Hopefully this week, whether it be holidays or the final weeks of term, finds you well rested and full of chocolate. Perhaps you even managed to squeeze in some reading over the long weekend? One of the best things about working with books is discovering stories that you’re sure will resonate with many people. Not far behind is the opportunity to revisit old favourites, and there’s both for you this month!

Many of you will remember Cars and Trucks and Things that Go by Richard Scarry from your own childhoods, let alone those of other children you’ve cared for! But some books stick around and this one has endured for 50 years now (yes, terrifying!) for its ability to amuse, entertain and educate the most active of children. As readers join the Pig on a trip to the beach, there’s a wealth of different kinds of transportation to learn about; from moving vans to ambulances, and steam locomotives to ice cream trucks, there can’t be many vehicles not included. As well as making a great book to be shared, there are so many details in the illustrations that repeated reading never fails to unearth undiscovered treasure!

For the past four years not only has Thomasina had to live with the knowledge that the last thing she said to her twin brother before he died was the worst thing imaginable, she has also coped while her parents’ overwhelming grief has left them barely functioning. Thomasina bakes the gingerbread that her family’s shop sells, cares for her comatose mother and runs errands for her monosyllabic father. When The Great Frost of 1683 leaves the great grey Thames frozen over, it feels like a kind of magic has taken over London. When Thomasina’s father decides to join other merchants and set up a stall on the ice Thomasina discovers a whole new world, one which encompasses friendship and possibility. When the opportunity arises to have her most fervent dream come true, Thomasina discovers that some wishes may come at a greater cost than she can bear to pay. The Miraculous Sweetmakers: The Frost Fair is just the right mix of enchanting, spooky and heartfelt to keep middle-grade readers turning the page.

Skulduggery Pleasant: A Mind Full of Murder takes place six years after the last book in the series and begins a new trilogy. In the years since Valkyrie saved reality, the world, and, most importantly, Dublin, she’s had to get used to celebrity status, but life goes on much as it did before the universe had to be restarted. Until a week ago. A week ago, a series of murders began that are violent, random and involve a kind of magic that Valkyrie and Skulduggery have never seen before. It seems that the two detectives have a foe who has devastating new tricks, and they must now call on every skill that they possess to stop a dark force which once again threatens to tear the world apart. You have to admire a series where a skeleton detective isn’t the creepiest thing, and where the two most powerful magical investigators in the world also tell the worst jokes ever, but there’s a reason the Skulduggery Pleasant series continues to keep kids enthralled after 15 books, and A Mind Full of Murder is an excellent example of why that is.