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Topic: Reading for Pleasure

Books for Upper KS2 Reluctant Readers Aged 9-11

Best Books for Reluctant Readers in Upper KS2

For parents and teachers, there is often pressure and desire to guide every child successfully through the process of learning to read – while making sure it’s fun, enjoyable and a learning journey that will lead to a lifelong love of books. But which books are best for hooking in children who don’t feel interested in reading?

We’ve put together a curated collection of books designed to engage children who can appear reluctant to read for pleasure. At BooksForTopics, we understand the unique challenge of inspiring a love for reading in older primary school students who may be hesitant or less enthusiastic about picking up a book. Our list aims to break down common barriers and offer a diverse range of titles that cater to varied interests and reading abilities.

Try offering titles with a high image-to-text ratio like the popular Diary of a Wimpy Kid series or The 13-Storey Treehouse, offering an immersive reading experience that appeals to visual learners. We also recommend that you explore books with high-interest themes like Rashford Rules or Gamer, addressing hobbies and interests that are likely to captivate readers seeking meaningful reads. For those drawn to real-life stories and relatable worlds that create an easy connection between the reader and the narrative, try Ella on the Outside. For those who find reading boring, why not introduce a good dose of humour through Grimwood or Iguana Boy Saves the World With a Triple Cheese Pizza?

With something for all different tastes, this selection of our top book choices for engaging reluctant readers in Year 5 and Year 6 is here to help. Schools can purchase full sets of the books from Peters.

The Book of Stolen Dreams

David Farr

Chapter book

Screenwriter David Farr (well known for Spooks and The Night Manager) makes a triumphant entry into the world of the middle-grade novel with The Book of Stolen Dreams. Readers will enjoy being swept away amid the intrigue and wonder of the Book as the magical object at the centre of the story, the page-turning action of the children’s adventure and the impending sense of peril that is never far away.

The story is in part inspired by Farr’s family history, based on his Great Aunt and Uncle’s escape from Nazi Germany – but reimagined in a fantasy dictatorship. This is a story that values bravery, the magic of books and the influence of individuals who follow the right course even when the world around them feels oppressive. The Book of Stolen Dreams offers a tense and thrilling adventure, but one in which Farr allows the youngest characters to win the day – providing a hope-filled reminder that good can triumph over tyranny in a million small, everyday ways.

A Glasshouse of Stars

Shirley Marr

Chapter book

You have arrived for a better life at the New House in the New Land.” From the first sentence, the second-person narrative gives readers a unique and powerful experience of this beautiful, moving story of a young girl finding her way in an unfamiliar world. One of my all-time favourite books.

Migration, magic, resilience, friendship and hope.

Beauty and the Bin

Joanne O’Connell

Chapter book

Beauty and the Bin is a story about a young high school student named Laurie who finds herself torn between her family’s obsessions utilising food waste and living as ecologically as possible, being a good friend to those who understand her (although her family’s way of life is a closely guarded and embarrassing secret), and pleasing the most influential and popular girl at school who happens to have picked her out for her own benefit.

The book is primarily a tale about the pressures a young person feels as self-awareness, other people’s perception of you, and fitting in, becomes all-important. When she is caught by Charley, the most popular and prettiest girl, and the ‘influencer’ in school, rummaging through supermarket bins for perfectly good food, this is the lowest point in Laurie’s life. However, the ensuing conversation leads Charley to learn of Laurie’s ‘Beauty in the kitchen’ profile, where she promotes her natural skin-products she has made from fresh foods. These appear to be the perfect products to win the school’s enterprise competition and so Charley assumes Laurie’s co-operation and partnership, leaving Laurie to abandon her friends, who go it alone. A fortnight of compromising begins, all which places her on an uncomfortable and chaotic journey as she tries to keep pace with Charley and her manipulation, whilst losing out on her relationships with those that matter – her family and friends.

The main theme is eco-life style and food waste, but this story also offers an excellent example of how the influence and pressure of social media on young people can become more important than reality. Charley’s constant promotion of having the next big thing, including a yet-to-be made invention by Laurie, her use of intimidation in order to remain in control and maintain approval ratings, and her carefully crafted image, begins to take a toll on Laurie, as she realises that she has been taken advantage of and she has compromised her own ethics. What will it take for Laurie to be true to herself? The satisfying ending provides the answer and wraps up a good read, all with recipes for natural facial products for readers to try at the end of the book.

