The Must Read Book list is one of our annual selections of the best fiction for primary schools chosen by librarians from the Schools Library Service and primary and secondary schools, and is a suggested list to buy for your school library.
For fiction for years 3 and 4, take a look at our Takeoff! booklist.
The book list represents a selection of the best new fiction first published in paperback within the last year, and covers a diverse range of subjects, genres, authors and interests.
Titles from the 2025 Teen and Primary lists will be chosen for the Tower Hamlets Book Award short list. Don’t forget to register for this event!
Posters for the booklists will be delivered to subscribing schools
Please contact the library for any further information.
See the full list of books
| Bird Boy | Catherine Bruton | After the tragic death of his mother, eleven year old Will is sent to temporarily stay with his uncle in the mountains. After years trapped in a high-rise flat, with only birds for company, Will doesn’t know how he’ll survive a place like this, but he soon finds solace in the woods, when he’s surrounded by birdsong. With his new friend Omar – a refugee from Afghanistan – Will discovers an osprey nest, with two small chicks inside. He forms an unbreakable bond with the birds, especially the smallest chick, who they name Whitetip. But when tragedy almost strikes again one stormy night, and Whitetip is knocked out of the nest – breaking a wing, Will is determined to save her. Smuggling her down from the mountain, he finds a way to keep her alive. As Will helps Whitetip to grow and to heal, he finds a strength inside himself that he never knew he had. Maybe, finally, Will can find a way to take flight too… |
| Gold Medal Mysteries: Peril on the Pitch | Ellie Robinson | It’s been a year since Seb, Hannah and Maria solved the mystery of the gold medal thief at the Tokyo Games. Now they are reunited at the World Football Championship but Brazil’s star goalie has gone missing. Finding a lost medal was one thing, finding a missing person is much more difficult. Can the trio team up again to find out what happened before the final game? |
| The Boy who cried Ghost | Ian Eagleton | Every day he carries out a series of rituals that he believes will keep the ghost trapped inside. He tries to tell his friends and family, but they dismiss his worries and concerns as being part of his OCD. But then one day, the wardrobe door is opened… And that’s when the hauntings begin. |
| Birdie | J.P Rose | Birdie Bagshaw has never known her parents. Having grown up in a children’s home for mixed race children in 1950s Leeds, now she has come to live with her great-aunt Mabel in the Yorkshire Dales. From her arrival, things are strained, and Birdie cannot understand why she is treated like an outsider by the local children. When their bullying drives Birdie to hide in the nearby coal mine, she finds an unexpected rescuer in the form of Mr Duke, the last remaining pit pony in the village. As the weeks pass, Birdie forms a special bond with the spirited little pony. But his future is in danger, and Birdie comes up with a daring plan to save his life in return . . . |
| Murder for Two (A Tariq Twins Mystery) | Niyla Farook | Murder for Two (A Tariq Twins Mystery)Separated when they were 6 months old, twins Ani and Riri couldn’t be more different. Loud and adventurous Ani wants to be a sleuth when she grows up. Shy and quiet Riri prefers books to people, and just wants a safe, germ free job when she grows up. When they’re forced to spend the summer together, Ani is convinced it’s going to be another Great Twin War like the last time they tried family bonding. But this summer is different – there’s a murder, and their dad is arrested as the prime suspect. Can they work together to protect their family and solve the mystery? |
| The Summer I Saved the Wild | Rachel Faturoti | Thirteen-year-old Kamaria lives for nature and dreams of attending an eco-camp abroad. But Kamaria’s overprotective parents worry about exploring in her hometown, so how likely is that? Then summer is turned upside down by a visiting cousin who isn’t shy about bending the rules … When strange mythical creatures appear to Kamaria, desperately seeking her help, she knows she must find a safe haven for them. Can the cousins put aside their differences to help each other do what they love? And will Kamaria find her voice to make a change? An empowering heartfelt love-letter to the natural world, inspiring everyone to believe in being the change they seek. You can make a difference! |
| The Haunting of Fortune Farm | Sophie Kirtley | Sometimes, secrets don’t stay buried forever. Sometimes, they need to be set free… Twelve-year-old Edie and her younger brother Pip are spending half term at Fortune Farm, high in the Irish mountains, with their grandmother Lolly. They haven’t visited Fortune Farm for YEARS and Edie has been dreading it for MONTHS. They spent all their holidays there when Dad was alive. And Edie doesn’t like thinking about Dad – even the happy memories haunt her too much. When Edie uncovers a clue that could lead her to long-lost Viking treasure, it’s just the adventure she needs to take her mind off Dad. But the adventure soon takes an unnerving and dangerous turn, and Edie discovers that Fortune Farm has more secrets, mysteries and ghosts than she had ever dared to dream.A spine-tingling adventure about the power of memories and the restless spirits that whisper on the wind… |
