Books for Christmas Part 5: Beauty and a whole managerie of Beasts: Our favourite reads for 10+

We've had books for those children just starting their reading journeys (7+) and we've had books for sharing with little ones. So now it is our almost-impossible job to select our absolute favourite books for what is euphemistically-phrased 'middle grade' (we say 10+, but 8-12 might cover it better). It's been a bit of a fight, because we couldn't all agree...

In our opinion, this is the most exciting, dynamic and consistently high-quality area of all publishing, an area under huge pressure from the encroaching Bug-Blatter Beast that is 'Young Adult' but also those books that will be the first to make a huge impact on impressionable minds, and remembered for the rest of their lives.

So with that in mind - with a big responsibility as booksellers - we offer up the following top picks. But as always - come into the shop for some hand-picked choices for a child you are buying for this Christmas!

Imaginary - A F Harrold and Emily Gravett - £9.99
Rudger is Amanda's best friend. He doesn't exist, but nobody's perfect. Only Amanda can see her imaginary friend - until the sinister Mr Bunting arrives at Amanda's door. This is a really wonderful, modern classic,and we can't recommend it highly enough. It's both brilliantly funny and chillingly scary at times, a moving read from the unique imagination of children's author and poet A.F. Harrold. And as if that wasn't enough, the whole book is astoundingly illustrated with integrated art and colour spreads by illustrator Emily Gravett. A perfect gift and a book we look forward to winning awards next year.

Apple and Rain - Sarah Crossan - £10.99
When Apple's mother returns after eleven years of absence, Apple feels whole again. She will have an answer to her burning question - why did you go? And she will have someone who understands what it means to be a teenager - unlike Nana. But just like the stormy Christmas Eve when she left, her mother's homecoming is bitter sweet, and Apple wonders who is really looking after whom. Like a brilliant hybrid of Cathy Cassidy and Jacqueline Wilson, Sarah Crossan entices you into her world, then tells a moving, perceptive and beautifully crafted story.

PathFinder - Angie Sage - £12.99
We love recommending Angie Sage's 'Septimus Heap' trilogy - Sage is easily one of the best fantasy authors for children. 'PathFinder' is the story of Tod, set seven years after the final Septimus Heap book, Fyre. She has grown up a PathFinder, one of an ancient seafaring tribe. Her mother, who died when Tod was young, had a very different history. She was from a mysterious magykal desert-dwelling family. When Tod's father disappears she is not only alone, but soon finds herself swept into the path of an evil sorcerer. Now Tod must choose which of her pasts will help her to survive: PathFinder or Magician...exciting, transporting, fantasy writing at its best. And another beautifully-produced book.

She Is Not Invisble - Marcus Sedgwick - £7.99
Laureth's dad goes missing and her mum doesn't appear to care. So when Laureth gets an unexpected clue that Dad is in New York and in trouble, Laureth and her younger brother, Benjamin, sneak onto a plane to go and find him. As they struggle to follow Dad's weird clues about where he might be, they must stay one step ahead of the law and the baddies. But this is more than just a thriller or a road-trip novel. Novelist Dad is obsessed with coincidence and unravelling the clues takes Laureth into the scientific thinking of Jung and some number puzzles that make this a highly original and thought-provoking read as well as a great thriller. Marcus Sedgwick really is head and shoulders above most of his contemporaries in the way he presents ideas to children through impeccable story telling. A master at work.

Magisterium: The Iron Trial - Cassandra Clare and Holly Black - £12.99
From the imaginations of bestselling authors Holly Black and Cassandra Clare comes a heart-stopping plunge into the magical unknown. The Magisterium awaits...Most people would do anything to get into the Magisterium and pass the Iron Trial. Not Callum Hunt. Call has been told his whole life that he should never trust a magician. And so he tries his best to do his worst - but fails at failing. Now he must enter the Magisterium. It's a place that's both sensational and sinister. And Call realizes it has dark ties to his past and a twisty path to his future...

