October, October (Winner Of The Yoto Carnegie Medal 2022)

Description: WINNER OF THE YOTO CARNEGIE MEDAL 2022

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 A classic in the making for anyone who ever longed to be WILD. October and her dad live in the woods. They know the trees and the rocks and the lake and stars like best friends. They live in the woods and they are wild. And that's the way it is. Until the year October turns eleven. That's the year October rescues a baby owl. It's the year Dad falls out of the biggest tree in their woods. The year the woman who calls herself October's mother comes back. The year everything changes. Written in Katya Balen's heart-stoppingly beautiful style, this book is a feast for the senses, filled with the woodsmoke smell of crisp autumn mornings and the sound of wellies squelching in river mud. And, as October fights to find the space to be wild in the whirling chaos of the world beyond the woods, it is also a feast for the soul.

Review: 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! -- Jo Boyles * 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 -- Daniel Hahn * 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 *

Author Biography: Katya Balen studied English at university. Since then she's worked in lots of special schools and is now co-director of Mainspring Arts, which runs creative workshops for neurodivergent people. When she's not writing books or planning projects, she 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 her ridiculously lazy dog, Raffi. 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.

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