Recommended children's booklists sorted by age or topic

Age Group: KS2 (Ages 7-11)

The dark was deep; it opened like a cavernous mouth and swallowed the boy whole.

Cassia Thorne leads a double life. By day, she sells ballads at Bartholomew Fair. By night she spends her evenings locked up in Fleet Prison. Cassia has plans of escaping both of these lives. But this year there are rumours of children being snatched off of the streets of London and no one willing to help.

So Cassia decides to take matters into her own hands; with the help of a young pickpocket, Teo and her friend Felix, Cassia starts to investigate the disappearances. She soon discovers a sinister conspiracy at the heart of the city – mysterious men in blue coats and whispers of a beast that lives in the deep dark tunnels below the city. Can Cassia get to the bottom of the mystery and rescue the missing children before it’s too late?

Join Cassia and her friends on a spine-tingling supernatural adventure through the streets of London!

This is a breathtaking new direction from a rising star and the author of The Kingdom Over the Sea, a Waterstone’s Children’s Book of month.

Introduce a new generation to Oscar Wilde’s classic children’s tales with this stunningly illustrated luxury gift edition – a must-have gift book for young readers.

Oscar Wilde has enchanted readers young and old alike for over a hundred years. In 1888, he published a collection of bedtime stories for children. This beautiful collection contains six of these classic tales, including ‘The Happy Prince’, ‘The Selfish Giant’, and ‘The Nightingale and the Rose’.

For the first time, these beloved stories from the great Irish queer author are being published in a major new edition by an Irish publisher. With high-quality paper, a linen-effect cover, gold foil details, ribbon bookmark and classic binding touches, this keepsake hardback edition, printed and bound in Italy, is crafted to be treasured and shared.

Feeling both classic and fresh, timeless and modern, Lauren O’Hara’s delicate, rich colour illustrations bring this cornerstone of children’s literature to life for readers of all ages.

Uncover the unnamed heroes who contributed to some of our world’s most important science.

Explore the hidden heroes that created the miraculous things we find all around us in this science book for children aged 7-9.

Do you ever find yourself feeling curious about who created the science behind some of our most impressive structures? Or wonder who it was that invented the equipment you find in your classroom? Well, wonder no more. This groundbreaking book covers all the lost contributors to the world’s most important scientific discoveries.

This science book for children offers:

Content produced by an exciting partnership with The Royal Institution, world leaders in science.

An exciting introduction to lesser-known scientific figures such as Maria Merian, Gregor Mendel and Percy Julian.

Inspirational stories from pioneering scientists who faced adversity, to unsung innovators who paved the way for modern advancements.

For curious children who have always wanted to know who it was that created coding, or how on earth the Egyptian Pyramids were built so long ago and yet still look brand new, The Royal Institution; the home of science, has all the answers.

Find out the answers to 33 crazy and laugh-out-loud questions with science author Emma Young.

Prepare to learn all about the human body, from blood vessels to the brain and nerves to nutrients, in this engaging question-and-answer book.

What If You Didn’t Make Snot? is not your usual science book. Children aged 7-9 will be drawn into each topic with one of 33 amusing questions that are guaranteed to make kids think about anatomy in a whole new way. Author Emma Young explains the answers with humour and plenty of science facts that kids will be racing to share with friends and family.

This human body book for children offers:

Fun and engaging content by science author Emma Young.

33 laugh-out-loud questions with key science facts are woven into the answers.

A mix of photography and cartoon-style illustrations that bring the questions to life.

Curriculum-aligned and age-appropriate material about the human body for children.

Children can dip in and out of bite-sized information on each page, filled with attention-grabbing photography and quirky illustrations. Even reluctant readers will find this human body book entertaining, as they find out the answers to the wacky, bizarre and gross questions.

A STORYMIX book.

When Santa announces his retirement, Mikey nominates his grandfather to take over the reins. Four thrilling tasks await the contestants in Christmasland. Can Mikey help Gramps rediscover his festive spirit in time to become the next Father Christmas?

Illustrated by Shahab Shamshirsaz.

Find out the answers to 33 crazy and laugh-out-loud questions about the Earth with science author Emma Young.

