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Find out morePersonal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) focuses on developing the knowledge, skills and attributes to keep children and young people healthy and safe and to prepare them for life and work. The books in this section cover a range of PSHE topics including bullying, disability, family issues and racism. There are both fiction and non-fiction titles and cover age ranges from Toddler to Older Teen.
Buried treasure and family secrets are at the heart of A M Howell’s gripping and wonderfully atmospheric mystery story. Ruth is at the British Museum one evening waiting for her mum, who is having a job interview. When the telephone rings, with no-one else there, she answers. It’s a farmer saying she’s found ancient treasure buried in her fields. Ruth persuades her mum to visit the farm, deep in the fens, and sure enough, they discover some very precious objects. There’s something not quite right about the find though, and it seems to Ruth that the farmer’s son Joe, and Land Girl Audrey have their own hidden secrets. With bankruptcy threatening farmer Mary, the stakes are very high. Can Ruth uncover the truth about the treasure and solve the mysteries of Rook Farm? Set in the bleak winter of 1948, with land and families still damaged by the war, Ruth’s determination and new friendship with Joe helps bring hope and the possibility of brighter days. A M Howell’s fans will love this new adventure, and it’s one to recommend to fans of Emma Carroll too.
Abigail Balfe is autistic and has written this honest, amusing and very useful book about some of the things she was aware of as she was growing up. Balfe knew she was different all the way through her childhood and youth – and this book is full of observations on how she navigated her younger years. It was not until she was an adult that her diagnosis of autism was delivered – which suddenly explained a great deal of confusing issues from her youth. The book is full of all the milestones of a young life from changing schools to puberty to friendships to children’s birthday parties – and how someone who feels different coped with all those stages. Written with an honesty and openness that is refreshing – and full of quirky illustrations by the author - this is an information book one can sit and read like a novel, as well as using it to dip into for information on all sorts of topics to do with neurodiversity. It is packed full of useful descriptions and definitions, has a thorough glossary which doubles as an index in a very practical way whilst also signposting websites and information sources for further investigation. A book for everyone to read (adults too), not just for people with neurodiversity issues – this book is a great explainer, full of empathy for different situations, which explodes many misconceptions about autistic people along the way! I wish I had had this available many years ago when teaching an autistic child on a one-to-one basis.
Families come in all shapes and sizes and this cheerful picturebook celebrates that beautifully. Lily-May is sad when she learns Dad is going to move away, but Mum and Dad reassure her it’s going to be alright and soon she’s listing the positives of her new situation. She has more time with Mum and then, when Peter moves in, more grandparents to play with not to mention more noise when his young sons come to stay too. There are still some wobbles, but nothing that Mum and Dad can’t sort, and the final pages capture her birthday party, much more fun with her big fantastic family. Though the book is described as ‘a story about parents separating’, the emphasis is strongly on that big new family formed as a result, and it’s so positive and encouraging it’s just the thing to share with young children going through the same as Lily-May or to help explain a friend’s or other young family member’s new situation. The rhyming text is fun to read aloud and Ali Pye’s clear, bright illustrations will prompt lots of conversations.
Families come in all shapes and sizes and this cheerful picturebook celebrates that beautifully. Lily-May is sad when she learns Dad is going to move away, but Mum and Dad reassure her it’s going to be alright and soon she’s listing the positives of her new situation. She has more time with Mum and then, when Peter moves in, more grandparents to play with not to mention more noise when his young sons come to stay too. There are still some wobbles, but nothing that Mum and Dad can’t sort, and the final pages capture her birthday party, much more fun with her big fantastic family. Though the book is described as ‘a story about parents separating’, the emphasis is strongly on that big new family formed as a result, and it’s so positive and encouraging it’s just the thing to share with young children going through the same as Lily-May or to help explain a friend’s or other young family member’s new situation. The rhyming text is fun to read aloud and Ali Pye’s clear, bright illustrations will prompt lots of conversations.
