Browse this years’ 20 Top Titles. The reviews below are written by our schools team, who read hundreds of books and selected these as good reads offering a range of themes and cultural and gender diversity to promote Reading for Pleasure.  Click on the covers to find out more about individual titles and click to buy discounted book bundles from £40.00.

Picture Books

Ten Delicious Teachers by Ross Montgomery
This funny, colourfully illustrated counting book tells the story of 10 teachers who miss their bus and have to walk home through the woods. They encounter various monsters and disappear one by one…. Who is the one teacher who can defeat the monsters? At the bookshop we voted this a firm favourite!

A Dress With Pockets by Lily Murray
Lucy has so many dresses to choose from at the Fabulous Fashion Store, but what is her dream dress and would her Aunt like it? A funny frock-filled story for adventurous children with an inquisitive spirit who don’t just want sequins and sparkles on their dresses but also useful pockets with a practical purpose.

Saving Mr Hoot by Helen Stephens
Ben befriends an owl who lives in the tree outside his house. But when the grown-ups want to chop down the tree, he needs to act to save his friend, Mr Hoot. This warm, inspiring story is beautifully illustrated and shows how sometimes the smallest people can make a difference in protecting wildlife.

The Duck Who Didn’t Like Water by Steve Small
Duck leads a solitary existence as, unlike other ducks, he doesn’t like to get wet! In his yellow raincoat and hat, he spends rainy days with his shutters drawn. One night, when investigating a hole in his roof during a storm, he finds a lost frog on his doorstep. The two develop a special friendship, sharing a love of reading and stories.

You Can’t Let an Elephant Drive a Racing Car by Patricia Cleveland-Peck
An unlikely assortment of creatures, starting with an elephant, compete in a sporting contest. Meet a figure skater alligator, a cricketing kangaroo, a cycling walrus and a weightlifting wombat! Children will laugh out loud at the madness and mayhem. Great illustrations.

The Unicorn That Said No by Marc-Uwe Kling
A contrary unicorn decides to break free from its cotton candy world of lucky clovers and soft squishy cuddles for an adventure of its own. The first part of the book (with more text than some of our other picture books) is in rhyming couplets, but then changes to prose when we learn that it has become a uNOcorn and leaves home. An unusual book which children can keep coming back to.

Funny Bums, Freaky Beaks and Other Incredible Creature Features by Alex Morss
A book full of the most unusual features in the animal kingdom, from puzzling toes to weird ears, and all the other body parts in between! We encounter the toes of a pom pom crab, the nose of a proboscis monkey, the bum of an eastern spotted skunk, the neck of a king vulture and many more. Everything is strange and wonderful in its own way! Dip in to be amazed!

Short Chapter Books

Kevin Vs the Unicorns by Philip Reeve & Sarah McIntyre
Max and his best friend Kevin, a roly-poly flying pony, enter the Magical Pony Club Steeplechase. Kevin is not keen, but biscuits are promised, so of course he wants to win and make Max proud. As the competition heats up, Max and Kevin discover a conspiracy to steal the precious Periwinkle Cup. Can they stop the thieves and retrieve the stolen trophy in time? The latest in our favourite Kevin series.

Supernan’s Day Out by Phil Earle
Plane crashes, robberies and fires were not what Stanley was expecting on a day out at the seaside with his nan and the other residents of her care home! Nan doesn’t know about Stanley’s superpowers, so stepping in to help would blow his top-secret identity. Luckily, another mysterious superhero seems to be on hand, saving the day. But who could it possibly be?

Rabbit and Bear: A Bad King Is a Sad Thing by Julian Gough & Jim Field
Icebear has arrived in Rabbit and Bear’s valley, and he wants to be king. He’s big and scary, and the more kind and understanding the animals are, the meaner he becomes. Will Rabbit, Bear, and the other animals find the solution within themselves, or will they need to ask someone else for help?

