40 of the best new books for your primary school Library
The Must Read Booklist is our annual selection of the best fiction for primary schools chosen by librarians from the Schools Library Service and primary and secondary schools.
Titles from the Teen and Primary lists will be chosen for the Book Award Shortlist in July. Don’t forget to register for this event!
The booklist represents a selection of the best new fiction first published in paperback within the last year, and aims to cover as diverse a range of subjects, genres, authors and interests as possible.
A set of posters and bookmarks for the booklist will be sent to all subscribing primary schools in early May.
Please contact the library for any further information about the booklist or to request more posters/ bookmarks (where available)
View the full list
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Goblin Secrets | When Rownie encounters a troupe of goblins who are daring to perform a play – an activity severely outlawed – he is convinced they can help him find his lost brother. |
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The Boy Who Swam With Piranhas | Stanley Potts is just an ordinary boy, but when all the jobs in Fish Quay disappear, he runs away with the fair. He finally has a chance to shine, but will he have the courage to dive into the piranha tank and discover who he can really be? |
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Mouse, Bird, Snake, Wolf | Long ago, the gods created a wonderful world, but they became lazy – they didn’t finish what they had started. Harry Sue and little Ben decide to fill the empty spaces with creations of their own and their creations are more powerful than they or the gods could ever have imagined. |
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In Too Deep | Prince and Emanuel are suspicious when a woman claiming to be their mother turns up, and when they find out their father being blackmailed by gangsters in Tanzania, they decide it is time to take matters into their own hands |
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Sea of Whispers | Hetty sees pictures in the sea glass that she collects on Mora’s beaches, her remote island home. After a fearful storm, a strange woman is washed up on the shore. Is this the person that Hetty sees in the sea glass? But the stranger brings disaster and Hetty must decide to leave her island home for ever. |
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The Great Ice-Cream Heist | The McIntyre family next door are noisy and argumentative but Eva is intrigued by Jamie who sits on the shed roof to escape the chaos. When Jamie is accused of vandalising the local park, Eva rushes to his aid with the help of a local ice cream van. A funny adventure about sticking up for your friends. |
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Magic Ink | 12-year-old Stewart Penders loves comics. Granddad, a great comic book artist has just died, and when his family move into his house, strange things start to happen. When Stew starts drawing with a mysterious pot of ink, his artwork springs into life – and so begins a hilarious adventure. |
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The Extincts | George loves to help at Wormestall Farm, even though it’s full of extinctly scary creatures. When Mortifer the giant basilisk goes missing, it’s up to George to find him before wicked taxidermist Diamond Pye can add to her stuffed animal collection … |
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The Great Unexpected | Naomi and Lizzie are both orphans and live in the same little town in America. Curious events start to unfold when they meet a strangely charming new boy, Finn, who changes their world forever. |
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Whale boy | When a terrible storm wrecks his home and his dreams of owning his own boat, Michael is forced to take a job working for a rich, mysterious newcomer named Spargo. But on the plus side, the job brings Michael into contact with whales…. |
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Ways to see a ghost | Isis is the daughter of a fake psychic, but unlike her mother, she really can see ghosts, and the ghosts she can see are putting everyone in danger…. |
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The Vanishing of Billy Buckle | The famous fairy detective agency, Wings and Co, has a big problem. The giant Billy Buckle is missing and his daughter Primrose is desperate to find him. There’s also the small case of a murder and a missing diamond to keep the team busy – nothing is ever quiet for Emily, Buster and Fidget! |
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Finding Fortune | When Ida’s mother dies, she is left in the care of her beloved Fa. But Fa plans to travel to the Klondike in search of gold and Ida must find a way to go with him. The long hard journey will test them to the limit but will help them build the future together. |
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Oliver Fibbs: Attack of the Alien Brain | Oliver has been telling the class about his adventures as a Defender of Planet Earth – battling against the evil Alien Brain Drain who wants to take over the world. Everyone loved it except Miss Wilkins, who gave him a detention for telling fibs. He keeps telling them – THEY’RE NOT FIBS, THEY’RE STORIES! |
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The Nightmare Eater | Imagine what happens when your very worst fears come true! That’s what happens to Tomasz when he visits the fairground. |
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Wild Boy | London, 1841. Behold the savage spectacle of Wild Boy. A boy covered in hair, raised as a monster, condemned to life in a travelling freak show. He’s a boy accused of murder; on the run; hungry for the truth. Ladies and Gentlemen, take your seats. The show is about to begin! |
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The Great Brain Robbery | Frankie and his pals are trying to save the world from another diabolical scheme by the evil Dr Gore. This time he’s planning to control the minds of children everywhere using his army of robot toys! Can Frankie and his friends stop him before it’s too late? |
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North of Nowhere | The sleepy seaside village of Porthaven hides a mystery. Mia’s granddad has vanished and nobody knows why. Mia makes friends with a local girl Dee through her diary but never seems to be able to meet her. Can Mia solve the mystery and find her granddad in time? |
