No catches, no fine print just unconditional book love and reading recommendations for your students and children.
You can create your own school's page, develop tailored reading lists to share with peers and parents...all helping encourage reading for pleasure in your children.
Find out moreAll the books we feature as Books of the Month on LoveReading4Schools are selected because we think they deserve to stand out from the crowd. We select a few each month across the key stages.
Buy all the books on this list now from Browns Books For Students. Click the add to basket button to get started.
December 2021 Book of the Month | Grandma is coming to visit so it’s all hands on deck! Dad posts instructions on the fridge, spelled out in those lovely bright magnetic letters: Bobby has to mop the floor, Dad is to scrub the dishes (this is a two dad family), Sarah needs to feed the fishes, and ‘I’ll bathe the cat’. It’s at this point, that the cat takes over – anything to avoid a bath – and, with a swish of its paw, rearranges the letters. As the family follow increasingly silly instructions, with very funny results, the chaotic scenes are illustrated by David Roberts in the brightest, most stylish oranges and pinks. Fortunately, by the time Grandma rings the bell, everything is somehow clean and tidy. For all the silliness, this is a joyful depiction of family life and will be an absolute delight to share with little children.
November 2021 Book of the Month | Longlisted for the UKLA Book Award 2022 ages 11-14 | The Silent Stars Go By is a riveting read-in-one-sitting experience driven by compelling characters who leap off the page, not least the young woman at its heart, an unmarried secretarial student who’s forced to give up her baby during WWI. The novel is also underpinned by a superb sense of social history, with evocative details of post-war village life nestling within the bigger story, and - as might be expected of the author of Things a Bright Girl Can Do - it’s threaded with feminist themes. It’s 1919, Christmas is on the horizon and two years have passed since nineteen-year-old Margot was forced to give up her baby for her parents to raise as their own. She was only fifteen when she and Harry fell madly in love ahead of him being called up. The magic of their time together is evoked in all its tingling passion, contrasting with Margot’s present-day torments. It hurts when little James calls her mother “Mummy”, and she doesn’t know how she can continue to keep James a secret from Harry, who’s returned to the village after recuperating on the Isle of Wight. The flashbacks to Margot’s time on the maternity ward are particularly poignant and, of course, the reason she has to endure this unbearable situation is due to the fact that she lives in a world in which “the girl is the one whose honour is defiled or whatever rot they spout” whereas “the boy is just being a boy”. Coupled with that wider context, Margot’s vicar father is a man who “forgave drunks and tramps and fallen women and the men who tried to steal the lead from the church roof. But he couldn’t forgive her.” Realising that “things couldn’t go on like this,” Margot decides to confront her fears amidst the rare glamour of a ball on New Year’s Eve.
November 2021 Book of the Month | A Julia Eccleshare Pick of the Month November 2021 | Readers who love magical adventures will fall headlong into this breath taking All Hallows Eve story. Miserable at moving house and struggling to get used to his baby sister, Yanni and his cousin Amy are left in charge on All Hallows Eve. When a stranger appears and steals his baby sister away leaving a changling in her place, Yanni has to do everything in his power to get her back. But the stranger is a wicked faery whose powerful magic can pull off every trick imaginable. Yanni must be quick witted and resourceful as he overcomes the outrageous challenges the Faery throws at him. The many layers of Ross Montomery’s adventure and the powerfully imagined challenges he has dreamt up sends readers on an adventure that matches any computer game for jeopardy and nerve-wracking thrills.
November 2021 Book of the Month | The Carroll family love Christmas. They love it so much they celebrate it every day and in the most over-the-top way possible; Mrs Carroll has even changed her name to Snow by deed poll. Daughter Holly (of course), our central character, loves it too and does everything possible to spread good cheer wherever she goes. When the family move into their dream home, in Sleigh Ride Avenue, Holly stops being home-schooled and enrols at the local primary. Her arrival in Dickens class causes quite a stir, her new classmates don’t know what to make of her. Sadly, for a while it looks as though Holly will have all that ho-ho-ho happiness knocked out of her. Don’t worry though, she bounces back, and takes the whole community with her. There’s so much joy, happiness and laughter packed into this book that it’s certain to leave readers feeling full of festive spirit, whatever the time of year – it certainly had your normally bah-humbug reviewer whistling Jingle Bells. Holly is an irresistible character, her family a delight, there’s a guest appearance by a very distinctive donkey, and you know what, wouldn’t things be better if we did act like it was Christmas every day?
Yuval Zommer’s enchanting picture book conjuration of the majesty of the northern lights and Arctic landscape is a seasonal delight that little ones will want to return to time and time again. Both the poetic text and magically stylised illustrations are mesmerising. This is a beautiful book to read aloud to share the wonders of the northern lights, and also a book children will adore poring over in their own time, delighting in the illustrative details while reciting the beguiling text. Much like the lights it describes, Zommer’s language dances - it skips off the page and over the tongue. The story is also suffused in a sense of light-through-darkness hope and togetherness. With subtle sparkles on its cover providing additional seasonal appeal, this is an utter joy.
December 2021 Book of the Month | A Julia Eccleshare Pick of the Month November 2021 | Against a huge sweep of the history of Greece including the stories of the ancient heroes, the occupation of Greece by the Germans in the Second World War and right up to the present-day of the arrival of Syrian refugees, at heart this is an touching story of Nandi, a teenager living in Australia, and the wonderful bond she has with her Auntie Ellie in Ithaca. Despite the distance between Australia and Greece, Nandi and her very special Auntie Ellie meet frequently. But then Auntie Ellie becomes too frail to travel. Now Nandi must go to Ithaca to find her. It’s a trip she is longing to make and, when she does so, she uncovers the remarkable story of Auntie Ellie’s life. A beautiful and touching story which speaks of love and care. And history.
