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A lively making-focused non-fiction book combining ten home invention projects with stories and tips about Colin Furze’s larger creations. Its appeal is likely strongest for readers who enjoy building, experimenting and humorous contraptions.

A fact-led introduction to AI, covering its origins, present-day uses and possible influence on the future. It combines explanations with myth busters, expert perspectives and illustrations, while framing AI as a tool alongside human creativity.

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 warm, humorous adventure about a determined young inventor, with imaginative technology, a strong female lead and a clear focus on why sleep matters.

A practical rainy-day idea book with broad variety: children can try creative making, games, food preparation, science experiments, magic tricks, gardening and quiet play, choosing activities that suit the moment.

A hands-on baking guide offering varied cake recipes, decorating techniques, adaptations and ideas for presenting cakes as gifts. Its strongest appeal is practical activity: reading leads directly into making, decorating and sharing food.

This is a hands-on cookbook rather than a new Gruffalo story: children can help decorate and assemble imaginative food while adults handle some preparation. It offers 24 character-inspired recipes, including snacks, puddings, breakfasts and simple meals.

This is an activity-led nonfiction book: readers can learn and practise tricks, then consider how presentation, preparation and originality affect a performance. It suits shared experimentation as much as quiet reading.

This is an upbeat exploration of what a child might do when entertainment stops. It offers a sequence of imaginative transformations, moving from frustration towards self-directed play and inventive possibilities.

A short, atmospheric seaside adventure that turns into a ghost story. Its strongest features are Cherry’s determined project, the mounting storm, the twist, and an emotional exploration of death and grief.

This is a lively shared-reading book centred on noticing who lives in a building, what each neighbour enjoys and how separate activities become a collective celebration.

This is a playful story about turning an impossible wish into a sequence of experiments. Its appeal lies in the boy’s imaginative plans and the surprising distinction between a star in the sky and something star-shaped.

A mischievous raccoon’s apparent theft becomes a story about seeing value in discarded things. Its lively rhyme and visual drama support a playful read, while the plot leaves room to discuss both creativity and boundaries.

A quiet story of making something beautiful in a neglected place, then finding connection through it. Its focus is on patient care, creative action and the gradual opening of a friendship.

This offers a contained lunar mystery with clues, suspects, suspense and humour. Its appeal lies in Dash’s investigation, the unusual space setting and the contrast between boredom, danger and intellectual challenge.

This is a visually contrasting, rhyming story about a boy who loves the natural world, faces homophobic bullying at school, and develops a plan to reclaim his school through creativity and nature.

A practical, playful invitation to turn found and recycled materials into animals, insects and habitats, while noticing details of the natural world. Its strongest offer is creative freedom: children are encouraged to experiment, display their work and value connection over perfect results.

A lively coming-of-age adventure where friendship, family banter and entrepreneurial schemes meet questions about words, responsibility and belonging. Humour and musical energy sit alongside more serious experiences involving prejudice, peer pressure and policing.

This is a humorous, emotionally serious story about a guarded young person whose magic, friendship and care for her grandmother bring questions about love, loss and opening up.

A visually led story about individuality, creativity and loss. Rabbit’s disappearance is followed by sadness, discovery and renewed music and colour, offering a gentle but potentially ambiguous way into conversations about someone no longer being present.

This is a contemporary YA thriller about online fame, human creativity and AI’s expanding influence. It combines humour and drama with a dark turn, while following Mikah’s increasingly consequential mukbang success.

A child struggles with letters that jumble and seem to move. Reading feels overwhelming, but imaginative discovery and perseverance open possibilities: animals, a castle and a boat emerge from the letters.

Expect a tense, psychologically charged story about a teenager confronting withheld family truths. Its interest lies in fear, responsibility and changing interpretations of danger, rather than simply solving a sequence of clues.

This is an emotionally serious friendship story rather than a straightforward adventure. Its imagined kingdom, school conflicts and family pressures lead into an unsoftened account of bereavement.

A lyrical verse novel about grief, relocation, racism, belonging and the effort to turn anger into creative purpose. Ronny’s experiences centre young people’s challenges while presenting perseverance and artistic expression as possible ways forward.

A fast, mischievous story about a child’s homemade medicine, comic disorder and rebellion against an unpleasant adult. Its humour depends on exaggeration, grotesque imagery and the reversal of adult authority rather than on model behaviour.

This is a lively historical mystery built around a disabled heroine, a group heist and strong friendship. It combines perilous secrets, inventive problem-solving and questions about how disabled children are treated, while keeping the adventure playful and suspenseful.

This is a thoughtful story about a child carrying adult responsibilities who finds friendship, creativity and adventure while visiting Italy. An injured otter and the people Jakub meets help broaden his sense of who he is.

This is an imaginative story about making a world that reflects one person’s ideas. Its main appeal is the inventive detail: Wesley turns a plant into resources, culture and communication, then sees others respond.

Expect a playful creative-process story rather than a straightforward adventure: Soren experiments, receives blunt reactions and keeps revising. Its humour includes a friend vomiting at an early song, alongside warmth about friendship and improvement.

Choose this for shared, lively poetry reading: it combines performance, humour and imaginative wordplay with opportunities to experiment with poetic forms and invent poems together.

A vivid childhood memoir that turns family memories, school adventures and holiday experiences into funny, unsettling and sometimes painful stories. It offers a personal view of historical schooling and connects remembered experiences with Dahl’s development as a writer.