We all carry secrets, parts of our lives which we hide away and don't share. Not/Coming Out is an anthology of poems and short stories from people who have hidden away the biggest parts of who they are. Some of the LGBTQ+ authors or their fictional (semi-fictional?) characters tell us what happened when they did reveal themselves, some explain why they don't. For all of them it is a huge decision which is very often overshadowed by worry, even when they are amongst their closest friends and allies. 

Home: My Life In The Universe is written by Mark Ballabon, with illustrations by Grant Macdonald. It is suitable for teenage and young adult readers aged around 12+, and is a book which really does make you think about what home is, and where it is...?

The story focusses on Leah, a teenage girl who is growing into the adult she'll become. It is a coming-of-age tale, with the climate crisis and our place in the universe right at its heart. 

Leah is an 'ordinary' teenager, and she's unique, just like every teenager. She feels she is weird and different, yet really plain, and she's okay with individuality to a point, but she wants to fit in, and she wants to be liked, but she doesn’t enjoy the feeling of being plain. She also wants to try new experiences and push herself out of her comfort zone, which she does when, together with her younger brother, she goes away to spend 3 weeks at an international camp over Summer. It's there that she meets people who test her patience and her mood, and others who encourage her to understand that we all have a backstory - reasons why we act as we do. 

Cambridge University Press has published possibly the world's first body image book for older boys age 12+, and I've been sent a copy to review. We are becoming very used to the idea that teenage girls struggle with their body image, but in our media obsessed world, boys do too. In fact around 1/4 of young people with eating disorders are male. Being You looks at how the male body and mental image changes, and restores the confidence which the modern world can very quickly erase. 

The authors of Being You are Dr Charlotte Markey, a pioneer on body image research and author of bestselling The Body Image Book for Girls: Love Yourself and Grow Up Fearless (2020), and Daniel Hart, a psychologist and father of boys. I am a mother of 5 boys myself.

Being You: Body Image Book For Boys is bright, bold and has illustrations throughout by Douglas N. Zacher. Text is broken into chunks, and you can dip in and out, it's not intended as a 'sit down and read through' book. The language is very accessible, and as you might imagine, very blunt at times, covering topics such as masturbation, sexuality, eating disorders, 'bulking up', plastic surgery, depression, alcohol and substance abuse. 

At the back is a huge glossary of terms used, and frankly that alone is a very useful tool for helping young people have the language to explain themselves and their worries.

I was recently sent a copy of Misty Ricardo's Curry Compendium by Richard Sayce for review. This is a mighty cookbook, which is full of recipes, hints and tips, but possibly more importantly, explanations and alternatives. It doesn't just give you the 'how to', it covers the 'why', and 'what difference will it make?'

Very differently to any cookbook I've ever used before, many of the recipes also feature a QR code, which will take your smartphone straight to the accompanying YouTube video, so that you can cook along with Richard himself...

Richard Sayce is the man behind Misty Ricardo's Curry Kitchen, and this is a compendium cookbook full of British Indian restaurant recipes which featured in his previous books. I may not get out to a restaurant very often, but take away Indian is a massive treat in our house, and I cook a curry from scratch around once a week, so this has to be a winner for us. 

It's Okay To Feel Happy and I Want To Hug Mummy are books which have been written especially to support younger children who have been bereaved, and I have been sent them for review by Troubadour Press.

The author, David Peart, is a widowed Dad, and he writes from the heart, with a gentle bluntness and honesty which can be especially useful for younger children. 

It's Okay To Feel Happy talks about the feeling you get in your tummy, when you do something, but then you are crippled by confused emotions because it feels so wrong to be happy. Survivor guilt isn't just for grown ups.

Pride, joy, excitement, fun, achievement. They are all clouded by grief, and it can be incredibly hard, especially at first, to allow them out. 

The Last Generation by Miles Bavin is a young adult science fiction novel which Book Guild Publishing sent me for review.  Suitable for confident readers aged around 12 or over, The Last Generation is a book which is as much about friendship and loss as it is about a future where the Earth is dying, and the only chance may be escape... 

Our main character is teenager Ellie, a pupil at Oakham Elementary, a boarding school somewhere in England. Ellie is deaf, and impressively that's almost irrelevant to the story. She just happens to be deaf, and she is an excellent lip-reader. She is also possibly an orphan, as are many of the pupils at the school.

Backstories is a brand new book from Simon Van Der Velde, and he's sent me a copy for review. Subtitled "Intimate Stories About People You Think You Know", this is imagination and poetic licence, coupled with what we know to be factual biography, and intertwined with a bit of puzzle.

Definitely a book for the grown ups, Backstories is a collection of short stories, each detailing an event or time in a well-known person's life. The twist is that you aren't told who it is, although you get enough hints to work it out at some point before the end....

Each story is very well written, and paints a scene which is usually normal and everyday at first, leading into the actions and outcomes which have shaped a very important part of who that person is. Their backstory. The author takes known facts, and relates 'as it may have happened'.

Ends of the Earth is the second book in Ian P Buckingham's Changeling Saga. Old world Cornish myth and fantasy meets modern Cornish reality, with the Savage family, descendants of the ancient Trelgathwin family.

