Reading For Pleasure: Branching Out

If you like Holly Webb’s animal books, try these…

Holly Webb’s animal stories feature gentle adventures with themes of kindness, hope and bravery. With relatable characters and loveable animals, these chapter books are hugely popular with independent readers.

We’ve put together a list of ten similar books for fans of Holly Webb. Those looking for more tales of special bonds between humans and animals could try Charlotte’s Web, Snow Foal or Lizzie & Lucky.

For young readers who enjoy stories of local animal rescues, we recommend An Otter Called Pebble, Because of Winn-Dixie or Appletree Animal Agency, while those looking for stories of wild animal conservation might enjoy Jess Butterworth’s Red Panda Rescue or Hannah Gold’s The Last Bear.

If you like The Wild Robot, try these…

Adventurous and thoughtful, The Wild Robot books feature themes of technology, environment and survival. The books are a stalwart in primary classrooms, with a picture book version and animated movie also being bit hits.

We’ve put together a list of ten similar books for fans of The Wild Robot. Readers looking to further explore the environmental theme might enjoy Piers Torday’s captivating animal adventure The Last Wild, Elizabeth Laird’s conservation story Song of the Dolphin Boy, and folklore-inspired Land of the Last Wildcat by Lui Sit.

For more stories of island adventures, we recommend Jess Butterworth’s survival story, Lost on Gibbon Island, featuring illustrations by Rob Biddulph. Childhood games come to life in Jenny McLachlan’s The Land of Roar, while Michael Morpurgo’s The Puffin Keeper is a story of friendship, hope and new beginnings set in the Scilly Isles.

Readers who love Roz, The Wild Robot’s loveable main protagonist, will find similarly appealing robot characters in Tin by Padraig Kenny, Scrap by Guy Bass, and Ted Hughes’s classic story, The Iron Man.

If you like The Magic Faraway Tree, try these…

Loved by young readers for generations, Enid Blyton’s classic series features eccentric characters, magical lands, adventure and exploration. From the joys of discovering the Enchanted Wood to tea with Saucepan Man and Silky the Fairy, these stories are well loved bedtime classics and independent chapter books, as well as a hit movie.

We’ve put together a list of ten similar books for fans of The Magic Faraway Tree. Young fans of stories featuring tiny heroes in hidden forest worlds might enjoy Toby Alone, Finders of Silverthorn Forest or By Ash, Oak and Thorn.

There are more portals to magical worlds to be found in P. G. Bell’s fast-paced The Train to Impossible Places, Amy Sparkes’s madcap The House at the Edge of Magic, and Ben Miller’s mysterious The Night We Got Stuck in a Story.

Readers looking to explore more fantasy lands could try the fantastical Museum of Lost Umbrellas, or Jenny McLachlan’s Land of Roar, which brings the childhood games of two twins to life.

If you like The Hunger Games, try these…

Hugely popular with YA readers, The Hunger Games is set in a post-apocalyptic society, featuring themes of survival, morality and media control.

We’ve put together a list of ten similar books for fans of The Hunger Games.

Readers looking for more stories of quests for survival might enjoy James Dashner’s bestselling The Maze Runner or Monique Turner’s sinister reality TV-inspired debut, Island of Influencers. Two survival stories that have stood the test of time are Gary Paulsen’s Hatchet, which starts with a crash-landing, and Robert Swindells’s Brother in the Land, with its nuclear war backdrop.

For more titles that explore dystopian societies, we recommend the gripping, futuristic New You For Ever by Steve Cole, alongside Veronica Roth’s Divergent, Lois Lowry’s The Giver, and Soyoung Park’s Korean YA thriller, Snow Globe.

To further explore the theme of rebels taking on the establishment, young adult readers could try Malorie Blackman’s classic Noughts & Crosses, or Philip Reeve’s Mortal Engines.

If you like Skandar, try these…

A. F. Steadman’s Skandar saga offers a blend of adventure, magic, danger and destiny, set in a world where unicorns are dangerous and powerful beasts. The series is an enormous hit with readers who enjoy adventures in fantasy worlds with magical creatures.

We’ve put together a list of ten similar books for fans of Skandar. Readers who love stories that feature mythical, fantastical creatures might enjoy Magicalia, Dragonborn or Dracula and Daughters or Katherine Rundell’s incredibly popular Impossible Creatures.

Those looking for new epic sagas or fantasy quests could try Daisy’s gripping adventures in Greenwild, the captivating Inkbound with it’s magical world-building, or the prehistoric monster-hunting journey in Fireborn.

For chapter books featuring secret schools and elite academies, we recommend Tola Okogwu’s Onyeka and the Academy of the Sun, Jacob North’s Ice Apprentices or Peter Burns’s Shadow Thieves.

If you like Pamela Butchart’s books, try these…

Pamela Butchart’s books are fast-paced, funny and highly relatable. With themes of friendship and school life, the stories celebrate individuality and teamwork with plenty of action and chaos. Some of the books are colour-illustrated early chapter books, like Wigglesbottom Primary, and so are high-illustrated longer chapter books with appeal to reluctant readers or those who enjoy illustrated humour.