| North and the Only One | Vashti Hardy | Twelve-year-old Rose can’t remember anything before last week, when she woke up not knowing her own name, her own house, or even her own mother. The only thing Rose recognized was her puppy, North. But Mother patiently explained everything – well, not everything. Not the real-feeling dreams Rose has about a mysterious forest she half-recognizes. Or why she is not allowed to stray beyond the garden, out into Luminelle, the vast city surrounding them. Mother is kind and helpful, but Rose can’t shake the feeling that something’s not right. Or maybe it’s everything that’s not right? But then, when Rose flees to the outside world with North, it quickly becomes clear to Rose that she is different. And for reasons she doesn’t understand, she’s dangerous. On an unforgettable journey of discovery, Rose uncovers life-altering truths about the city she’s in, the people around her … and ultimately herself. |
| Oscar’s lion | Adam Baron | Oscar is a little terrified to find that a lion is going to be looking after him for the weekend. But when the lion lets him eat as many biscuits as he wants, and reads him his favourite story ten times, Oscar realises he might be on to something good. Soon, Oscar discovers that the lion can change into different animals and the pair find themselves having all kinds of adventures! |
| Alyssa and the Spell Garden | Alexandra Sheppard | When 11-year-old Alyssa is forced to spend the summer holiday with her mum’s family, who she’s never met before, her latent magical powers explode into life. Her great aunt runs a secret magic school in her spell garden where local kids can hone their power. The garden grows magical spell ingredients that have protected their family and the wider neighbourhood for decades – ever since they arrived from Jamaica with their mother Effie in the 1960s. But something is going wrong and the magic is running out! Can Alyssa use her new, unpredictable magic to set things right? |
| On The Wall | Anne Fine | Amid the frantic bustle of breaktime, Finley Tandy sits peacefully on the wall. Mr Goodhew, watching from the staffroom, can’t help but wonder at the boy’s gift for stillness, and his seemingly cast-iron happiness. But maybe tranquillity can be catching. Because gradually everyone in the school comes to appreciate what Finley’s long silences can offer. Even Juliet finds answers to her crushing worries when she’s close to Finley, up on the wall. |
| Explodapedia: Rewild | Ben Martynoga | With our planet in crisis, this volume explores how we should welcome rewilding on both a personal and epic scale. River-nurturing wolves, tree-toppling beavers, climate-warrior whales and even genetically engineered woolly mammoths could all help us protect, revive and restore our planet to its full glory. |
| Café Chaos | Catherine Wilkins | Running Café Crumble is the family’s dream—just not Hope’s. While Dad and Gran clash in the kitchen and Mum juggles finances with trays of quiche, Hope’s sister Stacey turns everything into a performance and cousin Connor blows the budget on novelty costumes. Just when things can’t get any messier, Auntie Rita arrives… With the café hurtling toward total chaos, it’s up to Hope to save the day—even if it means dressing as a giant ice cream and dancing outside the school gates. |
| Tidemagic: The Many Faces of Ista Flit | Clare Harlow | Amongst the cobbled streets and misty alleyways of Shelwich, magic rises and falls with the Tide. When the Tide is out, the magic ebbs to a low murmur. When the Tide is in, the magic is high – and Tide-blessings are at their strongest. For most people, the Tide-blessing they are born with is nothing more than a simple party trick: eyes that change colour, or the ability to recite a poem backwards. Some, though, are blessed with more powerful gifts. Telepathy. Flight. Or, in the case of Ista Flit, being able to transform to look like someone else. Anyone else… Ista has come to Shelwich in search of her missing father, and she’ll do anything to find him – even work for Shelwich’s most notorious thief. Then she meets Nat and Ruby, both struggling with their own search: Nat for his little brother, Ravi, and Ruby for her sister Saf. As more strange disappearances send shockwavesthrough the town, they must form a tentative friendship and draw on all the Tidemagic they can to unravel a mystery that leads to an old, abandoned theatre, and to the ancient caves beneath Shelwich. But what they find there will be far more than they have bargained for… |
