Age Group: KS3 (Ages 11-14)

Branching Out: Books for Fans of Little People, Big Dreams

If you like Little People, BIG DREAMS, try these…

Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara‘s prolific biographical series is incredibly popular with young readers and school librarians alike.

We’ve put together a list of ten similar books for fans of the Little People, Big Dreams series. Children who love reading life stories will find plenty to interest them in this booklist.

For readers interested in biographies of inspirational STEM pioneers, we recommend the fascinating Joan Procter, Dragon Doctor, the inspiring story of Mary Anning in The Fossil Hunter, Katherine Johnson’s barrier-smashing achievements in Counting on Katherine, and Rainforest Warrior, the story of environmental activist Chico Mendes.

For stories of record breakers and famous firsts, you could try solo pilot Zara Rutherford’s autobiographical I Flew Around the World, picturebook portrait of trailblazing Muslim astronomer Ulugh Beg, Prince of Stars, or Lottie the Little Wonder, a short, colour-illustrated chapter book about the world’s first female sports superstar, Lottie Dod.

There are also some brilliant true story collections and inspiring anthologies in this list, including Young, Gifted and Black, which celebrates the achievements of 52 trailblazing black women and men, and Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls, which features inspirational women around the world, ranging from singers and artists to activists and entrepreneurs.

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Branching Out: Books for Fans of His Dark Materials

If you like His Dark Materials, try these…

Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials series is a much-loved fantasy trilogy, set across multiple worlds, with themes of free will, science and coming of age. The first book in the series, Northern Lights, is selected on our Best Books for Year 7 booklist and is well loved by many children in the 10-15 range.

We’ve put together a list of ten similar books for fans of His Dark Materials. Readers who love the stories of secret, hidden or fantasy worlds might enjoy the flying ships and sky cities of Rebel Skies, the undersea mysteries of Deeplight, or the secret society and hidden palace of Alexander Armstrong’s Evenfall.

For readers searching for more adventures with mythical creatures, we recommend A. F. Steadman’s re-imagining of unicorns in Skandar, or Katherine Rundell’s magically-inhabited islands of Impossible Creatures.

For readers looking for strong female leads like Lyra, try travelling along with Isabella in The Girl of Ink and Stars, or questing with Hester Shaw in Mortal Engines. And readers who enjoyed Pullman’s tales of quests against the establishment might enjoy Jonathan Stroud’s action-packed supernatural series Lockwood, or Aisling Fowler’s prehistoric monster-hunting adventure Fireborn: Twelve and the Frozen Forest.

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Black Star

Kwame Alexander

Poetry, Verse novel

Kwame Alexander weaves a spellbinding story of struggle, determination and the unflappable faith of an American family.

Twelve-year-old Charley is set on becoming the first female pitcher to play professional baseball, even if that’s a lofty dream for a Black girl in the American South in the 1920s. Even so, her grandfather Kofi’s thrilling stories about courageous ancestors and epic journeys make it impossible not to dream big. She knows he has so much more to tell, but according to her parents, she isn’t old enough to know about certain things, like what happened to Booker Preston that one night in Great Bridge, and why she can never play on the brand-new baseball field on the other side of town.

When Charley challenges a neighbourhood bully to a game at the church picnic, she knows she can win, even with her ragtag team. Then a dispute on the field leads to Charley making a fateful decision, one that will bring consequences she never could have imagined.

When the Bones Sing

Ginny Myers Sain

Chapter book

Romance, secrets and mystery and a teenage girl who hears the bones of the dead… Perfect for fans of Holly Jackson, Adalyn Grace and Delia Owens’ Where the Crawdads Sing

17-year-old Dovie doesn’t believe in magic even though she comes from a long line of women who can hear the bones of the dead sing, and for the past few years the bones have been crooning nonstop, calling out to Dovie to dig them up. Because there is a killer on the loose – someone is snatching hikers from the miles of tracks, leaving their mutilated bodies for Dovie to find. And the body count grows ever higher.

Some of the old-timers believe that it’s the monstrous Ozarks howler snatching people off the Aux Arc Trail. Well Dovie doesn’t believe in the howler, and she doesn’t believe her best friend – the gorgeous Lo – when he tells her he is being haunted by dark shadows. All she believes in is her talent that guides the local sheriff to the bones when they begin their song, then reuniting the dead with their families to give them some peace.

