"the songwriter has turned his formidable creative powers in a literary direction..."

"A timeless story fit for the approaching season, and for these times...."

"a wise, gripping and skilfully told story..."

"Deadly floods and witch-hunting enthrall ..."

"a vivid portrait of the often painful transition to adulthood and autonomy, laced with a moral purpose that is not without ambiguity or doubt...."

"This picture-book reworking of The Twelve Dancing Princesses is a celebration of love and living to the full...."

"Certainly this is a novel for those who like drama heaped on drama, a book for younger readers, but for those who don’t scare easily..."

"Liz Hyder’s excellent debut novel ..."

"A super-readable story, imbued with wonder..."

"a gorgeous object that deserves sustained attention..."

"It stands out for readability and range... [b]rief, punchy biographies are interspersed with how-to tips, from knot-tying to leadership skills, encouraging young readers to have a go themselves..."

"a glorious oversized compendium of Greek myths [that] strikes a satisfying balance between concision and nuance..."

" Mouthwatering colours add to a story with shades of Richard Scarry..."

"From her illuminated heavens to Fox’s slumped, despondent posture, Dieckmann fills her illustrations with deep emotion in this beautiful book..."

"Full of the taxing tenderness of family love, Day’s latest novel is an absolute corker...."

"This sensitive, heartbreaking story boasts a wonderful narrative voice and secret codes that add another layer of intrigue..."

"Classic mystery mixes with contemporary themes in Lori and Max, the first children’s novel from Costa-winning Catherine O’Flynn...[it's] a pacy, gripping story..."

"A hilarious, acutely observed and profoundly poignant novel about romance, identity and growing up..."

"A delicious, evocative story from this year’s Carnegie winner..."

"[a] funny, sad, brilliantly doodled diary...."

"If George Washington had been America’s first king, what would life now be like for the American royals?.. this is an addictive Jilly Cooperesque saga..."

"This is magic without whimsy, a story about secrets and the power of books, with enough edge-of-the-seat moments to keep you hugging a cushion..."

"Colfer’s playfulness is in full swing, as puns fly and physics bends to the machinations of the twins, who are just as bad (or should that be good?) as Artemis. It is, inevitably, the start of a new series..."

"[Gardner's] assured plot swings audaciously between alternate realities, as another pair of twins, Maria and Celeste, are forced to play a confounding, dangerous dream-game..."

"You might not have thought that the words “PUB-lic STAT-ic voidmain string BRACK-et BRACK-et ARGS” could bring a computer layperson to tears, but they did, as this uncommon book reached its crescendo...."