Age Group: KS3 (Ages 11-14)

The Thread That Connects Us

Chapter book

A story of shared blood and bad blood, endings and beginnings.

Safiya has struggled to pick up the pieces of her family since her dad left them and moved to Somalia. She refuses to trust in love, despite wishing she could fall for boy-next-door Yusuf. And then her dad moves back to town with his new family, shattering her life all over again.

Halima doesn’t want to move to England. She resents her stepdad for dropping her in a strange new life with a new language to learn, replacing her friends with bullies who set out to shame her.

When the girls are thrown together at school, it’s hate at first sight. But as they uncover life-changing secrets from their parents’ past, they begin to realize – What if the key to all their problems lies in their sisterhood?

Mission: Arctic

Christian Schneider & Katharina Weiss-Tuider

Non-fiction

For kids 8 to 13, join the largest Arctic expedition ever undertaken—and discover the secrets hidden deep in the ice that reveal how one of the world’s crucial ecosystems is changing.

The Arctic is changing—fast. The once-frozen landscape is melting before our eyes, and the effects can be felt around the world. But the Arctic is also the region we know the least about. Thick ice, extreme cold, and total darkness have always prevented scientists from uncovering its secrets. Until now.

This science-based guide for middle readers follows the 2019 MOSAiC expedition on the largest expedition to the Arctic ever undertaken. On board the Polarstern, a powerful ice-breaker research vessel, more than five hundred scientists from all over the world turned their attention to this mysterious region. Their mission? To let their vessel freeze in the sea ice and drift towards the North Pole in order to study how the Arctic is changing, and how these changes will affect our world.

Mission: Arctic features:

Filled with photographs from the expedition
Thrilling facts, illustrations, diagrams, and fact bars about the polar region
The dangerous conditions the scientists endured, from freezing temperatures to terrifying storms and polar bears
The important discoveries made on the mission
Through this thrilling book, readers will discover the Arctic ice is not as permanent as we thought, and what happens in the Arctic doesn’t stay in the Arctic. The knowledge gathered on the Polarstern has the power to determine our planet’s future—if only we pay attention.

How to Survive a Horror Movie

Scarlett Dunmore

Chapter book

Horror movie enthusiast Charley is determined to keep a low profile when she’s enrolled at a girls’ boarding school on a remote island. That is, until someone starts killing off her senior class! From elaborate scare tactics to severed heads in fridges, Charley has found herself at the centre of a teen horror movie. And that’s not the only alarming thing that’s happening – she’s now seeing the ghosts of her former classmates!?

Haunted by her peers, and with everyone beginning to suspect her, Charley decides to do something about it. She and her only best friend Olive are going to solve the murders and find out who’s killing off the class before graduation. Charley just needs those pesky ghosts to shut up and give her a hand.

A fast-paced tongue-in-cheek YA novel about two friends trying to survive senior year – literally! Perfect for fans of Fear Street, The Midnight Club and the SCREAM franchise.

Cobalt

Sue Klauber

Chapter book

This is the follow-up story to Zinc about three Jewish siblings John, George and Eva who continue to play different roles to help the war effort in WW2.

George trains in Scotland for his SOE mission to Poland to help the fighters in the Secret Army.

After his work at Bletchley Park, John is now stationed in Cairo in Egypt working on plans to deceive Field Marshall Rommel about the location of the impending battle, while sister Eva in Hungary is finding life for anyone Jewish getting harder and harder as the Nazis harden their grip over the country. Will the siblings ever manage to get together? They share so many memories, but war keeps them apart.

Based on the extraordinary real-life experiences of Sue Klauber’s father (Coding at Bletchley Park), uncle (SOE in Europe) and aunt (Resistance), she wrote Zinc and now Cobalt to illustrate the courage of her Jewish family.

Apocalypse Cow

O.R. Sorrel

Chapter book

Mel loves Sasha and dreams of a day that Sasha might reciprocate her feelings (even though she’s straight) – so the fact that it’s thirty degrees outside in January and hasn’t rained for a year simply passes her by.

Mel is just about coping with being the only ‘out’ lesbian in school and all the sniping that Janis and Ella aim her way, as well as her dreary Saturday job with the stupidly posh Dorian… But when domestic animals suddenly lethally turn on the human race, and Mel finds herself stuck in a mansion with Dorian and Ella, her love-life suddenly turns on its head in the most extraordinary way.

A screamingly funny LGTBQ+ love story from a brilliant new talent.

Four Eids and a Funeral

Adiba Jaigirdar & Faridah Abike-Iyimide

Chapter book

Let’s get one thing straight: this is a love story.

