07 February 2017
Thin Air by Michelle Paver - discussion questions
It is 1935, and young medic Stephen Pearce travels to India to join an expedition with his brother, Kits. The elite team of five will climb Kangchenjunga, the world’s third highest mountain and one of mountaineering’s biggest killers. No one...
04 February 2017
Holding by Graham Norton - discussion questions
Duneen is a quiet place, far enough from the big towns to have kept its own rhythms. Its residents include cast down policeman PJ who lives a lonely, uneventful life punctuated only by the next meal – until now; the...
31 January 2017
We Chose to Speak of War and Strife by John Simpson - an extract
In corners of the globe where fault-lines see the into bloodshed and civil war, foreign correspondents have, for hundreds of years, been engaged in uncovering the latest news and – despite obstacles bureaucratic, political, violent – reporting it by whatever...
31 January 2017
Blitzed: Drugs in Nazi Germay by Norman Ohler - an extract
The Nazis presented themselves as warriors against moral degeneracy. Yet, as Norman Ohler’s gripping bestseller reveals, the entire Third Reich was permeated with drugs: cocaine, heroin, morphine and, most of all, methamphetamines, or crystal meth, used by everyone from factory...
31 January 2017
Border: A Journey to the Edge of Europe by Kapka Kassabova - discussion questions
When Kapka Kassabova was a child, the border zone between Bulgaria, Turkey and Greece was rumoured to be an easier crossing point into the West than the Berlin Wall so it swarmed with soldiers, spies and fugitives. Today, this densely...
31 January 2017
The Girl Before by J. P. Delaney - an extract
Enter the world of One Folgate Street and discover perfection … but can you pay the price? Jane stumbles on the rental opportunity of a lifetime: the chance to live in a beautiful ultra-minimalist house designed by an enigmatic architect,...
31 January 2017
What the Dog Knows by Cat Warren - an extract
A New York Times–bestselling book which has been featured on the Radio 2 Book Club: Fact Not Fiction. When Cat Warren adopted Solo, an unruly German shepherd puppy, she soon began to wonder what she’d let herself in for. Solo’s boundless...
31 January 2017
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi - an extract
Effia and Esi: two sisters with two very different destinies. One sold into slavery; one a slave trader’s wife. The consequences of their fate reverberate through the generations that follow. Taking us from the Gold Coast of Africa to the...
30 January 2017
Where's Wally activity sheets
Celebrate the 30th anniversary of Where’s Wally with these fun activity sheets! This download includes colouring sheets, word puzzles and a maze activity
30 January 2017
Looking for Captain Poldark by Rowan Coleman: Quick Reads learning resource
These resources have been designed for those using Quick Reads independently, as well as for those using Quick Reads in a group.
30 January 2017
The Other Side of You by Amanda Craig: Quick Reads learning resource
These resources have been designed for those using Quick Reads independently, as well as for those using Quick Reads in a group.
30 January 2017
Dead Simple by Harry Bingham (Editor): Quick Reads learning resource
These resources have been designed for those using Quick Reads independently, as well as for those using Quick Reads in a group.
30 January 2017
One False Move by Dreda Say Mitchell: Quick Reads learning resource
These resources have been designed for those using Quick Reads independently, as well as for those using Quick Reads in a group.
30 January 2017
A Very Distant Shore by Jenny Colgan: Quick Reads learning resource
These resources have been designed for those using Quick Reads independently, as well as for those using Quick Reads in a group.
30 January 2017
Spies and Crime Busters - Chatterbooks Activity Pack
Following up on our previous ‘spies and detectives’ packs, here’s another collection of action adventures and detective stories, with thrills and twists – and often humour too! As well as lots of reading suggestions for your group you’ll find ideas on...
24 January 2017
A Busy Day for Birds video
Go behind the scenes with multi-award-winning author/illustrator Lucy Cousins (creator of Maisy) and find out about her new picture book, A Busy Day for Birds. Flap your wings, fly up high, open your beak and sing in this fun action rhyme...
