Author Archives: Daisy May Johnson

The Crossover by Kwame Alexander My rating: 4 of 5 stars I quite often think about dynamism and dynamics of space when I review books. I like books that revel in what they are; that bathe and wallow in their language, and push the spaces at the edge of where they are. A book isContinue reading “The Crossover : Kwame Alexander”

Cherry Cake and Ginger Beer: A Golden Treasury of Classic Treats by Jane Brocket My rating: 5 of 5 stars It was when I saw the recipe for ‘St Clare’s Eclairs’ that I knew something very clear about this book. I am going to marry it. I am in such love with Cherry Cake AndContinue reading “Cherry Cake And Ginger Beer : Jane Brocket”

Refuge by Anne Booth My rating: 5 of 5 stars It’s hard to read ‘Refuge’ right now and yet, I think, this is perhaps one of the most vital books I’ve read this year. As I’ve watched the news over the past few days, weeks, I’ve become increasingly aware that there are moments in theContinue reading “Refuge : Anne Booth & Sam Usher”

A Reckless Magick by Stephanie Burgis My rating: 4 of 5 stars I’d heard a lot about Stephanie Burgis’ Kat series; a sort of magical spin on a Jane Austen-esque universe. I took a while to get to it, because it’s a premise which is very much out of my norm. I don’t really readContinue reading “A Reckless Magick : Stephanie Burgis”

Shackleton’s Journey by William Grill My rating: 5 of 5 stars This is craft, this book. It’s hard to know where to begin with Grill’s masterpiece; whether to talk about the palette of clear and clean colours, or his use of space on the page and that conscious decision to let the visuals work forContinue reading “Shackleton’s Journey : William Grill”

Remix by Non Pratt My rating: 4 of 5 stars I’ve no inclination to go to a music festival. I’ve never had an inclination to go to a music festival. I’ve gone to gigs of course, ranging from ceilidhs through to Wembley but the idea of a festival and me just doesn’t click. At all.Continue reading “Remix : Non Pratt”

A Dog So Small by Philippa Pearce My rating: 4 of 5 stars A slim, tight story that gives so much more than it suggests, A Dog So Small always feels rather Tardis like to me. I have written before on the thick, luscious stylistics of Pearce’s writing; the summer heat of Minnow on TheContinue reading “A dog so small : Philippa Pearce”

The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness My rating: 4 of 5 stars I used to really hate the Richard and Judy book club. Every day, after Richard and Judy talked about in television, a thousand people would come into the library and ask for a copy of the book. The bookContinue reading “The Rest of Us Just Live Here : Patrick Ness”

The Dragonfly Pool by Eva Ibbotson My rating: 5 of 5 stars There’s nothing quite out there that reaches Eva Ibbotson at her very best. She writes like buttery crumpets on a midwinter’s day; hot, fat moments that can be tasted on your tongue, warmth in every word and that magical storytelling quality that makesContinue reading “The Dragonfly Pool : Eva Ibbotson”

Blueberry Wishes (Rainbow Beauty) by Kelly McKain by Kelly McKain My rating: 4 of 5 stars The debut to this series of books set in and around a small beauty parlour in Totnes, Peppermint Kiss, was something quite refreshing to me after a long run of duds, and I’m so pleased to see that BlueberryContinue reading “Rainbow Beauty – Blueberry Wishes : Kelly McKain”

The Mystery of the Clockwork Sparrow by Katherine Woodfine My rating: 5 of 5 stars The Mystery of the Clockwork Sparrow is a book that, perhaps more than most, starts with that delicious front cover. It is genuinely one of the more beautiful books that I have come across recently; a perfectly balanced cover imageContinue reading “The Mystery of the Clockwork Sparrow : Katherine Woodfine”

Green Grass of Wyoming by Mary O’Hara My rating: 5 of 5 stars There is something all encompassing about that moment when somebody discovers that they can love; that they can truly, madly and wholly love somebody or something. It becomes the everything that they are, the everything that they do. It is the air,Continue reading “Green Grass of Wyoming : Mary O’Hara”

