Read Hetty and the Battle of the Books free for 7 days. £7.99/month after - less than a paperback.
Anna James's Hetty and the Battle of the Books is a warm school story for 9 year olds about a girl who takes on her head teacher to save the school library.
Hetty has been friends with Mei, Rocket and Ali since their very first day of Reception. They were called the Ladybirds. But now they're in Year 7, they've all found different things, and after the Big Falling Out over Hetty's birthday, they're not really speaking.
The library is the one place that still feels like hers. So when the head teacher, Mr McCarthy, announces he's closing it and the lovely librarian Ms Juster will lose her job, Hetty screams (she tries to pretend it wasn't her, then admits it).
Hetty tells the story herself, and she's great company. She's dramatic, honest and very funny about it. She draws comparisons with Lyra and Anne of Green Gables. She'd happily glare at her ex-friends across the library every lunchtime. And she's pretty sure Mr McCarthy secretly wishes schools still served gruel.
Then she spots something on the head's desk that makes her suspicious. She grabs it and runs (the way she gets hold of the evidence might spark a chat at home about rules!). Saving the library is suddenly too big a job for one person, and the only people who can help are the three friends she's fallen out with.
The best bit is how the book handles the falling out. Hetty is sure she's the one who was wronged. When the others finally get to explain, it's a lot less simple than she thought, and she has to own her part in it too. It's a really gentle way of showing that friends can grow into new things and still stay friends.
It's a short book with a lot of heart. There's Dungeons & Dragons, a student newspaper, a film club and a protest with placards. If the library is your reader's safe place, they'll be cheering Hetty on from the first page.
If they loved spending time with a girl who finds her people in books, Tilly and the Bookwanderers is the next one to try. Tilly lives above her grandparents' bookshop, and she starts meeting characters who really should still be on the page.
A library hand-picked by an English teacher, delivered through a calm, ad-free app. If your child already loves reading, we keep up.
7-day free trial. Then £7.99/month.
