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Age Group: EYFS

Recommended children’s books about light and sound

Explore the world of light and sound with this exciting collection of children’s titles which explore how we see and hear the world around us.

Our booklist is designed to help children in KS2 learn about the Science topics of light and sound, and features books packed with colour like Can You Get Rainbows in Space? alongside titles that explore hearing loss, like Can You Feel the Noise and Listen: How Evelyn Glennie, a Deaf Girl, Changed Percussion. Investigating light and sound from many perspectives, this booklist will bring the KS2 Light and Sound topic vibrantly to life!

NB: This booklist is aimed at children in Key Stage 2. For books for younger children, try our Light and Dark KS1/EYFS Booklist.

Picturebook

Join Katie as she steps into some of the most famous paintings in the world for an exciting art adventure!

Katie can’t decide what she wants to be when she grows up. Perhaps a trip to the gallery will be an inspiration, as the characters in five famous paintings come to life! Will she be an explorer, a train driver, a horse rider or an artist…?

This art adventure features five famous British paintings:The Cornfield by Constable, Rain, Steam and Speed and The Fighting Temeraire by Turner, Whistlejacket by Stubbs, and The Painter’s Daughters Chasing a Butterfly by Gainsborough.

Picturebook

Join Katie as she steps into some of the most famous paintings in the world for an exciting art adventure!

Katie can’t decide what she wants to be when she grows up. Perhaps a trip to the gallery will be an inspiration, as the characters in five famous paintings come to life! Will she be an explorer, a train driver, a horse rider or an artist . . . ?

‘A wonderful way to engage children with art. A brilliant combination of education and storytelling’ – Parents in Touch (Katie’s Picture Show)

This art adventure features five famous British paintings:The Cornfield by Constable, Rain, Steam and Speed and The Fighting Temeraire by Turner, Whistlejacket by Stubbs, and The Painter’s Daughters Chasing a Butterfly by Gainsborough.

Picturebook

A riotously funny picture book about kindness and community.

The animals of Park View Rise all love their high-rise home. It’s peaceful, calm and quiet – no one here would cause a riot… But when Honky Tonk sings much too loudly, Smart Alec’s DIY goes all wrong and Sugar Plum’s freshly baked treats are ruined, well, all hell breaks loose! Luckily, Kitsy Bitsy arrives just in time to teach her neighbours about the importance of kindness… and an enormous cake brings everyone together for a party!

Roll-off-the-tongue rhyming text by Polly Faber and bright, lively artwork by Melissa Crowton combine in this comic, timely tale.

Readers can make their own Good Neighbour Cake using the recipe at the end of the book!

Every Nosy Crow paperback picture book comes with a free ‘Stories Aloud’ audio recording – just scan the QR code and listen along!

Non-fiction

In this book from the critically acclaimed, multimillion-copy bestselling Little People, BIG DREAMS series, discover the life of Vivienne Westwood, the flame-haired fashion designer and impresario.

When Vivienne was a young woman, she wasn’t sure how a working class girl from England could make a living in the art world. But after discovering her passion for design and jewellery making, she erupted onto the fashion scene with a bang.

Vivienne’s designs became iconic, and she became famous for letting her clothes speak for themselves. This accessibly written book helps introduce young Vivienne and her passion to young readers everywhere, and the book’s bold design is true to Westwood’s own punk style.

This moving book features stylish and quirky illustrations and extra facts at the back, including a biographical timeline with historical photos and a detailed profile of the designer’s life.

Picturebook

Spaghetti Hunters is a brilliantly funny and wonderfully silly picture book, featuring a duck, a tiny horse and quest for spaghetti, from the award-winning Morag Hood – creator of The Steves, I Am Bat.

Duck has lost his spaghetti, and Tiny Horse has a plan to save the day. But what exactly do you bring to a Spaghetti Hunt? A spade, a fishing rod, a jar of peanut butter, cutlery and some binoculars, obviously.

Searching far and wide, Tiny Horse catches worms, a ball of string, even a snake – but no spaghetti. Disaster! Until Duck consults a recipe book and armed with flour, eggs and a pasta maker, sets about making his own spaghetti.

This infectiously comic story encourages reading and home-cooking, teaching children about where food really comes from.

Picturebook

Written by the brilliant Julia Donaldson and stunningly illustrated by the award-winning Sara Ogilvie, The Hospital Dog is a big-hearted tale about a very special, very brave dog.

Here is a dog, a Dalmatian called Dot,
Is she quite ordinary? NO, SHE’S NOT!

After their breakfast and a swim in the sea, Dot and her owner Rose jump on the bus to the hospital. Dot loves visiting the children of Wallaby Ward and they’re always pleased to see her too; from a crying baby to a bored teenager – a pat, a stroke and a cuddle with Dot cheers everyone up. But the work of the hospital dog doesn’t stop there and when one of her patients is in trouble, it’s up to Dot to save the day!

Winner of the Indie Book Awards 2021 this fantastic rhyming story comes from the bestselling partnership behind The Detective Dog.

Picturebook

Accompanied by Myles, her assistance dog, Lilly sets off from Gran ny’s house to explore. First she walks through the garden, then sh e visits the seashore. But when she comes to the big cave at the e nd of the beach her acute hearing means she is scared of the loud noise when she drops her torch. And what’s that creature she can h ear coming towards her?…

Non-fictionPicturebook

An inspiring picture-book biography of Louis Braille–a blind boy so determined to read that he invented his own alphabet.

**Winner of a Schneider Family Book Award!**
Louis Braille was just five years old when he lost his sight. He was a clever boy, determined to live like everyone else, and what he wanted more than anything was to be able to read.

Even at the school for the blind in Paris, there were no books for him.

And so he invented his own alphabet–a whole new system for writing that could be read by touch. A system so ingenious that it is still used by the blind community today.

Award-winning writer Jen Bryant tells Braille’s inspiring story with a lively and accessible text, filled with the sounds, the smells, and the touch of Louis’s world. Boris Kulikov’s inspired paintings help readers to understand what Louis lost, and what he was determined to gain back through books.

An author’s note and additional resources at the end of the book complement the simple story and offer more information for parents and teachers.

Picturebook

A colorful journey of self-discovery and identity, this sweet, vibrant picture book follows young Leila as she visits her grandmother’s house for their weekly family dinner, and finds parts of herself and her heritage in the family, friends, and art around her.

Sometimes I’m not sure if I like being me.

When Leila looks in the mirror, she doesn’t know if she likes what she sees. But when her grandmother tells her the saffron beads on her scarf suit her, she feels a tiny bit better. So, Leila spends the rest of their family dinner night on the lookout for other parts of her she does like.

Follow Leila’s journey as she uses her senses of sight, smell, taste, touch to seek out the characteristics that make up her unique identity, and finds reasons to feel proud of herself, just as she is.

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