We are delighted to welcome Simon Lamb, author of a Passing on of Shells, back to the blog to celebrate the publication of his latest book, the inventive and imaginative Mat o'Shanter - a witty and wry reimagining of Robert Burns' Tam o'Shanter. 

Simon has been a primary school teacher, has reviewed books, performed poetry at numerous festivals and has been Scriever at the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum.  Here Simon offers a fascinating insight into the length of poems exploring an impressive array of poets and poems along the way.

No matter where I go, in Scotland, the UK, or even abroad, I am pursued on my travels by one persistent question. It glugs around the room, regardless of venue, unspoken, till, when the time comes in our workshop to put pen to paper, a voice pipes out its name. How long does my poem need to be?

I do not think the question comes from a place of how-quickly-can-I-make-this-nightmare-end-?, not at all. Rather, I believe the questioner simply wants – demands? – parameters. Give them a sheet of calculations and they’re done once the calculations are completed. Give them the task of composing a short story and even the slight tick-box structure of beginning-middle-end gives them a goal to which to aim. But give them the freedom of writing a poem – particularly one without a prescribed form – and the world of success criteria caves in.

The answer to the question can be only this: your poem should be as long as it needs to be.

In my first book, A Passing On of Shells (Scallywag Press, 2023), each poem was written in exactly fifty words. When quizzed on why, I would reply that the six-word story was too short; flash-fiction’s hundred-words too long. For me, fifty was the Goldilocks number. That is not to say I only ever want to write poems of fifty words in length, just that it felt right for those particular poems in that particular book. They were still as long as they needed to be.

Scottish poet Don Paterson makes a convincing argument in 101 Sonnets (Faber & Faber, 1999) that a sonnet’s fourteen lines create the “perfect” length for a poem. (I’m inclined to agree: my legacy as writer-inresidence at the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum in Alloway, Ayrshire, is a series of six sonnets inspired by the museum’s six sites. It’s a very attractive and addictive form!) The time it takes to read a sonnet, to listen to it spoken aloud, the space it takes up on a page, the almost-square shape of its existence… And yet, still, the best sonnets are those that feel right to be a sonnet, fourteen lines. As long as they need to be.

My most-taught poem in schools comes from Zaro Weil’s CLiPPA-winning collection of poetry, Cherry Moon (Troika, 2019). The poem is called ‘Plum Tree (Summer)’. It runs to a mere eighteen words. Add or remove even a single word and I am convinced you would diminish the piece’s completeness. As a grand advocate of teaching poetry over form, this poem gives and gives: immediacy, repetition, property as noun, simile, first-person voice, stanza/gap, questioning, sass! I could go on. Weil’s tiny masterpiece is as long as it needs to be; its world is complete and awaits only a reader.

When reviewing my debut poetry collection, A. F. Harrold noted that short poems have always appealed to him, being so much easier to keep in one’s head than great long epics. (Harrold’s latest book, by the way, is Pocket Book of Pocket Poems (Bloomsbury, 2025), with entries starting at sixty-word poems and reducing in length through the course of the book. Don’t miss the “Thematic Contents Index List Thingie”.) But great long epics do have their place. Our storytelling culture is founded upon them. In 2026, Christopher Nolan – one of Hollywood’s hottest film directors – will bring his take on The Odyssey to the big screen, no doubt bringing a whole new generation to the ancient Greek epic.

In 1790, Scottish poet Robert Burns wrote his own epic — with parallels to The Odyssey, it should be noted. (A mock odyssey? McOdyssey? Don’t steal that; I’m having that.) Late one market day night, farmer Tam drunkenly quests home through a biblical storm. It’s ‘Tam o’ Shanter’. And it is excellent. A classic of Scottish literature and one of my favourite poems. And, yes, you know what I’m going to say next: at 228 lines, it is just as long as it needs to be.

My new book is a spiritual sequel, a redux, and something entirely all its own. It’s Mat o’ Shanter. Running to 228 lines, my modern-day adventure takes all of the narrative beats of the original and reverentially spins a new version for the ears and eyes and hearts of today. Just as Nolan looks to bring Odysseus et al. to new viewers with his big screen bonanza, I hope to bring Tam and his cronies to new readers, turning his tale anew. I hope they will agree the poem’s as long as it needs to be.

