Books of Year 2008
To see book of the year for kids of a certain age, just click on one of the tabs below. You'll find some highly recommended reads.
Book of the year - Ages 0-5
The Odd Egg
Emily Gravett
Emily Gravett has been selected as one of The Big Picture campaign's Best New Illustrators in 2008. A wonderfully funny story with a special surprise! Everyone has an egg of their own except for Duck. Then he finds one. Despite...
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Released: 07/03/2008
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Daydream Dan
Sarah Garson
This is a debut picture book from an exciting new talent. A delightful book that both parent and child will warm to as the plotline is something that both will relate to. That dreaded 'I'm not day dreaming' as your...
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Released: 01/05/2008
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Book of the year - Ages 5-7
The Declaration
Gemma Malley
A powerful, gripping and tense futuristic novel about a world which has gone mad, a world where life is forever except for the likes of Peter and Anna (who shouldn’t be there at all according to the declaration) who are...
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Released: 05/05/2008
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Reavers' Ransom
Emily Diamand
THIS EDITION IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE AS THE TITLE OF THE BOOK HAS BEEN CHANGED TO FLOOD CHILD.
Shortlisted for the 2009 Branford Boase Best Debut Novel Award.
Winner of The Times Children’s Fiction Competition, this original post-apocalyptic fantasy is...
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Released: 03/11/2008
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The Meaning Of Life
Joanna Nadin
Laugh out loud funny from the first page, The Meaning of Life, will be devoured by teenagers and adults in equal measure just as the Diaries of Adrian Mole hit the spot for a different generation. A spot-on teenage voice...
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Released: 07/08/2008
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Book of the year - Ages 7-9
Ottoline Goes To School
Chris Riddell
Shortlisted for the prestigious Sheffield Children's Book Award 2009
A wonderful quirky mystery adventure that follows the story of Miss Ottoline Brown, the inquisitive Mistress of Disguise, and her partner in crime, her hairy and helpful friend, Mr Munroe, first introduced...
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Released: 01/02/2008
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Book of the year - Ages 9-11
Milrose Munce
Douglas Anthony Cooper
A hilariously dark tale from the self-proclaimed evil novelist Douglas Anthony Cooper. Milrose Munce is blessed or rather cursed with the ability to see ghosts. Rather unfortunately for him most of his best friends have died in science experiments gone...
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Released: 08/05/2008
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Hero.com: Rise of the Heroes
Andy Briggs
Dare devilry and technology
are smartly combined in this exciting adventure. Four children are transformed
into superheroes through the power of a web site. But being a superhero means
fighting some super-villains – and they fight tough. Can the four new
young...
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Released: 05/06/2008
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Flood Child
Emily Diamand
Shortlisted for the 2009 Branford Boase Best Debut Novel Award.
This title was first published as REAVERS’ RANSOM but has now been retitled, more appropriately in our mind, FLOOD CHILD.
Winner of The Times Children’s Fiction Competition, this original post-apocalyptic fantasy is...
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Released: 03/11/2008
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Tumtum And Nutmeg
Emily Bearn
Brambly Hedge meets The Borrowers. A stunning debut that 6+ year olds will devour. This is most definitely a candidate for a classic of the future. Tumtum and Nutmeg’s world may be in a broom cupboard within a cottage but...
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Released: 07/01/2008
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The London Eye Mystery
Siobhan Dowd
Shortlisted for the Nasen and TES 'Special Educational Needs Children's Book Award' 2007. When Salim mysteriously disappears while on a ride on the London Eye everyone is frantic and even the police are baffled. Ted has his own theories,...
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Released: 05/06/2008
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Savvy
Ingrid Law
Charming, warm hearted and original, Savvy is a family story with a difference. Mibs (short for Mississippi) is waiting for her thirteenth birthday – the day she’ll get her ‘savvy’ and, through it, discover exactly what her special powers will...
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Released: 03/07/2008
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Hazel's Phantasmagoria
Leander Deeny
This is a stunning first novel with exceptional quality writing and a uniquely imaginative plot from a brand new publisher of children’s books, Quercus. The author has combined the rich, gifted imagination of Lewis Carroll and Maurice Sendak with the child/adult...
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Released: 06/03/2008
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Crusade
Elizabeth Laird
Two boys, Adam and Salim, come face to face when they find themselves on opposing sides in a Holy war. Adam is part of a Crusade to reclaim Jerusalem from the infidels; Salim finds himself at the heart of Saladin’s...
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Released: 02/05/2008
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Little Mouse's Big Book Of Fears
Emily Gravett
A useful books about overcoming anxiety.
Winner of the of the 2008 Kate Greenaway Medal. This award winning author-illustrator continues to create some of the
most innovative and imaginative illustrated children's books. Through
nursery rhyme stories follow Little Mouse as he...
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Released: 01/08/2008
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Book of the year - Ages 11-13
Sara's Face
Melvin Burgess
As ever, Melvin Burgess makes readers think. Sara signs up for a face transplant but is it her who wants it or, is she being pushed into doing it against her will by the scarred pop-star who wants her face?...