A Complete (and Completely Disgusting) Guide to the Human Body | This is an information text that will be read with great pleasure and is actually as unputdownable as a novel. It is very apparent that the multimillion-copy selling author and medical doctor has never grown out of his gleeful fascination with the human machine and has a real knack for presenting complex facts both clearly and concisely while making the reader laugh out loud. Similarly, the illustrations by Henry Parker combine accurate explanatory diagrams and zany amusing cartoons, often on the same page. Much of the humour is, of course, derived from the more disgusting aspects of the internal and external body and to making fun of the complicated language and terminology doctors and scientists use, but nonetheless using and explaining all those terms. Indeed the book concludes with a brilliantly educative glossary (and even the jokes are indexed!) A running gag is Clive and the ‘naming committee’ responsible for naming body parts, as is the continued references to the author’s dog Pippin, but always in a way which enhances an explanation or a description and develops understanding. Chapters cover all the organs and systems of the body as well as reproduction, life and death and germs (including COVID-19) and include Kay’s Kwestions (another running gag about needing a replacement Q on his keyboard) and True or Poo sections which answer the sort of questions inquisitive children will be dying to ask and expose the myths, misinformation and old wives tales that you might have heard. He does not shrink from difficult topics or giving unpopular advice – junk food, smoking and drinking really are bad for you and washing your hands properly is important. As genuinely useful as any textbook or revision guide, I would suggest multiple copies will be needed to satisfy demand in any school library.
Following the enormous success of Kay’s Anatomy, this is another tour-de force of informational writing. Children will be rolling around with laughter at all the gags, including a scribbled commentary from Great Aunt Prunella, who does not approve of the author’s obsession with farting and poo, and the hilarious comic strips and copious illustrations from the talented Mr Paker. But don’t be fooled – they will be learning an enormous amount about how humans came to understand the workings of the human body and how to fix it when it went wrong. Kay obviously relishes the ridiculous theories that abounded from ancient times through to relatively recent history and the frankly bizarre and terrifying treatments that were developed, as well as having a sincere respect for the pioneers who took the science forward. There is a great Doctorography section at the end to remind readers of all the stories they have read in the course of chapters which look at different parts of the body as well as individual sections on Surgery, Infections and Genetics. Each chapter ends with a look at the Future and Adam’s Answers where he explains facts and fallacies too good to miss out! The pioneers of medicine generally have a little feature Five Facts and A Lie about them, so the author is actively encouraging critical reading as he does with True or Poo fact boxes about some familiar misconceptions. He is also at pains to highlight the women who, despite being banned from medicine throughout most of its history nevertheless managed to innovate and discover. In a hugely enjoyable, page-turning read, this librarian particularly enjoyed he fact that the excellent index also contained jokes. Do see if you can spot them!
January 2018 Book of the Month | In a nutshell: bewitching tale of love, suspense and witchery Adriana Mather’s story of a young girl overcoming a centuries old supernatural feud is a heady combination of intrigue, romance and ghostly goings-on. The central character is descended from Cotton Mather (as is the author), notorious for his part in the Salem Witch Trials, and when she returns to the town, Sam’s presence reawakens an old curse; soon people are dying. New York-raised Sam won’t stand for any kind of bullying – human or paranormal – and is determined to find out exactly what’s going on. In this she’s helped by hunky, if long-dead Elijah. Bold, resolute and with the sarky outlook and deadpan delivery of a latter-day Buffy, Sam is a great character, and this hugely entertaining while Mather also cleverly parallels the 17th century witch trials with the kind of bullying young people face today, making this rewarding reading in lots of different ways. ~ Andrea Reece
A Kirkus Reviews Best Picture Book of 2019 | Six-year-old Bilal is excited to help his dad make his favorite food of all-time: daal! The slow-cooked lentil dish from South Asia requires lots of ingredients and a whole lot of waiting. Bilal wants to introduce his friends to daal. They've never tried it! As the day goes on, the daal continues to simmer, and more kids join Bilal and his family, waiting to try the tasty dish. And as time passes, Bilal begins to wonder: Will his friends like it as much as he does? This debut picture book by Aisha Saeed, with charming illustrations by Anoosha Syed, uses food as a means of bringing a community together to share in each other's family traditions.
