Hannah | Kids Book Reviewer

Get ready to add some books to your preorders & library requests! This is just the overview, the year at a glance, the bitesize version. Each month I collate together the best of the best new childrens books releasing, from new voices, favourite authors and beloved illustrators. It's an investment of my time to save you from wading your way through the literally thousands of books each month to find the ones that you're going to connect with. This year we have some additions to reliably brilliant series, picture book biographies of people and their achievements, beautiful nature books for kids and lots of books that get you thinking and learning with your children! This is going to be a post you want to save!

This started as an introduction post and quickly morphed into me wanting to help you by recommending books and giving a reminder of why diversity in childrens books is so important. I am not naive. I don't proclaim that books alone are the answer. But when we offer quality books that build empathy and teach children about the world and the beautiful diversity of its peoples - the impacts of colonialism for example, celebrations of identity and books that challenge prejudice - we can learn. And when we learn our actions beyond the book are influenced. So yes read the books. Be informed by them and let them mold you to be a better, more empathetic person that understands, takes action and acts with humanity. So as this was supposed to be an intro post let's do 5 fast facts about me... 1. I have always been at home in nature, rain or shine - and have a degree in Conservation Biology. 2. I didn't start reading fiction until I had children and still read a lot of nonfiction - but now have newfound appreciation for what fiction can teach us too. 3. Writing book study guides/teaching resources for @the_rebel_reading_society is literally my dream job. And I am beyond excited for what we have lined up for 2026 (check out my pinned post for clues 👀). 4. I'm actually really short, which people always comment about when they meet me IRL. About 5ft... and nothing! 5. I never planned to home educate, it was initially a temporary choice (preCovid), but has been the best decision we made for our family. That wasn't that fast....

When we see diverse representation declining in publishing we can do two things. We can do nothing, or we can something.  This is our 'something', using our platform and skills to uplift underrepresented voices.  So for 2026, alongside all the lovely authors and publishers we work with, we want to work with you! Whether you're a Black author, muslim author, part of the LGBTQ+ community, a disabled author (nonexhaustive list!), we want to create book study guides to accompany your brilliant childrens chapter books, encouraging children and educators to pick them up, read them and share them.  I'd love to get to you all, but these guides are very time intensive, and I do need to earn a living too! So we're offering our time to work with one author a month to create a free book study guide.  Any questions, let us know, and we really look forward to working with you!

We don't do book format shaming here, so for all the graphic novel lovers, let's talk about some brilliant new releases that you might just want to check out. We have some sequels, a brand new sparkly (literally!) series and even a nonfiction option (which I am just a little bit in love with!). [AD-PR Product] 📚Unicorn Boy and the Slumber Party of Doom! ✏️🎨David Roman Deservedly popular and oozing with challenges to gender stereotypes, this is book two in an ongoing series. We have Unicorns, messages of finding yourself and supporting friends this is a fantastic fantasy read for those that love a step outside of reality. Expect to find Scottish castles in the clouds, magic beans and excellent incidental representation of nonbinary characters. 📚Fiddlehead Forest ✏️🎨Jana Curll It is no secret that my love for the Little Habitats series runs deep. They are brimming with witty puns, connecting to engaging science learning. This particular one focuses on the forest floor - such an overlooked and fascinating habitat. With fun narrative interspersed with facts focused pages. And all supporting nature study with kids! 📚Juniper Mae Journey to the Levels Below ✏️Tim Fraser 🎨Sarah Soh In a dystopian tech setting that has a narrative that feels all too close to home lives a fantastic and courageous girl. Rooted in STEM, this is a fantastic story about a younger engineer and their fight to keep her inventions out of the hands of the tech giants - I did say it was a bit close to home. BUT the story is fantastic and really has you rooting for her to succed! 📚The Gumdrops Quest for Bravery ✏️🎨Elissa Elwick Reminiscent of pastel cartoons of my childhood, this is an adorable and supportive read centring friendships. It is quirky, colourful and fun, in all yhe best ways, marking the start if what is set to be a fantastic nrw series. Also, the map!! I'd definitely be visiting Story Swamp & Smoothie Falls! What childrens graphic novels are moat read in your house?

Any excuse to read instead of chores! I joke. In all seriousness, No Mow May is a fantastic initiative run annually by @plantlife.loveplants to support vital habitats. Since the 1930s we've lost 97% of Wildflower Meadows in the UK. But do you know what we do have a lot of? Grass. So I hope youll join me in letting that grass a little, providing food for important pollinators and valuing all of the wildlife, flowers, grass and invertebrates that not cutting the grass can support. But of course we do books here, so I present to you a specially curated selection of books to read all month long and beyond. Theres books on wildlife gardening, childrens books on flowers and insects. And more! All read by me and my kids - we don't do unread recommendations here! • What's Inside A Wildflower by Rachel Ignotofsky • Out and About Wildflower Spotter* • Secret of Bees by Ben Hoare & Nina Chakrabarti • The Fairy Garden by Georgia Buckthorn & Isabella Mazzanti • Nature Pop-ups Minibeasts by Patricia Hegarty & Xuan Le* • Fluffy, Flying Seed by Mary Auld & Dawn Cooper • Are You A Grasshopper by Judy Allen & Tudor Humphries • Bompa's Insect Expedition by David Suzuki, Tanya Lloyd Kyi & Qin Leng* • The Wild Outside by Rachel Ip & Katie Hickey* • When We Went Wild by Isabella Tree & Allira Tee • Poppy Goes Wild by Nick Powell & Becca Hall *AD-PR Product

