Children&#8217;s Fiction: 10 You Might Have Missed

After losing his mother at an early age, Jack has been raised by his risk-averse Dad. Jack’s imagination, once nurtured by his mother with tales of monsters and faraway places, is now limited to school and a boring existence punctuated with constant reminders to “slow down” or “take care.” Jack dreams of adventure – then one day, without explanation, his Dad disappears and is replaced by the thoroughly objectionable Aunt Prudence. It seems to Jack that life cannot get any worse, but little does he know that his dream may be about to come true…

Monster Hunting for Beginners is the debut children’s novel for Ian Mark. Peppered with footnotes that make you feel like Jack is actually talking to you, and lashings of Ghibault’s wonderful illustrations, Monster Hunting is a joyful unchallenging romp of an adventure filled with scrapes, plot twists and a good dose of humour.

Great as a link to mythical creatures, this would also make a light-hearted class read and a welcome addition to any class library.

Publisher: Farshore

Publication date: September 2021

2. Barakah Beats

By Maleeha Siddiqui & Yaffa Jaskol

Chapter book (10+)

Barakah Beats is the debut novel by Maleeha Siddiqui – an American writer of Pakistani descent. In the story, we meet twelve-year-old Pakistani American Nimra Sharif who, after attending an Islamic school to become a hafiza, is now attending the state Middle School for the first time. Fortunately, she isn’t alone and will now be at the same school with her best friend, Jenna, something the girls have wanted for. a long time. The problem is, Jenna behaves differently when at school and doesn’t welcome Nimra into her friendship group, embarrassed that Nimra has chosen to wear her hijab.

One day after hearing her sing her lunchtime prayers, Nimra is introduced to Matthew, Waleed and Bilal and his sister Khadijah, who ask her to join Barakah Beats, their Muslim band. She hesitates because of her family’s interpretation of Islamic teachings, which forbids taking part in instrumental music. Conflicted, she gives in, believing that hanging out with three popular, attractive eighth grade boys will impress Jenna. Her plan to join the band just long enough to regain Jenna’s friendship before dropping out leads to her lying to her parents—and a sticky friendship situation when the boys sign up to perform at a mosque talent show to raise money for refugees. How can Nimra stay true to herself when lying to all around her? What is the right thing to do?

This is a real page-turner and is an important story about staying true to yourself and how you navigate through the many external pressures life can present. Nimra is a heroine you want to root for as she tries to find a way to be herself while not letting anyone down. The supporting characters are appealing too, with some excellent brother-sister banter that made Bilal and Khadijah instantly credible and likeable.

This engaging story is perfect for an upper KS2 shelf and it’s especially welcome to see Muslim girls represented in children’s fiction.

Publisher: Scholastic

Publication date: October 2021

3. The Puffin Portal

by Vashti Hardy & Natalie Smillie

Reviewer: Esther Brown

Short chapter book with dyslexia-friendly formatting (7+)

In book two of Vashti Hardy’s engaging series with Barrington Stoke, Grace Griffin is the newest warden of Moreland and is investigating a series of mysterious thefts – seemingly committed by a bird. She is determined to solve the mystery without having to ask for help from her Mother and brother who are also snowed under with warden’s emergency calls.

Grace and her robot raven Watson use the unique technology of the Griffin family map to use portals to teleport through Moreland finding clues. However, one lead takes her through a mysterious rogue teleporter to a lonely island with a crumbling castle. How did she get there? Is the island deserted? Who or what created the teleporter? Here she will find the answer to the mystery and she might just be able to help a friend too.

This is a fun and fast-paced mystery adventure, with themes of family and friendship and just the right amount of action. True to form, the author celebrates inventiveness, problem-solving and a spirit of adventure in her characters.

The dyslexia-friendly font and coloured paper synonymous with Barrington Stoke make it accessible to all readers and the storyline and short chapters will keep reluctant readers engaged. This book would be a great addition to a school or lower KS2 library and for supporting those children in upper KS2 who need dyslexia-friendly, high interest books.

Publisher: Barrington Stoke

Publication date: September 2021

4. The Biggest Footprint

By: Rob & Tom Sears

Reviewer: Hayley Warner

Hardback picturebook (all ages)

The Biggest Footprint is a one-of-a-kind creative book. It tells the story of humans (all eight billion of us) and how our choices, both in the past and present, are affecting our planet. It also explores how we can all help to put it right and continue to do more to look after our world.

The Biggest Footprint begins when a mega human is created from all eight billion people being put into the ‘smooshing machine’. As mega human, we take a journey and learn about our footprint choices on the world. We also put other items through the smooshing machine to compare their sizes, examples of which include all the tigers in the world, all the food and food waste in the world as well as all fossil fuels.

