JUNO Book Club
Books for Adults: Spring
Snorkelling Britain: 100 Marine Adventures by Emma Taylor and Gordon Taylor, Wild Things Publishing Snorkelling in the UK isn’t something I’d considered until we featured snorkelling instructor Katie Maggs in JUNO for My Life My Way (issue 82). Since then, it’s been lodged in the back of my mind as something I’d like to try, and so I was thrilled to see this new guide. In the introductory pages, there’s all the information you need to get started, including tips for safe and responsible snorkelling – not to disturb marine habitats, what to do (and what not to do) if you encounter a seal, and a reminder to use environmentally friendly products, for example. There’s then a directory of 100 sites around Britain. Each entry includes photos, a description of snorkelling there, and a succinct information box with reasons for visiting, what you need to know, getting there and finding...
Books for Adults: Spring
Snorkelling Britain: 100 Marine Adventures by Emma Taylor and Gordon Taylor, Wild Things Publishing Snorkelling in the UK isn’t something I’d considered until we featured snorkelling instructor Katie Maggs in...
Books for Children: Spring
Kwesi and Nana Ruby Learn to Swim by Kobina Commeh, illustrated by Bárbara Quintino, Barefoot Books Kwesi wishes he could play in the lake with his friends, but he can’t swim. He confides in Nana Ruby and she tells him a secret: she can’t either. When she moved from Ghana to the US as a child, segregation, which banned Black people from using pools and beaches, prevented her from learning to swim. She tells Kwesi the West African legend of Mami Wata, “half woman and half fish”. They draw on her strength and together they face their fear. This is a beautiful portrayal of a grandchild–grandparent relationship. Kwesi and Nana Ruby have so much time for each other and there’s wonderful understanding between them. I love the way Nany Ruby shares her family history and culture and she’s a powerful role model to Kwesi in the way she triumphs over painful...
Books for Children: Spring
Kwesi and Nana Ruby Learn to Swim by Kobina Commeh, illustrated by Bárbara Quintino, Barefoot Books Kwesi wishes he could play in the lake with his friends, but he can’t swim....
Books for Inspiration: Tween Girls
My Dear Period: A Guidebook by Elena Riu, Sanctuary Publishing This is a delightful, illustrated guide for girls approaching puberty, full of information about body transformations, hormones, menstruation and more. Alongside the facts are poems, stories, discussions of ideas such as the inner seasons of the menstrual cycle, as well as exercises that give readers the opportunity to explore their thoughts and feelings around the subject. There’s a creative and homemade quality to this guidebook, which I love, and its warm and chatty tone feels really supportive. It offers girls knowledge, understanding and confidence, helping to strengthen a connection with their changing bodies. The Autistic Teen Girl’s School Survival Guide by Gracie Barlow, Jessica Kingsley Publishers This slim and easy-to-read guide is written by 20-year-old Gracie Barlow who, with input from academics, shares her (very recent) experience of navigating the school system as an autistic girl. As she points out, there is...
Books for Inspiration: Tween Girls
My Dear Period: A Guidebook by Elena Riu, Sanctuary Publishing This is a delightful, illustrated guide for girls approaching puberty, full of information about body transformations, hormones, menstruation and more. Alongside...
Raising readers and helping your child fall in ...
We know storytelling has been around for thousands of years. We have proof from the evidence that survives – from ancient cave art, to hieroglyphs, runes and Greek fables. We also know there must be stories we have no record of, because before everyone could read and write, before the tools for writing were invented, all stories were told. Whether it was by a travelling bard, a village elder around the fire or a parent to a child, humans have always shared stories. Just as we do today. People tell stories to explain how the world works, why things are the way they are, to give warnings, and to make people laugh or cry or perhaps feel a shiver down the spine. I have always loved stories and the power words can have when they are put together in a certain way. As a child I used to stay up...
Raising readers and helping your child fall in love with stories
We know storytelling has been around for thousands of years. We have proof from the evidence that survives – from ancient cave art, to hieroglyphs, runes and Greek fables. We...
Books for Inspiration: Love
Ten-Word Tiny Tales of Love by Joseph Coehlo and Friends, illustrated by artists from around the world, Walker Books These ten-word tales are like magical story seeds that grow in young readers’ imaginations as they experience them together with the accompanying illustrations. It’s amazing how much Coehlo conveys in so few words. The illustrations, each by a different artist, offer an interpretation of the words, and they make space for the reader’s own creativity in imagining how the story might unravel. The tales in this collection are united by the theme of love – between siblings, for nature, in times of sadness and in moments of joy. It’s a tender portrayal of love in different guises. Our Love by Fátima Ordinola, Post Wave This book is so simple and so easily understood by young children and yet it communicates the expansiveness of love between a parent and a child. The love...
Books for Inspiration: Love
Ten-Word Tiny Tales of Love by Joseph Coehlo and Friends, illustrated by artists from around the world, Walker Books These ten-word tales are like magical story seeds that grow in...
