World Book Night is being held on 23rd April this year and is a celebration of reading and books run by The Reading Agency. Events are held all over the country to celebrate the difference that reading can make to people's lives.
Below are just a selection of the 23 books that were on the Reading Agency's list of books for World Book Night, which they gifted to various settings, and which are available to borrow from East Lothian Library Service. Please see the full World Book Night list for all 23 titles.
You can search for the other titles on our online catalogue however, we don't have 'Me Mam. Me Dad. Me' by Malcolm Duffy, 'The Forgiveness Project' by Marina Cantacuzino, ' Close Enough to Touch' by Colleen Oakley or 'The Children' by Ann Leary. If these are books that you would really like to read you can email us with the book information and we can consider buying these titles.
If you have read these books and would like to provide a book recommendation for Social Media please email us with the title and a few sentences about the book. Your name will not be mentioned unless you advise us otherwise.
The Hate You Give by Angie ThomasSixteen-year-old Starr lives in two worlds: the poor neighbourhood where she was born and raised and her posh high school in the suburbs. The uneasy balance between them is shattered when Starr is the only witness to the fatal shooting of her unarmed best friend, Khalil, by a police officer. Now what Starr says could destroy her community. It could also get her killed.
Also available as an eBook
Shadows in Heaven by Nadine Dorries
This is a rags to riches story of family secrets set in rural Ireland and 1950s Liverpool.
Also available as an eAudiobook via Rbdigital and an Audiobook.
The Ice Cream Girls by Dorothy Koomson
Aged 18, Poppy and Serena were witnesses to a tragic event. Amid heated public debate and scrutiny, the teens were dubbed 'The Ice Cream Girls' by the press and forced to go their separate ways. Now 20 years later, Poppy is keen to set the record straight, while Serena wants no one in her present to find out about her past.
Tomi Adeyemi conjures a stunning world of dark magic and danger in her West African-inspired fantasy debut Children of Blood and Bone.
Magic can burn, turn tides, light the darkness and bring back the dead. But magic is gone. So one girl must bring it back in the first in a gripping fantasy trilogy.
They killed my mother.
They took our magic.
They tried to bury us.
Now we rise.
Zélie remembers when the soil of Orïsha hummed with magic. When different clans ruled – Burners igniting flames, Tiders beckoning waves, and Zélie’s Reaper mother summoning forth souls.
But everything changed the night magic disappeared. Under the orders of a ruthless king, anyone with powers was targeted and killed, leaving Zélie without a mother and her people without hope. Only a few people remain with the power to use magic, and they must remain hidden.
Zélie is one such person. Now she has a chance to bring back magic to her people and strike against the monarchy. With the help of a rogue princess, Zélie must learn to harness her powers and outrun the crown prince, who is hell-bent on eradicating magic for good.
Danger lurks in Orïsha, where strange creatures prowl, and vengeful spirits wait in the waters. Yet the greatest danger may be Zélie herself as she struggles to come to terms with the strength of her magic – and her growing feelings for an enemy.
Young Adult book. Also available as an eBook via Bolinda.
There is a fate worse than death. Chinese New Year's Eve. As dawn breaks on a snowy February morning, a refrigerated lorry is found parked in the heart of London's Chinatown. Inside twelve women, apparently illegal immigrants, are dead from hypothermia. But in the cab of the abandoned death truck, DC Max Wolfe of West End Central finds thirteen passports. Twelve dead women. Thirteen passports. The discovery sends Max on his most dangerous investigation yet. Who trafficked the dead women? And what happened to the one who survived?
When Mahony returns to Mulderrig, a speck of a place on Ireland's west coast, he brings only his handsome face, a photograph of his too-young, long-lost mother, and a determination to do battle with the village's lies. Mahony also somehow wakes the dead from their graves, those folk who once lived here, with their foggy memories and hidden stories, floating greyly amongst the unseeing living. No one though - living or dead - will tell what happened to the teenage mother who abandoned him as a baby.
She grew up on the moon, of course she has a dark side. Jazz Bashara is a criminal. Well, sort of. Life on Artemis, the first and only city on the moon, is tough if you're not a rich tourist or an eccentric billionaire. So smuggling in the occasional harmless bit of contraband barely counts, right? Not when you've got debts to pay and your job as a porter barely covers the rent. Everything changes when Jazz sees the chance to commit the perfect crime, with a reward too lucrative to turn down. But pulling off the impossible is just the start of Jazz's problems, as she learns that she's stepped square into a conspiracy for control of Artemis itself - and that now, her only chance at survival lies in a gambit even more unlikely than the first.
Rosie loves Jack. Jack loves Rosie. So when they're split up, Rosie will do anything to find the boy who makes the sun shine in her head. Even run away from home. Even cross London and travel to Brighton alone, though the trains are cancelled and the snow is falling. Even though any girl might find that hard, let alone a girl with Down's syndrome. See the world through new eyes in this one-in-a-million story about fighting for the freedoms that we often take for granted: independence, tolerance and love.
The Chalk Pit by Elly Griffiths
Boiled human bones have been found in Norwich's web of
underground tunnels. When Dr Ruth Galloway discovers they were recently buried,
DCI Nelson has a murder enquiry on his hands. The boiling might have been just
a medieval curiosity - now it suggests a much more sinister purpose. Meanwhile,
DS Judy Johnson is investigating the disappearance of a local rough sleeper. The
only trace of her is the rumour that she's gone 'underground'. This might be a
figure of speech, but with the discovery of the bones and the rumours both Ruth
and the police have heard that the network of old chalk-mining tunnels under
Norwich is home to a vast community of rough sleepers, the clues point in only
one direction. Local academic Martin Kellerman knows all about the tunnels and
their history - but can his assertions of cannibalism and ritual killing
possibly be true? As the weather gets hotter, tensions rise.
This is also available to borrow as an eAudiobook via Rbdigital.
Orphan Monster Spy by Matt Killeen
Sarah has played many roles. Dutiful daughter. Talented gymnast. Persecuted Jew. Lost orphan. But now she faces her most challenging role of all. Now she must become the very thing she hates. For the only way she can survive as a spy at a boarding school for the cream of Nazi society is to become a monster like them. A monster who can destroy them.