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Listening for Lucca | Siena’s younger brother Lucca hasn’t spoken for over a year. When the family move to Maine their new home feels hauntingly familiar and Siena starts to experience flashes from the past about the family who used to live there. Can the secrets of the past help Siena break her brother’s silence? |
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The Mysterious Misadventures of Clemency Wrigglesworth | Clemency is an orphan and alone in the world when she arrives in Southampton from India. Clemency sets out to find her rich relatives with the help of the marvellous Marvels and what happens next is fast and furious adventure. |
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Moon Bear | Tam’s life is turned around when his family is moved from their mountain and he is sent to the city to work on a bear farm. Tam learns the horrors of bear farming but builds a close relationship with one young bear and the story tells of their struggle to get away from the city and back to their families. |
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Pants Are Everything : … When You’re Definitely NOT a Nudist | A date with the girl of Michael’s dreams ends with him a) getting arrested, b) becoming a local celebrity and c) becoming an internet sensation BECAUSE THEY THINK HE’S A NUDIST. (He isn’t.) Michael is swept up in a sequence of uncontrollable events that will RUIN HIS LIFE. Again. |
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The Positively Last Performance | Gracie moves to the seaside with her parents who want to take over the shuttered and decaying Royal Theatre, which comes complete with a motley collection of ghosts that only Gracie can see. The old theatre is under threat, can Gracie and her friends be able to save it from being burnt down? |
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Caddy’s World | The Casson Family saga begins when Caddy is twelve, and Rose just a baby. The Casson family is eccentric, but lovable, and this warm and humorous story describes the trials and tribulations of growing up and family life. |
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A Twist of Fortune | When Pa goes off to America and Ma dies, the Pargeter children find themselves in dangerous Victorian London with a strange aunt and uncle. But this is only the start of the twists and turns their lives will take as Sam, Eliza and Alfie set out in search of a rich grandfather they have never known . . . |
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Poems of the First World War | A new collection to mark the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War. |
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Agatha Parrot and the Thirteenth Chicken | Agatha Parrot and her friends are up to mischief again. A new term starts at Odd Street School and they have some newly hatched chicks to look after, but one disappears. Panic! Where could he be? |
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Home Sweet Horror | Liam’s family have moved into a run-down old house in a new town, but it is not as empty as they think, and Bloody Mary is just dying to get to them…. |
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Song Hunter | The future of Mica’s Neanderthal clan is uncertain as the weather gets colder and the mammoths get fewer. Mica is full of new ideas to help them survive but they are stubborn and want to cling to the old ways. Then she makes an extraordinary discovery and sets out with her childhood friend to find a better life. |
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Oliver and the Seawigs | Oliver has grown up in a family of explorers but when he has to rescue his parents he begins a big adventure all of his own. But before he can put his rescue plan into action there’s the evil Stacey de Lacey and an army of pesky sea monkeys to contend with. |
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Goth Girl and the Ghost of a Mouse | Ada Goth lives in Ghastly-Gorm Hall with her strange father, Lord Goth, numerous ghosts and an array of servants. One night everything changes when Ada meets the ghost of a mouse called Ishmael. There’s trouble afoot, and he and Ada are the only ones who can solve the mystery. |
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Rooftoppers | When baby Sophie is rescued from a shipwreck, everyone assumes she is an orphan. But Sophie is convinced that her mother survived and sets out to find her in an exciting race against the authorities across the rooftops of Paris. Will she find her mother before it’s too late? |
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Dread Desert | Elf Girl and Raven Boy are hot and bothered in the desert as they battle to save the world from the wicked Goblin King |
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Stan Stinky | Stan Pipe Stinky has to come to the rescue when Uncle Ratts and his sidekick Roachy disappear up a u-bend into the terrifying unknown …a HUMAN HOUSE. |
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Cartoon Kings | Wouldn’t it be cool if you had a magic pen and all your cartoons come to life? That’s just what happened to Craz and Matt, but beware, mistakes cannot easily be rubbed out! |
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My Friend the Enemy | It’s 1941 and a German plane crashes near Peter’s home – but what can Peter do to help the injured pilot he finds trapped inside? |
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Out of this World | The glowing lump of metal that Ty finds in the woods seem to give him amazing powers, but problems start when those powers attract the attention of sinister agents intent on capturing him. |
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Liar & Spy | When Georges moves into a new apartment block he joins the Spy Club and becomes a trainee spy for twelve year old Safer, spying on the mysterious Mr X who lives in the flat upstairs. But how far do you go for your new friend. What is a game and what is a lie? |
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The Last Wild | In a world where few animals have survived, twelve-year-old Kester Jaynes is extraordinary… he can hear animals talk to him. They need his help and pigeons fly Kester to a wild place where the last creatures in the land have survived. Together they must embark on a great journey to save the animals. |
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I’m a Chicken, Get Me Out of Here! | Titch the Chicken finds herself in the chaotic and wacky household of Wilf and his menagerie of pets – and wants out… but when danger threatens, can she leave without helping the others? |
