Coventry Inspiration Book Awards: The Evictions, Week 3

It’s the third week of evictions, and as ever, I am surprised at how early these books are leaving the competition.

What’s The Story? says goodbye to Frank And Bert by Chris Naylor-Ballesteros

Frank and Bert are the best of friends and they LOVE to play hide and seek. But Bert the bear isn’t quite as good at hiding as he thinks he is . . . and Frank ALWAYS wins! Every. Single. Time. But when it’s Bert’s turn to hide, and Frank has to decide between winning again OR making his friend happy, Frank learns that friendship is always the true winner. This interactive and entertaining story about friendship is guaranteed to get children giggling!

If you enjoyed this book try, Omar, The Bees And Me by Helen Mortimer and Katie Cottle

Omar, The Bees and Me encourages children to look after nature in local communities planting wild flowers to form bee corridors. Themes around cultural identity are also explored through Omar (a new boy from Syria) and Maisie’s friendship. It also offers an insight into international beekeeping and is illustrated by award-winning picture-book maker Katie Cottle, creator of The Green Giant and The Blue Giant. Including bee facts on the endpapers and a recipe for honey cake on end page, Omar, The Bees And Me is a win for friendship, bees and our environment.

Telling Tales lose Sindhu and Jeet’s Detective Agency by Chitra Soundar, illustrated by Amberin Huq

Sindhu and Jeet are the best detectives in town: they solve all their cases with a dollop of observation, a dash of imagination and a whole load of legwork. And when they travel from India to England for a holiday, the detective work doesn’t stop! This page-turning story is accompanied by black-and-white illustrations by Amberin Huq.

If you enjoyed this book, try The Case Of The Vanishing Granny by Alexander McCall Smith, illustrated by Sam Usher 

Billy, Fern and Joe Shortbread are the stars of their family circus, but they also have another talent … they’re experts at solving mysteries! When their circus moves into a new town they soon make friends with a young boy named Tom. But Tom can’t enjoy the circus because his granny has disappeared and he’s worried he’ll never see her again. With the help of their astonishing circus skills can the Shortbread circus stars crack the clues and find Tom’s granny? A brilliant McCall Smith adventure story, brimming with wit, wisdom and larger than life characters.

Hooked On Books have evicted Eve by Victor LaValle, Jo Mi-Gyeong and Brittany Peer

A young girl, Eve, raised in a virtual reality embarks on a deadly cross-country quest to save her father… and our dying planet. When the ice caps melted, most of humanity was lost to the hidden disease that was released. Now, a mysterious girl named Eve has awoken in secret and must deal with a world that’s nothing like the virtual reality she was raised in. In order to save her father and accompanied only by Wexler, her robotic caretaker and protector sheathed in her favorite teddy bear, Eve must embark on a deadly quest across the country. Along the way, she will have to contend not only with the threats of a very real world that await her, but the lies we tell our children in the name of protecting them. Victor LaValle and illustrator Jo Mi-Gyeong deliver a powerful dystopian adventure about the world we leave behind… and the price that must be paid to restore life to a dying planet.

If you enjoyed this book, try The Light Thieves by Helena Duggan.
Clever, quirky and hugely imaginative, discover the eagerly anticipated new series from the bestselling author of A Place Called Perfect. Who would you trust to save the world…a boy or a billionaire? The earth has shifted on its axis and a mysterious dark mark has appeared on the sun – the whole world is in peril! But billionaire tech genius Howard Hansom has a plan… When Grian’s sister goes missing he’s convinced she has run off to Hansom’s new city to help save the world. But when Grian and his two friends Jeffrey and Shelli track her there they find that nothing is quite as it seems. Why is everything so secret? Where is the mysterious Area 13? What does Howard Hansom want with all the people he has enticed to live in his city? The days are getting darker but what’s really happening to the sun?
Happy reading, and don’t forget to keep voting to keep your favourite book in the competition!