Recommended children's booklists sorted by age or topic

Publisher: Scholastic

Welcome to The Game – an exciting summer camp where you will make new friends, build resilience and test your limits! You will be put into a team of five with strangers, no screens, no shortcuts. Everyone starts from scratch and has to make friends and find a way to the finish line together. Tig has been packed off to Game Camp to gain confidence, but is immediately wary of the other team members: bossy and ultra-competitive Maya, intense Joni, grumpy screen-addicted Frank and quiet, sporty Jake. They are all so different: but must find a way to work together. They embark on a series of physical and mental challenges, with Tig (and therefore the reader) choosing the path. When the team start noticing strange things happening around them in the woods – ghostly noises, wild weather and suspicious-looking Game Camp staff – they uncover a mystery to solve. Will you lead the team to victory, or into chaos? And will they all find out a lot about their true selves during the process…? You, the reader, will make choices for the team throughout this story. YOU are in charge of the Game!

An interactive book with multiple pathways for kids to follow – Sliding Doors for a younger audience!

An empowering, highly engaging format and a cracking mystery story all in one.

Think THE CRYSTAL MAZE meets the challenges section of an episode of THE TRAITORS!

The chaos and anarchy of Bunny vs Monkey meets the diary format of Loki and the sparring character dynamics of Blackadder in this two-colour, highly illustrated, laugh-out-loud debut!

The underworld is a dangerous place.

It’s all fiery and there’s marauding dragons and all sorts of other critters you wouldn’t want to run into. Demise, aka Bone Head, isn’t bothered about any of this.

Why?

Because he’s a skeleton guardian of the underworld – and not just any guardian. He thinks he’s the BEST and is determined to prove it… with catastrophic results…

Demise just wants to impress his Big Boss, Hades, god of the underworld. Problem is, Hades barely knows he exists. After an attempt to get attention backfires horribly, causing the gates of Hades’ castle to disintegrate, Demise and Mort are demoted to dog-sitting duty. And the dog in question? Cerberus, the famously ferocious three-headed dog of the underworld.

What could possibly go wrong with two creatures made out of bones trying to keep a massive mythological dog under control?

The funniest, most high-energy and must-have new illustrated children’s fiction launch of 2026
Every page is laugh-out-loud and will get your kid loving reading!
Striking, personality-packed two-colour art throughout

Enter a secret wonderland in the sky where Japanese legends come to life.

Twelve-year-old Jonty desperately wants an adventure but he knows it’s unlikely when he’s stuck at home for the entire summer. But then he meets a talking bonobo in the forest at the back of his house who invites him to enter a magical world behind a Japanese Memory gate. There, he will get to collect wild memories from the time his gramps was a famous primatologist, and soon, his adventure begins.

Behind the gate lies a world far more enchanting than back home. In a world filled with mischievous Japanese beings called yōkai, Jonty must battle to collect the memories in a series of hair-raising trials. But there is an evil sky pirate crew on board a ship who are hellbent on destroying the memories for good, and they have bows and arrows.

Can Jonty battle the pirate crew before time runs out and the wadokei watch-clock strikes?

Perfect for fans of Studio Ghibli and My Neighbour Totoro, this is a middle-grade fantasy adventure with a future classic feel, that focuses on Japanese folklore.
An outstanding and original new voice in children’s fiction.

Are you undeterred by mud, swamps, creepy crawlies and wild animals? Would you like to delve into unexplored caves, traipse through dense jungle or dive deep beneath the ocean’s waves? Then this is the book for you.

Written by wildlife expert and eco-journalist Sarah Roberts, this epic guide to the many fascinating, adventurous careers that exist in the world will have you frantically searching for your passport and rummaging for your rucksack.

From big-wave surfers and marine biologists to palaeontologists, explorers, sailors and wilderness medics, you’ll learn which super skills are required, read words of wisdom from real-life experts, and encounter fascinating facts, astonishing animals, top tips and much more!

A funny, beautifully illustrated young fiction series about a star come to earth to cause trouble! Ideal for readers aged 6-9, the perfect next step for Isadora Moon fans or readers of Sibéal Pounder and Laura Ellen Anderson.

