Book Review: October, October

Book 28 of 2022

Book 2 of the Yoto Carnegie Shortlist 2022

October, October. Written by Katya Balen.

This story, is absolutely gorgeous. Katya Balen has a beautiful poetic style which is full of short chapters and beautifully written descriptions.

This is a story about family, and how we relate to those around us, and even to an extent the parenting decisions that we make and how they affect our children. This is a story about nature, and how it affects us, abuot how it is to grow up wild, and how important even in the chaos of a city it is to find a place where we can be wild. This is the story about imagination and storytelling, about artifacts that are our gateway to these stories. And finally this is a story about the fear of change, and how sometimes it is so much easier to stay with what you know or stay angry, but the realisation of how much your world can open up if you allow that change into your heart.

I loved the descriptioins of the woods, and the descriptions of the developing friendship. I loved the happiness that oozed out of October when she found her mudlarks, and the sheer determination of the mother! We do not get the mothers story – but that would be an amazing story as well, the mother and how she helped foster the change and showed unconditional love.

So far – out of the two I have read this is my favourite of the shortlist so far!

Mrs K

Genre: Carnegie Shortlist 2022, October October, Katya Balen, childrens fiction, middle grade, novels, fiction, environment, nature, contemporary, family, animals, imagination, love, young adult, london, book review, Mrs K reads,

Review: The Lost Words

The Lost Words. Written by Robert Macfarlane. Illustrated by Jackie Morris.

This was a truly beautiful book. The pictures and the words entwined beautifully creating a visual dictionary, and poetry book and tribute to nature. It called itself a spell book of lost words. While I was a little disappointed that these words were so called lost, I thought that the book was beautifully done.

Research also showed me that these words were lost or taken out of a dictionary.

As an English teacher I was upset that the words were considered lost, but also I was excited by the book itself. It is the kinda of book you love to read, and can spend hours flicking through the pages.

What really prevents me from writing a solid review, or ever being involved in award decisions is that I struggle to understand how to compare this book to the others off the 2019 Carnegie Longlist that I have read. It is so different and so offbeat and distinctive I do not know how to fully review it.

Mrs K

Genre: Poetry, Nature, Animals, Non Fiction, Environment, Children’s, picture books, Art