Category: children’s books

BookTrust and the Reading Together campaign

It was a great pleasure to hear Children’s Laureate Sir Michael Morpurgo on the Radio 4 Today programme this morning, talking about the BookTrust’s new Reading Together campaign. He is one of my literary heroes and is always worth listening to. Sadly, the subject of his interview, and the motivation behind the launch of the campaign, is evidence from research that children today are having less and less exposure to books.

Some depressing highlights from the research:

  • One in five children under the age of 4 years have a book read to them less than once a month. (Yes, I double checked my typing and you have read it correctly.)
  • Less than half of children are read a bedtime story.
  • Only half of children between the ages of 1 and 2 from low income families are read to daily.
  • A quarter of parents with children aged 7 and under find reading with them challenging.

These statistics should alarm us all. The benefits of reading to young children are well-known and undisputed. Being read to early in life not only has benefits for literacy later on, but it is one of the most effective tools for achieving greater social mobility. What is more it can be free – as long as there is a library within walking or easy travelling distance. There is truly nothing not to like about giving young children access to books, lots of books. And best of all, they love it!

I grew up in a working-class household in a deprived part of London. My mum read for pleasure (she adored the late great Catherine Cookson) and only because we could get a free library card and it was something to do with us kids, did we go to the local library a lot. We did not have many books in the house – my parents could not really have afforded them – but Rectory Library in Dagenham was sacred to me. And, quite literally a lifeline for all of my childhood, right up until I went to university. I am completely convinced that had it not been for that happy accident I would not be where I am today. I dread to think how things might have turned out had I been born into this current age of digital distraction – we only had children’s television for a couple of hours a day, for goodness’ sake!

Not only are the statistics from the BookTrust alarming, they are also heartbreaking. Fellow readers, we come from many varied backgrounds but we all share a joy of reading, a love of books. Children today in the UK are being denied access to a habit, a hobby, a lifestyle choice that will not only enhance their life chances, but will bring them untold pleasures! Books are not cheap, but they can be bought cheaply sometimes (eg in charity shops) or accessed for free (libraries). In the UK, a fifth (almost 800) of our public libraries have closed since 2010 and spending in this area has declined by almost thirty per cent. (See this 2019 article in The Guardian. The figures may be worse now.)

It is up to all of us to arrest this decline in every way we can. If you know a child, give them a book or read to them. Donate books you no longer want to charity shops. Support reading charities. And if you are a parent or grandparent, take your young people to a library, perhaps even join a story circle there. I have just started going back to my local library and borrowing books regularly, even though most of the time I don’t get around to reading them before they have to be returned. Sound crazy? It is, but I figure use it or lose it, and if those of us that can afford to buy lots of books (and I do that too) abandon libraries, they may not be there in the future for the people who need them. It is the very least I can do.

#KeepKidsReading book review #3 – “Quiet Storm” by Kimberly Whittam

For my final #KeepKidsReading book review I would love to share with you a really wonderful book by a debut author, published by Usborne, who also happens to be local to me – Manchester based. Kimberly Whittam is a school teacher who has written a book for and about quieter shy children:

“Children who don’t raise their hand in class even though they know the answer, who don’t join in class discussion even though they’ve got something to say and children who are so, so talented and want to try out for the school play or join the school sports team and who are just too afraid to join in.”

Kimberly Whittam https://youtu.be/I8gtYq9zXu8

Many of us will recognise this child – that was me and it has at times been my own children, and certainly many children I know. Everyone is encouraged now to be loud and proud, to speak their truth and not be afraid of offending anyone, nor crave to be liked. But too often the people who say this have no idea how agonisingly difficult that can be. They were not “that” child. 

Storm Williams is twelve years old and in year seven at Daisy Mill Academy. She likes to keep a low profile and has clearly found settling in very challenging. Her best friend from primary school, Zarrish, was placed in a different form, leaving Storm feeling bereft, and she lives for the lessons where forms are mixed, such as PE, and they can be together. To make matters worse, Storm’s elder brother Isaiah is in year eleven and is an outgoing high-achiever, Head Boy and heavily involved in extra-curricular activity. All the teachers refer to Storm at “Isaiah’s little sister”; she has a lot to live up to. At the start of the book, Storm’s family faces a domestic drama – kitchen renovations lead to a burst pipe which makes their house uninhabitable – and the family has to move in with Storm’s grandma. 

