Lovereading4kids Weekly Staff Picks
Reading is fundamental to the development of children and countless research shows the links between good reading skills from an early age and future success in life. However, finding books children want to read or authors that excite them, can be difficult; the choice is daunting and guidance rather thin on the ground.
So, Lovereading4kids was created to be the best recommendation site for Children’s Book from toddlers to teens. It has been created using the experience we have as parents and book lovers, who want our children to read great books. Secondly, it has been created from what we have learned from setting up our first book site lovereading.co.uk
Books for all ages! Top downloads
Baby and Toddler
- My First Elmer by David McKee
- Meltdown! by Jill Murphy
- The Tickle Test by Kathryn White
3+ readers
- The Wildest Cowboy by Garth Jennings
- Square by Mac Barnett
- Alan's Big, Scary Teeth by Jarvis
5+ readers
- The Great Telephone Mix-Up (Little Gem) by Sally Nicholls
- The Bad Mood and the Stick by Lemony Snicket
- Plantopedia by Adrienne Barman
7+ readers
- Hoakes Island by Ian Friel
- The Uncracked Code by Tamara Macfarlane
- A Boy Called Bat by Elana K. Arnold
9+ readers
- How to Bee by Bren MacDibble
- You Are Awesome by Matthew Syed
- Spirit by Sally Christie
11+ readers
- The House with Chicken Legs by Sophie Anderson
- A Skinful of Shadows by Frances Hardinge
- The Island at the End of Everything by Kiran Millwood-Hargrave
13+ readers
- Holes by Louis Sachar
- Fly By Night by Frances Hardinge
- Starry Eyes by Jenn Bennett
YA readers
- White Rabbit, Red Wolf by Tom Pollock
- Moonrise by Sarah Crossan
- Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
Register now – FREE for a unique range of services specifically created to help parents and anyone who likes to buy books for children choose the best books for boys and girls of all ages.
- Download and print off the Opening Extract of every ‘featured book’ on our site, even the picture books.
- Discover new writers through our unique children’s author ‘like-for-like’ recommendation service.
- Read our exclusive online book reviews by Julia Eccleshare, author and children’s books editor at the Guardian.
- Enjoy regular emails to keep you up to date on the latest and best in your chosen age ranges. (Please be reassured that your e-mail address will remain confidential to Lovereading and not sold to any of those horrible spam people).
Register now and try it out. We know choosing books for children will become a joy!
You give me age appropriate ideas of books I can read and buy for the children and find out what other children their age think of them too.
Katie Lonsdale
We love Lovereading4kids because they put books in front of us we wouldn’t otherwise have read. They make us more adventurous readers!
Emily Jacques
It is fantastic, you get to read lots of books and you always find something new and amazing in them.
Erica Motoc, age 7
I have told all my friends, family & teachers to see for themselves just how great the site is. Without fail, they are hugely impressed.
Alexander Boxall – age 11
I love lovereading4kids because I’ve read amazing books I would never have picked up, and its opened doors to new genre’s I now love.
Harriet Cunningham
Writing reviews help the children with their literacy skills and we always read the books together which gives us good quality family time!
Cat Bisland (on behalf of the Bi
This company is amazing; not only is it is a great opportunity to get books and review them but everyone is so friendly and supportive!
Jemma Rubens, age 10
I love finding new books to read. My mummy and me look at the new ones coming out. I have written reviews of some of them!
Jessica Cobbin – age 7
This month's 'featured books':
Bedtime Reading
We Are Family
Patricia Hegarty
Illustrated by Ryan Wheatcroft
‘Money doesn't matter, nor colour, creed, nor name - /In each
and every family, the love we feel's the same': these are
the…
A Perfect Day
Lane Smith
A Julia Eccleshare Pick of the Month May 2018 | Longlisted for the
UKLA 2018 Book Award Award winning Lane Smith celebrates the simple
delights of…
Snow Penguin
Tony Mitton
Illustrated by Alison Brown
A wonderful adventure for a bold little penguin is beautifully told
in Tony Mitton's elegant and witty rhyming text. Determined to
explore the…
Goodnight Everyone
Chris Haughton
Longlisted for the UKLA 2018 Book Award Perfect for the end of
every day, award-winning Chris Haughton captures the soothing time
as the sun goes…
Peace at Last
Jill Murphy
A new board book edition of the picture book classic, in a size
that's perfect for little paws! A timeless storybook classic full
of bright…
Richard Scarry's Best Treasury Ever
Richard Scarry
A stunning hardback treasury of five of Richard Scarry's best-loved
stories - the perfect gift for Scarry fans, young and old!
