We love interactive non-fiction books and this is one that children can spend hours poring over. Use the different coloured lenses provided to see the different layers of the human body and reveal how the body’s systems work together. Really fun but also hugely informative and well pitched for upper KS2, there is plenty to discover in this information text with a difference.

Hair-Raising Human Body Facts is a fascinating tour of the human body. As they read, children will learn a huge amount of intriguing facts about the body that they have inhabited since they were born. They will be desperate to share information – such as how your body sheds 50kg of skin by the time you are seventy and that the average human passes wind about twelve times a day!

Each colourful double-page spread focuses on one aspect of the body. The information is a mix of explanations, fact boxes, historical information and common myths about the body feature being discussed (Did you know that kissing a donkey was thought to be a cure for toothache in medieval Germany?).

Learners will enjoy the mixture of photographs, illustrations, speech bubbles and cartoons. The photographs also include images from a microscope, which are captivating.

Meet the Microbes is a captivating insight into the tiny creatures that live under our noses and have a massive impact on our lives despite only being visible through a powerful microscope. Through the colourful and lively pages, children will meet a succession of cartoon microbes and learn all about them. They will learn about where they can be found and how they multiply; how they survive in the most extreme of conditions; the jobs that they do and how they might be beneficial to our future.

By the end of the book, they will have reached an understanding that microbes can be both good and bad for our bodies and how we can avoid spreading the less desirable ones. They will be fascinated to find out that mould is formed from microbes and that some of their favourite foods such as yoghurt, fluffy bread and cheese would not exist without them. The language is accessible to younger readers and concepts are explained clearly.

This book would be an excellent accompaniment to science topics or just a great addition to the non-fiction, reading for pleasure offer in the school library.

This powerful novel from award-winning children’s author Malorie Blackman tells the story of a young boy called Cameron who suffers from heart disease. The novel deals with the contemporary issue of animal organ transplants and is a gripping read from the first page. Suitable for upper KS2.

This gripping and moving story about coping with long term illness is popular with upper KS2. Joe is an eleven-year-old boy who lives his life stuck in a hospital room. Joe has a medical condition that means he is not allowed leave the hospital or encounter germs from the outside world. Can the characters Joe meets bring hope and warmth into his hospital bubble? An award-winning story that is great for developing empathy with different viewpoints and experiences.

A classroom favourite from the popular children’s author Roald Dahl. This is the laugh-out-loud tale of George Kranky, who plots revenge on his mean and miserable Grandma by concocting a magic medicine for her. Little does he realise that the medicine will have weird and wonderful effects on the old lady’s body…