A children’s tale about theft, poverty and a mother in crisis
In James Fox’s warmly written debut novel, The Boy in the Suit, a poor mother-son duo raid funerals for free canapés
Jump to content
In James Fox’s warmly written debut novel, The Boy in the Suit, a poor mother-son duo raid funerals for free canapés
The late children’s writer on his childhood reading, why his characters were never cruel and saying goodbye in his latest work
In Rosa by Starlight, we’re told a shrewd, evocative tale of a girl who suffers under a heartless uncle and aunt – then turns the tables
The Houdini Inheritance, the latest novel by Emma Carroll, is a rich 1920s-set tale of thrills, stunts and mysterious deaths
Time Runs like a River, Emma Carlisle’s latest book, uses gentle illustrations and lilting rhymes to foster a surprisingly deep message
Mayowa and the Sea of Words, Chibundu Onuzo’s debut novel, about a girl who takes on a Right-wing MP, sacrifices plot to preaching
How to Be a Genius Kid, by ‘Waldo Pancake’ (Jim Smith), sees two cartoon narrators whisk us through eight fascinating lessons
The Wonderdays, by Clare Povey, has a solid villain, a daring journey and a sensible, albeit overly emphatic, eco-message
In Mary Cathleen Brown’s haunting debut novel, The Tall Man, a 12-year-old boy must solve an old mystery and save an imprisoned child
‘Hyperbole’, ‘harried’, ‘onomatopoeia’ – Colossal Words for Kids, by Colette Hiller and Tor Freeman, will have clever young tongues wagging
Tom Percival’s novel, The Wrong Shoes, tells of a stoic young boy and his struggling father. It’s touching, albeit a little too spelled-out
The War Horse author returns with a semi-autobiographical tale about D-Day’s legacy, beautifully illustrated by Michael Foreman
In Betty Steady and the Toad Witch, Nicky Smith-Dale’s enthusiasm for a peculiar world of mice and boiled eggs proves infectious
Lucy Strange is the queen of Gothic chillers for children - and her sixth novel, The Island at the Edge of Night, doesn’t disappoint
In Dev Kothari’s delightful debut novel, Lena investigates her brother’s disappearance from an overnight express train in India
The children’s classic criticised for its ‘horrendous stereotypes’ was nonetheless made into a film. Then the real trouble began
Critics adored her gritty 1960 debut about a single mother: ‘she can suggest all the indignity of being sick in the Tube in half a sentence’
This edition, abridged by scholar Anjna Chouhan and the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, manages to preserve astounding amounts of poetry
Clare Pollard’s first children’s book, The Untameables, puts a fresh spin on the Camelot myth with an adventuring 10-year-old hero
What Rosa Brought, which Jacob Sager Weinstein based on his mother’s childhood, is hauntingly told and sharply illustrated by Eliza Wheeler