Don Quixote by Jennifer Adams My rating: 4 of 5 stars I love this. It’s a board book which introduces some of the key words in and around the story of Don Quixote, in both English and Spanish. Each spread deals with one particular moment ‘castle / el castillo’ and delivers a vibrant, chunky drawingContinue reading “Don Quixote (a Spanish language primer) : Jennifer Adams & Alison Oliver”

Doodle Lit by Jennifer Adams My rating: 4 of 5 stars Doodle Lit, the work of Jennifer Adams and Alison Oliver, is a book that I specifically requested to review and my thanks to the publishers for the review copy. I specifically requested it for several reasons: the boom in colouring in books currently hittingContinue reading “Doodle Lit : Jennifer Adams and Alison Oliver”

Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland by Alison Jay My rating: 5 of 5 stars Alice in Wonderland is a text that has been subject to a most phenomenal process of transformation from its original publication to date. I suspect that there are very few other children’s texts which have been integrated so wholly into our culturalContinue reading “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland : Alison Jay”

The Secrets of Sam and Sam by Susie Day My rating: 5 of 5 stars I’m going to start this review by talking about another book. Stay with me, there’s a reason for this. I nominated Pea’s Book of Big Dreams by Day as my pick for the Carnegie last year. The Carnegie, for thoseContinue reading “The Secrets of Sam and Sam : Susie Day”

Max’s Wagon by Barbro Lindgren My rating: 5 of 5 stars I don’t review that many board books. A lot of this is due to the fact that they’re just not really things that come across my radar. Some of this is due to the fact that they’re always fairly well beaten up in anyContinue reading “Max’s Wagon : Barbro Lindgren & Eva Eriksson”

Dog Ears by Anne Booth My rating: 5 of 5 stars As I read ‘Dog Ears’ I became increasingly aware of how Blytonian it felt to me. And not Enid Blyton at her worst, but rather Enid Blyton at her best – stories of children being children and trying to exist in a world thatContinue reading “Dog Ears : Anne Booth”

Fire Colour One by Jenny Valentine My rating: 3 of 5 stars Books like Fire Colour One make me realise the inadequacy of my rating scheme. So let’s make a pact for the duration of this review: ratings do not exist. This is a book which, quite fittingly, flares and fades and sometimes – justContinue reading “Fire Colour One : Jenny Valentine”

The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd My rating: 4 of 5 stars It’s books like ‘The London Eye Mystery’ that make me consider how we use the word ‘good’. Good. It’s such a space of a word. It’s sort of phatic at points; things are good, we are good, everything is good, let’s moveContinue reading “The London Eye Mystery : Siobhan Dowd”

The River Singers by Tom Moorhouse My rating: 4 of 5 stars Rich, genuine and warm-hearted, ‘The River Singers’ is such a lovely book. Moorhouse, as evidenced by this book and also the talk I was privileged to hear him give at the FCBG Conference in 2015, knows the riverside world very well. In this,Continue reading “The River Singers : Tom Moorhouse”

Only Ever Yours by Louise O’Neill My rating: 4 of 5 stars I finished Only Ever Yours last night and laid there for a while, thinking about how I could review this book. There is a problem for me here, and it’s one concerning my own narrative. It’s taken me a long time to figureContinue reading “Only Ever Yours – Louise O’Neill”

Minnow on the Say by Philippa Pearce My rating: 5 of 5 stars It’s odd to be able to describe a book as thick and dense with summer heat; a sensation somewhat removed from the cold practicality of reading the printed page, but Minnow on the Say somehow achieves that. It is a story fullContinue reading “Minnow on the Say : Philippa Pearce”

Agatha Parrot and the Thirteenth Chicken by Kjartan Poskitt My rating: 4 of 5 stars I first came across Agatha Parrot at a conference I attended. This is the fifth title in the series but it’s immediately accessible to new readers. Two neat little illustrations at the start of the book, one of the schoolContinue reading “Agatha Parrot and the Thirteenth Chicken : Kjartan Poskitt”

One by Sarah Crossan My rating: 5 of 5 stars I admire books like this. No, I think, I admire writers and writing like this. I admire writing that is so resolutely of itself, so careful and crisps and precise and acute and heartfelt with every step it takes. I admire writing like this becauseContinue reading “One : Sarah Crossan”

