Category: Young Adult

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Shorelines by Ruth Ennis 

It’s been a while since I accepted a book to review – life has been incredibly busy over the last year! – but I just couldn’t resist the opportunity to dive into Shorelines by Ruth Ennis.

The lovely people at TheWriteReads described this book as a reimagining of HC Andersen’s ‘The Little Mermaid’.

This YA fantasy novel in verse follows Muireann’s story.

Between a dying ocean and a divided world, a mermaid must choose between the sea that made her and the surface that might break her – in this stunning novel in-verse.

Muireann is a mermaid – fierce, curious, and proud of the body that keeps her warm beneath the waves. But life in the ocean is becoming impossible. The merfolk are at war with climate change that has ravaged the sea: food is scarce, and her twin sister was killed in a mass-fishing net. With her mother lost in grief and her world falling apart, Muireann dreams of escaping to the surface.

But the human world isn’t the haven she hoped for. It’s colder, crueler – and here, her large body is seen not as strength, but as something to be ashamed of. Muireann must find her voice and decide where she belongs –  beneath the waves, or above them.

Firstly, I love that Muireann is fat; that all the merfolk are. It feels so incredibly logical, given the survival mechanisms of marine mammals. I also love how strong her voice is – when I read novels in verse, I often find that if they’re told in first person, the poetry sort of overrides the sense of the character. That doesn’t happen at all here.

I love the layout of the poetry – the way that words and shapes interact. Here are a couple of examples that I thought were especially wonderful;

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In particular, this following poem really stood out to me. The alignment of the paragraphs to portray a conversation is so clever! No need for quotation marks, disrupting the very clean aesthetic of the verse that’s upheld throughout.

That said, the layout can get a little challenging at times. I found the following segment took a few reads before I figured out how it was intended to be read (i.e. bottom to top… I think). I wouldn’t necessarily want to change the format – I think it works so well as part of the metaphor of Muireann rising to the surface – but I might have liked an illustration that led the eye on this page, or at least something as a visual clue for where to start.

I think in general, that would be my main criticism of the book – the illustrations are beautiful and fit the tone fantastically, but I think there could have been a little more cohesion in how they were used.

It’s a minor point though, and it’s really all I’ve flagged as I read the book. I would still – and have already – recommend this to friends and family. As ever, I don’t really believe that children’s books should be confined to being read by children only, so I’ve sent links to this to numerous adult friends. It really is a spectacular offering in the ‘fairytale retellings’ genre. Along with Cinder House by Freya Marske (Cinderella), it’s possibly my absolute favourite.

A note on the ending: This book follows the HC Andersen version of The Little Mermaid, not the Disney one. It does so beautifully, I might add, and as someone who spent a lot of time at university studying Andersen, there’s a sense of ‘Finally!’ to this ending for me. I do understand, though, that not everyone is a lover of the bitter-sweet, so I do think it needs saying.

I would love to hear your thoughts on the different endings to The Little Mermaid, and I would love to hear of any other particularly good fairytale retellings you know of! Comments are always lovely, and it’d be great to chat books with people! Alternatively, you can find me over on Bluesky 🙂

Much love!

Fran xx

I’ve set up a ‘bookshop’ of sorts, over on Bookshop.org, so that I can point you to somewhere to buy that isn’t Amazon. I get a small commission for any sales made there. This helps to support me running this blog. If you’d like to get your copy of Shorelines this way, please just click here. If you’d like to support the running costs of this website without buying a book, you can do so here. Thank you.

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Allies: Real Talk About Showing Up, Screwing Up, And Trying Again by Shakirah Bourne and Dana Alison Levy

I’ve spent the last month highlighting books about LGBTQIA+ issues and/or by LGBTQIA+ authors:

The Secret Sunshine Project
Jamie
Glitterboy
Boy Like Me
Cottonopolis
Bloom

And while all of these books are AMAZING, I wanted to close out the month with an action – something that people could do in the face of the increasing demonisation of – specifically the trans community but also in general all – LGBTQIA+ people.

I first came across Allies: Real Talk About Showing Up, Screwing Up, And Trying Again by Shakirah Bourne and Dana Alison Levy in a shorter format, as one of the £1 World Book Day books. The title of the book generally explains what it does – it speaks about the need to sit with discomfort and let it move us to change, rather than to anger.

So often, so much of the discord we see in the world comes from peoples’ own discomfort at being wrong, where instead of listening and saying ‘sorry, I made a mistake’, they double-down on their previous assertions. This book teaches young people how to move past those feelings, and how to decentre themselves and their hurt in these conversations.

