This month’s book recommendations have been selected by Book Award shortlisted, children’s fantasy author Sarah Driver. February is a month of biting winds and endless rain, but Sarah still listens hard for the whispers of dark tales and strange creatures, waiting to be discovered, just beyond the realms of what can be seen.
Thankfully our libraries are warm and welcoming!
Top fiction
A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers
Hugo Award-winner Becky Chambers’s Monk & Robot is a delightful sci-fi series that gives readers hope for the future.
It’s been centuries since the robots of Panga gained self-awareness and laid down their tools; centuries since they wandered, en masse, into the wilderness, never to be seen again; centuries since they faded into myth and urban legend. One day, the life of a tea monk is upended by the arrival of a robot, there to honour the old promise of checking in. The robot cannot go back until the question of ‘what do people need?’ is answered. But the answer to that question depends on who you ask, and how. They’re going to need to ask it a lot.
Reserve the paperback of A Psalm for the Wild-Built
Top non-fiction
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
As a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer has been trained to ask questions of nature with the tools of science. As a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, she embraces the notion that plants and animals are our oldest teachers.
In Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer brings these lenses of knowledge together to show that the awakening of a wider ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgement and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the rest of the living world. For only when we can hear the languages of other beings are we capable of understanding the generosity of the earth and learning to give our own gifts in return.
Reserve the paperback of Braiding Sweetgrass
Reserve the eBook of Braiding Sweetgrass
Regenesis by George Monbiot
George is a British journalist, author, and environmental and political activist, these are his proposals for remaking the global food industry, from changes in farming practices to 3D-printed steaks. This is urgent, essential reading.
Regenesis is a breathtaking vision of a new future for food and for humanity.
Reserve the paperback of Regenesis
Top children’s fiction
The Silver Road by Sinéad O’Hart
When Rose is entrusted with a powerful stone by a Frost Giant, she is swept into an adventure full of danger. The stone can be used for great good or great evil, depending on its keeper. It leads Rose to discover the magic that runs through all of Ireland. A magic that is threaded together beneath the land: the Silver Road. But the Silver Road is under threat. Now Rose must keep the stone from falling into the wrong hands and embark on a quest to find its rightful owner and keep the magic alive.
Reserve the paperback of The Silver Road
Nightlights by Lorena Alvarez
Every night, tiny stars appear out of the darkness in little Sandy’s bedroom. She catches them and creates wonderful creatures to play with until she falls asleep, and in the morning brings them back to life in the whimsical drawings that cover her room. One day, Morpie, a mysterious pale girl, appears at school. And she knows all about Sandy’s drawings. ‘Nightlights’ is a beautiful story about fear, insecurity, and creativity, from the enchanting imagination of Lorena Alvarez.
You don’t have to be ‘good’ at drawing to make comics!
This February we have exciting workshops that encourage young people to explore their reading and creativity, inspired by cartoons, comics and graphic novels.
Reserve the comic of Nightlights
Looking for more book recommendations?
Check out our ‘Get in our good books’ articles last month where writer Lesley Thomson shared her top reads with us!