The Rising - Tom Moorhouse - £10.99
Tom Moorhouse was a guest in the shop in October, talking to children about his conservation work with water voles - and his thrilling, highly-acclaimed novel, 'The River Singers'. The sequel, 'The Rising', transports readers back into the vivid world of Kale and Strife, and the exciting, dangerous world of the riverbank and its creatures. The beautiful black and white illustrations by Simon Mendez only add to the enjoyment.

Feel the Fear - Lauren Child - £12.99
Ruby Redfort: supercool secret agent, code-cracker and thirteen-year-old genius. The fourth book in the scarily awesome Ruby Redfort series, by multi-million-copy bestselling author Lauren Child. This time Ruby must pit her wits against a seemingly invisible foe. How do you set your sights on catching a light-fingered villain if you can't even see him...?

Firestorm - Lauren St John - £6.99
The One Dollar Horse trilogy is that rare thing: books set in the world of horses, with wide appeal, imaginatively told, brilliantly plotted and endlessly surprisingly. And Firestorm completes the trilogy perfectly. Teenage eventing star Casey Blue has it all - fame, her champion horse Storm and a boyfriend who loves her. But when the country's hottest equestrian coach, Kyle West, walks into her life Casey knows right away she's in trouble. Who is Kyle and why are there so many unanswered questions about his past? And what is his connection to Anna Sparks, Casey's old rival? As the Burghley Horse Trials approaches, what's at stake is not just the Grand Slam, but Casey's life...

Itchcraft - Simon Mayo - £10.99
When a school trip to Spain for element hunter Itchingham Lofte ends in exploding currency and rioting locals, he knows that he has to look for answers. Itch knows the lives of those closest to him are at risk. He must track down a deadly enemy who will stop at nothing to take his vengeance...'Itch' is turning into a great series, packed with science and adventure.

Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone - JK Rowling - £12.99
The new editions of these classics feature instantly pick-up-able new jackets by one of favourite illustrators Jonny Duddle - he's the perfect choice to to bring Harry Potter to the next generation of readers, and for anyone about to enter the magical world. When a letter arrives for unhappy but ordinary Harry Potter, a decade-old secret is revealed to him that apparently he's the last to know. His parents were wizards, killed by a Dark Lord's curse when Harry was just a baby. He is transported to Hogwarts, a wizarding school brimming with ghosts and enchantments, Harry stumbles upon a sinister mystery when he finds a three-headed dog guarding a room on the third floor. You know the rest...

(And take a look at the fabulous Jonny Duddle-illustrated boxed sets of all seven books- a very special gift indeed)

Five Children on the Western Front - Kate Saunders - £10.99
A heart-wrenching sequel to E. Nesbit's classic Five Children And It, set on the eve of WWI. The five children have grown up, and the war will change their lives for ever. This time the Psammead appears for a reason, and his magic might have a more serious purpose.

Looking At The Stars - Jo Cotterill - £12.99
Jo Cotterill writes a staggeringly accomplished, gripping and uplifting book with the most difficult of subject matter - it's a book that deserves to be lavished with awards. The story of Amina - in an unnamed, but familiar-sounding country ravaged by war - is a triumph of the power of storytelling in times of little hope. Amina's journey, under oppression, fleeing after a 'liberating' army arrives, and ultimately her emergence as a leader is a cracking story and a modern-day parable.

Oxfordshire Book Award 2012 - cake and five questions with Patrick Ness and Nadia Shireen

This year's Oxfordshire Book Award ceremony took place on October 4 at Abingdon School, and we were once again very honoured to be running the bookshop on the day. Here are the covers of the books from the three winners: Patrick Ness for 'A Monster Calls', Tony Ross illustrator of Gangsta Granny, and Nadia Shireen, author and illustrator of 'Good Little Wolf':

 

Hold on a second, those aren't books - that's CAKE! 

Yes, one of the great traditions of the Oxfordshire Book Award (as well as the Carnegie Shadowing Forum) is the most fantastic cakes produced - and eaten by children from the ten schools attending.

