Recommended Reads for Year 3: New Additions for 2026-27

Stunning watercolour images bring Antarctica to life whilst bite-sized information gives children a feel for what it would feel like to stay in Antarctica as a research scientist.

Find out about what clothes to wear, what the research stations are like, the transportation, different types of icebergs and glaciers, the types of research that take place, how the scientists relax in their downtime, the food they eat, the species of animals you will find there, fossils, famous Antarctic explorers and much, much more.

A perfect read for any pupils learning about the coldest place on earth, animals and their habitats or climate change.

Beastopia is fabulously fun to read from start to finish.

Unfortunately, in Digby’s family, there is a curse where their family pets always disappear on their tenth birthday. It follows the main character Digby and his excitable best friend, Tai, and his sister, Mog, on a mission to find his lost pet mouse, Cheddar. What follows is lots of fun, humour and mild danger.

The book follows the journey of the characters to become apprentice guardians of Beastopia- a haven for magical creatures. Along the way, they take part in challenges with a little bit of danger and mystery and find out about Cheddar and the ‘lost’ family pets. It ends on a cliffhanger that makes the reader immediately want to read the sequel. The book has fun illustrations dotted throughout, which add to the experience of reading.

Mog has diabetes, which is mentioned briefly in the story and can be seen during illustrations, adding to the inclusivity of the story. A great story as a read-aloud story or for independent readers 7+.

Dave Pigeon is a hugely likeable character, whose hilarious facial expressions are a real credit to the illustrator Sheena Dempsey. This book, with its speech bubbles, illustrations and manageable chapters, will appeal to children wanting to build independence with their reading.

In this latest edition of the popular series, a lookalike threatens Dave’s authority and before long the two competitive birds have to put their wits to the test to prove who really is…well, Dave!

Dave, our feathered friend, once again delivers on laughs, keeping children wanting to read on.

Lawrence, a big, bad, wolf, has just emerged from his den after a long, hard winter. He’s weak, tired and hungry and so embarks on a mission to get fit and find the ultimate, delectable treat: Little Red Riding Hood. But it’s not as easy as he thinks, for Lawrence is a lone wolf, without a pack and there is a pesky group of characters who keep getting in the way of his nefarious dinner plans… three little pigs, a woodcutter, a grandma and a mysterious old woman who brews concoctions in her gingerbread house all get in his way, tricking or outwitting him!

This is a fun and easy read that children will love. It’s funny, silly and the outcomes of Lawrence the Wolf’s actions are always hilariously predictable, making the story highly enjoyable. You can’t help but like and feel sorry for the misguided Lawrence, who struggles to see what is right in front of him.

The illustrations are endearing and add to the fun element of the story. There is a mixture of fonts and page layouts, which make the book appealing to reluctant readers.

A really enjoyable read which I would recommend to all pupils.

Good Bits by Kes Gray is a wonderful collection of short stories and unique by doing exactly what the title promises: skipping straight to the ‘good bit’!

With each story, readers are plunged directly into the heart of a narrative from the very first sentence and are pulled along at a fast pace before suddenly being faced with an unexpected twist only pages later. It is a brilliant, fast-paced formula that consistently leaves you wondering what might happen next.

This book is perfect for reluctant readers, who crave instant excitement and like stories to get straight to the action, as well as creative children who love letting their imaginations run wild. Showcasing a range of genres – spanning from laugh-out-loud comedy to spellbinding fantasy and high-stakes science fiction – there is a tale here for every type of reader. The writing is creative, utilising rich figurative language that paints incredibly vivid mental pictures for the reader, and each story is complemented by illustrations that further help to bring the text to life.

Good Bits is a must-have addition to children’s bookshelves.

A fun adventure and part of the ‘Guardians of the New Moon’ series, ‘The Year of the Tiger’ focuses on feisty Biao the Tiger.

Ming and Miaow are Guardians of the New Moon and are tasked with making sure Biao, the honorary tiger, is at the Heavenly Palace at the right time for the celebrations for the Year of the Tiger. But Biao has got more important things on her mind – she’s concerned about the destruction of the Western Forest but can’t get anyone, including the emperor, to listen to her.

Biao is extremely passionate about saving the Western Forest but doesn’t always get her ideas across in the right way. There’s an important message in the story about listening to others but also accepting help when you need it, as well as the theme of conservation. This would be a great first chapter book for children as each chapter is relatively short. There are illustrations throughout as well to break up the text further.

This book is a humorous mix between short comic strip stories and instructions for introductory physics experiments which could be completed at home. The innovation of the book is in the framing of the experiments as a way to think about solutions to the sometimes outlandish problem scenarios set out in the comic strip stories.

