WHAT ARE SANTA’S ELVES MADE OF? – Becky Davies, Louise Anglicas

2/5

RELEASED: 14/10/2021
PUBLISHER: Little Tiger
GENRE: Children’s, Board Book

Elves are Santa’s special helpers – they make Christmas magical for every girl and boy. But have you ever wondered what they are made of? This festive board book explores the possibilities and reveals the answers with a fantastic pop-up elf at the end!

I really expected to love this book; it sounded fun and interesting. However, although the rhyming was well done and kept the story flowing, the book was just missing that something to keep you engaged with it. I also found it to be a bit busy illustration-wise, and I was just overall left disappointed! I found it  a bit long-winded for a board book, and it felt more like it would’ve been suited to being a touch-and-feel book. Nevertheless, some children would probably enjoy this story with its bright illustrations.

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Thank you to Little Tiger for sending me a copy of this book!

WHERE’S MY SANTA – Becky Davies, Kate McLelland

4/5

RELEASED: 14/10/2021
PUBLISHER: Little TIger
GENRE: Children’s, Board Book

Where’s Santa? He was here a moment ago! Children will delight in following the tantalising trail of boot prints in the search for Father Christmas. With touch-and-feel and a surprise flap reveal on the final page.

I love touchy-feely books, and Where’s My Santa is definitely up there as a good one! The illustrations are lovely, and with a short, simple and repetitive pattern this is a really good book to share with little ones. The different touch and feel options are really good; there’s a good mixture of textures to feel which I think children will really take to. I’d definitely recommend this board book for little ones!

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Thank you to Little Tiger for sending me a copy of this book!

NIBBLES CHRISTMAS – Emma Yarlett

4/5

RELEASED: 14/10/2021
PUBLISHER: Little Tiger
GENRE: Children’s, Board Book

Say HELLO to Nibbles, he’s ready for some fun Jolly, holly jingles – the Christmas countdown has begun!

Nibbles is back, and this time in his own little festive adventure! I love the Nibbles books purely for the illustrations and how cute Nibbles is. This one certainly didn’t disappoint, and it’s definitely one that’d be fun to read with a little person; the countdown throughout practices numbers in an engaging way. It’s got just the right amount of interactivity with some lift-the-flaps and bold colours throughout. I’d definitely recommend this for any little one’s Christmas bookshelf!

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Thank you to Little Tiger for sending me copy of this book!

WHEN SHADOWS FALL BLOG TOUR – Fave Books on Loss

Kai, Orla and Zak grew up together, their days spent on the patch of wilderness in between their homes, a small green space in a sprawling grey city. Music, laughter and friendship bind them together and they have big plans for their future – until Kai’s family suffers a huge loss.
Trying to cope with his own grief, as well as watching it tear his family apart, Kai is drawn into a new and more dangerous crowd, until his dreams for the future are a distant memory. Excluded from school and retreating from his loved ones, it seems as though his path is set, his story foretold. Orla, Zak and new classmate Om are determined to help him find his way back. But are they too late? 

Welcome back to snailycanflyy, and today I’m here with something a little different to usual; I was fortunate enough to be able to get involved with the blog tour for Sita Brahmachari’s new book When Shadows Fall (out now from Little Tiger!) and my theme for this post is favourite books on loss. Us bloggers involved in the tour were also fortunate enough to be able to talk to Sita and ask her a few questions, and I’m so pleased to be able to share some of her thoughts with you today!

For me, books are so important for sharing experiences and also for being a companion for readers, and that’s why books on loss are so important. Sita expands on this thinking further:

Loss is part of life and I think not to talk about loss makes it into something monstrous instead of an aspect of life’s journey. This journey can be painful, especially when the loss is as Nana Josie in my first novel ‘ Artichoke Hearts’ puts in ‘in the wrong order,’  but stories are about journeying through. When you see people facing loss, supporting each other and finding ways to be with it in stories, it helps to navigate loss in life.

