In the Reading Corner

Scottish author Juliette Forrest is the award-winning author of Twister, The True Colours of Coral Glen and The Night My Dream Came Alive

Twister was a Sunday Times Book of the Week and chosen by The Guardian as the one must-read kid’s book of the summer. It was longlisted for the Branford Boase Award and won Calderdale Book of the Year.

The True Colours of Coral Glen was picked by the Evening Times as a best book of 2020 by a Glasgow author.

Juliette says, 'I write children’s fiction featuring quirky female lead characters with strong voices. Packed with adventure, my stories combine gritty reality with magic. I love imagining new worlds as well as unforgettable baddies.'

In this episode. she talks to Nikki Gamble about The Mountain Rescue Dog, a story inspired by the true history of the pioneer of mountain rescue.

About The Mountain Rescue Dog
A young girl heals from grief and loss in the snowy Highlands of Scotland, with the help of her loyal, trusting rescue dog. Clova's life changes forever when her mother, who was a search and rescue volunteer, dies tragically in an avalanche. Her grieving father withdraws and life at home feels lonely, until the day she meets Border Collie Tatty, a shy and frightened dog who Clova helps make bright-eyed and boisterous again.

She begins to train Tatty as a search-and-rescue dog and when two local boys go missing on the moor, Tatty and Clova spring into action to track them down and save the day. But Dad is furious when he finds out Clova has been on the mountain, and sends Tatty away. Clova is heartbroken.

On the first day of spring, the sudden rise in temperature after a cold snap and heavy snow causes an avalanche on the mountain - and Clova's dad is up there! The Search and Rescue team - plus Clova and Tatty - scramble onto a helicopter for a dangerous rescue mission in the growing dark - can they find Dad and save the day?

Thank you for listening.

If you enjoyed this podcast, please support us by subscribing to our channel. And if you are interested in the books we have featured, purchasing from our online bookshop Bestbooksforschools.com

In the Reading Corner is presented by Nikki Gamble, Director of Just Imagine. It is produced by Alison Hughes.

Follow us on Youtube for more author events YouTube.com/@nikkigamble1

For general news and updates, follow us on Twitter @imaginecentre

Full details about the range of services we provide can be found on our website www.justimagine.co.uk

Sophie McKenzie is the undisputed queen of the teen thriller. After being made redundant from her job in 2003, she started a year-long 'Writing for Children course' at the CityLit Institute in London. She finished her first novel, Girl Missing at the beginning of 2005, it was then published by Simon & Schuster Children's Books in 2006.

Sophie joined Nikki Gamble In the Reading Corner to talk about her thriller Truth or Dare.

About Truth or Dare
When lies are everywhere, how far will you go for the truth? A tense eco-drama with an explosive twist from the million-copy-selling author of Girl, Missing. Fourteen-year-old Maya cannot believe she has to spend the summer with her grandmother, helping out at the family cosmetics firm. But things get much more exciting when she meets a community of activists campaigning against the dumping of chemical waste.

Getting closer to one boy in particular, Bear, Maya is dared into joining one of their protest missions but doesn't know that her grandmother's business is the target. Someone has been lying about their environmentally-friendly products, and as danger threatens, Maya must uncover the truth or betray her family forever. In this edge-of-your-seat drama exploring the line between truth and lies,

Thank you for listening.

If you enjoyed this podcast, please support us by subscribing to our channel. And if you are interested in the books we have featured, purchasing from our online bookshop Bestbooksforschools.com

In the Reading Corner is presented by Nikki Gamble, Director of Just Imagine. It is produced by Alison Hughes.

Follow us on Youtube for more author events YouTube.com/@nikkigamble1

For general news and updates, follow us on Twitter @imaginecentre

Full details about the range of services we provide can be found on our website www.justimagine.co.uk

Named after nature writer Alfred Wainwright, the Wainwright prizes are awarded to the work which best reflects Wainwright’s core values and include a celebration of nature and our natural environment or a warning of the dangers to it across the globe. In 2022 for the first time, a children's prize is awarded.

