by Philip Ridley (Puffin)

Ruskin Splinter is determined to be the hero of his school play and believes in himself, when all family and friends think very little of him.

by Roald Dahl (Puffin)

by Libby Hathorn, illustrated by Gregory Rogers (Andersen Press)

Dark, scary and thought-provoking. A beautifully illustrated text for older readers. The ending is more-or-less left to the reader’s imagination and I have had many a discussion with children over the young boy’s plight.

by Michael Morpurgo (HarperCollins)

An absolute delight for younger readers. After reading several of the ‘Animal Adventures’ with a Year 2 class, lots of children went on to choose to read the stories independently.

by Jamie Rix and Lynne Chapman (Orchard)

Meet Giddy, a mountain goat who is scared of heights! A beautifully illustrated tale of finding courage, and great friendship. A lovely (and very funny) story to share with younger children.

by Matt Haig (Corgi)

I asked my 11-year-old daughter to add the last book to my list and this is the book she chose. (‘It’s the best book I’ve ever read!’) It won the Blue Peter Book of the Year award and the Nestle Children’s Book Prize Gold Award so my daughter is in good company with her choice.

by Levi Pinfold (Templar)

Again a slightly dark tale, and a story of bravery. The big gigantic menacing dog grows smaller as the tiniest member of the family bravely leads it on a merry chase. Pinfold’s art in this is just utterly glorious.

by John Gordon (Orion)

I think most adults have a ‘me’ book, the one that they’d say got them firmly into reading and this was mine. It’s dark, mysterious and quite menacing in places and I read it when I probably was far too young for it but it got me totally hooked on fantasy stuff.