Recommended children's booklists sorted by age or topic

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Amberin Huq Books

If you want to find out more about Diwali and the customs and traditions that surround the festival, this is a great book to explore with children in the early years.  It is a simple counting book, counting the lamps that light Diwali and with each additional lamp, a message is shared.

 The book is filled with bright illustrations and vibrant patterns that are a feast for the eyes. Each double spread shows a family, dressed in beautiful traditional Hindu dress for the festival of Diwali, explaining the meanings behind the festival of light.

Where there are words that might be unusual or unknown to some children, such as mithai, these are explained in a glossary at the back of the book along with more detailed information about the festival.

Children who are not Hindu but are of another religion or none can draw parallels with their own festivals and family traditions and so explore the links and synergies behind the messages of many religious or cultural festivals.

More exciting detective adventures featuring Sindhu and Jeet by Chitra Soundar, author of over 50 children’s books in the UK, India and the US.

Sindhu and Jeet are back to solve more cases with observation, imagination and a whole load of legwork. Back home in Chennai after their adventures in London (which featured in Sindhu and Jeet’s Detective Agency), the detective work doesn’t stop! These page-turning stories are accompanied by black-and-white illustrations by Amberin Huq. The Sindhu and Jeet books can be read in any order.

Sindhu and Jeet are the best detectives in town: they solve all their cases with a dollop of observation, a dash of imagination and a whole load of legwork. And when they travel from India to England for a holiday, the detective work doesn’t stop! This page-turning story is accompanied by black-and-white illustrations by Amberin Huq.

The Bloomsbury Readers series is packed with book-banded stories to get children reading independently in Key Stage 2 by award-winning authors like double Carnegie Medal winner Geraldine McCaughrean and Waterstones Prize winner Patrice Lawrence. With black-and-white illustrations and online guided reading notes written by the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE), this series is ideal for home and school. For more information visit www.bloomsburyguidedreading.com.

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