This delightfully illustrated picture book is based on the real-life story of a cat called Trim and his loyal guardian Captain Matthew Flinders.

Captain Matthew Flinders was an English navigator and cartographer who was born in 1774 and circumnavigated the world, adding detail and description to the first discoveries. The story starts when Trim was born aboard the ship HMS Reliance; as a little kitten he finds himself overboard in choppy seas. His bravery and resilience shines through and he is able to swim back to the ship and climb a rope back to safety. As a soggy little kitten, he quickly becomes a favourite of Captain and crew. He took advantage of his position by enjoying the best of the food and revelled in the attention bestowed upon him. What follows is an insight into her life aboard the various ships that he travels on, with each page detailing the name of the ship or voyage, and ultimately the circumstances under which they part company.

The illustrations are detailed, life like and in keeping with the style of the period; the colours are vibrant and appealing. The vocabulary and language used make it a great book to read aloud, and would suit an audience of primary children. The story jumps to voyages and a somewhat open ending allows for maximum discussion.

A beautiful, award-winning wordless picture book. It follows the journey of a young girl who draws a magic door in her bedroom and travels through fantasy worlds by boat, balloon and magic carpet. Highly recommended for pupils across the whole primary range.

How do you convince your friends that the moon is not made of cheese? Be the first to venture into space and prove it of course! Armstrong is a captivating and compelling work of beauty. It centres around a determined little mouse who is eager to discover the secrets of the universe and to become the first creature to step onto the surface of the moon. Inspired by a mysterious invitation, Armstrong leaves boxes of pecorino behind him and arrives at the Smithsonian. Here he is amazed and inspired by the heroic mice who have ventured before him in their flying machines. Later, Armstrong sneaks himself into university so that he might learn and discover all that humans know. He never allows his diminutive size to hold him back and he uses courage and determination to achieve his lunar dream.

Through the character of a persevering mouse, children will learn about the obstacles and challenges of space travel. They will also understand the power of resilience and fortitude as Armstrong never gives up hope that he will succeed. This is a book that has appeal on so many levels: it’s a gorgeous picturebook with exquisite illustrations, perfect for sharing; it has bags of potential for linking to a unit in school about space travel and it shouts out loud the importance of aspiration, imagination, perseverance and resilience.

This is a brilliantly visual re-telling of Ernest Shackleton’s adventures from pole to pole, published to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Shackleton’s historic expedition. This engaging text is filled with diagrams, maps, infographics and fascinating facts that will both delight readers and transport them through an imaginary exploration of frozen worlds. We recommend Shackleton’s Journey as a good non-fiction text to use for engaging reluctant readers in KS2. There is also an accompanying activity book available from Amazon.

This new adventure story is a great choice for upper KS2. After fighting hard to gain her place on an expedition, young Stella and her explorer friends embark upon an exciting adventure through vast Icelands. A wonderful mixture of fantasy and adventure, the narrative weaves its way through dangerous and magical encounters with snow queens, unicorns, frost fairies and wolf-whisperers.

This thrilling steampunk adventure follows siblings Arthur and Maudie Brightstorm as they try to find out what happened to their explorer father. Arthur, who has a prosthetic iron right arm, is a great problem solver and book lover, while his sister is good at fixing things. When they learn about a race to South Polaris, where their father was lost, they win a place onboard the Aurora, a fantastic sky-ship. Maudie’s talent with tools see her appointed as second engineer. Arthur is hired as cook’s assistant. On board Arthur adapts to draining tasks, although his iron arm is heavy and can cause him pain, while also learning new skills – making marsh cakes and communicating with thought wolves! The adventure continues in the sequel Darkwhispers.

Winner of the Costa Children’s Book Award 2017, ‘The Explorer’ is set in the Amazon and follows the story of Fred, whose plane accidentally crashes into the rainforest canopy.

The Explorer is an exciting and gripping adventure that sees four children learning to survive as they journey through unfamiliar and challenging circumstances. This book transports you to a richly drawn land and you will find yourself right there with the children as they follow a map to a lost city, eating tarantulas and swimming with river dolphins.

Katherine Rundell’s The Explorer is a perfect class read for children learning about rainforests, the Amazon, friendships, resilience and much more. Exquisite writing from Katherine Rundell; teachers report that the quality of discussions that ensued in classrooms was inspiring.

The topic of polar exploration is a popular one in primary schools with teachers and pupils easily being able to reel off a list of famous arctic explorers: Shackleton, Scott, Cook, Peary. But how often do you hear the name Matthew Henson among the list, the man who travelled with Captain Peary and claimed to be the first to reach the North Pole?

