Recommended reading books for primary & secondary aged children in the UK
Piu DasGupta is a children’s author whose fiction for 9–12s blends historical settings with page-turning mystery. Born in Calcutta and raised in India and the UK, she read English at Oxford before turning to writing.
Her debut novel, Secrets of the Snakestone (Nosy Crow, March 2024), follows Zélie Dutta through a late-nineteenth-century Paris of catacombs, riddles and secret societies as she searches for her missing father. Publisher materials describe the book as an adventure spanning Kolkata and Paris with a tightly plotted quest at its heart.
Secrets of the Snakestone was chosen as The Times Children’s Book of the Week in March 2024 and later shortlisted in the Younger Readers category of the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize 2025.
Mystery stories for children and teens with titles by Julia Donaldson, Richard Osman, Marcus Rashford, Marissa Meyer, David Wiesner, Abiola Bello, Patrice Lawrence, Konnie Huq, Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé, and Maureen Johnson.
Here’s our selection of top new titles coming out in spring 2026. These reading recommendations include picture books, early and middle-grade fiction; young adult novels and non-fiction.
Here’s our selection of top new titles coming out in Spring 2024. These reading recommendations include picture books, early and middle-grade fiction; young adult novels and non-fiction.
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