Snarhooked

The Poisoned King by Katherine Rundell

The Wintermoor Lights by Dan Smith

Avalanche by Simon Fox

Thirst by Darren Simpson

These are some of the books I have been recommending to parents this year. Thirst (and The Wintermoor Lights to a lesser extent) would be best for teenagers as it's quite gory and scary but they are all great reads.
#KidsBooksFriday
#KidLitUK
#UKKidLit
#KidLit

Ladult: Navigating Safely from Boy to Man by Dr Andy Cope and Oliver Cope I am not the intended audience for this book, being female and in my thirties, but I wanted to read it to see if it would be a good addition to my secondary school library. It is clearly written fo…

New non-fiction book for the library: Ladult by Dr Andy Cope & Oliver Cope. Full of the science of why people (but young men in particular) respond the way we do and tips for a positive, productive mindset. Thanks to #Toppsta for the review copy. snarhookedonbooks.wordpress.com/2025/11/16/l...

The Last Day of October by Phil Hickes I am not usually a fan of scary stories but I really like Phil Hickes’ writing. His stories are wonderfully creepy and atmospheric but the horror is at a suitable level for children to read. …

I was a little late getting hold of a copy, but I really enjoyed Phil Hickes' newest book: The Last Day of October, illustrated by Oriol Vidal and published by @barringtonstoke.bsky.social. It is an eerie dyslexic-friendly read with a great ending. snarhookedonbooks.wordpress.com/2025/11/16/t...

Front cover of Hazel Hill is Gonna Win This One by Maggie Horne. The title is written on the back of a girl's purple jacket. She has long, brown hair, a pencil behind her ear and a notebook in her hand as she looks back over her shoulder. Her jacket also has lots of pin badge.

Front cover of Rules for Vampires by Alex Foulkes, illustrated by Sara Ogilvie. The author's nameis at the top and the book title and illustrator's name at the bottom. A spindly young vampire is on a rooftop with a chimney in the foreground and more houses in the distance. A flock of bats seems to come from the girl's cloak and off into the distance, circling over a huge full moon surrounding her upper body.

I adored Hazel Hill Is Gonna Win This One by Maggie Horne and Rules for Vampires by Alex Foulkes, illustrated by Sara Ogilvie. Fabulous stories with great messages about making and maintaining friendships.
#KidsBookFriday
#UKKidLit
#KidLitUK

Brigands & Breadknives by Travis Baldree Perhaps not quite so cosy as the preceding titles in this series, but no less enjoyable for it. This is a bit of a change from the books I have reviewed on this blog so far. The opening word of thi…

Happy publication day to Brigands & Breadknives!. It's the latest in Travis Baldree's cosy fantasy Legends & Lattes series and I really enjoyed it. Full review here: snarhookedonbooks.wordpress.com/2025/11/10/b...
Thanks to @netgalley.bsky.social and @panmacmillan.bsky.social for the eARC

Reek by Alistair Chisholm This is a brilliant short book with a lot packed in. It takes place in the future, after an algal bloom created fumes (the Reek) which made the air toxic. At first it was ignored, as only birds wer…

I have finally had chance to read Reek by Alastair Chisholm. It's a cracking little sci-fi dystopian thriller set in the near future where climate change has led to the air turning toxic. One company controls all access to clean air.
Full review here: snarhookedonbooks.wordpress.com/2025/11/08/r...

Yes, I have to remind myself to look at a book's dimensions when I'm browsing online! I might need a research trip to the nearest town with a bookshop to look at some in person. Thank you for the Very Short Introductions series recommendation. I think they'll be going on my wishlist.

Front cover of The Way Things Work by David Macaulay. The letters of the title are made up of a variety of drawings of items e.g a crane for T, a clamp for G, a zip for Y.

Front cover of Normal Women by Philippa Gregory.

Front cover of 'what if?' by Randall Munroe.

Front cover of Rewild by Ben Martynoga.

