How to Grow a Garden by Frances Tophill and Charlotte Ager

2025   

 

Adult, fluent reader, ages 9 -99+, ages 7-11, Tophill Frances, Ager Charlotte, rewilding, environment, picture book, non-fiction, horticulture,   

This book would make an excellent contribution to a primary school library and interest wouldn’t be restricted to those who are passionate about the environment. It is aspirational.   

 A contents page near the beginning of the book identifies sections: Flowers and Herbs, Trees, Hedges and Edges, Grass, Fruit and Veg, Water, Exotic Plants and Further Resources.

Each double spread shows pictures of the topics discussed and provides bite-sized information.

At the end of each section there are suggestions about what you can do in each season.

The book opens with an introduction about how the text works. It invites the reader to join in an interesting journey.

Throughout the text there are many activities suggested to the reader.

There is a glossary and an index at the end of the book.

This works like a standard picture book in that the illustrations give additional information.  For the most part it uses a plain sans serif font with simple ‘a’s and ‘g’s. There are a few lines here and there in a font that looks like handwriting.

The book is in a quite a large format.    

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The Hunt for the Golden Scarab by M.G. Leonard

 

2025   

 

Sim and his mum are always on the move. Fortunately Mum is a champion n in martial arts and Sim is also pretty good. They always seem to be on the run and Sim isn’t sure why.

He finds out Mum has the power to unlock doors in time. This is related to her playing the flute Does Sim also have this powers? Unfortunately he plays the piano and you can’t exactly put one of those in your back pack. Yet he finds out that his tuning fork that has as much power.

Sim finds out he has an uncle, Emmett, and a cousin, Jeopardy, who have similar powers. Emmett can be difficult – he often steals artefacts from the past.

Emmett and Sim’s mum Callidora are in trouble with the Council of Keys, which has become corrupt. They have to prevent the Council form stealing the golden scarab that belongs on Nefertiti’s tomb.  Yes, they have gone back to ancient Egypt and met Tutankhamun. On the way Sim has met Howard Carter excavating Tutankhamun’s tomb.  

Callidora loses her power. Sim has to take over.

The novel is 262 pages of blocked text with a serif font and difficult ‘a’s and ‘g’s. The end material includes some detailed notes on aspects of the past they have visited, author and illustrator bio and an excerpt form the next book in the series.     

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