As usual, we set up whilst the ceremony was going on - and then authors and children piled into the hall, signing tables were hastily set up - and children got to meet the authors that attended.

Below you can see all the authors that attended - from the top, Patrick Ness, Nadia Shireen, Tony Ross, Katherine Langrish lurking behind Sally Nicholls and finally Jo Cotterill at the bottom:

(We interviewed both Sally and Jo at last year's Oxfordshire Book Award - and Jo has written a fab account of this year's awards here).

Pupils pose with Patrick Ness...

...whilst students from Henry Box School show off their signed copies...

We grabbed a few minutes with two authors at the event - and in time-honoured tradition asked them five questions about their writing life...


Five questions with...Patrick Ness' Writing Life


1.    What are you working on at the moment?
A bunch of short stories.

2.    What is the best writing tip you’ve ever been given?
Write a book that you, yourself would like to read. You’ll be surprised that a lot of people don’t.

3.    What’s the best thing and the worst thing about being a children’s writer?
Best – as a children’s writer, you have the best readers in the world. The worst thing is not being to go to every school that requests you come.

4.    Do you have a writer’s survival kit, eg a place, thing or snack essential before you can start work?
I write a lot in the London library. I take my laptop and write there.

5.    What was your biggest breakthrough?
'The Knife of Never Letting Go'. It was really when that book took off, which was a delightful surprise!

Next we talked with author and illustrator Nadia Shireen...


Five questions with...Nadia Shireen's Writing Life


1.    What are you working on at the moment?
My third picture book which is due out next year.

2.    What is the best writing tip you’ve ever been given?
Keep plugging away, and don’t worry about what everyone else is doing. You should please yourself first, because if you are not enjoying it, you can tell in the drawings. But it can be hard!

3.    What’s the best thing and the worst thing about being a children’s writer?
Best: being paid to do what you love. Worst: there isn’t really a worst. I used to commute to a job, and now this is so much more enjoyable. I guess loneliness can be a problem, but you could work in a studio with other artists if that was a problem.

4.    Do you have a writer’s survival kit, eg a place, thing or snack essential before you can start work?
I always have music. Music is hugely important to me. It helps me relax, gets me in a drawing frame of mind.

5.    What was your biggest breakthrough?
Pure luck. I was spotted at a graduation show, people liked my work.

Book frenzy week!

It’s been a week of hurtling through book-related celebrations that has left us feeling exhilarated at so much enthusiasm for books, exhausted – and suffering from a severe case of bookshop envy.

Recovering as we were from the previous week’s excitement with Cathy Cassidy – and Our Lady’s school in Abingdon hosting their first book festival (with more than an author a day visiting the school) – on Thursday we were up and ready to run a bookstall for the Oxfordshire Book Award ceremony – 300 children, 5 authors and a lot of cake.

With only about half an hour to transform a school dining room into a book buying and signing palace, it was a race against time to deliver, unload and unpack 25 boxes of specially chosen titles – from all the current new crop of interesting writers, bestsellers – but, primarily titles from no fewer than five guest authors at the Oxfordshire Book Award ceremony.

The Oxfordshire Book Award is run among primary and secondary schools in Oxfordshire with the aim of encouraging reading and lively debate about reading. And if the enthusiasm for book buying is any sort of gauge of success – all this encouragement has definitely created a severe case of bookitis among all the pupils who attended.

There was certainly a lively enough atmosphere as we served up books at the same time as the children were served up afternoon tea refreshments at Abingdon School, following an afternoon of listening to the guest speakers. There was a chance for children to meet some of the prize-winning authors, as well as guest authors Jo Cotterill, SL Powell and Sally Nicholls.

Award-winning author Malorie Blackman (winner of Secondary School Category for ‘Boys Don’t Cry’) was kept busy signing and meeting her fans.

Axel Scheffler, best-known as illustrator of The Gruffalo, won Best Picture Book (Primary School Category) for ‘Zog’, and the queues for him didn’t die down until everyone had to be dragged back to school for the end of the day.

