Recommended children's booklists sorted by age or topic

Format: Poetry

We Are Britain!

Poetry

This is a collection of poetry from the performance poet Benjamin Zephaniah. The poems celebrate the diversity of British society by portraying different British children in their home environments. The children featured in We Are Britain! are from a range of backgrounds and cultures and it shows that despite their differences, the children have many similar preoccupations whatever their cultural background.

Everything All at Once

Steven Camden

Poetry

An achingly beautiful collection of poems about one week in a secondary school where everything happens all at once. Zooming in across our cast of characters, we share moments that span everything from hoping to make it to the end of the week, facing it, fitting in, finding friends and falling out, to loving lessons, losing it, and worrying, wearing it well and worshipping from afar.

In Everything All At Once, Steven Camden’s poems speak to the kaleidoscope of teen experience and life at secondary school.

Stars with Flaming Tails

Ken Wilson-Max & Valerie Bloom

Poetry

I travelled once around the world

On stars with flaming tails,

And touched the colours of my dreams

Along some silver trails.

Look out for best friends, pancakes, and Grandad singing; discover a river dolphin, a poison dart frog and the most dangerous animal in the world; imagine a talking nose, meet the Zimbats of Zingley Dell and find the colour of your dreams.

Being Me

Liz Brownlee & Matt Goodfellow & Laura Mucha & Victoria Jane Wheeler

Poetry

Read about the Land of Blue, where it’s OK to feel sad, find ideas for what to do with worries or how to slow down when your head is full of hurry. Give yourself time to chill out, find quiet voices in noisy places and discover kindness in yourself and others. Then maybe your own special thought machine will tell you, ‘This is going well. You’re doing great. You’ve got this!’ And you have!

This important and unique anthology of 45 poems by three leading poets, well known for their empathy and perception, speaks to the heart of what children think and care about, offering understanding, support and encouragement.

With an endnote by leading clinical psychologist Karen Goodall.

Let’s Celebrate!: Festival Poems from Around the World

Debjani Chatterjee & Brian D’Arcy & Shirin Adl

Poetry

This is an important addition to your school poetry collections, presenting poems from different celebrations across the globe. Topics include Holi, Chinese New Year, Diwali, Thanksgiving and many more and there is a section at the back of the book with explanations of each festival. We also recommend the poetry anthology My Village, containing rhymes from around the world.

I Am the Seed That Grew the Tree: A Nature Poem for Every Day of the Year

Fiona Waters & Frann Preston-Gannon

Poetry

This beautiful poetry anthology that includes a new nature poem for every day of the year is likely to become a primary classroom essential and one that will be valuable for classes learning about plants or seasonal change.

The collection of 366 poems (to make sure leap years are covered too!) contains a really interesting mix of poems from well-known favourites from Christina Rossetti and Walter de la Mare to more modern offerings by Benjamin Zephaniah and Carol Ann Duffy, with each poem reflecting the seasonal changes associated with that day’s position in the year.

The book is structured into monthly sections, and the poems are accompanied by beautiful illustrations that celebrate the beauty of the natural world and changing seasons.

In the Key of Code

Aimee Lucido

Poetry, Verse novel

Set in the USA, Emmy and her family have just relocated to California from Wisconsin. In a leap of faith, to promote her father’s career as a pianist, Emmy’s family have left behind everything they know and love. Including her Mom’s career in opera.

It is clear from the outset that Emmy is going to struggle to fit into her new school (culturally, a world away from her old one), so she decides to keep her head down and concentrate on her classwork. One of the electives that she has chosen is Computer Science. It is in this class that she meets a new friend: a girl who loves coding, yet hides her talents because it is not in keeping with her choir-girl image. Conscious that if her friends find out about her secret passion, she could be ostracised from the friendship group, Abigail’s internal struggles are real.

As the school term moves on, Emmy’s two worlds of coding and music begin to interweave making this ‘novel in verse’ a masterpiece, showing how notes and beats and rhythms overlap with code and language and algorithms. Among this runs a rich storyline of friendship. Can Emmy’s new friend accept her outside of the classroom? Will they be able to break through the prejudice of being girls who enjoy coding? And will they be able to support their teacher as she faces her health problems?

This is a joyous and accomplished piece of writing. The use of verse in the novel is powerful and captures the emotions exquisitely. A perfect book for children (and adults) who enjoy coding and/or music.

Mad About Minibeasts!

David Wojtowycz & Giles Andreae

Poetry

A brightly-illustrated collection of uplifting rhymes about all sorts of minibeasts. These rhymes are ideal for reading aloud and learning by heart!

Out and About: A First Book of Poems

Shirley Hughes

Poetry

A collection of poems about weather and seasons by much-loved children’s author Shirley Hughes. A brother and sister enjoy exploring together throughout the seasons and experience the simple pleasures of the various weather conditions. With gentle rhymes and timeless illustrations, this poetry book is a real classic.

The Lost Words

Jackie Morris & Robert Macfarlane

Poetry

The Lost Words is a collaboration between Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris, seeking to ‘summon what has vanished’ and celebrate a host of disappearing words relating to the natural world. This is a poetry book about preservation – of nature, of language and of childhood – and the beautifully illustrated over-sized hardback volume is in itself a book to preserve and treasure. Inside the book, readers will find acrostic ‘poem-spells’, with each one intending to preserve a nature word that has disappeared from the dictionary as well as to evoke the unique sounds, sensations and moods associated with the experiences of encountering wildlife firsthand.

Inspired by the removal of a number of nature words from children’s dictionaries while the same plants and animals are in very real decline, this magnificent book will please children and adults alike. Each word is accompanied by a breathtaking illustration and poem (or ‘spell’ – the authors encourage you to sing them). Children with an interest in the natural world will discover new words along the way.

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Format: Poetry

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