Resource Available: Bookpack available

Media & Digital Literacy Books

Best children’s books about media and digital literacy

This list of the best books about media and digital literacy covers topics from AI and the internet to spotting fake news and staying safe online.

The hand-picked titles in this list include non-fiction books to encourage critical thinking, such as The Truth Detective and Fake News and How to Spot It. There are also books exploring the internet and AI, including The History of Information and From AI to Wi-Fi. Picturebooks like Old Macdonald Had a Phone and Don’t Trust Fish also feature alongside chapter books like Fake and Adam Wins the Internet, ensuring that this booklist has something to appeal to all young readers.

Help children to understand and navigate the digital worlkd with this carefully curated list of the best books about the media and digital literacy.

Read For Empathy – Primary

Read for Empathy 2026 Booklist – Primary Collection

Updated 2026 booklist!

“Science shows that empathy is learnable and that reading is an important empathy-building tool. This collection will help parents and educators to surround children with empathy experiences, inspiring them to understand others better, and tackle societal problems like racism.” EmpathyLab Founder Miranda McKearney OBE.

The aim of the Read for Empathy collection is for schools, libraries, families and community groups to use the books to help raise a generation with strong empathy skills. Chosen by expert judges, the primary collection features 40 books for 3-11 year olds, including picturebooks, novels, poetry, non-fiction and graphic novels.

There is also a secondary empathy booklist which showcases 25 titles for 12-16 year olds.

Each title on this list was selected because of its empathy-building job, offering children the opportunity to expand their understanding of different people and life experiences, and helping them to find ways of experiencing and building empathy.

The 2026 Read For Empathy book collection comes at a time when empathising with others has never been needed more. Contemporary themes highlight the big social issues our children face, including characters affected by poverty, prejudice and racism. Many books underline the importance of understanding other people’s points of view, and respecting differences.

Others address the urgent need for empathy for the environment, the conflicting expectations placed on young people, and empathy’s power to build stronger communities. There is a special section devoted to books which help young readers understand and share emotions.

More information and downloadable resources are available on the Empathy Lab website.

Children’s Books Featuring Characters with ADHD

Recommended children’s books featuring characters with ADHD

Browse our curated booklist of recommended children’s books designed to build ADHD awareness, acceptance and understanding.

Our selection offers a diverse range of perspectives on ADHD, including lived-experience accounts and stories about supporting neurodivergent friends and family. We believe that stories are a powerful tool for promoting neurodiversity in the classroom and at home. These books celebrate the unique strengths and talents of ADHDers, while providing vital representation for children to see their own experiences reflected on the page by neurodivergent authors.

From vibrant picture books like This That What to engaging middle-grade chapter books like Check Mates and child-friendly support guides like ADHD: Rapped Up!, this varied collection features relatable ADHD characters. It is an essential resource for parents, teachers and school leaders committed to fostering inclusive education and personal development.

Children’s Books with Disabled Characters

Recommended Children’s Books with Disabled Characters

Representation in children’s literature encourages empathy, understanding and belonging. When disabled characters are centred in stories, they can challenge stereotypes, start meaningful conversations, and help every child feel seen.

On this Disabled Characters booklist for primary schools, you will find stories that include characters with diverse experiences, such as those who use mobility aids or who have limb differences. We believe these narratives are vital for reflecting the world around us. We’ve included picture books like Mama Car and Splash by Paralympian swimmer Claire Cashmore and KS2 chapter books like How to Roller-Skate on One Leg and Laura Noakes’ Cosima the Unfortunate Steals a Star.

You may also like to explore our separate booklists exploring children’s books featuring hearing loss, neurodiversity in children’s books and books with characters who have a limb difference, or our broader selection of Diverse & Inclusive children’s books.

This BooksForTopics expert-curated list of titles offers a rich selection of adventures, friendships and family stories, all featuring positive representations of physical disabilities.

Reflecting Realities Books 2025-2026

Reflecting Realities Booklist

In November 2025, the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE) released its eighth annual Reflecting Realities Survey of Ethnic Representation within UK Children’s Literature. The previous report had highlighted a significant drop in the presence of racially minoritised characters in books published for children in the UK and although this year’s report shows a slight increase in comparison, the level has not returned to that prior to last year.