Naturalist Dara McAnulty and founder of the Outdoor Guide Gina Bradbury Fox joined Nikki Gamble to talk about the importance of the children's prize and support for getting children into the great outdoors.

Thank you for listening.

If you enjoyed this podcast, please support us by subscribing to our channel. And if you are interested in the books we have featured, purchasing from our online bookshop Bestbooksforschools.com

In the Reading Corner is presented by Nikki Gamble, Director of Just Imagine. It is produced by Alison Hughes.

Follow us on Youtube for more author events YouTube.com/@nikkigamble1

For general news and updates, follow us on Twitter @imaginecentre

Full details about the range of services we provide can be found on our website www.justimagine.co.uk

Philip Ardagh is one of the funniest children's writers, and Ben Mantle is a well-loved illustrator. The combination of talents produced the explosively hilarious Bunnies on the Bus, which provided a much-needed laugh for children and families during lockdown. Now they have produced another riotous story, Bunnies in a Boat, so it was a huge pleasure to invite them both to The Reading Corner.

About Bunnies in a Boat.
!The bunnies are back! And this time, they've commandeered a BOAT! Watch out, Sunnytown beach, the Bunnies are dashing and a-splashing on a speedboat frenzy.

They whoosh past the sailboats, and zoooom across the sand, then it's up onto the jetty where silly billy Bunnies get all covered in spaghetti! But watch out, oh no, where are the bunnies off to now? To the airport, across the tarmac ... it's bunnies on the PLANE. Here we go again...

Thank you for listening.

If you enjoyed this podcast, please support us by subscribing to our channel. And if you are interested in the books we have featured, purchasing from our online bookshop Bestbooksforschools.com

In the Reading Corner is presented by Nikki Gamble, Director of Just Imagine. It is produced by Alison Hughes.

Follow us on Youtube for more author events YouTube.com/@nikkigamble1

For general news and updates, follow us on Twitter @imaginecentre

Full details about the range of services we provide can be found on our website www.justimagine.co.uk

A. M. Dassu is an English writer of fiction and non-fiction. In 2017, Dassu won the international We Need Diverse Books mentorship award. Her bestselling debut novel, Boy Everywhere,was published in October 2020 and was shortlisted for the 2021 Waterstone's Children's Books Prize. Anne-Marie talks about the book in a previous episode of In The Reading Corner.

In this episode, she talks with Nikki Gamble about her latest novel, Fight Back.

About Fight Back

When a terrorist attack occurs near her home and racial tension increases, Aaliyah decides to begin wearing a hijab to challenge people's preconceptions of her faith. Aaliyah has to channel all her bravery and resourcefulness to halt the tide of hatred rippling through her community.
A story about finding your identity and fighting for it.

Thank you for listening.

If you enjoyed this podcast, please support us by subscribing to our channel. And if you are interested in the books we have featured, purchasing from our online bookshop Bestbooksforschools.com

In the Reading Corner is presented by Nikki Gamble, Director of Just Imagine. It is produced by Alison Hughes.

Follow us on Youtube for more author events YouTube.com/@nikkigamble1

For general news and updates, follow us on Twitter @imaginecentre

Full details about the range of services we provide can be found on our website www.justimagine.co.uk

Naomi Walmsley runs Outback2Basics with her husband, Dan. She has a passion for teaching young people Stone Age education and Bushcraft, and she also runs some workshops for adults.

Naomi says, 'I like to think my writing reflects my own experiences, linking nature with education and imagination.'

She has co-authored Forest School Adventure and Urban Forest School with Dan. Her most recent book is Live Like a Hunter Gatherer, a perfect book for any class studying The Stone Age.