In the first book, Legends Of The Lost, we met the family, split in two halves many years earlier.  The incident had been wiped from all of their minds - but shadows and glimpses of something 'not quite right' had always remained.

Memories and relationships restored, Ends Of The Earth finds everyone living a comfortable and cosy 'normal' life. Lovely as it is, young Savannah (who is a bit of a mermaid) longs to be back in the sea, and parents Elouisa and James are both wilting with the lack of adventure.

James has an opportunity to go to Africa with his Lecturing work, and can take some of the family with him. The rest, Nanna Jo decides, can go with her down to Cornwall for some seaside time. Everyone is happy.

Naturally it isn't long before strange things start to happen... In Africa Henry (who is a bit of a werewolf) spots not only poachers, but a strange, rude, maggoty person type creature. Down in Cornwall, sea creatures inform Savannah and her sister Lucy that problems are afoot under the sea. 

 Myface is a new release from Kevin Landt, and I've been sent a copy for review. This is very modern young adult fiction, which blurs the lines between social media fantasy, and reality, so much so that you don't really know what's real and what isn't until a good way through the book. 

Myface starts with a murder, and then follows twisting and turning paths which all intersect at various points in the book. It has a great cast of people who all have the same thing in common - they care desperately about what other people think of them. Far too much really...

The main characters include Norman, a 22 year old ex-child star and 24 hour a day live streamer. Max, who spends his life watching other people live their lives. Amir, the theatre director, and his financer and wife, Jada. We have Sebastian, obsessed with someone he can never have, and his wife, Liz, who dreams of acting stardom. Finally we have the seemingly perfect, sultry and illusive Angela Fox. 

Happy Anyway is a self-help book especially suitable for young people with anxiety. Author Jane Hanford has sent me a copy for review, and although I'm a little older than the main target market, I can certainly appreciate the problems anxiety brings. Managing worries and fretfulness are also something that at least one of our children has really struggled with.... 

The book starts with an introduction, and you can instantly feel the enthusiasm of the author. She wants to tell you everything, and has a friendly, easy to read style that won't be off-putting to a teenage reader. The main body of the book itself is split into 'chapters' or what the author refers to as "40 short insights into how your mind works". 

I'm sent a lot of books for review, and I'm ridiculously behind with Young Fiction because, as you may have seen, the Coronavirus is taking up my time. I took a break today and had a look at 3 recent releases which are ideal for reading together, or for children aged around 6+ to read alone. 

The 3 fully illustrated picture story books are all self-published and sent to me by Matador for review - and they are all really good, with bold illustrations, modern style and lots to talk about... 

There's No Place Like... Written by Greta Mitchell and Illustrated by Alice Haskell.

This is a lovely little tale about a big robot which space-loving youngsters might recognise. The Curiosity Rover is sent on a mission to Mars. He is lonely out there and although he is busy doing science, he really wants to find the Opportunity Rover, so that he has a friend.

My Life In Thirty Seven Therapies by Kay Hutchison has been a popular book since it hit the shelves last year. Last month it was given an audiobook release, and I've been sent a copy to review.

This is a memoir which starts with the author leaving everything she has, and follows her through the 37 therapies she tries to find out the answers to questions she doesn't even know she has...

Everyone who would usually keep you busy out of the house will need to hold on to some of their plans for a while until it's safe for everyone, but that doesn't mean there's nothing to do. A lot of folk are still determined to entertain you and they have temporarily moved online, so here are some of the sights you can still see....virtually...

The latest young fiction book sent to me for review by Matador is The Sapphire Society. A blend of modern day and fantasy set in the Faroe Islands, where it seems the water might be hiding more secrets than we could ever dream of...

The story revolves around 12 year old Savannah, who moves to the Faroe Islands with her family, to live in her Grandmother's old cottage. While moving her mother finds an old dull sapphire necklace that had belonged to her own mother, and gives it to Savannah.


There are clearly mysteries on the island and Savannah very quickly befriends local lad Rich, son of the wealthy businessman Mr Froodroy. She also meets a woman known by the children as The Doomed Widow. The Doomed Widow is Doreen, whose husband was lost at sea several years beforehand.

A Cake For The Gestapo is a children's novel set on Jersey in 1940, and we were sent a preview copy for review by Zuntold Publishing. Suitable for confident readers aged around 9+, as the book starts we are a couple of weeks away from the Nazi occupation, which lasted almost the entire war.

Our main characters are Joe, Spinner, Clem, Ginger and their original enemy, Percy the bully. They are a close-knit group of youngsters about to enter their teenage years with no certainties ahead.  The book travels with them for a year, as they are forced to grow up quickly, with the realities of war on their own doorstep.


The children at the beginning of the book are already far more adult than you'd like them to be. They have had to take on the role of carers, providers, housekeepers and support for their own parents. With the arrival of the German Army, they also become the resistance and defenders of their island and way of life.

The group attack the Germans in innocent, childish ways, like throwing berries and leading bees to attack them. You have the sense always that it's always a dangerous game they are playing, and they know that.