Recommended children's booklists sorted by age or topic

Author & Illustrators

Raina Telgemeier Books

The Cartoonists Club

Graphic novel

The Cartoonists Club is a fun, colourful and entertaining graphic novel.

A group of children get together and form ‘The Cartoonists Club’, bringing together a group of friends, harnessing their individual talents. The illustrations throughout are relatable, colourful and fun. The story is easy to follow and you want to keep on reading, not wanting to put the story down, with manageable chapters that help keep the story engaging.

Themes of friendship, creativity and believing in yourself run through the book adding depth to the story. There is a really informative behind the scenes chapter at the end which finished the book off perfectly. This book would inspire children to draw their own comics and inspires creativity, as well as being a quick and easy-to-finish read for Upper KS2.

The Babysitter’s Club: Kristy’s Great Idea

Ann M. Martin & Raina Telgemeier

Graphic novel

Kristy, Mary Anne, Claudia, and Stacey are best friends and founding members of THE BABYSITTERS CLUB. Whatever comes up – cranky toddlers, huge dogs, scary neighbors, prank calls – you can count on them to save the day.

Babysitting isn’t always easy though, and neither is dealing with strict parents, new families, fashion emergencies, and mysterious secrets. But no matter what, the BSC have what they need most: friendship.

Raina Telgemeier, using the signature style featured in her acclaimed graphic novels Smile and Sisters, perfectly captures all the drama and humor of the original novel!

Smile

Raina Telgemeier

Graphic novel

A pre-teen graphic novel from a series of graphic novel memoirs about growing up, puberty, navigating peer relationships, tackling school and finding self-confidence.

In this book, American twelve-year-old Raina has a momentary accident that causes injury to her teeth and leads to years of dental treatment. The story follows the ups and downs of her experience of braces, headgear, dental surgery and fake teeth – all at a time of life when self-consciousness is high and a rush of embarrassment comes easily, especially about personal appearance.

Readers will feel empathy with Raina, but will also draw courage from her journey and see that true friendships run deeper than surface appearance.

Guts

Raina Telgemeier

Graphic novel

Raina wakes up one night with a terrible upset stomach. Her mom has one, too, so it’s probably just a bug. Raina eventually returns to school, where she’s dealing with the usual highs and lows: friends, not-friends, and classmates who think the school year is just one long gross-out session. It soon becomes clear that Raina’s tummy trouble isn’t going away… and it coincides with her worries about food, school, and changing friendships. What’s going on?

Raina Telgemeier once again brings us a thoughtful, charming, and funny true story about growing up and gathering the courage to face – and conquer – her fears.