A Clock of Stars: The Shadow Moth

Chris Riddell & Francesca Gibbons

Chapter book

There are many things Imogen should be doing. She should be nice to her sister and her mother’s new boyfriend. There are also things she definitely should not be doing- like following a strange moth into a deserted, overgrown garden. But Imogen rarely does as she is told and now she has landed herself and her little sister Marie in a whole load of trouble. The strange moth leads them through a door in a tree to magical world where monsters are not just the stuff of nightmares. There is a real prince (spoilt and unloved), a huntress, a bear, a king and a villainess. The two sisters are trapped in this land with no way back.

This is the first of a trilogy and a debut book by Francesca Gibbons. It is a classic fantasy story, full of detailed characters and thrilling adventure. Some of the more minor characters are truly exciting and and I’m hoping they appear in the next book. The clockmaker himself and the beautiful, magical clock were deeply intriguing, and I wanted to find out more about both. A familiar theme in fantasy is whether the monsters are more or less monstrous than some of the people. In this story it a close-run thing. Some of the acts of violence on both sides are quite shocking and it is not a story for the fainthearted.

A highlight of this book is the illustrations by the well-known illustrator Chris Riddell. His style is instantly recognisable, and he brings the main characters to life with his detailed line drawings.

This book is a brilliantly original fantasy – not quite like anything else, but very much in the line of classic fantasy story telling. I will be looking forward to reading the next instalment.

The Good Bear

Fiona Woodcock & Sarah Lean

Chapter book

The Good Bear is a superb story to snuggle up with in the winter months, exploring themes of families, relationships and ‘togetherness’ through the tale of a young girl and a life-changing visit to the Norwegian winter. Thea, the main character, retells her story as a first-person narrative and sets the scene for the action to come through the first chapter, where she is beginning to settle down to tell her tale to her daughter as a part of a long-standing Christmas tradition.

In her story, set 30 years before, Thea receives an invitation to spend the Christmas holidays with her estranged father, who works as a carpenter and lives with his wife and her children in Norway. As she arrives, there is news that a bear has escaped from a circus and may be hiding in the forests near to where she is staying.

Thea’s complex emotions towards her father are sensitively and honestly written; particularly Thea’s anger towards Henry’s new family and their seemingly perfect life. Thea’s relationship with the bear is central to the story and gives the book a sense of Christmas magic that is warm and gentle; a welcome contrast to the more overtly tinsel-filled Christmas books.

A beautiful story brimming with winter magic.

Jungledrop

Abi Elphinstone

Chapter book

Our community members in schools tell us time and again how popular Abi Elphinstone’s stories have been in schools among pupils and teachers. Not so long ago, Sky Song whisked readers in upper KS2 away on a magical fantasy adventure through frozen landscapes and last year, Rumblestar landed to introduce the Unmapped Chronicle series with a bang. The latest book, Jungledrop, follows in the Unmapped Chronicle series but also reads well as a standalone adventure for those who missed Rumblestar.

Jungledrop tells the story of a set of obnoxious and self-assured twins called Fox and Fibber Petty-Squabble. The pair are fiercely competitive with each other, desperate to prove their own worth to the family businesses at any cost. They’ve got a lot to learn and the narrator assures the reader early on that they will learn to be brave and kind if we stick with them for a while – in fact, they are even on a path to save the world from the power-hungry antagonist Morg the Harpy.

Quickly hurled into an adventure they never meant to be part of, the twins find themselves in the glow-in-the dark rainforest kingdom of Jungledrop. Abi Elphinstone excels at fleshing out her fantasy worlds with thrilling and entertaining characters; in Jungledrop the twins meet a host of fantastical creatures, including their dry-humoured companion Heckle the parrot, Doogie Herbalsneeze (the jungle apothecary) and Iggy Blether, the unicycle-riding unmapper. The exotic landscape is also populated with imaginative plants like the gobblequick trees and a treetop highway for easy jungle commuting.

There’s a real sense of adventure in the story, with danger never being far away, and the fantasy elements are well- balanced against a voyage of empathy. The narrative offers the reader insights into the way in which the twins’ backgrounds, experiences and upbringing have contributed to their unpleasant behaviour and tendency towards dishonesty, selfish ambition and distrust of others’ intentions of kindness. Through their adventure, Fox and Fibber learn a lot about what it really means to be strong and how working together with courage and kindness is what makes kingdoms thrive. In the background to the story, there’s a gentle stirring of themes of environmental conservatism, as characters must act communally to preserve their kingdoms from threats of destruction.

A must-read for lovers of fantasy adventures and those who love a story that stirs the imagination.

Victoria Stitch: Bad and Glittering

Harriet Muncaster

Chapter book

This is a new middle grade story from Harriet Muncaster, best known for her popular Isadora Moon series.

