Recommended children's booklists sorted by age or topic

Topic: Animals KS2

Welcome to the museum! There are more than 160 animal specimens to be discovered in Animalium, the first in a series of virtual museums. Wander the galleries – open 365 days a year – and discover a collection of curated exhibits on every page, accompanied by informative text. Each chapter features a different branch of the tree of life, from the simple sponge to the enormous elephant.

This captivating book brings the natural world into sharp focus. Beautifully colored and intricately detailed illustrations depict places as exotic and wide-ranging as Senegal’s Niokolo- Koba National Park, Russia’s Sikhote-Alin mountain range, the Sinharaja Forest Reserve in Sri Lanka, Daintree National Park in Australia, the Mexican desert, and China’s bamboo forests. The animals that live in these remote places, cleverly hidden in the trees, plants, and flowers, create a marvelous challenge for young readers to find and identify. Each spread contains more than twenty different species including birds, snakes, frogs, iguanas, leopards, tigers, gorillas, pandas, and wolves. The back of the book is filled with additional information about the animals and their habitats. Young readers will find much to discover, explore, and learn in this absorbing celebration of our planet and the amazing creatures we share it with.

This series of stunning illustrated texts demonstrates the stories behind some of nature’s greatest phenomena.

In ‘Habitats’, find out about the most extreme ecosystems from around the world, and the weird and wonderful things that exist within them. With contents covering diverse environments and their inhabitants, from the gargantuan trees of the temperate rainforests to the great grazers that occupy tropical grasslands, this book is a wonderful way to learn about a range of habitats.

Key information is presented in accessible chunks and accompanied by stunning panoramic illustrations, whilst infographic panels offer the reader memorable bite-sized facts. All animals included in the text are also featured on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. With an interest range of 9-11 years, this book is ideal for children in late-KS2 who are looking to learn more about nature and environments.

Winner of the Margaret Mallett Picture Book Award, as part of the English 4-11 Picture Book Awards.

There are living things everywhere: the more we look, the more we find. There are creatures on the tops of the tallest jungle trees, at the bottom of the coldest oceans, even under the feathers of birds and in boiling volcanic pools. So how many different kinds are there? One, two, three … lots! From the award-winning team behind Tiny: The Invisible World of Microbes comes Lots, a beautifully illustrated introduction to the concept of biodiversity for younger readers. With words from Nicola Davies and exquisite artwork by Emily Sutton, this groundbreaking book is certain to enchant and inspire children.

Did you know that a frog can stop its heart from beating? Or that an elephant’s tooth is heavier than a brick? Or that the brain of an ostrich is smaller than its eyeball?
In this book, there are 21 cross-sections that show how skeletons, organs, nerves and muscles fit together inside creatures from across the globe. Animals can have some body parts in common with us humans, such as the brain, heart and lungs – but each creature has its own unique body to help it survive and thrive in the wild.

This means that there are all kinds of weird and wonderful organs and senses in the animal kingdom, such as the honey stomach in a honeybee or the ink sac of an octopus. Prepare to be dazzled as you discover incredible information to wow your family and friends with.

The moving story of the extraordinary friendship between a boy and his fox and their epic journey to be reunited. Beautifully illustrated by multi-award winner, Jon Klassen. Now available in Paperback!

Pax was only a kit when his family was killed and he was rescued by ‘his boy’, Peter. Now the country is at war and when his father enlists, Peter has no choice but to move in with his grandfather. Far worse than leaving home is the fact that he has to leave Pax behind. But before Peter spends even one night under his grandfather’s roof he sneaks out into the night, determined to find his beloved friend. This is the story of Peter, Pax, and their journeys back to each other as war rampages throughout the country.

A profound and moving story with stunning illustrations by award-winning illustrator, Jon Klassen, ‘Pax’ is destined to become a classic in the vein of ‘Charlotte’s Web’ and ‘Watership Down’.

Sid, Peggy and Amy adore the two gerbils, Bubble and Squeak, but their mother detests them. A major family battle results, and it’s clear life is never going to be quite the same again. But after a near fatal encounter between Bubble and Ginger the cat, Mrs Sparrow begins to see that life with a pair of gerbils might not be so bad after all.

This book collates the stories of 20 different animals and the incredible journeys they undertake. This beautifully illustrated information text is recommended for KS2. Animals include blue wildebeests, humpback whales, Christmas Island red crabs, wandering albatrosses and ruby-throated hummingbirds.

This award-winning book showcases wild and wonderful beasts, from tigers and brown bears to binturongs and Ice Age beasts. Hugely popular in primary classrooms due to its vibrant, appealing illustrations and accessible and interesting style of text, this informative compendium is the kind of non-fiction that children like to come back to again and again. You may also like the other books in the series, The Big Book of Bugs and The Big Book of the Blue.

We love this engaging non-fiction text all about the way in which animals use problem-solving to overcome everyday challenges. In this book readers will look at how dung beetles use the stars to map their journeys, how humpback whales create nets of bubbles to capture their next fishy meal and how mimic octopuses disguise themselves in the most creative of ways. The collage-style illustrations draw the reader into the incredible world of nature while the short, vocabulary-rich text is perfect for inspiring deeper thinking about what we can learn from nature’s problem-solvers and would be a great stimulus for a writing project.

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