There are accompanying discussions which enable the book to work both for children new to experimental science and those with a deeper special interest. The book would particularly suit fans who like the balance of humour and information in Mike Barfield and Jess Bradley’s Day in the Life books.

This is the first book in the series and what an introduction to the amazingly funny duo, Bob and Archie, two koalas who have recently got superhero powers. Archie has invisibility powers and Bob has super-strength. I really enjoyed this book and the characters were very likeable.

So far they haven’t had much success rescuing anyone. When there is a robbery at the Museum they have no choice but to intervene. Supervillain Ostrich, Dr Colossus is behind the unusual crime and with the help of their friend, Quinn the aadvark they soon have a plan.

With short chapters, lots of illustrations and funny mishaps, this book is sure to be a favourite with readers.

Leonora Bolt Secret Inventor is an entertaining STEM-themed narrative and a great story choice for Year 3 and above. The book follows a young female scientist named Leonora, who is passionate about creating new and ingenious inventions to solve the problems of those around her.  Gladys Jose’s illustrations enhance the storytelling experience, as does the good dose of humour woven through the narrative.

Leonora’s secret workshop serves as the backdrop for her endeavours, which become critical in her confrontations with her invention-stealing uncle. What follows is an imaginative adventure with quick-thinking Leonora using her STEM skills and natural wit to triumph.  Readers who love science and innovation will find this an engaging and entertaining storytime choice.

This picture book version of a well-loved autobiography tells the story of Malala’s journey from a young girl in Pakistan to a global activist. Growing up, Malala wished for a magic pencil to fix the problems she saw around her, but she soon discovers that her voice and a real pen are much more powerful tools for change.

The book handles big themes like equality and girls’ educational rights with a gentle and hopeful touch. The beautiful illustrations, with shimmering gold highlights, capture the hope and optimism of Malala’s message.

This is a must-have for the classroom simply to inspire, and also useful as a springboard for discussions in PSHE about equal rights and how one child really can change the world.

Meeting Meg is a charming and heartwarming story that brings the gentle rhythms of farm life to life through the eyes of young Tilly. During a busy summer on the farm, the book follows Ava as she helps with seasonal tasks like sheep-shearing and hay-baling, until a litter of Border Collie puppies, including Meg, a lively and endearing pup, brings a new excitement. Nicola Baker captures the excitement of a new animal arriving on the farm, and the story offers rich opportunities for discussing themes such as responsibility, friendship, and animal care.

With its calm, countryside setting and engaging, accessible language, this will appeal who enjoy animal stories or are curious about rural life. Baker’s writing is quietly compelling, with a classic feel that evokes the likes of Dick King-Smith and Michael Morpurgo.

Themes of friendship, responsibility, and finding your place in the world are handled with sensitivity, making this a lovely text for exploring emotional development and non-fiction tie-ins around animals and farming. This book would work well for guided reading, book corners, or independent reading for animal-loving pupils seeking gentle adventure grounded in real-life experience and an enjoyable classroom story.

This graphic novel is part of the Peng and Spanners series, which always goes down a treat!

In this volume, the quirky pair of pizza-loving friends set about to solve the mystery of a swamp monster. Like true detectives, they follow the trail, spot clues, interview suspects and generally find themselves in the midst of much hilarity.

Its comic strip style is super appealing and colourful and the story is crammed with jokes and high jinks. This book will fly off the graphic novel shelf and is perfect for fans of the InvestiGators and Sparks in KS1 and KS2.

Here, inside a bright and breezy cover, are ninety-three pages of illustrated, imaginative, occasionally quite incisive, and consistently inspiring verse. Inspiring because, if poetry can be this much fun, readers (of any age) will want to have a go themselves! It’s possible some will try to pen a haiku, but probably not the problematic ‘triolet’. Or they might simply take some of Simon Mole’s creative ideas like Mind Map and Cure for End of the Day Blues (to help them relax) or Us in the Car (as a game to play on long journeys).

There are also fun fabrications of dictionary entries, eg ‘Flooble’, and extrapolations of events like ‘The Last Wee’, which are certain to bring a smile to the face.

How many of these poems are based on the author’s own experiences, is not clear (did Dad really fill the bath with lemonade?), but it is clear that Simon Mole has a sparkling sense of humour and a real talent for cooking up a feast. Perform them, use them (eg to craft your own version of LOL with a.n.other abbreviation), share them and enjoy them!

Sydney Smith’s first picture book as both author and illustrator is an absolute stunner and a deserved winner of the Kate Greenaway Medal.  This is an atmospheric story in which a young boy navigates a cold and bustling city, offering gentle advice on the city’s hidden ‘spaces’ such as which alleys to avoid and where to find the very best hiding spots.

