Shine

Shine is a book for children that celebrates difference and diversity.

It's profusely illustrated with excellent coloured cartoons and it tells the story of Kai who is looking forward to going back to school after the long summer break.

But something is desperately wrong. Kai is mocked and derided by other pupils because they perceive him as being "different" to them.

Not unnaturally, Kai's confidence takes a knock but with the help of his mother and father Kai re-learns the ability to have pride in his own worth and his own unique abilities.

He realises that everyone is different, but this doesn't mean they have no value or worth and that, as his mother points out, the moon and the stars are all different, but that they all shine beautifully in the night sky.

This is a wonderful book by Sarah Asuquo, a London English teacher whose family originated in Nigeria.

It's a book that really needs to be in every primary school in the world and in every household, too.

It's published by Matador at £7.99 and is out very soon.

Tolly and the Pirate Ghost

Tolly and the Pirate Ghost is a new magical adventure story for children from Lucinda Williams. It's a tried and tested story, as Lucinda first started to relate the story to her children and their friends whilst they were on the school run.

Emily is 11 years old and circumstance force Emily and her mother to leave their nice, comfortable house and move into a tiny and cramped flat on the third floor of a block of flats.

This means that Emily can no longer keep her new puppy, a puppy she had always wanted.

But then, as if things were not bad enough, her mother becomes ill and Emily, who is a shy girl, must go and stay with a lollipop lady Gertie Pink and her twins who are a bit too boisterous for Emily's way of thinking.

However, Emily soon finds that she has been dragged in to a series of extraordinary events in the Pink household. Especially the arrival of their Uncle Wilf, an extraordinary gentleman who was a bit eccentric who had lost his house after a storm had swept it into the sea.

The experience had caused him to develop pneumonia and whilst he is recovering, Emily is thrilled to be asked to take charge of his talking African Grey parrot.

But disaster strikes! The parrot disappears and Emily is heartbroken. How can she tell Uncle Wilf that his parrot has vanished?

But Wilf needs to make a confession of his own. With him has travelled the ghost of Tobias, a 17th century pirate who shared his house on the Devonshire coast.

The parrot returns and lays an egg. But one night the egg is stolen and Autolocus, the parrot, is riven with grief.

The twins, along with Emily, must quickly find the egg and return it to Autolocus. But who is responsible for the egg theft? Can they get it back in time?

And what baby will he, sorry, she, give birth to?

This is am amazingly good read for children aged 7 and older and also their parents, too.

It costs £7.99 from Matador and please do keep an eye out for sequels.

The Man Who Never Sleeps

The Man Who Never Sleeps is the autobiography of Tom Bell, who was the man chosen by Rupert Murdoch when he needed someone to help him revolutionise his newspaper empire in the UK.

What became known as the Wapping Dispute back in the middle years of the 1980s was a major gamble for Murdoch.

He believed that his News International business was at risk from left wing activists who he believed were targeting his papers.

Whether or not he could succeed was based on the idea of getting his newspapers through the massed militant pickets that were targeting his new Wapping base of operations.

How could he make sure this happened? He turned to Tom Bell, who had earned the nickname The Man Who Never Sleeps.

His start in life wasn't a wealthy one. No silver spoon in Tom's mouth. And his parents were so poor in their native Scotland that they resorted to the ruse of wallpapering his bedroom with sporting news pages. There was a lot of love, but not much money.

But three decades later and with a mixture of ruthless determination leavened with a natural compassion for his fellow men and women, it was Tom that helped Murdoch break the stranglehold that the print unions had had on Fleet Street for many decades, responsible for ensuring that the printed newspapers of the group were distributed throughout the United Kingdom in trucks owned and operated by the TNT courier firm.

However, it's not all about business in Tom's life; He has also helped raise millions of Ponds to ensure that the lives of tens of thousands of children who are disadvantaged by reason of poverty or mental and physical health problems were vastly improved. It was for this reason that Tom met the Queen and earned an OBE.

It's written in conjunction with David Walker and is an entertaining and engaging read.

It's published by The Book Guild at £12.99.

Path of Injustice

Path of Injustice is the latest romantic novel from the pen of Beverley Hansford.

