A feast for the senses and the soul, this life-affirming middle-grade novel from Katya Balen follows October as she fights to find her place in the world beyond the woods where she has always lived
Katya Balen is an award-winning author of books for
children. Katya's debut novel, The Space We’re In, was published in
2019 and was highly commended for the Branford Boase Award. Her
second, October, October, won the Yoto Carnegie Medal. Her third
novel, The Light in Everything, was published in 2022. When she’s
not writing books, Katya likes to scroll through dog-rescue
websites, bake, and attempt to keep all her house plants alive. She
lives in London with her partner and their dogs Raffi and
Mouse.
Angela Harding is a fine artist specialising in nature and
wildlife screen-prints as well as lino and vinyl cuts. Her
beautiful prints appear in a huge range of galleries and have also
been featured in Gardens Illustrated, BBC Countryfile and Country
Living.
Katya Balen’s October, October is a very special new addition to
the shelf and deserves classic status
*Times Children's Book of the Week*
Quite simply one of the most beautiful books I've ever read
*Kiran Millwood Hargrave*
October, October is fierce with a wild love. It draws you in to its
heart, shakes you with a fury, wraps you in a spell of
storytelling. In lyrical prose, Katya Balen gives us a modern day
heroine filled with courage. I loved every page.
*Jackie Morris*
In October, October the greenwood meets the city. Wise and bright -
I loved it.
*Hilary McKay, author of The Skylarks' War*
The most wonderful, original treasure of a story
*Emma Carroll*
It's EXQUISITE. Read it. Wild yourself. Open your heart to it.
Written with the pen of a poet and the soul of Mother Earth.
Glorious. It's like nothing else I've ever read.
*Liz Hyder, award-winning author of Bearmouth*
A modern classic ... relevant, comforting and life-affirming
*Scotsman*
This book feels like a secret treasure found in the woods … earthy
and magic and beautiful. I want to buy a copy for everyone I
know.
*Sophie Kirtley*
One of the most beautiful children’s books I’ve ever read
*Natasha Farrant*
The world is not a simple place, and Balen draws a touching,
spikey, sparky, dangerous, heartful portrait of a girl slowly
learning that.
*A.F. Harrold*
This is what language can do – tell a story that burns with
intense, furious passion, and yet be so disciplined that one never
doubts, not for one moment, the emotional truths driving it. This
song of the wild and of our most profound human longings is deeply
moving, deeply satisfying, and it's my children's book of the
year.
*Kevin Crossley-Holland*
One of my favourite books this year. Beautiful and uplifting, a
powerful evocation of nature and wildness that I found both
surprising and incredibly moving. Tears were shed!
*The Rocketship Bookshop*
The perfect Autumn read - you can almost smell the damp leaves,
crisp air and smoke from a distant bonfire ... It would be an ideal
book to read alongside forest school sessions.
*Primary Teacher Bookshelf*
A timeless, lyrical treasure that sees a girl who’s at one with the
wild struggle with the world beyond her woods ... An unforgettable
story, an unforgettable heroine
*LoveReading4Kids*
Balen’s immensely touching, well-written story about the pleasures
and perils of wildness combines a lush, autumnal sensibility with a
perceptive story about a transitional phase in a young girl’s
life.
*Booktrust*
This is a sensitive account of adjusting to change and the grief
that comes with it
*CBI Mind Yourself 2020 Reading Guide*
This is the beautifully told second novel of a remarkable new
writer
*Best children’s books of the year 2020, The Times {Saturday
Review}*
I’ve also just been introduced to the first two stunning children’s
books by Katya Balen, both published by Bloomsbury: The Space We’re
In and October, October. If you have a middle-grader, or know one,
or are one ... treat yourself
*Books of the Year, The Spectator*
The theme of raising a wild bird is at the heart of Katya Balen’s
October, October ... Only it’s about more than that: about the gap
between life in the wild woods and in London, where October is
saved by mudlarking, and friendship with a boy called Yusuf
*Animal magic: children’s books for Christmas, The Spectator*
Written in beautiful prose, it is a heartbreakingly tender story of
growing up, childhood, finding your own space, learning to forgive
and ultimately celebrating what it is in the human spirit that
gives hope to us all
*Dandelion*
As soon as I had finished it, I wanted to go right back to the
beginning and read it all over again
*CLPE Staff Picks 2020*
October, October is one of those books which, as soon as I had
finished it, I wanted to go right back to the beginning and read it
all over again
*Katie, CLPE Staff Picks 2020*
An incredible story about love, loss, hope and overcoming
adversity
*The Green Parent*
Balen’s touching, perceptive story about a transitional phase in a
young girl’s life is full of heart, lush description and the love
of wild nature’
*BookTrust Great Books Guide 2021*
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