Victoria Stitch and Celestine are twins, both hatched out of a diamond in the fairy-like world of Wiskling Wood. Here, babies hatched from diamonds usually become Queen, but this particular diamond had a fault which made the twins ineligible for the crown. Victoria Stitch, however, cannot accept that she will never be Queen and she embarks on a series of attempts at gaining the throne. She is the complete opposite to her sister, as Celestine is perfectly happy to be an ordinary citizen and is looking forward to getting on with her life once she leaves school.

Wisklings are fairies, born from jewels and living safely in the wood, protected by magic. They have wands and blooms (enchanted flowers) to fly on. The whole world of the wood is described in delightful detail and it seems that most Wisklings are satisfied with their life there – except Victoria Stitch, who will stop at nothing to achieve her ambitions.

The illustrations are instantly recognisable as Harriet Muncaster’s trade-mark style – simple line drawings that convey so much, set in cool purples and blacks. They are a highlight of this book, along with the map at the front. The story is perfect for earlier fans of Isadora Moon who are ready to move on to something more. A longer read than the Isadora Moon books, it is also darker (though there was always a bit of danger with a half fairy, half vampire character) and contains elements of plotting, murder and jealousy. Despite that, the overall tone of book is sweet and stylish, and even the dissatisfied Victoria Stitch has qualities that you can’t help but admire.

The ending is left open for further stories and the series will no doubt find instant success among Harriet Muncaster’s impressive fan base.

Some Places More Than Others

Renée Watson

Chapter book

New York Times bestselling author Renée Watson brings a heart-warming story about discovering the places that make us who we are.

Amara is 12 and lives in Oregon. She longs to visit New York so that she can find out about her heritage and see where her Dad grew up. Her Mum doesn’t have any family left, her Dad doesn’t talk about his, and with a new sibling on the way Amara is feeling a bit lost. She eventually persuades her Mum and Dad to take her to New York for her birthday and she is incredibly excited to meet her Grandpa Earl and her two cousins.

However, New York is busier than she imagined, Dad and Grandpa Earl are not talking to each other, and one of her cousins is not particularly welcoming. Dad spends most of the time working which makes it hard for her to work on the secret mission her Mum has given her: to bring her Dad and Grandpa Earl back together.

Things start to look up when Grandpa Earl arranges for Amara’s cousins Nina and Ava to take her sightseeing. While Nina is happy to show her around, Ava can’t understand why she is so fascinated by New York and rushes her past everything. Can Amara discover more about her heritage and bring her family back together?

I absolutely loved reading this heart-warming book, with its fascinating themes of identity, belonging, black culture and family running through the plot. It would make a brilliant book to read in Y7 as it raises many discussion points throughout, such as how Amara’s family treat her, how Amara behaves when she is in New York, the value of cultural heritage and the importance of family.

The Tzar’s Curious Runaways

Robin Scott-Elliot

Chapter book

The Tzar’s Curious Runaways is the debut children’s novel by writer and sporting journalist Robin Scott-Elliot. Set in imperial Russia in 1725, this historical fantasy adventure takes a number of familiar middle-grade themes into a less familiar setting: vulnerable characters on a journey, friendships and acceptance, perseverance in the face of peril, the bid for freedom. It makes for an exciting and tension-filled read and is likely to hold a high appeal of young readers who enjoyed The Greatest Showman film.

The story centres around Kat, a hunchback who was sold by her parents to the Tzar for his Circus of Curiosities, at the age of six. Eight years later, she finds herself hiding in the Tzar’s palace following his death, frightened for her life because she knows that the Tzar’s successor does not have the same interest in her or her fellow performers. Through a series of flashbacks dotted among the action, the reader learns of the prejudice and ridicule that Kat experienced as a dancer, and from there the scene is set: can she escape and return home to freedom?

Teaming up with fellow curiosities, a giant and a dwarf, Kat finds practical help in the Palace’s employees, including the librarian, who equips her with a special map to help her find home in Yegoshikha (hurray for librarians and the magic they can put into people’s hands!). The trio set off on a journey, relying on their wit and small pool of resources as they overcome a host of challenges: a wolf attack, prejudiced villagers, corrupt monks, perilous terrain and worsening hunger leading to increased risk-taking.

Finally, Kat finds her home, but it is not the happy ending she expects – and the reader expects – and the dramatic action continues as they make a new escape from the dangerous persecution of those she thought would finally accept her.

Scott-Elliot’s writing is flowing, with beautiful descriptions and a brilliant gripping pace. Apart from the obvious theme of adventure, there are the underlying themes of friendship, love, deeply engrained prejudice and suffering, determination, trust and hope. This book would suit Upper Key Stage 2 classes and I can imagine them begging me to read on at class storytime.