Publisher: Knights Of Media

The Lucky House Detective Agency

Chapter book

The Lucky House Detective Agency is a wonderful detective story set in the Lucky House Chinese takeaway. It’s a great mystery book for KS2. Perfect for fans of Danny Chung Does Not Do Maths and Anisha Accidental Detective.

5 individual words to describe the book: Fun, Diverse, Crime, Food, and Bamboo!

Role Model

Chapter book

Aeriel is autistic and would love nothing more than to have proper friendships with people at her new secondary school in London, having had to move down from Scotland, which she misses keenly.

When her mum becomes Prime Minister, Aeriel is catapulted into the public eye, with both her school and her Mum’s aides trying to mould her into being an online role model for other children. As Aeriel’s reluctant videos go viral, she tries desperately to control her autistic behaviours and understand why she is still so lonely when she is trying so hard to fit in. It takes being compelled to join a new group, alongside a huge shift in family dynamics, to mend relationships and help her manage her life.

This is a fairly short book at 170 pages, but it packs a real emotional punch. The author states that there is much personal content from her childhood and adult life in this story, and it shows. It’s told in the first person, emphasising Aeriel’s vulnerability and the challenges she faces in her daily life, which are only exacerbated by her mother’s new position as PM. There are themes of resilience, courage, friendship, family and bullying, and Aeriel’s story should evoke a huge amount of empathy for autistic peers; it’s a thought-provoking read and would make a great class read-aloud.

Up Above the City

Chapter book

Up Above the City is a thought‑provoking novel that blends contemporary realism with intriguing science‑fiction elements, resulting in a story that is as heartfelt as it is original.

At the heart of the story is Jake, a quiet and well‑meaning boy whose Christmas holidays are off to a miserable start. With his parents in the midst of separating and an accident at his holiday club leaving him excluded, Jake must spend his days in the staffroom of the London bank where his mum has started a new job. Bored and lonely, Jake begins photographing the city skyline—until he spots a mysterious girl in a window that shouldn’t exist.

What follows is a gripping and surprising tale built around Jake’s growing friendship with Laine, a girl hiding in a disused storeroom and waiting anxiously for her scientist father to return. When Jake investigates, convinced he wasn’t imagining her, he learns that Laine and her dad have been forced into hiding and that the secret they carry is extraordinary. Laine’s father has broken the law in Estonia, dangerous people are searching for them, and most astonishingly of all, Laine has access to a pill that turns her invisible! Their search for her missing father takes them into a hidden world woven through the rooftops and attics of London’s financial district. Here, Jake discovers homeless and refugee families living in desperate, makeshift communities. This layer of the story is handled with great empathy, offering young readers a human perspective on immigration and displacement that encourages reflection and compassion.

As Jake and Laine’s mission becomes more dangerous, Jake must decide how far he is willing to go for his friend, including taking his own enormous risk. When Laine is captured, Jake’s bravery and loyalty shine, and he learns that sometimes the quietest children can find the greatest courage.The plot is tense and engaging whilst acknowledging that real‑world issues, such as family separation, homelessness, immigration, don’t have easy endings. Jake’s determination to do what’s right, makes him an especially relatable hero for children who may be navigating family changes or feeling overlooked in the adult world.

Lu (Run)

Jason Reynolds

Chapter book

Lu must learn to leave his ego on the sidelines if he wants to finally connect with others in the finale to the New York Times bestselling and award-winning RUN series from Jason Reynolds.

Lu was born to be co-captain of the Defenders. Well, actually, he was born albino, but that’s got nothing to do with being a track star. Lu has swagger, plus the talent to back it up, and no-one’s gonna outshine him.

Lu knows he can lead Ghost, Patina, Sunny, and the team to victory at the championships, but it might not be as easy as it seems. Suddenly, there are hurdles in Lu’s way – literally and not-so-literally – and Lu needs to figure out, fast, what winning the gold really means.

Expect the unexpected in the final event in Jason Reynold’s award-winning and bestselling RUN series.

