Latest news with #NathanaelLessore
Times
27-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Times
Our summer reading guide: 10 terrific books for children
One of my favourite books of the year so far, this is Adrian Mole for the gaming generation. Nathanael Lessore is a rising star and his latest tale, about a wisecracking introvert who suddenly finds popularity through an online alter ego, has had my 11-year-old son in stitches. The whip-smart dialogue really captures the way he and his friends speak. Beneath the jokes, there's real emotional depth to this cautionary tale about balancing your online life with your real one. It also provides youngsters with the added pleasure of explaining — tweensplaining? — all the slang terms to the adults in their lives. A brilliant read for tween boys (and girls) everywhere. Hot Key £8.99 pp320Buy a copy of What Happens Online There's no shortage of children's adventure stories set in ye olde London, but this one stands ragged shoulders above the rest. It's the 1830s and street urchins are vanishing. Strange figures are shadowing the markets and something's lurking in the sewers. No one seems to care apart from Cassia Thorne, a debtor's daughter who scrapes a living selling ballads at Bartholomew Fair. Determined to solve the mystery, she teams up with Teo, an orphan based on the children who really were trafficked from Italy to London to work as street musicians. Their world is made vivid in this sophisticated and exciting adventure, inspired by Dickens's Little Dorrit. & Schuster £7.99 pp336Buy a copy of Deep Dark • Seven books to get kids reading again — Dr Seuss, Wimpy Kid and more Geraldine McCaughrean has been described as 'one of the greatest living children's authors' and this novel — her 170th — is a masterclass in urgent, powerful storytelling. It follows the fates of four young Londoners who forge a close friendship when they make a split decision to avoid evacuation and flee back to the bombed out, rubble-strewn neighbourhood they call home. The world of the Blitz is brought into raw, flaming life. It feels like plunging into one of those black-and-white Pathé film reels and finding everything in colour. Although the setting may be historical, the issues of peace, conflict, forgiveness and revenge are anything but. Brutal, beautiful and £8.99 pp288Buy a copy of Under a Fire-Red Sky The words 'blank verse' and 'baseball' don't float your boat? No matter, because Black Star is wonderful whether you like sport or not. It's not really about baseball at all; it's about being a black 12-year-old girl in 1920s Virginia. In this age of shortened concentration spans, blank verse is the perfect format, distilling big ideas into short and snappy stories that deliver plenty of literary bang for their buck. As always, Kwame Alexander's writing zings with confidence. Come for the quick read, stay for the crash course in the poetry of Gwendolyn Brooks and Harlem Renaissance pioneers such as Langston Hughes. 'This ball's on fire, better sound the alarm.'Andersen £14.99 pp384Buy a copy of Black Star • Eight books to get your child excited about reading Another blank verse novel, but this time with a very northern English accent. Nate has just navigated a difficult final year of primary school but now a new world of anxieties and expectations lies ahead. It's called … secondary school. 'Teachers with tans wear new start smiles: Welcome, welcome. This way to the hall. This must be how gladiators felt on their way to the arena.' This is a big-hearted book with moments of lyricism and a little bit of grit. It's honest and relatable but never miserable. A particularly good read for primary school-leavers who are about to take their first flight to secondary £9.99 pp480Buy a copy of The First Year Published just ahead of the Uefa Women's Euros next month, this manual covers 'all the football skills every fan and player needs to know'. Using photographs of the talented young boy and girl players from Oadby Owls, a community club in Leicestershire, each page features how-to tips on different aspects of the game, from perfecting your first touch to placing a shot. Design is the biggest selling point here: the book is light on text and big on photographs and diagrams. According to the author and 'football mum' Katie Daynes, the manual aims to help 'all those parents who spent their weekends supporting grassroots football […] understand and appreciate the game better'.Usborne £7.99 pp104Buy a copy of Football Skills • The 9 best graphic novels for kids – recommended by teachers Osamu Tezuka, the 'godfather of manga', died before he could give one of his beloved characters an ending. Almost 50 years later the baton has been passed to the American writer Samuel Sattin, and the artist duo known as Gurihiru to complete the tale of Unico. And what an enchanting reboot it is. The artwork does justice to the cinematic sweep of Tezuka's work, and the story of a 'brave, young unicorn' lost in time and space, spreading love wherever he goes, while struggling to remember who he is or where he came from, will appeal to a broad range of age groups, from eight upwards. £10.99 pp224Buy a copy of Unico As Dolly Parton said: 'It takes a lot of time and money to look this cheap' — and a lot of clever plotting has gone into this ridiculously escapist thriller. Two teenage girls meet on a train. One is a spoilt brat who is being sent to a Swiss rehab centre as punishment for her wild behaviour. The other is a skint backpacker with her own secrets. They hatch a cunning plan to swap identities. Each steps off the train into the other's life — on the condition they will return to the same spot to swap back in six weeks' time. Cue a cat and mouse game between two supremely scheming frenemies that ricochets around