| Spellcasters: Moon Magic | Crystal Sung | Jenny and the rest of the Spellcasters are thrilled to be going on an adventure trip to the woods at half term – they can’t wait to try out all the activities and have fun telling spooky stories round the campfire . . . and perhaps they’ll have a chance to practise their new magical powers. But, the girls discover a local legend about a pack of werewolves that terrorised people in the woods long ago. Then Maya’s shapeshifting power goes wrong, and it looks like she’s transformed into a werewolf for good. Can Jenny use her powers of astral projection to travel back in time to ancient Egypt and find help from the gods of Egyptian mythology? |
| Bringing back Kay-Kay | Dev Kothari | Lena’s beloved older brother goes missing at the end of summer camp. The police dismiss Kay-Kay’s disappearance as that of just another teenage runaway, but Lena knows they are wrong. Tired of not being listened to, Lena sets off to find him. Lena journeys across India to retrace Kay-Kay’s last known steps. It seems there is a side to Kay-Kay she has never known. The more she learns about her brother in the weeks leading up to his disappearance, the more determined Lena is to find him – and to finally be the sister he has so clearly needed. But will she be too late…? |
| Keedie | Elle McNicoll | As Keedie and her twin Nina approach their fourteenth birthday, they seem to only be growing further apart. Keedie instead feels drawn to, and fiercely protective of, their quiet younger sister Addie – who on the surface is the opposite of loud and fiery Keedie, but in fact they have more in common than anyone knows. |
| The Houdini Inheritance | Emma Carroll | The wonderfully named Gloria Copperfield (Glory) and best friend Dennis, who is Houdini’s greatest fan, grab the opportunity to see him perform in their quiet seaside town of Sidford by the Sea, but soon they are propelled into a greater adventure than they could ever have imagined. They find themselves assisting the great man when it becomes clear that someone is trying to steal his priceless secrets from the mysterious trunk No.8 and they end up on transatlantic trip of a lifetime accompanied by Denis’s Gran and Glory’s big sister Ettie. |
| Clem Fatale has been betrayed | Eve Wersocki-Morris | London, 1951. Clem Fatale, the city’s youngest crook, is on the hunt for her missing dad— infamous jewel thief and leader of the Spider Gang. He’s vanished along with London’s most legendary treasure: the Fool’s Canary. With reluctant prisoner, Gilbert in tow, Clem hurtles through the city’s underworld—from smoky nightclubs and greasy spoons to hidden alleyways and shady dens. But as allies and enemies close in, Clem must outwit them all to uncover the truth. Can she find her father before London’s most dangerous villain finds her? |
| The Destiny of Minou Moonshine | Gita Ralleigh | When fierce orphan girl Minou Moonshine’s life is unexpectedly shattered, she joins the ragtag band of rebels, the Green Orchids, who are plotting to overthrow the General. Armed with a secret and a map, Minou sets off with her friends and a mechanical elephant, through the lush jungles of Indica, in search of the Dark Lady, a diamond and her destiny. |
| The line they drew through us | Hiba Noor Khan | Three best friends are born on the same day under miraculous circumstances. But by their twelfth birthday, Jahan, Ravi and Lakshmi’s lives are about to change forever. The British announce Indian independence and draw lines of Partition that tear apart the country, and the friends. One of them flees, one of them disappears, and the other is left wondering, could a miracle bring them back together? |
| Maisie vs Antarctica | Jack Jackman | Maisie thinks her dad is the most boring person in the world. For fun he likes to do origami (but only basic triangles) or jigsaw puzzles of a cloudless sky (yep, every piece is blue). He writes cool-sounding books like How To Wrestle A Crocodile and How To Defuse A Bomb, but he’s never actually done any of the awesome things he writes about. But Maisie has to admit weird things happen around Dad. Unexplainable things…When childcare falls through and Dad has to take Maisie to Antarctica to research his next book, How To Survive In Antarctica, Maisie realises there is definitely something unusual about Dad… Maisie is determined to find out the truth about her dad. What she doesn’t realise is that she’ll discover some things about herself and what it really means to be a hero along the way. One thing is for sure – it’s going to be the adventure of a lifetime! |
| Bunny Vs Monkey The great big glitch | Jamie Smart | When Bunny, Monkey and friends discover a glitch in reality, life gets even crazier than normal: Bunny declares himself The Woods’ Magical Protector, Pig becomes a superspy, plus there’s complete metal Monkey mayhem! |
