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Topic: Y5 50 Recommended Reads

Music: A Fold-Out History

Non-fiction

Learn about how different genres started – including classical, folk, jazz, gospel, rock ‘n’ roll, country, punk, grunge and pop. Discover the stories of maestros including Beethoven, Wei Liangfu, Django Reinhardt, The Beatles, Joni Mitchell, David Bowie, Maria Callas, Nina Simone, Louis Armstrong and Beyonce. Marvel at the orchestra with a huge illustration set in the Royal Albert Hall, and find out about ancient instruments from all over the world. Experience amazing musical moments from the first ever saxophone and early sound recording to the invention of the record and artificial intelligence. All this and more features in this richly illustrated timeline of music from 60,000 years ago to the present day.

The Book of Not Entirely Useful Advice

Poetry

A riotous celebration of words and a modern take on cautionary tales – featuring advice on parrots, gravy, mathematics, castles (bouncy), spiders, vegetables (various), breakfast, cakes, and removing ducks from soup. Advice comes in many shapes. Poems come in many shapes. And so, it follows, poems of advice come in many shapes too. Sometimes they look you in the eye and say, ‘Do this! Don’t do that!’ Sometimes they sidle up beside you and whisper, ‘Have you ever thought about … ?’

Not everything in this book is necessarily good advice, and not all of it is sensible advice. (But if you take the bad or un-sensible advice and don’t follow it, then it may become useful advice in its own way.)

Filled with colour illustrations and packed with silly rhymes, witty wordplay and thought-provoking story poems, this collection will delight children of all ages.

The House With Chicken Legs

Chapter book

A breathtaking reimagining of the Russian fairy tale of Baba Yaga, The House with Chicken Legs is the award-winning, spellbinding story of one girl’s adventure to find her destiny.

Shortlisted for the Blue Peter Book Awards Shortlisted for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize Shortlisted for the CILIP Carnegie Medal Shortlisted for Children’s Fiction Book of the Year at the British Book Awards Shortlisted for the Branford Boase Award

Marinka dreams of a normal life, where her house stays in one place long enough for her to make friends. But her house has chicken legs and moves on without warning.

For Marinka’s grandmother is Baba Yaga, who guides spirits between this world and the next. Marinka longs to change her destiny and sets out to break free from her grandmother’s footsteps, but her house has other ideas…

Football School Star Players

Chapter book

Football School Star Players is part of the bestselling Football School series, which teaches you about the world through football, packed with superstar stories, fun facts and laugh-out-loud illustrations. Perfect for readers 7+ and recommended by the National Literacy Trust, BookTrust, the Premier League and parents and teachers.

Get young fans dreaming big with this incredible collection of inspirational lives from the world of football.

What made Pele the greatest player of all time? How did Harry Kane overcome the odds to win the Golden Boot? What is the secret behind Lionel Messi’s outstanding success? And why is Megan Rapinoe so fearless in her beliefs? This collection of fifty biographies brings together the incredible true stories of the game’s greatest legends who changed the world of football. Empowering and inspirational, this is the perfect book to get young fans dreaming big both on and off the pitch.

The Dam

A lyrical, captivating and beautiful picture book by Carnegie Medal-winner David Almond, illustrated by Kate Greenaway Medal-winner Levi Pinfold.

When a great dam was built by the Kielder Water in Northumberland, the valley below slowly filled with water. But just before this, when the villagers had been moved out, two musicians went back to the abandoned valley. They tore down the boards over the houses, stepped inside and started to play – for this would be the last time that music would be heard in this place. In this astonishing picture book that combines themes of loss, hope and music David Almond pays homage to all musicians, showing the ancient and unstoppable power of creativity.

Pages & Co.: Tilly and the Bookwanderers

Chapter book

A magical adventure to delight the imagination. A curl-up-on-the-sofa snuggle of a debut from a uniquely talented author.

Eleven year-old Tilly has lived above her grandparents’ bookshop ever since her mother disappeared shortly after she was born. Like the rest of her family, Tilly loves nothing more than to escape into the pages of her favourite stories.

One day Tilly realises that classic children’s characters are appearing in the shop through the magic of ‘book wandering’ – crossing over from the page into real life.

With the help of Anne of Green Gables and Alice in Wonderland. Tilly is determined to solve the mystery of what happened to her mother all those years ago, so she bravely steps into the unknown, unsure of what adventure lies ahead and what dangers she may face.

My Life as a Cat

Chapter book

A wise, funny and moving story of what it means to find a family, from the best-selling author of I, Cosmo.

Leonard has never had a name. Or a body. Or a best friend. But he is excited to try being a human.

On their three-hundredth-birthday, every alien from Leonard’s home galaxy gets to spend a month in the body of an Earth Creature. Leonard was supposed to become a forest ranger in Yellowstone National Park – but there was a mix-up.

And now he’s stuck as a stray cat.

Luckily for Leonard, he meets a young human called Olive – and together they set out on a journey to find home.

Old Enough to Save the Planet

Picturebook

Meet kids – just like you – taking action against climate change. Learn about the work they do and discover how the future of our planet starts here… with you.

The Hatmakers

Chapter book

Cordelia comes from a long line of magical milliners, who weave alchemy and enchantment into every hat. In Cordelia’s world, Making – crafting items such as hats, cloaks, watches, boots and gloves from magical ingredients – is a rare and ancient skill, and only a few special Maker families remain.

When Cordelia’s father Prospero and his ship, the Jolly Bonnet , are lost at sea during a mission to collect hat ingredients, Cordelia is determined to find him. But Uncle Tiberius and Aunt Ariadne have no time to help the littlest Hatmaker, for an ancient rivalry between the Maker families is threatening to surface. Worse, someone seems to be using Maker magic to start a war.

It’s up to Cordelia to find out who, and why . . .

Featuring gorgeous black-and-white illustrations throughout by Paola Escobar.

The Luckiest Kid in the World

Chapter book

What if you suddenly had everything you’d ever dreamed of? That’s exactly what happens to 10-year-old Joe Smith in this hilarious, brand-new comedy adventure from bestselling author, comedian and presenter Danny Wallace, with illustrations throughout from Gemma Correll.
Perfect for children age 8+ and fans of David Baddiel, Stephen Mangan, David Walliams, Andy Griffiths, Jenny Pearson and Helen Rutter.

Joe Smith is average in every way. He is average height. He lives in an average town, on an average street, in an average house, with a very average family. But when a survey identifies him as the most average kid in the country – well that makes him very special indeed. Suddenly, everyone wants Joe to test out their latest products. Overnight he is sent mountains of gifts – the best trainers, the coolest bike, the most exciting new tech, the latest flavours of ice cream – and so much more. He gets special cinema screenings and the entire water park all to himself. Joe now has everything he could possibly want in the world – and that’s far from average.

But is going from zero to hero all it’s cracked up to be?

This brilliantly warm-hearted, laugh-out-loud family adventure will leave you thinking about friendship, family and why everyone is special just the way they are.

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