When Shadows Fall is such a beautiful book, exploring so many different themes through a mix of prose, verse and lovely illustrations from Natalie Sirett. The theme of grief and loss is one that particularly interested me as it’s such a tricky thing to navigate as everyone experiences it so differently. However, there is lots of literature out there that is along these themes, some of which inspired Sita when writing When Shadows Fall:

The song ‘We Shall Overcome’ sung by Joan Baez. My Dad used to sing it.

‘We shall overcome
We shall overcome
We shall overcome, someday

Oh, deep in my heart
I know that I do believe
We shall overcome, someday’

The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguru – it is a beautiful tale of  love and loss and an exploration of the hearts’ secrets.

Finally, onto some recommendations! I’ve not actually read a lot of books focussing on grief and loss; as someone who almost exclusively reads children’s books I’ve not actually come across that many with it as a strong theme! However, I do have a few to add to Sita’s list!

• I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings – Maya Angelou (Sita)
• Sunflowers in February – Phyllida Shrimpton
• Sad Book – Michael Rosen (Sita)
• The Arrival – Shaun Tan (Sita)
• Rabbityness – Jo Empson
• A Beautiful Lie – Irfan Master (Sita)
• Life in a Fishbowl – Len Vlahos
• The Year After You – Nina de Pass

Thank you so much to Nina Douglas for arranging this blog tour, which continues for a few more days! Make sure to check out the other bloggers on this tour who’ve already posted and who have yet to post!

PAGES & CO: TILLY AND THE BOOKWANDERERS – Anna James

4.5/5

RELEASED: 18/09/2018
PUBLISHER: Harper Collins
GENRE: Children’s Fiction, Middle Grade

A captivating, curl-up-on-the-sofa debut about the magic of books and the power of the imagination.

Since her mother’s disappearance, eleven-year-old Tilly has found comfort in stories at Pages & Co., her grandparents’ bookshop. But when her favourite characters, Anne of Green Gables and Alice from Wonderland, appear in the shop, Tilly’s adventures become very real. Not only can she follow Anne and Alice into their thrilling worlds, she discovers she can bookwander into any story she chooses.

Tilly’s new ability could even help her solve the mystery of what happened to her mother all those years ago. But danger may be lurking on the very next page…

Pages & Co is a series that I’ve always been drawn to! I’ve collected each hardback edition…and yet I’d never actually read them until now! I definitely regret waiting so long because I adored book one and can’t wait to get stuck into the rest of the series!

Tilly is a loveable main character, and, apart from the obvious villain, I loved all the characters and how they came to life and kept the book flowing along nicely. Characters are such a central aspect to the plot and so it was brilliant that each one was so well crafted, and it’s difficult to choose a favourite! The plot itself also kept me hooked throughout, and there were some really interesting twists and turns.

I think what I like the most about this book is how warm and friend-like it is; it’s definitely one I’d recommend for children to read and it’s one I would’ve loved to have read growing up! The main reason I say that is because it’s not full of darkness or doom and gloom, which made it such a pleasure to read and made for a different reading experience to usual. The pace was relaxing but still gripping.

I can’t wait to start reading book two to see what happens next for Tilly and the others!

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Thank you to Sofia at MidasPR for my copy of this book and for inviting me to be a part of the Cheltenham Literature Festival 2021 Blog Tour!

FREEZE – Chris Priestley

5/5

RELEASED: 02/09/2021
PUBLISHER: Barrington Stoke
GENRE: Young Adult Fiction, Middle Grade Fiction

Award-winning master of scary stories Chris Priestley returns with a spine-tingling collection of ghostly tales to chill you to the bone …

When Maya and her classmates are asked to write a creepy story with a winter theme, they come up with some brilliant ideas. Rising floodwaters uncover long-buried bodies and ghostly children take to the ice on a frozen canal. But as each of the stories is read out in class, Maya grows more and more uncomfortable. She features in each of her friends’ creepy tales and they start to feel a little too real. Finally, when a mysterious new girl stands up to read the last story of the day, the light outside dims and it starts to snow. The classroom starts to freeze but everyone is trapped. Can Maya stop the story before the nightmare comes true?

