How do you write about the history of slavery for younger readers of 7 and up? Henna Goudzand Nahar does so by steering clear of the vast background story about the transatlantic slave trade. And she also doesn’t mention that it was white people who enslaved black people en masse. This can only be deduced from Hedy Tjin’s expressive felt-tip illustrations.

Although Zindzi Zevenbergen’s debut is about an invisible illness, the book itself is a real eye-catcher. The striking cover is wrapped around a text with an ingenious and surprising design, with some paragraphs printed at angles or vertically, so that you have to turn the book as you read it.