About Live Like a Hunter Gatherer
f you imagined that all Stone Age people lived in caves, were not very clever, not very clean and said “Ugg” a lot, then think again. Marking the start of all human history, the Stone Age lasted around 3.5 million years.

Delve into that incredible time with this book packed full of amazing facts, information, crafts, storytelling and myth debunking to discover what it was like to live as a hunter-gatherer.

Many of our Stone Age ancestors' everyday needs were similar to ours – how to keep warm, where to sleep and what to eat and drink. We find out how they met those needs, what a typical day was like, what medicine they used and even how they had fun – all brought to life with beautifully detailed illustrations. Dotted through the book are step-by-step craft activities and recipes that give you first-hand experience of some vital Stone Age skills – making a Mesolithic shelter, fat lamps, a digging stick, creating cave art, making a bow and arrow and a fishing hook are just a few.

A fictional tribe member pops up throughout the book to tell us about her life, describing the sights, sounds, smells and emotions she experiences. The safety of a warm cave with flickering firelight and other tribe members nearby, the gnawing feeling of hunger when food is scarce, and the excited relief when a deer is hunted.

Thank you for listening.

If you enjoyed this podcast, please support us by subscribing to our channel. And if you are interested in the books we have featured, purchasing from our online bookshop Bestbooksforschools.com

In the Reading Corner is presented by Nikki Gamble, Director of Just Imagine. It is produced by Alison Hughes.

Follow us on Youtube for more author events YouTube.com/@nikkigamble1

For general news and updates, follow us on Twitter @imaginecentre

Full details about the range of services we provide can be found on our website www.justimagine.co.uk

Frances Hardinge is a British novelist whose debut novel, Fly by Night, won the Branford Boase Award in 2006 ( awarded to the writer and editor of the best debut children's novel).

In 2015 she won the 2015 Costa Book Award for her novel The Lie Tree, the first time a children's book was awarded the overall category since Philip Pullman's The Amber Spyglass in 2001.

Her latest novel, Unraveller, is an otherworldly story of curse making and breaking (the unravelling of the title). Reviewing the book for Just Imagine, Martin Galway writes:

'It’s a dark novel of dark themes and dark places. It explores the tensions of what it means to be human. It explores what it means to be no-longer-human or never human. It’s in these tensions, and in the complexity of feelings of those that straddle the human/inhuman divide that the book offers the most satisfying food for thought.'

Frances joined Nikki Gamble In The Reading Corner to tell us more.

About Unraveller
n a world where anyone can cast a life-destroying curse, only one person has the power to unravel them. Kellen does not fully understand his unique gift but helps those who are cursed, like his friend Nettle, who was trapped in the body of a bird for years.

She is now Kellen's constant companion and his closest ally. But the Unraveller carries a curse himself, and unless he and Nettle can remove it, Kellen is a danger to everything - and everyone - around him...

Thank you for listening.

If you enjoyed this podcast, please support us by subscribing to our channel. And if you are interested in the books we have featured, purchasing from our online bookshop Bestbooksforschools.com

In the Reading Corner is presented by Nikki Gamble, Director of Just Imagine. It is produced by Alison Hughes.

Follow us on Youtube for more author events YouTube.com/@nikkigamble1

For general news and updates, follow us on Twitter @imaginecentre

Full details about the range of services we provide can be found on our website www.justimagine.co.uk

Petr Horacek is a children's picturebook creator with a background in fine art. He was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia and at the age of 15 attended the High School of Art in Prague, where he developed skills in printing, photography, sculpture and painting.
After working for a design agency, he went on to further study at the Academy of Fine Art and was awarded his Master of Fine Art degree in 1994.

His first books, Strawberries are Red , and What is Black and White? were published by Walker Books in 2001. And he was awarded the Books for Children Newcomer award that year.

Since then he has gone on to write and illustrated many favourites including A New House for Mouse, Silly Suzy Goose, Puffin Peter, The Greedy Goat Blue Penguin and The Perfect Present

In this podcast, Petr talks to Nikki Gamble about his picturebook A Best Friend for Bear

You may also be interested in this livestreamed event

Thank you for listening.

