It’s the final term of Form One at River School, and there’s a new girl on the bus called Dongo who Jummy is immediately impressed with when she stands up to the ‘Atlantic Four’ (ie the mean girls)! This series is infused with delicious Nigerian meals that make my mouth water, the clothing some of the teachers and children wear are amazing, and you’ll learn a few words of Yoruba language too!

A brilliant debut from Townsend!! A lonely human soul, 12 year-old Orla lives in a simple wooden shed in her garden away from the rest of her water-side rural village of Thorn Creek. She's grumpy, stubborn, closed, hurt, conflicted...and she has a lot to live up to. I will never forget Orla's story and the underlying legacy and importance of female healers and wise-women.

Do you think I could contain myself when I found out about another new debut author with Chicken House, Sabine Adeyinka published her new middle grade last month, set in a Nigerian girls boarding school ‘Jummy at the River School’?! It also made the Bookseller Association’s Independent Bookshops ‘book of the month’ too. Congratulations Sabine!