Recommended children's booklists sorted by age or topic

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Magical Kingdom of Birds: The Sleepy Hummingbirds

Chapter book

To the Keeper of this Book – it’s time for you to visit the magical Kingdom waiting within. Believe in yourself – that will give you wings to fly! When Maya receives a special colouring book – The Magical Kingdom of Birds – she is transported to a beautiful realm filled with magnificent birds and their fairy friends. But the kingdom is in trouble – evil Lord Astor has a plan to capture and cage the tiniest residents, the hummingbirds – and as Keeper of the Book it’s up to Maya to protect them. Packed with beautiful illustrations, information on the real birds that inspired the story, and includes a special colouring page!

Ballet Bunnies: The New Class

Binny Talib & Swapna Reddy

Chapter book

Learning to ballet dance is harder than Millie expected. The other dancers in the class aren’t very nice to her either. But just when she’s thinking that maybe ballet isn’t for her after all, Millie meets the ballet bunnies! They live hidden in the ballet school, using what they find to make their home-ballet shoes for beds, upside down cups for tables-and secretly take the ballet classes with the humans. Maybe the ballet bunnies can help Millie master some news ballet skills after all!

Cyril the Lonely Cloud

Tim Hopgood

Picturebook

It is sad but true that no one is ever pleased to see Cyril the cloud. He’s always being blamed for ruining everyone’s fun: casting shadows over everywhere he goes, and making things look dull and miserable. So, one day, Cyril drifts far, far away in search of a friendly face: over farmland, towns, and an ocean . . . Eventually he arrives in a new land whose ground is baking hot. Here everyone welcomes the shade Cyril gives. This makes Cyril so happy that he cries big glorious tears of joy. And his tears soak the land and everything seems to smile. And that is all Cyril ever wanted – to look down on the world and see a happy smile. A beautiful story that taps right into what Tim Hopgood’s books are all about: celebrating the natural world and promoting a positive outlook on life.

Emerald and the Ocean Parade

Harriet Muncaster

Chapter book

Emerald and the Sea Sprites is a fun, short chapter book about a mermaid princess. With green and black illustrations, we follow Emerald on and adventure to learn how to be a mermaid princess in her own style at the Ocean Parade. There’s also a pet octopus called Inkibelle. It’s a lovely story about identity and finding what matters. In the same world as Isadora Moon and Mirabelle, Emerald will be loved by fans of those books.

Progress with Oxford: Comprehension: Age 7-8

Fiona Undrill

Non-fiction

This Progress with Oxford Comprehension Age 7-8 workbook will help your child to progress with essential comprehension skills while having fun. They will develop a deeper understanding of text and become more confident in answering questions about text they have read. Each Progress with Oxford book is focused on the skills your child will need to master at each stage of the school curriculum. The books are precisely matched to your child’s age to make sure they are aligned with school expectations for their year, helping children to fully achieve their potential. The series has been created to help every child develop essential skills at home, with minimal help and support. Picture clues are used to show very young children how to complete activities, whilst reminder boxes, tips and advice support older children to become self-sufficient learners. A lively character accompanies your child through all the colourful and engaging activities, and fun stickers are included to reward their work. A handy progress chart at the end of each book captures their achievements, so you both know what to do next.

Find further support on the Oxford Owl at Home website, which provides specific advice on helping your child with comprehension, and fun activities to extend their skills.

The Best of Pippi Longstocking (3 books in 1)

Astrid Lindgren & Tony Ross

Chapter book

Pippi Longstocking is one of the most popular children’s characters of all time and is still much loved by millions of children today. This collection of Pippi stories will introduce her adventurous spirit to a whole new generation of readers.
Pippi Longstocking is nine years old and lives all by herself with a horse, a monkey, a suitcase full of gold, and no grown-ups to tell her what to do. She’s wild and funny and her crazy ideas are always getting her into trouble!
In this single-volume edition of three favourite books, Pippi performs at the circus, is reunited with her long-lost father, and takes her friends Tommy and Annika on a trip to the Canny Canny Islands. She also finds a squeazle, gives a shark a good telling-off, and turns 43 somersaults in the air before breakfast!
Everything’s fun with Pippi around!
This edition is illustrated throughout with black and white line drawings by best-selling artist Tony Ross.

Progress with Oxford: Addition and Subtraction Age 6-7

Giles Clare

Non-fiction

This Progress with Oxford Addition and Subtraction Age 6-7 workbook will help your child to progress with these core maths skills while having fun so they will become confident with quickly solving calculations involving addition and subtraction. Each Progress with Oxford book is focused on the skills your child will need to master at each stage of the school curriculum. The books are precisely matched to your child’s age to make sure they are aligned with school expectations for their year, helping children to fully achieve their potential. The series has been created to help every child develop essential skills at home, with minimal help and support. Picture clues are used to show very young children how to complete activities, whilst reminder boxes, tips and advice support older children to become self-sufficient learners. A lively character accompanies your child through all the colourful and engaging activities, and fun stickers are included to reward their work. A handy progress chart at the end of each book captures their achievements, so you both know what to do next.

Find further support on the Oxford Owl at Home website, which provides specific advice on helping your child with addition and subtraction, and fun activities to extend their skills.

Winnie and Wilbur at Chinese New Year

Korky Paul & Valerie Thomas

Picturebook

When Winnie and Wilbur decide to celebrate Chinese New Year, the party is going with a swing. Family? Check! Friends? Check! Food? Check! Fun? Check! But just when Winnie waves her wand to make parade costumes for everyone, Wilbur goes missing. Oh no! Will Winnie find him before the first firework lights up the sky? The best-selling Winnie and Wilbur series has been delighting readers both young and old since 1987 and Winnie and Wilbur have become favourite characters in homes and schools all over the world.

Pippi Longstocking

Astrid Lindgren & Lauren Child

Chapter book

This classic children’s book introduces the iconic character of Pippi, a delightfully unconventional nine-year-old living independently at Villa Villekula with her monkey and horse. Her bright pigtails, stripy socks and incredible strength make her truly unique.

This edition contains stunning collage illustrations by Lauren Child (best known for the Charlie and Lola books), which perfectly capture Pippi’s happy-go-lucky spirit and bring fresh energy to this timeless tale.

Pippi’s boundless fun and fierce independence continue to entertain at storytime, making this an essential, whimsical read.

Isadora Moon and the Shooting Star

Harriet Muncaster

Chapter book

Isadora Moon is special because she’s different. Her mum is a fairy and her dad is a vampire and she’s a bit of both.

Isadora is observing the night sky for a school project – her class is learning everything about space and she decides to look at the stars for inspiration.

But wait, what is that? Through the telescope, Isadora spots a shooting star that falls to Earth! After courageously finding the place where the star landed, Isadora discovers a new twinkling friend. Her name is Nova, she is a Glow Sprite and she is not supposed to be there. Even worse, Nova’s moon kitten Pluto is lost and she needs Isadora’s help to find him. Between magical campfires, space lessons, moon cheese and a glowing sleepover, Isadora will need to use all her wits to help Nova finding Pluto before her new friend has to fly back to the stars.