Cressida Cowell (bestselling children's author of the 'How To Train Your Dragon' series) joins Sara for a natter about the joy of reading.

As an ambassador for The National Year Of Reading, Cressida is passionate about getting people reading for pleasure - especially children - and chats to Sara about the various plans in place this year to encourage more people to pick up a book, comic, graphic novel - or even listen to an audiobook.

She also takes us behind the scenes of the filming of 'How To Train Your Dragon 2' which has just started filming!

Libby Page joins Sara in the Book Club to chat about her new novel, "This Book Made Me Think Of You"

They discuss their love of bookshops, the genre they write in and why sometimes we just need a bit to make us smile (and cry a bit maybe?)

Libby talks about her trips to New York and Paris for some of the scenes in this new novel, and her obsession with books about bookshops. She also gives us a brilliant reading recommendation - and - we hear an exclusive extract from her audiobook.

Here's more about Libby's new novel: When Tilly Nightingale receives a call telling her there’s a birthday gift from her husband waiting for her at her local bookshop, it couldn’t come as more of a shock. Partly, because she can’t remember the last time she read a book for pleasure. Mainly, because Joe died five months ago…

The gift is simple – twelve carefully chosen books from Joe, one for each month, to help her turn the page on her first year without him.

And so begins a reading-inspired journey that takes Tilly around the world; from bustling sidewalks in New York and the tree-lined avenues of Paris to the tranquil Tuscan countryside and the white sands of Bali. With the help of the bookshop owner, Alfie, Tilly starts to discover who she is now, after Joe.

But can Tilly’s year of books show her how to love again?

Phoenix Cooper - of Kent Libraries fame - shares their Top Five Reads Of The Year so far (but mainly, of 2025)

They chat to Sara about their love of libraries, their role, being part of the Radio 2 Book Club panel - and give a shout out to their mum's book group too.

Phoenix's Top Five Reads:

Raven scholar by Antonia Hodgson Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison King Sorrow by Joe Hill Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir