Book Sorter

Scavenger: Zoid

Paul Stewart, Chris Riddell

Subjects

Funny Stuff - rib ticklers to make you fall off your chair
Animal Tales - bundles of fur, fluff and fun
Friends & Family - tears and laughter, and happy ever after
Sporty Stories - games, goals and gold medals

Average rating

Humans are fighting for their future, and one young boy might be their only hope. Scavenger: Zoid is the first in a brilliant sci-fi adventure series from the team behind the Edge Chronicles, Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell. Perfect for age nine and up. A spaceship the size of a city drifts through space on its century-long journey to find a new Earth. When it launched it was populated by thousands of hopeful passengers and the most technologically advanced Zoids in the world, ready to serve the crew's every need. But that was then, and this is now. The Zoids rebelled against their masters, wiping out most of the crew in one bloody uprising. Now the few remaining humans are hunted by the Zoids like vermin. Fourteen-year-old York is a Scavenger - he hunts Zoids and kills them by any means he can, bringing back their parts to mend the technology on which the few remaining humans rely. York has always battled to survive, but now the fate of his people is in his hands . . . Continue the sci-fi adventures with the next book in the series, Scavenger: Chaos Zone.

Between Tick and Tock

Louise Greig, Ashling Lindsay

Subjects

Funny Stuff - rib ticklers to make you fall off your chair
Animal Tales - bundles of fur, fluff and fun
Friends & Family - tears and laughter, and happy ever after
Sporty Stories - games, goals and gold medals

Average rating

4 out 5 (5 reviews)

The second magical picture book from the author and illustrator of The Night Box. High above the bustle of the city, are eyes that watch, and hands that know, it’s time to pause the clock … and for one tiny second between tick and tock, the city stops! Liesel notices the things that everyone else is too busy to see. When she hears a stray whimper and watches a lonely boy on a roundabout, she decides it’s time to pause the clock and lend a helping hand. While the city freezes, Liesel quietly carries out little acts of kindness and breathes colour, life and happiness back into the city. Louise Greig’s lyrical storytelling highlights the magic in everyday experiences and is accompanied by Ashling Lindsay’s warm, endearing illustrations. A wonderful picture book about the importance of kindness, looking out for others and taking time to appreciate the world around you. Louise and Ashling's debut picture book, The Night Box, has been nominated for the Kate Greenaway Award and shortlisted for the Waterstones Children's Book Prize, the Teach Primary Book Awards and the Klaus Flugge Prize. Louise Greig is an award-winning poet and a children's picture book author with a unique, lyrical voice. Her childhood was filled with animals, the poems of Robert Louis Stevenson and picture books by iconic children’s writers such as Margaret Wise Brown, Charlotte Zolotow, Ruth Krauss, Maurice Sendak, Astrid Lindgren and Tove Jansson. Her debut picture book for Egmont, The Night Box, has been translated into 10 languages and has been nominated for the 2018 Kate Greenaway Medal and shortlisted for the Klaus Flugge Prize, the Waterstones Children's Book Prize, the Association of Illustrators (AOI) and the Teach Primary Book Awards. Louise lives in Aberdeen and when not writing is a director of a dog rescue and re-homing organisation. The wild solitude of Scotland and the beauty of nature remain strong influences in her life. Ashling Lindsay is an illustrator and animation director from Belfast. She was shortlisted for the AOI Illustration Awards two years running (2013 & 2014) and was also shortlisted for the AOI Serco prize for illustration (2015).

The Mapmakers' Race

Eirlys Hunter, Kirsten Slade

Subjects

Funny Stuff - rib ticklers to make you fall off your chair
Animal Tales - bundles of fur, fluff and fun
Friends & Family - tears and laughter, and happy ever after
Sporty Stories - games, goals and gold medals

Average rating

4 out 5 (7 reviews)

Four children temporarily lose their parents just as they are about to begin the race that offers their last chance of escaping poverty. Their task is to map a rail route through an uncharted wilderness. They overcome the many obstacles posed by nature—bears, bees, bats, river crossings, cliff falls, impossible weather—but can they survive the treachery of their competitors?

Secret Breakers: Orphan of the Flames: Book 2

H.L. Dennis

Subjects

Funny Stuff - rib ticklers to make you fall off your chair
Animal Tales - bundles of fur, fluff and fun
Friends & Family - tears and laughter, and happy ever after
Sporty Stories - games, goals and gold medals

Average rating

4 out 5 (7 reviews)

The team of code-crackers face a new code that has never been solved. Brodie, Hunter and Tusia are back at Station X, the secret code-cracking station at Bletchley Park. And they are still wrestling with the great unanswered question: what secret lies behind the ancient, coded Voynich Manuscript? Their first adventure left them with a musical box that plays a tune by the composer, Elgar. Elgar loved codes. At once they are off on a new search which takes them to the stories behind Elgar's famous music and a coded letter he wrote to a young friend, Dorabella. The 'Dorabella Cipher' has never, ever been solved. Now our team of code-breakers are on a twisting trail via medieval book burnings in Florence, a mysterious boy known as the Orphan of the Flames, and a one-time famous prisoner in London's Newgate Prison who wrote about King Arthur. Where is it all leading? And will they survive, when hot on their trail is a secret organisation that has always thwarted the search for Truth and is prepared to kill to stop them ... The second story in this highly original puzzle-solving series - a Da Vinci Code for kids. The reader races along with the Secret Breakers team to break the code ... Enter the world of the Secret Breakers at http://hldennis.com/ Teachers' resources and full reading guide available here: http://hldennis.com/docs/HDreadingguide.pdf