The awards are judged by children across schools in Oxfordshire. They also picked Michael Morpurgo’s ‘Shadow’ as the winner of the Primary Book award.

Our sincere thanks to Gabby, Jo and Sally for their assistance in manning the bookstall. I don’t suspect for a minute they knew what they were letting themselves in for, but it was too late to prepare them when someone suddenly yelled ‘they’re coming’ and the next 40 minutes went by in a blur of recommending titles and scrabbling to find enough one pound coins.

The atmosphere wasn’t much less frantic at the opening of Barefoot Books in Summertown (piccies below).

The whole place is enticing enough to host a children’s party, let alone some storytelling. It’s a beautiful space for selling books.

It’s wonderful to be able to add Barefoot to the list of Oxfordshire booksellers and we hope their incredible programme of events means many people will make the trip to Summertown and fall in love with Barefoot Books.

We were lucky enough to grab a little time with two of the authors on Thursday – our thanks to Sally Nicholls and Jo Cotterill.

Five questions with . . . Sally Nicholl’s writing life
Sally Nicholls is the author of two books. 'Ways to Live Forever' is about a boy with leukaemia, and won the Waterstone's Children's Book Prize. It is currently being translated into sixteen languages. 'Season of Secrets' is based on the pagan myth of the green man.

1.    What are you working on at the moment?
I am trying to put together a submission for my next book. I am at a really very early stage with putting together my ideas and it might be a ghost story. I’ve also been commissioned to write two books for Barrington Stoke, who publish books for reluctant readers.

2.    What is the best writing tip you’ve ever been given?
To learn from writers that you love, but not to try to write the same book as they would write – that way your book will only ever be second rate. You have to write the book that only you can write. You have to write about the things you love.

Also – that the first draft won’t be any good, but that is a good thing. A first draft can be as rubbish as you like and this is a positive thing because what’s important is that you have got it written and can start to work on it.

3.    What is the best thing and the worst thing about being a children’s writer?
The thing that I like is that you have a lot more freedom. You can write a realistic book and a historical book and they will sit together on a bookshelf. What I don’t like is the fact that a book takes so long to write, it takes several years to finish a book and you are on your own in front of a computer.

4.    Do you have a writer’s survival kit, eg a place, thing or snack essential before you can start work?
I am definitely a procrastinator, I always think a cup of tea would be nice, so for me it helps if I am somewhere else – someone where I know I am there because I am supposed to be writing. I like best to be writing with other people. Getting two or three people together in the same room who are supposed to be writing really works for me because you don’t want to be the one who’s not writing.

5.    What was your biggest breakthrough?
It never really felt like I had a breakthrough, more a series of stages. Firstly, getting on an MA course, finding an agent, then a publisher. I had five publishers interested in my first book, so probably my biggest breakthrough was when a publisher actually said they would pay me some actual money. That meant I was able to write and just work part-time three days a week.

Five questions with . . . Jo Cotterill’s writing life
Joanna Kenrick published her first book, Moondance, a picture book for young children, in 2004. Since then, she has published many different books for teenagers and young people, including her young adult novel Red Tears, a story about a teenage girl who turns to self-harm. She also writes a series of books for 9-13s called Sweet Hearts under the name Jo Cotterill.

1.    What are you working on at the moment?
Book 6 in the Sweet Hearts series, which will be the last Sweet Hearts book! It’s due out in June 2012 and is about a synchronised swimmer competing in the Olympics.

2.    What is the best writing tip you’ve ever been given?
Read, read, read

Write, write, write

I can’t remember who said it, but, to me, it sums up everything an aspiring writer needs to know.

3.    What is the best thing and the worst thing about being a children’s writer?
Best thing: being paid to make up stuff!

Worst thing: constant worry about money . . .

4.    Do you have a writer’s survival kit, eg a place, thing or snack essential bfore you can start work?
Empty house! Absolutely essential!

5. What was your biggest breakthrough?
Getting an agent for my YA novel ‘Red Tears’. It was the first time I really believed I could have a career in writing.