Oh, Freedom !
by Francesco D’Adamo

The story had me hooked from the beginning, it’s an amazing story of freedom from slavery set in Alabama in May 1850.

Oh Freedom
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Due for release in June 2016 by Darf Publishers, written by Francesco D’Adamo and translated by Sian Williams.

Captain Archer and his intimidating guards with their fierce dogs, protect the land and prevent the slaves from leaving. Tommy is part of a family of slaves and meets Peg Leg Joe, who turned out not to be the devil but a spirit in disguise, who was to lead Tommy and his family away from slavery and into the promised land of freedom, Canada.

‘ Are you a Devil?’ he asked….

The man squatted on his heels, ‘No’, he replied. ‘Are you?’

‘No way!’ exclaimed Tommy.

‘Well then,’said Peg Leg Joe,’we can trust each other.’

Tommy had to admit that was reasonable.

Now the boy could see the man properly, and stared at the wooden leg sticking out of his right trouser leg. So it was not a cloven hoof. P.3

They travel along the legendary Underground Railroad, which stretched for miles across the country’s vastness,the network famously facilitated more than 100,000 slaves to a new life. For Tommy the journey is far from easy and he takes on responsibilities ahead of his years. He later becomes a guide along the routes, moving silently and bringing many people to freedom .

Tommy also learns to read and at one stage discovers a poster advertising a ‘Sale of Slaves’. Knowing that he could read he discovers a truth…

‘His heart beat very fast. He was unlocking a secret, and would find something that the others, his father,mother,sisters could never know. But he would! Confusedly,he understood that doing this made him strong. p.103′.

A powerful book and has lots of links with the current refugee movements.

This is a young adult book and recommended for age 10 years and beyond.

Sue Martin dolphinlogo2012imageright3

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The Truth about Peacock Blue by Rosanne Hawke

The Truth About Peacock Blue cover image...
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An immensely powerful story of truth about todays hard world in the life of Peacock Blue, written by Rosanne Hawke and published by Allen and Unwin.

This is a powerful story about one girl’s fight for justice in Pakistan. Quietly getting on with life, Aster faces huge changes when her brother dies. Instead of finding a suitable husband, her parents decide that she will be educated, which to a western mind is a good idea.

But she attends a school for Muslim girls and is in the minority being a Christian. At her examinations a teacher who finds her difficult as a Christian accuses her of blaspheming. It was a simple spelling mistake with enormous consequences.

Aster is imprisoned, her family and the whole village have to move away and she faces the death sentence.

In Australia, there is an online petition which gathers amazing results, but will it really help?

I read to the end in absolute unbelief…. a must read book. Excellent blog by Paula Vince, worth reading.

We recommend for ages 10 and above and for adults too.

Sue Martin Books Go Walkabout and Dolphin Booksellers

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Everybody Feels… New series from QED Publishing

Everybody feels angryAre you sad, angry, happy or scared? This new series from QED Publishing features emotions, how and why children sometimes feel they way they do.

Coping with feelings is a challenge for young children at times and finding ways that will help to express emotions, talk about what is happening and the different things that can make children upset or wildly happy.

Every title features two stories, each told from a child’s point of view and in a common scene or something familiar to the child.

At the end of the story there are story words’ which explain words simply and gently.

The series is written with care and love by Moira Butterfield and illustrated by Holly Sterling. They both have brilliant websites full of information.

We recommend these books for Early Years settings and also for sharing at home. Everybody feels sad

Sue Martin Dolphin Booksellers – the best in children’s books, always on line

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Ralf by Jean Jullien

Ralf
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Ralph is forever getting under his family’s feet, But when a fire threatens to burn the house down, Ralf stretches himself to the limit to save his family.

This is an intriguing book with a style of illustrations that turns over the page for you. When Ralf cannot wake his family you instantly feel the life of a dog when everyone is asleep and they are forever alert.

Ralf is published by Frances Lincoln and was released in February 2016, the hardback edition is well worth the money and has a lovely tactile sense to your fingers.