Prepare to learn all about the Earth from rocks to rivers and countries to climate in this engaging question-and-answer book.

What If… Every Volcano Erupted at Once? is not your average science book. Kids aged 7-9 will be drawn into each topic with one of 33 fun questions that are guaranteed to make kids think about our planet in a whole new way. Author Emma Young explains the answers with humour and plenty of science facts that kids will be racing to share with friends and family.

This Earth book for kids offers:

Fun and engaging content by science author Emma Young.

33 laugh-out-loud what-if questions with key science facts woven into the answers.

A mix of photography and cartoon-style illustrations that bring the questions to life.

Curriculum-aligned STEM topics for primary-age children, including geology, Earth science, ecology, and more.

Children can dip in and out of bite-sized information on each page, filled with attention-grabbing photography and quirky illustrations. Even reluctant readers will find this Earth book entertaining, as they find out the answers to the wacky, bizarre, and surprising questions, making this the perfect science gift for any child.

The first children’s murder mystery from number-one-bestselling author of The Appeal, Janice Hallett, perfect for fans of Robin Stevens and Rhian Tracey.

When Ava and Luke discover a mysterious box of papers in their attic they are instantly curious about secrets it might hold. As they read through letters, diary entries, newspaper cuttings and listen to secret recordings, they realize that a decades-old, still unsolved, murder mystery is unfolding right in front of them . . .

Ava and Luke decide to try and crack the case themselves. But as they work through the clues, it soon becomes clear that the mystery isn’t something left in the past: the killer is still out there – and might be closer than they think…

YOU know the facts. YOU have all the clues. Can YOU solve the mystery before they do?

Look out for DEATH AT THE MUSEUM, the next book in the A Box Full of Murders series, coming June 2026!

13-year-old Kamari Brown, tries to help his poor family out with get rich schemes, but they get him more trouble than money. Until the track of a best-selling rapper gets mixed up with one of his songs and he becomes the hottest property in music. He gets interviews, photoshoots, and an invite to the greatest party ever.

Things go great until he finds out about the mix-up. Will other people find out? Will he own up? One thing’s for sure; nothing will go as planned.

The book is a MG/teen comedy with a diverse set of characters. Exploring real world issues, and the importance of honesty, friendship and family.

Matisse was one of the most original artists of the 20th century. He became famous for his use of colour and early “Wild Beast’ paintings. In later life, when he was too ill to stand at an easel, he began “drawing with scissors,” creating iconic cut-out compositions with coloured paper. See his works come to life in five dazzling pop-ups and read about his love of cats and life on the French Riviera.

THE DEBUT CHILDREN’S BOOK FROM AWARD-WINNING AND BESTSELLING AUTHOR AND ACTOR PATERSON JOSEPH.

MEET THE TEN …

Goddaughter to the Queen of England. Human rights activist. Librarian and author. Former slave . . . These ten inspiring children grew up in a time when slavery was still legal in most of the world and people who looked like them weren’t expected to become important. But they did! The ten all went on to change the world through their acts of rebellion, bravery and adventure that helped secure their freedom and the freedom of so many from slavery.

But how did these inspirational people change the world? To answer that, we’ll have to go back in time and met the ten aged ten, where their stories truly began . . .

· Meet Seaman William Brown, real name unknown, who’s love of adventure finds her sneaking aboard a British Royal Navy ship disguised as a man to explore the world beyond Grenada.

· Get to know Ira Frederick Aldridge as he joins the Free African Americans School in New York and discovers his love of performing.

· Celebrate Billy Sancho’s tenth birthday around the corner from Downing Street, London. Little does he know that he will become the first black librarian.

· Return to Africa with Omoba Ina (know as Sara Forbes Bonetta), who has been sent to Sierra Leone by her godmother Queen Victoria, to become a missionary.

Discover the untold stories of these remarkable children as well as Phillis Wheatley, Ira Frederick Aldridge, Dido Elizabeth Belle, John Edmonstone, William Cuffay, and Mary Prince Daniels. From Wonka actor and award-winning author of The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho, Paterson Joseph.

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Stone Girl Bone Girl

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