Here is another title in this excellent series of short biographies for kids. This time, I got to read about Mary Kom, someone whom I did not know. As is always the case in the Little People, Big Dreams titles, readers will find a story with inspiration, this time about a girl who dreamed of becoming a boxer. Learn how she achieved this, how she grew along the way and how she gave back.
This book is beautifully illustrated and tells Mary’s story well. Give it to a child to show them how dreams can lead to accomplishments.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group for this title. All opinions are my own.
I am very excited to be a part of this blog tour. I have enjoyed everything that I have read by this author. Fans of historical fiction will too. This book is definitely worth a look!
Many thanks to everyone at HTP for this opportunity.
About the Book:
A heartwarming story about a mother and daughter in wartime England and the power of books that bring them together, by the bestselling author of The Last Bookshop in London.
In Nottingham, England, widow Emma Taylor finds herself in desperate need of a job. She and her beloved daughter Olivia have always managed just fine on their own, but with the legal restrictions prohibiting widows with children from most employment opportunities, she’s left with only one option: persuading the manageress at Boots’ Booklover’s Library to take a chance on her with a job.
When the threat of war in England becomes a reality, Olivia must be evacuated to the countryside. In the wake of being separated from her daughter, Emma seeks solace in the unlikely friendships she forms with her neighbors and coworkers, and a renewed sense of purpose through the recommendations she provides to the library’s quirky regulars. But the job doesn’t come without its difficulties. Books are mysteriously misshelved and disappearing and the work at the lending library forces her to confront the memories of her late father and the bookstore they once owned together before a terrible accident.
As the Blitz intensifies in Nottingham and Emma fights to reunite with her daughter, she must learn to depend on her community and the power of literature more than ever to find hope in the darkest of times.
Start reading:
PROLOGUE
Nottingham, England April 1931
JUST ONE MORE CHAPTER. Emma lingered in the storage area on the second floor of her father’s bookshop, Tower Bookshop, with Jane Austen’s Emma cradled in her lap. Sadly, not her namesake—her parents had named her Emmaline for an aunt she’d never met, who had died on Emma’s seventh birthday ten years ago.
Still, the book was one of Emma’s favorites.
“Emma.” Papa’s voice rose from somewhere in the bookshop, sharp with irritation.
She frowned. Papa was seldom ever cross with her.
Perhaps the smoke from the man who had come in with his cigar earlier still lingered in the shop.
She settled a scrap of paper into the spine of her book.
“Emmaline!” Something to that second cry snapped her to attention, a raw, frantic pitch.
Papa was never panicked.
She leaped up from the seat with such haste, the book dropped to the ground with a whump.
“I’m in the warehouse,” she called out, racing to the door.
The handle was scalding hot. She yelped and drew back. That’s when she saw the smoke, wisps seeping beneath the door, glowing in the stream of sunlight.
Fire.
She put her skirt over her hand and twisted the knob to open the door. Thick plumes of smoke billowed in, black and choking.
She sucked in a breath of surprise, unintentionally inhaling a lungful of burning air. A cough racked her and she stumbled back, her mind reeling as her feet pulled her from the threat.
But to where? This was the only exit from the storeroom, save the second-floor window.
“Papa,” she shouted, terror creeping into her voice.
All at once, he was there, wrapping a blanket around them, the one she kept in the shop for cold mornings before the furnace managed to heat the old building.
“Stay at my side.” Papa’s voice was gravelly beneath the blanket where he’d covered the lower part of his face. Even as he led her away, a great cough shuddered through his lean frame.
Beyond the wall of smoke was a vision straight out of Milton’s Paradise Lost as fire licked and climbed its way up the towering stacks of books, devouring a lifetime of careful curation. Emma screamed, the sound muted by the blanket.
But Papa’s hand was firm at her back, pressing her forward. “We have to run.” Not slowing, he guided her to the winding metal staircase. She used to love clattering down it as a girl, hearing the metal ringing around her.
“It’s hot,” Papa cautioned. “Don’t touch it.”
Emma hugged against his side as they squeezed down the narrow steps that barely fit the two of them together. It swayed beneath their weight, no longer sturdy as it had once been. The blazing heat felt as though it was blistering Emma’s skin. Too hot. Too close. Too much.
And they were plunging deeper into the fiery depths.
The soles of Emma’s shoes stuck to the last two steps as rubber melted against metal.
What had once been rows of bookshelves was now a maze of flames. Even Papa hesitated before the seemingly impassable blaze.
But there was nowhere else to go.
The fire was alive. Cracking and popping and hissing and roaring, roaring, roaring so loud, it seemed like an actual beast.
“Go,” he shouted, and his grip tightened around her, pulling her forward.
Together they ran, between columns of fire that had once been shelves of books. An ear-shattering crack came from above, spurring them to the front as fire and sparks poured down behind them.
Emma ran faster than she ever had before, faster than she knew herself capable. Papa’s arm at her side yanked her this way or that, navigating through the fiery chaos. Until there was nowhere to go.
Papa roared louder than the fire beast and released her, running toward the blazing door. It flew open at the impact, revealing clean sunny daylight outside. He turned toward her even as she rushed after him and grabbed her around the shoulders, hauling her into the street.
Emma gulped in the clean air, reveling in the cool dampness washing into her tortured lungs. A crowd had gathered, staring up at the Tower Bookshop. Some came to Emma and Papa, asking in a frenzy of voices if they were hurt.
In the distance came the scream of emergency sirens. Sirens Emma had heard her entire life, but had never once needed herself.
There was need now. She held on to Papa’s hand and looked behind her at the building that had been in her family for two generations and was meant to become hers someday. Her gaze skimmed over the bookshop to the top two floors where their home had once been.