| Shipwrecked | Jenny Pearson | Sebastian Sunrise and his two best friends, Lina and Étienne, are in a bit of trouble. They are stranded on a desert island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The friends have no idea how long they might have to stay on the island, so they make a plan. They will try to survive, look after the island’s baby turtles, and have fun, if they can. But when a boat arrives, bringing pirates who want to hunt the island’s baby turtles, the friends face their greatest danger yet… |
| Tosh’s Island | Linda Sargent | Tosh’s upbringing feels close to perfect: best friends, mischief and secondary school, just around the next corner. But when chronic illness strikes, it threatens to derail everything she loves. |
| Code Name Kingfisher | Liz Kessler | Holland, 1942. The world is at war and as the Nazis’ power grows, Jewish families are in terrible danger. Twelve-year-old Mila and her older sister Hannie are sent to live with a family in another city with new identities and the strict instruction not to tell anyone that they are Jewish. Hannie, is swept into the Dutch resistance as an undercover agent: Code Name Kingfisher. And though Mila does her best to make friends and keep out of trouble, there is danger at every turn and the sisters are soon left questioning who they can trust… |
| How to Be a Revolutionary | Lucy Ann Unwin | A General Election is coming and the Revolutionaries are gathering at Natalie’s house. She’s determined to be a part of it all, but is it really just about red coats, muddy boots and piles of glossy leaflets? Surely changing the world should be more exciting than that? |
| An Island at the edge of night | Lucy Strange | Faye Fitzgerald has done something wicked. But she’s not absolutely sure what it is. Faye embarks on a journey that takes her to a remote Scottish island and to a very unusual school where the other six pupils are all children who have done something wicked – or so they have been told. Faye and her fellow pupils soon find that this school is really not all it seems to be and, along with secret passages, concealed doorways and possible ghosts, they find out the real reasons for their banishment and imprisonment. |
| Mallory Vayle and the Curse of Maggoty Skull | Martin Howard & Pete Williamson | Mallory Vayle would list her interests as being normal, books about ponies and very definitely NOT talking to dead people. But when her parents’ carriage takes a leap off Gibbett Bridge – an accident for which there appears to be no explanation – she is taken in by a strange aunt the family disowned years ago and brought to her new, and very spooky, home. Aunt Lilith, a charlatan psychic, is quick to monetise Mallory’s prodigious skills in talking to dead people and starts to advertise grand seances (ticketed obvs) in her spiritual news sheet. The ghosts of her parents also take up residence in the house but are cruelly snatched away by the shadow of Hellysh Spatzl, the grimmest, wickedest necromancer in all of history. To get them back, Mallory will have to learn how to use the talents she hates and raise the old hag from the dead. Her teacher? A talking skull called Maggoty, who wants some favours in return for his help – not just a gorgeous blond wig and some sparkly earrings, but for Mallory to break the curse that has left his spirit locked inside his own skull for 500 years. Mallory will have to lean into who she is and what she can do and make a pack with the evil Hellysh Spatzl to get her parents back while at the same time putting on a sensational Halloween spectacular at only five shillings a head for an amazed audience at Nightmare Castle. And learn to love her chatty sidekick and his glorious wig… |
| Girl on the fly | Nansubuga Nagadya Isdahl | Thirteen-year-old Kamaria finds comfort in rhythm and routine—they’re how she makes sense of the world and her place in it. So when her Aunt Rose arrives unexpectedly from Tanzania to stay with the family indefinitely, Kam’s sense of balance is thrown completely off. But as new challenges keep piling up, Kam starts to wonder: how much can she really handle before everything begins to unravel? |
| The memory key | Nigel Baines | Lately Lily’s grandad has been confused and forgetful, but Lily just knows that if she can help Grandad unlock his past, he’ll be back to normal. Then Grandad’s memories magically start coming to life and Lily and Grandad travel back to his childhood in Hungary. But they both get more than they bargained for when they get stuck in Grandad’s darkest memory…. |
| We Are Family: Six Kids and A Superdad | Oliver Sykes | There’s Dad’s disgusting nettle soup and peculiar pancakes, horrible home haircuts, punishing press-ups and scum in the bath tub. BUT then there’s the joy of boxing lessons with Dad, fun family outings, jokes and pranks – and storytelling round the fire. Not to mention a homemade birthday cake like no other! |
