Topic: English, PSHE & Citizenship, Science
Age Range: 7-11
Related Book: The Exploding Life of Scarlett Fife
Book Creator: Maz Evans, Chris Jevons
From the best-selling Maz Evans comes a new series about Scarlett Fife: logical, mathematical – but when it comes to her feelings, completely out of control! A sparkling, heart-warming series with laugh-out-loud action for every child who has ever experienced Big Feelings.
Themes: Emotional literacy | Managing big feelings | Anger | Worry | Different-shaped families | Friendship | Mindfulness
Topic: Disability, Empathy, English
Related Book: Let Down Your Hair
Book Creator: Bryony Gordon
The YA fiction debut from bestselling author Bryony Gordon, Let Down Your Hair is a modern twist on Rapunzel featuring a hair influencer who develops alopecia – and her quest for a different sort of happy ever after.
Themes: Social media | Online safety | Mental Health | Alopecia
Topic: English, History, PSHE & Citizenship, Race & identity
Related Book: Ghost Boys
Book Creator: Jewell Parker Rhodes
A heartbreaking and powerful story about a black boy killed by a white police officer, drawing connections with real-life history, from award-winning author Jewell Parker Rhodes.
Themes: Race & Identity | History | Prejudice
Topic: English
Age Range: 7-11
Related Book: The Wizard In My Shed
Book Creator: Simon Farnaby, Claire Powell
Meet Merdyn the Wild (the world’s most badly-behaved wizard), Rose (the world’s most ordinary girl) and Bubbles (the world’s best guinea pig) on a hilarious adventure that might just end in an epic wizard battle in the garden – if you’re lucky.
Download these fun activity sheets, including colouring in and a wordsearch.
Topic: Climate change, English
Related Book: Pop!
Book Creator: Mitch Johnson
An outrageous theft. A huge reward. Two friends on the run. POP! is an uproariously funny, action-packed new adventure about the power of courage, standing up for what’s right, and fizzy drinks, from the award-winning author of Kick, Mitch Johnson.
Tackling themes of consumerism and the environment, this is a great book for starting discussions and projects with children aged 9+. These resources have been created by Shapes 4 Schools.
Watch a video from the author here.
Topic: English, Growing up
Related Book: Bone Music
Book Creator: David Almond
A timely and original masterpiece that explores the connections between the past and the present, between civilisation and wilderness. From David Almond, the multi award-winning author of Skellig and one of this generation’s finest storytellers.
Topic: English
Related Book: Hollowpox
Book Creator: Jessica Townsend
Discover the magical and mysterious world of NEVERMOOR in this spell-binding series for readers aged 9+ and fans of His Dark Materials. The accompanying resources, linked below, are full of classroom ideas and cross-curricular activities for KS2, ideal for use in literacy lessons or as extra-curricular activities.
Themes: Magic | Family | Literacy
Topic: Climate change, English, Geography
Related Book: The Adventure Club: Red Panda Rescue
Book Creator: Kirsti Beautyman, Jess Butterworth
A brand new illustrated series for younger readers about animals and adventure from much-loved author Jess Butterworth – writer of classic adventure stories in vibrantly described settings.
Fun in-class activities following The Adventure Club series.
Themes: Adventure | Environment | Animals | Family
Topic: Climate change, English, Growing up
Related Book: Wilder
Book Creator: Penny Chrimes
These Teaching Notes focus on the opening pages of Wilder by Penny Chimes to introduce the themes and ideas in the story. The notes include book cover prompts, reading questions for pages 1–14 that support children’s reading comprehension, inference and predictive skills, accompanying activities, and a ‘spotlight’ extract from Chapter One.
A beautiful and enthralling adventure about love, belonging, the delicate balance of nature – and the wildness within us all, for fans of The Last Wild and Where the Crawdads Sing, for 9+ readers.
Download an extract here.
Topic: English, Modern Classic
Related Book: Hedgewitch
Book Creator: Skye McKenna
An enchanting new series brimming with mystery and magic, for children age 9+. Books 1, 2 and 3 are out now.
Themes: Adventure | Fantasy | Nature and Wildlife | The Sky | Learning Together
Age Range: 7-11
Related Book: The Christmas Pig
Book Creator: Jim Field, J.K. Rowling
A heartwarming, page-turning adventure about one child’s love for his most treasured thing, and how far he will go to find it. Download our free set of activity sheets for lots of festive fun in the run-up to Christmas! You can also download cut-out display materials here.
Themes: Christmas | Love | Hope | Friendship
Topic: Empathy, English, Growing up, History, Modern Classic, PSHE & Citizenship, Race & identity
Age Range: 7-11
Related Book: The Sky Over Rebecca
Book Creator: Matthew Fox
When mysterious footprints appear in the Stockholm snow, ten-year-old Kara must discover where they’ve come from – and who they belong to.
Themes: Empathy | Grief | Refugees | World War 2