Europe until a very unexpected denouement in the … Isles of Scilly. Preposterous, improbable and lots of £9.99 pp368Buy a copy of The Other Girl • Read more book reviews and interviews — and see what's top of the Sunday Times Bestsellers List Giddy up for a pony story with a twist. Forget Follyfoot and My Friend Flicka, this is a surreal and quirky survival story set in the kind of New Zealand you don't usually see in the tourism adverts. A grieving 12-year-old girl runs away from home with her mother's ashes and her most trusted companion, 'a nuggety little bay' named Tooth. There are criminals, a genuine sense of peril, and themes of grief and family breakdown. And did I mention the horse talks? Tender but never twee, it's an indie movie just waiting to happen. I loved £7.99 pp220Buy a copy of Ride North The Notwitches is a triumph of nonsense. There's no message. There's no big 'ishoo'. It is a celebration of silliness for silliness's sake, and hallelujah for that. (For all the hand-wringing over the reading for pleasure crisis, it's often forgotten that books like this make reading fun in the first place.) Gary Panton earned his comedy stripes writing for The Beano, Hey Duggee and Bluey so knows a thing or two about entertaining little ones. His first children's book features a young girl called Melanda who runs away from her three horrid aunts. It revolves almost entirely around the increasingly surreal conversations with the gnomes, mermaids and sleepy rock monsters she meets along the way. Well, I say mermaids; these ones are reversed: 'Top half of fish. Bottom half of a lady.' They run around on the sand, 'Sounding their siren call, 'hiya!'' Cheeky and refreshing, with an old-fashioned dose of House £7.99 pp304Buy a copy of The Notwitches
The Guardian
23-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
‘One kid at a time': How children's books on male friendship could combat toxic masculinity
This year's Carnegie medals for children's writing, awarded on Thursday, brought to light an unexpected trend. At a time of widespread public anxiety about the decline in boys' reading habits and the rise of the toxic influencers of the online 'manosphere', male friendship and masculinity were front and centre on the shortlist. The winner, Margaret McDonald's superb debut, Glasgow Boys, tells the story of the relationship between two looked-after children on the threshold of adulthood who process trauma in different ways. Banjo's aggression and Finlay's avoidance could be seen as two models of dysfunctional masculinity. Luke Palmer's Play, also on the shortlist, tells a story of male friendship which touches on rape culture and county lines drug gangs, while teenage gang membership is the focus of Brian Conaghan's Treacle Town. Nathanael Lessore won the Shadower's Choice medal (voted for by young readers). King of Nothing tells the story of Anton, a pre-GCSE hardman for whom reputation is everything. Anton hangs out with a thuggish crowd whose worldview is shaped by gang culture and Tate-like influencers. The arc of the plot – boisterously comic at first, but increasingly moving – shows how Anton's developing friendship with the uncoolest boy in the school changes his priorities. Though the books were judged for their individual qualities, the panel's chair, Ros Harding, observes a pendulum-swing in publishing. 'We've gone from children's adventure books, where it was always the boy as the hero, then there was a backlash against that, making sure that girls could be the heroes as well, which then maybe led to some boys feeling that things weren't being written for them.' Now, she says, 'another wave of books' is addressing that. McDonald says that in Glasgow Boys, she 'wanted to explore the spectrum of masculinity that both Banjo and Finlay exist on. Finlay is the more 'feminine' man who we perceive to be empathetic and introverted – a very gentle person. Banjo, conversely, is the 'masculine' boy: violent and aggressive.' 'People have been very curious as to why I have focused on two men when I'm not myself a man. But I don't think it would have been much of a question if I was a male author.' McDonald had a considerable struggle to get Glasgow Boys published – 60 agents and 20 publishers, she says, turned it down. Does she think that one factor was a reluctance to publish books about boys? She believes the book's use of Scots dialect (it comes with a glossary) was an issue, as was the fact she was submitting it during Covid. But the decline in boys' reading, she suggests, might have created a vicious circle in publishing. 'I think because there's such a small readership it's difficult, in a business sense, to cut out the bigger readership – which is girls and women.' Harding says her experience as a librarian is that most boys read more narrowly than most girls. 'A girl who likes reading will read anything. It doesn't matter whether it's a male protagonist or a female. Boys were just a little bit more resistant to that. I think they are more likely to want the male protagonist.' When McDonald hears feedback on the book, male readers 'often focus on Banjo and Finlay separately, whereas my female readers focus on the relationships. A lot of boys who read it will be like, 'I related to Finlay', or 'I relate to Banjo', whereas none of the girls read that way. So it suggests a little bit of a difference in the ways in which boys go into books.' The hope is that they go into books at all. The explosion in so-called toxic masculinity is taking place at the same time as statistics tell us that reading for pleasure, especially among boys, is on the decline. Novels are empathy machines: they invite you to imagine what it might be like to be somebody else. So they are, at least potentially, an antidote to the misogynistic influence of the manosphere and gaming culture. But it's precisely with social media and video games that they are competing for the attention of boys and young men. Lessore says his book was inspired in part by discovering 'my little nephew and my cousin – who were, I think, nine and 13 at the time – were both watching Andrew Tate videos'. He sees the long-term effects of that in school visits he does, to expensive private schools and 'very, very underfunded state schools' alike. Children self-segregate: boys on one side, girls on the other. 