Let’s begin the year with a collection of all the books we reviewed in 2023… the best of the rest and a lot of them!!!
Below is a short little list of our favourite review books and over the next couple of weeks I will be posting loads of books that I have been reading over the summer holidays. So, if you are looking for something to read for all ages and stages, facts and fiction, then you have definitely arrived at the right place!!!
Absolutely My BEST Review Read for 2024
Go as a River by Shelley Read
Best New Spy Series
The Spy Coast by Tess Gerritson
Best Local Read
The Witches of Hogsback by Sally Partridge
Best Young Adult Read
The Hawthorne Trilogy
Best Teen Mystery
My Heart and Other Breakables
Best Middle Grade
Julia and the Shark
Best Kids’ Non-Fiction
Modern Art for Kids by Stephan Ho Poon
Best Picture Book
Fourteen Wolves by Catherine Barr
Scroll Down for All the Reviews
Julia and the Shark
A Handful of Books Read Last Summer
A great stack of reads, all very different to each other… and Carrie Soto is Back, deserves an honourable mention as one of the most memorable reads of the year. While Carrie Soto isn’t the nicest character her journey as a tennis player, on the circuit is somewhat chilling and a great peek into life on the professional tennis tour.
Best Science Book of the Year: Bill Bryson’s The Body
Brilliant Book Stack from Jonathan Ball Publishers
So many books in this book stack… When Things Went WILD was a great read for middle graders, about a boy whose family move to the country and he ends up rescuing Golden Eagles. It is a fast paced, action packed mystery and a great read. Otherwise, My heart and other breakables is a fabulous, emotional read for tweens and young teens. It is the story of of a very likeable girl, called Ellery, who is desperate to follow the clues left by her recently passed away mum, to determine the true identity of her father… this is a wonderful read and a peek into the mind of a young person on a quest.
Wild Kids Books
I have been writing for the free Wild Kids Digital Magazine follow along on instagram and subscribe… it really is a collectionof something for everyone, every month.
A Great Big Audible Collection
If you haven’t read All the Broken Places then immediately put it on your must read pile. It continues on from the tragedy of The Boy in Striped Pyjamas… if you ever wondered what happened to Bruno’s older sister… well this is her story, harrowing in parts, as you would expect.
NetGalley Reviews
Absolutely loved reviewing on NetGalley this past year, so many great books available… something from every genre. I love an eclectic collection of books!!!
A Book Stack for Kids from Jonathan Ball Publishers
Definitely the year of great middle grade reads… if you are looking for something lovely, heartwarming and just EXTRA look no further than Leeva at Last and My Life on Fire. Both of them are fantastic reads.
A Book Stack from Penguin Random House
Go As a River… My Book of the Year. The world literally had to stop spinning while I read this book… it has everything. A damsel in distress, unrequited a love, a miserable life and an eccentric, free-spirited and feisty girl protagonist that overcame everything that this mean old world threw at her. I read it in January and no other book in 2023 came even slightly close to it. I loved this book through and through.
A Lovely Book Stack from Penguin Kids
A book Stack from Penguin Random Kids.
In this post you will find the Hawthorne Legacy… if you haven’t read this fantastic teen series you really haven’t lived. A fast paced action packed mystery series, full of intriguing quests and “life and death” games. The books quickly move from teen to young adult as you read the series, just saying the books grow up with the characters. Fritz and Kurt was an excellent read, definitely our children’s history book of the year. And Jamie Oliver’s Billy and the Giant Adventure was a surprisingly great read.
Meeting Conservation Children’s Author Catherine Barr
Her book: Fourteen Wolves was our picture book of the year, an absolutely splendid read!!!
Lovely Local Books for Lapa Publishers
Struik Nature App: Tracking and Scat
Love Struik Nature Apps, very useful to have them loaded onto your phone, when you head out into the wilds.
Field Guides from Struik Nature
Struik Nature: Sea Birds and Kids’ Birds.
Kids’ Birds of Southern Africa is one of those local gems that stands head and shoulders above the rest. This is an excellent book for South African bird lovers of all ages.
Hiking Beyond Cape Town
Crime Season from Penguin Random House
This collection… woah!!! Talk about Best of the Rest… all of these are excellent. But the stand out has to be Tess Gerritson’s The Spy Coast… Think the Thursday Murder Club for Spies. It is delightful, qwerky and not a little spy drama to top it off!!!
Meet the Author of the Woman at the Wheel
The Woman at the Wheel, and her previous book The Invincible Miss Cust are both absolutely excellent reads, and in fact the audible books are brilliant too, with carefully chosen and appropriate readers. Really these are Stories for Rebel Girls, but the adult version… great reads about pioneering women.
Fantastic New to Us Author: Rachel Faturoti
Honestly, not really a time traveller fan – but this author may have changed my mind!!! Excellent stories for the middle grade/tween crowd… loved these and will certainly be looking out for this author in the future.
Many of these books were given to us for review purposes by Jonathan Ball Publishers, Netgalley, Penguin Random House South Africa, Lapa Publishers and Struik Nature.This is not a sponsored post and opinions expressed are entirely our own.