Recommended children's booklists sorted by age or topic

Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd

Sephy is a Cross: she lives a life of privilege and power. But she’s lonely, and burns with injustice at the world she sees around her.

Callum is a nought: he’s considered to be less than nothing – a blanker, there to serve Crosses – but he dreams of a better life.

They’ve been friends since they were children, and they both know that’s as far as it can ever go. Noughts and Crosses are fated to be bitter enemies – love is out of the question.

Then – in spite of a world that is fiercely against them – these star-crossed lovers choose each other.

But this is love story that will lead both of them into terrible danger . . . and which will have shocking repercussions for generations to come.

PoetryVerse novel

Rizu lives a comfortable life in the gated middle class suburbs of Delhi; her biggest worries are getting her homework done and keeping up with the mean girls at school. That is, until she’s accused of being a witch and the hysteria that follows triggers a chain reaction that ends in tragedy and life as she knew it changes forever.

Alone and fearing for her life, Rizu runs away and joins a group of pink sari wearing, stick wielding women, known for their revenge vigilantism. Together they can help Rizu take back her life and seek justice against those who wronged her.

But at what cost?

This is the definitive edition of The Diary of a Young Girl, which details the experiences of Anne Frank as a Jewish girl whose family fled Nazi occupation during World War II. 

Anne’s story is written in diary format and provides details of the months leading up to her time in hiding, background about her family and the political situation in Germany and then the Netherlands. The diary depicts Anne’s short life from her hiding place in the Annexe until she was discovered in 1944. It also gives details about those she was in hiding with and the very brave people who kept them safe.

The book is now considered a classic and is accessible for secondary school children – with language and themes appropriate for children in Key Stage. The book could be used in schools in a wider teaching context or for children to read in their own time, although discussion around the events of the book is always recommended. Anne’s is no ordinary diary and the gravity of the historical and political context needs to be keenly felt, particularly as our children grow up in an age where it would seem they need to be alert to hate crimes, extreme political movements and discrimination in various forms.

Nonetheless, her story is a remarkable and eye-opening one that – despite its dark historical context – also celebrates acts of courage in the face of adversity, making it a key text for readers in Key Stage 3.

Boy is Roald Dahl’s brilliantly entertaining look back at his own early years. This autobiographical account captures his school days and family life, told with trademark dark humour and (one presumes) a healthy dose of artistic licence. From sweetshop pranks to gruelling medical procedures, the real-life characters feel just as vividly drawn as the heroes and villains of his best-known fiction.

A great, classic choice for Year 5 or Year 6 autobiography or class read-aloud.

This is the title of a poem and included in a collection illustrated by the poet called Songs of Innocence and Experience (1794). His tiger in his illustration is a very friendly looking beast but the words ring out like bells and trumpets, blasting us with the power of the tiger. It is a poem that demands to be read aloud and haunted me as I wrote The Tigers in the Tower, so much so that I named the book’s sections after images from the piece. I have a strong memory associated with it. When I was ten, my primary school teacher wrote it up on a blackboard one day (yes, with chalk!) and we all had to copy and learn it if we could. That was an old-fashioned way of teaching even then. However, the poem is still in my mind as I write this, like a spell I can chant to summon the spirit of the tiger! Have a go. Here are a few lines…

Tyger Tyger, burning bright,
In the forests of the night;
What immortal hand or eye,
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

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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Stone Girl Bone Girl

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