'Gay' is being used as an insult once more, and boys have so little respect for female teachers that they have to call over male staff to settle them. Sign up to Bookmarks Discover new books and learn more about your favourite authors with our expert reviews, interviews and news stories. Literary delights delivered direct to you after newsletter promotion Does Lessore feel confident he's talking to the young men that books like his need to reach, though, rather than just about them? 'I start every school visit with the statistics that teenagers who read more tend to [get] higher paid jobs as adults,' he says. 'That usually gets them sitting up a little bit in their seats.' In Anton's world, drawn from Lessore's own working-class south London background, he thinks boys can find something to relate to. 'Kids like that don't think they can be writers, and therefore they don't read – and therefore they don't get the empathy that can be learned from books.' Lessore's influence seems to work. 'Even the more disruptive boys on the school visit tend to, you know, barge their way to the front of the queue to get their book signed. It's a drop. But, yeah, like: one kid at a time, one school at a time.'
The Guardian
19-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Carnegie medal for writing: Margaret McDonald named youngest ever winner
Two books about male friendship and masculinity have been announced as winners in the latest Carnegie awards, which highlight the best new books for children and young people. This year saw 27-year-old Margaret McDonald become the youngest ever winner of the Carnegie medal for writing, which is judged by a panel of librarians. McDonald's winning debut, Glasgow Boys, is a coming-of-age novel about the friendship between two boys who have grown up in the care system. Another book focused on male friendship, King of Nothing by Nathanael Lessore, was voted winner in a separate prize judged by young people from reading groups in schools and libraries who shadowed the judging process for the flagship award. The Carnegie medal for illustration was awarded to Olivia Lomenech Gill for Clever Crow, written by Chris Butterworth. The shadowers' choice medal for illustration went to Homebody by Theo Parish. The winners were announced at a ceremony at the Cambridge theatre in London on Thursday. McDonald and Lomenech Gill were awarded £5,000 each, while Lessore and Parish were given £500 each to donate to libraries of their choice. Writing Glasgow Boys, McDonald worked with a children's therapist to depict the care system in an authentic way. The novel, which incorporates Scots dialect, is 'an immersive and visceral read that completely draws the reader into the present and past lives of Finlay and Banjo', said judging chair Ros Harding. 'Neither of [the characters] can remember the last time they had a hug; both are determined to hold on at all costs to the uncertain hope of a brighter future', wrote Imogen Russell Williams in a Guardian review. The book 'is a paean to the power of friendship, and daring to be vulnerable in the face of past hurt'. McDonald is donating her prize money to Action for Children, which helps young people in care and other vulnerable groups of children, while Lomenech Gill plans to use the money for a project supporting schools, education and libraries in Palestine. Sign up to Bookmarks Discover new books and learn more about your favourite authors with our expert reviews, interviews and news stories. Literary delights delivered direct to you after newsletter promotion Working on Clever Crow 'was a great opportunity to learn more about these very clever and sociable birds, and I hope that the book might encourage readers to look at crows from a different viewpoint than the rather negative stereotype as portrayed in fairy tales, horror movies, and Hitchcock,' said Lomenech Gill. The shadowers' choice winner for writing, King of Nothing, is a teen comedy about an unlikely friendship between two boys. Earlier this year, the novel topped the older readers category in the Waterstones children's book prize and won the Jhalak children's and young adult prize. 'It's testament to Lessore's lightness of touch and believable characters that despite delving into big topics such as toxic masculinity and grief, this is an immensely readable book that never feels too worthy,' wrote Fiona Noble in the Guardian. Homebody, the shadowers' choice winner for illustration, follows 'the protagonist's search for self-acceptance, so that the house of their body can feel like a true home', wrote Imogen Russell Williams in the Guardian. 'Investigating the subtleties of trans and non-binary identities, its soft greys and pinks and joyful emphasis on self-discovery will appeal to Heartstopper fans.' The Carnegie writing medal was established in 1936, while the illustration prize was launched in 1955. Previous winners of the writing award include Frank Cottrell Boyce, CS Lewis, Philip Pullman and Ruta Sepetys; past illustration winners include Shirley Hughes, Quentin Blake and Lauren Child. Last year, Joseph Coelho won the writing award for The Boy Lost in the Maze, illustrated by Kate Milner, while Aaron Becker took home the illustration medal for The Tree and the River.
