Welcome to the first Friday Library Recommendations for 2024. This week, I have chosen books designed to be dipped into every day of the year.

My first choice is Britannica’s Word Of The Day, which has 366 elevating utterances to stretch your cranium and tickle your humerus, or 366 fantastic words to broaden your vocabulary!

Become a word virtuoso in just one year with 366 crackerjack words aimed to impress. This charmingly illustrated book features boffo words selected by the masterminds at Britannica to highlight the best of the English language.

Follow a menagerie of animals as they teach one new word for each day of the year, including a pronunciation guide, definition, sample sentence, and interesting trivia about the word’s usage or etymology. Each month concludes with an outlandish story that features all the new words learned.

This delightfully challenging and surprising book will turn word aficionados into passionate logophiles!

From words, to carefully chosen phrases, my next pick is A Whale Of A Time, selected by Lou Peacock and illustrated by Matt Hunt – a comically curated collection of 366 hilarious poems to keep you laughing all year round, surrounded by bright, bold mixed media illustrations.

Inspiration is drawn from some of the most mundane things in our world to some of the most spectacular, but every poem will raise a knowing smile, a smirk, or even full blown laughter.

The spectacular range of poems for children includes work by John Agard, Maya Angelou, Hilaire Belloc, Brian Bilston, Lucille Clifton, Wendy Cope, Roald Dahl, Edward Lear, Spike Milligan, Ogden Nash, Grace Nichols, Jack Prelutsky, Michael Rosen, Christina Rossetti, Benjamin Zephaniah and many more.

Finally I’ve chosen One Interesting Fact A Day from Bubbles Books featuring a cornucopia of facts to expand your brain.

What if you found a moment every day to learn something new? Wouldn’t that be brilliant? Of course, it would! And at the same time, we could forget about being bored and put our brains to good use!

One Interesting Fact a Day puts you at the center of a great adventure in which they you can learn all sorts of new things about the planet, the universe, nature, animals, and the human body, while expanding your vocabulary and improving your memory. Remind yourself every day how interesting the world we live in is! 

And finally, we have been exploring the shortlists for this year’s Coventry Inspiration Book Awards in school. Voting is now open with the first eviction taking place at the end of January, so make sure you vote for your favourite to keep it in the competition. You can vote here.

Happy reading!

It’s our final Friday Library Recommendations of 2023, and as we head towards the Christmas holidays, I’ve chosen books on the theme of Nativity.

Once Upon A Silent Night by Dawn Casey and Katie Hickey is a timeless retelling of the nativity story told in lyrical verse with stunning, luminous illustrations, that sing of a world in unity.

It is midnight on Christmas Eve, and a child is about to be born in a stable. How can the creatures help? First, the cow offers up his manger, and the donkey gives his hay. The doves will sing the babe to sleep, the trees will watch over him, and the moon will fill his dreams with silver light. It’s a moment of magic, as a little child enters the world and brings with him the most precious gift of all: love.

Jesus’ Christmas Party by Nicholas Allan is old but gold, and tells the nativity story from the view point of a very grumpy and over tired inn keeper.

When a night of angels, shepherds and bright stars keeps him from his sleep, is there anything that will cheer him up?

Refuge by Anne Booth and Sam Usher reminds us that the journey undertaken in the nativity story is one that still happens on a daily basis where people are just trying to find a safe place for themselves and their family.

This powerful and evocative picture book, which tells the Christmas story and what follows the fleeing of Jesus, Mary and Joseph from Herod’s soldiers to Egypt has timeless crossover appeal and a poignant message that couldn’t be more relevant today.

And finally, Operation Nativity by Jenny Pearson, illustrated by Katie Kear is the most wonderfully festive, family romp with a twist as the Angel Gabriel overpowers his proclamation and puts Christmas as we know it at risk. One that will make you laugh out loud, and possibly cry too, it’s a must for fans of funny.

When Oscar and Molly rush outside to investigate a crash in the night, they’re not expecting to find a dazed Angel Gabriel wandering around their grandparents’ back garden. And they’re certainly not expecting to find themselves in a race to save Christmas. But if they don’t track down a missing shepherd, wise man, donkey and the actual Mary and Joseph, who’ve all crash-landed in Chipping Bottom, not only will Christmas cease to exist, but they will too. Operation Nativity is on.

And finally – I have been exceptionally lucky to get a sneak preview of our very first Cannon Park Primary Newspaper which will be available for sale from Monday. It costs 50p per paper and is packed with fascinating facts about our Headteacher, Christmas, Space, Sports stars and even has some festive activities to keep you busy too.

Happy reading!

There are some brilliant Christmas books from picture books to non fiction if a chapter a day of an advent book isn’t enough to get you in the festive spirit. Here are a few of my favourites:

From one of my favourite picture book partnerships comes a book that tackles a perennial question: How Does Santa Go Down The Chimney? by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Jon Klassen.

When Santa arrives at a child’s house on Christmas Eve, does he go down the chimney feet first or headfirst? What if he gets stuck? What if there’s no chimney? Maybe he slides under the door, as thin as a piece of paper? Or is it possible he pours himself through the tap? What happens once he’s inside?

Deadpan comic humour in both prose and art are exactly what we’ve come to expect from this dream team, and they don’t disappoint. As scenarios become sillier, and answers further out of reach, the laughs will inevitably get louder. One thing is for certain though, this is not the answer you were looking for, but it is definitely the answer you need.

We Wish You A Merry Christmas And Other Festive Poems, chosen and illustrated by Chris Riddell is a flurry of festive verse, some more familiar than others

Christmas has long been a source of inspiration and a moment of reflection for poets, from traditional verse to modern works. This is the perfect collection for readers young and old, as gorgeous illustrations throughout bring new life to classics, including The Night Before Christmas, The Twelve Days of Christmas, Deck the Halls, We Wish You a Merry Christmas and We Three Kings.

Elsewhere, Chris has selected and responded to work from poets including Neil Gaiman, Sylvia Plath, William Wordsworth, Thomas Hardy, Hollie McNish, Sue Hardy Dawson, Roger Stevens, Benjamin Zephaniah, Clare Bevan, Sara Teasdale, A.F. Harrold, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Ogden Nash, Robert Burns and Jackie Kay. This is a book to treasure, and to return to year after year.

For non-fiction fans, A Very Curious Christmas by Maddie Moat is the perfect book to help you count down to the big day while learning about the wide range of customs and traditions different families observe.

Maddie tackles a wide range of questions that many have pondered, from the explosive mysteries of Christmas crackers to the origin of the iconic Christmas tree in this delightful and informative non-fiction book that unravels the mysteries and wonders of the festive season.

Each chapter includes wintery activities and craft ideas, making it a perfect companion for getting into the holiday spirit. Perfect to explore year after year, this is a gift of a book that will keep on giving.

And finally, I’m going back to fiction for our third Christmas with the Carrolls in The Christmas Club by Mel Taylor-Bessent, and this time, they’re in New York!

Holly and her family are about to lead the famous Christmas parade in New York City! But there’s a hitch. They have been invited to join the exclusive Christmas Club, whose members are among the most Christmassy family in the world. They simply have to follow the mysterious White Reindeer to find the Christmas Club’s secret headquarters in Manhattan. But when the White Reindeer shows up in the middle of the Christmas parade, the Carrolls are faced with a dilemma… Should they stay, or should they go?

With loveable New York characters, a mystery surrounding Holly’s mum Snow’s real name, and a new little furry friend, this book is an absolute banger of a Christmas Cracker! The last in the trilogy, it’s a brilliant way to say goodbye to the most fabulously festive family of all.

Happy reading!