Recommended by: Rebecca Tulloch/@bectully Form and Genre: Autobiography Length: 176 pages. Summary: A young man’s inspirational description of his life as a paraplegic man. He broke his neck when he jumped into the sea abroad after his A levels. This inspirational story is now a West End musical, it’s author is a public speaker and artist. …
Recommended by: Leah Ponsonby Form and Genre: Fiction novel and Thriller Length: 480 pages Summary: England has been infested with ghosts and the story follows a trio of teenagers who have set up their own agency to help tackle the problem. Very suspenseful with elements of humour thrown in Age recommendation and challenging content: Loss of parents, …
Lockwood & Co The Screaming Staircase by Jonathan Stroud. Read More »
Recommended by: Stephen Dilley/@stephenjdilley Form and Genre: Prose /Historical Fiction. Length: 324 pages. Summary: This novel follows members of the Bontok people in Philippines as they travel to America to take part in the 1904 World’s Fair in St Louis. Narrator Luki thinks this will give her more freedom, but in America she discovers many forms …
Recommended by: Stephen Dilley/@stephenjdilley Form and Genre: Poetry Collection. Length: 100 pages Summary: Asghar is a South Asian American Muslim poet who explores issues relating to sexuality, race and violence in this collection. The 1947 Partition is used as a recurring idea throughout the collection to explore other forms of division and marginalisation. Age recommendation and challenging …
Recommended by: Stephen Dilley/@stephenjdilley Form and Genre: Novel Length: 350 pages Summary: Hard-hitting but beautifully written novel about a Black British teenage boy’s experiences in prison and after his release, exploring some of the injustices in the criminal justice system and wider British society which disproportionately affect people of colour, but also showing how poetry can help people …
Recommended by Emma Sheppard @emma_au_soleil Author: Helen Canac and Agnes Dormergue Form: Graphic Novel/Fantasy Length: 88 pages Brief synopsis: Lila’s father goes missing and she ventures out into the snow to find him. She meets and becomes friends with the wolves living in the snowy forests of her island. Age recommendation and challenging content: KS2-3 …
Between Snow and Wolf by Helen Canac and Agnes Dormergue. Read More »
Recommended by Emma Sheppard @emma_au_soleil Author: Marjane Satrapi Form: Graphic Novel Length: 352 pages Brief synopsis: The author / narrator’s experience of growing up in Iran during the revolution. Age recommendation and challenging content: Deals with military coups, imprisonment, oppression of women, religious rule, murder and death, torture and war. Age 13+ Notable reasons for recommending …
Recommended by Emma Sheppard @emma_au_soleil Author: Art Speigelman Form: Graphic Novel Length: 296 pages Brief synopsis: An account of the narrator’s father’s experience of the Holocaust as a Polish Jew. All characters are depicted as mice, cats or dogs. Age recommendation and challenging content: Explores and depicts the Holocaust in detail, as well as intergenerational …
Recommended by Emma Sheppard @emma_au_soleil Author: Shaun Tan Form: Graphic Novel Length: 32 pages Brief synopsis: The narrator finds a strange lost robot sort of creature and tries to find out where it belongs. Age recommendation and challenging content: KS2-3 Notable reasons for recommending this book: Explores belonging, rejection and being different.
Recommended by Emma Sheppard @emma_au_soleil Author: Benji Davies Form: Picture Book Length: 28 pages Brief synopsis: Noi finds a baby whale beached near his house and takes it home and hides it from his father. His father discovers it in the bath and they take the whale back out to sea. Age recommendation and challenging content: EYFS-KS1 …