Looking for a new story to share with your little ones? Take a look at our new children’s book picks for January! All free to borrow with a library card.
Want more suggested books? Take a look at our recommendations.
How Many Animals Can Fit in This Book?
Natalia Yaskina
Just how many animals can fit in this book? Ant will tell you loud and clear: the answer is ONE. But will Ant mind if other animals join the pages, too? Two lions? Four zebras? How about eight penguins?
This is a humorous picture book that cleverly shows that there is enough room for everyone – while acknowledging that, sometimes, we may need our own space.
The Good Deed Dogs
Emma Chichester Clark
Bodger, Billy and Betty are VERY good dogs. They like doing good deeds and are always on the lookout for ways to help people. Unfortunately, things don’t always go to plan. From flying socks to runaway shopping, chaos follows them wherever they go.
But when a little girl’s kitten gets into trouble, the good deed dogs are determined to save the day.
Grumpy Monkey: Love is Gross!
Suzanne Lang and Max Lang
Jim Panzee is very grumpy about Valentine’s Day until his buddy Norman shows him that this celebration is for everyone. When Jim hears Oxpecker cooing over her doting boyfriend on Valentine’s Day, he has just one thought: Gross.
But Jim finds out that not everything about Valentine’s Day is hearts and kisses. Jim learns there are different types of valentines and many kinds of love, such as love for a parent or for friends.
Tree Thing
Piers Torday and Matthew Taylor Wilson
Once, in a faraway land, a green thing squeezed out of the earth. The mysterious Tree Thing, which changes Marlo’s life forever.
Nothing grows in Marlo’s valley, and it’s a struggle to survive. But when his squirrel Rinti finds a glowing emerald acorn, it grows into a miraculous Tree Thing.
Tree Thing changes everything, bringing life and hope. And when the shadowy Rider arrives with an axe, Marlo needs all his bravery and ingenuity to stand between triumph and disaster.
The Night I Borrowed Time
Iqbal Hussain
Eleven-year-old Zubair is a seventh son. This means a LOT of big brothers. But when Zubair’s granny arrives from Pakistan and gives him a mysterious amulet, he discovers it means something else, too: he has inherited a gift. The seventh sons in his family have the ability to time-travel.
With his dad a shadow of his former self since his car accident, and his mum always tired and angry, Zubair has a genius idea. He’ll use time-travel to fix things between them.
But each trip comes at a cost. If he changes something small in the past, it can have a huge effect on his future. And if he gets it wrong, the results could be devastating…
The Monsters at the End of the World
Rebecca Orwin and Oriol Vidal
All her life, Sunny has known three things about the creatures that prowl the seas off her tiny coastal town. They are dangerous. They are violent. They are monsters. But when a chance encounter leads to an unexpected connection, Sunny discovers just how wrong she has been.
The monster she meets – Mo – is intelligent, gentle, and searching for his lost brother. Sunny desperately wants to help, and to keep her new friend a secret. But other people are keeping secrets too. And as hunger grips the town, new truths will emerge about the real monsters in Seawaren.
The Experiment
Rebecca Stead
Nathan never understood what was ‘fun’ about secrets, probably because he’s always had to keep a very big one. Although he appears to be a typical twelve-year-old (with parents, homework and a best friend, Victor), Nathan learned at an early age that his family is from another planet.
Now, their time on Earth may be coming to an end. Nathan, his parents and nine other families are part of an experiment that suddenly seems to be going wrong. Some of the experimenters, including Nathan’s first crush, Izzy, are disappearing without a word.
After his family is called back to the mothership, Nathan begins to question everything he’s been taught to believe about who he is and why he’s on Earth.
Yumna and the Golden Horse
Yassmin Abdel-Magied
In this quiet town, a magic awakens. Thirteen-year-old Yumna lives in a sleepy town where nothing ever happens. So when her friends start sneaking into the woods at night, curiosity gets the better of her and she follows.
There, she discovers something unbelievable. Kareem can turn into a golden horse. Sami can touch fire without burning. Even her cousin Nafisa has a strange new power. Everyone’s changing – except Yumna. But when Kareem vanishes and a mysterious new family, the Maidstones, seem to be hiding something, Yumna is the only one asking the right questions.
As secrets unravel and danger creeps closer, it’s up to Yumna to rally her friends and uncover the truth. In a town full of secrets and powers, can one ordinary girl become the hero they all need?
How to Survive an Apocalypse: The End of the World Doesn’t Have to Be the End of the World
Coby Coonradt, Cameron Hardy and Victoria Stebleva
Would you know what to do if there was an AI takeover or an asteroid hit Earth? If not, don’t worry. Preppers and podcast hosts Cam and Coby have got your back!
In this fun and practical guide, you’ll learn prepping 101, from basic first aid and water purification to packing a useful emergency kit and how to communicate during a tech outage. Then you’ll discover how to survive all kinds of disasters, including a zombie apocalypse, a supernatural takeover, and an alien invasion.
Packed with useful tips, tricks, and strategies, this laugh-out-loud handbook will have you hoping for the worst.
What’s the Weirdest Thing About Animals?
Edward Brooke-Hitching and Jez Tuya
From bottom-breathing turtles to fish that live in trees, set off with Edward Brooke-Hitching on a fact-packed safari to discover the strangest, silliest and down-right weirdest things our planet’s amazing animals has to offer.
Written by QI elf and author extraordinaire, the first book in Brooke-Hitching’s spectacular new series is extraordinarily enlightening and seriously shareable. Both information- and humour-rich, it is a glorious treasure trove of bite-sized facts for children to either snack on throughout the week or gobble up all in one go.
And with a ‘Who’s the Smartest?’ quiz at the end of each section, this book is the perfect companion for children determined to know their barking piranhas from their purring rottweilers – and that’s a fact!
Diagnosis Detectives: Tummy Trouble
Ben Elcomb and Terri Po
Join a team of quirky characters that live in the human body as they investigate the clues behind mystery symptoms to find each culprit to illnesses and ailments.
The Diagnosis Detective Agency work out what’s wrong inside their human body by investigating symptoms and inspecting suspects, before revealing the culprits causing tummy trouble.