1. Book Review: House of Music: Raising The Kanneh-Masons

     

    by Kadiatu Kanneh-MasonPublished by Oneworld Publications When I interviewed Sheku Kanneh-Mason for Ink Pellet in 2016 he rather disingenuously told me that his parents weren’t musicians, His mother’s memoir makes the truth clear. She and her husband Stuart both played instruments to a reasonable standard and are competent amateurs. This was why they were so […]

  2. Book Review: The Time Traveller and the Tiger

     

    by Tania UnsworthPublished by Zephyr Elsie is sent to stay with her rather odd, and very old, Great Uncle John because her parents are working. She finds a tiger skin rug in his spare room and a strange plant in his greenhouse. Suddenly she is transported to India in 1946 where John, then 12, is […]

  3. Book Review: Fashion Conscious

     

    By Sarah Klymkiw & Kim HankinsonPublished by Egmont Books Did you know that the fashion industry accounts for more than 8% of global climate impact which is greater than all international flights and sea shipping combined? No, neither did I and – as a compulsive clothes buyer – it certainly made me stop and think. […]

  4. Book Review: Fire Burn, Cauldron Bubble

     

    Published by Bloomsbury With the subtitle “Magical Poems” this slim hard back book has a delightfully old fashioned feel of permanence about it – and it’s pleasant to hold in the hand.  Anthologist, Paul Cookson, has included a wide range of poems from Shakespeare (the witchy bit, obviously) to Benjamin Zephaniah and from Tennyson (The […]

  5. Book Review: Return to Roar

     

    By Jenny McLachlanPublished by Egmont This is a sequel to McLachlan’s earlier Land of Roar and there’s a third title in the pipeline. I read it, though, as a standalone and that works because she sets up the situation very adeptly at the beginning.  Think Peter Pan (we meet the Lost Girls) crossed with Narnia […]

  6. Pause for thought… Value trad texts

     

    Susan Elkin implores you to maintain a broad reading list for younger readers, including titles perhaps now overlooked.

  7. Coffee Break: Alex Knott

     

    Susan Elkin caught up with theatre director, writer and performer Alex Knott for a socially distanced coffee chat.