Format: Chapter book

Livia in Rome

Chapter book

Could Rome be where the heart is? Sixteen-year-old Scottish–Italian Livia feels like an outsider, spending the summer in her grandmother’s bar in Rome.

Smug local boy Giulio works there too, and quickly becomes Livia’s nemesis. She is not going to be the cliché foreign girl who has a summer romance.

But as Livia navigates family drama, new-found friendships and . . . Giulio, she starts to see the city – and herself – in a new light . . .

Perfect for fans of Love and Gelato, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before and Anna and the French Kiss.

Think ice cream dates, gorgeous Italian boys and sightseeing on a Vespa!

Scottish Italian author, Bruna De Luca, draws on her own experiences of growing up as a third culture ‘Scotalian’ kid.

The Unfamous Diaries of Daisy Brewster: The Frenemies

Jenny Valentine

Chapter book

Daisy is determined to get herself the main part in the drama club performance of Bugsy Malone this summer. But she feels overshadowed by her cousin Maxxy Bloom, a TV star living in the USA, who snubs Daisy on their family Zoom calls and seems way too sure of herself. Total disaster strikes when Maxxy is sent to stay with Daisy’s family for the holidays. She is a total nightmare to live with, and Daisy feels completely overshadowed at drama club, with her new friends swooning over the superstar. But, as the auditions loom, perhaps having an actress around could be useful.

Written in a chatty diary style with a fun handwriting font and doodles around the pages, this makes an engaging read. I can see this being a very popular addition to the school library to engage KS2 readers, particularly girls. The family dynamics and Daisy’s dramas are very relatable to young readers, and it is a book about youthful hopes and dreams, about friendship, about finding your place and feeling accepted, and about getting to know people before making judgments.

When The Storm Comes

Polly Ho-Yen

Chapter book

Polly Yo-Hen has written an empathetic adventure of four students who come together in an explosive adventure. At first, Amaryllis (Mali) struggles to find his place and his people at school, but along comes the new boy, Shiyoon, who helps him to realise how special friendship can be. Though this is short-lived when Shiyoon has to leave the school, Amaryllis is left alone again. Put together in a book club by Ms Devine, who seems to have on purpose chosen these pupils, they are put into a disastrous situation where they have to overcome their differences and own personal challenges to work together to get themselves and others to safety.

This story really does remind you about the importance of not judging people on first impressions and that there is good in everyone. There is a subtle mention of same-sex marriage, and it touches upon the subject of climate change. The concluding sentence stresses how the characters could now be unafraid, unapologetic and undaunted to stand up for change. How we all wish we could be a little braver and heed these words. A gripping story that values trust, friendship, resilience and strength.

Cecily Sawyer: How To Be a Spy

David Tazzyman & Iona Rangeley

Chapter book

A thrilling, mysterious and very, very funny new adventure from the award-winning author of EINSTEIN THE PENGUIN, with brilliant illustrations from bestseller David Tazzyman.

Cecily Sawyer has spent the evening in the attic, training her pet mouse, Mrs Maple Syrup – an unusually intelligent mouse, in Cecily’s opinion – when her parents disappear.

Luckily, Cecily is more than ready to investigate such a thing. She has wanted to be a spy her whole life, and has all the spy handbooks, manuals and code-cracking kits a girl could need.

But soon, Cecily discovers several very strange things in her city. She’s not the only spy out there – far from it, in fact. And Mrs Maple Syrup is not the only unusually intelligent mouse…

The Odyssey of Phoebe Quilliam

Annelise Gray

Chapter book

A mythical timeslip story about family, love, loss and memory, with an epic sea voyage at its heart, inspired by the legend of Odysseus.

Phoebe dreams of becoming an artist like her grandmother, Cass, a brilliant storyteller who has passed on her love of Greek myths to Phoebe. But Cass is disappearing before Phoebe’s eyes, lost to a cruel illness that is destroying her memory. When Phoebe ruins Cass’s seascape inspired by childhood holidays on the Greek island of Ithaca, she is mysteriously swept away to a fantasy world that resembles her favourite myth of all – The Odyssey.