It is during one of the PE lessons that Storm finds she has a previously undiscovered talent that she enjoys. The group begins athletics lessons and Storm finds that she is a very fast sprinter. The PE teacher encourages her to attend athletics practice and tells her he wants her to participate in an inter-school competition. The thought of going alone makes Storm feel queasy, but she decides that she will do it if her friend Zarrish comes along too. At first Zarrish says she will, but lets her friend down. Zarrish has become increasingly involved with a new girl at school, Melissa, who she was initially asked to ‘buddy’. But Melissa is sullen, manipulative and difficult and it soon becomes clear that she is pulling Zarrish away from Storm, persuading her into rule-breaking at school and deceitful and unkind behaviour. 

Storm finds herself in turmoil; lacking the confidence to participate in athletics without her friend’s support, but also finding for the first time that she excels at something and enjoys it, makes her reassess all of her assumptions about school life up to that point. 

Storm does find her voice and her niche and the difficult challenges she faces turn out to be a true turning point for her. She faces them with courage and with the support of her family and finds the strength of character to turn her back on what she knows to be wrong (treating people badly) and embracing doing what she loves, finding out a lot about herself along the way.

Storm is a lovely character and the situations she faces in this super book, the people around her at school, the teachers and the family situations (being mortified by her parents’ very public sense of fun!) will be familiar to lots of young people. 

Highly recommended for 9-12 year olds, or even a little older. 

#KeepKidsReading book review #2 – “The Dolls’ House” by Rumer Godden

I have a vague recollection of reading some books by Rumer Godden when I was a child, though unfortunately I cannot remember any specific titles. I was reminded of her a couple of years ago when reading fellow blogger Brona’s Books, who had a Rumer Godden reading week around the time of the author’s birthday. By coincidence I had happened to pick up an early edition of The Doll’s House in my local secondhand bookshop around the same time. Unfortunately, I did not get around to reading the book then and it has been sitting on my TBR shelf for too long. I decided to make it my ‘Off the TBR shelf’ book for June and now seems like a good time to review it as I am focusing on my #KeepKidsReading week. 

Rumer Godden was prolific and published over sixty books in a writing career that spanned seven decades. She wrote for both adults and children and also wrote poetry and non-fiction. A number of her books were adapted for film and television, most recently Black Narcissus which was released as a BBC mini-series in 2020. She was born in Britain but grew up in India where her father worked for a shipping company. 

The Doll’s House was Godden’s first book for children (published in 1947) and was turned into a film for children’s television in 1984. Godden wrote a series of books about dolls drawing parallels between their plight as passive and without agency, and the life of children, for whom adults make decisions, without necessarily consulting them. 

The Dolls’ House is a short book, easily consumed by an adult in one sitting, but I tried to read as a child would, or as a child might have it read to them, one short chapter at a time. The story concerns the fate of four dolls who live together as a family – Mr Plantaganet, Birdie, his ‘wife’, Tottie, a girl-child doll, and Apple, a younger boy-child doll. They are the toys of sisters Emily and Charlotte, and live in shoe boxes, but wish for a house of their own. Their wishes come true and the two sisters acquire an old Victorian dolls’ house which once belonged to their grandmother. With the help of a family friend they clean, repair and update the interior and the furnishings. Unfortunately, the dolls’ house comes with an unwelcome addition, a china doll called Marchpane, who is also very old. Marchpane would have been an expensive and precious doll in her day, unlike the Plantaganets, and is both haughty and cruel. When she is brought to live with them all she seems to cast a spell over the elder of the two sisters, Emily, and gradually, the Plantaganets are sidelined and ousted from the better rooms in their new home. 

On the surface, this is a simple story, but it explores notions of class, fairness, kindness and justice in ways that will be easily understood by children. It was a real throw-back reading this charming little book. The language is a bit old-fashioned, but I think it could still appeal to younger children, between about five and seven years old, perhaps shared with a grandparent, who will be able to bring their own memories into a telling of the story. 

“It is an anxious, sometimes a dangerous thing, to be a doll. Dolls cannot choose; they can only be chosen; they cannot ‘do’; they can only be done by; children who do not understand this, often do wrong things and then the dolls are hurt and abused and lost; and when this happens dolls cannot speak, nor do anything except be hurt and abused and lost. If you have any dolls, you should remember that.”

