Values: Imagination, Community, Determination and Patience. The Extraordinary Gardener is an uplifting, beautiful book about the power of imagination, the merits of determination and the importance of creativity. It was shortlisted for the Klaus Flugge Prize (2019) and longlisted for the Kate Greenaway Medal (2019). Both highly-acclaimed book awards and I'm not surprised it featured on their lists. This book is suitable for children from Early Years and could be used througho

Values: Community, Joy and Courage. This book, published in 2018, is highly acclaimed and has been nominated for nine awards. The blurb on the back, “An illuminating story about power, revolution and how we need the dark to appreciate the light,” perfectly sums up the clever nature of this book – it will be enjoyed by primary pupils from EYFS-Year 6. In the story, there is a little boy who is afraid of the dark. However, this is no ordinary little boy – he is a prince who gro

Values: Resilience, Hope, Community and Compassion. Front Desk by Kelly Yang is one of the most powerful and gripping books I have ever read - not to be underestimated as a book for children, this is one for adults too. It has sky-rocketed straight into my top five books! I will definitely return to it too, as I feel it is a book you may read differently the second time. The protagonist is a girl named Mia Tang who, as the back cover says, has lots of secrets: she lives in mo

Values: Empathy, Compassion, Community, Courage. This book holds a special place for me, as I have just finished writing an essay on how it explores grief and healing for one of my MA modules. I have studied it and studied it over two months and still love it just as much as when I first read it. I think that in itself speaks volumes! The book is set in Japan just before, and in the aftermath of, the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that caused over 18,000 people to lose their liv

Values: Kindness, Courage, Hope and Community. I was lucky enough to receive this for Christmas, and literally could not put it down. I read the whole thing in an afternoon and an evening! If you know Onjali's writing (The Boy At The Back Of The Class, for example), you will know how magical and enthralling her writing is... so this should not have been a surprise. Hector, the protagonist, is unusual in that he is a very dislikeable character. He takes pleasure in bullying ot

Values: Joy, Friendship, Equality and Community... This is a fable which is all about valuing happiness over material goods and, as the name suggests, sings with joy from start to finish! In this story, there are two sides of a mountain. On one side, there was a rich community who mined for jewels and had plentiful crops. On the other side of the mountain though, the soil was poor and didn't produce many crops; the people had just enough to live off if they shared. However, t

Values: Community, Consideration, Equality and Confidence. This vibrant fable will catch your eye from the moment you see it! It is a fable that I assume is based on Stone Soup (a European tale on the importance of sharing) although the book doesn't explicitly confirm this. The story is set in Africa, and we can infer that is is specifically set in South Africa from the dedication at the front by author Alan Durant to all of his South African friends who told him this tale; a

Values: Positivity, Self-Belief, Hope, Community, Creativity. This is an anthology of short stories written by young people from all around the world. It has been written as part of UNESCO's Voices of Future Generations project and aims to give a voice to all children across the globe. What I really love about this book is that the stories are not only child-led and imaginative, but that they are steeped in culture from whichever country the child is writing from. Each story

Values: Positivity, Community, Friendship. Pass It On will be an assembly-classic in years to come, I believe. It is a simple yet effective picture book about passing on joy and happiness to others. The concept is very easy - it encourages children to look for positivity and give the same to others. It may be a smile, a giggle, something fun to do! Even when days are grey and rainy, there is fun to be had and memories to make. I love the simplicity of the book showing childre

Values: Determination, Community, Responsibility, Empathy. One Plastic Bag is a non-fiction picture book about the story of a group of women who have begun recycling plastic bags in order to help the environment and also make some money for their community. Miranda Paul visited Gambia as a volunteer teacher and met a woman called Isatou. This book is her remarkable story. In Njau, Gambia, plastic bags were often dropped by the roadside when they were no longer needed. Isatou

Values: Community, Equality, Inclusion, Respect, Compassion, Pride and Confidence. Welcome to our World is one of the most popular books in my classroom. It has had children right up to Year 6 engrossed and on the waiting list to borrow it from my class library! This non-fiction book is a celebration of children's lives around the world. It includes information on cultural clothing, greetings, breakfasts, party games, typical school days, birthday cakes and cures for hiccups

Values: Positivity, Hope, Community, Love. Kate Milner sensitively tackles the issue of poverty in this book, which is unlike any other picture book I have come across. I personally would share this book with carefully-chosen groups or classes rather than a whole-school assembly. In the story, the little girl lives with her mum and they don't have much money. This means they are creative with how to have fun for free - for example, they make a cat from Mum's dressing gown, tr

Values: Self-Belief, Pride, Confidence, Respect, Community. Shinsuke Yoshitake’s books are utterly engaging from the moment you open them. In this story, the main character is fed up of doing things he doesn’t want to do… so he decides to invent a robot to do them for him. The robot asks to know everything about him so he can imitate the little boy, but the boy finds it increasingly difficult to teach someone to be exactly like him. The message behind this story is that each