Description

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.

Publisher 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 * 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 * 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 on October, October * 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 * 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 * A brave and beautiful book with a big heart. I loved it * Jenny Downham on THE SPACE WE’RE IN * This book has everything: space and wilderness and crisps and code, Max in a wolf suit and a dog called Neil, and life and death and art, and above all a boy called Frank who will break your heart and mend it again and fill you with fizzing hope * Joanna Nadin on THE SPACE WE’RE IN * The struggles of those with autism and those who love them in a book with an achingly huggable main character * Kirkus Reviews on THE SPACE WE’RE IN * What Balen captures in Frank’s voice is the authentic experience of being ten and facing up to all the difficulties that brings. His story, and that of his family, will live long in the hearts and minds of its readers * A.F. Harrold on THE SPACE WE’RE IN * October, October is the perfect Autumn read – you can almost smell the damp leaves, crisp air and smoke from a distant bonfire. Children love the outdoors and would be desperate to cook potatoes on sticks and tell stories at the fireside – it would be an ideal book to read alongside forest school sessions. I devoured it in one sitting, truly enthralled in the atmospheric setting descriptions and swept away by the sheer emotion * Primary Teacher Bookshelf * What a stunning book full of feeling! […] I really love Katya Balen’s original style which really captured October’s voice perfectly here. The imagery used throughout is so evocative and poetic; Balen portrays the woods and city vividly conveying October’s feelings towards both beautifully. * NetGalley Reviewer *