I can’t resist reading a Chris Priestley book; he really is a master of creepy stories! I particularly enjoyed his previous Barrington Stoke book Seven Ghosts and so had high hopes for Freeze when I heard about it and read the synopsis! I certainly wasn’t disappointed.

Freeze really is a brilliantly crafted, spine-tingling tale with so much packed into a short novella with twists and turns throughout. Even as I moved towards the end of the book I was kept guessing as to what the outcome would be and on what was true!

As always, I’d highly recommend this Chris Priestley book. It reminded me of some of my favourite books I read growing up with the way that the atmosphere really drew me into the story so it’s a brilliant crossover book age-wise as it’s chilling enough to be suitable for young adults but also it’s done in such a way that it’s suitable for confident younger readers too.

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Thank you to Barrington Stoke for my copy of this book!

MONSTROUS DESIGN – Kat Dunn

5/5

RELEASED: 10/06/2021
PUBLISHER: Head of Zeus
GENRE: Young Adult, Historial Fiction, Fantasy

With swashbuckling, super-fast paced action and own voices queer romance, The Battalion of the Dead return in a dazzling new adventure, set amid the opulence and squalor of 18th-century London and Paris.
1794, London: where luxury and squalor rub shoulders and men of science conspire to raise the dead and make monsters.
From the glamorous excesses of the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens to the city’s seedy underbelly, Camille continues her search for Olympe de l’Aubespine – the girl born of magic and mayhem.
But with half the battalion trapped in Paris and a new enemy lying in wait in London, time is running out. Camille must decide how much she’s willing to risk. To get what you want, how far is too far?
Perfect for fans of Netflix’s Shadow and Bone series.

I absolutely adored Dangerous Remedy when it came out; it’s one of those books that I seriously regretted not picking up immediately because it was just such a brilliant adventure that kept me hooked! So, when I was invited to be a part of the blog tour again for the next book in the series, I couldn’t resist and I’m so grateful for the opportunity as, yet again, I’ve loved this adventure with the Battalion of the Dead!

Firstly, Monstrous Design opens with a little catch up on what happened in book one – a feature that I think every series should have. It was so useful to remember exactly which point I was coming into the story at! Immediately I fell in love with the writing style which is so easy to get lost in. From catching up with Ada and Guil in Paris, to crossing the channel over to England, I’ve loved the setting of the story so much. I have to admit though, my favourite part of the book was a reference to My Chemical Romance (teenage and not so teenage any more emo me very much approved!). Monstrous Design really allows you to get to know the characters a lot more, whilst still exploring a fascinating world of revolutionary Paris and England in that era.

Monstrous Design really does justice to the brilliance of Dangerous Remedy with the character and world development. Kat’s writing feels so much more fluid and polished in this one (bearing in mind that book one was still a 5* read!) and I’d highly, highly recommend making a start on this series if you haven’t already! As I said about Dangerous Remedy, Kat takes a popular genre and setting and really makes her own stamp on it, and Monstrous Design is no different. This book is a must read!

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Thank you to Amber at Midas PR for sending me a copy of this book and for involving me in the blog tour!

CALMER LLAMA – Dr Naira Wilson

3/5

RELEASED: 13/05/2021
PUBLISHER: Little Tiger
GENRE: Children’s Board Book

See how Llama finds his calm! 
This tactile touch-and-feel book introduces emotions to even the youngest child, with a particular focus on keeping calm. Written by a child psychologist who specialises in children’s emotions, this is a hugely helpful tool for parents and kids alike – and a lot of fun!

Using the ever popular character of a llama, this book is a really accessible and useful book for parents and teachers to use with young children to explore emotions and how to stay calm and not let anxiety brew. As an adult it’s also a pretty useful book to read to just take you back to basics on how to do this too!

