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The Snow Girl is a story that warms your heart despite being set during the depths of winter.

Following an incident at Claw's Edge, Tasha loses her spark and retreats into her inner world full of doubt, fear and hesitation. That world has no room for friends until she carves a girl out of snow, who comes to life, and they have many adventures together. Will this endearing friendship cure Tasha's loneliness and empower her to reach out to other children or will it cause even more heartache for Tasha...

The atmospheric descriptions are so vivid that they made my skin tingle many a time as I was transported back to my own childhood in a part of the world where winters were harsh and frost unforgiving. The readers who weathered similar icy-cold seasons will draw comfort from the sense of familiarity and the ones who have never experienced them will have a chance to inhabit the protagonist's world through masterful writing that brings this tale to life.

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I haven’t read any other books by Liz (sorry!) and picked this one up on NetGalley because it sounded like it’d be right up my street.

As I am starting to read it I am realising that the writing is not linear and my mind is adapting to it, accepting it and starting to really enjoy the style of it. The narrator changes throughout the story but the author helps me follow the plot by labelling each chapter with its time period and the name of the character who is speaking. It is simple, effective and means that I instantly know whose ‘shoes’ I am putting on as I take tentative steps further into the book.

A few chapters in and I begin to see the story as a jigsaw puzzle. My thoughts swirl and add mental images to it. I keep moving through the chapters, the edges of the jigsaw forming first: scraps of information about enigmatic Bubbe, a little more about  Liv, Mila and Hannie. When I get to the chapter about the small treasure chest that Liv and Gabi discover in Bubbe’s attic, I visualise it as the centre piece of that puzzle. Next, I am slowly filling out the remaining gaps in the outline of the puzzle and starting to move inwards towards the centre piece within that outline. My excitement grows each time something clicks into place - sometimes I smile, sometimes I gasp, sometimes my eyes fill with tears which I can’t stop from escaping. I am sensing the past and the present closing in on that treasure chest and by the time I am near the end of the book, there are only a couple of puzzle pieces missing - they are not lost, I find them; the puzzle is complete and looks fully formed and impressive. The satisfaction of getting there is joyfully overwhelming.

The themes that I personally enjoyed following through are: sisterhood and female strength. There are a lot of middle grade WW2 stories around - this one will definitely stand out for the way it is written and the profound impact it will have on the readers young and old.  I will be buying a paper copy or may be even a few and recommending it further for sure.

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Our main character is a 12 year old boy called Pip whose parents happen to be quite bold, eccentric and flamboyant. They seem to draw attention everywhere they go and Pip despises it; he so desperately wants to fit in and just be normal, like everyone else. The family is having to re-locate to London to a street called Elbow Alley and the story is set there from then on. Upon moving in Pip notices that Elbow Alley is a little unusual and hates his new home despite the parents being extremely excited. Only one night later, Pip finds his parents with blank expressions on their face and acting nothing like themselves, he can’t quite understand what has happened and sets out on a quest to figure it out. He meets a girl called Fliss and together they have lots of adventures.

The story is captivating and just flows, there’s not a moment to get bored. It keeps your mind working too, trying to solve the unfolding mysteries. Descriptions, in my opinion, are vivid enough to build mental images of the characters.

The story has a sweet ending but be prepared to be immersed into the world of spirits, werewolves, ghouls, hags and vampires. The language makes the story accessible for 8 year olds and over, the content for 12+ I would say and  is best checked by adults beforehand.

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Sunshine Simpson Cooks Up a Storm by G.M.Linton

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Sunshine Simpson Cooks Up a Storm by G.M.Linton

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The story begins by introducing Sunshine and her friends to the reader with the many worries and doubts that the children are having about moving to secondary school. The family, including Sunshine, are grieving the loss of Sunshine’s grandad only a few months earlier and everyone deals with the loss in their own way. There’s a lot going on for Sunshine - bereaved, she has tests coming up, including one for grammar school, but also she starts sensing that things aren’t quite right at home. The rest of the story tells us how Sunshine copes with everything that life throws at her.