March 2022 Debut of the Month | Ablaze with atmosphere and adventure, Akala’s The Dark Lady is a radiant, resonant tale of magic, a missing mother, and treachery in Elizabethan London. Fifteen-year-old Henry lives in poverty in the care of a pair of apothecary sisters. A skilled thief and writer of sonnets, he has an additional extraordinary gift — he “can close his eyes and read languages”. Letters become “colours, shapes, sounds and musical notes. Always a different pattern emerged and it was endlessly beautiful”. And, with brown skin inherited from his absent Beninese mother, Henry is subject to racism, with England’s insularity and prejudice pertinently portrayed — the rhetoric of foreigners “stealing jobs” is all too familiar. At the same time, there’s a seamless interweaving of Black history. For example, Henry is amazed to learn about Juan Latino, “a son of slaves who rose to become a professor of Latin at the University of Granada”. Then there’s reference to John Blanke, the famed black trumpeter from Henry VII’s court. Caught in the act of burgling a wealthy duke, Henry’s language magic earns him a seat at the duke’s opulent table, and grants him an audience with historic figures like Dr John Dee and his idol, Shakespeare. With a wicked sense of humour and pride, Henry is an enormously endearing young man, not least when he rubs his fine clothes and fancy talk in the face of a bigoted baker who previously refused to serve him. With the action never letting up, a succession of betrayal, intensifying dreams and discoveries about his mother steer Henry towards a land across the sea. Simply fabulous.
December 2019 YA Debut of the Month | This compelling, nuanced tale is set in the town of Lucille in a future society where evil, the ‘monsters’, have been eliminated in an epic struggle by the ‘angels’ to create a better world for their children to grow up in. Jam, our selectively-nonverbal, black, trans heroine, is one of those children. When she accidentally spills her blood onto her mother’s painting, a creature called Pet emerges. Looking like a monster but here to hunt a monster preying on the family of her best friend, a boy named Redemption. But the identities of the victim and the predator are still unknown and Jam and Redemption have to face what their society fails to acknowledge: that monsters exist and hide in plain sight- that evil still resides in humanity. One of the huge strengths of this book is that Jam’s trans status is not there to score diversity points. The story does not centre around gender identity, but also does not ignore the impact upon the character and plot in a very natural, unforced way. Dialogue is used extremely creatively too. Jam speaks aloud in quotation marks and sign language is indicated with italics and when Jam and Pet speak telepathically, Emezi uses no punctuation marks whatsoever. On top of that, dialects, phrases, and cultural traditions from across African American communities appear throughout, giving a real flavour and authenticity to the narrative. Emezi has spoken of their inspiration being teenagers discomforted by the monsters in plain sight in our current society. This is a thought-provoking reading experience that could inspire valuable discussion in a lot of classroom contexts.
Interest Age Teen Reading Age 7+ | Muhammed Ali’s life story provides daily inspiration for a young boy, also called Ali, who takes on the bigger lad who bullies him. The setting for their confrontation is the boxing ring. Barrington Stoke novels are written and produced specifically with reluctant and dyslexic readers in mind and this will be a real page turner for all. Gibbons uses short sentences to tell the story, each one of which directly moves the story on, with no extraneous details. The blow by blow account of young Ali’s fight is gripping, while timelines of Muhammed Ali’s fights intersperse chapters, breaking up the text but also throwing more light on what is happening in the ring. A really effective piece of writing for young readers, particularly boys. Particularly suitable for struggling, reluctant and dyslexic readers aged 12+
May 2022 Debut of the Month | Rejoice, lovers of frank and funny diary stories, you have a treat awaiting! Fifteen-and-a-half-year-old Ellery Brown, an American mostly living in Ireland, is starting a diary, addressed to the reader, her non-judgemental friend. Ellery’s mum, a successful writer of popular fiction, has recently died and the diary is supposed to help Ellery write about her feelings. However, it soon becomes a record of her efforts to identify her father. Her mother never revealed his name, but Ellery and best friend Meg decide there are clues on her mother’s bookshelves. As Ellery tracks down three successful male authors, any of whom could be the one, the story gets wilder and funnier by the page. Add to this the joy of her relationship with the equally wonderful Meg, her eccentric family, and other players, including romantic interest and lamb-whisperer Silent Johnny, and the book brims over with reasons to love it. It will make you laugh, it will make you cry, and it will make you wish you had a friend like Ellery. Definitely one to recommend to fans of Geek Girl or Georgia Nicolson.