Chapter 1, ‘The Dolls’ House’ by Rumer Godden

#KeepKidsReading book review – “Stolen History” by Sathnam Sanghera

I am starting my #KeepKidsReading week book reviews with a newly-published non-fiction title that caught my eye. Sathnam Sangera published his best-selling book fort adults Empireland: How imperialism has shaped modern Britain in 2021. He is a journalist and has long campaigned for a more grown-up debate about the UK’s history of empire-building, what this means for us today and how it can help us manage some of the issues that arise from our multi-cultural society. Sathnam was part of a panel at the Hay Festival in a debate I saw there about Britain’s stately homes, the riches within them and how we as a society might engage with or view them in the modern era. It was fascinating.

The topic is certainly gaining traction (not before time, many would argue) and it is encouraging to see a book aimed at children on the subject. Sathnam Sanghera acknowledges the wonderful Horrible Histories series (books and television) for changing the way certain topics are taught to young people, making them accessible as well as entertaining. Sanghera sets out to do the same here, though it is a little heavier on the education than the entertainment side.

The author begins by explaining what the British Empire was and how Britain came to be perhaps the most powerful nation on earth. I learned quite a lot! I did not know, for example, that the British Empire was actually seven times larger than the Roman Empire and endured for a similar period of time.

He goes on to talk about some of the things we think of as ‘British’ that we actually imported from other parts of the Empire, not least tea! There are a number of pen-portraits of Empire figures, from the controversial explorers and colonisers, such as Robert Clive, to the many black and brown skinned individuals whose place in history has been minimised, such as Mary Seacole (who played just as big a role in the Crimean War as her white counterpart Florence Nightingale).

Sanghera does not shy away from controversial topics in this book and I think he handles them very well. For example, a theme running throughout is how objects (and indeed natural resources and human labour) were forcibly removed from their countries of origin. He alludes to the debate currently ongoing about the return of precious artefacts to their original owners. He also busts plenty of myths! For example, in the debate about whether British museums should return looted artefacts Sanghera points out that less than 1% of the British Museum’s current collection is on display so the place would hardly be hollowed out if even a lot of items were returned.

The author addresses head-on the fact that to many people the concept of ‘the British Empire’ remains sacred. He explains carefully why some people are made angry by discussions about it, without taking up a polar position himself. I think he manages quite successfully to explain why it remains important to people, whilst also equipping his readers with factual information and even a few strategies for handling discussions. He even explains terms such as ‘exceptionalism’ and ‘jingoism’ in simple but effective terms, which is quite something.

As you can probably guess, I rather liked this book and would recommend it to any parent keen for their child to have a grasp of this topic (which would probably be better than very many adults’ grasp!). It is definitely not just for families with multi-cultural heritage. I had some slight reservations about the title, because it suggests a ‘position’ that is actually much more nuanced in the book. But it turns heads I suppose.

Highly recommended (and for adults too!). It is published in paperback by the always wonderful Puffin Books, is very well illustrated and is set out in highly digestible chunks.

#KeepKidsReading – the summer holidays are here!

It’s too long since I did one of my periodic #KeepKidsReading weeks, where I write about what is currently happening in the world of children’s literature and post reviews of kids’ books that have caught my eye.

The premise of these themed weeks is to try and encourage people to spread the word about children’s books and perhaps even consider reading some themselves! It’s always such a treat to open a book that has been written with children in mind – it’s as good a min-retreat! We bookbloggers love reading – of course we do! – but when you get caught up in your stats, your reading speed (that feature on the e-reader is surely a thief of joy!) and how your ‘number of books read’ on Goodreads compares to last year, you can easily forget that reading is, at its most basic, just pure pleasure.

Generation Alpha (ie people born between 2010-24), aka ‘kids today’, have more competing pressures on their time than ever and, I would argue, more things to worry about. Reading educates, creates bonds, promotes wellbeing and empowers – as adults, parents and grandparents it is imperative that we do not allow this simple but oh so valuable pastime to slip away from them.

So, this is my teeny tiny little personal campaign!

If you know any children and they have not yet signed up for this year’s UK summer reading challenge, then get them along to the local library or point them in the direction of the website (Gen Alpha is, of course, digitally native!). This annual initiative is run by The Reading Agency and delivered in partnership with public libraries (because even though they are all digital natives, they don’t all have the hardware at home). Each year, the challenge has a theme and this year it’s Ready, Set, Read, with a sporting theme.

Later in the week I will be posting a few reviews of book suggestions for children, so look out for those.

In the meantime, happy reading and spread the word!

