor Alain de Botton and offers classes, therapies, books and films.

This beautifully created new book is a big history of the world, from the beginnings of the universe to now, and places the reader at its centre. Children are encouraged to think about how and why they experience the world as they do.

And Big Ideas From History is certainly an immense story... showing that what has happened through time can speak personally and constructively to a growing mind. What might the dinosaurs, the ancient Egyptians, the Aztec warriors or the Enlightenment thinkers of the 18th century tell us that could be interesting and useful to hear now?

The insights we need to answer these questions are scattered in time and place, and just waiting to be discovered. The book also looks to the future and asks the reader to imagine a world they would like to live in. What might they learn from self-knowledge, and how can they grow, develop and create their own place in history?

Through the context of our history and evolution, this big, fascinating and thoughtful history is a clever life lesson and the ideal encouragement for children to consider their own part in the world and to engage with both past and present.

(The School of Life Press, hardback, £22)

Age 7 plus:

Bunny vs Monkey: Machine Mayhem

Jamie Smart

Get ready for more side-splitting laughs and manic mischief as Bunny and Monkey bounce back in a super-special, silver-foiled, hardback gift edition of comic genius Jamie Smart’s exhilarating remastered comic-book series.

And it’s good to report that Machine Mayhem – the sixth book in this graphic novel series – delivers all the joyous comedy and playful chaos of the daffy duo’s helter-skelter world as the pint-sized pair’s adventures and misadventures now appear in a never-before published book form full of fast and furry-ous exuberant fun.

The books are part of the Phoenix Presents series, published by David Fickling Books in partnership with The Phoenix comic, and it’s a partnership that goes from strength to strength thanks in no small part to the outstanding success of Smart’s Bunny vs Monkey adventures which are guaranteed to cause giant laughter waves every time young readers get their hands on them.

In this latest escapade, genius inventor Skunky has just designed a new creation... a robot called Metal Eve! She needs to learn everything there is to know about life, so it’s probably not the best idea that she is surrounded by Bunny, Monkey, Weenie, Pig and the gang. The only thing she’s going to learn from them is that life in the Woods is very, very silly indeed!

Outrageously funny and fabulously illustrated, these manic, high-energy stories were just made for reluctant and fidgety readers who like their books to come with plenty of comic-strip pictures and loads of laughs. Madcap antics for your action kids!

(David Fickling Books, hardback, £12.99)

Age 7 plus:

The Little Match Girl Strikes Back

Emma Carroll and Lauren Child

For generations, children have loved Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale The Little Match Girl, the heartbreaking story of a dying child’s dreams and hope, which was first published in 1845.

And now, 177 years later, the award-winning team of author Emma Carroll and Lauren Child work their collaborative 21st century magic with a powerfully feminist and heroically empowering reworking of this emotive classic.

Inspired by Andersen, but also based on the real-life strike by women and girls at the Bryant and May Match Factory in Bow, East London, in 1888, Carroll's beautiful but unsentimental storytelling sits perfectly alongside Child’s exquisite spot colour illustrations.

Bridie Sweeney works hard to feed her family, selling matches on the streets of Victorian London. After an incident leaves her with only three matches left, the magical strike of each one sees her tumble into visions of a brighter future. Realising she now has the power to change her own fortune, Bridie leads the match factory workers out on strike, and achieves something remarkable through unity and courage.

The spirit of defiance, determination and a united community shines brightly in this inspirational story about fighting back against poverty, trusting in your own voice, and discovering just how much can be achieved by working together.

With Child’s expressive illustrations acting as an illuminating background symphony of red, white and black, and Carroll’s fiery reimagining of a tragic tale, this is factual history and contemporary thinking in perfect harmony. A gift book to treasure...

(Simon & Schuster, hardback, £12.99)

Age 6 plus:

An Invitation to the Ballet Theatre

Charlotte Guillain and Helen Shoesmith

Just imagine... your very own VIP invitation to enter the wonderful world of the ballet theatre!

Little prima donnas and ballet fans of all ages will be itching to get their hands on this spectacular, illustrated book which takes readers on a fascinating and fact-filled tour behind the scenes, and between the performances, of a leading ballet company.

Written by Charlotte Guillain, lavishly illustrated by Helen Shoesmith and produced in consultation with English National Ballet Futures programme, An Invitation to the Ballet Theatre acts as VIP pass to access all areas and find answers to questions like how do ballet dancers stay strong and avoid injury, and how are the magical scenes on stage created by the set department.

So step this way and discover how stunning costumes are designed, see the thousands of shoes stored in the shoe room, and take a peek at lesser-known areas like the rehearsal studio and the healthcare suite.

There is also the thrill of watching the dancers put on dramatic make-up, elaborate wigs and headdresses to create their characters, while large fold-out pages display the costume department, the set-building workshops and a performance live on stage.

And don’t miss the magic and wonder of performance night as the dancers prepare to dance Swan Lake. Then turn the pages and read the stories of other famous ballets such as The Nutcracker, Romeo and Juliet and The Firebird.

With Lancashire-based Shoesmith’s beautifully rich and intricate illustrations to bring the world of ballet to vibrant life, this is a book children will return to time and time again.

Don’t miss the show!

(Welbeck Editions, hardback, £16.99)

Age 3 plus:

Friends

Daniela Sosa

Where we would be without friends? Romanian-born writer and artist Daniela Sosa makes her mark on the world of picture books with her author-illustrator debut Friends, a joyful celebration of the different kinds of friendships. Filled with colour, warmth and the comforts that come from making friends, this heartfelt journey through the topic of friendship teaches youngsters that there are many kinds of friends – old friends, new friends and everything-in-between friends – and the day to make new friends is always near if you look. There are friends you have from the start, friends who are near and those who are far. There are friends who make you feel brave and some who make you feel angry or jealous but, most importantly, there are friends who will make you roll with laughter. And sometimes friendships come out of nowhere when you need them most. With its simple but resonant messages, sense of joy and wonder, and enchanting illustrations that capture the innocence, the rewards, and occasional complications of friendship, this is the perfect book for home, nursery and school.

(Simon & Schuster Children’s Books, hardback, £12.99)