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A reference-style companion for readers interested in going beyond the story, combining series background with information about Collins and discussion of broad themes.

This offers a real-life survival narrative alongside an account of a plane accident. Juliane’s knowledge of the rainforest, taught by her parents, is part of how the story frames her effort to reach safety.

A topic-rich introduction to orangutans, combining animal facts with photographs and a map. Its coverage spans physical features, behaviour, habitat and the path from babyhood to independence.

This is a factual introduction to camouflage, centred on how emerald boas’ colouring helps them blend into their surroundings. It also turns attention to other snakes with similar leafy camouflage.

This is a historical account centred on Jack’s testimony, alongside photographs and context about the Holocaust. It follows his imprisonment, efforts to survive, liberation and search for family.

This is a historical account of the Titanic, moving from the age of steam and shipbuilding through life aboard, the disaster, rescue and discovery. It asks why the ship sank and includes a “What if? ” section.

This is a first-person account of a child’s survival under Khmer Rouge rule, including the loss of family and the struggle to escape. It also aims to bear witness to what happened.

This is a chapter-based tour of nine wild-dog species, combining animal behaviour, habitats and survival with coloured photographs. It ranges from coyotes in cities to bush dogs, dholes, dingoes, jackals and singing dogs.

This is a history of cotton told through people whose lives were shaped by farming, slavery, sharecropping and textile mills. Personal voices and photographs sit alongside a broader account of American change.

This memoir offers a candid account of surviving sexual assault, rebuilding a voice and turning lived experience into writing, while widening the focus to consent, rape culture and other survivors’ stories.

Expect a high-stakes resistance story centred on loyalty, oppression and difficult choices. Its speculative world includes a plague’s aftermath, time-travelling operatives and a society controlled through medicine, walls and surveillance.

This is an informational collection of women’s wartime experiences, spanning roles such as medical work, journalism, resistance and revolutionary activity. It presents participation on multiple sides of the Vietnam War rather than treating the conflict as an all-male story.

This is a concise informational treatment of American bison, framed around an 1889 warning about possible extinction.

This is a factual wildlife book about the varied ways animals care for their young, using examples such as emperor penguins and giant anteaters to introduce survival and evolution.

This is an imaginative animal adventure with a clear home-and-exploration shape, enriched by detailed wildlife imagery and factual material about a real rat and its rainforest habitat.

This offers a broad introduction to earthquakes, combining causes and scientific ideas with historical examples, folklore and practical information about prediction and survival. Its humour and cartoons are central to the presentation.

This is an illustrated adventure that uses a boy’s encounter with Stone Age life to introduce practical processes and archaeological curiosity. Its open-ended dream-or-time-travel premise invites discussion rather than a single definite explanation.

Readers get a varied set of true survival accounts, from exploration and shipwreck to accidents and medical crises, with illustrations highlighting pivotal moments. The emphasis is on extraordinary ordeals rather than one continuous narrative.

Expect a visually led introduction to Pompeii, volcanoes and geographical language, anchored by two children escaping the eruption. The story is brief, while maps and illustrations extend the factual and historical setting.

A child’s-eye memoir about displacement, family love and survival, moving from wartime adventure-like discoveries towards the realities of bombing, Bergen-Belsen, starvation, illness and bereavement.

This is a practical, illustrated guide that treats survival broadly: outdoor preparation and emergencies sit alongside city safety and online risks. Its appeal lies in actionable scenarios, visual references and concise sections rather than a continuous story.

Expect a bleak flooded setting, solitary travel, danger from other young people and a determined search for family. The ending is described as positive, although the journey is repeatedly presented as harrowing and gloomy.

This is an emotionally candid memoir about depression, coming out and survival. It offers a first-person account of painful experiences alongside reflection on identity, social messages, relationships, memory and the gradual work of finding self-acceptance.

A playful survival manual built around imagined disasters and fantasy threats. Its humour, contemporary voice and cartoony illustrations may make the subject approachable.

This offers an unusual way into evolution: each decision moves the reader towards another organism, making traits, environments and survival part of an active exploration rather than a page-by-page narrative.

A visually led introduction to jellyfish biology and history, offering scientific explanations alongside surprising facts. It may encourage curiosity about animals, evolution and the ways people affect the natural world.

This is a historical adventure with a young working protagonist, a rare-book mystery and an approaching maritime disaster. Expect disguises, schemes, sensory detail and a quickening plot rather than a purely factual Titanic account.

A visually led introduction to animal adaptations, using photographs and straightforward explanations to connect eye shape and features with predators, prey, activity patterns and survival-related behaviour.

This is a factual, story-led collection about animals involved in wartime. It combines rescue, communication, morale and service with a gentle, sometimes uplifting presentation, while acknowledging that some animals died.

A lively, fact-led introduction to baby foxes, combining clear explanations with photographs, realistic artwork, labelled diagrams, questions, an index and practical activities.

A first-person Holocaust memoir centred on a young woman’s choices, imprisonment, separation from family, relationship with Dick, and eventual survival. Its account connects private courage and hope with systematic Nazi persecution.

This combines a dramatic sea-survival story with factual material about ships, oceans, weather, survival and wreck exploration. Charts, games and an index add informational features beyond the narrative.

This is a personal Holocaust memoir centred on Riva’s separation from her family, imprisonment and determination to survive. It presents endurance alongside persecution, bereavement and occasional kindness.

A seasonal introduction to insect survival: some migrate, some remain protected in natural surroundings, and one caterpillar freezes solid before thawing. The book presents these examples as ways insects endure winter.

This is an informational look at blizzards: what makes them severe, how they affect roads, buildings and electricity, and how people may experience them during dangerous conditions.