Richard…
This month's 'featured books':
Reviewed by Children
5 Wild Numbers
Bella Gomez
Wow! Bright pages depicting animals in gorgeous jungle
illustrations house die-cut numbers from one to five. Each number
has a sliding disc…
The Twitches Bake a Cake
Hayley Scott
Illustrated by Pippa Curnick
More delightful small-scale fun and big adventure in this new story
starring toy rabbit family the Twitches and their owner, Stevie.
Two stories run…
The Lie Tree
Frances Hardinge
Award-winning Frances Hardinge is spellbinding is this hugely
entertaining and dramatic Victorian thriller. When Faith's father
dies suddenly…
Cannonball Coralie and the Lion
Grace Easton
May 2018 Debut of the Month Funky and thoroughly contemporary in
feel, though simultaneously acknowledging classic children's
illustration,…
How to Bee
Bren MacDibble
May 2018 Book of the Month How To Bee is unlike any story I have
ever read. The narrative voice is heartfelt and the author uses a
mild form…
My Box-Shaped Heart
Rachael Lucas
In a Nutshell: Fractured families | First love | Fresh starts |
16-year-old Holly feels like an outsider, except when she's…
This month's 'featured books':
Books of the Year
Carve the Mark
Veronica Roth
One of Our Books of the Year 2017 | In a Nutshell: Deadly dilemmas
amidst Star Wars-esque intergalactic enmity | First book in an
ambitiously epic…
Hilary Mckay's Fairy Tales
Hilary Mckay
Illustrated by Sarah Gibb
One of Our Books of the Year 2017 | This is an absolutely stunning
book. Not only is it an absolute treat visually but it's also a
feast for…
The Bad Mood and the Stick
Lemony Snicket
Illustrated by Matthew Forsythe
One of Our Books of the Year 2017 | November 2017 Book of the Month
Lemony Snicket's simply told story offers a refreshing, thoughtful,
and…
The Lost Words
Robert Macfarlane, Jackie Morris
One of Our Books of the Year 2017 A book to make you think and
feel, this is an important, beautiful, spellbinding treasure. Words
from…
Looking for Yesterday
Alison Jay
One of Our Books of the Year 2017 | October 2017 Book of the Month
Beautiful illustrations full of interest and wonder accompany
Alison Jay's…
William Bee's Wonderful World of Trains, Boats and Planes
William Bee
One of Our Books of the Year 2017 | If you love vehicles, then this
is the book for you! William Bee shows off a multitude of amazing
vehicles,…
This month's 'featured books':
Fascinating Facts
Cool Mythology
Malcolm Croft
Illustrated by Damien Weighill
Stories, gods, heroes and villains from the world's great
mythologies are all featured in this compact and appealing
information book. It is…
The Big History Timeline Wallbook
Christopher Lloyd
Illustrated by Andy Forshaw
If you want to know what was happening on Earth any time in the
last four billion years, then you couldn't do better than opening
out the Big…
Animal Journeys
Patricia Hegarty
Illustrated by Jessica Courtney-Tickle
Starting with the Arctic tern, which makes the longest migration of
any creature, an astonishing 91,600km (57,000 mi) this
journal-sized book is full…
A Walk on the Wild Side
Louis Thomas
This animal guide book takes an unusual approach: it is presented
in the form of a scrapbook completed by the author Louis Thomas as
he travelled the…
50 Things You Should Know About Space
Raman Prinja
The Universe is huge – it stretches further than we could
ever imagine or explore, and contains everything in space, from
super stars to…
Bugs
Simon Tyler
This handsome, large format information book provides a fascinating
introduction to the world of bugs (meaning the entire class of
insects). Readers…
This month's 'featured books':
UKLA 2018
A Story Like the Wind
Gill Lewis
Illustrated by Jo Weaver
One of Our Books of the Year 2017 | Longlisted for the UKLA 2018
Book Award A Julia Eccleshare Pick of the Month May 2017
Gill…
Kid Got Shot
Simon Mason
Longlisted for the UKLA 2018 Book Award Meet Garvie Smith.
Reprobate, genius, waster, and sometime detective. Right in the
middle of revision hell -…
The Wolf Who Cried Boy!
