There is rousing inspiration for all ages in Change Sings: A Children’s Anthem by Amanda Gorman, illustrated by Loren Long ( Puffin ), as a girlfriend urges her residential district to legal action via small kindnesses and brave words ( “ I can hear change humming / In its loudest, proud song … ” ). lyric text from the presidential inauguration poet marries thrillingly with Long ’ s rich paintings.
For five-plus, Once Upon a Tune: Stories from the Orchestra by James Mayhew ( Otter-Barry ) contains six absorb tales, each the source of fantastic music, all brought to life by Mayhew ’ s compelling storytelling and finely textured pictures. This gorgeous insertion to works such as Peer Gynt and Scheherazade explores musical context, and provides links to recommended recordings .
fact fans of seven-plus will adore Listified!: Britannica’s 300 Lists That Will Blow Your Mind by Andrew Pettie, illustrated by Andrés Lozano ( Britannica ), a treasury featuring the fastest dinosaur, the cleverest dog breeds and the sneakiest spy gadgets ( including a microphone disguised as an olive ). Funny and challenging, with pages full of enticingly blockish illustrations. In Every Leaf a Hallelujah by Ben Okri, illustrated by Diana Ejaita ( Head of Zeus ) and besides for seven-plus readers, Mangoshi ’ second mother is ill, but there ’ s a flower in the forest that can save her – if Mangoshi can only find it … This brooding environmental fairytale conveys a sense of world ’ s deeply reliance on the natural global. For eight-plus readers, Utterly Dark and the Face of the Deep by Philip Reeve ( David Fickling ) is a wonderfully wyrd narrative of wonder, risk, tragedy and the thin places between worlds. Washed up on prop up as a child, Utterly Dark is adopted by the Watcher of Wildsea, who keeps a lookout for the strange, threatening forces of the sea. But when Utterly ’ mho defender is drowned, who will keep watch – and keep the island safe ?
A detail from The False Rose by Jakob Wegelius.
Photograph: Jakob Wegelius There are more seaborne thrills for eight-to-12 years in The False Rose by Jakob Wegelius ( translated by Peter Graves, Pushkin ), as the gorilla hero of The Murderer ’ south Ape returns in a sequel as elaborately illustrated and adventurous as her first appearance. Finding a rose-shaped necklace hidden aboard their beloved soft-shell clam, Sally Jones and The Chief are swept off on a voyage from Lisbon to Glasgow and even further afield, falling foul of a terrific gang and a smuggler determined to own the mysterious pendent. interim, the applaud writer of the Seeing Stone trilogy returns to the bloody, prolific ground of arthurian legend in Arthur: The Always King by Kevin Crossley-Holland, illustrated by Chris Riddell ( Walker ). This spectacular solicitation of stories for 10-plus moves bewitchingly from Arthur ’ s boyhood to the trials of his kingship, treachery and death ; Riddell ’ s intoxicating illustrations, full of golden faint, glinting mail and memorable gore, elevate it to the reverend. For 14-plus, Medusa by Jessie Burton, illustrated by Olivia Lomenech Gill ( Bloomsbury ), is absolutely transporting. Violated and cursed, Medusa lives on a remote control island with only her sisters, her chase and the snakes of her hair for company. When a big male child arrives on the shore, Medusa refuses to show her grimace – but as they exchange stories from either side of a bang-up rock, friendship slowly flowers between them. How will Perseus react, though, to Medusa ’ sulfur stallion accuracy ? This dynamic feminist fictionalize is illustrated with arresting, polychromatic power. Twenty years after Noughts and Crosses ’ s beginning publication, Malorie Blackman brings her unforgettable YA series to a tragic, exultant stopping point in Endgame ( Penguin ). In a global where black Crosses restraint most wealth and power, Britain ’ s inaugural Nought flower minister is about to go on trial for the murder of gang godhead Dan Jeavons. Sephy Hadley was besides stage when Jeavons was killed ; now she ’ mho under misgiving besides, and her children are threatened. How will the weave of plat and corruption ravel – and who will emerge unharmed ?
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An exemplification by Chris Riddell from Arthur : The Always King. Photograph: Chris Riddell finally, When Shadows Fall by Sita Brahmachari, illustrated by Natalie Sirett ( Stripes ), follows Kai, Orla and Zak, who love the violent green while in the center of the concrete conurbation they live in : it ’ s their den, their garden, their refuge. But when Kai suffers a bang-up loss, he no longer wants his friends ’ company – or to safeguard their hidden set. A move, hard-hitting journey for teens through grief and adoption, weave with herculean exemplification and viscerally intense verse . Browse all the featured books and save astir to 15 % at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply.
