How To Be Luminous is written by Harriet Reuter Hapgood, has a front cover by Mel Four, and is published by Macmillan.

I am not an artist but this book is amazing, it captures the essence of ‘crazy’, and grief, and love, and throws it all into one giant mess, and it’s amazing.

How To Be Luminous is about Minnie and her family, her heart and her art. When her mum goes missing, and leaves a mysterious note, Minnie must face up to the fact that her larger than life mother wasn’t as happy as she seemed, and she must find a way to fix the broken bonds between her and her two sisters.

Although I know nothing about art, and I’ve never had to face a loss like Minnie, there is a lot in this book I could relate to. Because a lot of the time I feel crazy and overwhelmed too, and smashing up an art studio seems like something I could really use. And, I believe this is something a lot of people can relate to, especially teenagers (admit it adults being a teenager sucks).

Also, they speak sign language which is really flipping cool; I’ve been wanting to learn for ages but have yet to muster the dedication. And the love triangle is interesting, but I really love the sisters relationship best, because it’s so complicated, and real, and messy. So yeah, it’s a good book, you should read it.

I suggest this book for age 12+. It faces some important issues as well as just bring a really good read, so guess what… you should buy it. Whether your a librarian, a school teacher, a book shop owner, teenager or parent, buy it for someone to read.

So, I’m cold, tired, sunburnt, sleep deprived, and can’t breathe from hay fever… DofE is great(!)

For anyone who doesn’t know what DofE is, it stands for the Duke Of Edinburgh award. It consists of 3 levels; bronze, silver and gold (I’m currently stuck in a tent on a hill, doing silver) and for this part of it (there’s also skill, activity & volunteering) you basically do around 5 hours of hiking up hill & down dale, then camp for 1, 2 or 3 nights.

And u know what, for some people DofE probably isn’t that bad. You know, tough athletic people *cough Katniss Everdeen, Percy Jackson *cough, however I’m not one of those people. I’m the type of person who wants to be curled up in my nice warm bed, or soaking in the bath, reading a book like Harry Potter or Stephen King (actually, Stephen King is NOT the best author to think about when I am in a field in the middle of nowhere!), AND I have broken the bookworm code of ‘If I can’t take a book I’m not going”.

I am bookless and bored.

So, if a helpful bookish character (I think Tris from Divergent would be a big help just now) wants to come and rescue me, or at least get rid of my hay fever and sunburn, that would really be a help. And the lesson here is either NEVER do DofE or, ALWAYS take a book!

Not A Drop To Drink is written by Mindy McGinnis, has a front cover by Erin Fitzsimmons, Randy Olson & Yolande De Kort, and is published by Katherine Tegen Books.

It’s a while since I first read this book but, it’s on my favourites shelf and is one that I think about all the time, and often return to.

Not A Drop To Drink is about Lynn. She has never known anything except herself, her mum and the pond. She knows that the most important thing is to protect the pond at all costs.

After a huge, life altering, event she finds herself breaking rules and starts to realise that maybe the world isn’t quite as bad as she’d always thought.

This book is really good. Although it’s set in a dystopian world, it’s still scarily similar to our own society. Lynn is pretty damn cool, although learning to shoot a gun as young as she did is pretty messed up.

I love this book and the whole concept. It’s sequel (In A Handful Of Dust) is also really good and I think the titles are perfect. And, I’m not going to lie, this book kind of makes me want to cry.

I suggest this book for age 12 upwards, and I think it’s a really great book that I’d definitely recommend for all libraries and schools.

Stories For South Asian Super Girls is written by Raj Kaur Khaira, illustrated by Anu Chouhan, Deepikah R Bhardwaj, Kokila Bhattacharya, Meenal Patel, Nazrina Rodjan, Poonam Saini, Raj Kaur, Sandeep Johal, Suman Kaur & Vinny Soor, and published by Kashi House.

I have read many, MANY, books like this, but never one centred on South Asian women before, so that’s pretty cool.

Stories For South Asian Super Girls is about some of the amazing south Asian women from today, and from history. This gives you their age (or birth and death), their birth place, and a bit of their story.

As anyone who knows me will know, I am an ardent feminist which is probably why I believe books like this are so important, especially ones which depict non white women, as often their voices are more oppressed.

For me, one of the most fun parts of reading books like this, is seeing which of the featured people I already know about; from reading other books like it, from everyday life, or just random knowledge. I think I only recognised about 5 women from this book, which shows how much their stories need to be told.

I recommend this book for every age, and for everywhere that stocks books, because everyone should know about these amazing women.

Losing Leah is written by Tiffany King, with a jacket design by Rich Deas and Kathleen Breitenfeld, and is published by Feiwel And Friends.

Firstly, I need to apologise for having posted no reviews for almost a week. I’ve been on Duke Of Edinburgh from Wednesday to Friday and the weekend was spent sleeping, and I’m afraid the same is going to be happening this week!

Losing Leah is about two teenage girls, called Mia and Leah. They are twins, and ten years have passed since Leah’s disappearance, but what is happening to Mia? And will Leah ever escape?

This book is definitely creepy, it keeps up the suspense the whole way through and there are some plot twists in it which I would never have guessed.

You can really feel a genuine hatred for Leah’s ‘mother‘, and throughout the entire book you are just rooting for her to escape. My favourite character is probably Mia’s brother and Leah.