The Last Wild by Piers Torday My rating: 4 of 5 stars I came to ‘The Last Wild’ a little blindly. I was conscious that it was a Carnegie nominee for 2014 and that I’d seen a lot of positive talk online about it. And that was pretty much it, and now that I haveContinue reading “The Last Wild : Piers Torday”

She Shall Have Music by Kitty Barne My rating: 3 of 5 stars I first came across ‘She Shall Have Music’ during my Masters when I started to collate a list of children’s books featuring gifted and talented characters. It’s a topic that still fascinates me; this balance of the incredibly unique individual with talentsContinue reading “She Shall Have Music : Kitty Barne”

Too Close to Home by Aoife Walsh My rating: 5 of 5 stars I described this on Twitter as one for the ‘I write this sitting in the kitchen sink’ crowd. And it is; it’s a book full of complicated and complex and Casson-esque characters, all of them bumping against each other in their complicatedContinue reading “Too Close to Home : Aoife Walsh”

Lyra’s Oxford by Philip Pullman My rating: 5 of 5 stars “This book contains a story and several other things.” So opens this slim and quiet little volume of Lyra’s Oxford, a book that truly contains a story and several other things, but maybe Other Things is how we should think of these latter objectsContinue reading “Lyra’s Oxford : Philip Pullman”

The Borrowers by Mary Norton My rating: 5 of 5 stars “It was Mrs May who first told me about them. No, not me. How could it have been me – a wild, untidy, self-willed little girl who stared with angry eyes and was said to crunch her teeth? Kate, she should have been called.Continue reading “The Borrowers : Mary Norton”

Starring Kitty by Keris Stainton My rating: 5 of 5 stars I was struck, very much, on reading this how adorable a book it is. The initial title in a new series from Stainton, Starring Kitty is a book about friendship and being who you are – and realising how important a bond true friendshipContinue reading “Starring Kitty : Keris Stainton”

Phoenix by S.F. Said My rating: 5 of 5 stars A brief diversion before I begin this review. Once, a long time ago, I went to see Persepolis in the cinema. For those of you who don’t know it, it was an animated adaptation of a wonderful graphic novel by Marjane Satrapi: –The Complete Persepolis.Continue reading “Phoenix : SF Said & Dave McKean”

I. Love. This. Book.

Five Children on the Western Front by Kate Saunders My rating: 5 of 5 stars I remember being quite concerned when this was first announced. I think it was the title, mainly, which worried me. It felt so bald somehow; this juxtaposition of E Nesbit’s glorious (and eternal) work against the awful bluntness of WorldContinue reading “Five Children on the Western Front : Kate Saunders”

The Whitby Witches by Robin Jarvis My rating: 5 of 5 stars I’ve written about The Whitby Witches before but never quite in the guise of a formal review. Upon the decision that I wanted to use this book in my PhD (and how, oh how could I not…), I knew it was time toContinue reading “The Whitby Witches : Robin Jarvis”

Arsenic for Tea by Robin Stevens My rating: 5 of 5 stars I was a little in awe of Stevens’ debut in this series, the rather glorious and as good as Christmas Murder Most Unladylike, and so when Arsenic For Tea came onto NetGalley, I did a tiny shriek of joy. And by tiny, IContinue reading “Arsenic for Tea : Robin Stevens”

Emma Hearts LA by Keris Stainton My rating: 4 of 5 stars A sequel, though happily not in that ‘you must have read and rememembered every inch of the first title in the series’ sort of way, Emma Hearts LA is rather delightful. It’s the story of the eponymous Emma who has moved with herContinue reading “Emma Hearts LA : Keris Stainton”

The Morning Gift by Eva Ibbotson My rating: 5 of 5 stars I was thinking about The Morning Gift this morning, this strange, heightened, musical book full of grace and elegance and wry sentences that curl in on themselves with sudden witticisms and side-remarks, and I was reminded about how good Eva Ibbotson can be.Continue reading “The Morning Gift : Eva Ibbotson”

Apple and Rain by Sarah Crossan My rating: 5 of 5 stars The great grace of Crossan’s writing was made very clear with her debut, the quite beautiful The Weight of Water , and Apple and Rain is of a similar precise and graceful ilk. It is a very, very beautiful book. Elegant, subtle andContinue reading “Apple and Rain : Sarah Crossan”