Below the surface, in the mysterious inky depths of the sea, lie tales of treasure and tragedy. Not all of the stories are disasters, but all contain an air of mystery and adventure. Shipwreck tells the story of some of the world’s most famous sunken ships and their underwater discoveries.
Adam and Leila are a musically-talented brother and sister who live with their loving parents and grandmother in the Stone City. The charm of the ancient sunlit cobbled streets, jostling marketplace, and chattering parakeets is tempered by the heavy police presence in the public spaces. The police enforce the social stratification of this society, which divides residents into Permitted and Nons.
These five adventure stories by award-winning author A.M Dassu feature different characters, and are set in different countries, but they are brought together by the unifying theme of starlings.
Eleven-year-old Pip and his mother are eagerly awaiting ‘swanfall’, when all the migrating swans come back to the estuary. A keen nature lover, Pip helps Mum care for the birds, and his greatest joy is watching for the arrival of their favourite swans, Silver, Midnight and Moonshadow.
George and the Mini Dragon is a book that is simply bursting with fun about a boy who wishes for a pet dragon of his own.
From Carnegie Medal-winning author Katya Balens comes this emotionally rich story of a boy’s life-transforming friendship with an elderly neighbour and his pigeons. Con’s dad has left, leaving him consumed by grief and guilt which he struggles to express except as violent anger. Con’s outbursts hurt and alienate friends and teachers, and worry his hard-working, long-suffering mother, but he seems powerless against their force.
The ship’s setting of the third book in the Geomancer series creates the ideal space for camaraderie among the women who crew it. As the author observes; ‘perhaps a shared year aboard a ship was as good as a shared childhood on land’. In The Ship of Strays, more than its predecessors two protagonists have equal presence, and the focus on Ysolda, the trilogy’s heroine is widened to give parity to Eira; the Wolf Queen’s daughter.
At first contact with this book, you are met with Tang’s soulfully explosive illustrations of stars complemented by a gorgeous textured hardcover with embossed and debossed text and designs, inviting your hand to trail over the shapes. It only gets better from there, as each page reveals a smorgasbord of stories brought to life in full colour, with cut-out like human figures against the softness of galaxies and magical sweeps of mythological reconstructions.
When planet Earth faces an attack from an alien galaxy, a species called the Onni seeks help from the Global Council of Earth. To fight this common enemy, children are recruited to become space champions by completing trials. Kola is keen to take part as he has always been interested in space and believes this will help progress treatment for his sister who has Sickle Cell Disease.
Are you a parent or guardian looking for books related to your child’s interests, or recommendations to help them branch out into new genres? Are you a teacher looking for books on a particular theme or topic? Look no further than our themed reading lists for a huge variety of brilliant book recommendations for children of all ages.
