#supportanauthor  – http://dawnfinch.wixsite.com/home/project01

Fantasy Fans Unite! Dawn’s Brotherhood of Shades is a great present for those in need of a dose of adventure.

“From the chaos of Dissolution rises a secret order, a Brotherhood formed to protect the world of the living from the world of the dead. Growing up on the streets of London, Adam knows nothing of the dark and precarious world that exists just beyond his reality – until he dies, cold and alone, aged 14. Now, after years of abandonment, Adam discovers he is important: an Order that was formed many centuries ago to protect the world of the living from the world of the dead needs him – an Order of ghosts.”

Dawn is an librarian extraordinaire and readers will love this title.

#supportanauthor – https://www.victoriaeveleigh.co.uk/bookshop/

If your kid is mad about horses, then look no further for literary inspiration! Victoria Eveleigh has stableloads of books to delight equine fans. Try Katy’s Ponies Series:

“Katy’s birthday doesn’t feel very special, until she discovers a tiny newborn foal on the moor. It walks right up to her with wobbly steps and Katy is spellbound. As she reaches out and touches its forehead, Katy longs for the foal to be hers. But how will she ever persuade her family?”

You can get books from your local bookshop or direct from the author herself!

#supportanauthor – http://nick-cook.net/

Adventure and sci-fi fans will lose their mind for Nick Cook’s epic Cloudrider series!:

“Dom lives with his mom in Tornado Alley, where twisters used to be a way of life. After a year long drought, the family diner is about to go bust and Dom feels trapped, torn between supporting his mother and the urge to escape. Even his relationship with best friend Jules is beginning to prickle with feelings he doesn’t want.

When the first twister in months appears from nowhere and an airship emerges from the spout, Dom’s world is turned upside down. Its pilots are explorers who make Dom an offer beyond his imagination. But the pilots are hiding a terrible secret. Can Dom uncover the truth and make the right decision before everything he cares for is destroyed?”

Nick also writes books for adults. Jet-pack your way to your local bookshop and order one for your little space cadets.

#supportanauthor – https://jocotterill.com/books/books-for-8-12s/jelly/

Jo is the author of Electrigirl and is getting amazing reviews for her latest work, Jelly:

“Angelica – known as Jelly to her friends – is the life and soul of the classroom. Quick to pick up voices, she loves doing impressions of her teachers to make everyone laugh. Even the teachers can’t be cross with her for long!

But Jelly isn’t quite as bubbly as she pretends. At home, her super-slim mum drinks green tea, runs a beauty business and has an unkind boyfriend. Jelly isn’t super-slim. In fact, she’s the biggest girl in the class – and she knows it.

But when you’re bubbly and larger than life, you’re not supposed to have self-esteem issues, so Jelly keeps her worries confined to a secret book in which she writes expressive poetry. No one, not even her best friends Kayma and Sanvi, know about the book.”

Check out Jo’s website and order your book from your local bookshop. Vive la Revolution!

#supportanauthor – https://clairebarkerauthor.com/buy/

Claire is the author of the bestselling Knitbone Pepper series and is BACK with the amazing Picklewitch and Jack from Bloomsbury:

“Picklewitch is, quite literally, out of her tree. She has a nose for naughtiness, a taste for trouble and a weakness for cake. And unluckily for brainbox Jack – winner of the ‘Most Sensible Boy in School’ for the third year running – she’s about to choose him as her new best friend . . . “

Perfect for fans of… well, brilliant books!

These recommendations are part of my push to get people into proper bookshops again and getting authors into the hands of readers.

https://www.colinmulhern.co.uk/p/home.html

Colin Mulhern writes horrible books for horrible kids (his words, not mine). His latest is Buttercup Sunshine and the Zombies of Dooooom!

“Granny Fondant is waking up to another perfect day in Briar’s Cove – the nicest, safest, sweetest town there ever was, where nothing bad ever happens. She spots Buttercup Sunshine running down the lane, the friendliest, most angelic girl… But wait! How odd. Why would Buttercup be holding a chainsaw?”

Delightfully horrific and horrifically delightful. Perfect gift for your little monsters!

The Twelve Days of Xmas Book Recommendations are randomly picked from my rolodex of awesome authors. Try recommending your own with the hashtag #supportanauthor!

#supportanauthor https://loutreleaven.com/books/letter-to-pluto/

Letters to Pluto is a brilliantly funny book by the equally brilliant Lou Treleaven:

“Jon’s teacher wants to keep the art of letter writing alive and starts an interstellar penpal programme.  Jon is not impressed, especially as his penpal Straxi is from Pluto, the most boring, smelliest and far away place in the whole solar system.  And if that wasn’t bad enough, she is a girl!  A hilarious story of friendship, annoying teachers, planet saving and of course letter writing.”

Younger readers will also love Lou’s amazing picture books. ‘Daddy and I’ is particularly tear jerking!

This is part of my drive to recommend books by non-celeb authors and to get people to frequent their local bookshop. Remember – if they don’t have it, ORDER IT!

Christmas is coming, if you hadn’t noticed, and it’s the time of year for giving. But what to give to your book-loving offspring? Yes, you could wander into a supermarket and pick out the nearest book by attention-hungry celebrity authors writing about their ‘hilarious’ cat or some ghost-written tome about elves and fairies OR you could do the following: Go to a local bookshop (they still exist) and get a book by any one of the hundreds of children’s authors who depend on your support.

So I have put together 12 days of recommendations of brilliant, British children’s authors whose amazing books will knock the socks of any story by certain talent-show judges. I’ve picked at random, and if your bookshop doesn’t have the book you want they will be happy to order it for you – in most cases, they will get it by the next working day!

So stay tuned for awesome recommendations and be sure to click the links to learn more about them. Also – pass it on! Sharing is caring and be sure to recommend your own favourite author who doesn’t have their own TV and/or radio show.

Christmas is coming and so it’s the time of year to flog my wares! I’ve put up a special page on my website where you can buy signed copies of a few of my books. Just head on over to http://danmetcalf.co.uk/signed-books and get busy with the clicky. (UK shipping only, last orders for xmas is 18th Dec 2018)

From 29th November to 5th December, all Amazon customers can enjoy free standard delivery, with no minimum purchase amount, when they use promotional code FREEDELIVERY at checkout. The promotion applies to all items listed as “dispatched” or “fulfilled” by Amazon on the product detail page and is available for millions of items with no minimum order amount, including ALL MY BOOKS! The promotional code can be used multiple times throughout the Free Delivery Week promotion.

So if you want to grab my books before the festive rush, find them on my books page or below!