The Guardian
04-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
British-Palestinian writer NS Nuseibeh wins Jhalak prose prize for writers of colour
British-Palestinian writer NS Nuseibeh has won the Jhalak prose prize for writers of colour for a 'timely' and 'timeless' essay collection, Namesake, which explores identity, religion and colonialism. The inaugural Jhalak poetry prize went to Mimi Khalvati for a book of collected poems, while the children's and young adult prize was awarded to Nathanael Lessore for King of Nothing, a teen comedy about an unlikely friendship between two boys. 'These are books full of courage, insight and panache,' said prize director Sunny Singh. 'They compassionately and with utmost honesty confront terrible realities and explore painful and complex histories and lives even as they exemplify playful stylistic experimentation and mastery of form and language.' The winners were announced at a ceremony at the British Library in London on Wednesday evening, with each writer awarded £1,000. In Namesake, Nuseibeh looks towards her namesake, Nusayba, an early convert who fought alongside the prophet Muhammad. The book is 'an illuminating and trenchant exploration of Muslim feminism', wrote Dina Nayeri in a Guardian review. 'Searching and honest, these essays carry the reader from New York dinner parties to seventh-century battlefields to Jerusalem checkpoints and down the alleyways of a shrewd and compassionate mind,' Nayeri added. This year's prose prize was judged by the novelist Sareeta Domingo, journalist and writer Taran N Khan and nonfiction writer Yepoka Yeebo, who won the 2024 prize. Sign up to Bookmarks Discover new books and learn more about your favourite authors with our expert reviews, interviews and news stories. Literary delights delivered direct to you after newsletter promotion Nuseibeh was selected as winner from a shortlist that also featured My Friends by Hisham Matar, Everest by Ashani Lewis, Manny and the Baby by Varaidzo, The Rest of You by Maame Blue, and Where We Come From by Aniefiok Ekpoudom. Khalvati's Collected Poems 'is a luminous testament to a lifetime of lyrical precision, emotional depth, and formal mastery', said poet Jason Allen-Paisant, who was joined on the judging panel by Malika Booker and Will Harris. Other books shortlisted for the poetry prize were Adam by the late Gboyega Odubanjo, Boiled Owls by Azad Ashim Sharma, Horse by Rushika Wick, Self-Portrait With Family by Amaan Hyder, and Top Doll by Karen McCarthy Woolf. Children's and young adult winner King of Nothing also topped the older readers category in the Waterstones children's book prize earlier this year. 'It's testament to Lessore's lightness of touch and believable characters that despite delving into big topics such as toxic masculinity and grief, this is an immensely readable book that never feels too worthy', wrote Fiona Noble in the Guardian. Broadcaster and writer Yassmin Abdel-Magied, 2024 winner Hiba Noor Khan and Alom Shaha judged this year's children's and young adult prize. Alongside Lessore on the shortlist were Bringing Back Kay-Kay by Dev Kothari, Flower Block by Lanisha Butterfield and Hoang Giang, Mayowa and the Sea of Words by Chibundu Onuzo, The Boy to Beat the Gods by Ashley Thorpe, and The Thread That Connects Us by Ayaan Mohamud. The prize, established in 2017, is open to books published by writers of colour in the UK or Ireland. Past winners of the prize include Reni Eddo-Lodge, Guy Gunaratne and Travis Alabanza.
