Books we love!

Receiving funding from the government's Culture Recovery Fund enables us to create and plan brilliant projects to engage schoolchildren and their teachers with award winning writers and illustrators. The Children's Bookshow stands for excellent literature from all over the world that will bring children joy. In celebration, we have created a book list: five picture books and five novels that we absolutely love!

Picture books

Home by Carson Ellis

Home is a house in the country. Or home is an apartment. In these pages of wonderfully detailed illustrations there are tall homes and short homes, sea homes, bee homes, and hollow tree homes. From the realistic to the fantastical, the ordinary to the weird and wonderful, Carson Ellis's book is a collection of all kinds of places for all kinds of people to live.

Elephants Never Forget by Anushka Ravishankar and Christiane Pieper

A baby elephant is lost and alone in the forest, when a herd of buffalo comes along and takes him into their fold. So what is he now - an elephant or a buffalo? Inspired by a true story, this is a joyous tale that touches lightly on the themes of loss, adoption and integration.

Wave by Suzy Lee

A child, five seagulls, and the ocean: this wordless picture book is full of movement, expression and the joy of the seaside.

Town is by the Sea by Joanne Schwartz and Sydney Smith

A young boy wakes up to the sound of the ocean, visits his grandfather's grave after lunch and comes home to a simple family dinner, but all the while his mind strays to his father digging for coal deep down under the sea.

Azzi in Between by Sarah Garland

Azzi and her parents are in danger. They have to leave their home and escape to another country on a frightening journey by car and boat. In the new country they must learn to speak a new language, find a new home and Azzi must start a new school. With a kind helper at the school, Azzi begins to learn English and understand that she is not the only one who has had to flee her home. She makes a new friend, and with courage and resourcefulness, begins to adapt to her new life.

Chapter books

Meet at The Ark at Eight by Ulrich Hub and Jörg Mühle

News reaches a pair of penguins that a great flood is coming to destroy the earth - and that they are the only two penguins who have been chosen to board Noah's Ark. They decide, however, to smuggle their friend aboard in a suitcase, and a wild forty-day journey ensues. This is an incredibly funny take on the story of Noah's Ark, raising some interesting questions.

Apple Cake and Baklava by Kathrin Rohmann

Leila is the new girl in Max’s class, and they soon become close friends. Leila has fled Syria with her family, leaving her beloved grandmother and father behind. Her most cherished object is a walnut from her grandmother’s garden. Max is close to his own grandmother, who understands Leila’s situation, having fled her home in Pommern as a little girl. Apple Cake and Baklava is a story about openness and the willingness to come to know one another. Franziska Harvey’s lovely black-and-white illustrations enrich this moving story.

Winter in Wartime by Jan Terlouw

As the Second World War approaches its end, the Netherlands are still under Nazi control and any acts of resistance are punishable by death. But when sixteen-year-old Michiel is asked to take care of a wounded British Spitfire pilot he doesn't think twice. He joins the secret struggle against the Nazis, working every day to end the occupation and protect those in danger from it, knowing all the time that spies are everywhere and one loose word could cost him his life...

Oh, Freedom! by Francesco D’Adamo

Alabama, May 1850. Young Tommy and his family are slaves on a cotton plantation. But when a stranger with a wooden leg arrives, everything changes. Will Tommy’s family take up the stranger’s offer to help them escape? Peg Leg Joe knows the way to freedom: it’s a secret route known as The Underground Railroad. He will lead them along this secret route northwards to Canada and safety, but a long and perilous journey awaits them. How will Tommy face up to the dangers which lie ahead of them?

The Skylarks' War by Hilary McKay

The Skylarks' War is a beautiful story following the loves and losses of a family growing up against the harsh backdrop of World War One, from the award-winning Hilary McKay. Clarry and her older brother Peter live for their summers in Cornwall, staying with their grandparents and running free with their charismatic cousin, Rupert. But normal life resumes each September – boarding school for Peter and Rupert, and a boring life for Clarry at home with her absent father, as the shadow of a terrible war looms ever closer.