Anita Loughrey's blog. This is my journal about my experiences and thoughts on writing. As well as news about me and my books, it includes writing tips, book reviews, author interviews and blog tours.
For more information about me and my books see my website: www.anitaloughrey.com. Follow me on Twitter @amloughrey, Facebook @anitaloughrey.author and on Instagram @anitaloughrey
Published by: Piccadilly Press (an Imprint of Bonnier Books)
I have always enjoyed the Celtic myths and legends and so when I read the description of The Silver Road – a middle grade inspired by Irish folktales – I knew I had to read it and what a fantastic read it was. This exhilarating, action-packed magical quest with themes of believing in yourself, dealing with grief and finding your place in the world, will have you on the edge of your seats. I particularly liked the intricacies of the plot and how they linked together modern Ireland with Irish mythology and legends.
Rosaleen Darke has started at the local Grammar School as she was awarded a scholarship but is bullied by Emer McGuire and her gang. On top of that she is grieving the loss of her Mamó (grandmother). After a particularly bad day, Rose is unable to sleep and looks out of her window to discover it is hailing. She goes outside to investigate and the hail forms itself into a Frost Giant who gives her the tathlum, a magical red stone that contains the power to do great good, or great evil depending on who wields it.
The next morning Rose shows the stone to what she feels are her only friends since starting at Carriganawn Grammar School – two elderly shopkeepers called Nellie and Gracie and their not-cat, Catshee. They explain she has been chosen as a Guardian to protect Ireland from an ancient evil that is awakening and they open her eyes to a world of mystical magic. Rose is plunged into an exciting adventure where she discovers the Silver Road and how it casts a protective net over Ireland and sees for herself how it is in danger of disappearing due to excessive land development where her father works for Emer’s dad.
The ensuing battle of good versus evil is reminiscent of the battle in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe where instead of animals – an army of spirits, a warrior queen, a wolf-warrior and his pack and an Irish elk join forces to defeat the evil witch, Cethlenn, and her giants from resurrecting her husband Balor who plans to incinerate Ireland and the rest of the world.
Through their courage and determination Rose and Emer manage to work through their differences to join the battle to defeat Balor. They also help their fathers to become more environmentally aware.
There was a brilliant addition by the author of information at the beginning and end of the book outlining the background of the legendary characters and pointing out which ones were from mythology and which were from her amazingly inventive imagination. I found this fascinating.
Ideal for middle-grade who love fantasy based on real legends.
You can buy copies of The Silver Road by Sinéad O’Hart from your local bookshop, or online at uk.bookshop.org, an organisation which supports a wide range of independent bookstores.
I would like to thank Piccadilly Press and NetGalley for organising a copy of this book for me. Thank you.
Spellcasters is a beautifully written book, suitable for the early reader, 6+ age range. It touches all the senses with mouth-watering delicacies from all around the world.
There is a wide range of diverse characters but the book is written from the point of view of Jenny, who has Chinese ancestry. It is her first day at a new school and she befriends Maya, Tamzin and Ananya and they form a band called the Spellcasters. The illustrations by Wendy Tan are gorgeous and compliment the text perfectly.
I liked how each of the girls had their own perfectly described magical talisman in the form of a piece of jewellery that had been handed down through the generations. I found the ancestral magical connections fascinating. I hope to find out more about the other girls family backgrounds in subsequent books in the series.
The antagonist, Greydig, is formidable without being too scary, suitable for the age range. Greydig plays with the people’s emotions and this is expertly shown when the four girls are influenced to feel anger at each other and hopelessness.
At the heart of the book is a message of working together to save the community. The mural of the oak tree was symbolic of the environmental message the book subtly conveys of how large building projects such as shopping centres are destroying small businesses and the sense of belonging.
A brilliant book that leaves you excited to read the next in the series.
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To read my interview with Tania Tay who wrote Spellcasters under the pseudonym Crystal Sung take a look at: Special Guest Q & A with Tania Tay
You can buy a copy of Spellcasters by Crystal Sung in any good bookshop and online at uk.bookshop.org, an organisation with a mission to financially support local, independent bookshops.
