Top Ten Tuesday: My Winter TBR list

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly book blogging initiative hosted by The Artsy Reader Girl with new themes each week.

This weeks theme is winter TBR

Ok so this did not go to plan! The last few days have been a whirlwind and I intended to have this scheduled, then I intended to post this when we got back from our play date this morning, but life & Christmas plans just got in the way again. So here it is, better late than never.

I decided to go with a mix of books I intend to read over the festive period! Some are Wintery and some are not so!

1. Shadows of Winterspell Amy Wilson (Pan MacMillan 2019)

Cover by Helen Crawford White

Ive been intending to read this and then other things jump the queue. Hopefully I will have the time to pause (ha!) and enjoy this tale of faeries and ordinary people bumping against magical worlds considering how much I loved Snowglobe.

2. Whispering to Witches- Anna Dale (Bloomsbury 2004)

Ok I’ll be honest I picked this up in the second hand bookshop for one word in the title alone but I’ve started it and it’s rather fun. It’s the story of a boy whose father is called up to a poorly relative in Scotland so he is sent to his mother’s new family for Christmas, but on the way he discovers a world of witches hiding in plain sight.

3. Wicked Nix – Lena Coakley illustrated by Jaime Zollars (Amulet 2018)

I picked this up in Blackwells last week and I have to say I was struck by the Puck like naughty Faery aspect and the all is not as it seems aspect of this sprite versus invading human stand off.

4. Aqua Pixie Kakasha – Tang Tang illustrated by Zhang Wangzhe (Little Steps 2019)

Again, a Blackwells blind buy based on the word Pixie and the beautiful art. It is a Chinese tale that seems to read like a wonderful myth featuring a young girl who comes across a water pixie desperate for the rains to replenish her lake. Translator uncredited I’m afraid.

5. The Midnight Unicorn Alice Hemming (Scholastic 2019)

Ok I picked this up simply based on that cover and title. Totally and completely shallow I know but the blurb sounds good too, one girl a baker the other an apprentice witch whose lives run into each other’s perhaps not by accident.

6. Snow and Rose – Emily Winfield Martin (Yearling 2017)

Ok this is right up my street since I saw it on my friend (and fantastic Fellow MG blogger) Mary BookCraic‘s November round up. The premise is basically this is Snow White and Rose Red (a completely different fairy tale & girl to Snow White & The Seven Dwarves) but they don’t know they are in a fairy tale. The fairy tale aspects have hooked me, let’s see how the book goes.

7. Winter Magic by Various curated by Abi Elphinstone (Simon & Schuster 2017)

This is a collection of short stories by famous children’s writers with the theme of Winter, it contains the story that became illustrated by Fiona Woodcock into a picture book The Snow Dragon amongst others. This is a low pressure read to just indulge in the festive spirit.

8. The Polar Bear Explorers Club- Alex Bell illustrations by Tomislav Tomic ( Faber+Faber 2017)

This is a series that is often recommended to me and the third was published recently so I thought I’d get a wriggle on and read the first an icy adventure filled with Yeti and other fantastical creatures.

9. The Great Brain Robbery – PG Bell illustrations by Flavia Sorrentino (Usborne 2019)

Illustrated by Favia Sorrentino

I really want to read the follow up to The Train to Impossible Places before the end of the year but whether that will happen I don’t know!

10. Alex Sparrow and the Really Big Stink Jennifer Killick (Firefly 2017)

I need a damn good laugh and this book may just be the ticket about a boy who can tell when people are lying because his ear produces the most unpleasant stench. Jennifer Killick wrote this silly book to make kids laugh but also to dispel the tension and embarrassment that can surround such smells and bodily noises as she herself suffers from a condition. Firefly is a fantastic little Welsh indie (I have no affiliation & I do not receive any review copies!) that just keeps delivering on brilliant books and I loved Mo, Lottie and the Junkers earlier this year so here’s hoping to enjoy this too.

Phew! Made it! What do you think of these books have you read any?