Sunny (Run)

Jason Reynolds

Chapter book

When Sunny stops running in the middle of a race, Coach asks him what he wants to do instead. His answer is dance, but you can’t be on a track team and dance… can you? With his dad’s expectations weighing down on him, Sunny finally finds a track event that feels like dancing. But as he practices for this new event, can he let go of everything that’s been eating him up inside?

READ THE RUN SERIES: Ghost. Lu. Patina. Sunny. Four kids from wildly different backgrounds with personalities that are explosive when they clash. But they are also four kids chosen for an elite middle school running team – a team that could qualify them for the Junior Olympics if they can get their acts together. They all have a lot to lose and a lot to prove. Not only to each other, but to themselves.

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.

Here to Slay

Radhika Sanghani

Chapter book

Kali has a lot to deal with. Her crush doesn’t notice her, her parents love her cousin more, and a big family wedding is overshadowing her 16th birthday. So, she really did NOT need a demon appearing in her bedroom and for the fate of the world to rest in her hands.

It turns out that all girls named after the Indian demon-fighting goddess Kali are imbued with special powers, and are destined to fight demons. At least she’s not alone in this mess – she’s got the very cool, very confident K to teach her how to be a demon slayer. Now, if only she could also figure out how to slay at life…

Look Both Ways

Jason Reynolds

Short story collection

When the bell rings and school is finished for the day, the walkers are finally set free. For ten blocks they have no-one telling them what to do; they can talk about bogies, skateboard, plan dramatic escapes, make jokes, face bullies, and hear about the school bus that fell from the sky…

In ten stories (one per block), find out what really happens on the walk home from school, when there are no parents or teachers to supervise (or stop the fun!). From hilarious escapades to brave challenges, join the walkers for one journey and many, many detours…

School For Fireflies

Erica Gomez

Chapter book

Zadie and Siddy are best friends who like to find out the truth about things grownups won’t tell them about and are self-labelled detectives. One day, they find themselves invited to enrol at the School for Fireflies, which also means that they’ll get to find out what their magical abilities are. They had no knowledge that such a school existed, let alone about magical powers!

Siddy is desperate to find her dad, who has gone missing and wonders if being a Firefly can help her do that. As well as the usual issues that come with starting at a new school, Zadie and Siddy also have to negotiate learning about their new powers whilst keeping them secret from the non-Firefly side of the school and trying to find out information about the whereabouts of Siddy’s dad even though none of the grownups seem to want them to know anything.

‘School for Fireflies’ is a fast-paced adventure with unusual magical abilities, sinister Swallows attacking Fireflies and plenty of detecting to do. The girls don’t know which grownups to trust, and I enjoyed how the mystery unfolded. The friendship between the girls and their other school friends was lovely, and I enjoyed the unusual setting of a partial magic world existing alongside a normal one.

The book is relatively short at around 260 pages, so ideal for children 9 and up to read alone. The story quickly sucks you in and I hope there are plans for a sequel!

The Last Dragon

Charis Loke & Polly Ho-Yen

Chapter book

This story is an unusual mix of fantasy and real-life problems which touches on some serious health issues.

Yara’s younger sister, George, has a condition that has kept her in hospital for months, but she doesn’t seem to be getting any better. Yara and her parents have moved into a small flat to be as close as possible to the hospital and Yara is often at home alone due to her parents’ working hours and frequent visits to George. She feels so lonely but rejects contact from her old school friends as she is focused on her sister’s health. In the search of company after school one day, Yara heads across the park to the shopping centre but is intercepted by Tildy – the last dragon on Earth. After a searching appraisal by the dragon, Yara is left an egg, and from then on she is hounded by the menacing Dragon Detection Squad who are desperate to obtain the only dragon egg in existence. Yara is on the point of giving it up when her new friend Bertie informs her of the legendary magical healing power of dragon eggs; it is then a race against time to get it to George in hospital and the Dragon Detection Squad doesn’t give up!

When the last dragon is found dead, the future of the egg becomes even more important, and as its guardian, Yara has to make some difficult choices.

There are themes of friendship, bullying, family bonds and serious illness. The characters are well-developed and Bertie is non-binary (them/they). I really enjoyed the story and the journey for all the characters, although the somewhat unexpected ending did seem a little sudden – the book is relatively short at 193 pages.