Recommended children's booklists sorted by age or topic

Home > Books

Archives: Books

Chapter book

Come with an Arctic fox on a breathtaking journey … an enthralling story from the bestselling, award-winning creators of Julia and the Shark. With dazzling blue and black illustrations, this is a perfect gift for 9+ fans of The Last Bear and A Wolf Called Wander.

She was very tired.

She lay down, her soft head on her soft paws.

The sunset licked her face.

The snow covered her like a blanket.

Fox wakes, and begins to walk. She crosses ice and snow, over mountains and across frozen oceans, encountering bears and birds beneath the endless daylight of an Arctic summer, navigating a world that is vast, wild and wondrous.
Meanwhile, Leila embarks on a journey of her own – finding her way to the mother who left her. On a breathtaking journey across the sea, Leila rediscovers herself and the mother she thought she’d lost, with help from a determined little fox.

Based on the true story of an Arctic fox who walked from Norway to Canada in seventy-six days, a distance of two thousand miles, this compelling, emotional and beautifully illustrated story is the perfect gift for 9+ readers.

Chapter book

Cover designed by Rachael Dean.

Cassie’s older brother Byron has fallen in with the wrong crowd – it’s soon clear these boys are wild, reckless and not human at all. They are tylwyth teg – Fair Folk, who tempt humans down into the dark places of the world. And Byron is tempted. When he goes missing, Cassie and her cousin, Siân, follow his trail to an old abandoned railway tunnel which goes down and down into Annwn, the underworld. Here they find that the tylwyth teg are restless – and angry. Their leader, Gwenhidw, wants to protect Annwn from the damage humans are doing to the world. Byron is part of her plan. But Cassie won’t let her big brother be part of anyone’s plan. Can she rescue her brother before it is too late?

Non-fiction

Cover designed by Faith Booker.

Step into the book and see how you measure up against some of the world’s most amazing DEADLY animals. Watch out for the LIFESIZE black caiman jaws, burmese python, slow loris and much more!

This interactive non-fiction adventure features LIFESIZE illustrations of some of world’s smallest and largest deadly animals and invites children to think about how they compare with these amazing creatures.

This huge, playful book is the perfect introduction to animals for young children from picture book star, Sophy Henn.

Climb into the book for a truly wild adventure . . .

Picturebook

If you want to try new things, you have to be brave. But you can’t be brave without also being scared.

While Jennie grew up wanting to please other people, Abram followed his heart from an early age. The two couldn’t have been more different, and yet when they met Jennie fell in love with Abram’s fearlessness.

But when life takes a turn for the worst and Abram is no longer by Jennie’s side, will she find her own courage?

This poignant and heart-felt picture book explores themes of love, grief and believing in yourself in a gentle and uplifting way. With a contemporary setting and characters which many readers will see themselves in, this book is great for inspiring little ones and starting important conversations.

With vibrant artwork and biographical text.

Chapter book

Cover designed by Holly Ovenden.

Who can catch a memory thief?

“Starting on All Fools Day, twelve years ago, I remember everything. EVERYTHING. That was a wet Saturday, and that was the day I was born.” 12-year-old Piaf has the ability to (and burden of) remembering everything that has happened since the day she was born. When she discovers everyone in Paris has forgotten the entire last year, 1887, including the disappearance of several gifted children, Piaf and her twin brother Luc embark on a dangerous journey that brings them to the depths of Paris’s underground twin, the Catacombs, to capture the memory thief and find the lost children.

Chapter book

Cover designed by Jessie Price.

There are 1.3 million great whales left in the Earth’s oceans today.

Climate activist Abi and her AI computer Moonlight are on a mission to protect the planet.

When they uncover whale song recordings made by Abi’s great-grandfather, a whale hunter, Moonlight discovers a pattern…

…the songs are a map to a future that could rescue the whales and rescue the world.

Non-fiction

Narrated by Ben Bailey-Smith.

Follow our fearless adventurers Otto (and Missy, the smartest bird in the universe) as they set out on their next action-packed Ladybird Audio Adventure!

On this adventure, we’re going to travel all around the globe and learn more about the seven natural wonders of the world!

Dive amongst the coral in the weird and wonderful Great Barrier Reef in sunny Australia, climb to the coldest heights of Mount Everest and strap in for some splashingly good fun down the rapids at The Grand Canyon. There are many more natural wonders to visit and so much more to learn and discover about them all ,so don’t miss out on this global adventure!

These audiobooks help children learn about their environment on a journey of discovery with narrators Ben Bailey Smith (a.k.a. Doc Brown, rapper, comedian, and writer) and Sophie Aldred (best known for her role as Ace in Doctor Who).

Ladybird Audio Adventures is an award-winning original series for three- to seven-year-olds; an entertaining and engaging way for children to learn about the world around them. Special stories written exclusively for audio so little ones can become their own adventurers with fun sound and musical effects that are perfect for listening at home, before bed and on long journeys.

Chapter book

Narrated by Sir Ian McKellan.

The grand finale to the prize-winning adventure series that has changed the lives of millions. Breathtaking world-building on an epic scale. Pure escapism at its best.

It is early spring, a turbulent, perilous time of sudden storms, frozen river fractures and drifting ice. Fleeing from a demon intent on devouring his souls, Wolf is swept out to sea far from the forest and his pack. The ocean, too, teems with danger: sea wolves, sharks and hunters of the deep, and the demon is gaining ground. Torak and Renn must race to save their pack-brother, battling the harsh icy waves and merciless torrents. If they can’t find Wolf in time, the bond between them will be severed forever….

Run wild with Wolf Brother for the last time in a Stone Age world we all want to be part of.

Listen to Wolfbane as a stand-alone adventure or as part of the well-loved series.

Non-fiction

Did you know that penguins can hold their breath for over half an hour? Or that they can swim four times faster than an Olympic swimmer? And they don’t just live in icy Antarctica! You can find them on sandy beaches in South Africa and other more tropical locations too. Dive into this fascinating illustrated guide to our feathered friends, the penguins. From the tiny fairy penguin that is no bigger than a ruler, to the emperor penguin that is over a metre tall, find out where they live, what they eat and how we can protect them.

Non-fiction

From Aud the Deep-Minded, an early voyager to Iceland, and Sacagawea who guided the Lewis and Clark expedition across the USA, to Mae Jemison, the first black woman in space and Arunima Sinha, the first woman amputee to climb Mount Everest, this book shows the incredible courage, determination and power of women explorers over the last 1200 years.

These women have led the way exploring lands, oceans, mountains, skies and space, but have also made pioneering discoveries in the fields of science, nature, archaeology, ecology and more.

The lives of these women, told as personal stories, are an inspiration to us all.

Subscribe to our newsletter

Your Review

Stone Girl Bone Girl

review

Year group(s) the book is most suitable for:

Year group(s) the book is most suitable for:

Does the book contain anything that teachers would wish to know about before recommending in class (strong language, sensitive topics etc.)?

Does the book contain anything that teachers would wish to know about before recommending in class (strong language, sensitive topics etc.)?

Would you recommend the book for use in primary schools?

yes

Curriculum links (if relevant)

Curriculum links (if relevant)

Any other comments

Any other comments