Titles highlighted in this year’s report include a number that the BooksForTopics community will recognise from our Diverse Children’s Book Lists, as well as our Year Group Recommended Reads, Books of the Month and Curriculum Booklists, such as picturebooks Changing Tides, Can You Find My Eid Presents and Lulu Meets the Bees, and chapter books Bobby Bains Plays a Blinder, Nush and the Stolen Emerald and Paper Dragons: The Fight for the Hidden Realm.

You can read a summary of the 2025 Reflecting Realities Report on our blog, or click here to read the full report.

This booklist features the 38 exemplified texts included in this year’s Reflecting Realities report.

Historical Fiction for KS2

Recommended Historical Fiction for Children Aged 7-11 (KS2)

A guide curated by the experts at BooksForTopics.

Bring the past to life with this hand-picked selection of the best historical fiction for children in Key Stage 2! This book list is a portal to different places and times – from stories set in Ancient Greece to Viking books for children and from colonial stories to wartime fiction.

Award-winning historical fiction writer Ally Sherrick features strongly in this list, with books including gunpowder plot-inspired Black Powder, and time-hopping adventure The Buried Crown. Often hailed as the “Queen of Historical Fiction,” Emma Carroll’s writing is also well-represented, with tales including the excavation of Tutankhamun’s tomb in Secrets of a Sun King, and the birth of hot air balloon flight in Sky Chasers. Several of Tom Palmer’s trademark super-readable yet compelling stories also feature, including Over the Line, which weaves football into the First World War, and After the War, inspired by the true story of the “Windermere Boys”.

The breadth of historical periods covered in this expertly curated booklist covers the Bronze Age in The Boy with the Bronze Axe through to the Middle Ages in The Great Phoenix of London, and from 18th-century colonialism in Journey Back to Freedom to the Second World War in Shrapnel Boys.

Featuring bold characters, epic journeys and thrilling adventures, these titles will deepen historical understanding while inspiring curiosity and compassion.

Bonfire Night, Fireworks & Fire: Children’s Booklist

Best Books about Bonfire Night, Fireworks & Fire Stories for Children

This booklist for young readers explores fire and fireworks – perfect for finding bonfire night stories for children!

The traditions of Bonfire Night have long lit up children’s imaginations with explosive tales of mischief and bravery. Explore the origin story of this annual festival in Mr Fawkes, the King and the Gunpowder Plot, or embark on a hilarious firework-hunting adventure in The Naughtiest Unicorn and the Firework Festival.

Inspired by fire, younger readers will love The Boy on Fire, a picturebook that explores themes of friendship and self-acceptance, while for older readers, My Life on Fire sensitively tackles family upheaval and complex moral issues. Some historical fiction is included, and for more we also have a separate Fire of London Booklist.

With dragons, phoenixes, hedgehogs, cats and even fleas featured, there’s plenty to set alight young imaginations in this list of the best children’s books about bonfire night, fireworks and fire!

Remembrance: Children’s Booklist

Best Books about Remembrance for Children

For children, stories can be a powerful way to understand the meaning behind the traditions of remembrance and the history they represent.

This carefully selected list of the best children’s books about remembrance explores themes of courage, loss and memories, from the heartfelt friendship in Stubby and the bravery of a young nurse in Peace Lily, to the poignant symbolism in Poppy Field and Alive with Poppies.

Young readers will also discover tales of wartime families in BLITZ and daring female pilots in Skyward, alongside more contemporary stories of connections to the past, like Owen and the Soldier.

In addition the these Remembrance Day children’s books, we also have separate topic lists of children’s books about World War 2 and World War 1.

Whether through fiction, poetry or true stories, this list of the best children’s books about war, remembrance and the poppy symbol will help young readers to understand, reflect and connect with the past in meaningful ways.

KS3 Poetry Reading List

Recommended Poetry for KS3

If you are looking for the best poetry to share with KS3 readers, this BooksForTopics expertly curated reading list is here to help!

This poetry booklist for 11-14 year olds features collections which span a range of themes and traditions, from mythological poems in Gods and Monsters to Poems from the Second World War, and from rap in Rhythm and Poetry to Caribbean poetry in Under the Moon & Over the Sea.

This list also includes a great selection of verse novels. Pacey and accessible, this format is ideal for KS3 readers and has seen a surge in popularity in the past few years. Among our verse novel picks are The First Year from Matt Goodfellow, Sarah Crossan’s Moonrise and Joseph Coelho’s The Boy Lost in the Maze.

From inspiring anthologies to powerful verse novels, there’s something for everyone in this list of recommended KS3 poetry.