Eason’s have picked their top children’s and YA books of the month and they look unputdownable!
We knew 2021 was going to be a fabulous year for fiction and film. With so many productions and publications delayed last year and so much writing happening during quarantine, we were guaranteed and absolute boom in great books this year. And Eason’s top January picks for kids certainly proved that!
With themes of magic, race and LGBTQ experiences coming to the fore, these bestsellers have so much to offer young readers and their active imaginations. Get them off the screens and their noses stuck in a book with these guaranteed hits!
‘The Beast of Buckingham Palace’ by David Walliams (HarperCollins)
Fly into a fiery and fantastical future with No. 1 bestselling author David Walliams, in an epic adventure of myth and legend, good and evil, and one small boy who must save the world.
It is 2120 and London is in ruins. The young Prince Alfred has never known a life outside Buckingham Palace - but when strange goings-on breach its walls and stalk the corridors in the dead of night, he is thrust into a world of mystery, adventure and monsters. And when his mother, the Queen, is dragged away to the Tower of London, Alfred must screw up his courage and battle to save her, himself. and the entire city.
In a future of myths and legends, join the bestselling David Walliams and venture forth into his most enthralling tale yet!
‘Pizazz VS the New Kid (Pizazz 2)’ by Sophy Hen (Simon and Schuster Children’s)
BEING A SUPERHERO IS THE BEST THING EVER, RIGHT? WRONG! HELLO! My name is PIZAZZ and I'm a superhero . . . You probably think that's really AWESOME, and while it can be, it's also REEEEEEEAAALLLLY annoying. I guess it was sort of going OK (I say, "sort of" - I still have to wear a silly cape and save the world all the time) until this NEW KID showed up, and started WOWING everyone with their super powers. Yep, SUPER POWERS - just what this town needs, another super . . . Who just happens to have the coolest name ever: Jett .
And now, because of Serena and her gang of Populars, I have to compete against Jett in an almighty and ultimate SUPER-OFF. But it's fine. I mean, even if I lose, there's space for two SUPERS in this school, isn't there?!
Hilariously narrated by reluctant superhero Pizazz, and brimming with Sophy's distinctive illustrations and comic-book strips, the super (like, actually, with powers and stuff) series is the latest from the amazingly talented Sophy Henn, award-winning author and illustrator of Bad Nana! This is the perfect read for children aged 7, 8, 9 and upwards, and for fans of Dork Diaries , Tom Gates, Amelia Fang, Wimpy Kid and Dog Man.
‘The House at the Edge of Magic’ by Amy Sparkes (Walker Books)
"Sometimes you are a whisper away from magic without even realising it."
Nine is an orphan pickpocket determined to escape her life in the Nest of a Thousand Treasures. When she steals a house-shaped ornament from a mysterious woman's purse, she knocks on its tiny door and watches it grow into a huge, higgledy-piggeldy house.
Inside she finds a host of magical and brilliantly funny characters, including Flabberghast - a young wizard who's particularly competitive at hopscotch - and a hideous troll housekeeper who's emotionally attached to his feather duster. They have been placed under an extraordinary spell, which they are desperate for Nine to break - and if she can, maybe they can offer her a new life in return.
‘Morgana Mage in the Robotic Age’ by Amy Bond (Chicken House)
A wonderfully cosy fantasy story - perfect for fans of Studio Ghibli!
Can Morgana be a witch and an engineer? Morgana Mage loves robots, but as a witch she lives outside the nearby city with its shiny new technology. Science and magic are never mixed. Determined to change things, Morgana finds a way into her chosen school of robotics, only to discover a secret that threatens both of her worlds.
It's up to Morgana to work out a solution - if she has the brains and the spells to do it ... Shortlisted for the 2018 Times/Chicken House Children's Fiction Competition
‘Concrete Rose’ by Angie Thomas (Walker Books)
From international phenomenon Angie Thomas comes a hard-hitting return to Garden Heights with the story of Maverick Carter, Starr's father, set seventeen years before the events of the award-winning The Hate U Give.
With his King Lord dad in prison and his mom working two jobs, seventeen-year-old Maverick Carter helps the only way he knows how: slinging drugs. Life's not perfect, but he's got everything under control. Until he finds out he's a father... Suddenly it's not so easy to deal drugs and finish school with a baby dependent on him for everything.
So when he's offered the chance to go straight, he takes it. But when King Lord blood runs through your veins, you don't get to just walk away.
"The Hate U Give says more about the contemporary Black experience in America than any book I have read for years." - Guardian
"A startling, important book." - The Times
"Passionate and uncompromising." - Observer
‘The Henna Wars’ by Adiba Jaigirdar (Hodder Children’s books)
Nishat and Flávia are rivals at school, but Nishat can't help the secret crush burning in her heart - even though her parents disapprove of the fact she likes girls. Can she possibly find her happy ever after?
A gorgeous, heart-warming, queer YA love story for fans of Becky Albertalli. When Nishat comes out to her parents, they say she can be anyone she wants - as long as she isn't herself. Because Muslim girls aren't lesbians. Nishat doesn't want to lose her family, but she also doesn't want to hide who she is, which only gets harder once Flávia walks into her life.
Beautiful and charismatic, Flávia takes Nishat's breath away. But as their lives become tangled, they're caught up in a rivalry that gets in the way of any feelings they might have for each other. Can Nishat find a way to be true to herself... and find love too? Adiba Jaigirdar is a stunning new voice in young adult fiction, writing uplifting, authentic stories from a Bengali-Irish perspective.