Today it is my stop on the blog tour for Angela Kecojevic’s latest book Scareground, published by Neem Tree Press.
Angela Kecojevic is a senior librarian, author and creative writing tutor. She has written for the Oxford Reading Tree programme and the multi-award-winning adventure park Hobbledown where her characters can be seen walking around, something she still finds incredibly charming. This is Fern a fairy from Angela’s Hobbledown novel.
Angela is a member of the Climate Writers Fiction League, a group of international authors who use climate issues in their work. Angela lives in the city of Oxford with her family.
Scareground is about twelve-year-old Nancy Crumpet lives above a bakery and her life is a delightful mix of flour, salt, and love. Yet her mind is brimming with questions no one can answer: Why did her birth parents disappear? Why can she speak with the sky? And why must she keep her mysterious birthmark hidden?
Everything is about to change when the Scareground returns to Greenwich. Nancy is convinced it holds the answers to her parents’ disappearance. Nancy and her best friend Arthur Green meet the fair’s spooky owner, Skelter, and discover a world full of dark magic and mystery. Nancy must confront her greatest fears to get to the truth. But is she ready for all the secrets the Scareground will reveal?
My stop on the Write Reads ultimate tour involves a book review.
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Title: Scareground
Written by: Angela Kecojevic
Cover design by: Anna Morrison
Published by: Neem Tree Press
Victorian Greenwich is the perfect setting for this spooky middle grade mystery, crammed with dark crows, deathly phantoms which secrete slugs and the sinister demon, Agramon. There is an unusual occurrence with every turn of the page from mysterious balloons and a magnificent airship – to metallic stallions with ghostly riders and secret notes. Scareground covers themes of belonging, courage and friendship.
The characters are so vividly described, the reader gets an instant image of them. Each has their own intriguing backstory. The main protagonist, Nancy is a sky reader and can talk to the sky, who she considers her friend. She has a mysterious horse shaped, silver birthmark on her wrist and believes it is a clue to who her real parents are. It reminds her of the Arabian horses in the pictures of the fair but her adopted parents, Ma and Pa Crumpet, have made her promise not to go to the fair.
Her only other friend, other than the Sky, is the doctor’s son, Arthur. Together they plan to visit the fair to find out more about the mysterious things that have happened since it arrived in the village and discover the mystery behind who Nancy really is. I particularly enjoyed Nancy and Arthur’s story arcs which cleverly show how their character’s grow throughout the story. They both have to face their greatest fears to defeat Agramon and save the village.
Angela Kecojevic has a talent for creating tension and intrigue. Even the ending after everything is wrapped up is a great set up for book two with impending sky pirates dropping anchor to steal Nancy’s secrets. I can’t wait!
Most definitely an eerie read, ideal for Halloween.
I have also interviewed Angela about writing Scareground as a special guest on my blog. You can read the Q&A interview here: Special Guest Q & A with Angela Kecojevic
To follow the rest of the Write Reads ultimate tour check out the tour schedule:
You can buy copies of Scareground by Angela Kecojevic direct from Neem Tree Press, or from your local bookshop, or online at uk.bookshop.org which supports local, independent bookshops.
I would like to thank The Write Reads for inviting me to take part in this ultimate tour. Thank you.
Title: Me and the World: An Infographic Exploration
Written by: Mireia Trius
Illustrated by: Joana Casal
Published by: Abrams & Chronicle Books
Me and the World: An Infographic Exploration by Mireia Trius and Joana Casals
Me and the World: An Infographic Exploration is a bright and colourful compendium of infographics that provide visual comparisons of how people live all over the world, what food they eat, their homes, favourite pastimes and ways of communicating, highlighting the differences and similarities. The sources for the data for each spread are listed at the back of the book providing opportunities for the reader to check them for themselves.
Each double-page spread is introduced by the fictional character Lucia who comes from Spain, written by the publisher Mireia Trius. Starting with her name, family and pet Lucia moves on to talk about world population and significant cultural features such as languages, jobs, school and religion. Children can explore what life is like for Lucia in Spain compared to where they live and the rest of the world. The data is presented in interesting, visually stimulating ways which every reader can spend hours exploring. The infographics will engage the most reluctant reader as they are able to browse the pages in any order.
