Recommended reading books for primary and secondary aged children in the UK
Kiri Lightfoot is an author of children’s and young adult books.
Her picture book Every Second Friday (Hodder Children’s Books, 2008) was illustrated by Ben Galbraith and was a finalist in the 2009 New Zealand Children’s Book Awards.
She later wrote Ming’s Iceberg (Scholastic NZ, October 2021), illustrated by Kimberly Andrews. The book was selected by the National Library of New Zealand as a pick of children’s and YA books published in 2021.
Lightfoot’s young adult novel Bear (Allen & Unwin Aotearoa New Zealand) was published on 4 March 2025 (ISBN 9781991006936). It won the 2024 Storylines Tessa Duder YA Award and was a finalist in the 2025 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults.
In 2025, Allen & Unwin Aotearoa New Zealand published her bilingual picture book Te Ngahere i te Pō / The Forest at Night (29 July 2025; ISBN 9781991142177), illustrated by Pippa Keel Situ.
Contemporary fiction for children and teens with titles by Jacqueline Wilson, Alice Oseman, Angie Thomas, R. J. Palacio, Onjali Q. Raúf, Elizabeth Acevedo, Patrice Lawrence, Juno Dawson, Benjamin Dean, and Dean Atta.
Books for Year 9 – a selection of reading books to challenge and interest pupils aged 13-14 in KS3 secondary schools. Authors include Gary Paulsen and Judy Blume.
Disclosure: If you buy books linked to our site, we may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookshops, or Waterstones.com.
Keep up to date with our email newsletter and our latest social media posts about reading, children's books and literacy.
Home »
© 2026 School Reading List. All Rights Reserved | As an Amazon Associate schoolreadinglist.co.uk earns from qualifying purchases | Policies and Terms of Use
