Stella Hine

They're brilliant for all ages.

And they're really brilliant for shared reading.

The wonderful thing about this particular book, the illustrations are absolutely stunning.

And I've followed Yu Rong for several years now.

And in my opinion, this work displays her signature style, but elevated to a new level of sophistication and refinement.

So I think that's a fantastic picture book.

So since finishing judging, I have been reading at the speed of knots, but I am currently listening to Theo of Golden by Alan Levi, which is just a beautiful and gentle listen about a man named Theo who's arrived in a town called Golden.

And I believe it's based on a real town in Georgia in the United States.

But he visits a coffee shop where there are, I don't know, 92, I think, pencil portraits displayed on the walls.

And they're portraits of local residents, all created by a local artist.

So Theo starts to buy each portrait and gifts them to the subject of each portrait.

And as he does, we hear the stories of those people.

It's a beautiful story because you hear their personal stories.

And this book for me, it's about power.

but it's about the power of kindness and generosity and valuing people, whoever they are.

So that'll be on the 23rd of June at the Cambridge Theatre, which is the home of Matilda the Musical.

Thank you, Sarah.

My pleasure.