It was fascinating to discover that Hong Kong has the smallest average house sizes at 45m² compared to Australia which has the largest average house size at 214m²; or to compare the different school uniforms around the world and noticing very few of them wear ties and blazers; or view age, geography and language as if here were only 100 people in the world, which really does put things in perspective.
This would be an excellent resource for introducing the study of data and statistics to Key Stage Two pupils and would also be great for discussion points in PSHE and Citizenship. It would also be a good way of introducing the use of different keys and different graphical ways data can be presented. This book provides the foundations to help children recognise how data can be manipulated by presenting it in different ways, such as changing to vertical scale to make it bigger or smaller, or skipping numbers, not starting at zero, which is an important skill in our increasingly digital world.
Today is my turn on the blog tour for Norah’s Ark by Victoria Williamsom.
Written by an award-winning established author with many years of teaching experience. Norah’s Ark explores poverty, homelessness, childhood illness and bullying It offers young readers a powerful lesson in empathy, through an uplifting tale and finding a sense of home in the face of adversity. Perfect for young animal lovers and readers of Katherine Applegate and Onjali Q Rauf.
My slot today will take the form of a book review.
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Title: Norah’s Ark
Written by: Victoria Williamson
Cover design by: Anna Morrison
Published by: Neem Tree Press
Norah’s Ark is a story about friendship and being honest with each other. It is written through the dual narrative of two eleven-year-olds who are from different worlds but they are both desperately in need of a friend. Victoria Williamson has created characters you care about, who you want to succeed.
Norah is living in poverty – she has no food, nowhere permanent to live and no mother, believing she was born in a test tube, during the day she has to fend for herself and takes solace in her bicycle she received from the church, a mouse she feeds what little scraps she can find, a pet spider and a nest of birds whose parents have gone. She suspects her father is addicted to gambling and works out he has been lying to her about who the woman he was arguing with at the library truly is. She is bullied at school and has no friends. Yet she smiles and pretends everything is ok because she does not want to upset her father.
Adam has food and a secure home but he has a ‘helicopter mother’ and since he has been in recovery from leukaemia, his father is always working. He is home tutored and not allowed out of the boundaries of the garden so has no contact with anyone other than his tutor and parents. He has given up on his dream of being an Olympic swimmer, as due to his illness he is no longer allowed in the water. Despite understanding that his mother’s actions are driven by love and fear of losing him, he feels trapped and alone. Yet, he grits his teeth and pretends everything is ok as he does not want to see the hurt and anguish on his parent’s faces, he has witnessed ever since being diagnosed. In the same way as Norah he just wants his parents to be happy.
Norah and Adam’s unlikely friendship develops though their love of animals. They are both looking after the same nest of birds. When Adam moves the nest to protect the chicks from the neighbours ginger cat, Norah is devastated that the chicks she was looking after, have been taken.
Both Norah and Adam had jumped to conclusions about the circumstances of not only each other but of the abandoned cat, the bully at school who is in foster care and each other’s parents. After Norah tries to get the chicks back from Adam’s tree house they slowly begin to find out more about each other. Together they set about trying to rescue animals in need.
The way their friendship develops is brilliantly written and highly believable. #children want to present them selves in a good light and rarely discuss the short fallings of their parents, unless they have developed a relationship of trust. It was a poignant moment when Norah and Adam reached this point. Yet still they are not totally open about their feelings. The message is that if only that could be more open about what they want for their future in the first place, instead of bottling it up, so much heartbreak could have been avoided.
This middle grade novel is a powerful and realistic story that makes you think. I like the way that Norah’s poverty has not been sugar coated in the same way as many other stories for this age range have been. The realities of the world today and the need for foodbanks and understanding of people’s circumstances are made clear. How essential it is to communicate properly with loved ones and be honest about things is highlighted through the events and action in the story. It shouldn’t take a daring rescue in the flood after the river burst its banks to bring things to a head but entirely credibly it has.
