The Notted Island
Katherine Child
Flying Eye Books

Colour has at last arrived in what was once a black and white world and everybody is enjoying the wonderful new hues, everybody but the residents of Last Island. They are trying their utmost to be a perfect community to entice Colour to visit; however the local Nott whose task is to draw the curtain of night over the island every evening cannot be relied upon. (For those known as Nottes – the term comes from old Norse – this is a nightly job). So when a mysterious Night Sky salesman comes with an offer of a fully automated sky, the Last Island residents are keen to buy into his scheme.

Not so young Tisky though: she thinks their own local night-bringer should be given one last chance. Taking the matter into her own hands, off she heads to the farthest side of the island with her pockets full of cake and a shadow sidekick, to search for the island’s Nott and thus stop the salesman’s plan once and for all.

Tisky is a resilient character and KS2 readers will quickly be drawn into this imaginative fantasy as they follow her in her quest, as she in turn comes to understand more about both the night and the land with its Listenberry bushes, Nebulous Wildcats and starry nightjars. But will she be successful in her mission to bring colour to Last Island?

The book’s readability could have been improved with slightly larger print in my view.