Libraries 4 Schools

Prepare to be scared! It's three days until the start of our terrifying #Halloween blog tour to celebrate #PhilHickes's spine-tingling Barrington Stoke debut, #TheLastDayOfOctober! Follow these brilliant bloggers for reviews, sneak peeks and interviews every day next week 🎃

UK readers- here’s a quick and easy Halloween competition to maybe win some stuff! Sign up for the newsletter to be entered, or just enter if you’ve already signed up! Over 18s (because of data stuff!)

gleam.io/TKXLu/win-th...

Underlings: The Spark Engine is a fantastic dystopian debut from Murray Fisher (who sent us a copy, with this poster and bookmark!), published by new independent publisher Toller Press. With an imaginative world, relatable characters, and an important message, we cannot speak highly enough of it!

Underlings: The Spark Engine | Book Review | Libraries 4 Schools Underlings: The Spark Engine book review | Something's not right in the city of Lode. Can Evin and Kodi work it out before they're caught?

Down in the mines, Evin discovers a mysterious key, and a note with a familiar name on it.

With her new friend Kodi and her mech-dog Jet, can Evin stay one step ahead of Cardinal Mavka and uncover the truth about the city of Lode before it's too late?
www.libraries4schools.com/2025/10/23/u...

Cosy crime for kids? Count us in! 🕵🏻

Thank you to @scholasticuk.bsky.social for sending us a copy of Emily Hourican's children's debut 'Murder at the Ivy Hotel'. A murder mystery set in a Dublin hotel that hides secrets is our cup of tea ☕

It's out February 2026, so mark it in your calendars!

Applebaum's books are *always* great, so we're not surprised to hear Imogen Good is too! As for the Solar System book, it's lovely - it has press-out planets at the back that you can build! 🪐💙

Image shows a children's book with a shiny silvery-blue cover. The name of the author (Lucy Edwards) is at the top in black, while the title 'Ella Jones Vs the Battle Noise' is in black at the bottom. In the centre right is a circle containing a picture of a young girl with red hair, surrounded by lightning. She is gripping the harness of a guide dog. She looks like a very good girl indeed. Behind the book is a press release - it isn't fully readable, but the author and book name is at the top, and a picture of the author with her guide dog is visible at the bottom.

But that's not all! Thanks also to @scholasticuk.bsky.social for sending us a copy of @lucyedwards.bsky.social's Ella Jones vs the Battle Noise, the sequel to her fantastic kids' debut from earlier this year. This one comes out next week, so keep an eye out for it! (& check out that shiny cover! 🤩)

Image shows three books laying on a brown carpet. At the bottom left is a picture book half visible: the cover is white, and part of the title 'Once I Was A Tree' is visible. On top of this, slightly off to the right, is a book covered in drawings of the planets, with the title 'Build Your Own Solar System' in a large gold circle in the middle. Finally, on top of these in the centre is a smaller book with a blue cover showing a young girl out of focus, the edges of the cover surrounded by pink flowers and green vines; the title 'The Strange Disappearance of Imogen Good' is all in caps, except the name of the character which looks handwritten.

Thank you to @nosycrow.bsky.social for this trio of fab books - Once I Was A Tree, Build Your Own Solar System, and The Strange Disappearance of Imogen Good. It gives us something fun, something smart, and something mysterious that's perfect for the season!

#BookSky #BookPost #ChildrensBooks

Children's Writing Competitions A list of creative & non-fiction writing competitions for children in the UK, including contests for poetry, stories, handwriting & essays.

Lots of up to date writing competitions open to children and teens in the UK. Great ideas for in school & at home. schoolreadinglist.co.uk/competitions... #ukedchat #amwriting

We are delighted to have Chris Judge @halfwayupbooks.bsky.social today fir an Evil Duck event. Signed copies available in store!

OUT TODAY ❤️ My brand new author/illustrator book ‘My Friend Billy Whiskers’ is officially in shops TODAY. I hope that you all enjoy it
🦁👦🏻

...& Hannah McCaffery, Matt Oldfield & Alex Patrick, Simon Chapman & Wenjia Tang, and Fiona Barker & Eve O'Brien.

Pubs. @scholasticuk.bsky.social, Simon & Schuster Kids, Wren & Rook (@hachettechildrens.bsky.social), @nosycrow.bsky.social, Thames & Hudson Kids, Happy Yak (@quartobooksuk.bsky.social)

Featuring the wonderful words and delightful drawings of: erinentrada.bsky.social, emilyjaneclark.bsky.social & Wotto, swapnahaddow.bsky.social & Minky Stapleton, huwlewisjones.bsky.social & Sam Caldwell, vickywoodgate.bsky.social, rikworth.bsky.social & jordancollver.bsky.social, Jenny Valentine...