A great story that will have readers gripped to the end.
Victoria Williamson is an award-winning children’s author and primary school teacher from Scotland. After studying Physics at the University of Glasgow, she set out on her own real-life adventures and taught children and trained teachers in Malawi, Cameroon, and China and worked with children with additional support needs in the UK. She previously volunteered as a reading tutor with The Book Bus charity in Zambia and is now a Patron of Reading with CharChar Literacy to promote early years phonics teaching in Malawi.
She is passionate about creating inclusive worlds in her novels where all children can see themselves reflected. Her books have won the Bolton Children’s Fiction Award in 2020/2021, have been shortlisted for the James Reckitt Hull Children’s Book Award in 2021, the Trinity Schools Book Award in 2021, the Yaldi Glasgow School Libraries’ Book Award in 2023, and have also been longlisted for the Branford Boase Prize and Waterstones Children’s Prize.
To find out more about Victoria, her books, her free resources and competitions for schools take a look at her website: www.strangelymagical.com. She can be found on Twitter (or ‘X’ as it is now!) at: @strangelymagic.
You can buy a copy of Norah’s Ark by Victoria Williamson direct from her publisher Neem Tree Press at: https://neemtreepress.com/book/norahs-ark/. You can also purchase a copy from any independent bookshop or online at uk.bookshop.org, an organisation with a mission to financially support local, independent bookshops.
I would like to thank Anne Cater from Random Things Tours for inviting me to take part in this blog tour. Thank you.
To follow the rest of Random Things Tour please take a look at the schedule below:
The Not-So-Uniform Life of Holly-Mei is Christina Matula’s debut novel and the first in a fun and engaging trilogy, which showcases a diverse smorgasbord of mixed-Asian cultures.
When Holly-Mei’s mum gets a promotion, Holly-Mei and her trendy younger sister, Millie, are uprooted from their home in Toronto, Canada and enrolled into Tai-Tam Prep, an elite private school in Hong Kong. Holly-Mei considers this a fresh start as she has fallen out with her best friend, Natalie and has been ostracised by her hockey team mates after blurting out the ball hit her foot before it went in the goal during the hockey tournament, costing them the game. However, moving to Hong Kong brings many new challenges, which are escalated now her Mum’s new position as Chief Operating Officer for Asia-Pacific Lo Holdings International, means Holly-Mei needs to make a good impression as she has an image to protect.
Holly Mei does not get off to a good start in her new home – there is friction between her and her cousins, Rosie and Rhys – she has to cope with only video chats with her beloved confidant, Ah-Ma whose favourite saying is ‘bitterness ends and sweetness begins’ (a motto that encapsulates the ideals and message of The Not-So-Uniform Life of Holly-Mei) – she also has a run in with Queen-bee Gemma on her first day at school who is definitely the ‘mean girl’.
Gemma and Holly-Mei eventually become friends when a near-fatal accident during Gemma’s birthday party become a bonding experience and they realise they each have their own teenage problems. Ultimately Holly-Mei must learn to curb her habit of speaking without thinking.
Christina Matula’s use of descriptive language is eloquent and evocative, especially some of her lovely expressive passages on the mouth-watering food. She creates a vivid picture of the way
the community consists of high-achieving, high-powered families who want their children to be the best. I enjoyed reading about the rich-society lifestyle and I particularly liked the way Christina expertly highlighted how when it comes to cultures and traditions each family is very different, yet have similar expectations and strong family bonds.
Yao Xiao’s detailed illustrations are scattered throughout the book giving it a traditional charm. At the beginning of the book is a functional map of Hong Kong and I am partial to a map in fiction books. At the back of the book is a useful Mandarin and Cantonese glossary and pronunciation guide. Another great addition are two fun-to-try recipes; one for Ah-Ma’s Dumplings, the other for Millie’s Red Bean Creamsicles.
The Not-So-Uniform Life of Holly-Mei is celebration of the world’s vast diversity that incorporates themes of honour, duty and parental pressures.
