The Best Children's/Kids Book Picks June 2022 - UK - Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books


Elen Caldecott - The Blackthorn Branch - Published by 
Andersen Press (2 Jun. 2022) - ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1839132032 - Paperback - Age: 8+ 

Cassie’s older brother Byron has fallen in with the wrong crowd – it’s soon clear these boys are wild, reckless and not human at all. They are tylwyth teg – Fair Folk, who tempt humans down into the dark places of the world. And Byron is tempted.

When he goes missing, Cassie and her cousin, Siân, follow his trail to an old abandoned railway tunnel which goes down and down into Annwn, the underworld. Here they find that the tylwyth teg are restless – and angry. Their leader, Gwenhidw, wants to protect Annwn from the damage humans are doing to the world. Byron is part of her plan. But Cassie won’t let her big brother be part of anyone’s plan. Can she rescue her brother before it is too late?


Kate Gilby Smith - Olive Jones and the Memory Thief - Published by Orion Children's Books (23 Jun. 2022) - ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1510108523 - Paperback - Age: 8+ 

Olive Jones has just inherited her grandmother's memories - through a mysterious new device called a Memoriser. But her grandmother has left her a mystery in those memories. And now it's up to Olive to solve it.

After her grandmother's funeral, Olive learns she has inherited something unexpected: her grandmother's memories.

Olive is surprised - her grandmother wasn't a cuddly, affectionate kind of grandmother. Curious about what she might discover, Olive sets out to 'watch' the memories. But before she can, they're stolen right from under her nose. Olive can't understand why anybody would want to steal the memories. As far as she'd known, her grandmother had always lived an utterly ordinary life.

Following the trail of the thief, Olive begins to discover that her grandmother's life wasn't what she thought. As she unravels the secrets lurking in her grandmother's past, she discovers clues Grandma Sylvie left her. It's up to Olive to solve the mystery of the memory thief, and in the process, learn about the incredible life and adventures of the grandmother she has never really known.


Lindsay Galvin - My Friend the Octopus - Published by Chicken House (2 Jun. 2022) - ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1913696405 - Paperback - Age: 8+

England, 1893, and aquarium fever is at its height.

Twelve-year-old Vinnie Fyfe works in the tea-shop at Brighton aquarium, and waits for her milliner mother to return from Paris.

The arrival of a giant octopus changes her life for ever. Discovering a talent for art, Vinnie begins to draw the extraordinary beast.

She soon realises she can communicate with the octopus through colour and – as a gripping mystery begins to unfold – discovers what true courage really means ...


Alastair Chisholm - The Consequence Girl - Published by Nosy Crow Ltd (2 Jun. 2022) - ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1839941207 - Paperback - Age: 8+ 

A thrilling, unputdownable adventure, from the highly-acclaimed author of the Waterstones Children's Book Prize-shortlisted Orion Lost and the Blackwell's Children's Book of the Year, Adam-2.

The world of Colony is in ruins. No one knows what caused society to begin tearing itself apart - but the secret may lie with Cora, a girl living on the mountainside far away from others. Cora possesses an extraordinary gift: the power to see back in time, from an event back to its causes. Even more incredibly, sometimes she can change events. But the present is looking for Cora, and she is forced on the run - and must decide who she is, what she can do ... and how to fix the future.

With incredible twists and turns, and a hugely gripping story, The Consequence Girl is a brilliantly-imagined, ambitious and high-concept adventure from one of the most exciting new voices in children's fantasy and science fiction.

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