Recommended children's booklists sorted by age or topic

Author & Illustrators

Olaf Falafel Books

The Far-Out Five: Snot Jelly Island

Graphic novel

The Far-Out Five, Jelly Snot Island, is a wonderful Graphic Novel. The story follows four friends who go to watch a magic show because the magician is so bad at magic that it makes it funny. The magician finally manages to do some magic, which results in the four friends and the magician being transformed into a unicorn, a wallaby, a bathtub, a goose and a seal!

The group is travelling around magical worlds, helping different people to defeat evil monsters while trying to find the magician’s wand to enable them to change back and return home.

This is a brilliant book for children in Years Three to Five. The fantastic illustrations bring the story to life. This would be a brilliant book for reluctant readers to encourage them to read a longer story. As the first in the series, it may encourage them to read more once it is finished.

This book could be a great stimulus for children to make their own fantasy world with a monster that needs defeating. Children would enjoy writing or creating the next adventure for these friends.

Unleash Your Creative Monster: A Children’s Guide to Writing

Andy Jones & Olaf Falafel

Non-fiction

A funny and accessible guide to creative writing, packed with practical advice, exciting story prompts and a cast of creative monsters. Winner of the Lollies 2023 Book Awards for Non Fiction!

In the pages of Unleash Your Creative Monster, budding writers will sink their teeth into story basics, essential writing tools and the hidden secrets of the wordsmith. Featuring top tips on finding inspiration, how to keep a story moving and beating writer’s block, this essential guide has everything you need to unleash your creative monster.

Blobfish

Olaf Falafel

Picturebook

A heartfelt and humorous adventure from the bottom of the sea and beyond, following one fish on an epic journey.
Deep, deep, deep under the sea … lives Blobfish! Blobfish loves telling jokes, although he has no one to share them with, so he sets off on an adventure to find a friend. But sometimes friends turn up in the most unexpected places, even at the bottom of the ocean. This heartfelt and humorous story gently introduces children to themes of friendship, belonging and the issue of plastics in our oceans.

Trixie Pickle Art Avenger: Toxic Takedown

Olaf Falafel

Chapter book

Trixie Pickle is an arty ‘sort-of-superhero’ and this is her second adventure (the first being Trixie Pickle, Art Avenger). Trixie and her best friend, Beeks, have a lot going on in their lives. First, there is the latest edition of their comic, Blammo, to work on. Then there are the ‘mean girls’ to avoid or they will cause all sorts of trouble for Trixie and Beeks. There is also a new mystery illness doing the rounds; nicknamed ‘Wormwood fever’, it makes the patient very ill and can be briefly summed up by the words ‘it’s coming out both ends’. Could the mystery illness have anything to do with someone Trixie sees dumping toxic waste in the local reservoir? Who is it and can they be stopped? Trixie has a comic to finish, a mystery to solve and enemies to get revenge on . . . but all in an artistic way of course and with plenty of scope for mishap.

Full of fantastic, detailed fact files of the real artists who inspire Trixie and fully illustrated by the author, it was great to discover some artists I hadn’t been aware of before. This is a fast-paced, funny, fact-filled book which will appeal to art lovers, adventure lovers and humour lovers. It would also lend itself extremely well to a variety of art projects based on the artists featured.