Recommended children's booklists sorted by age or topic

Author & Illustrators

Garry Parsons Books

The Penguin Who Lost His Way

Picturebook

An amazing true animal story about a brave little penguin.

Hoppy the emperor penguin loves swimming in the sea with his friends. But one day Hoppy swims too far, and loses his way . . . ending up on a strange beach, all alone and far from home.

How will poor Hoppy get back to his family?

Inspired by the incredible true story of a lost little penguin, and the vets who saved his life, The Penguin Who Lost His Way is perfect for young animal lovers. From John Hay, and bestselling illustrator Garry Parsons.

Includes a non-fiction spread with information about the real animal and the events behind the story.

George’s Secret Key to the Universe

Garry Parsons & Lucy Hawking & Stephen Hawking

Chapter book

Part of a series written by Professor Stephen Hawking and his daughter Lucy, this fast-paced adventure follows a boy called George as he discovers a portal to outer space inside his neighbour’s super-intelligent computer called Cosmos. As you might expect in a book by Stephen Hawking, the narrative is filled with scientifically accurate facts and figures about space.

My Daddies

Gareth Peter & Garry Parsons

Picturebook

A funny, heartfelt picture-book celebrating same-sex parents and shared story time, perfect for introducing children to the different kinds of family in the world today.

Set off on a series of incredible adventures with an adorable family as the stories they read burst into colourful life. Battle dragons, dodge deadly dinosaurs, zoom to the moon and explore the world in a hot air balloon, before winding down in a wonderfully cosy bedtime ending.

The bouncy, rhyming, read-aloud text is brought to life by bestselling, award-winning illustrator Garry Parsons, illustrator of The Dinosaur that Pooped series.

Fabulous Frankie

Garry Parsons & Simon James Green

Picturebook

Fabulous Frankie is a beautifully told and fabulously illustrated story of acceptance and valuing kindness. All Frankie the flamingo wants is to be fabulous! But he’s literally surrounded by so many fabulous flamingos, so how on earth can he stand out from the crowd? He looks to all the latest fashion accessories to achieve his goal of being truly fabulous, but in the end it is Frankie’s friends who will help him learn that the things that really do make him fabulous are on the inside. This flamboyant tale of kindness and learning to be yourself is filled with stylish illustrations and celebrates the joy of learning to value what’s on the inside.

Billy’s Bucket

Garry Parsons & Kes Gray

Picturebook

A popular choice with EYFS and KS1, this is the story of a little boy who asks for a bucket for his birthday. Billy fills his bucket with water and his parents fail to believe him when he says that it contains wonderful creatures from the ocean. That is, until Dad decides to borrow the bucket to wash his car!