Become a reviewer
Join our dedicated community of junior reviewers! Get a free book to review, have your review published on the site and if you're really lucky get noticed by the author too!
October, October
Book Review
The epic vocabulary and exceptional characters really help the glorious story come to life
October, October by Katya Balen is an amazing book about a girl called October who lives in the woods with her dad. Then, one year, October’s dad falls out of a tree and has to go to hospital. October has to go and live with her mum in London. But she doesn’t like life in the city, and wants to go back to the woods with her dad and be wild again. And, all the time, she is searching for the completed story of a strange ring she found in the woods…
I loved this story because it presents a range of vivid characters, each with unique personalities. Like October’s new friend Yusef is lively, funny and friendly. You never want to put this book down and it keeps you guessing at every page. There are plenty of adventures to discover as you read and the epic vocabulary and exceptional characters really help the glorious story come to life.
The illustrations by Angela Harding are beautiful and detailed and add a wonderful addition to the book.
I adore the character development and characters in general, like how October gradually learns to love her mother and her father, as well as the fact that she learns you just have to let some things go. I also love the humour woven into the fabric of the story. You feel for the characters, and some parts make you smile while others make you feel a character’s sadness. I love the additions of real London facts and the wild side of the big city.
It’s fun to find out how October describes each thing that is normal to our everyday life, like how she describes terrace houses as house sandwiches. This book is particularly good because it is told from Octobers point of view.
About the Book
We shouldn’t judge books by their covers, but we are allowed to be influenced by them. This gorgeous linocut-style illustration by Angela Harding shouts out quality, a celebration of Nature and begs the book to be picked up and opened where inside you find pages in a deep burnt orange colour and an ivory-coloured illustration of an owl.
October and her dad live in the woods. They know the trees and the rocks and the lake and stars like best friends. They live in the woods and they are wild. And that’s the way it is until she turns eleven. That’s the year October rescues a baby owl. It’s the year Dad falls out of the biggest tree in their woods. The year the woman who calls herself October’s mother comes back. The year everything changes.
Written in Katya Balen’s heart-stoppingly beautiful style, this book is a feast for the senses, filled with the woodsmoke smell of crisp autumn mornings and the sound of wellies squelching in river mud. And, as October fights to find the space to be wild in the whirling chaos of the world beyond the woods, it is also a feast for the soul and a book that older readers will enjoy too.
Author
Katya Balen
Katya Balen is an award-winning British children’s author whose books explore themes of family, nature, and neurodiversity. Her debut novel, The Space We’re In, earned critical acclaim, and she won the Carnegie Medal in 2021 for 'October, October'. Alongside her writing, she co-directs Mainspring Arts, a charity supporting neurodivergent artists.
Illustrator
Angela Harding
Angela Harding (born in Stoke-on-Trent in 1960) is a celebrated English printmaker and illustrator whose work is deeply inspired by British wildlife and the countryside. She lives and works from her garden studio in Wing, Rutland, and has published several acclaimed books—such as A Year Unfolding and Wild Light—in addition to creating distinctive covers for bestselling authors.
Reviewer Profile
Margaret, 11
- Reviews: 15
- Likes: crochet, watercolour painting and fossils
- Dislikes: seafood and stir-fry
- Favourite Book: Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs by Steve Brusatte
- Favourite Film: Star Wars - The Clone Wars
- Favourite Song: Apparition No. 12 by Thea Gilmore
Would you like to read the book too?
Find out more about the title by clicking on the button below
Why not order it from an indie bookshop close to home? Or, you’ll get a discount and make a small donation (£0.30) towards the cost of posting books to our reviewers via the link above
Alternatively, please visit your local library and enquire about its availability, if you can’t find it on the shelf
Happy Reading:)
