The team at Leiston Library share some of their favourite summer stories for junior readers! Browse our staff picks and pick up a copy from your local Suffolk library.
Want more suggested books? Take a look at our recommendations or explore more of the National Year of Reading campaign.
The Last Kids on Earth
Max Brallier
Meet Jack Sullivan, self-described as a late-blooming, slow-developing 13-year-old who has so far survived the zombie apocalypse by hiding out in his treehouse.
Overnight Jack’s life has become like the plot of a video game and he has come up with his own ULTIMATE FEATS OF APOCALYPTIC SUCCESS:
- Locate Quint Baker, best friend and inventor
- Find and rescue June Del Toro, his secret love interest
- Defeat Blarg, the biggest, baddest monster in town
- Become a zombie-fighting, monster-bashing tornado of cool!
The Extremely Embarrassing Life of Lottie Brooks
Katie Kirby
Lottie Brooks is 11 ¾ and her life is ALREADY officially over.
Not only is she about to start secondary school without any friends or glamorous swooshy hair, but she’s just discovered she’s too flat-chested to even wear A BRA!
She might as well give up now and go into hibernation with her hamsters, Sir Barnaby Squeakington and Fuzzball the Third.
Lottie navigates the perils of growing up in this fantastically funny new illustrated series for pre-teens filled with friendship, embarrassing moments and, of course, KitKat Chunkys.
Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret
Judy Blume
Meet Margaret. She’s going through all the same things most teenage girls have to face; fitting in, friendship and first bras.
Life isn’t easy for Margaret. She’s moved away from her childhood home, she’s starting a new school, finding new friends – and she’s convinced she’s not normal. For a start she hasn’t got a clue whether she wants to be Jewish like her father or Christian like her mother. Everyone else seems really sure of who they are.
And, worst of all, she’s a ‘late developer’. She just knows that all her friends are going to need a bra before she does. It’s too embarrassing to talk to her parents about these things. So she talks to God instead – and waits for an answer.
Booked: The Graphic Novel
Kwame Alexander
Twelve-year-old Nick is a football-mad boy who absolutely hates books.
In this graphic novel adaptation of the acclaimed verse novel, football, family, love, and friendship take centre stage as Nick tries to figure out how to navigate his parents’ break-up, stand up to bullies, and impress the girl of his dreams.
These challenges – which seem even harder than scoring a tie-breaking, game-winning goal – change his life, as well as his best friend’s.
The 26 Storey-Treehouse
Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton
Andy and Terry have expanded their treehouse! There are now 13 brand-new storeys, including a dodgem-car rink, a skate ramp, a mud-fighting arena, an antigravity chamber, an ice-cream parlour with seventy-eight flavours run by an ice-cream-serving robot called Edward Scooperhands, and the Maze of Doom – a maze so complicated that nobody who has gone in has ever come out again – well, not yet anyway.
This time, the two friends have a whole week to finish their next book, and Andy even knows what it should be about: the story of how he and Terry first met. But life is NEVER boring in the treehouse, and emergency shark operations, giant storms, and wooden pirate heads are just the beginning…
Magnus Chase and the Sword of Summer
Rick Riordan
My name is Magnus Chase. I’m orphaned and living rough on the streets of Boston. And things are about to get much worse. My day started out normally enough. I was sleeping under a bridge when some guy kicked me awake and said, ‘They’re after you’.
Next thing I know, I’m reunited with my obnoxious uncle, who casually informs me that my long-lost father is a Norse god. Nothing normal about that. And it turns out the gods of Asgard are preparing for war.
Apparently, if I can’t find the sword my father lost two thousand years ago, there will be doom. Doomsday, to be precise. A fire giant attacking the city? Immortal warriors hacking each other to pieces? Unkillable wolves with glowing eyes? It’s all coming up. But first I’m going to die. This is the story of how my life goes downhill from there!
D-Day Dog
Tom Palmer
Jack can’t wait for the school trip to the D-Day landing beaches. It’s his chance to learn more about the war heroes he has always admired – brave men like his dad, who is a reserve soldier.
But when his dad is called up to action and things at home spiral out of control, everything Jack believes about war is thrown into question. Finding comfort only in the presence of his loyal dog, Finn, Jack is drawn to the heart-wrenching true story of one particular D-Day paratrooper.
