Norah's Ark by Victoria Williamson.

Thank you @The_WriteReads/@WriteReadsTours, @neemtreepress and Victoria Williamson for letting me be part of this tour and reviewing this book. Wow, what an amazing read. Norah's Ark blew me away from the set go. What an amazing story that tugs at your heartstrings. I was a crying mess reading this book. Norah's Ark has two main characters Norah and Adam and the chapters are written from both first-person perspectives. The story is about Norah who lives with her Dad but does not always have a place to live and has to rely on food banks to get food. Norah loves animals and wants to save them, she also wants to stay with her dad and not go to social services. Norah meets Adam one day who has some problems of his own, he might live in a nice home but it's not all rosy for him either. The story has some hard-hitting topics, homelessness, loneliness, climate change, animals, bullying and friendship. There were places in the book that made me smile and I absolutely love the ending but I still cried. I think young teenagers will like this book and it will open them up to some powerful topics that are going on in the world. This is the third book I have read by Victoria Williamson and she starting to be one of my favourite author. I read Noarah'S Ark in 5 hours, and I could not put it down, It is a powerful read with some hard-hitting topics. This is a brilliant read and I strongly recommend it. 5 stars would give it 10 stars if I could. I have now passed it on to my daughter who is 13 years old who dose not like to read much but is loving this book. Blurb Two very different lives. One shared hope for a brighter future. No time to waste. The flood is coming... Eleven-year-old Norah Day lives in temporary accommodation, relies on foodbanks for dinner, and doesn't have a mum. But she's happy enough, as she has a dad, a pet mouse, a pet spider, and a whole zoo of rescued local wildlife to care for. Eleven-year-old Adam Sinclair lives with his parents in a nice house with a big garden, a private tutor, and everything he could ever want. But his life isn't perfect - far from it. He's recovering from leukaemia and is questioning his dream of becoming a champion swimmer. When a nest of baby birds brings them together, Norah and Adam discover they're not so different after all. Can Norah help Adam find his confidence again? Can Adam help Norah solve the mystery of her missing mother? And can their teamwork save their zoo of rescued animals from the rising flood? Offering powerful lessons in empathy, Norah's Ark is a hopeful and uplifting middle-grade tale for our times about friendship and finding a sense of home in the face of adversity. About the Author Victoria Williamson is an award-winning author who grew up in Scotland surrounded by hills, books, and an historical farm estate which inspired many of her early adventure stories and spooky tales. After studying Physics at the University of Glasgow, she set out on her own real-life adventures, which included teaching maths and science in Cameroon, training teachers in Malawi, teaching English in China and working with children with additional support needs in the UK. Victoria currently works part time writing KS2 books for the education company Twinkl and spends the rest of her time writing novels, and visiting schools, libraries and literary festivals to give author talks and run creative writing workshops. Victoria’s previous novels include The Fox Girl and the White Gazelle, The Boy with the Butterfly Mind, Hag Storm, and War of the Wind. She has won the Bolton Children’s Fiction Award 2020/2021, The YA-aldi Glasgow Secondary School Libraries Book Award 2023, and has been shortlisted for the Week Junior Book Awards 2023, The Leeds Book Awards 2023, the Red Book Award 2023, the James Reckitt Hull Book Awards 2021, The Trinity School Book Awards 2021, and longlisted for the ABA South Coast Book Awards 2023, the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize 2020, and the Branford Boase Award 2019. Her latest novel, The Pawnshop of Stolen Dreams, is a middle grade fantasy inspired by classic folklore. Twenty percent of the author royalties for this book are donated to CharChar Literacy, an organisation working to improve children’s literacy levels in Malawi.