Another Happy Hair book written and illustrated by Mechal Renee Roe that vividly displays a wide range of female portraits from different races and how their sisterhood unites them and makes them stronger.
Smart Sisters celebrates the joys of sisterhood through simple, life-affirming messages and Mechal’s trademark warm and charming illustrations. Just using faces, the illustrations highlight the many enjoyable activities sisters can encounter together. Discover some of the amazing things about having a sister, including doing everything from science and sports to reading together, or just sharing big dreams of a great future.
Again Mechal uses a repetitive phrase which children can join in with when reading aloud in class or at bedtime. This time the phrase, ‘My sister and me’, making the reading of Smart Sisters a fun, interactive experience.
Ideal for any girl who has a sister she loves – or just for anyone who wants a family-sized dose of positivity and empowerment – this is the ideal gift book.
Other books in the Happy Hair series include Cool Cuts, Happy Hair, I Love Being Me, I’m Growing Great and I Am Born To Be Awesome! You can read my review of I Am Born To Be Awesome here: Book Review: I Am Born To be Awesome!
Title: Caring Conservationist Who Are Changing Our Planet
Written by: Kate Peridot
Illustrated by: Sarah Long
Published by: Walker Books
In Caring Conservationists Who Are Changing Our Planet, Kate Peridot, takes on a whistle stop tour around the world to discover the stories of 20 conservationists and the endangered animals they are helping to save, including the blue whale, honeybee, Indian tiger, the last kākāpō, Komodo dragon, orangutan, rhino and the sea turtle. Sarah Long’s bright vivid illustrations capture the heart of the conservationist and the endangered animal.
This is a cleverly designed book full of inspiring facts about a wide variety of diverse conservationists and the endangered animals they are campaigning to save. The activities are fun and engaging I am sure young children will be eager to build a bug hotel, draw a campaign poster, or make their own nature documentary, to name but a few.
This vibrant non-fiction book is positive, uplifting and packed full of information, with 20 fun activities for children to try, this book demonstrates no one is too small to make a difference.
Useful for use in the classroom to support work in the science programme of study for – Key Stage One and Key Stage Two, in particular, Working scientifically and Living things and their habitats. The ideal book to buy to keep your children active and happy during the holidays.
You can buy copies of Caring Conservationist Who Are Changing Our Planet by Kate Peridot and Sarah Long from your local bookshop, or online at uk.bookshop.org, an organisation with a mission to financially support local, independent bookshops.
It is finally my stop on the last day of the blog tour for this quite honestly brilliant duology by Sarah Daniels. I have been eagerly waiting to post my thoughts on these fantastic books. The whole premise is brilliant.
Blurb for The Stranded
Welcome to the Arcadia.
Once a luxurious cruise ship, it became a refugee camp after being driven from Europe by an apocalyptic war. Now it floats near the coastline of the Federated States – a leftover piece of a fractured USA.
For forty years, residents of the Arcadia have been prohibited from making landfall. It is a world of extreme haves and have nots, gangs and make-shift shelters.
Esther is a loyal citizen, working flat-out to have the rare chance to live a normal life as a medic on dry land. Nik is a rebel, planning something big to liberate the Arcadia once and for all.
When events throw them both together, their lives, and the lives of everyone on the ship, will change forever . . .
Blurb for The Exiled
Trust no one.
It is four months since the Arcadia set sail for the first time in forty years. But this wasn’t the freedom the inhabitants were hoping for. Esther Crossland did what she had to do, but it has left a trail of destruction in her wake. Now the wrecked ship is abandoned. Its inhabitants are in exile, trapped in sprawling make-shift shelters made up of warehouse, tents, shipping containers.
Esther and Nik, architects of the rebellion, are on the run. Esther is in hiding, desperate to do something to help her people, and Nik seems to have abandoned all hope, on a journey taking him further and further from home. And neither of them want to face up to their true feelings about one another . . .
Not only that, there is a new villain in town. With the fall of Commander Hadley, it’s left to the ruthless Admiral Janek to deal with the traitors, and her own past is beginning to catch-up with her.
