Join us talking to Mayo Agard-Olubo about his debut picture book, Kid Rex to the Rescue, illustrated by Diane Ewen. Max's imagination transforms him into the superhero Kid Rex, and he's ready to use his dinosaur powers to battle robots, dragons and even the evil king dust bunny. A fun bedtime story and definitely one for dinosaur fans.

Mayo's website can be found here.

His BBC Sounds appearance on Margins to the Mainstream can be found here.

The books we reviewed were:

Auntie's Bangles, by Dean Atta, illustrated by Alea Marley

Fred the Very Demanding Deer by Pepé Smit

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Following on from episode 48 when we went through the Carnegie Medal for Writing shortlist together with expert Carnegie followers Alison Jewitt and Amy McKay, in this episode we go through the Carnegie Medal for Illustration shortlist and make some more ill fated predictions for the winners.

Alison Jewitt is an English teacher at the London Nautical City of London Academy has led a Carnegie shadowing group in her school for many years and this is her third year helping us review the list.

Amy McKay is the librarian at Ullswater Community College, Penrith. She leads Carnegie shadowing at her school and has a long history with the Carnegies, having been the awards co-ordinator for the Carnegies which included overseeing the National shadowing scheme.

The full Carnegie Medal for Illustration Shortlist is:

The Playdate illustrated by Clara Dackenberg, written by Uje Brandelius, translated by Nichola Smalley (Lantana)
The Endless Sea illustrated by Linh Dao, written by Chi Thai (Walker)
Lord of the Flies: The Graphic Novel illustrated & adapted by Aimée de Jongh, written by William Golding (Faber & Faber)
The Sleeper Train illustrated by Baljinder Kaur, written by Mick Jackson (Walker)
Wildful illustrated and written by Kengo Kurimoto (Pushkin Children’s Books)
Freedom Braids illustrated by Oboh Moses, written by Monique Duncan (Lantana)
The Paper Bridge illustrated by Seng Soun Ratanavanh, written by Joelle Veyrenc, translated by Katy Lockwood-Holmes (Floris Books)
Wiggling Words illustrated and written by Kate Rolfe (Two Hoots)

All the information about the Carnegies and the Shadowing Resources can be found on their website here.

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Join us as we talk with author Malcolm Duffy about his YA book Dead Straight Line. This is his fifth book and is inspired by a teenage game of traveling in a straight line through, over or under obstacles. Rory pressures Yell into the game, with life changing consequences. The book explores risk taking, blame, guilt and shame as well as empathy and forgiveness. Written in a sparse and pacey style, it is an accessible read and will have wide appeal, including for Y8 and up boys that everyone struggles to find recommendations for.

As well as discussing the book, we talk about Malcolm's path to becoming a writer, how he researches the issues he portrays and what he is working on now.

More information about Malcolm and also school visit information can be found on his website here.

Malcolm's books can be found here:

Dead Straight Line

Seven Million Sunflowers

Read Between the Lines

Sofa Surfer

Me Mam. Me Dad. Me.

Ali also recommended The Boy I Hardly Know by Lisa Heathfield.

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