But the truth of their deaths isn’t buried with their bones; it’s hidden somewhere deep in the hills. And Lo and Dovie must unearth it before anyone else is killed…

Time Travelling with a Hamster

Ross Welford

Chapter book

For readers who loved Wonder and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time this extraordinary debut will make you laugh and cry.

A story that crosses time and generations, for adventure-loving readers young and old.

“My dad died twice. Once when he was thirty nine and again four years later when he was twelve.”

On Al Chaudhury’s twelfth birthday his beloved Grandpa Byron gives him a letter from Al’s late father. In it Al receives a mission: travel back to 1984 in a secret time machine and save his father’s life.

Al soon discovers that time travel requires daring and imagination. It also requires lies, theft, setting his school on fire and ignoring philosophical advice from Grandpa Byron. All without losing his pet hamster, Alan Shearer…

Time Travelling With a Hamster is a funny, heart-warming race-against-time – and across generations – adventure that you will won’t be able to put down.

Shadow Chaser

Simon Tudhope & Tom Knight

Chapter book

This magically illustrated gamebook plunges you into a story with a difference – one where the hero is YOU. Woken one night by a bang at the door, you creep to the window and see five hooded strangers below. The leader looks up and beckons you down. What do you do? Open the door, play for time, or escape through the window out back? The choice is yours…

From this point onwards you are in control of an epic adventure, and your survival depends upon the decisions you make. Who to fight? Who to trust? In a book where nothing is as it seems, even the pictures hold secrets that must be unlocked. But as you race across land, sea and sky, one thing becomes clear: it’s not just your fate that hangs in the balance – it’s the fate of the entire kingdom.

Bringing together a sweeping story, beautifully illustrated picture puzzles and an exciting combat system (with a link to an online dice-roller), this is an adventure that will have you gripped from beginning to end.

The Boy Who Met a Whale

Nizrana Farook

Chapter book

We love the sumptuous Sri Lankan setting and adventurous heart of this fast-paced tale. The story follows Razi, who has avoided the ocean since his father’s death, until a mysterious traveller named Zheng washes ashore. Joined by his twin sister Shifa, Razi is swept up in a mission while outrunning a pair of ruthless villains.

Farook’s writing is rich with island details and the joys of the natural world. The setting is so evocative it makes you want to visit! Encounters with majestic turtles and a giant whale help Razi find his courage once again, and many readers will love the animals in the story as much as Razi.

A thrilling tropical treasure hunt with plenty of emotional depth, this is a top recommendation for KS2 classrooms.

Noughts and Crosses

Malorie Blackman

Chapter book

Sephy is a Cross: she lives a life of privilege and power. But she’s lonely, and burns with injustice at the world she sees around her.

Callum is a nought: he’s considered to be less than nothing – a blanker, there to serve Crosses – but he dreams of a better life.

They’ve been friends since they were children, and they both know that’s as far as it can ever go. Noughts and Crosses are fated to be bitter enemies – love is out of the question.

Then – in spite of a world that is fiercely against them – these star-crossed lovers choose each other.

But this is love story that will lead both of them into terrible danger . . . and which will have shocking repercussions for generations to come.

Divergent

Veronica Roth

Chapter book

She turns to the future in a world that’s falling apart.

The No. 1 New York Times bestseller Divergent – also a major motion picture.

For sixteen-year-old Tris, the world changes in a heartbeat when she is forced to make a terrible choice. Turning her back on her family, Tris ventures out, alone, determined to find out where she truly belongs.

Shocked by the brutality of her new life, Tris can trust no one. And yet she is drawn to a boy who seems to both threaten and protect her. The hardest choices may yet lie ahead….

The first book in the Divergent series that has swept the globe – selling millions of copies world-wide.

The Last Wild

Piers Torday

Chapter book

From the winner of the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize

This is a story about a boy named Kester. He is extraordinary, but he doesn’t know that yet. All he knows, at this very moment, is this:
1. There is a flock of excited pigeons in his bedroom.
2. They are talking to him.
3. His life will never be quite the same again…

Kester lives in a land in quarantine. A deadly virus has killed all the animals except pests and it’s expected to be equally dangerous to humans. But when Kester realises he can talk to the pests, he finds they have great hope invested in him.

A captivating animal adventure destined to be loved by readers of all ages.