#KeepKidsReading

#KeepKidsReading – book recommendations

Like most avid readers, one of my favourite pastimes is browsing local bookshops, looking at what’s new, reading blurbs and admiring the artwork. Book covers have got so good in recent years, particularly in the children’s section and whilst I do love all my Penguin classics that have great works of art on the covers, the amount of original work out there is stunning and great for artists of course. I think this is particularly important for books for younger readers as it is often the thing that will make them reach for a title.

A few books have caught my eye recently and I thought I’d list a few here for anyone looking for ideas for the children in their lives.

Non-fiction

I love the ‘Little People, Big Dreams’ series and since the titles were first (self) published in 2012 they now encompass a huge range of international figures from important people in history to pop stars, sports stars, artists, writers, scientists and explorers. The books have also won international acclaim and count Oprah Winfrey, no less, among their fans. Incredibly, they are all penned by one person, Spanish writer Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara, working with a team of illustrators from around the world. Aimed at the 4-7 age group, you will find a title to suit your little one, no matter their interest. And the website has some excellent additional resources too.

If your 8-11 year old is interested in science these two books will be of interest. The Virus explains the Coronavirus pandemic in simple, factual and non-patronising terms. Could really help any kids still anxious about the disease. Adam Kay is best known for his darkly comic insights into life in the NHS, such as the bestselling This Is Going to Hurt.

History is such an important subject for young people and will help them develop their critical appraisal skills. I think the Windrush book is a timely and beautifully put together perspective on the subject through the eyes of those who travelled. And I loved A History of the World in 25 Cities which has echoes of the ground-breaking ‘History of the World in a Hundred Objects’ (BBC/British Museum). It’s an innovative way of looking at history which many of today’s well-travelled and cosmopolitan kids will respond to.

I adore these two books! Sunflower Shoots and Muddy Boots is a practical book for active kids who love nature and growing things and even those who live in flats and might only have a balcony or window can participate. This book would suit kids of even a young age who can follow the activities with the help of an adult. Grow is a thing of beauty! For children who are a little older (8+) it is a guide to plants and gardening, with the most stunning illustrations. It would make a great gift.

A Couple of quite serious books here. Unstoppable Us: How humans took over the world is by the Israeli historian and philosopher Yuval Noah Harari. He is well-known for his best-selling books for adults , such as Sapiens and Homo Deus. I wonder if he has given up on us grown-ups and feels it’s only the kids now who can save us! You Don’t Know What War Is is a Ukrainian child’s war diary. So many kids will have Ukrainians in their schools and communities and this book may help them to understand what is a very troubling geopolitical situation.

Finally, among the non-fiction, two that really appealed to me. Selina Boyd’s Cocoa Girl Awesome Hair is a fab book specifically for young people of colour, and great fun. And The Very Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra which will appeal to aspirational parents! I loved the buttons at the back where you could hear the sounds of different instruments.

Fiction

I reviewed Michelle Paver’s Dark Matter on here a year or so ago and loved it. It was the first book of hers that I’d read and I learned subsequently that she has written a lot of middle-grade fiction. Her Wolfbane series has been hugely successful and this book is the ninth and final book in the series.

Sarah Hagger-Holt’s Proud of Me deals with similar tough themes to a book I reviewed on here last week Raven Winter. Two young people share the same father – an anonymous sperm donor but have different views on what information they want about this in the future. It is a story about searching for identity.

Another series, this time a pair of young detectives living in a high rise block of flats. This is the second book by Sharna Jackson and characters Nik and Norva. I used to love junior detective books when I was a kid and I am sure this would have resonated with me as a nine or ten year old.

Reading the blurb of this reminded me of Mitch Johnson’s Kick, which I reviewed here a few years ago. Set in an Indian slum area it deals with the reality of life for children growing up in this part of the world in very different circumstances than most of us are used to. This will be a powerful read, but, like Kick hopefully a hopeful one.

I couldn’t ‘resist’ a bit of historical fiction and Tom Palmer’s Resist fits the bill. Set in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands in the second world war, it tells the story of teenage girl Edda fighting her own personal battles against her oppressors who have murdered members of her family and imprisoned her brother. Powerful stuff.

Finally, I love the sound of this book Little Sure Shot by Matt Ralphs, based on the story of Annie Oakley. Annie is a young girl living on an Ohio farm with her family who has a talent with a rifle. When the family is thrown into poverty by tragedy Annie must deploy her talents to keep the family afloat. A really novel idea for a children’s book. It is newly published and I hope it’s a success.