Jean Jullien is a graphic designer from France who is known for his symbols of peace in the wake of the terrorist attacks in Paris in November 2015. He now lives in London and is working on an eclectic body of work in illustration.

Now working on children’s books, his first book Hoot Owl, Master of Disguise is a huge success

We recommend this book for ages 2yr to share and for 4/5 years for beginning to read alone and for adults everywhere!

Sue Martin Dolphin Booksellers – the best in children’s books always on line

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Children’s Books published by the British Library

adventuresMy Book of Stories -write your own adventures by Deborah Paterson
This is a thrilling book and is packed with ideas to write your own adventures. Create your own characters and use your imagination to share adventures. Dream up thrilling pirate escapades on the high seas or let your ideas soar as you imagine life at a Jungle School.
The book combines as a book with ideas on every page and as an activity book to write or draw as your story unfolds. The pages are very tempting to start work straight away.
The story starters are from the very best children’s authors, such as Rudyard Kipling, J.K Rowling, JM Barrie and Arthur Ransome. Which new character, for instance, would you add to the Wizard of Oz and could you fill in the ships log for Phileas Fogg?
A great book for a gift, maybe following a visit to the library, or for in school. We recommend for 8 years and upwards.

My Book of Stories – write your own Shakespearean tales. By Deborah Paterson.shakespeare
A wealth of Shakespearean characters, plots and stories are brought to life in this compendium of tales, activities and ideas. An intriguing book with an activity on each page, such as write your own fairy song for Midsummer Nights Dream or draw a secret disguise as in Twelfth Night.
The illustrations are beautiful and are taken from British Library collections.
This book would be an excellent resource as we celebrate the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death and also on Shakespeare Week, on 14- 20th March.
We recommend for 9 – 13 year olds and for adults too!
Dolphin Booksellers and Books Go Walkabout are pleased to support the British Library through blogs and Twitter.
Sue Martin

 

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Books go Walkabout is our international books and literacy project - connecting authors and illustrators with children and young people around the globe.

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A Journey Through Series – QED Publishers

Human BodyTwo great books in this new series from QED Publishers. A Journey Through the Human Body, and A Journey Through Space are written by award winning author Steve Parker and illustrated by John Haslam.

The Human Body starts what it means to be human, why we are different to other animals and then takes a journey through the main functions of the body; breathing and the journey of air and into the blood stream, the journey of food. Mmmmm…, the journey of thoughts and the brain and the central nervous system. A real journey and once you’ve read the book there is not much more that you would need to know!

A Journey Through Space will see you take a journey from your doorstep into outer space!

Find your way through the Solar System, explore craters on Mars, journey through towards the Sun.Space

Both books have a wonderful poster in the book cover and are excellent non fiction books for children in school and at home. We recommend for ages 6 and upwards.

Sue Martin Dolphin Booksellers

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Books go Walkabout is our international books and literacy project - connecting authors and illustrators with children and young people around the globe.

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Super Skills Series

How to codeWe were really impressed with this series from QED-publishing and the books How to Code and How to Cook in 10 Easy Lessons are just brill!!

They are very attractively illustrated and the hard covers and spiral binding make them very practical and long lasting.

How to Code by Sean McManus gives plans that in 10 lessons, helps to understand coding, use Scratch to start programming, manipulate graphics, fix bugs and just about everything you need to know about coding to get started.

Coding is not one of my strengths and to be honest I haven’t even tried,we have a team thought that ‘even I’ may now be able to code!

Sean has a brilliant website included in the book index, along with other really useful stuff.

How to Cook in 10 Easy Lessons by Wendy Sweetser gives a whole range of skills for cooking in 10 lessons. From peeling and grating to making sweet and savoury sauces, each section has 4 recipes that I immediately wanted to try; carrot and pecan muffins, chicken satay or vegetable fried rice.How to Cook

A great series, 2 spectacularly good books. We recommend for children from 8 years and onwards in schools and in the homes.

Would make some excellent presents in Father Christmas’s sack!