It is a historical romance, set in the kingdom of Alteria in the 18th century.

It is a stirring tale of romantic, heartfelt love that is troubled by personal grief and suffering and from the impact of jealousy. 

The romance is set against the backdrop of a civil war that has plunged the entire kingdom of Alteria into violence and chaos.

Daintry Brouka is a beautiful young lady who is deeply in love with her childhood sweetheart.

Her father is a dangerously ill and she seeks out a herbal potion that will be able to return him to good health.

However, this sets in motion a series of events that results in her being thrust into a horrible prison on charges of being a witch. A charge that, in the 18th century, still carried the death penalty. By being hung or burnt to death.

At first her release from the sentence to death comes as a relief to her. But this relief is soon replaced by the dread of knowing that instead her sentence has been commuted to forced labour in the Katangar silver mines. And nobody has ever returned from those mines.

Will Daintry ever see how betrothed again? Her family or her home? Will a miracle save her or will she die, a slave worker in a silver mine, mining silver for the benefit of other people?

This book is published by Matador at £8.99 and I think it will be an ideal romance novel for that long holiday flight or lounging on the beach in the sun.

The Unseen Path

The Unseen Path is a debut thriller from author JD de Pavilly.

A suspected Jihadi terrorist is shot dead by a sniper and this is witnessed by a member of the Counter Terrorism Police, Andy Bowson.

This seemingly straightforward incident soon propels Bowson and his team of officers into a world of violence, power politics, distrust, fear and outright fanaticism. 

As he and his team battle to swiftly put the lid on an increasing number of terrorist attacks, he finds that there are more questions than answers. And when he thinks he has the answer, another question springs up to take its place.

His wife, Sally, has vanished. Is her disappearance connected with the case, or not?

And there is Henry, who, it seems, is something to do with the highly secretive world of the Intelligence Services.

But who is Henry, really? Who is he actually working for? Who is targeting the terrorists? Why does it seem that the government is losing control of the situation?

The further their investigation goes, the stranger the whole situation seems to become.

Who can Andy trust? And what about his wife, Sally? What is she involved in? Can she ever be able to Reunite with Andy? Does she even want to?

And what ancient force has decided to become involved in the governance of modern Britain? Is it malign or well-meaning?

What will be the outcome for Andy, his team, Sally, his son and the entire country?

From the very first paragraph this 515 page shocker of a thriller crackles and bursts with a dynamic energy that belies this novel as a debut.

It's published by Matador at £19.99.

The Most Hated Man in the World

The Most Hated Man in the World is a new collection of poems from Andreas Stvarinides.

The poems are breathtaking. They are complex, simple, amusing, horrifying, uplifting, long, short, tall, thin, broad. Sometimes all of those things in the one poem.

From Only the Wind, the first poem to In the Ranks of the Free Men, these poems are filled with wonder, with joy, happiness, sadness and wit.

This book of poems, all 330 pages, will be on my bedside cabinet, being read every evening, for a long while to come. Some of them I will read again and again.

It is published at £9.99 by Matador and I will enjoy reading these poems knowing that readers of my book review blog will also buy this book and be reading the same poems that I am reading.

I think I like that idea.

This is Andreas' first book of poems. I hope there will be more to come.

Derek the Flying Dodo

Derek the Flying Dodo is a delightful and colourfully illustrated story for young children ages five to seven (and their folks) from Mauritius-born author, Vanee Apoolingum.

Everyone is fully aware that Dodos cannot fly. But that doesn't stop one particular young Dodo, a Dodo called Derek, from yearning to fly. In fact, it's all he ever dreamed of.

One day, Derek sees a shooting star and he makes a wish and the magic of the shooting star enables Derek's dream of being able to fly come true.

He meets a young boy called Aaron and, together, they both set off to explore the world, see new things, visit new places and have fun together.

There's an important lesson in the book from the author. "Dodo"n't let your dreams go extinct."

It's an utterly charming book and will be ideal for parents and children to read together and to look at the colourful illustrations.

It's published by Matador at £7.99.

Hopefully we will see more book from this author in the near future.