When Secrets Set Sail

Sita Brahmachari

Subjects

Funny Stuff - rib ticklers to make you fall off your chair
Animal Tales - bundles of fur, fluff and fun
Friends & Family - tears and laughter, and happy ever after
Sporty Stories - games, goals and gold medals

Average rating

4 out 5 (9 reviews)

'Truly unforgettable ... deserves to be read and studied by all' - Onjali Q. Rauf, bestselling author of The Boy at the Back of the Class Secrets from the past are the keys to the future...if two children can find them. Bold adventure, timely themes and breath-taking writing from award-winning author, Sita Brahmachari. Usha is devastated when her grandmother Kali Ma passes away. Then straight-talking Imtiaz arrives - her new adoptive sister - and the two girls clash instantly. They both feel lost. That is until Kali Ma's ghost appears...with a task for them. Immy's and Usha's home is full of history and secrets. Many years ago it was The House of the Ayahs - for those nannies who couldn't return to their Indian homeland - and Kali Ma made a promise she couldn't keep. She can't pass on to the other side until the girls fulfil it. Today, Usha and Immy's over-worked parents run the house as a home for refugees, but eviction threatens. The precious documents that could save them are lost. As the house slowly fills up with ghosts, that only Usha and Imtiaz can see, the girls realise they have more to save than just one grandmother's ghost. With help from their new friend Cosmo, Usha and Immy must set off on a quest through London, accompanied by two bickering ghosts, working together to find a series of objects that shine a magical light on their family's past and hold the clues to securing their future. If they can set the secrets of generations free, will they be in time to save their home? Endorsed by Amnesty International. *Sita Brahmachari is a World Book Day author for 2021 with gorgeous short story, The River Whale!*

The Serpent's Shadow: The Graphic Novel (The Kane Chronicles Book 3)

Rick Riordan

Subjects

Funny Stuff - rib ticklers to make you fall off your chair
Animal Tales - bundles of fur, fluff and fun
Friends & Family - tears and laughter, and happy ever after
Sporty Stories - games, goals and gold medals

Average rating

4 out 5 (8 reviews)

CARTER AND SADIE KANE, descendants of the magical House of Life, are in pretty big trouble. Despite their bravest efforts, Apophis, the giant snake of Chaos, is still threatening to plunge the world into eternal darkness. Now the Kanes must do something no magician has ever managed - defeat Apophis himself. No pressure there then. Battling against the forces of Chaos, their only hope is an ancient spell - but the magic has been lost for a millennia. Will they find the serpent's shadow, or will they be led to their deaths in the depths of the Underworld?

Blitzcat

Robert Westall

Subjects

Funny Stuff - rib ticklers to make you fall off your chair
Animal Tales - bundles of fur, fluff and fun
Friends & Family - tears and laughter, and happy ever after
Sporty Stories - games, goals and gold medals

Average rating

4 out 5 (8 reviews)

She made her way down the cliff, and on to the beach. At the edge of the waves, she stopped, shaking her wet paws. She knew that somewhere ahead was her person, but far, far away. She miaowed plaintively; stood staring at the moving blur of uncrossable sea. She led the way to safety, out of the blazing hell of blitzed Coventry. People touched her for luck; feared her as an omen of disaster. Wherever she went, she changed lives...From her beginning to her end she never wavered. She was the Blitzcat. ""Westall's writing has always been strong and vivid but he has rarely written as confidently as this."" - ""Times Literary Supplement"".

Crystal

Aimee Harper

Subjects

Funny Stuff - rib ticklers to make you fall off your chair
Animal Tales - bundles of fur, fluff and fun
Friends & Family - tears and laughter, and happy ever after
Sporty Stories - games, goals and gold medals

Average rating

4 out 5 (0 reviews)

The fourth exciting adventure from the animal series set in a glamorous pooch parlour, for animal-crazy girls who love dogs and looking after them.

