The cell network, a princely classic and our inner awesome by various authors – children’s book reviews –

Age 9 plus:

Thirty Trillion Cells: How Your Body Really Works

Isabel Thomas and Dawn Cooper

‘What a piece of work is a man!’ wrote William Shakespeare and there is no more intricate part of the amazing human body than its network of tiny, but hugely important, cells.

And with an incredible thirty trillion cells working together to form one unique human being, these minute particles are the building blocks of rocks and rockets, cars and clouds... and of all living creatures.

Award-winning science and nature writer Isabel Thomas tackles the topic of one of the body’s most vital components with her customary child-friendly verve and accessibility as we are invited to travel through our body systems to find out how we move, grow, breathes, sense, think and feel.

With Dawn Cooper’s stunning illustrations putting vibrancy and colour into Thomas’s in-depth look at the crucial building blocks of life, children get the inside story on everything from individual cells to complex systems.

Discover why you get butterflies in your stomach, how your brain is more complex than the most powerful computer, and why you are home to more bacteria cells than there are stars in the Milky Way.

Thirty Trillion Cells takes readers closer to the very core of the human body than they have likely ever been before as they learn exactly what they are made of, and the ageing and dying of cells which are all natural parts of a human life.

Packed with fascinating facts, and lively artwork which puts the human body firmly in focus, this is a book that is just as beautiful to look at it as it is fun to read.

(Welbeck Editions, hardback, £14.99)

Age 6 plus:

The Little Prince

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Chris Riddell and translated by Ros and Chloe Schwartz

The strange but beautiful tale of a meeting between a pilot whose plane has crash-landed in the desert and a little prince who is visiting Earth from another planet has become a timeless classic in the eighty years since it was first published.

And now French writer and aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s extraordinary, philosophical bestseller, The Little Prince, springs to stunning and colourful life again under the magical pen, ink and imagination of former Children’s Laureate Chris Riddell, regarded as one of the most celebrated illustrators of the 21st century.

A long-time admirer of Saint-Exupéry, Riddell reveals that illustrating The Little Prince was ‘a true passion project.’ He said his approach had been to ‘take the narrator’s point of view and recreate his original drawings and illustrate him creating them.’ This allowed him to become the third person in the story, observing the pilot and the little prince, and setting himself free to imagine his world with as much detail as he could.

Saint-Exupéry disappeared whilst flying a mission for the Free French Forces in the Rhone valley in 1944 and was never seen again but now his heartwarming story has been perfectly matched with Riddell’s masterful and otherworldly illustrations.

After crash-landing in the Sahara Desert, a lonely pilot knows he is going to have to make a complicated engine repair on his own. And his life depends on it because he has barely enough drinking water to last a week. But then he encounters an extraordinary little fellow... a little prince who is visiting Earth from his own planet and who tells him a series of wise and enchanting stories. Their strange and moving meeting will illuminate many of life’s universal truths as he comes to learn what it means to be human from a child who is not.

With the loving, insightful, perplexed-by-grown-ups Little Prince at its heart, this tenderly told story explores timeless themes of loneliness, friendship, sadness, love and childhood. New readers will love meeting characters such as the coquettish Rose, the knowledgeable Fox and the complex Lamplighter, complete with their fresh and wonderful recreation by a true master of his art.

Packed with Riddell’s exquisite and memorable artwork, and printed in full colour in a sumptuous hardback and jacketed edition with gold ribbon marker, this gorgeous gift book will be treasured by families for generations to come.

(Macmillan Children’s Books, hardback, £25)

Age 9 plus:

Wonder: The Natural History Museum Poetry Book

Ana Sampson

The wonders of the natural world are an endless source of inspiration for artists, writers... and poets! So what could be better than an anthology – covering everything from the depths of space to the very centre of the Earth – which has been created in a special partnership with the Natural History Museum?

This beautiful, evocative collection – compiled by bestselling anthologist Ana Sampson – includes poems about the solar system, planet earth, oceans and rivers, birds, dinosaurs, fossils, wildlife, flowers, fungi, insects, explorers and palaeontologists.

Each verse section, inspired by the treasures found in the museum, offers an introduction and some footnotes about particularly interesting species as well as featuring botanical drawings and engravings from the museum’s collections.

The museum itself has a collection of over eighty million objects and behind the scenes of its twenty-eight galleries are miles of preserved specimens, libraries of rare books and artworks, wonders gathered on some of the most famous voyages in history, rooms packed with pressed plants, warehouses teeming with stuffed animals and freezers full of DNA.

The museum is also a state-of-the-art centre for discovery with over three hundred resident scientists and over ten thousand visiting researchers each year, investigating everything from dinosaurs to life on other planets.

With classic and modern poems mirroring our incredible planet – dinosaurs great and small, funky fossils, spectacular space, creepy crawlies, amazing mammals, brilliant birds and powerful rivers and oceans – youngsters can get a taste of the work of poets like Neil Gaiman, Paul Cookson, Kate Wakeling, Robert Macfarlane, Grace Nichols and Brian Moses.

The perfect celebration of nature, the planet and poetry!

(Macmillan Children’s Books, paperback, £9.99)

Age 10 plus:

You Have the Power: Find Your Strength and Believe You Can

Leah Williamson and Suzanne Wrack

Captaining the England Lionesses to victory in the UEFA Women’s Euro Championships last summer was one of the proudest moments in the life of Leah Williamson. But it wasn’t the end of the story for this footballing hero because now Leah is determined to help other girls to find their inner strength, believe in themselves and take control of their lives. And as a defender for Arsenal and the first captain in the men’s or women’s senior teams to lead England to a European victory, Leah is uniquely positioned to motivate and inspire younger generations. You Have the Power, an empowering guide for children written with journalist Suzanne Wrack, is filled with stories from Leah’s own life and contains lots of brilliant advice to show young girls how to find their own strength and empower themselves to follow their dreams. By proving that you can be a leader at any age, and that huge things can happen when you believe in yourself, Leah’s life and career demonstrate that youngsters can achieve anything they put your mind to, both on and off the pitch, no matter what other people say. Positively the best guide to inspire, empower and motivate!