That wraps up my research for this #KeepKidsReading week. I hope there is something here that will appeal to your young people.

#KeepKidsReading classic audiobook review – “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” by Lewis Carroll

I was first given this book as a child in primary school (I still have my copy!) and though I recall reading it, I’m not sure what I thought about it at the time. I read it again (along with the sequel Alice Through the Looking Glass) while I was an English literature undergraduate (this time exploring the symbolism and the place of the work in the history of literature). It is easy to forget that this book was written in the Victorian era (it was first published in 1865), a time when children were definitely meant to be seen and not heard. Alice is nearly subversive when thought about in that context!

I came across the audiobook recently, read, to my excitement, by the marvellous actor Jodie Comer, who comes from Liverpool but who seems able to mimic just about any accent. As I had a longish solo car journey, I thought it would be the perfect accompaniment. I was slightly disappointed that Jodie Comer read it in a (perfectly executed) received pronunciation – fitting to the book’s period, but I think it might make it sound somewhat dated to a modern child’s ear. There was a wide range of other accents too though, various northern and west country voices for the animals. 

I listened in one sitting and it really is a marvel. I had forgotten just how many different ‘episodes’ there are! I was reminded of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy, which I think draws on the legacy that was established by Alice. I am currently watching season three of the BBC television adaptation of that series (which is further than I have read in the books) and I am struck by the succession of ‘worlds’ (or multiverses as I think it would be more fashionable to call them). Alice goes through a series of changes as she passes through the different areas of Wonderland and encounters different animals, some familiar, some fantasy, and different forms of people (such as the royal playing cards). As an adult, I have to admit that I have found this a little tedious at times – there is a kind of impatience in my watching/listening. But, of course, children have a much greater tolerance for this sort of thing and it’s probably a strong argument against bingeing. It’s simply too rich!

Listening to Alice, my absolute favourite section was the mock turtle’s story. I love the nonsense logic and I think the puns will make children laugh as much as I did. In performance terms, Jodie Comer had great fun with the Queen of Hearts and the King and the repetitions of “off with his head” got increasingly melodramatic. Again, children will love the anarchic humour.

Alice was a reaction to the constraints placed on children and the virtual denial of childhood in the late nineteenth century. Alice refers to the events going on around her as “curiouser and curiouser”, but of course, she is also curious, drinking potions and eating biscuits and mushrooms, even though she knows this is against every rule she has been taught, just for the hell of it, to see what happens. The message here is that curiosity is rewarded with adventures and rules can be broken…sometimes!

Some parts of this book may well feel dated to 21st century ears, and I was listening out for things that might offend, in the way that some have been offended by Roald Dahl recently, but Alice is much more fantastical, in my view. Its entertainment value for younger children remains strong, however, and Alice’s innocence still rings true. 

#KeepKidsReading Book Review – “Raven Winter” by Susanna Bailey

Having another #KeepKidsReading week on my blog has given me an ‘excuse’ to read a book which has been on my TBR pile for some time. It also fits perfectly with my reading challenge this year, which is to pick a long-ago purchased but so far neglected book off my bulging shelves. The first book of the year that I chose was Hilary Mantel’s early novella Fludd, a review of which I’ll post next week, but I wanted to tell you this week about Raven Winter. I picked this up when it was first published early last year, but somehow have never got to it. I’m so glad I did! 

The main character and narrator is Billie a twelve or thirteen year-old girl who lives with her ‘Mam’ and Mam’s boyfriend, Daniel in a flat somewhere in north east England. Billie moved to the flat relatively recently, having had to leave their previous home after her father went to prison for fraud against his employer. Billie has also started at a new school and is finding it difficult to make friends. People seem to know about her family situation and she has experienced some bullying. 

The other perhaps somewhat darker cloud in Billie’s life is Daniel, who is a dark and brooding presence throughout the book. He is a dominant and controlling character and there are strong suggestions that his intimidation of Billie’s mother is both physical and psychological. Billie cannot understand why her mother not only tolerates Daniel, but actually wants Billie to like him, welcome him as a substitute father. Billie misses her own father terribly; they were very close and shared a passion for nature and particularly birds. It is clear that there are secrets, that Billie has not been told the full story of her father’s ongoing absence, why they have lost contact with him, have not visited him for many months, and, now that his three year sentence has come to an end, why they are not reunited as a family.