Greta Zargo and the Amoeba Monsters from the Middle of the Earth

A.F. Harrold, Joe Todd-Stanton

Subjects

Funny Stuff - rib ticklers to make you fall off your chair
Animal Tales - bundles of fur, fluff and fun
Friends & Family - tears and laughter, and happy ever after
Sporty Stories - games, goals and gold medals

Average rating

4 out 5 (8 reviews)

Greta Zargo doesn’t know it, but once again she is about to unwittingly and unknowingly save the world … Intrepid young schoolgirl-turned-reporter Greta Zargo is always in search of a Big Scoop and for once there are plenty of strange goings-on in the usually quiet little town of Upper Lowerbridge. Not only has Aunt Tabitha, the great inventor, gone missing, but weird, wobbling, blob-like monsters are appearing via a very deep hole in Greta’s garden – and they are slowing but surely devouring her neighbours one by one … A laugh-out-loud funny new series from the author of the critically acclaimed The Imaginary, perfect for fans of Mr Gum, Chris Riddell, and Philip Reeve and Sarah McIntyre’s Oliver and the Seawigs

Mad Dogs

Robert Muchamore

Subjects

Funny Stuff - rib ticklers to make you fall off your chair
Animal Tales - bundles of fur, fluff and fun
Friends & Family - tears and laughter, and happy ever after
Sporty Stories - games, goals and gold medals

Average rating

4 out 5 (5 reviews)

A new cover look for the number one bestselling CHERUB series! In the eighth title, James is heading into the lethal world of gang warfare ...

Secret of the Stones

Tony Bradman, Martin Remphry

Subjects

Funny Stuff - rib ticklers to make you fall off your chair
Animal Tales - bundles of fur, fluff and fun
Friends & Family - tears and laughter, and happy ever after
Sporty Stories - games, goals and gold medals

Average rating

4 out 5 (8 reviews)

A boy, a betrayal, and a secret that will change the world … Tony Bradman weaves together fact and fiction in this gripping adventure covering the coming of the Bronze Age. Maglos is the only son of the High Priest of Stonehenge. His destiny is to wear the crown of his people, to lead their sacrifices to the ancient Gods of light and darkness. But as the sun rises on a midsummer day in 2300 BC, a terrible act of betrayal casts Maglos away from his home. His only allies are two strange men from distant lands, men who carry with them the secret of the stones … Particularly suitable for readers aged 9+ with a reading age of 8.

The Last Kids on Earth and the Nightmare King (The Last Kids on Earth)

Max Brallier, Douglas Holgate

Subjects

Funny Stuff - rib ticklers to make you fall off your chair
Animal Tales - bundles of fur, fluff and fun
Friends & Family - tears and laughter, and happy ever after
Sporty Stories - games, goals and gold medals

Average rating

4 out 5 (6 reviews)

Wimpy Kid meets The Walking Dead in this hilarious graphic novel series packed with monsters and zombies In their third zombie-tastic adventure, Jack Sullivan and his friends June, Quint and Dirk discover that they might not be the last kids on Earth after all… And everyone is thrilled – except Jack. Living in a tree house with his best friends, battling monsters and escaping certain death – he's been having the most awesome time of his life. Some how he's got to persuade his friends that life is perfect just the way it is … then they won't leave him. But that's not so easy when there's a new monster hunting them. A monster who's bigger and badder than anything they've come across in the monster zombie apocalypse (AKA very big and very bad). And he seems to be able to get inside Jack's head. What does the Nightmare King want? ‘Terrifyingly fun! Max Brallier’s The Last Kids on Earth delivers big thrills and even bigger laughs.’ Jeff Kinney, author of Diary of a Wimpy Kid The third book in a hilarious new monster adventure series. With fresh, funny illustrations on every page, this is perfect for fans of comics and graphic novels aged 8 and over.

Book Sorter

Books sorted! Take a look at these top recommendations, or...

Scavenger: Zoid

Paul Stewart, Chris Riddell

Scavenger: Zoid

Subjects

Average rating

Between Tick and Tock

Louise Greig, Ashling Lindsay

Between Tick and Tock

Subjects

Average rating

The Mapmakers' Race

Eirlys Hunter, Kirsten Slade

The Mapmakers' Race

Subjects

Average rating

Secret Breakers: Orphan of the Flames: Book 2

H.L. Dennis

Secret Breakers: Orphan of the Flames: Book 2

Subjects

Average rating

When Secrets Set Sail

Sita Brahmachari

When Secrets Set Sail

Subjects

Average rating

The Serpent's Shadow: The Graphic Novel (The Kane Chronicles Book 3)

Rick Riordan

The Serpent's Shadow: The Graphic Novel (The Kane Chronicles Book 3)

Subjects

Average rating

Blitzcat

Robert Westall

Blitzcat

Subjects

Average rating

Crystal

Aimee Harper

Crystal

Subjects

Average rating

Greta Zargo and the Amoeba Monsters from the Middle of the Earth

A.F. Harrold, Joe Todd-Stanton

Greta Zargo and the Amoeba Monsters from the Middle of the Earth

Subjects

Average rating

Mad Dogs

Robert Muchamore

Mad Dogs

Subjects

Average rating

Secret of the Stones

Tony Bradman, Martin Remphry

Secret of the Stones

Subjects

Average rating

The Last Kids on Earth and the Nightmare King (The Last Kids on Earth)

Max Brallier, Douglas Holgate

The Last Kids on Earth and the Nightmare King (The Last Kids on Earth)

Subjects

Average rating

Top Tips

Great reads to try this summer

Music of the Mountains

The Missing Piece

Doggy Dance Off

I Tell Myself I’m Awesome

Running My Own Race

For grown-ups

Home Zone

Library Zone

School Zone

Pre-School Zone

Read to the Beat of the Journey Zone

View our other programmes