Young children will love the touchy feely element of this book and how interactive it is. The message is just the right amount of obvious too; it doesn’t detract from enjoying this book as a simple sensory book, but it’s also very clear on how to stay calm and explores this very well. I think this book is definitely more on the educational side rather than fun side as the colours are very calming and it’s very much about mentoring little people on how to find a calm state of mind so it doesn’t strike me as a book that a child would choose to read again and again, but at the same time I think it’s a very good book for how it provides this instruction.

Overall, I would recommend this book for children that maybe struggle with anxiety or are a bit more prone to worrying as a tool for adults to use to help them.

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Thank you to Little Tiger for sending me a copy of this book!

TRAGEDY AT SEA – David Long, Stefano Tambellini

5/5

RELEASED: 01/04/2021
PUBLISHER: Barrington Stoke
GENRE: Children’s Non-Fiction

On 10 April 1912, RMS Titanic set sail from Southampton on her maiden voyage to New York. This “Ship of Dreams” was the largest and most luxurious ocean liner in the world. It was claimed she was unsinkable. But four days later, when the ship struck an iceberg, the loss of Titanic and over 1,500 passengers would become one of the most infamous maritime disasters in history.

In this fact-filled retelling of its construction and doomed maiden voyage, David Long brings Titanic’s tragic tale to life.

I’ve always had a fascination with the history surrounding the sinking of the Titanic, and can remember when I was younger borrowing every book from the library that I could get my hands on that related to this! So, naturally I was super excited to see that one of my favourite publishers was releasing a book focusing on the Titanic and couldn’t wait to read it!

Tragedy at Sea is a really accessible and interesting book full of facts as it tells the story of the Titanic’s doomed maiden voyage. Although the language is suited to children, I also found it engaging as an adult reader. It read very much like fiction, whilst also being informative and factual. I also love that this has been published with Barrington Stoke as many schools cover this as a topic and a book that’s suitable for dyslexic and reluctant readers is a brilliant resource. 

I’d highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the Titanic, and I also would love to see it used in schools as a resource on this topic. It’s also really refreshing to read a non-fiction book that’s just as enjoyable as a novel.

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Thank you to Kirstin at Barrington Stoke for sending me a copy of this book!

THE BEAST OF HARWOOD FOREST – Dan Smith

4/5

RELEASED: 06/05/2021
PUBLISHER: Barrington Stoke
GENRE: Children’s Fiction

What’s hiding in Harwood Forest?
When Pete, Nancy and Krish arrive at Heathland Camp for a school trip, they’re in for an adventure – just not the kind they were expecting. Nearby sits the abandoned Harwood Institute. The crumbling buildings are out of bounds but strange screams come from the surrounding forest at night. Mystery shrouds the events that took place at the institute during the war, so Pete and his friends make it their mission to find out the truth. But the forest is hiding a sinister secret, and the trio could be in real danger … Are some mysteries best left undisturbed?

I was so intrigued when I read the synopsis for The Beast of Harwood Forest; it sounded so spooky and mysterious! This style of story lends itself perfectly to Barrington Stoke novellas; I found it to be a really accessible story that kept you guessing but because of the length of the book it could reign in the length of time spent on the edge of your seat! I do find it so clever of authors of Barrington Stoke books, where the atmosphere is created in such a short space of time an pages but is just as effective as with a longer novel.

The Beast of Harwood Forest didn’t disappoint and I found it a really exciting book to read. It also really helped me to understand the importance of diversity; I know someone called Krish in real life, which I haven’t come across as a name elsewhere, and it really made me think how he’d love this book when he’s a bit older because he’ll be able to see himself in it.

Overall I’d highly recommend this book; it’s a gripping and fast-paced novella with lots of twists! I love how the characters develop over such a short space of time and how their personalities really came across.

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Thank you to Kirstin at Barrington Stoke for sending me a copy of this book!