The Adventures of Harry Stevenson
Key Stage 2Join this small guinea pig on his very BIG adventures in a brand-new illustrated fiction series from author and illustrator Ali Pye A sweet, funny book that really made me want to eat dandelions - Holly Webb Meet Harry Stevenson. He doesn't live in a castle, or a witch's cottage, or anywhere exciting like that. His home is in a flat with seven-year-old Billy and his mum and dad. And at first glance, Harry doesn't seem any different from your average guinea pig. He has ginger fur and sparkly black eyes and likes nothing more than snacking on a piece of broccoli. But don't be fooled! Harry may just want to sleep and eat (and then eat some more) but somehow he always manages to get swept up in adventures: whether it's surfing the Pacific on a picnic plate or accidentally attaching himself to a helium balloon.
Secret Suffragette
Key Stage 2Daisy's hero is Florence Nightingale, and she hopes to one day become a nurse just like her. But as a girl growing up in the East End of London in 1912, it seems like all her future holds is dropping out of school to work a tough job in a factory for very little money. Then Daisy meets the suffragettes, who are fighting for the rights of women and the poor. They show her that she might be able to achieve her dreams after all. But being a suffragette is dangerous, and Daisy must risk getting in trouble with her dad, neighbours and even the police if she wants to do her bit. Perfect for fans of Opal Plumstead and Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls.
Rumblestar
Key Stage 2Adventures are unpredictable and often terribly badly behaved - a bit like pickled onions if you've ever tried to fork one on a plate - but they have a way of unlocking people and turning them upside down so that all the astonishing things fizzing around inside them start to tumble out...' Eleven-year-old Casper Tock hates risks, is allergic to adventures and shudders at the thought of unpredictable events. So, it comes as a nasty shock to him when he accidentally stumbles into Rumblestar, an Unmapped Kingdom full of magical beasts. All Casper wants is to find a way home, but Rumblestar is in trouble. An evil harpy called Morg is sending her followers, the Midnights, into the kingdom to wreak havoc and pave the way for her to steal the Unmapped magic for herself. But Casper cannot turn a blind eye because the future of his own world, he discovers, is bound up with that of the Unmapped Kingdoms. And so, together with Utterly Thankless, a girl who hates rules and is allergic to behaving, and her miniature dragon, Arlo, Casper embarks upon an adventure full of cloud giants, storm ogres and drizzle hags. Can he, Utterly and Arlo, the unlikeliest of heroes, save the Unmapped Kingdoms and our world from the clutches of Morg and her Midnights? Live a life filled with adventure with Abi Elphinstone in this brand NEW series where a whole new world is waiting to be discovered...
Tara Binns: Bright-spark Scientist (Band 15/Emerald)
Key Stage 2This exciting title in the Tara Binns mini- series is written by Lisa Rajan. Emerald/Band 15 books provide a widening range of genres including science fiction and biography, prompting more ways to respond to texts. Ideas for reading in the back of the book provide practical support and stimulating activities.
Tara Binns: Ground-breaking Fossil Hunter (Band 17/Diamond)
Key Stage 2This exciting title in the Tara Binns mini-series is written by Lisa Rajan. Diamond/Band 17 books offer more complex, underlying themes to give opportunities for children to understand causes and points of view. Ideas for reading in the back of the book provide practical support and stimulating activities.
Tara Binns: Trail-blazing Astronaut Band 16/Sapphire
Key Stage 2This exciting title in the Tara Binns mini series is written by Lisa Rajan. Sapphire/Band 16 books offer longer reads to develop children's sustained engagement with texts and are more complex syntactically. Ideas for reading in the back of the book provide practical support and stimulating activities.
The Unlucky Eleven
Key Stage 2Ridiculous injuries ... strange illnesses ... cancelled games ... Everything's going wrong for the Saints this season, and Stanley's team-mates believe they finally know why. Their football kit is cursed! But the team's attempts to break the curse take things from bad to worse. Soon, they're ready to call it quits. Stanley's still got some tricks up his sleeve ... but will his curse-cracking ideas save the team in time for the last game of the season?
Wildspark: A Ghost Machine Adventure
Key Stage 2Prue is a young farm girl whose older brother, Francis, had a natural talent for engineering. But after his untimely death, the family have been shattered by grief. Everything changes when a stranger arrives at the farm. A new, incredible technology has been discovered in the city of Medlock, where a secretive guild of inventors have found a way to bring spirits of the dead back into the world, capturing their energy and powering animal-like machines. Unaware that Francis has died, the Ghost Guild wants him to join them as an apprentice. Prue poses as "Frances" and goes to Medlock to learn the craft - but she's on a mission of her own, to bring her brother back home. And to find Francis, she needs to find a way to help the ghost machines remember the people they used to be. But if she succeeds, the whole society could fall apart.
In the Shadow of Heroes
Key Stage 2A fast-paced read packed with historical detail In the Shadow of Heroes is a clever blend of intrigue, politics, crime, history and a bit of fantasy. Set in Rome at the time of Emperor Nero, it weaves some Greek mythology – the tale of the Golden Fleece – into the world of the Roman elite. When unexpected visitors turn up at Tullus’s house one night, his slave Cadmus, an educated boy slave who was taken in by Tullus after having been abandoned as a baby, knows that something dangerous is afoot. The visitors bring a box with something that is clearly very desirable in it. What can it be? When Tullus disappears and Cadman is given a message by a slave who was formerly a British princess he set off on a trail to find out what is going on. The plot is twisty and inventive ensuring that the reader remains enthralled through out.
Runaway Robot
Key Stage 2No matter how exciting, zany and surprising the action, you can always be sure that Frank Cottrell-Boyce will build his stories on real human emotions, and that’s as true of this brilliantly funny, original and touching novel as of any of its predecessors. Alfie ‘swerves’ both school and the Limb Lab, where he should be going to learn how to control his state-of-the-art new hand, by hanging out at the airport. But everything changes when, through various happy accidents, he finds an enormous robot called Eric in Lost Property. Eric holds the Allen key to the book’s mysteries, both a generations-old legend, and the secrets that Archie is keeping from the reader and himself. Beautifully told and full of characters readers will love, this book will have you laughing out loud one minute, in tears the next. Robot Eric, unfailingly polite, kind and helpful and trying to explain himself through misremembered jokes is an iron man for our time. Unmissable. Once readers have finished this, point them in the direction of Frank Cottrell-Boyce’s other books including The Astounding Broccoli Boy and books by Ross Welford. Peter Brown’s story The Wild Robot is another great automaton adventure. **Head over to our LoveReading4KidsLoves Channel to find out more about Frank Cottrell-Boyce, Author of the Month.
Aru Shah and the Song of Death
Key Stage 2Aru is only just getting the hang of this whole Pandava thing when the Otherworld goes into full panic mode. The god of love's bow and arrow have gone missing, and the thief isn't playing Cupid. Instead, they're turning people into heartless fighting-machine zombies. If that weren't bad enough, somehow Aru gets framed as the thief. If she doesn't find the arrow by the next full moon, she'll be kicked out of the Otherworld. For good. But, for better or worse, she won't be going it alone. Along with her soul-sister, Mini, Aru will team up with Brynne, an ultra-strong girl who knows more than she lets on, and Aiden, the boy wholives across the street and is also hiding plenty of secrets. Together they'll battle demons, travel through a glittering and dangerous serpent realm, and discover that their enemy isn't at all who they expected.
Witches (Un)Welcome
Key Stage 2A magical adventure from Kaye Umansky, the bestselling author of the spellbinding children's classic Pongwiffy, brought to life with charming illustrations from rising star Ashley King!
