Children’s and teens roundup: the best new picture books and novels
Set in a richly evoked historical Venice, Anna Hoghton’s debut The Mask of Aribella (Chicken House) is a captivating fantasy for readers aged eight-plus. Lacemaker’s daughter Aribella is astounded to discover that she can magically create fire – and that she now belongs to the Cannovacci, mysterious masked defenders of the city. However, the threat arising from the Island of the Dead may be too much even for her new friends. Can Aribella save Venice from the terrifying Spectres? This enthralling adventure will make readers yearn for their own masks and powers.
In a more contemporary vein is Lisa Thompson’s The Boy Who Fooled the World (Scholastic). Cole’s family is uncomfortably short of money, and he’s tired of it. When a famous artist declares him a prodigy, he finds himself the toast of the art world – but he’s hiding a secret that could blow everything sky-high. The pressures of poverty and challenges of staying true to yourself are compassionately explored in A funny, moving successor to The Light Jar.
From author and medic Roopa Farooki comes A Cure for a Crime (Oxford), starring detective twins Tulip and Ali. When their surgeon mum becomes unnaturally sleepy, the twins suspect her new boyfriend – but no one believes them, even as others succumb to the snooze. With the help of their medical knowhow and charismatic Nan, can the twins solve the secret of the spreading slumber?
In Nothing Ever Happens Here (Usborne) by Sarah Hagger-Holt, Izzy is used to her boring, samey family; when she discovers her dad is coming out as a trans woman, she’s scared and upset. What will the change mean for their family – and what will people say at school? This authentic-feeling book, filled with warm, nuanced characterisation, explores the idea of transition in a gentle, unsensational way.
For five-plus, from the award-winning Atinuke, comes Too Small Tola (Walker), illustrated with lively charm by Onyinye Iwu. Tola lives in Lagos with her brother, her sister and Grandmummy – all faster or cleverer or bossier than she is. But Tola is determined to help Grandmummy with the shopping, fetch water when the taps don’t work and make sure Mr Abdul the tailor gets his orders delivered in these witty, engaging stories of a little girl with a big personality.
Historical fiction buffs of about seven-plus will revel in Empire’s End: A Roman Story (Scholastic) by Leila Rasheed – it’s the gripping tale of Camilla, a North African girl in the declining days of the Roman empire, as she travels from Leptis Magna to Rome, a place rife with danger and imperial intrigue. When tragedy strikes her family, Camilla must make her way to grey, chilly Britannica and create a new home.
Viking fans, meanwhile, will delight in plundering Jack Tite’s Viking Voyagers (Big Picture), featuring fold-out flaps that hide buried treasures or the towering trunk of Yggdrasil the World Tree. From gods and legends to life in a longhouse, Berserker fury to longships and land-raids, Viking life is fascinatingly laid out in Tite’s stylised, eye-catching illustrations.
For picture-book lovers, The Proudest Blue (Andersen) by Olympic fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad, co-written with SK Ali, is illustrated by Hatem Aly in soaring colour. On Faizah’s first day of school, her big sister Asiya is wearing a hijab for the first time, choosing a scarf of the proudest blue – but not everyone understands her joy. Stark, spiky silhouettes suggest the impact of casual unkindness, while strong, simple poetic language evokes Asiya’s calm determination to ignore intolerance, and “drop … the hurtful words …[that] are not yours to keep”.
Little readers who have lost pets will take comfort from the intricate peep-through pages of The Moonlight Zoo (Little Tiger) by Maudie Powell-Tuck, with pearly, luminous images from Karl James Mountford. When her cat, Luna, disappears, Eva goes to look for her in the Moonlight Zoo, where all lost pets are cared for. It’s a race against time as the zoo fades at dawn.
Lastly, The Incredible Hotel (Frances Lincoln) by Kate Davies, with mouthwatering illustrations from Isabelle Follath, stars Stefan the kitchen porter, whose care and diligence keep the Incredible Hotel running. What will happen when the chef fires Stefan – just as the irascible Duchess of Delauney arrives for a ball? A delectable feel-good tale of hard work rewarded and a truly spectacular tower of profiteroles.
Teenagers roundup
The Night Country
by Melissa Albert, Penguin, £7.99
In this sinister sequel to The Hazel Wood, Alice has escaped the Hinterland, the twisted fairytale world where she was born – only to discover that her hard-won freedom is not as secure as she thought. When the bodies of other Hinterland refugees begin to surface in New York, Alice, realising that she is being framed for their murders, must some-how track down the killer and clear her name. Albert’s legion of fans will relish her return to the bloody, terrifying, seductive world of her debut and the inventive brilliance of her storytelling.
Jane Eyre: A Retelling
by Tanya Landman, Barrington Stoke, £7.99
Many teenage readers, be they dyslexic, reluctant or just easily overwhelmed, may struggle to get to grips with Charlotte Brontë’s masterpiece in its original form. Landman’s slim, enthralling retelling, published by “super-readable” experts Barrington Stoke, feels true to Brontë’s defiant spirit, but is infinitely easier to digest – and reading this vivid, straightforward version might well encourage strugglers to return and conquer the behemoth.
Unpregnant
by Jenni Hendriks and Ted Caplan, Chicken House, £7.99
When high school overachiever Veronica finds herself unexpectedly pregnant, the only person she can turn to is sullen, blue-haired Bailey, a former friend she hasn’t spoken to for years. Their 1,000-mile round-trip from Missouri to the nearest out-of-state abortion clinic involves dodging Veronica’s stalkerish ex‑boyfriend, visiting bizarre landmarks and overcoming obstacles from car theft to pro-lifers. Along the way, they remember just how much they still have in common. An abortion road trip might seem an unlikely comic setup, but Veronica’s story is filled with addictive, giddy hilarity – a warm depiction of enduring friendship.