On 6 June 1944, Emile Corteil parachuted into France with his dog, Glen – and Jack is determined to discover their fate.
Skandar and the Unicorn Thief
A.F. Steadman
Thirteen-year-old Skandar Smith has only ever wanted to be a unicorn rider. To be one of the lucky few selected to hatch a unicorn. To bond with it for life; to train together and race for glory; to be a hero.
But just as Skandar’s dream is about to come true, things start to take a more dangerous turn than he could ever have imagined. A dark and twisted enemy has stolen the Island’s most powerful unicorn – and as the threat grows ever closer, Skandar discovers a secret that could blow apart his world forever.
Kane: From the Playground to the Pitch
Matt & Tom Oldfield
When Harry Kane was released by Arsenal at nine years old for being too small, he had to use all his self-belief to prove that he could make it as a footballer.
Now a superstar striker for Tottenham Hotspur and England, his hard work and determination have paid off.
‘Kane’ is the amazing story of how the boy from North London became the Premier League’s most lethal goalscorer.
The Song Walker
Zillah Bethell
When a young girl wakes up in the middle of the desert, she has no idea who she is.
She’s wearing one shoe, a silky black dress, and she’s carrying a strange, heavy case. She meets Tarni, who is on a mysterious quest of her own. Together, the two girls trek across the vast and ever-changing Australian Outback in search of answers.
Except both are also hiding secrets…
Linie duchów
Katya Balen
Everything, and everyone, is familiar on the Island of Ayrie – nothing much changes, and for Tilda, nothing ever should – it is beautiful, it is perfect and it is home.
When newcomer Albie arrives, Tilda wants to show Ayrie off – Albie wants her to leave him alone. She learns quickly that it’ll take more than a tour and some seal viewings to win him around. Then, she remembers stories of the old island just an hour’s boat ride away from the shore.
The old island is a death trap. The journey there is treacherous. Trips across to it are strictly forbidden. And there’s a rumour it’s haunted by the ghosts of those left there to die.
But with all else having failed, the old island is the only way for Tilda to make Albie see what she sees in Ayrie. Besides, it’s a different kind of ghost that worries Tilda. The ghost that’s been following her, now, since her brother left the island.
I Am Rebel
Ross Montgomery
Rebel is a good dog, and he loves his simple, perfect life on the farm with his owner Tom – until one day the war comes too close.
Now Tom is determined to join the rebellion to defeat the King’s men. But Rebel knows war is dangerous, and he will stop at nothing to save the human he loves. Rebel must bring Tom home before it’s too late.
A heart-warming adventure about the unbreakable bond between a dog and his human from a beloved and twice Costa-shortlisted author.
Crater Lake
Jennifer Killick
It could be the mysterious bloodstained man who tries to stop their coach, or the fact no one seems to be around at the brand-new activity centre when Lance and the rest of his class arrive for the Year 6 school trip, but something is definitely not right at Crater Lake!
What follows is a fight for survival that sees five pupils band together to save their classmates from an alien fate far worse that death. But whatever happens, they must Never, Ever fall asleep!
Tidemagic: The Many Faces of Ista Flit
Clare Harlow
Meet Ista Flit. Daughter. Face-changer. Thief. 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.
Tilly and the Book Wanderers
Anna James
Eleven-year-old Tilly has lived above her grandparents’ bookshop ever since her mother disappeared shortly after she was born. Like the rest of her family, Tilly loves nothing more than to escape into the pages of her favourite stories.
One day Tilly realises that classic children’s characters are appearing in the shop through the magic of ‘book wandering’ – crossing over from the page into real life.
With the help of Anne of Green Gables and Alice in Wonderland, Tilly is determined to solve the mystery of what happened to her mother all those years ago.
Dog Man
Dav Pilkey
George and Harold (the co-stars of the enormously popular Captain Underpants series) are in big trouble again!
George and Harold have created a new breed of justice — one that is part dog, part man, and ALL HERO!
With the head of a dog and the body of a human, this heroic hound digs into deception, claws after crooks, rolls over robbers, and scampers after squirrels.
Will he be able to resist the call of the wild to answer the call of duty?
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