L.H. Johnson's Blog, page 30

The Million Pieces of Neena Gill by Emma Smith-Barton

The Million Pieces of Neena Gill by Emma Smith-Barton My rating: 4 of 5 stars Neena Gill’s brother has disappeared without a trace and it’s taken a toll on her family. They’re all just trying to get through another day without him, and nobody can quite do it without falling apart a little bit more. […]

The Same But Different Too by Karl Newson and Kate Hindley

The Same But Different Too by Karl Newson My rating: 5 of 5 stars There are many things about libraries that I love* but I think story time might be the thing I love the most. It is a curious privilege to work and to watch it happen; the prams gravitating together, the parents sat […]

La Bastarda by Trifonia Melibea Obono

La Bastarda by Trifonia Melibea Obono first came across my radar when I was researching translated young adult literature. I have been wanting to read more of this, not only as a reaction of the increasingly narrow political spheres we seem to be so wrongly moving towards, but also because it felt right.

The Vicarage Children by Lorna Hill

"...with Lorna Hill, I just want to wallow."

Lost For Words by Aoife Walsh

I have such a lot of time for what Aoife Walsh does, and so when I was offered a review copy of Lost For Words I leapt at the chance

A book club for adults who read children’s books in York

Hello! This is a very quick and quiet post to say that I am thinking of setting up a book club for adults who read children’s books. The very vague idea would be to read a book a month and talk about it somewhere nice in York. I know that childcare’s often problematic for people […]

The Oberammagau Passion Play and the Chalet School

It’s no secret that we support the works Elinor M. Brent-Dyer on this blog (and if it is, then welcome! stay! let us talk about romantic omelettes and improbable speedboat shenanigans!), and the Chalet School books. One of the earlier titles in this sprawling series, The Chalet School And Jo, is of interest to us […]

The Naughtiest Girl by Enid Blyton

The Naughtiest Girl books then, eh? Let’s talk about them and what riots of weirdness they are. I’ve been rereading them for an article and I have thoughts noodling around in my brain about them. Blyton’s fascinating like that. She makes me noodle (is that a verb? Let’s make it one if it isn’t.). I’ve […]

I, Cosmo by Carlie Sorosiak

I, Cosmo by Carlie Sorosiak is, I suspect, rather brilliant. I didn't quite understand it for a while until all of a sudden I did; I got it, I understood, and then I was Emotionally Moved and here we are.

Meat Market by Juno Dawson

Life isn't easy. As much as we'd wish it to be, particularly for those we love, it isn't. Dawson gets that, and she lets her characters live life. Messy. Painful. Honest. True. She is very, very good.