With so many books for children and teenagers published each year, it can be hard to make that final choice for a present for our children. I’ve put together a few selected titles of great stories and non-fiction options, across different genres, to give some top tips for Christmas presents this year!
Code Name Bananas, David Walliams
An adventure story with action, laughter and secret plots set during WWII – and the extraordinary friendship between a little boy and a huge gorilla in London Zoo.
The Danger Gang, Tom Fletcher
The electrifying new adventure from bestselling author of The Christmasaurus and The Creakers, Tom Fletcher! Franky can’t wait to move to his new town – although he wishes he didn’t have to leave his best friend Dani behind. But everything changes after the storm of strange green lightning and powerful thunder.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, J.K. Rowling
An old favourite but still a great introduction to Harry Potter for each new generation. This is where the adventure begins, as Harry Potter discovers that he is no ordinary boy but a wizard and destined to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid The Deep End, Jeff Kinney
The latest release in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid book series from international bestselling author Jeff Kinney. A global phenomenon with 250 million copies of the series sold worldwide! When Greg Heffley and his family hit the road for a cross-country camping trip, they’re ready for the adventure of a lifetime. But their plans hit a major snag, and they find themselves stranded at a campsite that’s not exactly a summertime paradise.
The Ickabog, J.K. Rowling
The Ickabog is coming… A mythical monster, a kingdom in peril, an adventure that will test two children’s bravery to the limit. Discover a brilliantly original fairy tale about the power of hope and friendship to triumph against all odds, from one of the world’s best storytellers, J K Rowling.
Boy, Everywhere, A.M. Dassu
Sami is a very ordinary 13-year-old boy, attending school, playing football, PlayStation and has his own iPad – the only thing different about Sami is that he lives in Damascus. As the war in Syria creeps closer, until a bombing of a local mall affects his family, everything has been good. Now Sami and his family have to leave their home, their friends and their beloved Jadda (grandmother) – not just to move to another town but to start a long and perilous journey to the safety of the other side of the world – to England.
Kay’s Anatomy, Adam Kay
This entertaining and informative guide to everything you ever wanted to know about the human body is an information text that will be read with great pleasure and is actually as unputdownable as a novel. It is very apparent that the multimillion-copy selling author and medical doctor has never grown out of his gleeful fascination with the human machine and has a real knack for presenting complex facts both clearly and concisely while making the reader laugh out loud.
Where the world, Geraldine McCaughr
In the summer of 1727 a group of men and boys, there to harvest birds and eggs, were stranded on Warrior Stac, a pinnacle of rock that pitches out of the Atlantic, ‘as black and fearful as one horn of the Devil himself’. It was nine months before anyone came to collect them! This is the story of how they survived.
Speak Up! Greta Thunberg
Greta Thunberg’s condemnation of climate crisis apathy and Malala Yousafzai’s heartfelt call to keep girls in education are just two of the 45 stirring speeches to feature in this absorbing book. The first ever collection of speeches made by children and teenagers around the world, it shows that today’s young people are a force to be reckoned with.