Then the shaky ceasefire negotiated by General Lall, Nik’s mum, falls apart. Nik and Esther find themselves in a world of betrayals and double crossings – a game of power, with no one to trust but themselves.
It’s time for the final showdown.
For my stop I have written two separate reviews as I read both books and once I’d started I found it hard to put them down.
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Title: The Stranded
Written by:Sarah Daniels
Cover Art by: Thomas Walker
Published by: Penguin
After the first few pages of The Stranded I was hooked. This is a fast-paced dystopian that quickly draws you into the world and rooting for the main characters.
The concept is excellent. In 2050 ten cruise ships had left Europe just before a European biological war broke out. Any survivors from the impact contracted the deadly virus contained in the missiles. Unable to go home, the ships were stranded at sea and had hoped to find refuge in the US. Their arrival caused tension and disagreement throughout America some wanted to accept the refuges others thought the threat of contamination and the expense of accepting so many immigrants too great. The areas closer to the where the ships were docked declared themselves independent from the United States and became the Federated States. Forty years later, in 2094, the refugees are still aboard. Aid is minimal. The ships are slowly being cleared and the passengers are being killed, or sent to workcamps run by the prison corporations. The Arcadia is next in line.
This is so realistic. You can imagine this persistent quarantine really happening especially when you consider that in July 2020, there were 67 cruise ships stranded at sea, or in docks around the globe, waiting to finish Covid quarantine. I found it highly believable that a newly formed independent state that sees itself as a separate country from the United States would let the sudden freedom of power and the threat of contamination overwhelm them to create such a repressive regime. The brutality of the Federated States reminded me of Animal Farm by George Orwell in that ‘power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.’
It is written from several points of view in mostly alternating chapters:
Esther Crossland who is trying to keep her head down so she can graduate earning her place off the ship and to freedom at a Federation medical school on land.
Nikhil Lall who works in the engine room and is a member of the resistance, led by his mother.
And Commander Hadley, head of the security force aboard the Arcadia for seventeen years. He is a bitter, cruel man with issues of his own compounded by the fact he is also a victim of the Federated States, as he was placed on the ship as a sadistic punishment.
All the characters are highly believable and well-written. I liked the way Esther’s sister, May, who was training to be a soldier for the Federation is a double agent and Nik’s love interest. I thought the way Esther is reluctantly pulled into the world of the resistance was clever and plausible. Esther’s long-term controlling boyfriend is manipulative and not beyond deceit, hoarding food and encouraging Esther to cheat on her tests to ensure her place in the medical corp. I thought the development of his character and how Esther was torn by her family loyalties, her familiarity to Alex and to do what she knew what right in her heart was well-plotted and credible.
In fact, the whole plot of The Stranded was brilliantly intricate and totally compelling. It is a realistic story of survival, which I found difficult to drag myself away from. I felt lucky I had the sequel ready to dive into when I’d finished the last page.
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Title: The Exiled
Written by:Sarah Daniels
Cover Art by: Señor Salme
Published by: Penguin
Before I started reading The Exiled I was wondering if Sarah Daniels would keep up the momentum and the plot moving forward as well as she did in The Stranded. I was not disappointed. The second in this dystopian duology was just as gripping as the first.
Again it is written in several points of view, that of Esther and Nik again and this time we meet new character Meg and a more devious and cruel antagonist, Javik who we had briefly met in The Stranded.
The book opens in the makeshift cramped camp of the survivors from the crashed Arcadia with alternating chapters from Esther and Meg. The second half of the book is then told from the point of views of Nik who is now working in the Gulf of Mexico cleaning trash from the ocean and Janik who wants the survivors neutralised.
We learn how the events unfolded since Esther crashed the ship into the mainland. Nik and Esther have been exiled from the main resistance headquarters, so Nik left the camp to get away from his mother and her desire to take over as leader of the resistance and Esther is acting as a medic for the other refugees from the Arcadia along with her former teacher, Corporal Harriet Weston (Corp).
