BOOKS OF THE MONTH

The best new children’s picture books and novels

The Chalk Garden

By Sally Anne Garland

Emma wishes birds would visit the concrete garden she decorates with chalk flowers – but they aren’t tempted until she begins to tend a little patch of earth. A lush, joyful picture book, full of colour and creativity.

You’re SO Amazing!

By James and Lucy Catchpole, illustrated by Karen George

Everyone stares at

Joe and tells him he’s amazing. Even when he’s scratching his bottom, he feels like an unwilling celebrity. This warm, funny, uncompromising picture book challenges the idea of disability as automatically “inspirational”.

Lenny Lemmon and the Invincible Rat

By Ben Davis, illustrated byJames Lancett

It’s Olden Days day at school and Lenny is looking forward to winning a competition with the historical item he’s brought in: his invincible rat. After his rodent makes a break for it, can Lenny pull victory from the jaws of defeat? A hilarious, highly illustrated romp for readers of 6+.

Usborne Extreme Planet – The Deep

By Laura Cowan, illustrated by Qu Lan Seven-plus deep-sea explorers will plunge into this absorbing, beautifully illustrated flap-book with a frisson of delicious fear, encountering angler fish, eelpout and a sea cucumber called a Headless Chicken as they range through the Midnight Zone, the Forest of the Weird and the deepest place on Earth.

The Wolf-Girl, the Greeks and the Gods

By Tom Holland, illustrated by Jason Cockroft Expensive but entirely worth it, this spectacular retelling of the Persian invasion of Greece from the perspective of Golgo, a Spartan queen, marries a numinous sense of classical legend with satisfyingly grim accounts of Spartan training, warfare and sacrifice. Cockroft’s stark, bold, white-eyed illustrations amplify the sense of wonder rooted in strange reality. A tour de force for 9+ mythology and military history fans.

Friendship Never Ends

By Alexandra Sheppard Inseparable friends Sunita, Gifty, May and Dawn are dismayed at the prospect of a summer spent apart, with no communication other than postcards. But as each reinvents herself as entrepreneur, artist, singer or sophisticate, they realise that learning more about their own deepest wishes will only strengthen their bond. A sweet, irrepressibly larky story of friendship and self-discovery for 11+.

How Far We’ve Come

By Joyce Efia Harmer Octavia Butler for a teen readership, Harmer’s debut novel follows Obah, an enslaved girl on a Barbados plantation, as she meets a white boy from the 21st century. When she decides to trust Jacob, and go with him to his own place and time, she discovers undreamt-of freedom, at an unbearable cost. This gripping book turns a searchlight on the changing faces of injustice through time.

Where the Light Goes By Sara Barnard

When her sister takes her own life, Emmy is overwhelmed, not least because her beloved Beth was also Lizzie Beck, a famous and troubled singer. Emmy’s grief, rage and attempts to cope with social media onslaughts shape this powerful novel for 14+, the talented Barnard’s best yet.