(Macmillan Children’s Books, paperback, £9.99)

Age 9 plus:

Circus Maximus: Rider of the Storm

Annelise Gray

Breathtaking horses, pulsating action, deadly danger, simmering, shimmering mysteries… and a Roman emperor hell-bent on revenge!

If you hanker for truly extraordinary adventures – classics in more ways than one – then head off to Rome and share more thrills and spills of the ancient sport of charioteering alongside a courageous girl who dares to take on the best… and win.

In the third book of her heart-pounding debut series, classics scholar and Latin teacher Annelise Gray once again brings the Roman world to life with a vibrancy and breathtaking authenticity that cannot fail to capture hearts and minds.

A magical blend of real history and dazzling fiction transports us back to the perilous reign of the brutal Emperor Caligula in the first century AD whilst delivering a terrific and inspirational adventure starring Dido, the only girl charioteer ever to have chalked up a victory at the majestic but brutal Circus Maximus.

But it was a win that cost her dear because Caligula was intent on wreaking revenge. So Dido is reconciled to leaving the racing track and staying at home with her racehorse trainer uncle Scorpus and Parmenion, a one-time charioteer. But a storm is brewing and it brings with it a fiery black stallion, uncannily like Dido’s beloved Porcellus. Word arrives from Rome that her cousin, Abibaal, a talented young charioteer, has been recruited to compete for the evil emperor, Caligula. To save young and impetuous Abibaal, Dido must return to the great Circus Maximus track where she once drove to glory herself, reunite with old friends, face being pursued by old enemies, not least the vengeful Caligula, decide what she is prepared to risk to save the ones she loves most... and face the toughest, most dangerous race of her life.

Ben Hur meets National Velvet as the intelligent, loyal and passionate Dido must once more summon up the blood to fight deadly battles in a world dominated by men whilst clinging on to hope, courage and redemption in the face of revenge, betrayal and cruelty.

With an exciting cast of human and horse characters, and a story that celebrates the close bonds of family, Gray’s gripping adventure gallops along as fast as the prize stallions of the Circus Maximus whilst delivering intriguing snippets of real history and steeping readers in the sights and sounds of the Roman Empire.

So saddle up, take the reins and enjoy an extraordinary and exhilarating ride!

(Zephyr, hardback, £14.99)

Age 8 plus:

Find Your Calm: A fill-in journal to quiet your busy mind

Catherine Veitch, Sarah Davis and Jessica Smith

Everyone has an inner awesome... but if you are finding it hard to unleash, dive into the pages of this stylish fill-in journal and find help to bridge that elusive ‘confidence’ gap. Find Your Calm, written by former teacher Catherine Veitch and creatively illustrated by Jessica Smith, helps youngsters to keep track of their daily life and their dreams for the future, as well as providing advice to increase their sense of calm. Developed with child psychotherapist Sarah Davis, and packed with inspirational quotes and fun activities, as well as tips and tricks for staying calm under pressure, this journal is a great way to understand stress triggers and anxiety. There are recording/logging spreads for day-to-day activities, writing prompts, aspirational planning-ahead features, and lots of space for kids to express themselves in multiple ways. Find Your Calm also explores mental health topics and has a strong focus on mindfulness, creating healthy habits and self-expression, and is the ideal tool for kids who find it hard to understand and express their emotions, hopes and anxieties. So whether you’re looking for tips on staying calm in difficult moments or want to try some mindfulness, this clever and carefully created book could be just what you’re looking for!

(Welbeck Children’s Books, paperback, £9.99)

Age 8 plus:

Ultimate Football Heroes: Vinícius Júnior

Matt and Tom Oldfield

Discover the life stories of the world’s biggest and best footballers with this super series which follows their incredible journeys from childhood fan to superstar professional player. And in this new scintillating story, youngsters are on the trail of star Brazilian player Vinícius Júnior in an action-packed, footballing odyssey. Hailing from a poor family, Vini Jr saw football very much as a hobby rather than a career opportunity but there was no denying that the young boy from Brazil had bags of talent. Moving quickly through the ranks at Flamengo, he immediately caught the eye of the most successful European football club ever and soon joined Real Madrid. Discover how this winger honed his superior close control dribbling ability, added trickery, flair and flamboyance to his playing style, and scored the winning goal in a UEFA Champions League final at only 21 years of age! Written by sports writer brothers Matt and Tom Oldfield in a fast-paced, action-packed style, this new ultimate football hero story is guaranteed to be bang on goal with all aspiring young players!

(Dino Books, paperback, £6.99)

Age 7 plus:

Can You Get Rainbows in Space?

Dr Sheila Kanani and Liz Kay

Have you ever wondered how flamingos become pink, why some flames burn green, and why an octopus has blue blood?

Some of the weird, wonderful and – yes – colourful facts about nature are explored and explained in this truly kaleidoscopic science book which takes youngsters on a thrilling ride and allows them to enjoy seeing the world through a whole new spectrum!

Can You Get Rainbows in Space? has been written by Dr Sheila Kanani, a planetary physicist, science presenter, secondary school physics teacher, space comedian and published author, with a background in astrophysics and astronomy research.