The biggest footprint does celebrate the good efforts that we are making – trying to eat less meat, recycling and conservation efforts as examples, but it poses the question throughout each page: could we be doing more?

The illustrations by the Sears brothers are engaging, humorous and bound to be a hit with children – in particular the Megadog, Noodles, who adds another element of fun to some of the illustrations. No two pages are quite the same and I really like how the larger-than-life images are given context in comparison to the size of real animals, transport and landmarks from around the world. Some of these are fascinating; others are quite scary and are bound to leave any reader wanting to play their part to help our planet.

The book has been written in a light-hearted, informal and fun way that is bound to engage readers in all year groups. The facts and statistics included are incredibly interesting and where there is more complex vocabulary used, the book provides teaching opportunities and discussions that would work well in a Key Stage Two PSHE or geography lesson.

A free, downloadable resource pack is also available for teachers.

Publisher: Canongate

Publication date: September 2021

5. The Peculiar Tale of the Tentacle Boy

By Richard Pickard & Maxine Lee-Mackie

Reviewer: Jane E

Chapter book (8+)

A heart-warming and original adventure feauring a boy with a head of tentacles and crab claws for hands, this story is likely to appeal to fans of A Series of Unfortunate Events and Malamander.

Marina Minnow resides in the dull-as-dishwater seaside town of Merlington but lives through the imaginary tales she tells of everyday objects and the people around her. Those closest to her love her fishy tales, but more than once she has been made to apologise for being a smidge too convincing. One person who does not love her tales is her classmate Wendy, who has no problem telling Marina just what she thinks, calling Marina “A no-good liar”.

Upset and doubting herself, Marina runs to the sanctuary of the sea, when she sees a light in the abandoned shack at the end of the burnt-down pier. In desperation, Marina grasps at the chance of a real-life story to tell and risks her life to investigate, taking a rusty old rowing boat out in a stormy sea as night is falling. If the sea doesn’t get her, maybe what awaits her in the shack will…

Tentacle Boy is the debut novel by Richard Pickard. As the story unfolds, Pickard subtly weaves the past of the main characters into the plot so that the reader becomes emotionally involved with each character, even managing to summon some empathy for the true villains of the story. Despite the questionable plausibility of our main character in real life, the lessons we can learn from how we react to any stranger in our midst are sincere and thought-provoking. Mixed in with all of this are clever fish-based puns and great character observation giving us a thoroughly entertaining read with plenty of twists in the plot to keep us reading.

Publisher: Chicken House

Publication date: August 2021

6. Solve Your Own Mystery: The Monster Maker

By Gareth P Jones & Louise Forshaw

Reviewer: Marion Park

Choose-Your-Own-Path Chapter Book with dyslexia-friendly formatting (7+)

How many of us remember the choose-your-own-adventure stories popular a few decades ago and find ourselves wondering why we rarely see new ones published today? Popular author Gareth P. Jones reintroduces the genre with ‘The Monster Maker’ – an imaginative detective story for readers looking for an interactive adventure, with hundreds of paths to choose from.

Haventry is a town where ghosts, zombie clowns, werewolves and vampires (amongst others) reside happily. That is, until Dr Franklefink’s Monster Maker machine is stolen and everyone becomes a suspect. It is then up to you to investigate and solve the mystery. Your detective partner and boss is none other than private investigator Klaus Solstaag, a yeti who is on a mission. Will you find the truth? What motive does your prime suspect have? Can you find the missing Monster Maker?

In this solve your own mystery story, readers will enjoy choosing which aspect of the crime to investigate next and sussing out who the real suspects are. Chapters are fairly short and keep you investigating.

There are three equally satisfying endings and numerous paths you can take to get there (with no dead ends), so this book can be enjoyed several times and the reader will solve the mystery every time. For fans of the extraordinary and of detective mysteries, this is a must-read.

Publisher: Little Tiger

Publication date: August 2021

7. The Rapping Princess

By Hannah Lee & Allen Fatimaharan

Reviewer: Jo Littlewood

Picturebook (3+)

Shiloh is a princess. Her family are all great musicians and singers – but Shiloh can’t sing a note. She feels like there must be something wrong with her until one day she hears a different kind of music and joins in. It takes wise words from others to learn to be proud of what she can do – even if it does mean she is a little bit different.

This is a bright and engaging picture book perfect for younger readers. The illustrations are bold and colourful and reflect the story being told effectively. The story is told in rhyme and has an easy to pick up rhythm making it a great story for retelling with help from children.

The story teaches that everyone has a talent to be discovered and shared, and that even if it isn’t the talent you want it is something to be valued and shared.

