Genius inventor Skunky has just designed a brand-new creation . . . a robot called Metal Eve! She needs to learn everything there is to know about life, so it’s probably not the best idea that she’s surrounded by Bunny, Monkey, Weenie, Pig and the gang. The only thing she’s going to learn from them is that life in the Woods is very, very silly indeed! Laughs will be aplenty in the hit comic book sensation!
Dog Man meets the Lord of the Rings in this epic laugh-out-loud graphic novel series about two aspiring monster slayers. In their second adventure, our heroes face a new threat to Meowminster – an army of ferocious sea monsters! This is the perfect new read for fans of Captain Underpants, Dog Man and The Simpsons!
The islands of Pawdor are in peril once again! Ferocious sea monsters have been spotted on shore, and the townsfolk are in a complete panic. Luckily, Kitty Quest are ready to protect the land. So what if Woolfrik and Perigold are the only guild members (besides their mentor who’s a ghost), and it’s just their second week on the job?
How are these two amateur heroes supposed to stop a whole army of tentacled beasts? It may just take some quick thinking, a whole lot of luck, and a little help from the most unexpected of places. In order to save all of kitty-kind, Woolfrik and Perigold are going to have to learn to work together and prove that two heads are better than one.
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.
Meet Grant the genie, and his best friend – the puppy, Teeny…
The third in a series of magical adventures from the renowned illustrator, Steven Lenton, winner of Waterstones Picture Book of the Month and the Times Children’s Book of the Week.
When Grant starts to miss his old life in Genie World, Teeny has a plan on how he can get the genie home for a flying visit. But as usual, where wishes are involved, nothing is quite that simple and they soon find out they’re in for a rollercoaster of a ride!
Hilarious, pitch-perfect stories where everyday school life becomes completely extraordinary! By a brilliant author/illustrator team with laughs on every page!
Izzy’s school is being merged with St Bartholomew’s Primary, their greatest rivals! What will happen when the new kids join, in their too-shiny shoes and with their too-loud singing? And what if they’ve got a secret mission and that mission is a BAD mission? Only Izzy and her friends can discover the truth, even if they must go SO DEEP UNDERCOVER that they might not come back…
Last year, the first Einstein the Penguin book was a huge success and the next book in the series publishes this month. The newest book, Einstein the Penguin: The Case of the Fishy Detective, sees the loveable penguin Einstein return with a new adventure involving a surprise kidnapping and a mystery to solve.
Iona started writing Einstein the Penguin while she was studying English at Oxford, stating that writing children’s books was more fun than studying for final exams. Now, what started as a project alongside her studies has been published with HarperCollins Children’s Books and was named The Sunday Times Children’s Book of the week.
The stories are an enjoyable mix of whodunnit and a hilarious story of a penguin who comes to live with two children, causing them to put aside their sibling squabbles and come to his rescue. This is a lovely choice of a class read for Lower KS2, and children will enjoy the parody of incompetent teachers/zoo keepers/detectives/parents while also prompting several discussion points about right and wrong. The series makes a fun next step for readers who have enjoyed Paddington or Erica’s Elephant.
Edda lives in the occupied Netherlands in the 1940s. It is a scary time, as German soldiers are taking young men from the streets and forcing them into hard labour in Germany. Edda has already lost an uncle to this brutality, and she has two brothers, one already in hiding to avoid being taken by the Nazis. Edda is also secretly working for the Resistance, at great personal risk. She even wonders if it is worth it, until things in her hometown get much, much worse.
The story of Edda is based on the early life of the film star Audrey Hepburn, who was half British and half Dutch. Whilst fictional, it contains many true events in Audrey Hepburn’s life, including the killing of her uncle, actually mentioned in Anne Frank’s diary. Aged only fifteen Audrey/Edda worked for the Resistance and showed incredible courage in the face of unimaginable cruelty and horror. As the war dragged on, people were slowly starving to death, as well as facing brutality on the streets of their towns. According to the information at the end of the book, more than 22,000 Dutch people died of starvation during this period, something I never knew.
Teachers teaching about World War 2 will find this book an invaluable resource to add to the plethora of books written about the period.
Yesterday Crumb is a girl with fox ears who lives in a cage in a circus. She is exhibited as a freak and now twelve years old, is desperate to escape. When she finally gets her chance, Yesterday finds a world full of magic and enchantment, a travelling witch’s teashop and friends as well as enemies. As the tag line says, “Adventure and magic await in every teacup….”
This book has been compared to the Strangeworlds Travel Agency and Starfell, and while I can see why, it is entirely original in other ways. Yesterday is a marvellous and feisty heroine and her new friends are equally delightful. The villain, because of course there has to be a villain, is suitably scary and there are many heart-stopping moments of peril. Overarching all of this is the wonderful setting of the teashop and the magic therein. It has now become one of the places in fiction I want to visit; I would love to sip hot chocolate and eat cake surrounded by the usual magical customers.
There is a theme of belonging (or not belonging) and feeling different that runs throughout the story. There is also a strong thread of finding your confidence and standing up to bullies in the story. Beatrice Blue’s cover is a vivid capturing of the essence of the book, – full of life and colour and magic.
Andy Sagar has a truly delicious debut on his hands, one I want to read aloud right away as the voices of all the characters come across so clearly. I am overjoyed there will be more Yesterday Crumb adventures yet to come.
We love this full-throttle mystery adventure series set on trains, with likeable characters and well-paced plots. This latest instalment invites readers onboard a journey through the never-ending night of the arctic winter towards the Arctic Circle and Northern Lights. The clues and red herrings unfold one by one and the high spirit of adventure and atmospheric setting are enough to set imaginations tingling just as much as detective senses. An absolute winner of a story – just like the rest of the series.
Following the journey of Alex and his father across Europe as they attempt to escape a brutal government and seek refuge, Running Out of Time is a unique blend of science fiction and thriller, while also tackling some difficult real-life current events including refugee journeys across Europe.
The story is full of action and keeps the reader on the edge of their seat while showing just a fraction of the emotional toll those fleeing conflict face in their journey to safety. The author states in their afterword that the book is not an attempt to convey all the difficulties that refugees face, however, I believe that the book would be a great way to begin to open up conversations about this topic.
The narrative alternatives between different time perspectives, with each chapter having a title page identifying which time period it is set in.
A five-star read for Y6!
review
Year group(s) the book is most suitable for:
Year group(s) the book is most suitable for:
Does the book contain anything that teachers would wish to know about before recommending in class (strong language, sensitive topics etc.)?
Does the book contain anything that teachers would wish to know about before recommending in class (strong language, sensitive topics etc.)?
Would you recommend the book for use in primary schools?
yes
Curriculum links (if relevant)
Curriculum links (if relevant)
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Any other comments