Billie wants to run away. She sets out to do this one day, fleeing to a wild woodland area close to her home, Tanglewood, which her mother has warned her to stay away from. There, she finds an injured young raven and decides to take it home to nurse it back to health. Her relationship with the raven reminds of her father and brings her comfort. 

Raven Winter  is Susanna Bailey’s third book exploring the therapeutic relationship between animals and children who are facing challenging circumstances. Her first novel Snow Foal dealt was about a child going into foster care, and her second Otter’s Moon deals with divorce and relocation. Bailey clearly draws on her real-life experiences in the field of social work for her subjects. Raven Winter does suggest domestic abuse and a parent who is absent due to being in jail – tough topics – but I think it is done sensitively and gently. It is ‘middle-grade’ fiction after all, for the 8-12 age group. The bigger theme of the book in my view though is how children can find comfort in nature, how non-judgmental animals can help a child who feels alone, and how caring for someone or something outside of themselves, can be cathartic.

Bailey creates a lovely engaging character in Billie and the book is written very much from her point of view. To that extent I think it will encourage empathy in young readers. I also liked the way that the author ties up the ending. Even a few pages from the end it is not clear how things will turn out, so it will keep children interested. All the loose ends are tied up, but not in a schmaltzy, happily ever after way, rather in a realistic way that bears greater resemblance to the complexities of real life. It does end with hope, however, and that is the main thing needed in these sorts of books when they are aimed at this age group.

Recommended, and if Bailey’s other books are this good, they will provide ample material for children who enjoy this one. 

It’s World Book Day! #KeepKidsReading

World Book Day has to be one of my favourite dates in the bookish calendar. It is such a pleasure scrolling through the various social media platforms and seeing photos posted by proud parents of their kids dressed up as various fictional characters. As a parent, I didn’t love it quite so much when my kids were little I’m afraid! It was an enormous pressure to come up with outfits, especially when your kids have VERY specific ideas about how they should look and trips to various charity shops do not yield quite the desired items of clothing! On the day, though, when they were actually dressed up and happy went into school, it was always brilliant fun.

There is a more serious side to it of course. There is the fact that children in the UK and the Republic of Ireland get their free book token, and can purchase a wide range of other titles for just £1/€1.50. With so many electronic distractions in their lives, the importance of fostering a love of reading and of books is more important than ever. Rising costs of living do not make that easy for many families, and similarly squeezed council budgets mean there is pressure on local libraries too. It is important for the grown ups to keep campaigning on these issues. Even once our kids are beyond the dressing up stage, it is important to continue pressing for all children to have access to the joy of reading.

There are also some serious social benefits too, of course. We know that reading contributes to the attainment of developmental milestones in children which can in turn improve their life chances. But if you are reading this post, you already know this!

So, it seems like a good moment for another of my #KeepKidsReading weeks. In the next week I will post a couple of reviews of kids’ books as well as some suggestions for some great books that are just out or about to be published. Look out for these posts in the coming days.

In the meantime, if you have young children in your life, enjoy the rest of another wonderful World Book Day!

#KeepKidsReading Book Review #2 – “Into the Sideways World” by Ross Welford

Going on holiday can play havoc with your writing goals so my July #KeepKidsReading week has turned into a #KeepKidsReading fortnight, my second book review being a full ten days after the first! So I am writing this from a very sunny south-west France where I am holidaying with my family. We escaped the heatwave in the UK last weekend, but exchanged it for very high temperatures in Paris, where nobody seemed particularly bothered. We spent a lot of time doing indoor things like enjoying the shops and visiting museums. It is very hot here in the Gironde today so I have chosen to stay inside for a couple of hours, fair-skinned English woman that I am. Thankfully the terrible fires that afflicted this part of France (and indeed Spain and Portugal) seem to be largely under control, or extinguished, and although it is hot here today, the termperature is set to drop to the (still very hot in my opinion) mid-twenties from tomorrow.

Preparations for my trip meant that I did not manage to write my review of Ross Welford’s latest book for children. Published earlier this year, it is his seventh and he has quickly become one of the leading authors for children in the 8-12 age group. I read his his first novel, Time Travelling with a Hamster (published in 2016), with a primary school book club I was running at the time and all the kids loved it. It was the first book we read in the club and I’m afraid they found every subsequent book a disappointment! I read Welford’s next two books, What Not To Do If You Turn Invisible and The 1,000 Year Old Boy, and loved those too, but he has written a further three books in the meantime that I have not yet caught up on. So, his latest novel felt like a good opportunity to dive back into Welford’s world.

