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- Tony
Tony's Summer Picks
With summer definitely beating down upon us, we've rounded up some of our shop favourites to tide you through the balmy days ahead. (Click the cover images and book titles to be taken to the book in our website shop.)
Pizazz is the winner of this year’s Alligator Award for illustrated First Fiction and is the first of three novels featuring the eponymous reluctant superhero and similarly super family who are much in the public gaze; cue much embarrassment and eye rolling.
As a fully qualified superhero Pizazz must wear the costume and cloak at all times, can you imagine? It is not easy being super. Lots of attitude and plenty of illustrations which keep the pages turning quickly.
Great for girls and boys aged 7+ reading their first chapter books.
It is wonderful to see the early stories about the young Precious Ramotswe available again. There are all four in this collection – Precious and the Monkeys, Precious and the Missing Lion, Precious and the Mystery of Meerkat Hill, and Precious and the Zebra Necklace – all with the original illustrations by Iain McIntosh which makes for very good value. These are engaging first mysteries as solved by Precious before she set up her detective agency.
Suitable for readers 7+ but could be read to younger.
Charlie Higson is already known for his Young Bond series and a zombie YA series. This is his first stand alone novel in which Stan finds himself going on holiday with a bunch of strangers and having to navigate situations that are well outside his comfort zone. His careful well ordered life is peppered with lists of things to avoid (shark attack, kidnapping, unusual food). Stan is going to do well to return home without PTSD.
9-12 years.
From the team behind the ‘genuinely useful and endlessly fascinating’ QI is a marvellously eclectic mix of questions that might be on the fringes of science, philosophy, and the human condition.
Consider - How much water would you need to put out the Sun?
If spiders can walk on the ceiling, why can't they get out of the bath?
Why do dads make such bad jokes?
Why does red mean 'stop' and green mean 'go'?
Can I dig a tunnel to the other side of the Earth?
How do plant seeds know which way is up?
Lots of trivia and tangential information for the child who is always asking ‘Why…’ This book will entertain the whole family all summer.