Barrington Stoke - specialists in 'super-readable books'

Have you seen Barrington Stoke's excellent range of books? Here's what they say on their website:

"Barrington Stoke specialises in 'cracking reading', publishing super-readable children’s books that break down the barriers that can stop kids getting into reading. Our first-rate short fiction brings together the very best children’s authors and illustrators in the UK with a host of unique accessibility features to offer cracking reads accessible to more children including those with dyslexia or visual stress."

They have a wonderful range of top authors, as you can see here, and books for all ages. Every aspect of the books - print size, colour of pages (cream: easier on the eye than white), typeface, spacing and margins - has been thoroughly considered, and they're great at covers.

I'm delighted to have had the chance to write two books for them: Tilly's Promise, a First World War story, and Until We Win, which is about the campaign for Votes for Women as seen by seventeen-year-old Lizzy. Both books have teenage interest but are short and easy to read. They've been successfully used in top primary classrooms and also enjoyed by others who just prefer a quick read.

From the back of the book:

"Life in this village was always the same, year after year. In fact, I'd often thought it was too much the same, and wished for a bit more change. But now ..."

When war breaks out, Tilly Peacock and her sweetheart Harry are keen to do their bit - Tilly as a nurse and Harry as a soldier in France.

But the war drags on. Soon even Tilly's brother Georgie has been called up to fight, even though his mind is much younger than his body. Harry makes Tilly a promise to look after Georgie, but Harry and Tilly are about to find out that promises can be hard to keep ...

A moving novel of little-known victims of the First World War.

From the back of the book:

Purple for dignity

White for purity

Green for hope

When Lizzy meets Julia and Elsie her life is transformed - they're Suffragettes, fighting for Votes for Women, and their passion lights a spark in Lizzy's heart.

Lizzy's new friends believe in deeds not words, and soon Lizzy is caught up in the heat of the Suffragette cause. But rallies, protests and direct action place the Suffragettes in danger of prison - and worse.

An inspiring novel of one young woman's fight for equality.

The lovely and striking covers for these two books were designed by Stewart Francis Easton, an artist based in the Midlands, who works with hand embroidery and digital print on fabric. See more on his website.

"To realistically portray all the horror of war, while still showing the enemy as human is difficult in a full length novel ... try to condense that into 96 pages in a large double spaced font and you are nearly asking the impossible. But Linda Newbery has pulled it off perfectly. This book is brutally realistic, painful to read at times, but beautifully written."

The Bookbag, 5-star review for Tilly's Promise

Until We Win was shortlisted for the Young Quills Award, 2018, awarded by the Historical Association.