So, now that Pride month is over, what are we going to do going forward?

If you read no other books that I’ve recommended over June, I’d love it if you’d read this one – or even the £1 World Book Day abridged copy. In times like these, allyship is vital – especially for the trans community.

As for me, I’m going to continue seeking out books by LGBTQIA+ authors, so that I can continue to highlight them throughout the coming 12 months. If you’re an author or a publisher, and you have a book with queer themes for children and teens that you’d like me to review, please get in touch – especially books past their first flush of youth – I know how important sustained publicity is.

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I’ve set up a ‘bookshop‘ of sorts, over on Bookshop.org, so that I can point you to somewhere to buy that isn’t Amazon. I get a small commission for any sales made there. This helps to support me running this blog. If you’d like to get your copy of Allies this way, please just click here. If you’d like to support me without buying a book, you can do so here. Thank you.

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Bloom by Kevin Panetta and Savanna Ganucheau

Bloom by Kevin Panetta and Savanna Ganucheau is an absolutely gorgeous book. It reminded me a little of Heartstopper by Alice Oseman, both in terms of character design and artwork, which – since I loved Heartstopper – was a very good thing.

The story follows Ari, who wants to move away from his family bakery to play in a band with his friends. When baking-enthusiast Hector gets hired to help out after Ari is gone, Ari finds himself with a new reason to stay.

This is such a sweet romance – pun intended – and I loved the soft palette of grey-blue used throughout. I thought it really added to the mood. There were some moments where I wished that certain toxic friendships had been dealt with more instructively, but I do get that this is a representation of real-life struggles amongst teens/young-adults rather than a manual for How To Life. And I wish that there had been some more conversation about what happened following a certain altercation towards the end – Hector deserved better damnit – but overall, I thought that all the conflict was wrapped up nicely by the end.

This is another book for older readers, much like Boy Like Me, where it’s super easy to read alongside your child – the graphic novel format makes it quick, and it’s a breezy delight compared to the real world. Goodness knows I appreciated the happy place it provided for a few hours. And now I get to chat about lovely books with my eldest kiddo, which should keep the world at bay for a little longer.

Do you have any favourite graphic novels? Have you read Bloom, or Global, or The Power of Welcome? I would love to hear your thoughts and recommendations!


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I’ve set up a ‘bookshop‘ of sorts, over on Bookshop.org, so that I can point you to somewhere to buy that isn’t Amazon. I get a small commission for any sales made there. This helps to support me running this blog. If you’d like to get your copy of Bloom this way, please just click here. If you’d like to support me without buying a book, you can do so here. Thank you.

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Boy Like Me by Simon James Green

Boy Like Me by Simon James Green is honestly one of the books I remember best from 2023. The narration is sharp and witty, the romance is tender and sweet, and the cutting comments about Section 28 were deeply appreciated by my little 80s-child heart.

Boy Like Me follows Jamie (not that Jamie, or this James) through his final year of secondary school in 1994. With book bans common-place under the rules of Section 28, a kind librarian sneaks Jamie a novel which helps him to make sense of how he’s feeling, and through notes in the margins, helps him to connect with another Boy Like Him (see what I did there? 😉 )

This book is a fantastic YA offering which not only provides a deeply satisfying romance, but also explores life at a time when it was effectively illegal to speak about homosexuality in British schools. It’s something that I feel is more important now than ever, with the UK creating an increasingly hostile environment for the trans community. Looking back at the arguments made for Section 28, it’s clear to see where a lot of the anti-trans rhetoric is coming from; we’ve been here before. Equipping young people with the tools they need to see through this is essential, and Boy Like Me is a great way to open these conversations if you’ve not had them before.

As an adult reading this book, I really appreciated the 90s nostalgia, so if you’ve got older children who are past the point of being read to, this is a great book to read alongside them and discuss. When Eldest kiddo stopped asking for me to read, I found that being able to enjoy the same novels was a key way to stay connected through stories, and this one was a genuine joy.

What books would you recommend to teen readers? Are there any YA books you’ve read along with older children, and if so what are they?

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I’ve set up a ‘bookshop‘ of sorts, over on Bookshop.org, so that I can point you to somewhere to buy that isn’t Amazon. I get a small commission for any sales made there. This helps to support me running this blog. If you’d like to get your copy of Boy Like Me this way, please just click here. If you’d like to support me without buying a book, you can do so here. Thank you.