If you enjoyed this podcast, please support us by subscribing to our channel. And if you are interested in the books we have featured, purchasing from our online bookshop Bestbooksforschools.com

In the Reading Corner is presented by Nikki Gamble, Director of Just Imagine. It is produced by Alison Hughes.

Follow us on Youtube for more author events YouTube.com/@nikkigamble1

For general news and updates, follow us on Twitter @imaginecentre

Full details about the range of services we provide can be found on our website www.justimagine.co.uk

SF Said is a British children's writer with a Middle Eastern background. He was born in Beirut and spent his early childhood in Jordan.

His first novel, Varjak Paw, illustrated by Dave McKean, was published in 2003. It was the winner of the Nestle Smarties Book Prize. The sequel, The Outlaw Varjak Paw, won the Blue Peter novel. His third book, Phoenix, was shortlisted for the Guardian Fiction Prize.

SF Said was selected to represent the U.Uk for the IBBY Honour List for 2016.

SF joined Nikki Gamble In The Reading Corner to talk about his most recent novel, Tyger.

About Tyger
'There are three doors that I may show you. You will find a different kind of power behind each one...

'Adam has found something incredible in a rubbish dump in London. A mysterious, mythical, magical animal. A TYGER.

And the tyger is in danger. Adam and his friend Zadie are determined to help, but it isn't just the tyger's life at stake. Their whole world is on the verge of destruction.

Can they learn to use their powers before it's too late?

Thank you for listening.

If you enjoyed this podcast, please support us by subscribing to our channel. And if you are interested in the books we have featured, purchasing from our online bookshop Bestbooksforschools.com

In the Reading Corner is presented by Nikki Gamble, Director of Just Imagine. It is produced by Alison Hughes.

Follow us on Youtube for more author events YouTube.com/@nikkigamble1

For general news and updates, follow us on Twitter @imaginecentre

Full details about the range of services we provide can be found on our website www.justimagine.co.uk

Angela Sangma Francis, writing as Sangma Francis, worked as an in-house editor and writer for publisher Flying Eye before branching out as a full-time author.

Her two books, Everest and Amazon River provide a fresh approach to physical geography. She joined Nikki Gamble In The Reading Corner to tell us all about it.

About Everest
It is the highest spot on planet Earth, known to many as the roof of the world, and the ultimate challenge for mountain-climbing adventurers. Welcome to Mount Everest. Mount Everest is undoubtedly one of the most famous mountains on Earth.

Hundreds of people clamber to its summit every year, following in Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay's footsteps... but there is so much more to this mountain than the people who climb it. With sumptuous and stylish illustrations by Lisk Feng, this dynamic book reveals the great mountain's ancient origins, the flora and fauna that thrive upon its great flanks, and the rich mythology of Sagarmatha, the Goddess of the Sky.

About Amazon River
Beginning with a tiny trickle high in the mountains, smaller streams join until they form the world's largest river. Crossing a continent, it winds through lush rainforests until it meets the ocean. From piranhas to the giant anaconda, this mighty waterway is home to the world's most incredible ecosystem.

Welcome to the Amazon River. This stunning illustrated guide to the world's most famous river and its surrounding rainforest is packed with incredible facts about South America's wildlife, people, geography and history.

Thank you for listening.

If you enjoyed this podcast, please support us by subscribing to our channel. And if you are interested in the books we have featured, purchasing from our online bookshop Bestbooksforschools.com

In the Reading Corner is presented by Nikki Gamble, Director of Just Imagine. It is produced by Alison Hughes.

Follow us on Youtube for more author events YouTube.com/@nikkigamble1

For general news and updates, follow us on Twitter @imaginecentre

Full details about the range of services we provide can be found on our website www.justimagine.co.uk