Recommended children's booklists sorted by age or topic

Topic: BAME characters

Planet Omar: Accidental Trouble Magnet

Chapter book

Omar is a boy with a huge imagination that can land him in trouble. As well as being very funny, the stories tackle important issues like bullying and prejudice, with Omar’s diary-style entries covering the everyday ups and downs of life including Muslim traditions, school worries, friendships, family life and a big dose of toilet humour. This first book in this illustrated chapter book series sees Omar move to a new neighbourhood and experience some religious and racial prejudice. It also sees Omar settle in at school, join in with family science experiments and experience the month of Ramadan including the Eid feast at the end.

Family and Me!

Michaela Dias-Hayes

Picturebook

A joyful book that shows children how their wonderful features, traits and heritage can be lovingly passed down from biological and chosen family members. As a young girl explores the idea of her family tree, she notices all the beautiful physical features she has inherited from her black and south Asian family lines. Not only that, she realises how their love and nurture bring our shared interests, passions and personality traits. From Nanny’s nose for a good recipe, to Grandpa’s melanin skin, a sense of belonging and pride rings through in the most pure and joyful way.

Llama Out Loud

Allen Fatimaharan & Annabelle Sami

Chapter book

Yasmin Shah has not spoken for years, not since the ‘Purple/poo incident’. Her family on the other hand, all speak at the top of their voices all of the time. Yasmin wonders if her house could possibly get any louder, when she is joined by Levi – a madcap, well meaning but noisy and often rude Llama. Annabelle Sami, author of the Agent Zaiba Investigates series, skilfully weaves a fun and silly llama adventure story with more serious themes including the impact of bullying, selective mutism, loneliness and old age. We shared this story as a family bedtime read with my 7-year-old, and once we got into the story we struggled to put it down, wanting to know just what Levi would get up to next and how Yasmin would react to the chaos unfurling around her..

Planet Omar: Ultimate Rocket Blast

Chapter book

Read our Q&A with author Zanib Mian over on our blog.

The Naughtiest Unicorn

David O’Connell & Pip Bird

Chapter book

The first in a joy-filled series of illustrated chapter books, telling the funny story of Mira’s adventures as she starts unicorn school. Mira wishes to be paired up with the most beautiful, sparkly unicorn of her dreams, but the reality presents a grumpy, untidy, doughnut-eating unicorn named Dave.

This humorous adventure series explores themes of friendship, inclusion and loyalty, with a backdrop of rainbows, glitter and a dose of unicorn toilet humour, too. Children love the idea of the secret unicorn school – a bit like a sparklier version of Hogwarts. Illustrations, age-appropriate humour and a diverse cast of characters make this a super choice of chapter book story for readers aged 6-8.

Amari and the Night Brothers

BB Alston

Chapter book

Amari Peters knows three things.

Her big brother Quinton has gone missing.
No one will talk about it.
His mysterious job holds the secret…

So when Amari gets an invitation to the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs, she’s certain this is her chance to find Quinton. But first she has to get her head around the new world of the Bureau, where mermaids, aliens and magicians are real , and her roommate is a weredragon.

Amari must compete against kids who’ve known about the supernatural world their whole lives, and when each trainee is awarded a special supernatural talent, Amari is given an illegal talent – one that the Bureau views as dangerous.

With an evil magician threatening the whole supernatural world, and her own classmates thinking she is the enemy, Amari has never felt more alone. But if she doesn’t pass the three tryouts, she may never find out what happened to Quinton …

Eco Girl

Ken Wilson-Max

Picturebook

Inspired by his father’s passion for trees, Ken Wilson-Max’s picturebook is a delightful introduction to conservation and care for the natural environment.

Eve is lively and thoughtful, living at the edge of a big, old forest. She loves everything about it, the trees most of all, especially the Baobab, the African “tree of life”. On her birthday, Eve and her parents visit Grandma, deep in the forest, where she gets a magical surprise. Unwrapping the bark from around a parcel that Grandma has carried to a special place, she finds a Baobab seedling to plant and take care of. Following family tradition, it will grow next to the trees that her father, grandma and great-grandma nurtured, connecting her forever with the forest she loves.

The bold, rich colours used to illustrate the book joyfully conjure the heat, the vibrant flowers and the many shades of green to be found in the forest.

This is perfect to share with Early Years and Key Stage 1 classes to help young children understand that everyone can play their part in preserving the natural world. Facts about trees are included are at the end, providing a good starting point for finding out more.

Rapping Princess

Allen Fatimaharan & Hannah Lee

Shiloh is a princess. Her family are all great musicians and singers – but Shiloh can’t sing a note. She feels like there must be something wrong with her until one day she hears a different kind of music and joins in. It takes wise words from others to learn to be proud of what she can do – even if it does mean she is a little bit different.

This is a bright and engaging picture book perfect for younger readers. The illustrations are bold and colourful and reflect the story being told effectively. The story is told in rhyme and has an easy-to-pick-up rhythm – making it a great story for retelling with help from children.

The story teaches that everyone has a talent to be discovered and that even if it isn’t the talent you expected it might still be something to be valued and shared.

My first thoughts on reading this story were that it could be used as part of music lessons. Children across the primary age range could create body percussion and untuned percussion compositions to accompany a reader as the story lends itself well to being told to a steady beat. It could also teach rhythm and rhyme as part of English lessons with key stage 1 children. As part of PSHE lessons, the story could be used to talk about children’s talents and things they are proud of.

Dance With Oti: The Lion Samba

Oti Mabuse & Samara Hardy

Dance yourself happy with the second, samba spectacular picture book by dancing superstar, Oti Mabuse. It’s time for Oti’s dance class! Join Oti and her class for their first dance show, and learn “The Lion Samba” in ten easy steps.

The children are excited to return to dance class with Mrs Oti and waste no time preparing for their animal-themed dance show. Mrs Oti teaches them all about animal movements and how they can be used in their dance. From stomping like an elephant, stretching up high like a giraffe or even shaking your mane like a lion, there’s so much fun to be had. But when disaster strikes on the day of the show, it seems like all of their hard work has been for nothing. Luckily for the children, Mrs Oti is on hand, and soon they realize that a little bit of courage can go a long way.

Written by Strictly Come Dancing superstar, Oti Mabuse, this heartwarming picture book will dance into the hands of families who have loved watching Oti on-screen.

Binny’s Diwali

Nidhi Chanani & Thrity Umrigar

A beautiful celebration of Diwali for young children.

Binny is excited to talk to her class about her favourite holiday. But she struggles to find the words.

Taking a deep breath, she tells them about the fireworks, the delicious pedras and jalebis, and the clay lamps called diyas … there are so many wonders to see!

Her favourite holiday is the Hindu festival of lights called Diwali, and now that they know all about it, all her friends love it too!

This brilliant picture book is a wonderful introduction to Diwali for little ones, wrapped within a story of sharing and acceptance

With beautiful illustrations by Nidhi Chanani that bring the story of Diwali alive!

Includes a spread on the story of Diwali and how it is celebrated

Best Books by Age

Popular Children's Authors

Topic: BAME characters

News: Reflecting Realities Report 2025: Summary of Findings

NEWS: The Children’s Booker Prize is Established

Stories That Make You Feel: Simon Stephenson on The Snowman Code

Subscribe to our newsletter

Your Review