While the draw of the satisfaction of completing a sonnet (14), a limerick (5), a haiku (3) is strong, I suggest that when it comes to poetry – especially poetry without the constraints of form – we focus on what is best for the poem at hand. When asked, How long does my poem need to be?, encourage the writer, whatever their age, to be brave enough to write the poem as long as it needs to be.

That plum tree lives forever in its five-line world. The drunken Scotsman lives forever in his 228-line epic. Be brave enough to write the poem you are writing; trust in your ability to craft a perfectly-sized universe.

A big thank you to Simon Lamb for this fascinating blog and to Sarah Pakenham at Scallywag Press for the opportunity.

We are delighted to welcome Nicola Garrard, author of the unmissable On the Edge, to the blog for a powerful and urgent piece discussing the experiences of rural working class children in school, and how librarians are creating an inclusive space that transforms life opportunities.

‘Teachers do not know what to do with a boy like Rhys’ On the Edge

There’s no doubt that working-class children are disadvantaged and stigmatised. In my new novel, On the Edge, I’ve tried to show what that feels like. Rhys, the hero, is excluded from school, drops out of college and can only find low-paid seasonal work. With traditional career paths eroded and second homes driving up rents, Rhys’s family faces homelessness – and he becomes dangerously radicalised.

Working-class boys like Rhys are more likely to be excluded and sanctioned, achieve lower grades and are less likely to access higher education. Amid debates on masculinity, we must acknowledge that disaffection – leading to nearly one million NEETs nationally and growing antisocial behaviour, far-right extremism and flashpoints of rioting – is seeded by the very education system that congratulates itself as the solution.

‘At school, boys like Rhys are always either too big or too small; too big when they move and too small when they open their mouths.’ On the Edge

For the 31% of UK children living in poverty, school punishments are a fact of life, in particular for uniform code breaches, like wearing trainers when school shoes no longer fit. A Year 8 I taught on an exclusion project chose detentions over the shame of wearing uniform he’d outgrown. When the education charity I work for replaced his trousers, he was back in the classroom.

Middle-class advantage is baked into the school system – in values, rewards, punishments and the curriculum. Seeking to raise aspiration, degree-educated teachers present manual and semi-skilled work as the measure of failure. I have heard colleagues utter variations of ‘You don’t want to be a cleaner or work in Tesco’s for the rest of your life’ to children whose parents do exactly that.

“The education system is designed to reward those who are already privileged, while punishing those who have the least.” David Gillborn

Children from wealthier families avoid clashing with school rules simply by being affluent; their parents wash and dry PE kit the same day, replace the third lost scientific calculator that year with a

next-day delivery, and top up lunch accounts at the ping of a text. Compare school reward data to weekend library use and you’ll see how achievement and praise correlates to having access to books,

computers, printers and paper.

Over 150,000 children in the UK are homeless. They lack a place to study, can’t own or keep books, have no quiet space; there is no incentive to join the local library or youth clubs. As a teacher, I gave

after-school detentions to a Year 7 boy for lateness – only to discover that he and his mum were living in emergency hostels and women’s shelters. At 11, he deserved an award for making it to school at all.

Participation in wider school life is also closed to rural working class young people. Unlike Scotland, there’s no free public transport for under-22s in England and Wales, so sports fixtures, after-school

clubs and staying to do homework in libraries are often impossible. Many don’t consider sixth form because transport costs over £600 a year, while affluent peers are bought cars that open doors to part-

time work – and the volunteering opportunities needed for university applications.

‘Beware of spoiling young men’s futures; ‘they will become a flapping, snapping moray on the deck, electrics firing long after they’ve been clubbed on the head.’ On the Edge

On the Edge has a white hot seam of anger running through it. It explores the world of work, housing, relationships, education, transport and tourism through the eyes of rural working class boys who are much misunderstood, often demonised and undervalued. It shows the traps that caught young people I grew up with – depression, self-medicating with drugs, risky and self-harming behaviours – and warns of tipping points into civil disobedience (see Dame De Souza’s report) when basic needs for housing, work and a sense of agency are ignored.

Fortunately, school libraries offer a vital counterbalance to increasingly ubiquitous zero-tolerance academy-chain corporate schooling. Over the course of dozens of state school author visits, I’ve met many librarians who reflect deeply on their collections, analyse the demographics of their library users and volunteers, and curate books by working-class authors. They go out of their way to create

welcoming and inclusive spaces, perhaps in part inspired by CLPE’s Reflecting Realities reports

which have given educators a framework for thinking about difference. A similar report on representations of class in YA and Children’s literature would be very welcome.