Nora Nightsky is a star – literally.

Her glamorous mum is the North Star, and their dazzling family works hard, bringing to life the Little Bear constellation and sprinkling magic down to earth to grant human wishes.

But Nora is nowhere near as shiny as her perfect brother and sister.

Then one day, a girl wishes on Nora for the first time, asking for a pet.

Rebelling against the rules, Nora sneaks down to Earth with her best friend Leap, a cute hare constellation, to give the girl a piece of her mind!

A charming new young fiction character for readers moving up from Isadora Moon, brilliantly illustrated throughout in black and white by Becka Moor.

Lots of humour, mischief and antics with a beautiful friendship at the heart.

Judy Wise’s debut non-fiction picture book is a beautifully crafted celebration of the natural world, combining engaging storytelling with important environmental themes. Through lyrical, rhyming text, young readers are invited to follow the footprints of a variety of fascinating creatures, from majestic animals to tiny minibeasts, discovering the unique stories they leave behind.

As the journey unfolds, the book gently introduces children to concepts of conservation, ecology and environmental responsibility. Wise highlights the contrast between the footprints left by wildlife and the larger impact humans have had on the planet.

The uplifting conclusion delivers a hopeful message, inspiring children to take small but significant steps to help protect the Earth and its inhabitants. Adding further value, the book incorporates factual snippets about the featured creatures and interactive elements, including a search-and-find activity and practical tips for helping the planet.

Every so often a picture book comes along that captures a childhood trait with beautiful aplomb. This vibrant, wittily illustrated and written story tells of Mabel, a small child who does ‘things’ and every time blames the ‘alligator’.

Interpreting whether the alligator is Mabel’s imaginary naughty friend or actually an alligator causing chaos is a dilemma for the reader, and is eventually cleared up, along with some surprises along the way.

This is a fantastic book, illustrations and text meeting wittily and pithily so that one really won’t suffice without the other. Mabel and her parents’ body language is astute and accessible, the grandmother is drawn as young (a rarity), and the creators have made excellent use of the page. An outstanding picture book about acting out and telling the truth – all with a lot of fun.

Football stories are a massive hit in schools, often acting as a bridge into reading for children who prefer the pitch to the library or a deep dive into their favourite hobby for those who already love to read. Goal Squad: Win the Cup, written by football fanatic and sports journalist Scott Allen, is an excellent way into the genre, packing the drama of a real match into an accessible, fast-paced read.

Leo has the skills to reach the Premier League, but an injury sidelines him just as the season kicks off. He’s forced to watch from the bench while his rival Olli (a ball-hogging glory-hunter) takes his spot and puts the team’s future at risk. With relegation looming and only three games left, it’s a race against time for Leo to get fit and save the squad.

A gentle, football-themed short chapter book exploring teamwork, sportsmanship and perseverance.

A beautiful, gentle picture book with an environmental theme. This story is about Jack, who heads to the countryside for a summer of den building, making model boats and wildlife watching with his Grandad. The peace is short lived, however, when the pair discover a pile of rubbish dumped near their favourite pond. The pair set about to clean it up, and in turn this soon brings together the wider village too.

This is a touching picture book that beautifully captures the intergenerational bond between grandfather and grandson as well as real-world threats to nature. The book offers a clear encouragement to look after the environment, making it a lovely choice for little ones who like to think about the world around them.

In this human anatomy fact book for younger children, Dr Emily shows us just how extraordinary our ordinary bodies are.

Beautifully laid out, with big bold central illustrations, the book swiftly dives through the elements that make up our amazing bodies, from bones to muscles, organs, digestive system, senses and the brain. With just enough detail to be truly informative, such as detailing the functions of each organ, key muscles and bones, a dissection of a brain, a diagram of the heart and ear, there are also enough cute illustrations of children and dogs for it to be attractive rather than dry.

The end explores staying healthy, how the body deals with sickness such as exploring scabbing over grazes for example, this is an excellent primer for curious future doctors (and everyone small who wants to know more about their bodies!).

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