I would suggest this book for probably age 11+ and I think it’s a really good book for schools, and a great book for any teenager who likes a horror or suspense book.

This book is incredibly cringey and awkward but, I also couldn’t stop laughing the whole way through.

Alex In Wonderland is about 16 year old Alex, a boy with no social skills and an interesting ability of getting injured. When his best friends go on a holiday together without him, and his dads girlfriend drops some not so subtle hints, he decides it’s time to get a job. That decision leads to one of the best, and craziest summers of his life.

This book is so funny, my mum kept giving me strange looks because I would just randomly start grinning, or burst out laughing. And whilst i don’t injure myself quite as badly as Alex does, with being being the clumsy queen and having complete social awkwardness, I can definitely relate in some of the scenarios.

And Ben and Alex, oh my god, I was rooting for them the whole way through the book. And surprisingly, I didn’t manage to figure out who was behind the notes and stuff until we were told at the end of the book.

I suggest this book for 12/13+ and think it’s a great book to buy for any teenager, and that all high school libraries should have it.

And yes, I did finish reading it at a Metallica concert, as you do 🤘

My obsession with this series of books is probably slightly unhealthy or, you know, it might just be my obsession with horses in general.

Heartland is about teenager Amy Fleming and her family and friends. The series follows Amy as she deals with a huge loss, learns about her amazing abilities with horses and discovers how important the people around her are.

I am obsessed with this series and I am so so desperate to get the rest of the books because I ONLY HAVE THE FIRST 15!! It annoys me so much because it’s an old American series, so it’s really difficult to find the later books. I’ve been wanting to read the rest of it for years (It’s FIVE years since I first read the first book!), because it’s such a well written series, with amazing characters.

My favourite character is probably Ty (for months after reading it, any male character I wrote/daydreamed about was called Ty), with the horses also obviously at the top of the list.

AND it turns out there’s a really good tv series I discovered like a month ago, that is just as amazing and you should definitely watch it (but of course you have to read the books first).

Also, because of this series, it’s my not so secret dream to be able to live on a ranch like Heartland, because it genuinely sounds amazing

I would suggest these books for probably age 9+ and I would recommend them to anyone …particularly if you love horses!

I mean, this girl is pretty flipping brave as far as I’m concerned.

No One Is Too Small To Make A Difference is by 16 year old Greta Thunberg. She is an activist for climate change, and this book is a collection of her thoughts and speeches to people from around the world, about how we need to make a change.

You know when you look around at your life, and then at someone else’s, and just think “Wow, I suck compared to them” (don’t worry, I know I don’t really suck) well, that’s kind of how I feel next to Greta because she is only eighteen months older than me, and she already has an amazing powerful voice.

A lot of you have probably already heard of her through the news, and that’s because she’s making noise and getting people to listen. And that’s what this is – a small, but mighty, book that discusses some serious issues that we have to start taking notice of.

I suggest this book for everyone, although younger kids might struggle with some of the vocabulary. It is a book that needs to be everywhere.

And as Greta said, maybe it’s time we start to panic about climate change

I think maybe weekends are going to have to be my non review days, because I am blimming lazy.

So, this post is just going to be about books and why you, and everyone else should read them. I will probably do 10 more blog posts like this, because there are lots of reasons to read books.

Firstly, you can get books anywhere. Airports, schools, chain bookshops, independent bookshops, NASA, hospitals, homes, churches, Narnia, online …literally everywhere you go will have some sort of book. So you can read one anywhere, and you can buy them or get them for free (hello, libraries exist).

You can read books about absolutely anything (I bet there’s a book that exists out there about how how long it takes paint to dry – I challenge you to find the most obscure book you can!). So, whatever you like, you can read about it. I love reading about people my age, but with lives totally different to mine.

And you can read anything you want. Audio books, graphic novels, “book” books, newspapers, braille books, e-readers, picture books, poetry, fiction, non-fiction – whatever!! So you have literally no excuse not to read.

And for people like me, who are socially awkward and like to stay at home, they are great for escaping reality and just losing yourself for a while. You can forget all your problems and instead get lost in another world – someone else’s issues of jealousy or heartbreak or magic or whatever, and sometimes that’s exactly what you need in life.

So, yeah, books are good. Read books or the book monster will come and burn your house down (they really won’t, I think I’m just slightly delusional because I’m so tired)

If I Stay is written by Gayle Forman, has a front cover by Neil Spence, and is published by Doubleday.

I had to fight not to cry when I was reading this book.

If I Stay is about Mia Hall. She has an amazing -but slightly crazy- family, a great best friend, a great boyfriend and has an amazing chance to get into Juilliard with her wonderful cello playing. But, one terrifying tragedy destroys everything and Mia has to make the hardest decision she has ever faced.

This book is genuinely heartbreaking, I had to stop myself from crying at least three times. It’s so emotional and sad, but it’s also really heartwarming, when you get to see all Mia’s memories and see her with her family and friends.

I love Mia’s relationship with her boyfriend, because it’s a really important part of the story and although it’s really sweet, it’s not the only part of the story – she has a life outside of her relationship, which is obviously very important.

I suggest this book for probably about age 12+ and I think that it is a great book for all schools, libraries and homes. You should definitely read it.