I think these are are all great non-fiction books. Plus the Usborne 'For Beginners' and '100 things to know about' series. #KidsBooksFridays #UKKidLit

Thank you very much. We do have some DK books, like the excellent The Way Things Work Now. They are just a bit big and heavy for students to carry around in their bags, unfortunately!

I would love to discover some recommendations for secondary non-fiction please. Anything that's proven popular with 11-16 year olds. Bonus points if it's about farming or dirt bikes as they are topics I definitely need more books on. #UKKidLit #KidsBooksFriday

The Dictionary of Difficult Words by Jane Solomon and Louise Lockhart

Book cover for Wonderfully Wired Brain’s by Louise Gooding and Ruth Burrows

Book cover for The Hidden Heroes of Science by Peter Gallivan and Robbie Cathro

Book cover for Britannica’s All New Children’s Encyclopaedia edited by Christopher Lloyd

I genuinely think we live in a golden age of kids non-fiction, so I’m very excited for us to celebrate #NonFictionNovember with this week’s #KidsBooksFriday.

What brilliant non-fiction would you recommend? This is another week where I can’t possibly stop at four.

#UKKidLit #KidLitUK #KidLit

So pleased you've posted this today. There are tentative sounds I might be able to update the non-fiction section. It's mostly 25+ years old apart from the thin Accelerated Reader quizzed NF and a few books I've been able to add. It's great to have some more titles for my wishlist. #KidsBooksFriday

Chris Priestley has written some fabulous scary stories. Seven Ghosts, Still Water and Freeze are all short enough to be achievable reads for reluctant readers and are also dyslexic-friendly. The Tales of Terror series is great too. #UKKidLit #KidLitUK #KidLit

Jennifer Killick's horror series (Crater Lake, Dread Wood and Serial Chillers) deftly use humour amidst the moments of terror to keep them from becoming overwhelming. They are very readable, both in terms of pacing but also the font size is larger than is usual. #UKKidLit #KidLitUK #KidLit

Phil Hickes is great at writing creepy, atmospheric stories that are a good level of scary for kids (and me!). There's a trilogy of his Aveline Jones books and two Shadowhall Academy books. Plus his new one, The Last Day of October, which I am itching to read. #UKKidLit #KidLitUK #KidLit

I'm not one for anything too scary either but I steeled myself to read some so I had recommendations for students. These are some of the authors I always suggest:

Short stories and anthologies, especially authors/series that you are familiar with, are great to get back into the reading habit again. It's not as intimidating as getting your head around a whole new plot/world/group of characters. Especially if you are only reading in short bursts at a time.

For me, it was going back to a series and I had adored (Garth Nix's Old Kingdom) and realising there were new books I had missed while I had been struggling to pick up a book. #KidLitUK #UKKidLit #KidLit #KidsBooksFriday

I'm going for authors rather than just books as these wonderful people have written so many great titles: Fleur Hitchcock for murder mysteries, Alastair Chisholm for sci-fi, Frances Hardinge for fantasy, Katherine Rundell for animals/ adventure, Jonathan Stroud for sarcastic
friends in peril.

Large artwork covers a wall. It depicts books on a shelf. Titles include The Outlaws Scarlett and Browne by Jonathan Stroud, I AM WOLF by Alastair Chisholm and Murder Most Unladylike by Robin Stevens

The other part of the wall showing more artwork of books on a shelf. Titles here include Mortal Engines by Philip Reeves and Lockwood & Co by Jonathan Stroud.

A pillar at the left of the library entrance is decorated with artwork depicting books. There is I survived the graphic novel by Lauren Tarshis, Noor-un-Nissa Inayat Kahn by Sufiya Ahmed and After the War by Tom Palmer.

A pillar to the right of the library entrance is covered with artwork depicting two books: Dread Wood by Jennifer Killick and Neymar by Matt and Tom Oldfield.

Look at the lovely new wall art outside the library! Included are some of our most borrowed books and authors, library lesson class reads and other great titles. It was lovely to be able to suggest which books were used and wonderful to see them now decorating the walls.
#readingforpleasure

Oh good, it sounds like a copy would be a fun addition to the library. Thank you. ☺️

I was so excited thinking about these books again that I forgot the hashtags! 🤦 #UKKidLit #KidLitUK #KidsBooksFriday

Cover of One Odd Old Owl by Paul S. Adhead. A sleeping owl wearing a nightcap lies back against a tree. The title is written on a blue banner above. A small snail is on top of this banner. The author's name on a paler blue banner at the bottom.

