Recommended reading books for primary & secondary aged children in the UK
Ned Hartley is a writer and editor of books for children. He writes comics as well as prose, and his comics work includes strips for the Beano, Bananaman and The Steel Commando. The Ladybird Big Book of Dead Things was longlisted for the Blue Peter Book Awards in the Best Book with Facts category in 2020.
Hartley has written across licensed, classic and factual children’s publishing. His books include Marvel Museum, published in October 2019, Paperscapes: The Jungle Book, published in October 2020, Together We Can: 40 inspirational stories about what humans can achieve when we work as a team, published in September 2023, and Spider-Man: The Bug Bite that Changed Everything, published in August 2024. He has also written a Doctor Who title called Choose Your Future Journal: 52 Weeks with Brilliant Women Who Changed the World.
Narrative nonfiction genre books – our list includes true life stories and literary nonfiction for KS2 and KS3 by authors including Dr Christle Nwora, David Long, Roma Agrawal, Stefan Milosavljevich, Alexandra Stewart, William Grill, Britta Teckentrup and Andy Seed.
Season 1, Episode 4 of the School Reading List podcast. With new book post, 30 great books for October 2022, a look at our recent favourite children’s books survey and tips for promoting children’s books to schools.
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