Internet Safety

Troll Stinks makes for an excellent choice of book for today’s children and one with the potential to both entertain and spark meaningful discussions about internet safety with primary children.

Billy the Goat and his friend Cyril are playing with a phone when they decide to send mean messages to the troll living under the bridge. Soon, the two friends discover that their online actions have had a significant impact on the troll’s feelings and that their messages were not such a fun idea after all.

The book is part of a series that spins traditional tales into the modern age and examines the impact of technology on children’s safety. With more primary-aged children than ever having access to online messaging, the book is bound to open impactful classroom discussions. Even for children who have not yet used their devices in this way, the broader themes of bullying, empathy, recognising the impact of words and stopping mean behaviour in its tracks will resonate with even the youngest children.

This important and entertaining story is a modern must-read.

Designed to appeal to children with a love of gaming, Ant Clancy: Games Detective is a fast-paced adventure story that could be enjoyed by any reader who likes an action-packed mystery story.

Ant is the only person in Westford Abbey who can’t get into playing Ray-Chay, the new virtual reality game that everyone else is obsessed with. It seems everyone in the town and across the country is playing it apart from him. Billionaire and game creator Kody Crunch is behind this new gaming phenomenon and is a celebrity in the gaming world. Soon something goes very wrong with the game, which somehow spills over into real life, and Ant is the person who will get to the bottom of what’s happening and try to put things right. As the story unfolds, the line between the gaming world and reality is blurred even further in the race to uncover the truth.

The story regularly explores the restrictions Ant has on how much time he can spend gaming and the book includes references to unhealthy gaming habits and the dangers of gaming addiction as well as touching briefly on the topic of online safety. It manages to do this through the storyline without downplaying the benefits of recreational gaming and this aspect is something teachers and parents would appreciate.

A good book for reluctant readers, the story is easy to follow and there will be many children who can identify with the characters. It would also be a good class book to prompt discussions about gaming and online safety.

Lily loves animals and has a stammer.

Themes of family and friendship are explored throughout the story, which is told from Lily’s point of view. Lily is in Year 6 and her new teacher sets a project about ‘One World’, where the children work together to research an issue and present it to the class – a task that feels challenging for Lily when she has a stammer. This thought-provoking and beautiful story reels the reader in to Lily’s journey from being the victim of cyberbullying to standing up for herself and ‘becoming more hedgehog.’

From friendship changes, cyberbullying and new family additions, this unique story leads to lots of discussion for KS2 classes. The story is inter-woven with animal facts and at the beginning of each chapter is a fact about hedgehogs, as well as an illustration. This book is captivating from the first page and is a must-read for celebrating differences, overcoming adversity, and having hope and courage.

I really enjoyed this story and read it in one day, as I couldn’t put it down. It would make a good class read for children in Year 5 or 6 or for children who love animals and celebrating who we are.

Covering important e-safety topics including cyberbullying and social media messaging, this is an essential book to help older children to know how to protect themselves in the digital world. Find out how online interactions can affect friendships, why cyberbullying is so dangerous and how image-sharing can get out of control. Due to the nature of the topics covered, this is most suitable for upper KS2+ or as a book to dip in and out of at your discretion.