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.

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". 

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...

Rain Town has been sent to me by Matador for review and it made me laugh aloud. It's brilliant. Written in a very modern tone and full of comments and 'Dad jokes', it's actually a light-hearted look at modern life, corporate crime, middle age and redundancy.

The stars of the book are father and son Sidney and Stanley, and their respective friends. Stanley's schoolfriends are Billy and Chloe, and Sidney's initially more reluctant sidekicks are Terry and Billy's Dad, Bobby.


Sidney is a struggling single parent to Stanley. He's also The Raven, a nightime crime fighter alter-ego, sometimes described as "the crazy guy in the bin bag". No-one is entirely sure The Raven really exists, except Billy, who met him once and is his greatest fan.

Magnus And The Jewelled Book Of The Universe is the first young fiction novel written by S.L Browne, released by Matador Children's Books last November. It is a book with the message to look after our planet, woven into a tale of mystery and intrigue, dinosaurs and tornadoes and an 8 year old boy named Magnus.


As the book starts Magnus and his elderly guardians move swiftly from mundane life to something completely different. A tornado approaches and a Police Officer visits their house to ensure they evacuate. There is a plan for Magnus and he is not only evacuated, he's removed completely to an entirely new world, an alternate Earth.

The shortlist for the 2017 Scholastic Books Laugh Out Loud Awards - or the 'Lollies' - has been selected by Michael Rosen and a panel of expert judges, and my 7 and 8 year old boys are reviewing a couple of the nominees, starting with Future Ratboy and the Invasion of the Nom Noms by Jim Smith.


Before you even open this 240 page book, you know it's going to be quite different. It has a comic book style which is really accessible to the 6-8 year old intended age group. Perfect for newer independent or reluctant readers, with short paragraphs of text and plenty of illustrations.

If you have competent young readers who have a good imagination then you could do worse than take a look at One Third Stories. Started by two men (Alex and Jonny) who have a love of languages and storytelling, One Third Stories start in English and end in a different language. The stories are incomplete, and readers aged up to 11 are asked to finish them, with the best entries winning prizes.

My family are big fans of the Cartoon Network show Adventure Time. The older children introduced us to it several years ago and it was a pleasure to have them watch something that the adults could appreciate too. The tragic backstories (poor, poor Marceline) and the fact these characters were each left alone, in a world where little makes sense, give Adventure Time a depth unusual to a largely children's TV Show.


Adventure Time is the first to arrive. There are 13 issues a year delivered to your home address by Magazine.com, so you don't need to remember to pick it up from the newsagent.

My children love to find new material to read, and Amazing! really is excellent new material. A monthly printed magazine aimed at children aged around 7+, each issue has content based on the National Curriculum, delivered in a really exciting and interesting way.


Each edition is around 36 pages printed in full colour on good quality paper. It has a main theme running throughout and is packed with stories, facts, puzzles and riddles, poems, activities articles and jokes. We were sent two recent issues - a Human Body Special, and and Ancient Romans Special.

To help celebrate World Book Day on Thursday 3rd March, the kind folk at the holiday letting agency www.Cottages.com are offering my readers the chance to win a fantastic collection of 15 Roald Dahl books to keep your young fiction fans busy for a while.


www.cottages.com has more than 15,000 properties across the UK, and to help you choose your next holiday destination, they have put together a map of places to visit connected with some of our favourite children’s authors and stories.

Storytime Magazine has the aim to move away from 'free gifts' and TV tie-ins, and deliver good old fashioned tales. Myths and legends from around the world and from throughout the history of writing, side by side with brand new children's stories and poems written by unknown authors or Children's Laureates.


I love to hear my children read to me. I feel waves of pride listening to my 5 and 7 year olds put on voices, pay attention to exclamation marks and 'sound out' those tricky words as they stride through yet another story. They have a love of books and reading which started before they were even able to sit up, as we sat them on our knee and shared picture books and cloth books with them.

Just as reading together is great for babies, it's great for my children now. We read most nights, but the difference is that we take it in turns. I love hearing them read as much as they still love to hear me read. Storytime magazine is perfect for bedtime reading together for children aged 2 to 11.

The Imaginary by A. F. Harrold is probably best described as a fantasy book best suited to children aged around 8+. A tale of imagination, loss and friendship, it poses the question 'what happens to our fantasies when we don't remember them any more?'


The central characters are Amanda and Rudger. No-one except Amanda can see Rudger, and he lives in her wardrobe, so I think it's fair to say he is imaginary, and Amanda has an excellent imagination.

But then one day a man called Mr Bunting comes to the door and he can see Rudger. This is when the plot starts to get exciting...

The 100 Facts books from Miles Kelly are bestsellers worldwide, translated into more than 30 languages and with over 80m copies sold so far. Suitable for readers aged around 7+, there are currently 80 different books. From Mummies, Birds, Bears or Armour to Horses, Bodies or Evolution, there really is something to cater to all tastes.


My 7 year old loves facts, he loves to share something interesting and surprise us all with his knowledge. He's interested in new technology and how things work, so I chose him 100 Facts Science and 100 Facts Inventions.