Poppy Field by Michael Morpurgo

Rating:

5 Stars

Themes:

Children's, War, Historical Fiction

Thoughts:

This is such a beautiful little book, I really like the idea of using a story like this to get children more engaged in such an important day as Remembrance Day and the history behind it. I liked that Martens’ dad was shown as being killed by the war but decades after as it’s something we don’t tend to think about, even those of us who look into this period of history often, but it’s still a risk here in Europe (not just places like Angola where Lady Diana raised awareness). The use of the poem as an anchor for the love stories throughout Martens’ family is a cute way to do it with both grandfather and great grandfather finding love in the same way but a war apart. It’s really striking to keep the illustrations in black and white aside from the poppies when used as it draws the eye and emphasises their importance, I also find the cover even more so with the metallic sheen on the title and poppies.

Favourite Quote:

“I learnt one thing from that war. They can take over your land, Martens, occupy, march in your streets, fly their flags, but they can’t take over your spirit.”

Comments

Mint and Murder by Carly Winter

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Shame-Sex Attraction by Lucas Wilson

Rating: 4 Stars Themes: Non-Fiction, LGBTQ+ Thoughts: I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. This is definitely a difficult read and it took me quite a while to get through it for that very reason. It is split up into 17 different peoples experiences with a foreword and afterword. It’s definitely an important read for many as these practices are still legal in many countries, including my own, and without knowledge of the damage of the practices many may not join in the protests or sign the petitions to try to get laws in place. As a member of the community myself I found some of these stories such as the ‘Sniffing the Gay Away’ and ‘Convert’ especially difficult to read and reminded me just how lucky I was to have such a supportive and loving community around me. I appreciated that the afterword highlighted the limitations of the collection such as having little to no religious, geographical or racial diversity but that they did try to ga...

Porn is Not Sex Ed! by Jessica Melendez

Rating: 3 Stars Themes: Non-Fiction, Young Adult Thoughts: I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. In the age of lessening sex education this book could be a great tool to help bridge the gap. I appreciate the talk to an adult bits that can encourage children to start to have conversations that are important but they often think are cringy. The note to trusted adults bit at the end is great too and there’s quite a few useful activities to help the messages really sink in. Some of the points here such as fetishisation and body image are really important ones that I never learned that young (which could be the reason I had such poor body image as a teen) and for the most part the book talks to kids on their level although some areas may feel a little immaturely worded for older teens. With thanks to Hachette UK and Netgalley for my advanced digital copy of this book.

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