Failing to drag the kids away from their screens and get them reading? Wondering where to find literary distraction for children? You’ve come to the right place. Here award winning authors and others recommend the best novels and novelists for kids and explain why they have chosen them.
Michael Morpurgo chooses his favourite children’s books and also discusses five of his own books here, author Melvin Burgess chooses his best fiction for children and young adults and bestselling children’s author, Audrey Penn chooses her favourite teen books. Here Zoe Greaves picks the best children’s fiction of 2018.
Cornelia Funke chooses her best fairy tales as contemporary fiction and Cressida Cowell chooses magical stories for kids. Alan Lee chooses his best books drawn from myth and fairy tale. Novelist Philip Reeve looks at science fiction and fantasy.
Elsewhere, a number of award winning authors choose novels for kids on various themes. Robin Stevens chooses the best books on kid detectives, Beverley Naidoo, her best books with the theme of courage and kindness for kids and Kiran Millwood Hargreave her best books on fierce girls in tween fiction. Geraldine McCaughrean discusses five of the books she has written, based on true events.
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1
The Way Past Winter
by Kiran Millwood Hargrave -
2
The Skylarks' War
by Hilary McKay -
3
Between Worlds: Folktales of Britain & Ireland
Kevin Crossley-Holland (Author) and Frances Castle (illustrator) -
4
The Afterwards
AF Harrold (author) and Emily Gravett (illustrator) -
5
The Train to Impossible Places
PG Bell (author) and Flavia Sorrentino (illustrator)
Editors’ Picks: The Best Children’s Fiction of 2018, recommended by Zoe Greaves
Cornelia Funke on Her Fairy Tales as Contemporary Fiction
Fairy tales are multi-layered, laden with multiple meanings and uncomfortable truths. Cornelia Funke, multi-award winning writer of imaginative fiction for children and young adults, discusses why fairy tales continue to fascinate her and her young readers, and why you need a deft hand to create convincing new fiction from fairy tales.
Michael Morpurgo on His Novels
Michael Morpurgo takes us on a journey behind the scenes of five of his own books. He talks about his convictions as a writer and how he weaves fiction out of truths—experiences, accidents, history and memories—and why getting lost is often the best way to make a remarkable discovery.
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1
From The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs Basil E. Frankweiler
by E L Konigsburg -
2
Harry Potter: the Complete Series
by J.K. Rowling -
3
The London Eye Mystery
by Siobhan Dowd -
4
The Sinclair Mysteries: A Clockwork Sparrow (Book 1)
by Katherine Woodfine -
5
Lockwood and Co: The Screaming Staircase (Book 1)
by Johnathan Stroud
The best books on Kid Detectives, recommended by Robin Stevens
The best books on Kid Detectives, recommended by Robin Stevens
Do you love to solve a mystery? Do the twists and turns in the plot of a classic whodunit thrill you? Award-winning author Robin Stevens talks us through her favourite kid detectives and the murderously good books from which they come to life.
The best books on Courage and Kindness for Kids, recommended by Beverley Naidoo
Fairy tales and stories of courage and survival can help children understand that although there are injustices in the world there are ways in which they can make a difference – however small. The award-winning author Beverley Naidoo recommends five great books in which kindness triumphs over adversity.
Fierce Girls in Tween Fiction, recommended by Kiran Millwood Hargrave
Books like Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls popularise the many different ways women and girls can be strong, and as strong as they need to be. Award-winning children’s author, Kiran Millwood Hargrave, talks us through some of her favourite strong female characters in children’s fiction.
Cressida Cowell on Magical Stories for Kids
From wizards to alchemy and fairies to folklore, Cressida Cowell reveals the magical stories that were most important to her as a child (and which she now delights in sharing with her own children), and her own inspirations for writing about magic and magical worlds today.
Alan Lee on Books Drawn From Myth and Fairy Tale
Alan Lee, illustrator of such classics as The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, talks to Five Books about his favourite stories drawn from myth and fairy tale, what they mean to him, and how important it is for young readers today to experience these ancient stories.
The best books on Children’s and Young Adult Fiction, recommended by Melvin Burgess
Melvin Burgess, author of Junk and Doing It tells us about the books that first inspired him and he picks the best thriller writing for young adults – along the way explaining why young people make the most demanding readers