What a wonderfully readable cornucopia of information and ideas – an inspiring and practical source for confidently talking about and acting on behalf of a sustainable future!" The Worlds We Leave Behind: This is an incredible book about friendship, family, and memory. The main character, Hex, or Hector, is blamed for causing an accident, whilst playing in the woods, and runs away. He discovers a clearing in the woods, and just as in any fairy tale, a strange cottage, inhabited by a mysterious old lady. She offers him a deal to remove those who wronged him from the world and Hex can continue to live his life as before.

Again, no favourites, per se, but at various times in my life the following five have been important to me: Barbara Firth (the greatest illustrator of bears in children’s books full stop, no argument); J.R.R. Tolkien (for, almost accidentally, allowing us a glimpse into his lifelong private world-building exercise); Norman MacCaig (one of the great poets of nature and time and thought – never fussy and complex, but always sharp, charming and short); Iris Murdoch (for her ungainly, unlikely, unworldly novels of love and philosophy; Jill Bennett (I have a print of her drawing of the BFG (from Danny Champion of the World) on the wall by my desk, which is so many times more mysterious and fascinating than Blake’s BFG that became the standard). There wasn't anything truly wrong with The Worlds We Leave Behind, only that it felt, to me, like the first draft of a greater project. I didn't really get to know the characters - all the boys were much the same to me. According to the plot, the boys were seemingly interchangeable, which was a bit sad. If someone were to ask me what I thought of A.F. Harrold's The World We Leave Behind, I would be at a loss of words. I am at a loss of words, because even though it was a hauntingly dark and captivating tale, but the ending - it still left me with such a profound sadness of incompleteness. Frustrated that this was how the author chose to end it - with a poignant message that belies the meaning 'be careful what you wish for'. - you never know what you will lose in exchange for a vengeful wish granted out of spite and hate. 😔 These are the lingering questions that challenge the young boys of this story - Hex, 'ill-fated and ill-stared', and Tommo, Tommo and Jayce - 'they'd been a pair since day one', inseparable since always - 'after ten years or so, they were still best mates' - until one fateful incident forever tampers the very balance of these friendships. 😔 When Hex - 'short for Hector' - wanders into the forest, determined and set on revenge for the pains of shame and humiliation he felt at the hands of others, for 'there is no Band-Aid for that, no salve or bandage or cold compress that can soothe a stunned ego' - makes a deal with a witch to change the past - only for Tommo and Jayce to wake up the next morning - without any recollection of Hex, whatsoever. What follows is this gripping and tragic tale of how far Tommo will go to fix the errors of one's mistakes, and at what cost, we are willing to change our own lives, for the sake of others.❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹

The Primary School Library Alliance is calling on the government to match-fund the private investment it has brought into helping primary schools c...

This is a lucid collection of short chapters on some of the world’s most intractable issues like globalisation, climate change, human population and migration. It is a unique and prescient contribution that helps make sense of an increasingly unpredictable and unsustainable world."It starts Amanda and Clay- a lovely couple wants to escape from their city life and rents a vacation home at Hamptons for reasonable price as weekend getaway with their two kids. Everything starts quite relaxing, entertaining, peaceful like the silence before the storm or happiness before the approaching disaster as like all those thriller movies’ beginning. Five books I like (the word ‘favourite’ is invidious and unrealistic, of course): Delight by J.B. Priestley (a collection of perfect tiny essays about things that made him happy); Gentleman Jim by Raymond Briggs (the only one of his books I had as a kid, and a wonderful sad-hopeful story); The Green Knight by Iris Murdoch (this could almost stand for any of her novels, odd unfashionable monsters that I adore); The Story Giant by Brian Patten (the poet’s lightness of touch makes this collection of folk (and other) tales a melt in the mouth read); Memorial by Alice Oswald (a marvellously moving piece of war poetry, a translation of the Iliad told as a list of the dead, simple and hugely effective). This powerful opening to the story, beginning in the everyday world, soon becomes far darker, and relentlessly gripping. The mysterious atmosphere of the woods seeps into the rest of the narrative as the characters live through a series of alternative existences within the space of one week. The story pivots around the consequences of a single, unintended but careless action, and the results of a brief moment of terrible anger, as the other characters and their siblings are drawn into a world far grimmer even than their everyday experiences of friendships, bullying, and family breakdowns.