The characters of Corp, General Lall and Silas are expanded as we discover their motivations and goals and these effect their actions and the development of the plot. Meg is another great character. Her infatuation for Alex was scary and the way he has manipulated her is true to his own character. Meg’s final heroic actions brought a tear to my eye. I was pleased with the way Alex got his comeuppance in the end. I also liked the introduction of Harveen, Javik’s assistant, and was intrigued by how her life become entangled with the sinister Javik.
Esther has a new love interest in Patrick Huang and the love triangle between them and Nik was well-written but I found myself wanting her to choose Patrick rather than Nik who I still feel was on the rebound from her sister and so them getting together was not a good idea. This logic illustrates how three-dimensional the characters are in that as I read I was trying to advise Esther against Nik all the time knowing realistically the heart wants what the heart wants, so I was fighting a losing battle.
Sarah Daniels has certainly racked up the tension in The Exiled. The shorter chapters made this an even faster, more exciting and breath-taking read than the first book. Great plot and fantastic characters.
I would highly recommend this duology.
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Sarah Daniels is an ex-archaeologist who escaped academia and now writes stories from her home in rural Lincolnshire.
Her work has been published in various online magazines and has been nominated for best British and Irish Flash Fiction and Best Small Fictions.
I would like to thank Dave from The Write Reads not only for inviting me on this blog but also for inviting me into the fabulous Write Reads community. Thank you.
It is my delight to be taking part in the blog tour for this breath-taking picture book, Deep by Stephen Hogton. I am quite excited about this tour as not only is it a beautiful picture book but today, Thursday 3rd August 2023, is launch day.
Stephen Hogtunis an author/illustrator who lives on the west coast of sunny Norway with his partner, two children and several rescue animals in an old house overlooking a lovely fjord. His house sits on the edge of a beautiful fjord, and his artwork is inspired both by the love he feels for his family and the views he sees from his window.
This is his second picture book for Bloomsbury, following his acclaimed debut, Leaves. Both picture books cover serious topics in a very gentle, child-friendly way and feature visually stunning illustrations.
Deep encapsulates a mother’s love for her child. When a tiny whale calf is born, his mother raises him to the surface to take his first breath. She guides him as he grows, until he is strong enough to swim at her side, and they set off together on a great journey across the oceans.
One day, the time will come for the grown calf to set out on his own . . . but wherever he goes and whatever he does, his mother will be waiting for him and sending her song of love across the oceans. Filled with beautiful, luminous artwork, this stunning picture book tells a universal story about love and family that’s perfect for readers young and old.
My stop on the tour will take the form of a book review.
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Title: Deep
Written and Illustrated by: Stephen Hogton
Published by: Bloomsbury
A story of love through the generations. Deep portrays how the mother whale guides, protects and teaches her young calf about the ocean. They travel on a long journey and back again to learn the way before she is confident her child is old enough and strong enough to fend for themselves.
This touching picture book of highlighting a mother’s love for her child is such a joy to read. I found myself reflecting back on my own children when they were younger, like leaving them on their first day at primary school and more recently as they go off to study at university. In this way this book will appeal to adults and children alike.
The illustrations are gorgeous. I love the use of colour and the way the light appears to sparkle off the sea. Absolutely mesmerising. There is a hypnotic effect created as you imagine these enormous yet elegant creatures gliding through the water. Stephen Hogton’s use of colour draws you in – from the warm still waters to the stormy choppy seas.
There are several heart-warming philosophical messages throughout the book I feel will get children thinking. A few of my favourites are:
“There is always calm is you seek it.”
“If you search, hidden beauty and truth can be found.”
“It’s not how quickly you travel but who you travel with.”
“Remember to treasure each moment because each one goes by quickly as a blink of an eye.”
Extracts from Deep by Stephen Hogton
I think teachers and carers could use some of these insights to open some very fruitful and enlightening discussions with the children.
On the whole I think Deep creates an atmosphere of calm, which leaves the reader with a feeling of safety and belonging. Young children will want to hear Deep read again and again.
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To follow the rest of the tour take a look at the schedule below:
I would like to thank Bee from Kaleidoscopic Tours for inviting me to take part in this tour. Thank you.
Much To Do About Writing 