Storm Witch

Storm Witch

Ellen Renner

Nosy Crow

Review by Noah (age 11)

Storm Witch is an amazing book full of imagination and great ideas. It is one of the best books I have ever read. I love reading about characters in books – and most are pretty cool – but Storm, the hero in this book, is really cool.

Wow is all I could say after reading Storm Witch; it is exactly what I dream of and Ellen has made my dreams come true.

Storm Witch is a book with elemental fantasy magic, a stowaway pirate, witches and wildlife. Be prepared for battles with savage sea-dwellers, and much much more – it’s a story that will make you laugh and cry.

An amazing book that me and my Mum fought over.

More about Storm Witch

The first book in an epic children’s fantasy series full of magic, adversity and adventure.

Child of Air, Water, Earth or Fire? Now that she is thirteen Storm must undertake The Choosing and be claimed by one of the Elementals, which will determine her whole life’s work. But she is bestowed with a great and terrible gift. Storm, the daughter of a murdered father, has unnatural powers that no one can understand… Storm-bringer. Storm-rider. Storm-queller.

When a savage band of pirates – the Drowned Ones – attack her people, Storm faces a decision that will change the islanders’ lives forever. Will her powers help her to save those she loves, or is her fate to betray everything she holds dear?

More about Ellen Renner

Ellen Renner was born in the USA’s mountains of Missouri, but came to England in her twenties, and now lives in an old house in Devon with her husband and son. Ellen originally trained as a painter and surrounds herself with sketches of her characters as she writes. Her acclaimed novels include Castle of Shadows (winner of the Cornerstone & Writers News Competition) and City of Thieves. She spins wool as well as stories, plays the violin, fences (badly!), collects teapots and is a keen motorcyclist.

Ellen wrote Storm Witch within sight of the sea in Devon, and now lives in the Midlands.

 

Thank you to Nosy Crow for sending Noah a copy of Storm Witch in exchange for this review. Storm Witch is available now from your local bookshop or direct from Nosy Crow. You can visit Ellen’s website here or follow her on Twitter.

Tell Me A Dragon

Tell Me A Dragon

Jackie Morris

Graffeg

Originally published in 2009, Tell Me A Dragon was recently re-released by Graffeg in a larger artist format. Following in the footsteps of The Ice Bear and The Snow Leopard, the book shows off the illustrations to the max (on art paper) and allows the freshly formatted words space to breathe.

Tell Me A Dragon stands proud next to similarly sized Lost Words and Snow Leopard

On her website, Jackie says “One day someone asked me, if I had a dragon, what would it be like. I realized that almost every day it would be different. Some days I would like a big dragon to fight battles for me, sometimes a small dragon to curl around my ear and tell me stories. Each day a different dragon, but each one mine. And so I wrote Tell Me a Dragon.” And so each double page spread documents a different type of dragon – from one as large as a village to a tiny dragon with whisper-thin wings, and from a snaggle-toothed dragon to a sea-dragon which races dolphins on the waves. Many teachers will be familiar with the book as it is used up, down and across the land to spark imagination and as an amazing stimulus for creative work in schools. Indeed, it was recently chosen as an essential picture book for Year 3 by Simon Smith (@smithsmm), Headteacher and Picture Book enthusiast (visit his blog). If you’re thinking of using it in the classroom then you should also seek out Pie Corbett’s teaching notes to accompany the book.

Who’s the Daddy? Larger format next to the original.

Otherwise, open the pages and drink in the gloriousness. Soak in the vibrancy of the colours and be washed by the words as they meander from the paper to your mind. Kit pored over the endpapers for hours imagining what would be borne of the eggs – radiant, rich and varied in shape and size. Nina sat and talked about her dragon, telling me of the adventures through the mountains, the snacks they would share, the parties they would hold. Noah took himself off to draw his own creations – an imagination in full flight, an awareness awoken.

Without a doubt this is a fabulous book with the power to invoke curiosity, creativity and comfort in all who pick her up.

Tell Me A Dragon is available from Graffeg, Solva Woollen Mill or your local independent bookshop. We are grateful to Graffeg for a copy of the book which was given in exchange for this honest review. Follow Jackie Morris on Twitter or visit her blog.