Said Hossain hates Tiwa Olatunji. And Tiwa would happily never see Said again in her life. Growing up, the two were inseparable, but they have barely spoken since the incident many Eids ago and both of them would like to keep it that way. But when Said comes home for a funeral and the town’s Islamic Centre burns down on the same day, they have to face each other again and sparks fly.

Both of them want to see the Islamic Centre rebuilt. For Tiwa, it represents the community that she loves and a way to keep her fractured family together. For Said, it’s an opportunity to build his portfolio for his secret application to art school, where he hopes that he’ll be able to pursue his dreams of becoming an artist, rather than a doctor.

Working with your sworn enemy is never easy, and this could be the hardest thing that Said and Tiwa have ever done. But in trying to save the Islamic Centre and Eid, could these enemies become something else…?

The End Crowns All

Bea Fitzgerald

Chapter book

The fierce, feminist and gloriously romantic new Greek myth re-imagining from the Sunday Times bestselling author of Girl, Goddess, Queen.

Love caused this war. At least, that’s what the stories will say.

When Cassandra’s patron god, Apollo, offers her the gift of prophecy – and all the power that comes with it – she seizes the opportunity. But when she fails to uphold her end of the bargain, she discovers just how very far she has to fall. No one believes her visions, which all seem to be of one girl – a girl who is going to start a war.

Helen fled Sparta in pursuit of love – but is finding it elusive. Now she must navigate the fierce politics and danger of the Trojan court – including from its princess, who seems intent on driving her from the city. . .

But when war finally strikes, Cassandra and Helen must deal with more than just the army at their walls. Cassandra and Helen’s fates are more closely tied – and seemingly tragic – than they could have ever imagined. How can you change your future when the gods themselves are dictating your demise?

Fallout

Lesley Parr

Chapter book

Is Marcus’s fate decided by his family? Or can he stand up for himself to become the person he really wants to be?

Long-listed for the Carnegie Medal for Writing 2025

Marcus has one brother in a youth offender centre and the other is working with their dad on plans for their next theft. Everyone assumes Marcus will follow in their footsteps, but he has other ideas, different hopes.

When a mysterious accident lands a man in hospital, it confirms what everyone in their community expects and Marcus gets the blame. He feels trapped. Only new girl Emma – with her peace protest banners and political badges – questions this story. Can they work together to clear his name – and help Marcus become the person he really wants to be?

An exciting and moving story about questioning your loyalties, from the acclaimed author of The Valley of Lost Secrets. Perfect for readers of 10+ who love Phil Earle, Frank Cottrell-Boyce or Brian Conaghan.

Kirin of the Dobunni

Anne Buffoni

Chapter book

“He should have been wary of it, scared of this strange character grinning out at him, looking from one world into another. But he wasn’t. He knew without reason that this knife was an explorer.”

The year AD 8. Kirin is restless. He is too young to join his father and uncle on their trading trips beyond the great river Savren. But danger also lies closer to home.

When Kirin rescues a girl from a slave trader, he is determined to help her find the way back to her family, yet Kirin and his new friend Ribby must be careful. His grandfather’s animal-headed knife whispers a warning of betrayal in the face of an expanding Roman Empire, while an old woman’s mirror shimmers with the secrets of the ancient gods.

For Kirin and his friends, this is the journey of a lifetime that could change everything …

The gripping prehistoric adventure full of gods and Romans, myths and the secrets of the Dobunnic tribe in the last days of Iron Age Britain – with an exclusive author’s guide to the archaeological sites

SLA Information Book Award

Founded in 2011, the School Library Association (SLA) Information Book Award celebrates the best in children’s non-fiction. We are very excited to share this year’s shortlist for these awards, which includes a diverse range of non-fiction books that are sure to provide readers with new ways of looking at the world around them.

Four books are shortlisted in each of three age categories and we were delighted to discover some of our favourite non-fiction titles had made the cut across these categories. For older readers, the teen edition of Philippa Gregory’s Normal Women, a BooksForTopics Year 9 Recommended Read, is selected in the age 13-16 category, while younger readers will love Recycling Day, shortlisted for age 0-7 and featured in our Top 50 Recommended Reads for EYFS.

The impressive range of non-fiction titles in the shortlist is put to two panels, and each of the age categories has two winners: a Judges’ Choice and a Children’s Choice.

For more information about the 2026 SLA Information Book Award click here, or check out the full shortlist below!

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Age Group: KS3 (Ages 11-14)

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