Children's Summer Book Club 2023
Here are our recommendations for children's summer reading.
The recommendations are made by author Frank Cottrell Boyce and community librarian and chair of the youth libraries group Jennifer Horan. The books are in themes.
Stories
Frank:
Charmed Life by Diana Wynne Jones
Onyeka and the Academy of the Sun by Tola Okogwu
A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula le Guin
Jennifer:
There's a Bear on My Chair by Ross Collins
Like a Charm by Elle McNicoll
The Gifted, the Talented and Me by William Sutcliffe
Illustrated Books
Frank:
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
The Arrival by Shaun Tan
A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness and Siobhan Dowd, and illustrated by Jim Kay
Jennifer:
This Book Just Ate My Dog!, written and illustrated by Richard Byrne
Long Way Down: The Graphic Novel, words by Jason Reynolds and art by Danica Novgorodoff
Space
Frank:
Phoenix by SF Said
Cakes in Space by Philip Reeve and Sarah McIntyre
Jennifer:
Look Up by Nathan Bryon, illustrated by Dapo Adeola
Planetarium by Chris Wormell and Raman Prinja
The Girl Who Fell to Earth by Patricia Forde
Translations
Frank:
Finn Family Moomintroll by Tove Jansson (translated from Finnish)
The King of the Copper Mountains by Paul Biegel (translated from Dutch)
The Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen (translated from Danish)
Inkheart by Cornelia Funke (translated from German)
Jennifer:
Tomorrow by Nadine Kaadan (translated from Arabic)
The Táin translated by Alan Titley (ancient Irish myth)
The Blue Book of Nebo by Manon Steffan Ros (translated from Welsh)
Nature
Frank:
Grimwood by Nadia Shireen
The Lost Words by Robert MacFarlane and illustrator Jackie Morris
The Last Wild Trilogy by Piers Torday
My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell
Jennifer:
The Wilderness by Steve McCarthy
The Girl Who Became a Tree by Joseph Coelho and illustrator Kate Milner
October, October by Katya Balen and illustrator Angela Harding
History
Frank:
Stone Age, Bone Age! by  Mick Manning
The Lizzie and Belle Mysteries by J T Williams
Treasure Island and Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson
The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff
Jennifer:
Granny Came Here on the Empire Windrush by Patrice Lawrence
A Different Kind of Freedom: A Romani Story by Richard O'Neill
Safiyyah's War by Hiba Noor Khan
The Door of No Return by Kwame Alexander