There Phoebe is caught up in a young boy’s mission to find his long-lost father – a shipbuilder to King Odysseus, last seen going off to fight in the Trojan War – and faces an epic quest of her own. To seek the shape-shifting monster whose ravenous and growing power may hold the key to Phoebe fighting her own demons. Only by defeating the monster and facing her fears, will she have any hope of finding her way home and back to Cass.

How to Get Magically Popular

Radhika Sanghani

Chapter book

A fresh, relatable story with a sprinkling of magic, about a girl who just wants to fit in but her magic powers make her stand out, from award-winning journalist and author Radhika Sanghani. Perfect for fans of Lottie Brooks and Dork Diaries.

Sabina Patel just wants to fit in. But in her new school, in a new town where she doesn’t know anyone, Sabina feels more out of place than ever.

Then she accidentally unlocks magic powers and starts to see the future, and she quickly stands out as one
of the most popular girls at school.

But when Sabina starts seeing futures she’d rather not know about, she’s not sure if she’s unlocked a gift or a curse…

A book about learning to be happy in the present, rather than letting the future take over your life.

Lark

Anthony McGowan

Chapter book, Dyslexia-friendly

Inspired to take a walk on the moors by their Dad, who remembered taking such walks with their grandad when he was their age, Nicky and Kenny set off with their Jack Russel terrier on what should have been nothing more than a stroll to take in the views and blow off a bit of energy after being cooped up during the Easter holidays. Even as they step off the bus to begin their walk, Nicky can see the weather changing as a few flakes of snow become more of a blizzard, and what had been a fun adventure leaves them frozen to the core, lost and alone.

Picking up the slim tome, I initially wondered how this diminutive volume could live up to the reviews, especially as I am not familiar with the three prior titles in the series, but I needn’t have worried. Heartbreaking and soul-restoring in equal measure, you’re swept along on their journey with insights into some of their lives and troubles before the time and to the depths of their fear, pain and anguish as their stroll takes a more dangerous turn. Incredibly emotive, more sensitive readers may find some of the text upsetting.

This book doesn’t waste a single word. Unquestionably a rich source for writing and discussion.

My Swordhand is Singing

Marcus Sedgwick

Chapter book

An original interpretation of the timelessly fascinating vampire myth, and a story of father and son, by award-winning author Marcus Sedgwick. Winner of the Booktrust Teenage Prize and shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal.

In the bitter cold of an unrelenting winter, Tomas and his son, Peter, arrive in Chust. Despite the villagers’ lack of hospitality, they settle there as woodcutters. But there are many things Peter does not understand. Why does Tomas dig a channel of fast-flowing waters around their hut so they live on an isolated island? Why does Tomas carry a long battered box everywhere they go – and refuse to tell Peter of its contents?

When a band of gypsies comes to the village, Peter’s drab existence is turned upside down. He is infatuated by the beautiful gypsy princess, Sofia, and intoxicated by her community’s love of life. He even becomes drawn into their deadly quest – for these travellers are Vampire Slayers, and Chust is a community to which the dead return to wreak revenge on the living.

Stylishly written and set in the forbidding and remote landscapes of the 17th century, this is a story of a father and his son, of loss, redemption and resolution.

We Are All Made of Molecules

Susin Nielsen

Chapter book

Stewart knows that he thinks differently from a lot of people, incredibly bright but socially inept, he knows that his Mum was relieved for him to get into a school with other children, where he could be himself. After his Mum loses her battle to cancer he is determined not to fall into the future she feared for him, where he struggles to fit into mainstream society so when his Dad gets together with someone new and they decide to move in together, he chooses to move to the same school as his new partner’s daughter, Ashley and even dares to dream that this is the opportunity for him to gain the sibling he so longed for. Ashley tries to be modest but knows that she is the girl others can only aspire to be. Attractive with rich, successful parents, she struggles with her father’s apparent new choice of life and is not at all happy at the prospect of the world’s biggest dweeb invading first her home and now her school. Can her life get any worse?

Beautifully scripted to enable the reader to see life from each of their perspectives, situations, which are at times agonising, are dealt with delicately and with a humour that manages to be both respectful and shine a beacon of joy in the darkest of times. An excellent source of discussion of some potentially difficult topics, so useful for PSHE, can also be used to unpick the language chosen by the author and for independent work, with the addition of questions about the text at the end of the story.