Books for Adults: Early Spring
Reviews by Alice Ellerby and Jess Hazel Swell by Maria Ferguson, Penguin Swell, Maria Ferguson’s second poetry collection, is a powerful documentation of one woman’s experience of becoming a mother. Navigating complex feelings around family, class and domesticity, observing her changing body, and moving from loss towards renewal, Ferguson’s poems offer a radical and contemporary portrayal of an experience as old as time. The tone shifts as Ferguson’s circumstances change – living as a young couple, buying a house, pregnancy, miscarriage, the anxiety of being pregnant again, new motherhood. Though the poems are deeply personal, they share a narrative that unites many, and there’s opportunity for people to feel their own stories as they read them. The writing is eloquent and astute across many thoughts: the brutality of growing old; the absurdity of seeing a past lover in the play park; inheritance tax; the self-loathing of not being able to...
Books for Adults: Early Spring
Reviews by Alice Ellerby and Jess Hazel Swell by Maria Ferguson, Penguin Swell, Maria Ferguson’s second poetry collection, is a powerful documentation of one woman’s experience of becoming a mother....
Books for Children: Early Spring
Akeem Keeps Bees! A Close-up Look at the Honey Makers and Pollinators of Sankofa Farms by Kamal E. Bell with Akeem Bell, illustrated by Darnell Johnson, Storey Publishing This is a wonderful book about beekeeping, that goes into great detail about the life cycles of bees and the processes of tending to their hives. It looks at the specialist equipment and clothing needed, how to introduce a queen to the colony, the different types of bees and the jobs they do, how honey and honeycomb are made, why bees swarm, harvesting honey, and more. The information is imparted through an accessible comic strip, which features the author, Kamal Bell, his son Akeem, and the bees themselves who have some amusing dialogue. Kamal Bell is the founder of Sankofa Farms in North Carolina, which he set up to address “food deserts” experienced by certain communities. The farm helps young men learn...
Books for Children: Early Spring
Akeem Keeps Bees! A Close-up Look at the Honey Makers and Pollinators of Sankofa Farms by Kamal E. Bell with Akeem Bell, illustrated by Darnell Johnson, Storey Publishing This is...
Winter Book Club: four new books for adults
The Art of Breastfeeding: The Leading Source of Breastfeeding Support and Information by La Leche League International, Pinter & Martin First published in 1958, this is the ninth edition of the La Leche League publication that supports families with breastfeeding. It is a weighty volume that brings up-to-date information and generations of wisdom to parents. Included in the book are chapters on why it matters, getting started, life with a breastfed baby, managing common challenges, going back to work, sleep and weaning. It’s roughly set out by age of baby (breastfeeding a newborn raises different questions to breastfeeding a toddler) so you can easily access the information you need for a particular stage, though it’s interesting to look ahead when thinking about how long you might breastfeed for. reading this book makes you feel you’re in safe hands The book is refreshingly inclusive – “Whether you’re pregnant, adopting, or working with a surrogate, congratulations!” – and it recognises those who don’t identify as mothers...
Winter Book Club: four new books for adults
The Art of Breastfeeding: The Leading Source of Breastfeeding Support and Information by La Leche League International, Pinter & Martin First published in 1958, this is the ninth edition of the La Leche...
Books for Children: Winter
When the Stammer Came to Stay by Maggie O’Farrell, illustrated by Daniela Jaglenka Terrazzini, Walker Books Sisters Bea and Min share a bedroom right at the top of their tall, narrow house. In many ways, the sisters are opposites. Bea is neat and tidy; Min is messy. Min loves to chat; Bea loves to listen. Bea likes to keep her shoes polished; Min likes to wade through ponds full of frogspawn. But their differences, noted by everyone, are inconsequential to the girls. They love each other, and that is that. Then, one day as Min is chatting, she feels her tongue suddenly lock and her words just won’t come out. She finds it difficult to make sense of what’s happened to her but there’s nothing she can do to bring her words back. Looking in the mirror, she sees a creature on her shoulder. It’s the creature who’s seizing her words as she tries to...
Books for Children: Winter
When the Stammer Came to Stay by Maggie O’Farrell, illustrated by Daniela Jaglenka Terrazzini, Walker Books Sisters Bea and Min share a bedroom right at the top of their tall, narrow house. In many ways,...
Autumn Book Club: five new books for adults
Circle Holding: A Practical Guide to Facilitating Talking Circles By Julia Davis and Tessa Venuti Sanderson, Singing Dragon A circle, as Davis and Sanderson explain in their introduction, is “a space where each person has the opportunity both to speak and be listened to without interruption or comment”, and for anyone considering venturing into facilitating a circle, this book is essential reading. It is a comprehensive guide to everything you will need to consider and covers practical information about how to set up the space, the importance of welcoming, suggestions for opening and settling, how to manage timings, how to market your circle, and more. There are troubleshooting topics too, such as how to manage power dynamics and how to ensure everyone feels able to participate fully. Davis and Sanderson are wise and encouraging guides. Throughout the book, they share their own experiences and there are anecdotes from other seasoned...
Autumn Book Club: five new books for adults
Circle Holding: A Practical Guide to Facilitating Talking Circles By Julia Davis and Tessa Venuti Sanderson, Singing Dragon A circle, as Davis and Sanderson explain in their introduction, is “a...