Recommended children's booklists sorted by age or topic

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Non-fiction

Delve deep into the dark forests of the scalp and stomp through the toxic swamps of the gut as you explore every part of this amazing habitat we call the human body. Meet the family of lice living in your hair and the fungal infection in between your toes as our daring documentary team discover everything there is to know about life on us.

Picturebook

A brilliant split page novelty book from bestselling author-illustrator, Nick Sharratt. A great reissuing of a perennially popular split-page book inviting children to howl with laughter at the fantastic and fantastical food concoctions they create.

Do you like ketchup on your cornflakes? No? Well flip 1/2 the page and try it with something else!

With superb, satisfying novelty features:

Spiral bound with pages split in half

bright and fun illustrations

hilarious wordplay

Two of Nick Sharratt’s Books, Elephant Wellyphant & Octopus Socktopus were both shortlisted for the Roald Dahl Funny Prize

Children will love poring over these fun-filled pages, and creating their very own mix-ups.

Non-fiction

Where does our food come from? What role do farms play? What’s it like to be a farmer? In this charmingly illustrated book, follow a farm throughout the year to discover how the farmer grows fresh and tasty food for us to eat in a sustainable and natural way.

Explore the workings of a small-scale, organic family farm and experience the rhythm of farm life. In the spring, visit the chicken coop, till the fields and tour the farm machinery. When summer comes, plant corn, meet the pollinators and head to the county fair. In the fall, make pies and preserves, harvest pumpkins and put the fields to sleep. Winter activities include trimming and pruning the orchard, seed shopping and baking bread.

To conclude your year on the farm, learn what you can do to support the farmers who pick our carrots and raise the cows for our milk. A glossary defines key sustainable farming terms.

Through this colourful and intimate look at life on a small-scale farm, children will learn not only how the farm feeds us, but how the farmer must feed and care for the farm.

Picturebook

Accompanied by Myles, her assistance dog, Lilly sets off from Gran ny’s house to explore. First she walks through the garden, then sh e visits the seashore. But when she comes to the big cave at the e nd of the beach her acute hearing means she is scared of the loud noise when she drops her torch. And what’s that creature she can h ear coming towards her?…

Picturebook

A colorful journey of self-discovery and identity, this sweet, vibrant picture book follows young Leila as she visits her grandmother’s house for their weekly family dinner, and finds parts of herself and her heritage in the family, friends, and art around her.

Sometimes I’m not sure if I like being me.

When Leila looks in the mirror, she doesn’t know if she likes what she sees. But when her grandmother tells her the saffron beads on her scarf suit her, she feels a tiny bit better. So, Leila spends the rest of their family dinner night on the lookout for other parts of her she does like.

Follow Leila’s journey as she uses her senses of sight, smell, taste, touch to seek out the characteristics that make up her unique identity, and finds reasons to feel proud of herself, just as she is.

Non-fictionPicturebook

An inspiring picture-book biography of Louis Braille–a blind boy so determined to read that he invented his own alphabet.

**Winner of a Schneider Family Book Award!**
Louis Braille was just five years old when he lost his sight. He was a clever boy, determined to live like everyone else, and what he wanted more than anything was to be able to read.

Even at the school for the blind in Paris, there were no books for him.

And so he invented his own alphabet–a whole new system for writing that could be read by touch. A system so ingenious that it is still used by the blind community today.

Award-winning writer Jen Bryant tells Braille’s inspiring story with a lively and accessible text, filled with the sounds, the smells, and the touch of Louis’s world. Boris Kulikov’s inspired paintings help readers to understand what Louis lost, and what he was determined to gain back through books.

An author’s note and additional resources at the end of the book complement the simple story and offer more information for parents and teachers.

Picturebook

A beautifully illustrated picture book introducing young children to the concepts of light and dark.

This beautiful picture book is the perfect introduction to light and dark. Fox is hungry. She waits until it’s dark and then she hunts for food, using the moon and the streetlights to find her way. The first book in the new Science Storybook series from Walker Books, illustrated by up-and-coming talent Richard Smythe and written by Martin Jenkins, the award-winning author of Can We Save the Tiger? and Ape.

Picturebook

A celebration of diversity and deliciousness, Teatime Around the World reveals all the wonderful ways we can enjoy a cup of tea—or two!

Let’s go on an adventure to discover new cultures and friends through tea! In this fun and lyrical picture book for ages 4-8, kids will learn how tea is enjoyed in Thailand, Japan, Russia, Egypt, Pakistan, Hong Kong, Uruguay, South Sudan, India, and more countries!

Did you know that po cha, the traditional tea in Tibet, is thick and salty like soup? Or that in Iran, tea is served with a rock? (A rock candy, that is!) Or that afternoon tea was dreamed up in England by a duchess who complained of being hungry between lunch and dinner?

With vivid poetry, vibrant illustrations, and unique facts about different tea cultures, Teatime Around the World tells the delightful story of a beloved beverage.

Picturebook

Written by the brilliant Julia Donaldson and stunningly illustrated by the award-winning Sara Ogilvie, The Hospital Dog is a big-hearted tale about a very special, very brave dog.

Here is a dog, a Dalmatian called Dot,
Is she quite ordinary? NO, SHE’S NOT!

After their breakfast and a swim in the sea, Dot and her owner Rose jump on the bus to the hospital. Dot loves visiting the children of Wallaby Ward and they’re always pleased to see her too; from a crying baby to a bored teenager – a pat, a stroke and a cuddle with Dot cheers everyone up. But the work of the hospital dog doesn’t stop there and when one of her patients is in trouble, it’s up to Dot to save the day!

Winner of the Indie Book Awards 2021 this fantastic rhyming story comes from the bestselling partnership behind The Detective Dog.

Picturebook

A colourful and charmingly illustrated non-fiction book for very small children, with lots of flaps to lift, holes to peep through and farm animals to spot. Children can peep inside the hen house at sunrise in search of eggs, watch the cows being milked behind the big barn doors and spot the lambs frolicking in the fields. Little hands will love to lift the flaps to see the vegetables growing underground, or the peas inside their green pods, and to spot all the produce being sold in the farm shop, from cheese, bread and honey to knitted hats and lambswool jumpers. An engaging and interactive introduction to life on a farm and where food comes from.

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Stone Girl Bone Girl

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