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Our blast from the past this month is inspired by a recent ITV television adaptation. [[My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell ]] is the classic - and true! - story of a boy, his family and their menagerie of creatures, living on the beautiful isle of Corfu in the 1930s. It hasn't been out of print since it was first published in 1956 and for good reason. The characters are larger than life, the settings idyllic and the stories are laugh-out-loud funny. It's a heart-warming book for all ages and one every generation should read.

In fiction, Ani is raving about [[Britt-Marie Was Here by Fredrik Backman ]]. Brett-Marie has never met a kitchen she doesn't want to clean. Her husband Kent is an entrepreneur, you know, with excellent taste and expensive clothes. Yet here she is, in Borg, a rundown small town, in search of her first job for 40 years. Life takes some odd turns sometimes. Fredrik Backman specialises in wonderful, quirky, unforgettable people and Britt-Marie is the most memorable of them all. Ani wants to give this book more than five stars!

Zoe recommends [[Lie with Me by Sabine Durrant ]]. Paul is lots of things. A writer. A famous name (or at least he was a few years ago). A bit of a snob. A cheapskate. A ladies' man. And a liar. Oh boy, is he a liar. There's a mystery to this story, a disappearance, maybe a death. But it's not about a police drama or an Interpol investigation. It's about human nature, relationships and, well, lies. And those things are all so much more interesting. This is a fabulous read.

In non-fiction, Chris loved [[Nemesis – The Hunt For Brazil's Most Wanted Criminal by Misha Glenny ]]. Goodfellas goes to Rio! Follow the sometimes thrilling, often terrifying ascent of one of one of Rio's biggest drug traffickers in this fast-paced and informative investigation. Often reading like a thriller, it's also a quick, easy digestible primer on Brazilian history, the cocaine industry, the country's complex political structure and mind blowing corruption.

For the younger ones who prefer fact to fiction, Sue was very taken by [[Build Your Own Website: Create with Code by CoderDojo ]]. The Nanonauts want a website for their band, and who better to build it for them than the CoderDojo network of free computing clubs for young people? In this handbook, created in conjunction with the CoderDojo Foundation, children of seven plus will learn how to build a website using HTML, CSS and Javascript. Sue says it's a brilliant introduction to the skills required to build your own website and highly recommended by someone who has done it.

For teens, Jill recommends [[The Bone Sparrow by Zana Fraillon ]]. Subhi is ten years old. He has lived his whole life in a detention centre for refugees in Australia. He is Rohingya and his mother and sister fled persecution in their native Burma. Subhi believes that his father is sending him secret messages contained in tokens that wash up from the Great Sea of his imagination. This is a deeply moving book about the plight of refugees but also about the importance of friendship and the vital benefits of storytelling.