Hannah and I recently connected and have a shared enjoyment of popular backlist titles that still need to shouted about! Whether you have a reader devouring books at a high rate or one who would enjoy something different, then please check out Hannah’s blog below and keep your eye out for mine soon!
Brilliant books a voracious reader has might have missed
Have you ever walked into a bookshop for one specific title, then found yourself pulled straight to the table at the front?
The one piled with new releases. Shiny covers, no creases, everyone talking about them.
You can’t help but stop and look.
So many brilliant children’s books come out every year. It’s hard to keep up. There’s the worry of missing out, and the worry of falling behind the kids.
One of my favourite parts of teaching was talking about these books. Reading them, recommending them, hearing what my students made of them. I still get to lose myself in places like the Land of Roar, but I do miss those chats.
Here’s what I do feel strongly about (maybe too strongly) though. We have such a wide range of wonderful books and authors to discover that some older titles get left behind. And they’re every bit as good.
I do understand why it happens. Staying on top of the latest thing is almost addictive, and nobody wants to be the one left behind.
So I’m flying the flag for those books. The ‘older’ ones.
Don’t worry, I’m not about to send you hunting for your dusty copy of A Little Princess or Black Beauty (both favourites of mine, mind you). I just want to share some titles that may have slipped past in the rush of new releases over the last decade.
These are for the child who reads the newest books faster than anyone can keep track of.
The kind of reader who might call a book ‘old’ even though it came out three, five or eight years ago. They aren’t on the table at the front of the bookshop anymore, but they earned a place on my shelf for sure.
These are the ones that get missed. Not because they aren’t brilliant, but because nobody’s shouting about them this month.
Here are six I’d pop into the hands of a reader who thinks they’ve read everything.
The Nowhere Emporium, Ross MacKenzie
A mysterious shop appears in Glasgow with no warning and no explanation.
Orphan Daniel wanders in by accident, and its owner, Mr Silver, takes him on as an apprentice.
Soon Daniel starts to learn what the Emporium really is. A labyrinth of rooms, each one holding a wonder, all of it powered by imagination.
This is the one for the reader who loves to get properly lost in a world. It feels a little like stepping inside a magician’s mind. And once they’re hooked, The Elsewhere Emporium is waiting for them.
The Goldfish Boy, Lisa Thompson
Matthew barely leaves his bedroom.
His OCD keeps him at the window, watching the neighbours come and go.
Then the toddler next door goes missing. Matthew was the last person to see him, so he might be the only one who can piece together what happened.
A proper mystery with real heart. Plenty of readers will spot a bit of themselves in Matthew. Great for the child who likes a puzzle and a story that really means something.
The Strangeworlds Travel Agency, L.D. Lapinski
Flick wanders into a dusty little travel agency and finds a room full of suitcases.
Every suitcase opens into a different world. She’s invited to join the Strangeworlds Society and start exploring.
Then she works out that the city at the centre of it all is falling apart, with streets and buildings vanishing one by one.
This is the one for the reader who wishes they could fall through a door into somewhere else.
There are two more after it (The Edge of the Ocean and The Secrets of the Stormforest), so once they’ve packed the first suitcase, a whole trilogy is waiting.
The House of One Hundred Clocks, A M Howell
It’s 1905, and Helena and her parrot move into the home of one of the richest men in England.
Her father has one job. To keep the hundred clocks wound, and never let a single one stop.
Then the winding keys start to disappear. Strange notes turn up. Helena realises the house is hiding something.
A proper Edwardian mystery, full of ticking clocks and locked rooms. If mystery and history are their thing, this is a lovely pick.
Beetle Boy, M G Leonard
Darkus’s dad has vanished from a locked room at the museum, and nobody can explain it.
Then a giant beetle called Baxter turns up and, oddly, seems to be on his side.
Together they’re up against Lucretia Cutter, a villain with a very nasty thing for beetles.
Part mystery, part creepy-crawly adventure. Brilliant for the reader who likes a baddie they can really boo. Two more follow (Beetle Queen and Battle of the Beetles) if they enjoy this one.
The Whizz Pop Chocolate Shop, Kate Saunders
Oz and Lily’s family inherit a house in London, and the strange little chocolate shop underneath it.
The chocolate-makers who once worked there were sorcerers, and now some very nasty people want the recipe for their most powerful chocolate.
The children land right in the middle of it, helped by an invisible cat, a talking rat and the ghost of an elephant.
Funny and a bit bonkers. For the reader who likes magic with a sense of humour. There’s a sequel too, The Curse of the Chocolate Phoenix, for when they want more.
The thing about looking back
When you’ve got a reader who’s a bit of a magpie for books, they go straight for the shiny new ones and race through them. Staying on top of it all can feel impossible, right? That’s where books like these come in.
A book from more than five years ago might look like an ancient relic to some kids. But once they start reading, they get it.
There’s just one catch. Their TBR pile will now have no limits at all. Then again, that’s something every bookworm knows, whatever their age. And it’s not a terrible problem to have.
That’s one of the reasons I co-founded Little Reads. A curated library of 3,000+ hand-picked books for children aged 5 to 11, every one chosen by me (these six included).
New books and older gems sit side by side, so the next great read is never out of reach. No ads, no quizzes. Just the books. £7.99 a month after a 7-day free trial, and you can cancel anytime.
One thing worth saying is that it’s built for children who already love reading. If a child is still finding their feet, a different app will serve them better.
Readers can get 30 days free with the code SHELVES30.
My Shelves Are Full 