The Light in Everything: Shortlisted for the Yoto Carnegie Medal 2023

Product Information

Heart-breaking and heart-warming in equal measure – warm, compassionate, insightful, lyrical, beautiful and uplifting. To calm his fears, he folds paper - he creates origami structures - and every night he counts the seconds to see how long he can sty in darkness before he had to switch all his lights on. She can switch between them so well that you could almost believe they're written by different people.

The Light in Everything centres on the intertwined narratives of Zofia and Tom, two very different children with very different voices. Her writing is sublime: her descriptions evocative, her narrative utterly convincing and her ability to tap into the human psyche almost unrivalled. The differing personalities are revealed through Katya Balen’s delicate writing, and we journey with them as their family navigates new situations. Then there is Tom, who lives with his mother Fiona, a hospital doctor, and is traumatised by an abusive and now absent father. Katya Balens new novel not only lived up to October, October but it has exceeded all my expectations!This book deals with some traumatic issues and should come with content warnings, particularly if you are reading it to your class, but the writing is a masterclass in how to convey emotion and this should be read by as many people as possible.

With a new baby on the way there is even more to be confused about and as tensions grow, the pair must learn to trust and navigate the pain they have buried deep inside. The Light in Everything is such a brilliant exploration of the way in which many children struggle to come to terms with a new blended family.The winners of The Farshore Reading for Pleasure Teacher Awards 2023, highlighting the work schools are doing to encourage a love of reading, have.

Forced to meet regularly for days and trips, there is resentment but both tolerate the situation in their own ways.Tom's soft and tender methods in trying to reach out to Zofia - to give hope to his mother's situation - to become stronger within himself - those too were captured with such deliberate care - that I can't choose sides.

Domestic abuse, bereavement, bullying and trust issues play their part but, ultimately, this is a story of families, love and friendship.Kayta Balen has a rare gift for understanding what it feels like to be a child and creating characters that reflect that that vividly. Character development is brilliant and Tom and Zofia will make readers laugh, cry and have hope for their future. The book is written in the first person with dual narrative voices, - alternate chapters for Zofia and Tom - which I found initially a bit jarring until I settled into the structure.