Sue Martin Dolphin Booksellers & Books Go Walkabout

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Books go Walkabout is our international books and literacy project - connecting authors and illustrators with children and young people around the globe.

We use Stripe to handle your e-purchase. Buy with confidence from BgW. Customer FAQ's here.

50 Things You Should Know About Series from QED. Human Body, Prehistoric Britain

50 Things H Body50 Things You should Know about the Human Body by Angel Royston

This has everything you would need to know about the Human Body, unless you are about to embark on a medical degree!!

The facts are really clearly presented with illustrations that are accurate and easy to identify how parts of the body are working. The pages are well laid out and text and illustrations are combined to make an engaging impact. Each section has a different colour and the glossary and index at the back of the book will point the reader to the right places in the book without being off putting to children with any reading difficulties.

The start of the 50 Things You Should Know About Series from QED Publishing, well worth buying for home, school or the library. We suggest the book for 6-9 year olds and beyond.

50 Things You should Know about Pre-Historic Britain by Claire Hibbert 50 Pre His

From The Old Stone Age, through the Ice Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age and touching on the Romans, this book has everything you need to start work on prehistoric Britain and to lead the reader into all sorts of interesting directions.

Particularly good section on an Iron Age Village and dwellings in Scotland called, crannogs, brochs and wheelhouses. For instance a crannog is a roundhouse that stood on a jetty and Loch Tay there were 18 crannogs.

We suggest the book for 6 – 9 year olds and beyond.

Great new series from QED Publishing and is part of their new books published in November 2015.

Sue Martin Dolphin Booksellers and Books Go Walkabout

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Books go Walkabout is our international books and literacy project - connecting authors and illustrators with children and young people around the globe.

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Natural History Museum Dino Dinners and Woolly Mammoth

Dino DinnersA wonderful new series from Mick Manning and Brita Granstrom published by Frances Lincoln in connection with the Natural History Museum.

Dino Dinners – Who eats What and Who eats Who? A big question if you are a dinosaur fan. Triceratops? He eats plants, but with 6 tons of muscle, he is a very dangerous veggie!

Woolly Mammoth – How did they survive in ice age cold? A gentle giant but if angry they can become a battering ram of tusks and steaming shaggy hair.

The books are beautifully illustrated and on each page there are interesting facts.

A great series for KS1 and beyond.Woolly Mammoth

We recommend for ages 5 – 9 years

Sue Martin Dolphin Booksellers

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Books go Walkabout is our international books and literacy project - connecting authors and illustrators with children and young people around the globe.

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Tutankhamun’s Tomb

An amazing visual adventure through the tomb of Egypt’s most famous Pharaoh, Tutankhamun. This hard back book is full of inviting flaps and pop ups as you journey through the Kingdom of the Nile and the Valley of the Kings.

The journey with the archaeologist, Howard Carter in 1922 takes place as he discovers the steps leading down into the tomb, which had not been walked on for over 3000 years, and as he glimpsed the treasures that lay in the tomb of Tutankhamun.

TutankhamunWritten by Jen Green and Julie Renee Anderson and published by QED, this book is a real gem of a book for design, information and readability.

Each page is packed with facts in intriguing layout of the text, there are lots of opportunities for learning and adventure. The book would be an invaluable tool for KS2 work on the Egyptians or as a book at home or in the library for an avid explorer.

My favourite page was about Sailing across the Heavens, and a pop up model of a boat that was in the tomb for Tutankhamun to use to sail into the heavens. Sailing was important for the Egyptians and they believed that even the gods sailed in boats.

Packed from start to finish the information in the book will give those who read it a real interest and understanding about Tutankhamun and the Ancient Egyptians.

We recommend the book for 8 years to adult and beyond!

Sue Martin Dolphin Booksellers and Books Go Walkabout

Bookmonitor is our news source for reviews and project information.

Books go Walkabout is our international books and literacy project - connecting authors and illustrators with children and young people around the globe.

We use Stripe to handle your e-purchase. Buy with confidence from BgW. Customer FAQ's here.