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Best Books This Month – July 2025

It’s easy to feel lost in the flood of so many new children’s books available. Each month, our Review Panel reads scores of new books and we highlight five of our recently published favourites.

This month, our panel of experienced teachers, librarians and children’s book experts has carefully selected five outstanding titles for you to read, with something for all young readers including two picturebooks – one of them a non-fiction title – alongside three chapter books.

This month’s list features plenty of options to read on holiday! Best friends Sandy and Lily join forces to save Sandy’s seaside home in Martin Stewart’s brilliantly illustrated Sandy Fin: Operation Splash Landing, described by our Review Panel as a “seaside-pun-filled page-turner, perfect for reading on a summer holiday”. Andy Shepherd’s The Wood Where Magic Grows – a brilliant new story from the Boy Who Grew Dragons author – is praised by our reviewer as a “gentle, magical story that… inspires discussion and encourages children to never stop being curious”. And while these two titles are best suited to a KS2 audience, older readers will love Shadow Thieves, a new fantasy adventure from Peter Burns set in an alternative-timeline London.

For younger readers, this month’s selection includes two picturebooks. Fact-packed and colourfully illustrated, our Review Panel love The Great Pollination Investigation for its “great mix of scientific detail and engaging story-telling”. Vibrant illustrations also feature in I’m Going to Make a Friend, a thought-provoking discussion-starter about friendships and change.

Discover our Review Panel’s top new children’s books for you to read in July 2025.

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The Wood Where Magic Grows

Andy Shepherd & Ellie Snowdon

Chapter book

Andy Shepherd, bestselling author of The Boy Who Grew Dragons, returns with another enchanting story in The Wood Where Magic Grows.

This beautifully written tale follows Iggy as he adjusts to big changes — moving house and learning to live with his new stepbrother, Cal. But when the boys begin exploring their garden, they discover that the mysterious wood at the end holds secrets beyond their wildest dreams.

Rich with nature imagery and magical surprises, this story is bursting with awe and wonder. Fans of Shepherd’s previous work will feel right at home with the familiar tone, engaging vocabulary, and heartfelt themes of friendship, family, and discovery. It’s a perfect pick for children who love imaginative adventures grounded in relatable emotions.

A gentle, magical story that draws readers to the joys of the natural world, inspires discussion and encourages children to never stop being curious.

Shadow Thieves

Peter Burns

Chapter book

Perfect for lovers of books such as Percy Jackson, Harry Potter and Skandar, this new fantasy adventure is bound to be a hit with children.

Shadow Thieves follows the adventure of Tom Morgan, an orphan surviving on the streets of an alternative London with other children who are homeless. Set in an alternative timeline where the French Empire has expanded to include Britain, it provides an interesting backdrop to the story. Set at a school for thieves, con artists and criminals alike, children are able to follow Tom as he undertakes missions or challenges and begins his training.

Tom is a likeable character that children will root for, especially as he is often driven by looking after and protecting those he cares about. An exciting book to share with children.

The Great Pollination Investigation and How We Get Food from Flowers

Deborah Hocking

Non-fiction, Picturebook

Ever wondered how fruit starts to grow? This fun, lift-the-flap book guides you through the parts of a flower, how different pollinators support the plant life-cycle and how other parts of plants are used in our food. There is a great mix of scientific detail and engaging story-telling and this book is a great accompaniment to primary science topics about lifecycles and growing plants.

The information is presented attractively in bite-size chunks, making it accessible for children across the primary age-range, and the illustrations are colourful and eye-catching.

This would be a great text to use as a model when writing explanations about plant life-cycles, and there are step-by-step instructions at the end of the book for conducting your own pollination investigation.

Sandy Fin: Operation Splash Landing

Martin Stewart & Santy Gutierrez

Chapter book

Legend says there’s a silver-scaled hero. Legend says there’s a missing golden lobster. We say – it’s a brilliant and exciting read!

When you open the book, you are greeted with a pictorial map, and the sight of Cap’n Cone’s ice cream shop alone is enough to entice you to want to read on. This location certainly doesn’t disappoint later on in the book when trying to visualise a Sea Mist Meringue Mess or a Manatee Matinee Sundae.

Characters are engaging and intriguing, such as Barry the HatRat. There is also a heart-warming friendship between the main protagonist, Sandy, and his best friend, Lily.

This is a super fun, seaside-pun-filled page-turner, perfect for reading on a summer holiday. It’s ‘Easy Peasy Lobster Squeezy’ to tell why it’s going to be popular with readers!

I’m Going to Make a Friend

Darren Chetty & Sandhya Prabhat

Picturebook

For many children, moving to a new school, town, street or even within a block of flats, can be a daunting experience, not least because old friends may be lost and there is a fear of not making new friends. This book is perfect for children in situations of change (including class transitions) or for teachers and parents to explore with children what makes a ‘good friend’.

The character in the book creates a new friend from a variety of art materials, and this is a worthwhile activity to do for children, enabling them to talk about friendships and what is important to them about either their friends or about a friend they would like to have. Clearly, sensitivity is key to sharing this book.

The illustrations are bold and vibrant with a wide representation of children shown in the pictures. There is plenty to talk about in the pictures, providing scope for discussion and questions. This is a simple book with a clear and easy message to follow and useful for any early years or KS1 class.

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Many thanks to our review panel members Jane Carter, Rachel Lacey, Christine Ivory, Amy Hilyard and Rachel Saunders for reviewing this month’s selection.