What begins as a guide to being small in a big world slowly reveals itself as a message to a lost pet. The illustrations play with light and shade to capture the urban landscape from a child’s perspective, as we know children of course notice different shapes and spaces to an adult observer. A thought-provoking book and a beautiful choice for primary children of all ages to explore empathy and visual storytelling.

Children will enjoy the humour of the book – from the funny setting of the story in the village of Walsham, where everyone who lives there has a unique superpower, to the humour of the language, names and jokes.

The plot itself raises a smile with the story’s hero, Sara, who is yet to find her superpower, solving the mystery of the disappearance of a trophy, which turns out to be the special treasure that has bestowed the unique superpowers on the town’s inhabitants. The superpowers themselves are the sorts of things that make children laugh.

The story invites children to consider what it means to have a superpower and how, in fact, it is the everyday acts of kindness, inner-strength, friendship and determination that are the real superpowers. Initial ‘prejudices’ against certain characters – for example the studious and clever child in the class – are quickly debunked, showing children the importance of not judging people on simple appearance and behaviours.

This is a fast-paced story that would keep young readers engaged and this is helped by the illustrations of Simran Diamond Singh, which enhance the story. These complement Lessore’s writing and bring the unique characters and their superpowers to life with a comic-like appeal. This is a book that young children are sure to enjoy.

SuperQuesters Mission: River Crest Rescue is an exciting and imaginative chapter book blending fantasy, problem-solving and real-world science into an action-packed adventure. This story is a perfect launchpad for curious young readers who are ready to explore STEM in a fun, creative way.

The story follows three friends who discover a mysterious board game that transports them to the magical world of Questland. There, they become their superhero alter egos. Their mission? To save the village of River Crest from the villainous Mortifer and his mischievous Beaver Bots and Dragonfly Drones. But to win, they’ll need to use science, logic and teamwork.

One of the standout strengths of this book is how seamlessly it weaves STEM learning into the story. Whether it’s solving codes, learning about animal habitats, or understanding plant biology, readers are encouraged to think like scientists and problem-solvers. The interactive puzzles and real-life experiments sprinkled throughout the book keep the learning hands-on and engaging without ever slowing the pace of the adventure.

The clear layout, helpful glossary and visual elements make it especially well-suited for confident readers transitioning into chapter books.

The creator of The Fossil Hunter has struck gold again with this fantastically illustrated narrative non-fiction picture book. It tells the story of Marcel Ravidat and his dog, who discovered the Lascaux cave paintings.

The book is a masterclass in how to successfully weave story and history together – the pages are full of a mixture of narrative and timelines, glossaries and annotated images – all topped off with incredible artwork that leaves just the right amount to the imagination. In this, it reflects the brilliant way in which Winter describes the work of all those who have studied and hypothesised about the art in the Lascaux caves, having to use imagination to infer and fill the gap between what is discovered and what can only be guessed at.

The intrigue and mystery surrounding the cave paintings feels touchable in this book – children will feel like they’ve had an experience and discovered something for themselves (a high point in the book is one of the fold-out surprise spreads illustrating the moment when Marcel lights a match and he and his friends see the cave paintings for the very first time) – which is what the very best science based picture books are all about!

This is an essential classroom addition when teaching about prehistory and the Stone Age!

This is a unique and thought-provoking picture book about a girl’s playdate at another house. While the text describes a simple afternoon of games with her friend Henry, the illustrations quietly reveal a different story – the families live in completely different worlds, that Henry has access to (and even discards) toys that she can only dream of having, and the girl’s mum is evidently there to clean.

This is a book to truly ponder over, offering no easy answers or neat resolutions. Children can be prompted to consider the unspoken divide between words and pictures, which mirrors the unspoken class divide between the girl and her playdate companion. A brilliant pick for KS2 to explore subtext, social inequality and throwaway culture, especially as the words and pictures tell two very different versions of the narrative.

The Sheep-Pig is an animal classic by Dick King-Smith, also known through the film version ‘Babe’. The story is about a piglet who is determined to prove his worth on the farm by showing he can herd sheep just as well as any sheepdog. Under the wing of Fly the seasoned sheepdog, Babe develops his own unique style, choosing respect and manners over forceful snapping to get the sheep to comply. Readers can’t help but root for Babe.

It’s a farming story, so readers should be aware that the text uses the traditional term for a female dog and some discussion of the correct context for the use of this word might be helpful. It’s a much loved story that shows how persistence can help you reach a seemingly impossible goal and leading doesn’t always have to be aggressive.

We love this series about time travel and each volume is just right in length and format for 7-9 year olds.

In this latest adventure, Alex and Sunil hop into the machine and blip through different eras associated with art.

