The Hidden Star
by K Sello Duiker
Interest age: 10 to 13
Reading age: 10+
Published by Cassava Republic Press, 2017
About this book
Nolitye lives in a township near Johannesburg, where everyone is on edge because children keep disappearing. When she finds a magic stone one day, and meets a man who reveals some secrets about the origin of her own magic powers, she sets out on a journey with her friends to set things right.
Part mystery, part quest, this book uses magic realism to tell an absorbing story about friendship and courage, which is filled with talking dogs, renegades who occupy the space between good and bad, and evil night riders that must be defeated.
More books like this
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Adia Kelbara and the Circle of Shamans
by Isi Hendrix
9 to 14 years
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The Last Mapmaker
by Christina Soontornvat
9 to 14 years
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City of Stolen Magic
by Nazneen Ahmed Pathak, illustrated by Sandhya Prabhat
9 to 14 years
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Cameron Battle and the Escape Trials
by Jamar J. Perry
9 to 14 years
Lists of recommended reads
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BookTrust Represents: Teen
BookTrust Represents is our programme created to promote children’s authors and illustrators of colour. Books play an important role as mirrors for children: these stories and characters will affect how they see themselves and the world around them, their motivation to read, and their aspirations to become authors and illustrators of the future. However, finding books that truly reflect the diversity of families in the UK is challenging. Over the past 11 years, fewer than 2% of all authors and/or illustrators of children's books published in the UK were British people of colour. As part of the project we have put together this booklist highlighting some of our favourite teen/ya books by authors and illustrators of colour.
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Magical stories for 9- to 12-year-olds
These books are brilliant for older children who want to get lost in a magical journey. There are classics and new titles, picture books and chapter books and some books containing magic realism rather than traditional fantasy.