Books for topics and children’s nonfiction

Topic books for cross-curricular teaching

Books for topics and cross-curricular teaching. Are you looking for great books to support your primary KS1 or KS2 topic teaching?

Below are our recommended collections for cross-curricular projects. These book list suggestions aim to cover all curriculum subjects, themes and topics and include a variety of genres, including poetry, reading for pleasure fiction and narrative nonfiction. We’re adding new topics every week and we hope these lists of quality texts will help teachers and librarians to find useful books for classrooms and school libraries.

Topic books are a great way to encourage children to read for pleasure, delve into a subject on their own terms, investigate areas they are interested in for deeper home learning, and develop a personal attachment to a curriculum area. Books for cross-curricular teaching also allow pupils to appreciate how cultures, civilisations, movements and philosophies span discipline in real life and are not limited to discrete areas of learning.

Not only that, but when a child reads a book about something they are enthusiastic about, suddenly it no longer seems like schoolwork. Using classroom displays of topic-books, and highlighting non-fiction corners of the library can help to motivate students to read independently and develop preferred literary interests.

The lists are updated and revised regularly to make sure books are up-to-date and relevant to the UK National Curriculum. Each recommended book includes a description and suggestions for classroom use. For each topic, there’s also a hand-picked selection of useful resources, links and free downloadables.

For more nonfiction and ideas, see our list of magazines for children and teens.