We’ve put together a list of ten similar books for fans of Pamela Butchart’s books.

Readers who are looking for more classroom capers have plenty of choice in this list, including Daisy and the Trouble with School Trips, The Worst Class in the World, and Charlie Changes into a Chicken.

For more zany adventures to make readers laugh out loud, we recomment Anisha: Accidental Detective, An Alien in the Jam Factory, The Day that Aliens (Nearly) Ate our Brains, and Frank Cottrell-Boyce’s Millions.

Pamela Butchart’s chapter books are highly illustrated, appealing strongly to children moving on from picturebooks or school reading schemes. These younger readers who loved the format of Wigglesbottom Primary might enjoy Izzy the Inventor the series next.

If you like Max & Chaffy, try these…

Packed with adventure, puzzles and eye-catching illustrations, the Max & Chaffy books are hugely popular with early readers. These are early graphic novels suitable for children aged 5-7, and readers enjoy the comic style format and quirky animal companions.

We’ve put together a list of ten similar books for fans of Max & Chaffy. Readers looking for more fun animal adventures in a graphic novel style might enjoy John Patrick Green’s popular graphic novel series InvestiGators, Mo O’Hara and Jess Bradley’s master of disguise, Agent Moose, or Aoife Dooley’s undersea adventure Squid Squad.

Those seeking more high-energy, comic-book style fun will find plenty to enjoy in brightly coloured graphic novel adventures Max Meow, Press Start! and Happy Hills.

For more graphic novel stories featuring quirky companions and partnerships, we recommend Narwhal, Meet the Mubbles and Peanut, Butter & Crackers for younger readers in particular.

If you like Loki, try these…

Louie Stowell’s Loki is a hugely popular character with young readers, offering a hilarious modern spin on mythology and magic. This highly-illustrated, humorous series is a hit with children in KS2 who love a little dose of mischief and doodle-style illustrations.

We’ve put together a list of ten similar books for fans of the Loki books. Readers who love the anarchic humour in the Loki books will find more chaotic comedy in Grimwood, Fairy vs Wizard and Trixie Pickle.

Those who enjoy funny fiction inspired by history and mythology have plenty of choice in this list, including Pamela Butchart’s Icarus was Ridiculous and Maz Evans’s Who Let the Gods Out. There’s even more mythological mayhem in Medusa Gorgon’s Bad Hair Day and Hercules: The Diary of a (Sort of) Hero.

Readers looking for more illustrated, diary-style books might enjoy Phil Earle’s Finn’s Epic Fails, or Rashmi Sirdeshpande’s Hari Kumar: Ultimate Superstar.

If you like Little People, BIG DREAMS, try these…

Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara‘s prolific biographical series is incredibly popular with young readers and school librarians alike.

We’ve put together a list of ten similar books for fans of the Little People, Big Dreams series. Children who love reading life stories will find plenty to interest them in this booklist.

For readers interested in biographies of inspirational STEM pioneers, we recommend the fascinating Joan Procter, Dragon Doctor, the inspiring story of Mary Anning in The Fossil Hunter, Katherine Johnson’s barrier-smashing achievements in Counting on Katherine, and Rainforest Warrior, the story of environmental activist Chico Mendes.

For stories of record breakers and famous firsts, you could try solo pilot Zara Rutherford’s autobiographical I Flew Around the World, picturebook portrait of trailblazing Muslim astronomer Ulugh Beg, Prince of Stars, or Lottie the Little Wonder, a short, colour-illustrated chapter book about the world’s first female sports superstar, Lottie Dod.

There are also some brilliant true story collections and inspiring anthologies in this list, including Young, Gifted and Black, which celebrates the achievements of 52 trailblazing black women and men, and Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls, which features inspirational women around the world, ranging from singers and artists to activists and entrepreneurs.

If you like Izzy the Inventor, try these…

Izzy the Inventor is a science-meets-magic adventure series loved by new readers. Faced with a chaotic, magical cast of trolls, unicorns, ogres and more, Izzy uses science to problem-solve and save the day. Readers love the STEM-themed adventures formatted as a colour-illustrated early chapter book series with a sparkle of magic and fairytale.

We’ve put together a list of ten similar books for fans of the Izzy the Inventor books. For more fearless and curious science-loving characters like Izzy, try Queen of Questions Ada Twist or the energetic Supa Nova with her secret lab.

Readers looking for new adventures featuring young inventors and engineers could try heading to the Iron Forest with Harley Hitch, or to the secret workshop of Leonora Bolt.

Newly independent readers looking for another colour-illustrated chapter book series in a similar style to Izzy might enjoy the magical Unicornia, or Harriet Muncaster’s The Diary of Wiska Wildflower.

If it’s the collectability of series you love, we recommend trying Pia’s Pet Club and The Naughtiest Unicorn next.