Exciting.

November’s reading.

Without doubt, one of my favourite books of the year. A celebration of human history and endeavour, a call to acknowledge and respect our forebears. Visually stunning.

Good morning #poemsabout crew, here’s a poem about someone wanting something for the #desire prompt @alanparrywriter.co.uk

Late poem for @thetoypress.bsky.social prompt, written from the experience of putting little ones to bed on Bonfire Night.

October.

Amazon is helping fund a $300 million build of a ballroom for the White House. Independent bookstores are donating to food banks and organizations that help with food insecurity. They are not the same.

Poem for @thetoypress.bsky.social’s word of the week.

Really sorry to hear the news of Knights Of - publisher that has championed marginalised voices and put out some amazing books.

Fireworks by Matthew Burgess & Catia Chien is delicious. It’s all about the joy and excitement fireworks bring - this is mainly about Independence Day, but can easily be applied to other celebrations and festivals. A lovely lyrical style, beautifully illustrated. One for @smithsmm.bsky.social

'Fishing Otter' linocut and silkscreen print by Angela Harding, contemporary artist based in the UK #WomensArt

October's #lucky13th is Roar - an empowering novel-in-verse of resistance and finding your voice, inspired by Sampat Pal and the Pink Sari Gang, from the multi-award-winning author of Run, Rebel and The Crossing, Manjeet Mann. #uklamembers RT to win a copy! #ThisIsHowIRoar

Love this new book by Joanna Ho, Caroline Kusin Pritchard and Dan Santat. A celebration of reading both as an individual pursuit, as well as respecting the rights of the reader and reading community.

Júlia Sardà is a genius.

Some wonderful books to review for Shelf here - very lucky and very happy!

Listening to Pie Corbett talk to Nikki Gamble @justimaginecentre.bsky.social lamenting the ‘knowledge-rich’ curriculum and its impact on the imagination of our children. Fully agree - poetry can unlock this in so many ways #NationalPoetryDay #NPD2025

September.

This is my Lokifesto #KidsConf #UKkidlit #edusky lokibooks.com/lokifesto/

Does your class love graphic novels? We are thrilled that Mai K. Nguyen is joining us for a Children's Authors Live event on Friday, 26th September at 1:15 justimagine.co.uk/author-live/... @uklitassociation.bsky.social @sconnor7.bsky.social @samcreighton.bsky.social

Your 2026 UKLA Book Awards Longlists are here - the only national children’s book awards judged by teachers! This year they feature books in translation, past winners, exciting debuts and a huge range of genres and themes. Click here to see the full Longlists: ukla.org/ukla-book-aw...

Love a map. Hate misspellings of place names 😭 @vocabularyninja.bsky.social @lockwoodcm.bsky.social

What utter dickheads we are… Rayner fought for workers: sick pay, maternity rights, protection from unfair dismissal Farage and his MPs voted it down Rayner gets binned over £40k in stamp duty Farage dodges £44k, shrugs & strolls on The mega wealthy win again.

The Wolf is an amazing book from Australia that still leaves me with questions. The others all come from the fantastic Book Island website. Gorgeous translated books, superbly illustrated.

Nigel Farage looks uncomfortable as Jamie Raskin uses his opening statement to absolutely demolish him

August’s reading.

I really loved this book of bug-themed poetry, perfect for KS1. justimagine.co.uk/childrens-bo...

A pleasure to be a part of the UKLA’s longlisting group this morning. There are so many wonderful titles to choose from! Nice to chat with @samcreighton.bsky.social @lockwoodcm.bsky.social @joyisreading.bsky.social too.

Last share for this before the new term. A weekly picturebook assembly overview which focuses on empathy and inclusion. It's still evolving but please feel free to download and adapt. All shares appreciated. The link is on my Padlet: padlet.com/Jon_Biddle/r...

This is such a good reference for assemblies, for key dates throughout the year, and more importantly, excellent books.

Katherine Rundell on why every school needs a library AND a librarian www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Marshall Drive Parkrun today. Small, tough and very friendly event. Kind of regret running there as a warm-up (2 miles uphill).

Absolutely loved visiting The Little Fox bookshop in Whitby today. What a beautiful set up and a cracking selection of books too.

Here are the latest book reviews for this week, many of which are on our updated recommended book lists. Thank you to all our reviewers this week: justimagine.co.uk/childrens-bo...

Camped in a field, drinking a lukewarm beer under glorious sunshine, reading the finest poems by the finest poet. If you know @holliemcnish.bsky.social ’s work, then this is more of the same: honest, moving, funny and thought-provoking. If you don’t know Hollie’s work, why not? Get this!

A bumper July.

Silly one for #PoemsAbout. Been a while - hope to make the time again. @alanparrywriter.co.uk Eventually, she admitted, with a long, drawn out sigh We star-crossed lovers would never see eye to eye, In my heart I conceded; I knew that it was true She was six foot eight and I five foot two

Very sad news. His books have been a staple of both of my children’s reading diet. Allan Ahlberg, beloved children's author, dies aged 87 www.theguardian.com/books/2025/j...

Long time no poem. Thanks to @thetoypress.bsky.social for their word of the week.

“If you don’t believe that the picture book is real literature, then in some level you don’t believe that children are real people. And that’s unacceptable.” Thank you, Mac Barnett. #ala25.

From Kenneth Oppel, Best of All Worlds is a story of survival, teenage passions and an invisible enemy. What should be a relaxing weekend away from the city turns nightmarish when Xavier and his family wake up to find themselves trapped inside a dome. UKLA members RP for a chance to win #lucky13th

New blog post for the weekend 📢! My reflections on the book 'After' by Pádraig Kenny, the role we are collectively giving to AI and the human traits that will always shout the loudest in the end: mrsbakersbooks.wordpress.com/2025/07/12/a...

Weeee assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/686bf9...

I really hope this is proactive and pays authors and illustrators to get into schools, supports parents to join libraries, helps children to visit bookshops and theatre events, gives indie publishers and booksellers a viable window. Let’s not make it a quick buck for big-name authors.

June’s reading. Loved them all, to be fair.

One of my favourites this year!

It’s every parent’s nightmare, isn’t it? you check your child’s bulletproof backpack and find a picture book about gay penguins

A must-read for anyone who likes books or people.

The Winner of the UKLA Book Awards 2025 in the category for Information 3-14+

And finally, in our guest Non-Fiction Category, congratulations to Catherine Ard and Wenjia Tang for 'Into the Volcano' published by @flyingeyebooks.bsky.social ✨📚🏆

Put one child through as GDS in our writing moderation. It was queried by moderators due to lack of evidence in one small area. Today, I took additional evidence to LA, who did not once mention the small area moderators picked up on, but focused on something else. Writing assessment - good, innit?