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A concise, focused account of Walter Tull’s life, linking football achievement with racism, military service and the search for respect. Its accessible presentation may help readers encounter a significant historical figure without a lengthy or highly demanding text.

Choose this for a visually led introduction to Leonardo’s many fields: art, invention, music, mathematics and observation. It offers breadth, historical context and striking machines rather than a narrowly focused account.

This is an encouraging, practical exploration of how practice, perseverance, support and learning from mistakes may help people develop skills. Its central message is hopeful, though the emphasis on becoming “awesome” can make achievement feel like the main measure of success.

A lively introduction to women’s contributions across history and different fields, presented through colourful illustrations, short profiles, facts and quotations. Its page-by-page structure supports dipping in, revisiting individual figures and noticing links between personal achievement and wider social change.

A comic family-and-school story about a child navigating ambitious parents, a new school and competing ideas about attention. Its main appeal is the child’s perspective on adult expectations and the awkward question of whether independence can become neglect.

Choose this for a reader who enjoys urgent thrillers, secrets and complicated teenage relationships. Its examination setting gives the suspense a tight time pressure, while grief and academic expectations add emotional weight.

A football-centred story about pressure, responsibility and learning to co-operate, with Roy juggling his place in the team, college, family duties and coaching. It offers both match-focused excitement and everyday-life concerns.

Choose this for a football-focused introduction to women’s football history, especially if the reader enjoys real players, sporting milestones, statistics and short factual sections alongside longer historical stories.

A visually presented life story linking football, military leadership and racial unfairness.

Choose this for a lively introduction to a prominent women’s footballer, especially if the reader enjoys football facts, cartoons, quizzes and stories about recovering from setbacks.

A lively, illustrated football biography follows Salah from childhood in Egypt through youth football, setbacks and European success. Quizzes, facts, jokes and commentary add activity alongside the biographical storytelling.

This appears to offer a focused introduction to Mary Fowler through the subject of football and the idea of sporting legends. The available details do not establish whether it is chiefly biographical, statistical, historical or motivational.

Lara balances football training with her friends’ ideas for a school business competition. The book follows her effort to pursue sporting ambitions while managing friendship, feelings, competition and apparent pressure from people who enjoy seeing her struggle.

This is a dark family mystery centred on five adopted teenagers shaped into prodigies by an intrusive educational system. Its strongest material concerns identity, pressure, sibling rivalry and solidarity after their father’s death.

This is a painful but determined childhood memoir: Adeline faces rejection, deprivation, mockery and harsh treatment, while school achievement, friendships and a few loving relatives help her retain a sense of self.

This is a browseable visual history of sport, moving from the ancient Olympics to today. Its timeline is organised by sporting type and date, while articles and captions spotlight events, champions, records and notable expeditions.

This is a seaside fantasy adventure about exploration, competition and friendship, with natural-world facts alongside magical rockpoolers. Its central tension comes from wanting to win while searching for something rare before sunset.

This is a concentrated story of an ageing fisherman’s prolonged struggle at sea. It offers quiet reflection, precise physical detail and a serious meditation on perseverance, pride, loss and what achievement means when results do not last.

This is a brisk, fantastical adventure about determination, danger and becoming a firework-maker. Lila’s journey combines perilous tests, a family predicament and a spectacular public performance, with illustrations contributing to the imagined world.

This is an adventure about competing for lasting recognition, while unexpected friendships form during a demanding journey. Its mythological basis and animal characters offer a lively route into the lunar-zodiac story.