Welcome to the weekly news, reviews, and ‘all-things-books’ latest from the team at Waterstone’s Ballymena.
THIS WEEK’S TOP 10…
Sales have been totally dominated by the Young Adult Netflix series Heartstopper!
1 Heartstopper 1 by Alice Oseman
2 Heartstopper 2 by Alice Oseman
3 Joey Dunlop by Stuart Barker
4 Heartstopper 3 by Alice Oseman
5 Heartstopper 4 by Alice Oseman
6 Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart
7 World's Worst Pets by David Walliams
8 Nick and Charlie by Alice Oseman
9 Maybe Someday by Colleen Hoover
10 Mammy Banter by Serena Terry
CHILDREN’S RELEASES…
The two new children’s releases - ‘The World's Worst Pets’ and ‘Skandar’ are expected to be two of the biggest books of the year!
Moving from unruly kids, repulsive parents and utterly terrible teachers to the realm of four-legged friends, Walliams unleashes a horde of awful animals in his latest side-splitting romp, vibrantly illustrated by Adam Stower.
Be warned! Awful animals lurk inside...
Millions of readers have loved The World’s Worst Children, The World’s Worst Teachers and The World’s Worst Parents – now they will delight in this ludicrously laugh-out-loud collection of pets, brought to you by the phenomenal number one bestselling author David Walliams, with every story illustrated in vibrant colour by Adam Stower.
These ten tales of the world’s craziest creatures will have you shaking with laughter. You’ll never look at pets in the same away again!
Marvel at Houdini, the magician’s rabbit. Take a trip around the world with Zoom the supersonic tortoise. Gasp at the chaos created by Griselda, a grizzly bear with a big secret. And run for your lives! It’s Furp, the monstrous goldfish!
Good pets, bad pets, supervillain pets, pets as big as a house and pets that could eat you in one gulp – these are the most hilarious and horrendous animals around.
Prepare to experience a magical world full of courageous heroes and warrior unicorns in the first instalment of Steadman's exhilarating series, as young Skandar takes to the skies to battle a deadly enemy.
Soar into a breathtaking world of heroes and ferocious unicorns in this first book in the hotly anticipated fantasy adventure series for fans of Harry Potter, Percy Jackson and Amari and the Night Brothers.
Thirteen-year-old Skandar Smith has only ever wanted to be a unicorn rider. To be one of the lucky few selected to hatch a unicorn. To bond with it for life; to train together and race for glory; to be a hero. But just as Skandar's dream is about to come true, things start to take a more dangerous turn than he could ever have imagined. A dark and twisted enemy has stolen the Island's most powerful unicorn - and as the threat grows ever closer, Skandar discovers a secret that could blow apart his world forever...
Get ready for unlikely heroes, elemental magic, sky battles, ancient secrets, nail-biting races and ferocious unicorns, in this epic adventure series that will have your heart soaring.
JUST RELEASED ADULT READS…
A true story so outlandish and improbable that it simply demands to be read, Knight's page-turning volume spotlights a network of psychic visionaries working out of a run-down 1960's mental hospital and the extraordinary effects wrought by two young 'percipients' in particular.
Most are innocent. You think of a forgotten friend. Out of the blue, they call. But what if you knew that something terrible was going to happen? A sudden flash, the words Charing Cross. Four days later, a packed express train comes off the rails outside the station. What if you could share your vision, and stop that train? Could these forebodings help the world to prevent disasters?
In 1966, John Barker, a dynamic psychiatrist working in an outdated British mental hospital, established the Premonitions Bureau to investigate these questions. He would find a network of hundreds of correspondents, from bank clerks to ballet teachers. Among them were two unnervingly gifted 'percipients'.
Together, the pair predicted plane crashes, assassinations and international incidents, with uncanny accuracy. And then, they informed Barker of their most disturbing premonition: that he was about to die.
The Premonitions Bureau is an enthralling true story, of madness and wonder, science and the supernatural - a journey to the most powerful and unsettling reaches of the human mind.
BOOKSELLER PAMELA’S CHOICE FOR A GOOD BANK HOLIDAY READ…
The journalist and author of Jog On delivers a scorchingly black satire of family dysfunction and the media’s obsession with murder, as the engaging anti-hero Grace reveals the full extent of her gleeful homicidal spree.
"I have killed several people (some brutally, others calmly) and yet I currently languish in jail for a murder I did not commit." When I think about what I actually did, I feel somewhat sad that nobody will ever know about the complex operation that I undertook. Getting away with it is highly preferable, of course, but perhaps when I'm long gone, someone will open an old safe and find this confession. The public would reel.
After all, almost nobody else in the world can possibly understand how someone, by the tender age of 28, can have calmly killed six members of her family. And then happily got on with the rest of her life, never to regret a thing.
A wickedly dark romp about class, family, love... and murder.
ADULT BOOKCLUB…
Adult Bookclub meets this Thursday 5 May at 7pm, and we will be discussing The Lamplighters by Emma Stonex. Everyone is welcome to come along!
KIDS SATURDAY STORYTIME…
Saturday Story Time at noon on Saturday 7 May - we will be reading The Drama Llama by Rachel Morrisroe and Ella Okstad.
Combining a hilariously daft story with an important message about managing anxiety, this cracking picture book from the author of How to Grow a Unicorn centres on a nervous boy whose fears manifest themselves as a giant pink llama.
One day a WORRY comes to stay and simply will not go away!
Whenever he was worried or whenever there was drama, Alex Allen's brain produced... A living breathing llama!
Alex Allen, like lots of children, sometimes worried about things - like dancing badly or getting an answer wrong in class. But unlike lots of children, every time he worries a real-life llama appears! And the more Alex worries, the bigger Llama grows... which starts getting him into all sorts of trouble! Will Alex ever learn how to control his worries and get rid of this pesky llama?
This hilarious yet heart warming rhyming tale from incredible new picture book talent Rachel Morrisroe and bestselling illustrator Ella Okstad offers practical advice about dealing with worry whilst taking you along on the wonderfully riotous adventures of Alex and his mischievous llama.