Recommended children's booklists sorted by age or topic

Author & Illustrators

Mariajo Ilustrajo Books

Oh, Carrots!

Picturebook

Mr Rabbit lives alone, and do you know what? He likes it! He enjoys peaceful moments spent reading, drinking cups of tea, and gardening – but sometimes it can get a little too quiet.

Luckily, Spring has arrived, and that means Mr Rabbit can plant his favourite vegetable – carrots!

With some love, sunshine, and a little bit of singing, the carrots begin to grow. But one day, Mr Rabbit spots something unusual – a wiggling carrot top! He pulls and pulls, and out pops a walking, talking carrot.

Carrot only wants to be Mr Rabbit’s friend, but Mr Rabbit just wants to be left alone! From leaving soil all over the sofa to rummaging through Mr Rabbit’s books, Carrot’s mischievous antics leave the solitary rabbit feeling a bit irritated.

Yet, as the day unfolds, Mr Rabbit finds himself starting to enjoy the company. He’s so used to being all alone that he’s never even considered having a friend. Maybe now is the perfect time for that to change.

I Love Books

Mariajo Ilustrajo

Picturebook

From the award-winning creator of Flooded and Lost comes a magical story about the joy of discovering a connection with books for the very first time.

This brightly illustrated adventure story is perfect for kids who claim to hate reading, as the enchanting narrative opens their eyes to a fantasy world created by words on a page.

In this spellbinding story, we meet a little girl excited for the end of term. No more school! However, she’s given the very unreasonable task of reading a whole book over the holidays. A whole book? but she HATES books. Luckily, her sister takes her to the library and says she has just the thing.

Slowly, the little girl is drawn into a world of adventure inside her own imagination, for the very first time. Even the greyscale world starts to fill with colour as she is carried away in the story. A little fennec fox leads her to meet fairytale witches and creatures as they find ingredients to cast a special spell at the end of her book.

The little girl is dismayed to learn that this spell seemingly hasn’t changed a thing. However, the little fox points out that she is completely transformed: discovering the power of her imagination has changed her forever.

This charming and engaging picture book shows children how wonderful books can really be, leaving them with a lifelong affinity for reading. Discover adventure on every page and turn I Hate Books into I Love Books.

Lost by Mariajo Ilustrajo

Mariajo Ilustrajo

Picturebook

Lost is a charming book about friendship and kindness.

Bear finds himself lost in a concrete city and despite asking for help from everyone he meets, he is constantly ignored as they are all too busy to help. Finally a little girl notices and decides to try and help. She takes him home and feeds him, bathes him and they read stories, without her mum seeming to notice, which adds an interesting layer to the tale. When he gazes at a poster about the North Pole, she finally realises that he is homesick and despite wanting him to stay, she resolves to help him get home, in a creative way!

Beautifully illustrated and with bursts of humour throughout such as the bear wearing a tutu and finding how hot a pizza is, this is a positive story for parents, classrooms and libraries to share with early years and KS1 about exploring how we can all feel lost occasionally, the power of friendship and the importance of helping others.

Flooded

Mariajo Ilustrajo

Picturebook

Flooded is a visually stunning book with a powerful story about learning to face up to problems before they grow too big.

In Flooded, the city faces a problem. It seems like a normal day; the city wakes up to find itself a little bit wet. No one minds at first as it was just a little bit of water, but as the city carries on with its usual rhythm, the smaller animals start to realise that it is all becoming a rather big problem.

Flooded is a fun story illustrating how small problems can grow into bigger problems if we don’t give them enough attention. It is also a story about how problems are easier to solve together and communities that work with a positive common goal can be very powerful.

This book is full of surprises and has a pull-out page at a very significant part of the story, which really creates excitement for younger children as they are reading the book. When sharing this book with my class, it really made them think and predict about how the animal’s problem could be solved. They absolutely loved the artwork featuring gorgeous, blues and blacks as well as yellow shades for a very significant character within the book.