Database

ICCAL Book Database

The Deep Blue Between

In 1890s West Africa, when a brutal raid leaves their home in ruins, twin sisters Hassana and Husseina are kidnapped, sold into slavery, and separated, remaining connected through shared dreams of water, but will their fates ever draw them back together?

The Puffin Keeper

As a child, Allen is saved from a nautical disaster by Benjamin Postlethwaite, a solitary lighthouse keeper. Years later, Allen returns to the lighthouse, and the two nurse an injured young puffin back to health. When Allen is called up to fight in World War Two, he’s not sure he’ll see his mother or Benjamin again, but his fond memories of his time at the lighthouse keep him going, even through prison camp. Allen and Ben’s enduring friendship over the years is the basis for this story about friendship, art, war and an incredibly adorable puffin. From masterful storyteller Michael Morpurgo and world class illustrator Benji Davies comes this truly beautiful tale which will enchant readers of all ages.

We Are Many

In a field outside the city, some children are playing a game. They chase a kicked ball, then throw themselves on it in a laughing heap. But then the adults arrive. Lots of adults. They want to join the “people pile.” Soon, the pile has become so big, some people are uncomfortable. They have questions. Lots of questions. Like, should they be in two piles, or one? Meanwhile, the children wonder, what are all these adults doing? Can’t we just get back to our game?

All Shining In The Spring

This child-centred book focuses on SIDS and helps children and families cope with the loss of a baby. Written by Ireland’s first Children’s Laureate.

Halley’s Comet

in the final years of South Africa’s Apartheid era, an unlikely trio-a sheltered white rugby player, a black farmworker’s son, and an Indian shopkeeper’s daughter-discover the consequences of knowing the truth and having the courage to speak it. Halley’s Comet is the coming-of-age story of Pete de Lange, a white 16-year-old schoolboy, set in small-town South Africa in 1986. Pete lives a relatively sheltered life, primarily concerned with girls and rugby- until one January night changes everything. Thrust together with two complete strangers-Petrus, a black farmworker’s son and Sarita, an Indian shopkeeper’s daughter-the trio find themselves running for their lives from the vicious Rudie, whose actions will ripple far beyond that fateful night. This era-defying friendship-sparked by a shared secret- challenges everything Pete thought he knew and believed. And when anti-Apartheid revolutionaries set their sights on the town, it will change the course of the three young people’s lives forever. Halley’s Comet is a story of friendship, love, change, taking chances, hope, a comet, and some pretty cool 80s music. Hannes Barnard is a South African-born author of both English and Afrikaans novels. He debuted in 2019 with the YA novel, Halley se komeet, which he translated into English as Halley’s Comet. In 2020, Wolk, his apocalyptic YA adventure, was released, and coming up in 2022 is his crime novel, die wet van Gauteng. When not writing, traveling, or planning his next adventure, Hannes works in marketing. He has called England and Seychelles home but now lives in Johannesburg with his wife.

The Callers

In Elipsom the ability to call, or summon objects, is a coveted skill, and Quintus Octavius is from a family of powerful Callers, but Quin does not have the gift, and he is mortified when his mother and sister cheat for him at his test; but in a moment of frustration Quin makes something disappear and discovers that the all the objects that Callers summon are not conjured out of air, but come from a place called Evantra, which his people have been pillaging for years–and pulled into Evantra, he meets Allie who is determined to retrieve everything that has been stolen.

Heroines, Rescuers, Rabbis, Spies: Unsung Women Of The Holocaust

Discover nine ordinary women who took extraordinary measures to save lives during the Holocaust, resisting terror and torture while undercover or in hiding, in concentration camps, in forests, and in exile.

It’s Me, Henry!

This picture book about a young boy on the autism spectrum highlights the way he functions differently than his classmates. His way of being in the world has both its challenges and its strengths.

My Neighborhood

“Every morning, Ms. Marta goes out to check that the world is how it should be: her friends sitting on a terrace playing cards, the beach where it always is, children playing in the playground. There’s nothing particularly special about Ms. Marta’s neighborhood except that it’s the only one like it in the world: it’s her’s”–