James O'Neill
Longlisted for the UKLA 2018 Book Award The villagers and the
wolves are terrified of each other - and none more so than our two
unlikely heroes, a…
Wolf Hollow
Lauren Wolk
Longlisted for the UKLA 2018 Book Award | Shortlisted for the CILIP
Carnegie Medal 2017 | A young girl's kindness,…
Odd Dog Out
Rob Biddulph
Shortlisted for the UKLA 2018 Book Award Odd Dog Out has all the
qualities that made Blown Away and Grrrrr! so popular with critics
and readers!…
The Goldfish Boy
Lisa Thompson
Longlisted for the Branford Boase Award 2018 | Longlisted for the
UKLA 2018 Book Award A Julia Eccleshare Pick of the Month
January…
This month's 'featured books':
Books for Boys
Fenn Halflin and the Fearzero
Francesca Armour-Chelu
Julia Eccleshare's Pick of the Month, June 2016 Debut author
Francesca Armour-Chelu has created a desperate flooded dystopian
world in this…
Dog Town
Luize Pastore
Illustrated by Reinis Pētersons
In a nutshell: quirky and unusual adventure with traces of myth and
magic Riga is the setting for this fairy-tale like adventure, and
the city is…
Alfie Outdoors
Shirley Hughes
Standing in his pyjamas in the garden in the morning sunshine,
Alfie is an unmistakeable little figure. Shirley Hughes has an
extraordinary…
The Misadventures of Max Crumbly 2 Middle School Mayhem
Rachel Renee Russell
In a nutshell: wacky humour, thrilling action, nail-biting suspense
and cool raps From the creator of the hugely…
Only You Can Save Mankind
Terry Pratchett
Illustrated by Mark Beech
This is an absolutely cracking whiz-bang of a story. Set in an
unreality, that is actually scarily real, it plays with your mind
and really, really…
Demolition
Sally Sutton
Illustrated by Brian Lovelock
“Bang! Clang! Crack! Thud! Creak!! Wham! ” The noises
of the building site provide a background to this vigorous story of
destruction.…
This month's 'featured books':
Reluctant Readers
The Worst Witch and The Wishing Star
Jill Murphy
Mildred, notoriously the worst witch at Miss Cackle's Academy for
Witches, makes a wish on a shooting star - and to her great
surprise it comes true!…
Danny Dingle's Fantastic Finds: The Super-Sonic Submarine
Angie Lake
Illustrated by Shanith MM
In a nutshell: fart-powered non-stop adventure, part book part
comic-strip | Fresh from their triumph in the Science Club Soap Box
Derby…
Walter Brown and the Magician's Hat
Karen Inglis
London-based children's author Karen Inglis is back with another
illustrated page-turner, this time for ages 7-9. Karen has made a
name for…
Puppy Academy: Murphy and the Great Surf Rescue
Gill Lewis
Illustrated by Sarah Horne
In a nutshell : daring puppy heroes Gill Lewis's little stories of
the doggy students of the Puppy Academy have much to…
The Beautiful Game
Alan Gibbons
Illustrated by Chris Chalik
Interest Age 8-12 Reading Age 8 | In a nutshell: the highs and lows
of our national obsession | Football has the power to…
King Flashypants and the Evil Emperor
Andy Riley
In a nutshell : noble kings – evil laughs – chocolate
Good versus evil is given a very funny workout in this the first
book in what…
This month's 'featured books':
Super-readable Dyslexia-friendly
Mozart's Banana
Gillian Cross
Illustrated by Richard Morgan
Interest Age 7-12 Reading Age 7+ The best-selling author of The
Demon Headmaster tells a thrilling and funny story about the taming
of a…
Gunpoint
Jim Eldridge
Illustrated by Dan Chernett
Interest Age 9+ Reading Age 6+ “Put your hands up! If anyone
moves we shoot!” The action starts on page one of this
heart-stopping…
Gawain Greytail and the Terrible Tab
Cornelia Funke
Illustrated by Monica Armino
A Dyslexia Friendly Picture Book for Parent and Child There's a
definite air of chivalry to this new picture book from the…
Shona, Word Detective (4u2read)
John Agard
Illustrated by Michael Broad
Interest Age 8-12 Reading Age 7 Shona loves words and discovering
new ones, so she's fascinated by the professor on TV talking about
her…
Young Monsters
Michael Lawrence
Illustrated by Chris Mould
Interest Age 8-12 Reading Age 8+ A school story in which strange
and often hilarious things happen. Lon is sent away to his…
Young Werewolf
Cornelia Funke
Illustrated by David Roberts
Interest Age 8-12 Reading Age 8 Matt was your average boy until a
dangerous encounter awakens a wolf inside of him! This is a fun
supernatural…
