Celebrate World Book Night with the top 5 eBooks this April

Thu 23 Apr 2020

Tonight is World Book Night - an evening all about celebrating books and sharing the benefits of reading for pleasure. Run by The Reading Agency, a charity that tackles life’s big challenges through the proven power of reading, this national event celebrates the difference that reading makes to people’s lives all over the country. Recent research from The Reading Agency says that during the current pandemic, 31% of people are choosing to read more, with this figure rising to nearly 1 in 2 people (45%) for 18 to 24 year olds. This shows the power that books have, and the difference they can make during difficult times.

This evening, celebrate World Book Night with us by spending an hour with a book at #ReadingHour from 7-8pm. You can choose your favourite book to read, or try something new, and The Reading Agency have created a booklist of recommended reads. You can download any of these books from Derby Libraries online eBook service.

If you’re already a member of Derby Libraries, you can borrow eBooks and eAudiobooks from our online services for free. If you’re not yet a member, you can join online as a temporary member, and you will get a card that remains valid until the libraries reopen. This means we all can make the most of the excellent facilities our Derby Libraries have on offer during this time.

If you’re looking for a great read for World Book Night, Derby Libraries have something for people of all ages. Here are the top five most borrowed eBooks from Derby Libraries during April for Adults, Children and Young Adults.

Top Five eBooks for Adults:
1. Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel
England 1536, Anne Boleyn is dead. Thomas Cromwell breakfasts with the victors- the blacksmith's son from Putney emerges from the Spring's bloodbath to continue his climb to power and wealth. He only has his wits to rely on. His robust imagination sees a new country in the mirror of the future. But can a nation, or a person shed the past like a skin? This is the long-awaited third book in the Wolf Hall trilogy, and it has just been shortlisted for The Women’s Prize for Fiction 2020.

2. Blue Moon by Lee Child
In a nameless city, two ruthless rival criminal gangs, one Albanian the other Ukrainian, are competing for control. They had not counted on Jack Reacher arriving on their patch.

3. This is Going to Hurt by Adam Kay (Non-Fiction)
Welcome to the life of a junior doctor. You work 97 hours a week. You make life-and-death decisions. Adam Kay's diary was written in secret after long days, sleepless nights and missed weekends. It is funny, moving and shocking. Everything you wanted to know about life on the hospital ward.

4. Becoming by Michelle Obama (Non-Fiction)
The memoir of Michelle Obama. A deep reflection and mesmerising storytelling where she invites readers into her world. Chronicling the experiences that have shaped her - from her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her years as an executive balancing the demands of motherhood and work, to her time at the world's most famous address.

5. Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell
In a large house in London's fashionable Chelsea, a baby is awake in her cot. Well fed and cared for, she is happily waiting for someone to pick her up. In the kitchen lie three decomposing corpses. Close to them is a hastily scrawled note. They've been dead for several days.  Who has been looking after the baby? And where did they go? Two entangled families. A house with the darkest of secrets.

Top Five eBooks for Children:
1. The Harry Potter series of books by J.K. Rowling
At the top of the list is Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, the first book in this series, closely followed by The Chamber of Secrets. Harry Potter, an eleven-year-old orphan, discovers that he is a wizard and is invited to study at Hogwarts. Even as he escapes a dreary life and enters a world of magic, he finds trouble awaiting him.

2. Funniest Joke Book Ever by Bathroom Readers' Institute
Kids just can’t resist sharing jokes (even you try to stop them), so they always need a fresh supply. The pages of this little book are stuffed with the funniest jokes we could find. Old favourites, new favourites, and a few festering stinkers – all guaranteed to make kids laugh out loud.

3. Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis
Narnia...the land beyond the wardrobe door, a secret place frozen in eternal winter, a magical country waiting to be set free. Four children realize they've been called to a great adventure and bravely join the battle to free Narnia from evil enchantment of the White Witch.

4. Mr Mingin by David Walliams
Mr Mingin is a new Scots translation of bestselling children's author David Walliams' Mr Stink, translated by Matthew Fitt for Itchy Coo.

5. Bad Dad by David Walliams
The new hilarious story from Number One bestselling author David Walliams, brilliantly illustrated by Tony Ross. Bad Dad is a fast and furious, heart-warming new children’s book about a father and son on an adventure – and a thrilling mission to break an innocent man into prison… It’s a high-speed cops-and-robbers adventure with heart and soul about a father and son taking on the villainous Mr Big – and winning!

Top Five eBooks for Young Adults:
1. Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
Sixteen-year-old Starr lives in two worlds: the poor neighbourhood where she was born and raised and her posh high school in the suburbs. The uneasy balance between them is shattered when Starr is the only witness to the fatal shooting of her unarmed best friend, Khalil, by a police officer. Now what Starr says could destroy her community. It could also get her killed.

2. Noughts & Crosses by Malorie Blackman
Where there has been love, now there is hate. Two families have been shattered by the divided and violent society they live in. Sephy Hadley – a Cross, supposedly powerful and privileged – has bound herself forever to her nought lover Callum McGregor’s family. But Jude McGregor blames Sephy for all the tragedies his family has suffered. And he is determined to force her to take sides, and destroy her life… just like she destroyed his…

3. Secret Commonwealth by Philip Pullman
This is the second volume of Philip Pullman's The Book of Dust, and sees Lyra, now twenty years old, and her daemon Pantalaimon, forced to navigate their relationship in a way they could never have imagined, and drawn into the complex and dangerous factions of a world that they had no idea existed. Pulled along on his own journey too is Malcolm; once a boy with a boat and a mission to save a baby from the flood, now a man with a strong sense of duty and a desire to do what is right.

4. My Brother's Name is Jessica by John Boyne
Sam Waver's life has always been pretty quiet. A bit of a loner, he struggles to make friends, but his older brother, Jason, has always been there for him. Sam idolises Jason, who seems to have life sorted, but then one evening Jason calls his family together to tell them that he's been struggling with a secret for a long time. His parents don't want to know and Sam simply doesn't understand. Because what do you do when your brother says he's not your brother at all? That he's actually your sister?

5. The Girl Who Came Out of the Woods by Emily Barr
Arty has always lived in the Clearing, a small settlement in the forests of south India. But their happy life, hidden from the rest of the world, is shattered by a terrible accident. For the first time in her sixteen years, Arty must leave the only place she's ever known, into the outside world she's been taught to fear.

We hope you have lots of fun reading, and don’t forget to share your photos this evening using the hashtag #ReadingHour.