My first thoughts on reading this story were that it could be used as part of music lessons. Children across the primary age range could create body percussion and untuned percussion compositions to accompany a reader as the story lends itself well to being told to a steady beat. It could also be used to teach rhythm and rhyme as part of English lessons with key stage 1 children. As part of PSHE lessons, the story could be used to talk about children’s own talents and things they are proud of.

Publisher: Scholastic

Publication date: August 2021

8. Count

By Melvin Burgess & Chris Mould

Reviewer: Alison Leach

Short chapter book (7+)

Anyone who has ever wanted the world to recognise their talent or dreamed of going viral will resonate with Brandon’s story. Brandon believes that he is the best at everything and he loves to boast about it. But there is one thing that he really is good at – counting. When he boasts that he can count to ten million, he’s challenged to follow up on his claim and before he knows it, the world really is paying attention to what he can do.

Carnegie-medal winner Melvin Burgess is well-known for his novels for Young Adults, but here he perfectly hits the spot for younger children with Count. I was really charmed by this laugh-out-loud story of an oft-heard playground boast that – in this case – quickly snowballs to global proportions, perfectly capturing the essence of childhood ambition and stubbornness in one sweep. The story also explores the cost of fame and the power of self-belief.

At just over 170 pages, this is a short and entertaining read that is packed with humour and accompanied by Chris Mould’s fun illustrations. Count is likely to go down a treat in lower KS2 classrooms or with Upper KS2 readers who appreciate a quick and humorous read.

Publisher: Andersen Press

Publication date: October 2021

9. The Cat And The Rat And The Hat

By Em Lynas & Matt Hunt

Reviewer: Caroline Wood

Picturebook (3+)

The Cat And the Rat And The Hat by Em Lynas and Matt Hunt is going to be a firm favourite of mine for reading to KS1 classes!

As a cat-owner (slave?) myself, I absolutely love the scene-setting of the cat on the mat, playing and sleeping and dreaming…only to be interrupted by the rat, swanning around in his great big hat. The ensuing tug-of-war fight is brilliantly illustrated, the back-and-forth pictures giving children lots to notice and comment on. This is where the book really comes into its own as both a class read-aloud and a shared-focus – in a class situation you’ll have children taking sides, you could even act it out with props and be completely raucous!

With a parent or TA reading with one or two children, you can stop and talk about everything that’s going on in the pictures – the sneaky cat distracting the rat with cheese, or the smart rat trapping the cat in a box. New readers will be delighted by being able to pick out simple words for themselves, and the rhythm of the story flows beautifully, with lots of scope for dramatic pauses and audience participation.

The use of vocabulary throughout is super – in a rhyming book it’s easy to rely on simple words, but the interloping bat not only has a fancy cravat, but “twists and twirls like an acrobat” before provoking the cat and the rat back into their earlier squabble, now trying to steal the cravat, before making off with hat in a satisfying and hilarious ending.

Publisher: Nosy Crow

Publication date: July 2021

10.Miles Morales: Shock Waves

By Justin A Reynolds & Pablo Leon

Reviewer: Carol Carter

Graphic novel (8+)

For those not already familiar with the Miles Morales character from the Marvel movie ‘Into the Spider-Verse’, Miles is an alternate Spider-Man doing his superhero thing in Brooklyn, while also juggling school, friendship issues and doing the right thing by his family.

New to the Spidey-game, Miles is still learning how to web sling accurately, when he comes across two young thieves, Vex and Trinity, who also seem to have super-powers. From here on, we follow a classic formula of adventure, evil bosses, hidden identities and magical glowing rocks. Whilst that might make ‘Miles Morales: Shock Waves’ sound derivative, in truth it is anything but: as a non-Marvel-fan, I was quickly drawn in. Particularly engaging are the family scenes when Miles’ family are affected by an earthquake in Puerto Rica, and Miles’ floundering attempts to make friends with new girl, Kyle, at school.

The style of art by Pablo Leon (Eisner Nominee for ‘The Journey’) is very approachable with particularly striking use of colour tones and facial expressions. For a primary audience, I love that the text in this graphic novel is all in lower case, rather than the harder-to-read comic standard of full upper case, making it much more accessible to a wider range of readers.

The text throughout is written in a conversational style with an approachable tone, and lots of very funny snarky come-backs. Young readers will love the contemporary references to Instagram and TikTok dance challenges, while Marvel fans will love spotting the odd hidden easter egg reference to the wider MCU. The book features a sneak peek for linked book Mz. Marvel: Stretched Thin.

Miles Morales: Shock Waves is a superb and deserving of a place in every primary school library. I hope there are many more to come in this fantastic new graphic novel series.

Publisher: Scholastic

Publication date: June 2021