Cover of Puzzle Island by Paul S. Adhead. Letter blocks spelling out animal names surround an image of a volcanic island. In the foreground is a flowering tree in which all of the names animals are perched. These include tiger, squirrel, vulture, toucan, butterfly and hummingbird. The title appears in black script in the sky above the volcano.

Cover of A Peacock on the Roof by Paul S. Adhead. A peacock is perched on a grey tile roof, to the left of him is a chimey stack. The image is circular and surrounded by tree branches and flowers such as irises and a sunflower. A grey tabby cat can just be seen peeping over the top edge of the circle.

I love Paul S. Adshead's puzzle books. I started off solving the purely visual clues, hunting for all the different animals. Then moved on to solving the puzzles that required you to find hidden letters when I was a little older. Hours of fun.

Ooh this sounds good! Would secondary students enjoy it, or is it more aimed at primary?

Avalanche by Simon Fox A cracking adventure thriller. When we meet Tom at the start of the book he is out of sorts. His mum is Head of Security for a bio-tech firm and her employer, Eric, was the target of an assassinati…

Looking for a cracking middle grade adventure thriller? #Avalanche by Simon Fox is out now. It's an action-packed, pacy read with some real moments of tension. Full review here: snarhookedonbooks.wordpress.com/2025/10/14/a...
Thanks to @nosycrow.bsky.social and #NetGalley for the eARC.
#KidLitUK

Owl King by Bex Hogan I really enjoyed listening to the audiobook of Nettle by Bex Hogan and so was delighted to be able to read the sequel, Owl King. We are back in the realm of faery and this time we get to learn more…

Happy publication day to @bexhogan.bsky.social's #OwlKing. It was a delight to return to the Faery Realms and learn more about the different courts. This is a lyrical, atmospheric tale with teeth. Out today, published by @zephyrbooks.bsky.social
snarhookedonbooks.wordpress.com/2025/10/09/o...
#YA

Ghost by Finbar Hawkins An ideal YA read for those who enjoy atmospheric, unsettling stories and don’t mind if that can be at the expense of solid explanation. This supernatural horror story weaves together the stor…

Need a supernatural YA read for the spooky season? Ghost by Finbar Hawkins is out 6th Nov. Full review of this atmospheric tale of three young women vs malevolence: snarhookedonbooks.wordpress.com/2025/10/08/ghost-by-finbar-hawkins/
Thanks to Head of Zeus for the eARC via NetGalley.
#Horror #YA

Uncle Zeedie by Colm Field This is a short, fast-paced horror story which could be especially good for teens who lack reading stamina.The story opens with teenager Lacey and her younger brother George in the car with their d…

I was fortunate to get hold of a copy of Uncle Zeedie by Colm Field via Toppsta. It's a short, fast-paced horror story which could be especially good for teens who lack reading stamina. Read my review here:
snarhookedonbooks.wordpress.com/2025/10/05/u...
#Horror #KidLitUK #BookSky

Wyrdwood by Curtis Jobling There must be something in the air as this is the second ARC I’ve read in the last couple of months where there are strange happenings in a small town, with a story that weaves folklore and h…

Wyrdwood by Curtis Jobling was published earlier this week. It's an ideal read for the spooky season. Intended to share on publication day but Storm Amy had other ideas!
#KidLitUk #BookSky
Thanks to @netgalley.bsky.social & Fox & Ink books for the ARC.
snarhookedonbooks.wordpress.com/2025/10/05/w...

A poster of a manifesto about reading, by Loki, with 6 points on reading "bad" books, short books, comics, audioooks, webcomics and fanfic, plus not finishing bad books cos life is too short.

This is my Lokifesto #KidsConf #UKkidlit #edusky lokibooks.com/lokifesto/