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Home is the forest where a vegetable tunnel is worked, books are read, firewood is chopped and life is simple. You guys are such a force for good and I am a passionate supporter of Indie booksellers, so I'm so happy this worked out well (I'd love to know how many books were sold if you have it to hand - it felt like quite a lot! Her debut novel, The Space We're In , was highly commended for the Branford Boase Award, October, October won the Yoto Carnegie Medal and the UKLA Book Award, and The Light in Everything was shortlisted for the Yoto Carnegie Medal. Only one of them will inherit the family fortune and so a race is afoot to save the dwindling Petty-Squabble empire and win the love of their parents. Jumanji meets Ready Player One in this fast-paced adventure featuring incredible real-life heroes, from the internationally bestselling author of The Uncommoners series.
October, October is a book about being wild, about family and friendship, about the forest and the stars, about campfires and the hooting of a very special owl. The discovery that the wild can exist in every one of us, whether we live in London or the woods, whether we grow our own food or mudlark or create jewellery.
We meet our narrator, October, on the cusp of her eleventh birthday, living in the wild in the woods with her father: off-the-grid, technology-free, environmentally aware. But, with the fate of two worlds in their hands, will the twins be able to work together for once to defeat Morg and her dark magic? I loved Octobers vivid imagination and how she used it as a coping mechanism and a way to feel safe.
On her birthday, her mother comes to try to talk to her and an accident happens that sends October's father into hospital and October has to stay with her mom - who she doesn't really know and hates. Part of me wondered how the family came to have such an unusual living arrangement in the first instance, and we never get this question answered. Obviously, the actual reason is to give October a reason to go to school now, make friends, and generally move the story along, but you can't remind us of these real-world consequences and only apply them to one parent) and I do think the central conflict wrapped up a little too neatly and without quite enough conversation or work on October's part to parse her feelings, rendering the happily-ever-after ending somewhat unearned. Yourself and Bob are much cherished in our booky world and I personally really appreciate everything that you do. Its incarceration in a cage in the rescue centre, and its subsequent release into the wild again is an obvious – perhaps slightly too obvious – echo of October’s own journey.Written in Katya Balen’s heart-stoppingly beautiful style, this book is a feast for the senses, filled with the woodsmoke smell of crisp autumn mornings and the sound of wellies squelching in river mud.
Furthermore, how can October hope to leave the landscape she knows and loves to live with her mother in an alien city, attend school, while worrying about her father and then their future? So, even though this is the first of the Carnegie Medal Shortlist that I have read this year, I loved it and, yes, I believe it should win! A timeless, lyrical treasure that sees a girl who's at one with the wild struggle with the world beyond her woods . A young girl is forced to leave the only world she has ever known to live in a new, strange environment.But she doesn’t like life in the city, and wants to go back to the woods with her dad and be wild again. As October gets closer to her eleventh birthday, which is on October 11th, her mother starts to reach out. She refuses to see her mum who lives far away in London and, in October’s eyes, abandoned her and her dad. This series will not only leave children entertained, but will also empower them to battle climate change and environmental issues.
I must admit, I was apprehensive when I first started this book, as it seemed very predictable and lengthy.She is also the author of children’s book The Space We’re In, which is also published by Bloomsbury. There’s some wonderful writing to enjoy, particularly in the tactile and invigorative natural world.
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