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Children’s books: top titles for ages 8-12
February 23, 2022 | Blog > News > Children’s books: top titles for ages 8-12
Each year our schools team select from the books published in the previous year to compile a list of some of the best books for children aged 4-12. Book choices are often outside the usual promotions and our criteria are ‘a good read’ along with ensuring diversity of characters, authors, settings and story line.
This set of books is selected to provide a robust range for all ages and abilities of primary school pupils and has become a highly valued resource for the schools we work with as core library stock, as a guide for introducing readers to new titles in the bookshop, and forms the basis of our World Book Day offer. This year we introduced a collection of ‘super readable books’ to encourage struggling or reluctant readers. They have engaging plots, strong characters, interesting themes as well as dyslexia friendly features.
Top titles for Year 4, 5 & 6 (ages 8-12)
Crater Lake: Don’t Ever Fall Asleep
Jennifer Killick
Year Six thought this would be an ordinary school trip….but they were wrong! There’s a bloodstained man who tries to stop their coach and there’s no one there to welcome them. After this things get much scarier. Is the place haunted? Do zombies exist? A funny but scary book that will make you want to read right to the end.
The Boy Who Made Everyone Laugh
Helen Rutter
An unusual book about an unusual boy. Billy wants to be a stand up comedian and there are jokes throughout the book to show just how good he is. But there’s one problem: he has a really bad stammer. He starts secondary school and doesn’t want to talk to anyone ever BUT he also wants to enter the end of term talent show. Who will help and who will stand in the way? Plus just where is Scraggles??? Funny and moving and a gripping read.
Danger at Dead Man’s Pass
MG Leonard and Sam Sedgman
The fourth in the Adventures on Trains series and maybe the best! Hal and his Uncle Nat receive a mysterious letter from an old friend asking for their help to investigate a deadly family curse. Their journey takes them across Europe on the Eurostar and the night train where they stay with the wealthy Kratzenstein family. As they go on the family funeral train up the mountain, Hal realises that time is running out for him to discover the secrets of Dead Man’s Pass. A fast paced detective story!
Strangeworlds Travel Agency
LD Lapinski
When 12-year-old Flick accidentally ends up in the Strangeworlds Travel Agency, she uncovers a fantastic secret: there are hundreds of other worlds just steps away from ours. All you have to do to visit them is jump into the right suitcase. Flick is invited to join Strangeworlds’ magical travel society and explore other worlds. She is soon involved
in the battle to save the city of Five Lights where buildings and even streets are mysteriously disappearing. Suitcases and new worlds appear and disappear: nothing is as it seems. But Flick must still get home and act as though nothing has happened!
Darwin’s Dragons
Lindsay Galvin
A book with a difference. It’s based on fact: the famous scientist Darwin’s voyage in 1835 to the Galapagos to learn more about animals and evolution – but there is a twist! Cabin boy Syms Covington is on the voyage and is washed overboard in a huge storm. He is stranded on an unexplored island where there are strange creatures with scales and wings. Will he ever be able to show these to Mr Darwin? Will anyone believe him? But first, how will he be rescued? Fact meets fiction in this really unusual adventure story.
Utterly Dark and the Face of the Deep
Philip Reeve
When Utterly Dark was a baby, she was washed up on the shores of the Autumn Isles and taken in by the Watcher of Wildsea. But everything changes when her guardian suddenly drowns. Now who will keep the Watch, and make sure Wildsea stays safe from the strange forces teeming in the deep ocean around them? Wildsea is no ordinary place: there are people with strange powers and enchanted islands that appear at sundown. Utterly has the knowledge but who will listen to her? Magic and suspense abound!
Voyage of the Sparrowhawk
Natasha Farrant
In the aftermath of World War One, everyone is trying to rebuild their lives. Ben and Lotti, both orphans and trying to fend for themselves, realise that in order to survive they must get away. So they hatch a plan to cross the Channel on Ben’s narrowboat searching for two people who may help. Buffeted by storms, chased by the police and
with a growing number of dogs, they set out on an epic journey, on the search for lost loved ones and a place to call home. An exciting story about a chase across the sea!
When Stars are Scattered
Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed
This is a really unusual graphic novel. The text is enhanced by the pictures and you are very quickly drawn into the story of Omar’s life in a refugee camp. He’s there with his younger brother and must wait and wait…. Will he ever leave the camp? Will he get to America? What about his brother? Follow the true story of Omar’s life in the camp and beyond. There is boredom, excitement, highs and lows, friendship and fear.