Welford’s world is one that is familiar to me, the north east of England, the coastal area to the east of Newcastle upon Tyne, Whitley Bay, to be precise. Welford sets his books in the fictional area of Culvercot, equivalent to Cullercoats. I lived some happy years in Tynemouth, the next town along, and so I know the area well. I also love the fact that Welford’s character are really ordinary kids – they are not super clever with perfect lives. In Into the Sideways World, the narrator and main character Willa, who is twelve, has wonky teeth, is teased at school, her parents are stressed by their business problems and bicker constantly, and she is generally unexceptional. Wonderful! Kids can see themselves in this character without feeling they are somehow wanting.

Willa’s parents run a holiday camp in Whitley Bay that was set up by Willa’s grandfather, but which is now in decline. One of Willa’s closest confidantes is Maudie, on-site general handywoman and ageing hippy with a passion for learning and for chocolate. Maudie has worked on the site since it was opened and her main claim to fame is that she met briefly President John F Kennedy before he was assassinated and told him about her vision of a World Without War. The novel is set some time in the 2030s. Maudie’s vision seems even more poignant given that there is the threat of a third world war looming. References are made to “the great pandemic” that killed thousands, including Willa’s grandfather, and climate change is wreaking ever greater havoc.

Willa’s life seems mostly pretty dull and occasionally difficult, with more than a little sadness, until she meets Manny Weaver, a new boy at school who has spent his short life to date moving from one foster home to another. Manny is bolder and more confident than Willa and while he is not exactly delinquent he is more willing to push boundaries. When he learns about the Whitley Bay cog, a mysterious and shy sea creature, having been spotted in a cave on the beach at Culvercot, he encourages Willa to go searching for it with him.

Once inside the cave, Manny and Willa, experience a violent meteorological event and when they emerge, they do so into a very different world. The date is the same (this is not quite time travel), but it is most definitely a parallel universe where everything is different, where President Kennedy survived the assassination attempt and, influenced by the great and distinguished Lady Maud Fry, led the world to make different choices. In this new “sideways world” the worst effects of climate change have been averted, science has devoted itself to finding alternatives to fossil fuels and meat consumption, world leaders choose dialogue over conflict, and everyone is happy.

Once they have arrived in the sideways world, Willa goes “home” and finds the environment very different: firstly, she is now Mina, not Willa, she no longer has an older sister, rather her older brother Alex, who in her own world died as a baby from cardiac abnormality, has survived. Her parents are (embarrassingly!) still very much in love, their business is successful, and there was no pandemic so her grandfather is still alive. Cars as we know them have gone, rather there are strange floating scooters that run on some advanced hydrogen/solar technology. It is a utopian vision. Crucially, Manny’s longed-for mother, who in their own world disappeared for many years and has been tracked down to a psychiatric facility in Scotland, is getting well and they are about to be reunited.

Manny and Willa do not know what to make of the new world. It turns out that Manny is one of a very small number of people with a hypersensitivity to the moon and tides and who can switch between these different worlds at certain times. At the time of the novel, the moon, a Supermoon, is closer to the earth than it has been for decades or will be again for many years, which enables Manny to take advantage of the conditions to transport himself, and Willa, to an alternative reality.

The rest of the novel follows the two children as they try to make sense of what has happened to them. They make a couple of journeys back and forth and it becomes clear that, although the sideways world is, in countless ways, better and happier than her own world, Willa comes to the conclusion that the world she knows is where she belongs. She also realises that she has switched places with her doppelganger, Mina, who will be finding the old world extremely challenging compared to what she has been used to. For Manny, the decision is less clearcut – the old world has nothing to offer him, but he has a life with his mother to gain in the sideways world.

Thematically, the book is similar to the other Welford novels I have read, although I love the way he has incorporated climate change and the pandemic into this one. At this difficult stage in history, I also love the way he is showing children that things can be better, change is possible, they can be hopeful of a better world in the future, and the power will soon be in their hands to make it so. Welford achieves this without being preachy though, because he wraps it in yet another brilliant story with great characters, adventure, action, a chase (of course!) and all the little references that will draw children in, the social media and technology references, sibling rivalries and relationships with parents.

Highly recommended, brilliant summer reading for kids, and for me too!