Corey's Rock
Ten-year-old Isla has moved from Edinburgh to the Orkney Islands with her parents, to start a new life after the death of Isla's beloved young brother. Isla's mother's family is from Orkney and her father's is from Africa, and she finds island life is very different to her former city home. Her discovery of the old Orcadian legend about the selkies, half human, half seal people, becomes the key to adjustment and acceptance.
Many strands are woven into this deceptively simple story – loss and discovery, legend and reality, the pleasures and problems of settling into a new place, the need to make new friends, the coming to terms with sadness. Jane Ray's illustrations capture the beauty of the island landscape and integrate it perfectly with the atmosphere and rich texture of the storytelling.
Endorsed by Amnesty International for illuminating the human rights values of family, friends, home, safety and refuge.
Sita Brahmachari won the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize with her debut novel, Artichoke Hearts, and is one of the most important voices in children’s books today. Her books have been shortlisted for the UKLA Award, nominated for the CILIP Carnegie Medal, chosen for the Guardian’s Top 50 Diverse Books and translated into many languages across the world. When Shadows Fall was a Times Best Book for Children in 2021. Sita lives in north London.
Jane Ray is one of the UK’s most admired children’s book illustrators. She has been shortlisted five times for the Kate Greenaway Medal. Her highly acclaimed picture books include Greek Myths: Stories of Sun, Stone and Sea, Zeraffa Giraffa and William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Tempest. Jane lives in north London.