We talk with Tom Palmer about his latest book, If the Invader Comes, the first in a trilogy of books set in Cornwall. Published by Barrington Stoke in a dyslexia friendly format, the Allies trilogy explores the experiences of children during World War II in Cornwall and focus on the dynamics of friendship and allyship among the characters.

As with his earlier books about the two World Wars, Tom has meticulously researched the series and we talk about the records he has used of ordinary people's lives in Cornwall during the war and the way in which he worked with a local primary school and has drawn on the knowledge of their extended families to ensure the stories are authentic. Having recently moved to Cornwall he has been exploring the county and as the National Year of Reading Ambassador for Cornwall Libraries, he has visited every public library in Cornwall to promote reading.

Tom is a familiar figure at the Imperial War Museum where he does a lot of his research. We talk about their current exhibition, Childhood in War, which explores how children have experienced conflict from 1914 to the present day and features Tom's book Armistice Runner.

Tom also introduces his new sports series, Underdogs, which has a sports focus. The first one, The Fear, is about football; the second, Front Foot, about cricket; and cross country running is to feature in the next book.

We conclude with Tom's own recommendation for a children's book that shouldn't be missed - Anthony McGowan's Birdlands.

If you want to find out more about Tom's school visits and the other events that he holds his website can be found here.

If you are interested in using Tom's books in your school or library, free book club resources including questions and activiites are available at Book Clubs in Schools for both If the Invader Comes and Armistice Runner.

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For the National Year of Reading, we are sharing a series of short conversations with people who are involved in promoting reading with young people. This could be a programme, resources or a literary event, and we're giving them the opportunity to share what they do and how people can get involved.

In this episode we are joined by Dr Fen Coles from the Letterbox Library. Letterbox Library offers the very best in diverse and inclusive books for children. Founded over 40 years ago, they have an expert team that reviews and selects their books with a real emphasis on quality - diverse representations, engaging texts and excellent illustrations - and books that genuinely appeal to children.

We talk about their rigorous selection process for books, current trends in representation, and the challenges faced in maintaining diversity in literature and why it matters. We cover the success of The Little Rebels Award, which recognizes radical children's literature, and look forward to its return. We also return to the familiar theme of why libraries and trained librarians in schools should be a non-negotiable and end on hopes for the legacy of the National Year of Reading.

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In this episode we talk with Pépé Smit about her picture book Fred the Very Demanding Deer which is published by Scallywag Press and translated from Dutch. We were lucky enough to go to the launch at GOSH comics and met Pépé, loved the book and of course wanted to chat to her about the book and Fred.

Pépé trained as a visual artist at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy and the Sandberg Institute. Her illustrations have appeared in several leading magazines and newspapers, but she has increasingly focused on creating picture books that make young children both laugh and think.

Fred the Very Demanding Deer is a story about a deer who wants to leave the forest to visit the city - his adventure breaks the fourth wall and is a chat between the illustrator and the deer as they navigate the trip and the book together. We talk to Pépé about how the idea for the book was developed and how it grew into a series (there are many more books in the series) and the translation process from Dutch to English.

Win a copy of the book and a felt Fred!

We also have a very special giveaway of a copy of the book and a felt Fred which would be a lovely addition to a Christmas tree – (UK only) This giveaway is running on Instagram, entrants will need to like the post announcing the competition, comment on the post and follow Mostly Book Talk.

Instagram: @mostlybooktalk

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