| The Letter With the Golden Stamp | Onjali Q Rauf | This story is told as a police confession by Audrey, a young girl who has got herself into a terrible situation which has taken her from Swansea in Wales all the way to London, in a very unusual way. Sergeant Anita and social worker Georgie are very kind. At first the words don’t come but then they spill out, and the story unfolds. We find out 9-year-old Audrey is a young carer with a seriously ill mum and two younger siblings, twins named Peck and Kat, that she looks after too. Audrey is worried that someone will realise her mam needs so much help and take her and the twins away into care, so she doesn’t tell anyone what’s going on at home, not even her best friends Kavi and Inara or her great friend Mo the postman who knocks every day and gives her postage stamps for her collection. When a mysterious neighbour moves in at number 13 Audrey becomes convinced they are spying on her to report her mum to the authorities. So she decides she must get the help of her dad who so far has not been at all involved or helpful. But how to get to London to find him when her letter gets returned in the post? |
| After | Padraig Kenny | After the technological collapse known as the Flood, Jen and her father journey through a broken world, where most of humanity—once linked to a central hive—has vanished. The survivors must reconnect and rebuild from the ruins. Jen carries a secret: her “father” isn’t human at all, but a rogue AI disguised in human form. In a world that fears what caused its downfall, she must protect him at all costs—even if it means hiding the truth from those she longs to trust. |
| The dawn of Adonis | Phil Earle | London, 1911. The docks buzz with secrets—but none as valuable as the smuggled baby gorilla from the depths of the Congolese rainforest. For shady dealer Goliath Deeds and his young pickpocket accomplice, Toff Squabble, the animal is their ticket to fortune. But twelve-year-old Nettie Beecroft has other ideas. Drawn into a perilous rescue mission, she must navigate the city’s underbelly of toshers, bone grubbers, and gangsters. In a world where trust is scarce and danger looms, can Nettie save the gorilla—and herself? |
| Secrets of the Snakestone | Piu Dasgupta | Zélie’s used to being called a witch—but she’s never believed in magic. That is, until Jules climbs out of the Paris sewers with a golden locket once belonging to the legendary Snakestone. Zélie believes the stone may be the key to finding her missing father. But a secret society is after the Snakestone too, and they’ll do anything to get it. Racing through riddles, a strange circus, and the tunnels beneath Paris, Zélie and Jules must uncover the stone’s secrets before it falls into the wrong hands. |
| The Cheat Book (Vol.2) Can Kamal Survive the Wild? | Ramzee | Kamal’s class is going to the woods and Kamal has promised to track down the infamous BEAST OF CRIGGILY WOOD. He throws himself into the wilderness with nothing but his two best friends, his wits and the mysterious Cheat Book. |
| Dreamstalkers: The night train | Sarah Driver | When dreams vanish and shadowy nightmares creep across the moors, Bea uncovers a startling secret: her mother was once a Dreamstalker—part warrior, part performer, and guardian of the dream world. But the Dreamstalkers have fallen under the sway of a ruthless Queen, the same one Bea’s mother fled from long ago. Now, nightmares are spreading like a plague, forcing entire villages to flee. |
| Let sleeping gods lie | Thiago De Moraes | Trixie’s grandma has passed away, and the family must fly to Norway for the funeral. At Grandma’s house, her treasured cauldron is missing. Strange tracks lead into the forest, and when Trixie follows them, she finds herself face-to-face with the legendary Baba Yaga. To her surprise, the witch doesn’t eat her—instead, she reveals that the cauldron holds a powerful secret. It’s fallen into dangerous hands, and Trixie must journey to the Land of the Dead to retrieve it before it’s too late. But there’s a catch: every culture has its own Underworld, and her quest will lead her through them all. |
| The first kids in space | Tom Mitchell | When twelve-year-old Franklin Wilson botches a space shuttle simulator and accidentally goes viral, he catches the eye of billionaire Xavier Drake—who invites him to join a high-stakes competition to become the first kid in space. But once the five contestants begin a series of intense elimination trials, Franklin realizes something’s off. The prize isn’t just a trip to space… and the truth behind the competition could change everything. |
| Movies showing nowhere | Yorick Goldewijk | At the precise moment Cate was born, her mother died, leaving Cate with an overwhelming sense of sadness and guilt. 12 years on, Cate has no friends and her dad, Harold, barely communicates. Everything changes when a mysterious stranger, Mrs Kano, gives Harold a business card, advertising a cinema which claims to show films you won’t find anywhere else. Cate is intrigued, so she goes to investigate and is transported to a world beyond her wildest dreams. Mrs Kano’s cinema enables viewers to dive into their memories and revisit lost moments from the past. Cate knows exactly which part of her history she’d like to visit, but is she brave enough to come face-to-face with the one person she’s desperate to meet: her mother? |