Here’s some ways school libraries are welcoming working-class and lower-income children:

1. Quirky clubs and events:

○ “Speed Dating” with books!

○ “Library Lock-in” with pizza and games for PP students

○ “Book Food” events (menus/cooking inspired by stories)

○ “Escape Room” book hunts with riddles and challenges.

○ Creative Writing/Fan Fiction clubs: NLT recently found that working class children

are more engaged in creative writing than their affluent peers.

○ Open Mic Club for budding poets and rappers, with poetry collections for them to

browse.

○ “Charge Up with a Book” Club: swap 10 minutes of device charging for 10 minutes of reading (with quick, readable titles such as Barrington Stoke and Oxford Rollercoasters)

○ “Artists in the Library” Club, make book-inspired art using paint, air-drying clay, lego, collage

○ UNO/Jigsaw Club: to get them through the door!

2. Stock:

○ Promote working class authors: Alex Wheatle, Anthony McGowan, Brian Conaghan, Natasha Carthew, Margaret McDonald, Malorie Blackman.

○ Stock comics, magazines, audio books, song lyrics, blogs, wordless books, verse novels and graphic novels.

○ Encourage ‘reading young’ by stocking picture books in secondary libraries (ostensibly to read to young siblings) to consolidate literacy without pressure.

○ Challenge students to shape the collection by finding a title to propose for their school or public library.

○ Issue post-it notes to readers to leave a message/score to the next reader.

○ Run student-led diversity and inclusion audits to check their library reflects the community

○ Partner with public libraries for family sign-up events.

○ Run a public library trip for a tour – invite parents/carers.

○ Promote the local library in school newsletters/website.

These initiatives create a real sense of belonging in schools where working-class culture and achievement is undervalued or ignored. No wonder Dav, in On the Edge, heads to his school library when he needs some answers. He knows the librarian will help him.

References:

1. Working-class pupils let down by decades of neglect:

https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/203/education-

committee/news/156024/forgotten-white-workingclass-pupils-let-down-by-decades-of-

neglect-mps-

say/#:~:text=GCSE%20performance%3A%20In%202019%20just,not%20achieve%20two%2

0strong%20passes.

2. School exclusions and masculine, working-class identities: Jean Kane,

www.docs.hss.ed.ac.uk/education/creid/NewsEvents/03v_BERASeminar_Paper_jk.pdf

3. Professor S Agarwal et al, Disadvantage in English seaside resorts: A typology of deprived

neighbourhoods, www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0261517718301237

4. https://literacytrust.org.uk/research-services/research-reports/children-and-young-peoples-

writing-in-2025/

5. Children’s involvement in the 2024 riots, Dame R de Souza,

www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/resource/childrens-involvement-in-the-2024-riots/

A big thank you to Nicola Garrard for the blog and to Old Barn Books for the opportunity.

The 2025 Carnegie Medal for Illustration has been awarded to Clever Crow illustrated by Olivia Lomenech Gill and written by Chris Butterworth.  Olivia kindly took time out to answer some questions about illustration.

(1)  What books do you remember from childhood?

When I around seven or eight my dad read me The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings.  I grew up with the illustrations from the calendars and also enjoying Tolkien’s own illustrations.  I also admired the works of E. H. Shepherd and Judith Kerr.  When my boys were young, I became interested in David McKee’s work and we exchanged a few cards.  We have some of his lovely envelopes!

(2) The first book you illustrated was Where My Wellies Take Me by Clare and Michael Morpurgo.  It was shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway medal.  How did that come about?

I was on holiday in Brittany and was staying with my parents-in-law.  I always like to go out and see things and I’d seen a poster advertising a book festival for young people.  We took a picnic and went to visit the festival.  The organisers found out that Vincent had grown up down the road but that we were now living on the Scottish Borders.  It was exciting to them that we’d travelled so far and were at the festival.  The organiser said they had a very famous English author and that we should meet them.  She asked three times, it was like the rooster in the bible.  He asked about my son and what his name was, I explained that he was called Elzeard.  Michael was the first and last person to understand his name.  It’s from The Man Who Planted Trees by Jean Giono.  We kept in touch ever since and Michael sent me the manuscript for Where My Wellies Take Me.

(3) How did you approach working on the book?