The fire beast gave a great heaving howl and the top floor crumpled.
Someone grabbed her from behind, dragging her back as the rest of the structure came down, ripping her hand from her father’s. She didn’t reach for him again, unable to move, unable to think, her eyes fixed on the building as it crashed in on itself in a fiery heap. Their livelihood. Their home.
All the pictures of her mother who had died after Emma was born, all the books she and her father had lovingly selected from bookshops around England on the trips they’d taken together, everything they’d ever owned.
Gone.
Emma choked on a sob at the realization.
Everything was gone.
“We need a doctor.” A man’s voice broke through her horror, pulling her attention to her father.
He lay on the ground, motionless. Soot streaked his handsome slender face, and his thick gray hair that had once been the same shade of chestnut as hers was now singed in blackened tufts.
“Papa?” She sagged to the ground beside him.
His eyes lifted to her, watery blue and filled with a love that made her heart swell. The breath wheezed from his chest like a kettle’s cry. “You’re safe.”
Once the words left his mouth, his body relaxed, going slack.
“Papa?” Emma cried.
This time his eyes did not meet hers. They looked through her. Sightless and empty.
She shuddered at how unnatural he appeared. Like her father, and yet not like her father.
“Papa?”
The wailing sirens were still too far-off.
“I’m a doctor.” A man knelt on the other side of her father. His fingers went to Papa’s blackened neck and the man’s sad brown eyes turned up to her.
“I’m sorry, love. He’s gone.”
Emma stared at the man, refusing to believe her ears even as she saw the truth.
It had always just been Emma and her father, the two of them against the world, as Papa used to say. They read the same books to discuss together, they worked every day at the bookshop together, friends and colleagues as much as they were father and daughter. Once Emma had completed her schooling, she’d even traveled with him, curating books like the first editions they were still waiting on to arrive from Newcastle.
Now that beautiful light that shone in his eyes had dulled. Lifeless.
Madeline Martin is a New York Times, USA Today, and internationally bestselling author of historical fiction and historical romance with books that have been translated into over twenty-five different languages.
This is a great title for kids who are learning to play the piano. There are forty simple songs here along with many fun facts. Just a few of the pieces include When the Saints Go Marching In, John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt, Amazing Grace, Bingo, and the Birthday Song. Young students will feel a measure of accomplishment at they successfully play these songs.
I found this to be a nice title for its intended audience. I even want to play.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Zeitgeist for this title. All opinions are my own.
I highly recommend this title that teaches and empowers girls (though it could be useful to boys, adults…). It is nicely illustrated and packed with information.
This title is divided into sections on matters related to home, schoo,l and being out in the world. Just to give a flavor of the title with a subsection from each area…learn how to do laundry, to have difficult conversations with friends, to understand money matters.
This title would make a great gift and I think the recipient may refer to it often.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Zeitgeist for this title. All opinions are my own.
This book, along with the author’s My First Piano Sheet Music, are good resources for kids who want to play the piano. This title introduces music concepts like the Treble and Bass Clefs, types of notes, staffs and more.. There are many songs to practice including Alouette, The Wheels on the Bus and more. Each is tied to the concept of a lesson.
This book is a good resource for little learners. Hopefully, it will make learning to play the piano fun.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Zeitgeist for this title. All opinions are my own.
This book is a terrific read for a young lover of mysteries. They will meet Matilda who is a hotel bellhop. Will she be able to solve the case of the stolen secret recipe? It is needed for the World Baking Contest. The hotel’s Chef Stefan sure hopes so!
Matilda faces some doubts and accusations from those around her. Will she triumph? Who turns out to be behind the theft? Young children will enjoy finding out.
Isabella Follath has created delightful illustrations that enhance the enjoyment of the story. All in all, this is a short and appealing book.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group for this title. All opinions are my own.
Those who live in England, along with those who plan to visit will find this book to be essential. It highlights the many events that happen in London over the course of the year. For each, there is a helpful description and there are also a number of photos. For example-in April be part of The Tweed Run, in July attend the Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival and so on.
Whenever a person is in London, this book should be part of the trip.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group for this title. All opinions are my own.
Here is such a fun and feel good story and one that confirms what author Lindsey Kelk believes-that we love happy stories during difficult times. Her protagonist and, I think the author as well, see a role for romances as fiction that is just as worthy as any other reads.
Este Cox has written a book that takes off and becomes a huge bestseller. But…there is no Este, she is really teacher Sophie. Sophie is from a literary family and does not want to acknowledge her authorship of a sexy, romantic read to them. Lots of shenanigans ensue from this decision.
Playing against Este is Joe. As this is an enemies to lovers tale, readers watch as these two spar and come together. Watching them and the other characters in this story made for a delightful read.
I could pretty much say that, moving forward, I will read anything that Ms. Kelk writes. She knows how to help readers escape and enjoy her world for a few hours. Kelk gives readers a nice mix of plot, character, humor and heart.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Harper 360 for this title. All opinions are my own.
Yes, it is that Milne! What many may not know is that the author of the Winnie-the-Pooh stories also tried his hand at detective fiction. It is a shame that he only wrote one story since, as it turns out, he was pretty good at it!
This is a classic, country house mystery. There are a murder, many suspects, a prodigal brother’s return, an amateur detective (and his friend) and more than enough to keep the pages turning. There is even some humor.
It is very easy to recommend this reissue to fans of the Golden Age of Detective fiction.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Pushkin Press-Pushkin Vertigo for this title. All opinions are my own.
Joyce's mystery and fiction book reviews with some non-fiction too! 