In Race to the Frozen North, best-selling author Catherine Johnson offers a fictionalised retelling of Matthew Henson’s story, including how his achievements were unfairly suppressed for decades because of the colour of his skin. Published in Barrington Stoke’s ‘super-readable’ and dyslexia-friendly style, this is an accessible read for children in KS2.

Nearly everyone has heard of Mount Everest. Towering over the Himalayas, it is probably the most famous mountain in the world. Equally, Edmund Hillary and the Sherpa, Tenzing Norgay, became household names when they became the first climbers to reach the top and descend safely again in May 1953. But what of all the climbers who tried and failed? What are the challenges and obstacles facing a team trying to reach the 8,849 metre-high summit of the ‘Peak of Heaven’?

This fascinating book by the award-winning David Long looks at the history of the race to reach the top. It is packed full of fascinating information about the challenges climbers face on the mountain, about the differences between modern climbing equipment and that used in the past, as well as the personal stories behind some of the attempts (he goes into detail about the failed attempt by Mallory and Irving in 1924, as well as the successful Hillary/Norgay expedition).

The illustrations by Stefano Tambellini not only help to set the scene but also provide extra information. The picture comparing Mount Everest to other well-known mountains, for example, is simple yet effective. The book ends on a thought-provoking note – apparently, Everest is now littered with rubbish. At such a high altitude doing a litter pick is dangerous, yet there are teams of intrepid people trying to safeguard Everest’s natural beauty. Even at these high altitudes, humans are still managing to leave their mark, and not always in a good way.

A retelling of Shackleton’s astonishing journey, well pitched for KS2. This recount of Shackleton’s expedition is accompanied by illustrations, maps and timelines, making it detailed and informative without losing any of the drama of the exciting tale. For more on Shackleton, you may also like William Gill’s fantastic visual retelling of Shackleton’s Journey available on Amazon.

With a beautiful foreword by the greatest living explorer of our time, Sir Ranulph Fiennes, this brilliant book combines fresh and contemporary illustrations by Joe Todd-Stanton with Alexandra Stewart’s captivating writing and publishes in time to celebrate the centenary of Edmund Hillary’s birth. This unique narrative tells the story of how Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay made their mark on the world from birth right up to their final days and the impact they’ve had on Nepal today.

This is an exciting non-fiction text containing a collection of captivating real-life tales of men, women and children who have survived the most perilous situations against all odds.

This is a superb non-fiction-that-feels-like-fiction text that we highly recommend to KS2 classrooms.

The first thing that strikes you about this book is the size and weight of it. As an almost A3 sized and hardback book, it is akin to opening up a chest of treasures for a child reading it and it does indeed contain details of treasures from all around the world.

The book is dedicated to exploring around the globe. It is split into a section for each continent and takes the reader on an expedition to see superb sights from around the globe – both natural and man-made – from elephants bathing in Chiang Mai, Carnival time in Brazil or canoe trips down the Zambezi River.

Each double-page spread features a beautiful illustration of the featured adventure accompanied by a section of text explaining its significance and geography. The style of writing is engaging to children and addresses the reader directly. In addition to this, there are smaller chunks of text dotted around the illustration, each of which shares fascinating facts about the place and people associated with it. The language used is accessible but will also expand the children’s vocabulary.

This book is likely to inspire child-led learning as the information and engaging style leave readers in KS2 feeling like well-travelled global citizens and wanting to find out more about the places, animals and people featured. 

A scrapbook-style diary of a rainforest expedition. Simon is flying to the island of Borneo in the South China Sea. He plans to travel by boat and plane, and trek through one of the world’s oldest rainforests to find orangutans in their natural equitorial habitat. He’ll be sketching some of the island’s thousands of species of tree, mammal and bird along the way. Simon Chapman, winner of the Blue Peter Book Award, brings geography to life, and his Expedition Diaries are a great way to introduce the world’s biomes and habitats to children, direct from someone who’s actually been in them – sometimes up to his neck! Also available in the same series is Expedition Diaries: Amazon Basin.

This is a unique book deserving of a space on every bookshelf and is especially recommended for those who enjoy learning about exploring the world. It is a large, hardback book, with a beautifully illustrated cover and comes with an optional free app to download, which enhances the content by revealing the many explorers’ journeys in 3D. This is a very exciting element for the children and adults to use as it shows the journeys interactively.

The journeys covered stop at important points for your chosen explorer and interesting text pops up for the reader. There are many explorers, both well-known and less well-known from all around the world and across history. Each page is a double spread of beautifully illustrated maps with three explorers and more about their adventures. Timelines are included to support understanding and the glossary includes ambitious vocabulary.

This book was a gem of a surprise and we particularly enjoyed sharing the 3D element, to the delight and amazement of those who have seen it.