Monthly Book Recommendations: Sep 2025 | Libraries 4 Schools Book Recommendations: September 2025 | A host of fiction and non-fiction, and a couple of graphics/picture books - here's our September reads!

With the days getting greyer, we took the excuse to stay inside and do some reading over September - well, except for a cheeky jaunt to Norfolk to see some bookshops! 😉

Check out our website below to see what we read over the previous month!
www.libraries4schools.com/2025/10/09/b...
#BookSky

They say the Hunter’s Moon, which rises tonight, brings secrets to light... so what better time to reveal the cover of The Last Wolf, the first book in my brand-new series The Moonhaven Chronicles. Out 5 Feb 2026 with Macmillan Kids – available to pre-order now via this link: tinyurl.com/4a6w4jfz 🌕🐺

Chris Bradford introduces Nova Broadcasting live from the spaceship Helios, bestselling author Chris Bradford has a special announcement! Watch on to hear all about his thrilling new book, NOVA; before disaster strikes ...

To celebrate #WorldSpaceWeek, we're delighted to announce #NOVA, the new space adventure from #ChrisBradford!
When Max’s life-craft is pulled into a wormhole, he needs a whole galaxy of luck to return to safety …
Watch Chris introduce Nova here: bit.ly/4o1cMNa.
Out 02/26

💖Saturday 12pm I’m doing a great big gig at Union Chapel and if you want to join in,wherever you are, YOU CAN GET TICKETS FOR THE LIVESTREAM HERE www.waterstones.com/events/onlin... It’s going to be an hour long show drawing the most ridiculous comic ever, together, with special guests on stage too!

#Bookshop #BookishHoliday #ChildrensBooks #KidLit #Reading #BookshopVisit #IndieBookshops

Finally The Book Hive, where we picked up The Wild Robot on the Island, Oh Dear, Look What I Got! and On This Horrible Day In History. And a big shout out to Ben for getting the new Mikey Please book for us with next day delivery before we head home! Plus a couple more, because we were there 😉

...The Mushroom of Doom! and The Monster in the Lake.

Thanks to the lovely staff in another of our fave bookshops, The Holt Bookshop, for helping us choose what to take home - The Odyssey of Phoebe Quilliam, Ghosts in the Walls, I DID See A Yeti!, and Dracula & Daughters and Bear's Nap (signed!)

Lynda took another lovely trip to Norfolk, and visited a couple of her favourite bookshops while out there!

The first treats of the holiday came from Diss Publishing Bookshop and are giving us some perfectly spooky reads for October - Dead Yard: Seeds of Doom, Tales of Ghosts & Hauntings...

Resources for National Poetry Day 2025 Creative approaches to poetry for across all secondary ages, designed by EMC on behalf of Forward Arts Foundation for National Poetry Day 2025

Treat your classes to some wonderful poetry, along with resources designed by @barbarableiman.bsky.social for @poetrydayuk.bsky.social this Thursday! englishandmedia.co.uk/blog/resourc...

Check out our full review of the new kids' debut from @dougrdnaylor.bsky.social (pub. @dfbstoryhouse.bsky.social) at our website above!

#BookSky #ChildrensBooks #KidLit #AdventureStories #BooksForKids #BookReview

Sin Bin Island | Book Review | Libraries 4 Schools Sin Bin Island book review |

Pirate lessons, magical items, mysterious messages - it seems Digs has his work cut out for him at his new school! With so many secrets, it's only a matter of time that he and his friends get sent to Sin Bin Island. What will be waiting for them there...?

www.libraries4schools.com/2025/09/25/s...

FEAR FILES: HIDE AND SEEK is OUT NOW!
"A perfect shot of horror." Jennifer Killick
"I ran out of fingernails to bite." Jonathan Stroud
"Gripping. Atmospheric. Claustrophobic." Louie Stowell
Find out more about the FEAR FILES here: linktr.ee/FearFiles

Excited to be back at Thought Bubble in November 📚💫 See you there!

At the SuperQuesters @mathsweek.scot event yesterday @pauliancross.bsky.social launched a brand-new competition!

Design a medal to reward the SuperQuesters for using their maths skills to save the village of River Crest. 🥇

Enter here: tinyurl.com/3bz7fkf5

📅 Closing date: Friday 10 October

Thrilled to see this news out there in the world! I've been looking forward to this one for a while!

Brilliant! Buy it, read it. You'll love it. We did 😍.

Wahoo!!! There is just 3 weeks left until ‘My Friend Billy Whiskers’ is out in the big wide world 👦🏻🦁

#newbook #illustration #kidlitart #picturebook #instaart #instabook #instaillustration #snowday