I saw that it was a story of a girl having a walk in the countryside in real time.  The poems just appeared throughout the story, so I began thinking about who put them there and why.  I thought this is a story written as a journal by the girl.  She’s chosen these poems and cut and copied them on her dad’s typewriter and stuck them in her journal to explain why they were there.  That’s how the book happened, although it probably all happened the wrong way round.

(4) Clever Crow is the winner of this year’s Carnegie Medal for illustration.  The relationship between people and nature is really fascinating.

Over the last thirty years I’ve retreated quite a lot from what might be considered normal society.  I’ve chosen to live in isolated rural places and I’ve been influenced by growing up on a smallholding, I’ve increasingly steered towards semi self-sufficiency.  We tend to think of civilisation as how far removed we have become from the land, the soil and the dirt.  But we are waking up to the fact that we’ve created an entirely unsustainable way of life.  All of the time I’m thinking about our interaction with the natural world. 

(5) You used a range of different artistic technique and media through the book.

I used collage here and there and I don’t really do anything digitally so it’s literally just how I work the paper.  I think maybe one of the differences is that I generally work on brown or ochre coloured paper which means any white areas I have to add so I work in a slightly back-to-front way.

Everybody loves old dictionary pages and the old typewritten print, so it just helped some of the themes in Clever Crow.  I enjoy when you can see the mark of the maker and the way the work is constructed. 

Thank you to Walker Books for allowing the creative freedom to embrace these techniques and approaches and for championing the roles that children’s book illustration can play.

(6) The Carnegie Medal for illustration seeks to recognise an outstanding reading experience created through illustration.  What do you think helps constitute this?

I’m not trained in illustration, but I still feel that a drawing that works as a drawing or a painting that works is going to work as an illustration.  I still don’t quite see the difference between making an artwork and creating illustration except and illustration is an artwork interpreting a bit of text by somebody else - or up until now for me it has always been by somebody else.  I approach it pretty much as making a picture as I would if there wasn’t text.  It’s still a composition and it still has to work on the page. 

(7) Your work is now added to the list of winners of the medal for illustration are there any past winners whose work you particularly admire?

Edward Ardizzone      Tim All Alone 1956

Brian Wildsmith           Brian Wildsmith’s ABC 1962

Charles Keeping           Charlotte and the Golden Canary 1967

Shaun Tan                    Tales from the Inner City 2020

Congratulations to Olivia Lomenech Gill and thank you for the opportunity for the interview.

We are delighted to welcome award-winning  Aoife Dooley to the blog to talk about graphic novels, the formative role they are able to play in children’s reading, in developing empathy and understanding, representation and to introduce her fantastically fun new series Squid Squad.

I’m Aoife Dooley and I’m an illustrator and Writer from Dublin Ireland. My main focus is creating graphic novels and stories for kids age 5-14 and doing workshops on how to create your own stories.

Over the past couple of years Graphic Novels have come a long way and have begun to boom in popularity particularly in the UK and Ireland. Kids and teens are being introduced to a new way of storytelling and reading. For some, it’s the first book they’ve ever read and maybe the one that will give them the confidence to continue to read more.

Graphic novels are magic!

When I was younger, I felt like reading wasn’t for me. I tried over and over again to read novels and keep up with my class but the words just went in the front of my brain and back out the other side. I found it hard to follow a story without pictures. All the words squeezed together on a page. It doesn’t really look appealing to me, especially when I can read a book with pictures. With pictures my brain can follow a story easier and I’m more likely to remember it, because I learn visually. This is something I only realised much later in life as I discovered I am autistic. But back then reading was hard and learning was hard too.

This was in the 90’s and 00’s and graphic novels at the time weren’t considered books. I had never seen a comic before until one day I decided to read the local newspaper in my grandparents’ house. Something on the front cover caught my attention and I decided to look through. I came across a section with drawings and stories. These stories where in little boxes and short. There were three different stories and the excitement I felt when I realised that there was a new one every day. My grandad would be looking for the newspaper to read the sports section and I would be hiding in the bathroom reading the comics. Later I was introduced to Calvin and Hobbes by my aunty. I was 11 and we were shopping in London and she showed me this book. It was like the comics from the newspaper but in a giant book (almost bigger than me at the time). At this point I don’t think I had read a book and being able to read this gave me the confidence to read more books like Jaqueline Wilson for example.

