Shadow Thieves

"Shadow Thieves is very, very different. It’s a brilliant adventure that immediately pulls you into its world, both in terms of setting and character. The story centres on Tom, who is a boy scraping by on the streets of London, surviving through quick thinking, sharp instincts and a talent for pickpocketing, so it’s a tough start. The book doesn’t shy away from the reality of his situation, and that gives the story real weight from the outset. Then everything shifts because his friends are caught and sent to a brutal workhouse, and Tom is approached by an enigmatic character called the Corsair, who offers him the chance to train at an elite boarding school for thieves. It’s an impossible decision for Tom, and a huge responsibility. It’s an escape, but it comes at a cost and he has to decide who he can trust and what kind of person he wants to become. It works because it’s a really nice mix of historical atmosphere with fantasy and adventure, and the London setting is gritty and alive. The boarding school element is a whole new world with its own rules and hierarchies and dangers. The world building is carefully layered, and the reader is drawn in without feeling overwhelmed. It’s still very much middle grade (ages 8-12) rather than Young Adult but I would position it at the older end. You will find some confident readers age 8 or 9 who would gravitate towards it, but I would say it is best suited to ages 11-14. Exactly, that’s the setting, and I think Harry Potter crossed with the Hunger Games is a great comparison, with both series aimed at readers around 11-14. While Harry Potter begins younger — the first book is often enjoyed by 7 or 8 year olds — it matures quickly and the final book is really quite dark. That 11+ space is a tricky area; the start of secondary school, questions around identity and fitting in, trying something new and feeling out of your depth. I think Shadow Thieves is brilliantly placed to help readers see themselves and help them navigate the challenges they’re experiencing. Middle grade fantasy books like this have become hugely popular with adult readers, something that began with Harry Potter , and has only grown since. These books offer immersive storytelling, gripping plot lines and richly-drawn characters. I can see on Toppsta that this book was really enjoyed by children as well as adults and it’s perfectly pitched for this age group. It’s beautifully written and thoroughly enjoyable. Reading does so many things. Obviously, there’s the learning to read and educational aspect, but for me that is such a tiny part of why we should read. Reading builds language, it builds empathy, it builds imagination. And aside from all of that, there are significant improvements for physical and mental health as well. It can lower your blood pressure, it’s good for cognitive development, and it gives you perspective. I don’t think it’s coincidence that so many books start off with children who are orphaned. You suddenly look around and go “I’m not an orphan. I’ve got parents, my life isn’t this hard”. That kind of perspective encourages you to put yourself in somebody else’s shoes and to think about what might be their motivation. Reading really does help with mental health, and I worry that as reading has declined both at home and in the classroom, that it’s linked to the decline in mental wellbeing. Those few minutes at the end of the day when the teacher would sit down and read and the kids would sit back and relax — when they weren’t being tested, when they could step away from any issues with friends and just listen to a story — that was really positive for mental health. Reading is in many ways meditation, which we’re all encouraged to do. What I’d like to see is a shift in how we see reading, in the same way that we’ve changed our perception of sport. Sport has now become something for health, not just a competitive activity. You might go running to clear your head, to feel better, and we need to make the same shift with reading. Reading can make you feel better in so many different ways, and we need to incorporate it back into the day, both at school and at home. I totally agree. The focus has been, quite rightly, on access to books, and that still matters. There are many children for whom access is a genuine barrier, and we should never lose sight of that. But layered on top of that is a very different challenge, and it’s one I think we don’t always talk about enough. Even when children do have access to books at home, at school or through libraries, even when their parents have read to them since they were born, even if they see their parents reading in front of them, all the things that we are meant to do to encourage reading, many children are still choosing not to read. So the issue shifts from access to engagement. And what we see very clearly is that children don’t stop reading because they can’t read. They stop because reading doesn’t feel compelling enough to compete with everything else in their lives, whether it’s screens or gaming or constant digital stimulation. So books have to work even harder to earn a child’s attention. That’s why initiatives like the UK government’s year of reading next year are so important, because its aim is not just to increase access, but to try and rebuild a culture of reading for pleasure, by encouraging families, schools and communities to make reading visible, shared, and enjoyable again. It recognises that reading habits are formed through motivation and enjoyment and not obligation. So, while access remains essential, I don’t think it’s sufficient on its own. The next challenge is ensuring that children enjoy reading and feel the benefits beyond the educational benefits, and that’s where choice, format and relevance become crucial, and where publishers, educators and parents all have a role to play. Prior to 2025, there was a boom in middle grade adventure and fantasy, with brilliant world building and ambitious, big moral questions. Many adults are reading those books, too, drawn to those immersive stories that feel hopeful rather than cynical. For the last 12 to 18 months, illustrated fiction and graphic novels have continued to be strong, and children are no longer expected to grow out of these formats, which play a vital role in keeping children reading for pleasure, particularly at key transition points. For the older age groups, there’s romantasy . Beyond that, much of the focus now is on just getting kids reading. I’m excited to see how formats continue to evolve, particularly in illustrated and audiobooks. Children enjoy storytelling and content in many different ways. As adults, I think we need to stop putting books into some kind of imaginary hierarchy with text-heavy books at the top and illustrated at the bottom. So I’d like to see more formats coming through and becoming mainstream. Sadly, I think the industry has taken some steps backwards when it comes to diversity. Economic pressure has led to more risk-averse publishing, which has narrowed the range of voices being shared. From a children’s reading perspective, that’s disappointing because we know that young children are open and responsive to a wide range of stories. For me, kids’ opinions are the voices that I listen to most, so in a way it feels like I’m going against my own ethos by making recommendations. That said, these really are five exceptional books and of all the hundreds of children’s books I’ve read this year, they stand out. One of the joys of being in kids’ books is getting to read so widely, and there are many fantastic books out there. But for me, children are always the best judges and they rarely disappoint so next year, as always, I’ll be looking to them for my recommendations."