Some of the themes that are mentioned in the book are: transition, friendships, dealing with worries and anxiety both by adults and children, change, racism, charity and wisdom.

I had spent many years supporting year 6 children with their transition and feel that the author captured everyone’s emotions so accurately, the dialogue and choice of language is current to the children in upper key stage 2 now. It never seemed over the top, but very much genuinely relatable and on point.

I liked the writing style - it is mallow and accessible without being over simplified so the book would make a great class read as lower reading ability children would easily be able to join in.

I feel the children (especially year 6) will find comfort in knowing that they are not alone and have many shared thoughts and experiences with Sunshine. The adults like myself would relish Grandad Bobby’s nuggets of wisdom, I promise!

The information about the origins of Black History Month was not something I heard of before and I appreciated it. It’s only a tiny part of the book but bears so much weight, especially as respect and tolerance are two of the British Values and we live in a multicultural society.

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Montgomery Bonbon: Death at the Lighthouseby Alasdair Beckett-King

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Montgomery Bonbon: Death at the Lighthouseby Alasdair Beckett-King

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From the moment I opened the book, I couldn’t stop smiling. I fell in love with the writing style straight away – quirky, humorous and light hearted with some tier two words thrown in here and there that the children may not know but the meanings of which can be easily deduced.

The illustrations bring the story to life, I’d pause at each one, carefully inspecting all the details, wondering if I’d find any clues that would give away the answers to murder mysteries. The characters’ names are well thought out and a great discussion can be centred around their name choices.

Bonnie, otherwise known as Bonbon, is looking forward to her holiday on Odde Island, hoping to finally get away and have a break from solving murder mystery cases but, of course, as fate has it, it’s not meant to be. Her granpa is hoping to visit Leerie Lighthouse, however, that’s where the murder takes place so it’s out of bounds. Montgomery Bonbon springs into action and with the two loyal assistants by his side (the second one is recruited a little later along the way) starts working on the case (and a little later cases).  Will he be able to solve both murder mysteries?

I did not solve the cases - well done to the author! The ending is tense and suspenseful – I was so rooting for Bonbon & Dana deep inside. A great book.

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The Power of Welcome by M. Bamyani, A. Jusic, N.  Kaadan, Ramzee and S. Zurenko

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The Power of Welcome by M. Bamyani, A. Jusic, N.  Kaadan, Ramzee and S. Zurenko

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This book was recommended to me and I was lucky to be able to borrow it from my local library.

It describes the journeys of the children and families that have been displaced by conflict in a sensitive way without any scaremongering that I often sense while hearing the news these days.

The illustrations truly bring the story to life. I love it that graphic novels are often accessible to children that have poor vocabularies and reading skills, it’s a medium that aids their comprehension and inference making - this book is no exception.

Each story starts with a history of the child’s home country and is a little fact heavy at times but it certainly is needed to have a better understanding of why the family ended up fighting for survival.

The most memorable story for me was the one by Nadine - witty and funny despite the circumstances; I must shamefully admit that some of the questions she had been asked came across my mind as a child too. All in all, it was very thought provoking and eye opening and would make a great read for upper KS2 children and adults alike. Thank you to the authors for a wonderful book.

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Worrybot begins by introducing the main character Josh. The first thing I notice about the book is that it has a lot of dialogue which is very realistic and moves the story on at a fast pace.

The story centres around friendship of Josh and Charlie. Charlie is a robot who is present in class but is controlled remotely by a child at home. There seems to be a mystery surrounding Charlie’s physical absence from school - the author keeps dropping tiny clues for why that might be here and there but we don’t find out the real answer till the very end. There also seem to be some similarities between Josh and Charlie - it’s what draws them closer together and helps each of them feel empowered in the end. The story has a happy ending.

It’s clear that the author is very familiar with classroom dynamics and the kind of issues that might be popping up in UKS2. He carefully guides and equips the anxious reader with some self help strategies mentioning some resources that can be drawn upon right at the end too.

The book is suitable for ages 8+, it’s fun and engaging and may reassure children who tend to overthink and worry that they are not alone.