My son is a primary school teacher and the other week he called me: ‘if I give you a budget will you buy me a set of books that will encourage my older children to read for pleasure?’ Would I!?!
In the end I bought six books, all of which I’ve read in the last couple of years. Most are my favourites by the author but one isn’t. I wanted that author but my favourite book wasn’t in stock so I got one I liked, but not quite so much. I won’t say which one. Here they are, in alphabetical order by author:
- Frank Cottrell-Boyce Sputnik’s Guide to Life on Earth
- Chloe Daykin The Boy who Pressed Play
- Hilary McKay The Skylark’s War
- Onjali Q Rauf The Star at My Window
- Ross Welford Time Travel with a Hamster
- Kay Woodward What Would She Do?
I have to admit that I did think about representation a bit – including making sure I had some northern writers in there, because it’s a northern school. I thought also about reluctant readers, and included one non-fiction that’s in small chunks with big pictures, as well as books that I think tell either cracking stories, important stories or both and who create worlds and characters that bewitch me.
So if you could buy six recent books for children, what would you buy? Would any of these be on your list? What have I missed?