The story is a brilliant hook for art history, letting readers meet famous artists up close as Sunil works on his own project. The history facts are woven directly into the pages and this is a fun way to pick up new information as the story unfolds. With the greedy Mr Shaykes constantly trying to loot historical treasures, it’s an entertaining and only mildly perilous adventure that’s sure to be a hit in Lower Key Stage 2.

This is a children’s literary classic. Set along the river bank, it recounts the humorous adventures of Toad, who relies on his helpful friends Mole, Ratty and Badger to keep him safe from a series of disasters that he seems to bring upon himself. A suitable classic for primary children.

This is a special edition to celebrate the 90th anniversary of Kenneth Grahame’s classic.

The World’s Last Mammoth and other Missing Marvels is a taste sensation for the eyes and the brain cells! This treasure trove of mysterious facts ranges from amazing animals, mind-boggling buildings to missing people and palaces to name only a few! Fact after fact, sits side by side beautiful illustrations in a vibrant, comic book style.

Whether you want to explore the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, or ponder over the fate of Cleopatra or Genghis Khan, the choice is yours. This book is an amazing collection of “things and stuff” that has long gone from our lifetime but will never be forgotten. There is nothing boring about these facts – only fun and giggles!

The Speed of Light is a brightly coloured introduction to Einstein’s theory of relativity. It begins with information about who Albert Einstein was and more basic information about how light travels before addressing more complex information about the colour of stars and whether time passes differently if you are moving faster.

Each section of the book contains just enough information to explain without having an overwhelming amount of text on the page, but it doesn’t over-simplify the science. Wenjia Tang’s illustrations are eye-catching and really useful in supporting the real-life examples that are used to explain much of the science.

This is a great introduction for primary school children to some really complex scientific theory, and young readers will certainly feel empowered by that. A useful book to use alongside the light science topic. I think it will inspire a lot of children to investigate some of the theories further!

This fast-paced, joyous, laugh-out-loud text is a must for any library. Fans of graphic novels, history, or both will find the chaos of this text addictive and hard to put down.

It tells the tale of Tiny Hercules, a jam-jar-sized version of a well-known mythic hero who has to navigate their way through a series of twelve epic quests to make his way home. The re-imagined mythical adventure is full of twists, turns and laugh-out-loud moments that would be perfect for young readers or those who love comic humour.

This was a hit when I placed it in the school library; children were attracted from the outset by the cover and illustrations, and it has been checked out every week since. The last few pages offer instructions on how to draw Tiny Hercules and tease the beginning of the sequel due for publication in 2026. A great addition to any graphic novel collection!

A choose-your-own-adventure style story with oodles of fun. The idea sounds simple enough: imagine yourself just finishing a mission to a distant planet, looking forward to getting home, when the ship’s computer detects an alien aboard. You’re stuck until the source has been found. What do you do? Which one of the other crew members, your former friends, has been transformed?

This is a plot to hook KS2 super sleuths, just like TV’s The Traitors. It requires readers to have their wits about them and to question their own values: would I, would you, stay loyal to friends, or would we focus on our own survival?

Just as there are multiple answers to such questions depending on circumstances and personalities, so there are multiple outcomes (endings) to this story, including some particularly creepy ones. In one, you get to escape and go home, in others, you too are infected. And in one (get this!) the computer… no, I won’t spoil it. Read the book! Enjoy the adventure, do the puzzles (mazes, calculations, spot the difference, etc), and follow different routes until finally you’ve exhausted all possibilities.

An interactive and immersive read to be recommended to fans of the ‘you choose’ genre, as well as to those yet to discover its attraction. One for the library and children’s own bookshelves.

We love this nature themed, short chapter book series, which includes Benji’s Emerald King. This instalment is a fantastic pick for exploring STEM topics like ecology and den-building. When Trix notices that the bees and flowers are disappearing in the nearby woods, she and the explorers team up to restore the habitat.

Presented like a field journal, the story is packed with bug facts, illustrations and wildlife project ideas. The focus on teamwork, exploring and nature make this a superb read for outdoorsy children in Years 3 and 4.

Wild Apprentice is a fantastic and engaging non-fiction book that children will really enjoy reading. It explores some of the wildest and most exciting jobs in the world, including wildlife filmmaker, explorer, climatologist and wilderness medic. Each job is presented in a way that is easy to understand and interesting for readers of any ability. One of the best features of the book is that each job page is set in a slightly different location around the world, some on land, some on (or in) water. This helps children see how these jobs connect to real places and different environments, making the book especially appealing for those who enjoy geography and learning about the wider world.

The addition of a “best and worst” bit for each job is a brilliant touch, as it helps children think about the challenges as well as the rewards of working in these unusual careers.

Wild Apprentice is a great choice for pupils who are interested in geography, natural science, nature and the world around them.