Brilliant Books for Children

Picture Books (age 2+)

  • Oliver Jeffers – Lost and Found and The Heart and the Bottle
  • Lauren Child – Clarice Bean, That’s Me
  • Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
  • Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems
  • Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems
  • The Red Tree by Shaun Tan
  • Polly Dunbar – Penguin
  • Olivia by Ian Falconer

 

Early Readers

  • Horrid Henry by Francesca Simon
  • Roddy Doyle’s The Giggler Treatment
  • Judy Moody series by Megan McDonald
  • Clarice Bean Spells Trouble by Lauren Child
  • Elephant and Piggie books – Mo Willems

 

Fluent Readers (Age 9+)

Fantasy and Adventure books – Eoin Colfer Anthony Horowitz Percy Jackson books by Rick Riordan Sabriel by Garth Nix Darren Shan (horror) Derek Landy (Skulduggery Pleasant)

Funny books – Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney (hilarious and great illustrations) Holes by Louis Sacher (quirky)

History – Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne Michelle Paver books – Wolf Brother is the first – stone age adventures Michael Morpurgo – excellent writer, various books Marita Conlon McKenna – Famine trilogy

Family and relationship books – Cathy Cassidy Jacqueline Wilson Sarah Webb (me!) Amy Green series (age 10+) Hilary McKay – Saffy’s Angel, Casson Family stories (good for Judi Curtin fans) Judi Curtin – Alice and Megan series and Eva series Wilderness by Roddy Doyle (action adventure blended with family story – excellent) A Greyhound of a Girl – Roddy Doyle

Award winning time travel/family book – When You Reach Me – Rebecca Stead

 

The Next Step – 11+

  • How to Live Forever by Sally Nicholls
  • How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff (one of the best teen books of the decade)
  • Before I Die by Jenny Downham (sad but beautifully written)
  • If I Stay by Gayle Foreman (sad but gripping – teen girl in a coma)
  • 13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher (teen suicide)
  • Finding Violet Park by Jenny Valentine (quirky and funny)
  • Skellig by David Almond – beautiful and unusual
  • Anything by Sarah Dessen – brilliant American writer – family and relationships
  • Looking for Alaska by John Green – gritty, funny and engrossing – 17 year old male lead – Also Will Grayson, Will Grayson (American edition only) – hilarious!
  • Twilight by Stephenie Meyers And urban fantasy - Cassandra Clare
  • The Hunger Games – Dystopia

 

Award-winning YA Fiction

  • Bog Child by Siobhan Dowd
  • Kate Thompson – Creature of the Night
  • Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness - Amazing book