Mirabelle and the Naughty Bat Kittens by Harriet Muncaster
Mirabelle is half fairy and half witch (even her hair is black and purple) and gets into lots of mischief. Problems look likely when she is partnered with annoying goody-two-shoes Lavinia on a school trip… After releasing a cloud of bittens, Mirabelle has to show Lavinia how to put things right – even if it involves disobeying some rules. There are more Mirabelle books to come!

Planet Omar – Ultimate Rocket Blast by Zanib Mian
Omar and his friends are taking part in a national rocket-building competition. With a little help from Omar’s scientist mum and dad and some fart power, they come up with a rocket that’s ready to blast off. But when someone starts sabotaging the rockets, the boys find themselves on a new mission to reveal the culprit… One of the series of Omar books.

Confident Reader Books

Breakfast Club Adventures: The Beast Beyond the Fence by Marcus Rashford
When twelve-year-old Marcus kicks his favourite football over the school fence, he thinks he’s never getting it back. Nothing that goes over that wall ever comes back. But the next morning Marcus gets a mysterious note inviting him to join the Breakfast Club Investigators, and he is soon pulled into an exciting adventure with his new mates to solve the mystery and get his football back! Action-packed, with great illustrations.

A Street Dog Called Pup by Gill Lewis
Pup and his boy are inseparable. But both their worlds change forever when Pup is cruelly taken away and abandoned in Dead Dog Alley. He learns to fight for survival by joining a pack of street dogs, holding on to the hope of one day being reunited with his boy. But as that hope shrinks with every passing day, Pup begins to wonder if they will ever be reunited. A thrilling and heartwarming novel celebrating the unique bond between humans and animals.

Football Mad – Teamwork by Paul Stewart
This isn’t just about football: it’s about loyalty, teamwork and what to do in a crisis. It’s girls against boys in the charity football match, but the girls are one player short. One of the boys has to join their team: whose side is he really on as the match gets underway? Short and pacey: a great read!

The Last Bear by Hannah Gold
April’s dad is a scientist whose work on climate change takes them both to Bear Island in the Arctic Circle. The island no longer has bears because the ice caps have melted, but one night April catches a glimpse of something distinctly bear-shaped loping across the horizon…. We meet a hungry and lonely bear, a long way from home, and witness April’s determination to help her new friend. An adventure story with themes of friendship, nature and the wild.

Ollie Spark and the Accidental Adventure by Gillian Cross and Alan Snow
Ollie Spark loves mending machines and solving mysteries. But he gets more than he bargained for when fixing Aunt Caz’s van…Ollie finds himself in a mysterious city with weird plants, an unknown language and very strange people. With the help of Gasket, his new dog, he sets off on a mission to save the city – and Aunt Caz – from disaster. Can Ollie fix things before it’s too late? Great illustrations and drawings of machines!

The Light in Everything by Katya Balen
Tom is quiet and withdrawn; Zofia is angry, bold and furious. They are polar opposites and they can’t stand each other. Not for one second. But Tom is moving in with Zofia because Tom’s mum and Zofia’s dad are in love. Both children want the whole mess to go away but it’s not that easy. There’s a baby on its way and a boat to be built…. A great story about families and friendship.

Wished by Lissa Evans
Ed and his sister Roo find themselves spending half term with boring old Miss Filey and her disgustingly smelly cat as the builders are in their house. There is no WiFi or TV so things can only get better when they discover an old pack of birthday candles that grant real wishes. But it turns out that wishing is a complicated business and you don’t always get quite what you’d imagined… Great story with good adventure line – it’s completely fantastical, very funny and strangely believable.

Escape Room by Christopher Edge
When Ami arrives at The Escape, she thinks it’s the ultimate escape room with puzzles and challenges to beat before time runs out. But after meeting her teammates, she learns that this is no ordinary challenge: they have been chosen to save the world and must work together to find the answer. As they are locked inside the first room, they quickly realise that the stakes are sky high…. An exciting read with a real twist at the end!

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