Browns Best New Books for June 2025
1st June 2025
Every month we carefully select our favourites from the fabulous new titles on offer. It’s June! The sun is shining (hopefully!), long evenings are here and summer holidays are getting tantalisingly close. For some, June will be a month of exams with teachers and students focused on getting the very best results – if you are currently working through exams or supporting those who are, we wish you the very best of luck. June is Pride Month, a chance to celebrate LGBTQ+ communities and their many positive contributions around the world as well as raising awareness of issues that affect these communities and educating people on the rich and fascinating history of the Pride movement. June also sees National Refugee Week (16th – 22nd June) and Empathy Day on June 12th and here at Browns we are eagerly awaiting the announcing of the winners of the Carnegie Medals for Writing and Illustration which takes place on June 19th. As if such a packed month wasn’t exciting enough, there are some fantastic new books published this month and we hope you enjoy our picks as much as we have.
Check back next month for our picks of the new books July has to offer.
Adult Non-Fiction
The Genius Myth
Lewis, Helen
Hardback
Throughout history notable figures have often been described as a genius – artists, scientists, poets, technologists, musicians. You can often tell what a society values most by those it labels a genius (and what it doesn’t by those it excludes). But what does this often over-used word really mean and why don’t we question what is and isn’t labelled as ‘genius’ more?
In this interesting and timely book, Helen Lewis looks at various forms of genius throughout history from Leonardo da Vinci to Elon Musk’s Space X project. Lewis reveals why Stephen Hawking was not a fan of IQ tests (even though he took one himself) and examines the success of The Beatles. With clever and often funny writing, Helen Lewis looks at the way we have often revered and even worshiped Great Men and examines why we even want genius to exist. Lewis argues that we need to look at our understanding of genius and what we as a society chose to celebrate and asks if our modern view of it is distorting our perspective of talent, creativity and achievement. An enjoyable and interesting look at how we view innovation and creativity in our world.
More DetailsAdult Fiction
Atmosphere
Jenkins Reid, Taylor
Hardback
Summer 1980 and ambitious astrophysics professor Joan Goodwin begins training to be an astronaut at Houston’s Johnson’s Space Centre alongside an exceptional group of other new recruits. As training continues and the new astronauts prepare for their first flights, Joan forges relationships and discovers a depth of feeling that she has never experienced, one that makes her question her place in the universe. And then in 1984, on Mission STS-LR9 everything changes in a moment…
Taylor Jenkins Reid is a sensational writer and a new book is always hotly anticipated, especially online; Atmosphere is no exception, and excitement has been building for this book for a number of months. Taylor Jenkins Reid has a real gift for creating a sense of time and place in her novels which are often set at iconic moments in recent history, from the golden age of Hollywood in The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo to the 1970s rock scene in Daisy Jones and the Six (which was successfully adapted for TV on Amazon Prime). Reid’s new novel is set during the early 1980s with a backdrop of NASA’s Space Shuttle programme and once again the writing effectively creates a connection to the location and period for the reader. Atmosphere has a love story at its core but it’s the well-drawn and authentic characters, sensitively dealt with themes (especially the challenges faced by women in STEM at the time), a plot that slowly builds tension and evocative and moving writing which make this another stellar read that fans will find worth the wait.
More DetailsChildren’s Non-Fiction
Choose Your Own Evolution: Go Extinct or Survive? You Decide!
Howard, Jules
Hardback
Think of an animal, maybe a shark or a tiger or even a human. Every animal you can think of has a fascinating and amazing secret history, full of perilous adventures and choices that will decide if they live or die. Evolution is such an interesting subject- what determines whether a species adapts and flourishes in their environment or becomes extinct? How have various animals changed over millions of years to become the creatures we know today?
This fantastic new and original book takes the format of a choose your own adventure and readers are responsible for making the decisions that will ultimately lead to survival to the present day or extinction. This is a great and really engaging way of learning about evolution which encourages readers to interact with the process and make choices that will ultimately decide an animal’s fate. Written by zoologist, author and TV presenter Jules Howard and with great illustrations, this book is packed with fascinating and funny facts about evolution and has over 50 different animal endings to discover (and maybe revisit to see if you can survive next time!). A fun, accessible and unique look at evolution and a great addition to KS2 classrooms and libraries.
More DetailsChildren’s Fiction
The Dawn of Adonis
Earle, Phil
Paperback / softback
It is 1911 and London’s Docklands are awash with shady deals, including the arrival of an exotic and rare animal, smuggled in from the Congolese rainforest, that will make the cruel and ruthless Goliath Deeds and his sidekick Toff Squabble very, very rich. Before long, brave twelve-year old Nettie Beecroft’s life will collide with that of Goliath and Toff and she will become involved in a risky and daring adventure as she tries to rescue a baby silverback gorilla. But to save the life of this special animal, Nettie must face dangerous people and discover if she can trust an unlikely ally…
Phil Earle’s wonderful historical animal stories have been a huge hit with readers; this new novel is a companion story to the award-winning When The Sky Falls and explores silverback gorilla Adonis’s origins. Phil Earle is an exceptional storyteller and this brilliant book has it all – tense and exciting adventure, evocative and vivid descriptions of 1911 London and wonderfully drawn characters. Cleverly written with lots of historical detail and themes of loss and loyalty this is a wonderful story that will stay with readers long after the final page has been read. Perfect to read as a standalone novel or as a prequel, this will also inspire you to read or re-read When The Sky Falls; a perfect treat from the most talented of children’s writers.
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