How graphic novels can make a difference

I noticed over the years how books are changing and there’s more and more representation, I also noticed that more teachers and librarians are getting behind graphic novels and I think this is amazing and here is why- when I was younger, I never found any characters like me, someone I could relate to, someone who felt familiar.

This would have been a massive help when I was a kid to feel seen, because I didn’t for a long time like many other kids and I felt lost. Now there are an array of different graphic novels around many topics. I have seen the power of this personally from doing workshops with kids and how being able to relate to someone fictional or not can make you feel seen and not alone, how it can build community and friendships. I think this is so important now more than ever with social media. It’s already hard growing up. Introducing kids to books and things or people you think they will relate to can open up a whole world that’s yet to be discovered.

Graphic novels also give the opportunity for kids who learn visually to follow with everyone else and not get lost easily and feel like reading is not for them. Reading graphic novels as part of a group setting can open up discussions and bring up topics that are important to learn while growing up Including how to treat people and learning about people, differences and breaking down stereotypes.

Squid Squad

Creating Squid Squad was super fun and a completely different experience. Drawing people (oh I don’t think I’ll ever be able to draw the perfect hand, after 10 years that is still the hardest thing) but drawing sea creatures? It gave me some more freedom for movement and whacky posture and I enjoyed this a lot. This is also true for creating a fictional world and this was something new to me as a lot of the things I’ve done in the past have been based or loosely based on real places.

You can see this in my previous book Frankie’s World and if you’re from Dublin or know Dublin you will spot a few things. The book is set in the deep see in a town called ‘nowhere’ - which is literally in the middle of nowhere. Ollie and Zing are the main characters and live in a trailer together just outside the town with their pet sea anemone Barney. Ollie is a vampire Squid and Zing is a type of Sea slug (aka sea bunny) because he has little bunny ears. These are based on some deep sea creatures and I’ve included more throughout the book including an angler fish.

I also created some fun ‘undiscovered’ characters like Snakey Unicorn Thing who has yet to be spotted by humans. The book is split into 4 short stories or episodes following the characters from the town, the mysteries they solve and the bonds that they make. Friendship is a big theme in the book and being true to yourself (like Zing, Zing is my spirit animal, we all need to be more like Zing).

A huge thank you to Aoife for the blog and to Scholastic for the opportunity.

We took time out to meet with Jenny Hawke, new Chair of the Youth Libraries Group and to ask her some questions about her career in libraries and involvement with the group.  Find out more below and do consider getting involved with the group if you aren't already!

Please can you give us an overview of your career in libraries (what did they mean to you as a child, how did you come to work in them, what's your current role)?

I have spent over 30 years working in academic, special, school and public libraries. I left school at 17 in 1983 and made the decision to work in a public library which seemed natural to me as I enjoyed reading books as a child. I have fond memories of my parents taking the whole family to the local library on a Saturday afternoon. We would look for our favourite authors and get excited about new books. Armed with a large pile of books we would come home and all settle down with a cup of tea and get lost in one of our new books. Often my dad would read to me, favourites were Watership Down and The Borrowers.

At my first library job, favourite activities would be working alongside the children’s librarian, telling stories to visiting school classes and helping to run under-fives sessions. Five years later I wanted to gain experience in an academic setting so I began working as a library assistant in South Bank Polytechnic which later became South Bank University. Whilst working at South Bank I undertook an access course which enabled me to go back into full time education and study for a degree and it was at this point I decided I wanted to qualify as a librarian, so undertook a Masters at UCL.

After graduating I was appointed as a librarian in a special library/information centre at the International Transport Workers’ Federation ITF (an umbrella organisation for national transport unions). I decided to charter in 2008 and needed to focus on a different sector, so I chose school libraries and, rather conveniently, my daughter’s school invited me to overhaul and expand and organise their modest library. This benefited the children with a fully stocked and fully functioning library and I gained valuable knowledge and experience of working with children’s resources.

I started working for Bromley Libraries in 2008 as a manager of a medium sized library. By now children’s activities and children’s literature was at the heart of my professional career.  Later, when GLL (the charitable social enterprise) who were now running Bromley Libraries asked me if I would like to move to one of their larger libraries and become the children’s librarian I was thrilled.

