Angharad Reviews.... The Honeybee by Kirsten Hall and Isabelle Arsenault

 

The charm and importance of honeybees is celebrated in this vibrant and lyrical picture book. Beginning in a meadow on a balmy summer’s day, we follow a forager bee as it zooms from flower to flower, collecting nectar. The more flowers the bee visits the heavier its legs weigh with pollen, maybe it’s time to buzz back to the hive? The forager shows his hive-mates the way to the meadow with a special bee dance, while the worker bees make and store honey in extensive combs. As the days become shorter and the winds become cooler, the queen and her hive slow their work and rest, dormant. In spring the colony will stir again, awakening ready for another hardworking summer. 

With award-winning illustrator Isabelle Arsenault’s warm and enchanting artwork and acclaimed author Kirsten Hall’s lively and informative text, this is a sweet-as-honey picture book that can be enjoyed by everyone. A wonderful introduction for young readers to the ‘beehaviour’ (sorry, couldn’t resist) of bee colonies, their role in pollination and how the seasons affect nature.  

Angharad reviews...‘Waste Tide’ by Chen Qiufan

 

Here's library staff member Angharad with a review of ‘Waste Tide’ by Chen Qiufan.

Dyma Angharad gyda'i barn am ‘Waste Tide’ by Chen Qiufan.

 

Waste Tide is a tech-heavy eco-thriller with thoughtful prose and plenty of classic cyberpunk elements woven into original scenarios. Set on fictional Silicon Isle, the global capital for electronic waste recycling located off China’s south-eastern coast, Waste Tide paints a realistically bleak vision of our world drowning in the waste and pollution of our own making, and the unfortunate sectors of society whose lives are limited and consumed by it.

Told from four perspectives, we experience what life is like for the various castes inhabiting Silicon Isle; the divisions, inequity and personal struggles that dictate their existence. We follow waste girl Mimi through the e-trash to a surprising discovery; American Scott Brandle of Terragreen Recycling and his Chinese-American interpreter Chen Kaizong as they attempt to reach a deal for the company; and Luo Jincheng, head of one of Silicon Isle’s clans, as he ruthlessly clings to power. As workers, corporations and clans collide, a dark, futuristic virus is unleashed on the island. War erupts between rich and poor; tradition and ambition, and humanity’s future ultimately hangs in the balance.

Lots of issues are explored in Waste Tide, from environmental destruction and the evils of elitism to toxic traditions and social injustices, but these heavier messages are served with equal helpings of entertaining and imaginative descriptions of future tech and cultural quirks. Both the plot and setting of Waste Tide sail close enough to reality for us to imagine it’s the story of our dystopian future, but although the premise is depressingly plausible, the narrative isn’t completely devoid of joy. Despite the tragic nature of the tale, it has the right balance of calamity and miracle, despair and hope. There’s some escapism to be had, brighter horizons to be found and even some humorous moments. I loved that prominent figures from history played interesting and unexpected roles, and found the few classic sci-fi pop-culture references endearing. Fans of the likes of Ghost in the Shell and other East-Asian sci-fi offerings will find plenty to interest them here.

David Mitchell's quote on the cover says it best- '...an accomplished eco-techno-thriller with heart and soul as well as brain.'

The Costa Book Awards 2020

 

This annual prize has five categories – First Novel, Novel, Biography, Poetry and Children’s Book – with one of the five winning books selected as the overall Costa Book of the year (to be announced on the 26th January).

Here are the five category winners, which one will win this year’s grand prize?

Love After Love by Ingrid Persaud

Brave and brilliant, steeped in affection, Love After Love asks us to consider what happens at the very brink of human forgiveness, and offers hope to anyone who has loved and lost and has yet to find their way back.

The Mermaid of Black Conch: A Love Story by Monique Roffey

April 1976: St Constance, a tiny Caribbean village on the island of Black Conch, at the start of the rainy season. A fisherman sings to himself in his pirogue, waiting for a catch – but attracts a sea-dweller he doesn’t expect.

The Louder I Will Sing by Lee Lawrence 

The Louder I Will Sing is a powerful, compelling and uplifting memoir about growing up in modern Britain as a young Black man. It's a story both of people and politics, of the underlying racism beneath many of our most important institutions, but also the positive power that hope, faith and love can bring in response.

The Historians by Eavan Boland

A forceful and moving final volume from one of the most masterful poets of the twentieth century. These extraordinary, intimate narratives cling to the future through memory, anger, and love in ways that rebuke the official record we call history.

Voyage of the Sparrowhawk by Natasha Farrant

In the aftermath of World War One, everyone is trying to rebuild their lives. Buffeted by storms, chased by the police, Lotti, Ben, Clara and a growing number of dogs set out on an epic journey, on the search for lost loved ones and a place to call home.

 

Mae gan y wobr flynyddol hon bum categori – Nofel Gyntaf, Nofel, Bywgraffiad, Barddoniaeth a Llyfr Plant – gydag un o’r llyfrau buddugol yn cael ei ddewis fel Llyfr y Flwyddyn Costa (i’w gyhoeddi ar 26ain Ionawr).

Dyma’r pump buddugol yn y categorïau. Pa un a fydd yn ennill y wobr fawr eleni?

Love After Love gan Ingrid Persaud

Dewr a rhagorol, yn llawn hoffter. Mae Love After Love yn gofyn i ni ystyried beth sy’n digwydd ar ymyl dibyn maddeuant dynol, ac yn cynnig gobaith i unrhyw un sydd wedi caru a cholli ac sydd eto i ganfod eu ffordd yn ôl.

The Mermaid of Black Conch: A Love Story gan Monique Roffey

Ebrill 1976: St Constance, pentref bechan ar ynys Black Conch yn y Caribî, ar ddechrau tymor y glaw. Mae pysgotwr yn canu iddo’i hyn yn ei pirogue, wrth aros i ddal rhywbeth – ond mae’n denu preswylydd y môr nad yw’n ei ddisgwyl.

The Louder I Will Sing gan Lee Lawrence 

Mae The Louder I Will Sing yn gofiant grymus sy’n codi calon am dyfu i fyny yn y Brydain fodern fel gŵr ifanc Du. Mae’n stori am bobl a gwleidyddiaeth, o’r hiliaeth sylfaenol islaw llawer o’n sefydliadau pwysicaf, ond mae hefyd yn adrodd am y pŵer cadarnhaol y gall gobaith, ffydd a chariad eu cynnig mewn ymateb.

The Historians gan Eavan Boland

Cyfrol olaf rymus gan un o feirdd gorau’r ugeinfed ganrif. Mae’r adroddiadau hynod, agos atoch yma yn gafael yn y dyfodol drwy atgofion, dicter a chariad mewn ffyrdd sy’n gwrthod y cofnod swyddogol rydym yn ei alw’n hanes.

Voyage of the Sparrowhawk gan Natasha Farrant

Ar ôl y Rhyfel Byd Cyntaf, mae pawb yn ceisio ailadeiladu eu bywydau. Gyda thymhestloedd yn eu taro, a’r heddlu ar eu hôl, mae Lotti, Ben, Clara a nifer cynyddol o gŵn yn cychwyn ar daith fawr, i chwilio am anwyliaid a gollwyd a rhywle i’w alw’n gartref.