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Released: 31/01/2008
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Just Henry
Michelle Magorian
Winner of the 2008 Costa Children’s Book Award - From the award winning author of Goodnight Mister Tom comes a new page turning tale. Warmhearted and full of period detail, Just Henry is a wonderful story of growing up...
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Released: 05/05/2008
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What I Was
Meg Rosoff
Haunting, intense and with an incredible twist in the tale this is unlike anything you will have read before. It’s a story of friendship, love and secrets but also of tragedy and loss. It will almost certainly move you to...
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Released: 05/06/2008
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Steel Trapp
Ridley Pearson
A sharp, fast-paced thriller featuring a 14-year old whose photographic memory causes him to get embroiled in a complex puzzle of kidnapping, bribery, terrorism and on the run from the federal agents. The author is an established writer of suspense...
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Released: 08/05/2008
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Island Of The Phantoms
Stephen Alter
A wonderfully rich and intelligent fantasy that weaves together the destinies of three children, through the pages of some books, an eccentric librarian and a ghostly island. The dual plot line of the mysterious South Pacific island and that of...
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Released: 07/07/2008
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Here Lies Arthur
Philip Reeve
Winner of the prestigious 2008 Carnegie. Prize-winning author Philip Reeve gives a brilliant new take on the legend of King Arthur. Myrddin rides with Arthur spinning tales for and about him but what is the truth and can Gwyna...
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Released: 03/03/2008
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Dragonfly Pool
Eva Ibbotson
A wonderful, magical adventure spins out of a school story with a difference. Tally doesn’t want to leave her father and her aunts and go away to boarding school. But Delderton Hall is a very special school with interesting staff...
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Released: 02/05/2008
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Cosmic
Frank Cottrell Boyce
Comic and cosmic, this is a roller coaster adventure that takes Liam Digby up into space with a handful of other children and their parents. It’s an hilarious journey of discovery as Liam hurtles around the world finding out exactly...
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Released: 06/06/2008
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Blade: Playing Dead
Tim Bowler
Totally gripping teens thriller written in a direct and compelling style. Tough kid Blade wants no one to know him. He’s a loner and wants to keep it that way. It’s the best way to keep out of trouble. But...
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Released: 01/05/2008
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Between Two Seas
Marie-louise Jensen
Shortlisted for the 2009 Branford Boase Best Debut Novel Award
Marianne promises her dying mother that she’ll seek a better life and especially that she’ll try to find her father. Leaving Grimsby, Marianne sets off on a long and dangerous voyage...
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Released: 03/01/2008
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A World Away
Pauline Francis
A bold and beguiling tale of love and separation, set against the tragedy of the first settlers in the New World. It tells the story of both Tom, a young blacksmith in Plymouth and of Nadie, a child slave brought...
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Released: 29/08/2008
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Ways To Live Forever
Sally Nicholls
Shortlisted for the 2009 Branford Boase Best Debut Novel Award
Sympathetic,
touching, and surprisingly funny, Ways To Live Forever is a fantastic
debut from Sally Nicholls. Sam loves facts. He wants to know about UFOs and
horror movies...
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Released: 01/09/2008
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Black Rabbit Summer
Kevin Brooks
Shortlisted for the Carnegie Award 2009. Pete and his childhood friends meet up one last time, for ‘old time’s sake’. But old times are full of secrets, tensions, bitterness and unhappiness. And everyone sees it a bit differently. And not...
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Released: 07/08/2008
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Waves
Sharon Dogar
Shortlisted for the Branford Boase Award 2008. This is an incredibly thought-provoking, lyrically written debut, which astounded me time after time with each new page. Sharon has cleverly intertwined two strands to the novel, past and present, into what I...
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Released: 05/05/2008
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Book of the year - Ages 14+
The Witness
James Jauncey
This arresting and compelling novel is a fast-paced literary thriller permeated with a tension and a perfect sense of timing that keeps the reader on edge throughout. With John the only witness to a crime and with the sole survivor...
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Released: 04/07/2008
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Sweet
Julie Burchill
Definitely for the older teenager, Burchill has written about a gritty, urban and larger than life world. It’s smart, funny, full of wit – the Julie Burchill trademark – and it really captures the life and soul of teenage angst...
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Released: 05/10/2007
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Sold
Patricia McCormick
A powerful novel written in vignettes about a Nepalese girl who risks everything for a chance to reclaim her life from the depths of childhood prostitution. Endorsed by Amnesty International UK this title was also a finalist for the US...
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Released: 02/06/2008
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Before I Die
Jenny Downham
Winner of the Branford Boase Award 2008. This is a haunting yet truly amazing read but don't read it too young. Definitely not for someone less than 14 years old. If you knew you were going to die what would...
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Released: 10/04/2008
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Bog Child
Siobhan Dowd
Shortlisted for the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize 2008.
New and challenging book full of mystery and shadows from recently deceased author Siobhan Dowd. Both terrifying and fascinating from the start, Bog Child is a must-read for 2008. The plot follows Fergus...
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Released: 07/02/2008
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