This was a great move for me involving a variety of interesting projects. I currently wear three hats. One is to plan, prepare and run children’s activities at Orpington Library from Baby Bounce and Rhyme right up to our Older Teen Reading Group.  Another is to work with the children’s team to plan borough-wide activities. Finally, my other hat is the set-up and managing of the GLL Literary Foundation which was launched in November 2024.  This aims to support authors, inspire young readers and champion public libraries.  We are offering bursaries, training, networking and mentoring opportunities for authors through the new foundation. This is an incredibly exciting part of my role and I’m hugely grateful to GLL, the YLG and other organisations who have helped to make this project a reality.

How and when did you first become involved with YLG?

During Chartership, I decided it would be important to sign up to the YLG as one of my Special Interest Groups as I knew children’s libraries and their activities and services was an area I wanted to move into. In 2011 I applied for the YLG SE bursary to attend the YLG National Conference at Goldsmith’s College. This was an incredibly inspiring experience: listening to a mix of authors, academics and librarians talk about children’s literature and library services.

It was also a wonderful opportunity to network and share good practice with other librarians. After the Conference I asked the Chair if I could join the Committee and have been there ever since. I have really enjoyed being an active member of the YLG SE which has involved our annual training day and annual Carnegie Discussion Day and also a monthly Picture Book Chat focusing on either the BookTrust Storytime Prize and the Carnegie Medal for Illustration Shortlist. I am really grateful to the YLG SE Committee members as they have all been very enthusiastic and passionate about everything we set out to achieve.

You've been a judge for the Carnegies, what was the most challenging aspect of this and what was the most rewarding?

I think the main challenge was the obvious one of reading over 200 books across both medals. I had to be very strict with family and friends and at Christmas I would sneak upstairs and furtively read a few exciting chapters of a Carnegie or get absorbed into a Kate Greenaway. Meeting the other judges and discussing the books in such detail was incredibly stimulating and everyone was so committed about the whole judging process.

The best part of being a judge is how much it has helped me in my job as a Children’s Librarian. It gave me a greater awareness and knowledge of literature for children and young people, and obviously helped me with my Shadowing groups over the years as well. Shadowing the Carnegies is a brilliant way to find out about new books for children and particularly books which are often more thought provoking, diverse and promote discussion. I always ensure there is an informal setting with snacks and the children find that chatting about books is just a great thing to do.

What has been the highlight of being involved with YLG?

I think this has to be my two years as a Carnegie judge (2017 and 2018) and particularly the award ceremonies.  Before this 2014 sticks in my mind as this was the year that my Chatterbooks shadowing group won the Shadowing Magazine Award. It was fantastic and we were invited to the award ceremony when Jon Klassen won the Greenaway and Kevin Brooks won the Carnegie. My group did a radio broadcast to start with and then met lots of authors and illustrators as well as watching the ceremony live. The group members are all practically grown up now but I’m sure they will all look back on it as a very memorable experience.  I also really enjoyed chairing the Funny Fiction panel at the 2024 conference in Glasgow, it was such fun!

Are there any particular areas or themes you hope to make the focus of your time as chair?

I’m very excited about the National One Day School which we hope to hold in Eastbourne in the autumn of this year. It will be themed around Journeys and encompass books in translation, empathy, refugees and how children and young people embark on their reading journey.

We need to look at communication with our members and how we currently deliver this and if we can make improvements. AI and new technologies will be affecting the way we all do things so this is another area that the YLG should focus on. There have been a lot of cuts in public services over the years and it’s really important to find ways in which we can support our colleagues who work in the public sector. Governance and business planning should underpin everything we do at a regional and national level.  National committee meetings will be discussing other themes that should be focused on throughout my term as Chair, I’m very fortunate and grateful to have such a brilliant team of people on the National Committee who have already given me so much support since becoming Chair.

Can you give us three top tips for books you enjoyed in 2024 please?

Rainbowsaurus by Steve Antony is a joyful, inclusive and extremely colourful picture book whose characters jump off the page. The family, which has two dads and three children, set out to find the Rainbowsaurus and invite the reader to join them in addition to a number of distinctly coloured animals. Different age groups of readers will engage with this book as there is so much to look out for in the illustrations. This is much more than a simple picture book.

Code Name Kingfisher by Liz Kessler is a compelling and poignant novel set in World War II written from different points of view in a really accessible way. The writing is beautiful with well defined characters from past and present.

Glasgow Boys by Margaret McDonald is a beautifully written coming of age story and includes themes of acceptance, love and guilt but also the importance of family in its widest sense and friendship.

A big thank you to Jenny Hawke for taking time out to be interviewed!