24 January 2017
Also An Octopus Activity sheets
Download these fun Also An Octopus activity sheets for your Chatterbooks group, including colouring sheets and spot the difference
19 January 2017
Chatterbooks Newsletter
The latest Chatterbooks Newsletter. This January newsletter has lots of exciting offers and competitions.
16 January 2017
Samantha Shannon Book Trailer Hack
Explore the supernatural underworld of The Bone Season series and create a book trailer. The Bone Season is a ground-breaking fantasy series that has been described as “part Hunger Games dystopia, part urban fantasy”. This pack is designed to help you...
13 January 2017
My Old Man: Tales of Our Fathers by Ted Kessler - an extract
If you were asked to write about your father, what would you say? No two paternal relationships are the same. Every experience, every bond, is unique. And whether happy or sad, fond or fraught, the memories and stories we have...
13 January 2017
Les Parisiennes by Anne Sebba - discussion questions
“This is a fascinating book I couldn’t stop reading. She understands everything about the chic, loathsome collaborators and the Holocaust victims, and their stories are told in an irresistible narrative flood.” Edmund White, author of The Flâneur “Sebba reminds us that we...
13 January 2017
Les Parisiennes by Anne Sebba - an extract
What did it feel like to be a woman living in Paris from 1939 to 1949? These were years of fear, power, aggression, courage, deprivation and secrets until – finally – renewal and retribution. Even at the darkest moments of Occupation,...
12 January 2017
Walls Come Tumbling Down: The Music and Politics of Rock Against Racism, 2 Tone and Red Wedge by Daniel Rachel - discussion questions
“A triumphant oral history of Rock Against Racism, 2 Tone and Red Wedge . . . a tale of resistance: first, against a surge of racism and bigotry that an inspired group of activists and musicians played a key role...
12 January 2017
Walls Come Tumbling Down: The Music and Politics of Rock Against Racism, 2 Tone and Red Wedge by Daniel Rachel - an extract
Walls Come Tumbling Down charts the pivotal period between 1976 and 1992 that saw politics and pop music come together for the first time in Britain’s musical history; musicians and their fans suddenly became instigators of social change, and ‘the...
12 January 2017
Stories from Around the World - Chatterbooks Activity Pack
In this pack are reading ideas for all ages: adventures, folk tales, stories in translation and non-fiction titles, which take you around the world introducing you to people and places, and their lives and experiences. There are also ideas for...
11 January 2017
Instructions for a Second-Hand Heart - discussion questions
Download these discussion questions for Instructions for a Second-Hand Heart by Tamsyn Murray.
06 January 2017
Full Marks for Trying: An unlikely journey from the Raj to the rag trade by Bridgid Keenan - an extract
Brigid Keenan was never destined to lead a normal life. From her early beginnings – a colourful childhood in India brought to an abrupt end by independence and partition, then a return to dreary post-war England and on to a...
06 January 2017
Full Marks for Trying: An unlikely journey from the Raj to the rag trade by Bridgid Keenan - discussion questions
“With flashes of Nancy Mitford wit … Brigid Keenan is as skittish as a kitten with needle claws, as stricken as a deer in headlights, and as smart as a cage of monkeys.” The Times “Keenan, I suspect, was quite possibly put...
06 January 2017
This Must Be the Place by Maggie O'Farrell - an extract
Shortlisted for the Costa Book Award. Shortlisted for the Books Are My Bag Award. Shortlisted for the Saltire Scottish Book of the Year Award. This Must Be the Place by Maggie O’Farrell crosses time zones and continents to reveal an extraordinary portrait...
05 January 2017
My name is Leon by Kit De Waal - an extract
“Unforgettable, heartbreaking and uplifting – just read it.” “Leon is pure goodwill in a wicked world, and he won’t leave you when you put this unique book down. Authentic and beautiful, urgent and honest.” Chris Cleave, bestselling author of The Other Hand A...