Going back 5 or 6 years ago I first discovered the SuperQuesters. Then they were STEM Themed books that melded together elements of a picture book and an activity book. These still exist, but have now been joined by an older sibling, the chapter book! And we're celebrating the release of the third in the series today. 📚SuperQuesters Mission: Desert Danger ✏️Paul Ian Cross 🎨Katarina Gasko [AD-PR Product] What I want to do is highlight what makes this book stand out from your average illustrated picture book. Why you might find it helpful and want to reach for it for your kids. Because it's got a lot going for it - fellow home educating families, this is your all in one open and go activity! ✨️Theres a narrative story, full of fun, adventure and friendship. ✨️STEM Education for Kids through fun facts boxes and learning built into the text. ✨️Linked hands-on activities. Theres 4 included, with all the instructions from maths construction to art projects and more! ✨️Puzzles interspersed throughout the text to engage learning and get you thinking. And it's cohesive, on a linked theme - in this case Ancient Eyptians, with a side of uncover questing 👀 The day this landed on my doorstep my kids actually had some friends over to play. We sat and read half of this book together in one sitting, all 6 kids listening. If that isn't a sign that it's got kid appeal I don't know what is!

I have seen far too many people (yes THAT author, but also creators before this) putting vintage kids books on a pedestal. And I think it's one of those topics I could write an essay on. But to sum up my main issues with this. ✨️Many vintage books often hold racism, sexism, imperialist etc values in them. ✨️Shunning recently published books shuns the diverse voices that they hold. Can we uplift them instead please! ✨️Yes I think this many of the people who say vintage books are better know the above points. And hide it under "nostalgia". ✨️Yes some modern books are a bit "silly", but havent we all enjoyed a little light-hearted humour at times, so long as it's not at the expense on mocking people/identities, can we not belittle their reading choices. And of course there are exceptions, we own some really beautiful and pretty old kids books on nature that we enjoy. And there are definitely some pretty abhorrent kids books published more recently too! But I digress, let's celebrate these new arrivals! [AD-PR Product] 📚Luna Loves Sport ✏️Joseph Coehlo 🎨Fiona Lumbers I agree with all of the hype this series has! The latest addition is a beautiful celebration of finding your place in sport alongside a supportive friend. With a focus on teamwork and having fun. 📚Princess Pete ✏️Zoey Allen 🎨Frenci Sanna This was straight onto my preorders as soon as I saw who the author was! This is a validating book about a child's experience of being gender fluid, with a slight magical fairytale feel - love the hidden pride flags in the illustrations too! 📚I'm Going to Make a Friend ✏️Darren Chetty 🎨Sandhya Prabhat With simple, comprehensive language and vibrant illustrations this is a sweet book on finding new friends. It models, shows things going a little wrong and ends with a new friendship! 📚100 Days of School & Moving Up ✏️Alexandra Penfold 🎨Suzanne Kaufman Great one for libraries, these are part of a new series of phonically decodable stories for young readers that carry supportive messages and actually represent the beautiful diversity of children in a classroom.

Today is disappointing and scary. Reform has plagued us with hate, manipulation, division and lies, with the impacts of far too many seats than I had dreaded. If there is a glimmer of hope, they absolutely f it up at council level before a general election. People realise and things change. It's a stretch, I get that. But without there is despair. Whatever you are feeling today, it is valid. Books can't save the world alone, but they are part of the work that goes into it. Educating the next generation with an understanding of our history, building empathy, and media literacy. And maybe, just maybe, we can convince some adults to read these too. I'll pop back on later (kids bedtimes call!) and type out a booklist for you. ✨️Kids Book Lists for...✨️ 📚Rising Up Against Oppression • The Boy Who Fell From the Sky by Benjamin Dean • The Light Thieves by Helena Duggan • The Starlight Rebel by Lisette Auton • The Line They Drew Through Us by Hiba Noor Khan* • The Ministry of Manners by David Solomons* • The Museum of Lost Umbrellas by Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick* 📚Inclusive British History • Lands of Belonging by Donna & Vikesh Amey Bhatt & Salini Perera • Story of Now by Shelina Janmohamed* • Hear Our Voices by Radhika Natarajan, Chad Tahiana & Alexander Mostov • Migration by Millie Mensah & Camilla Ru • Nate Yu's Blast From the Past by Maisie Chan* • Stories From the Windrush Generation 📚Information • The History of Information by Chris Haughton • Killer Underwear Invasion by Elise Gravel 📚Challenging Racist Narratives • My Skin, Your Skin by Laura Henry-Allen MBE & Onyinye Iwu • Eyes That Kiss at the Corners by Joanna Ho & Dung Ho • Running My Own Race by Abena Eyeson* • Stand Up & Speak Out Against Racism by Yassmin Abdel-Magied & Aleesha Nandhra • Everyday Action, Everyday Change by Natalie & Naomi Evans 📚Creating Community • I Am We by Susan Verde & Peter H. Reynolds* • Flower Block by Lanisha Butterfield & Hoang Giang • Stay For Dinner by Sandhya Parappukkaran & Michelle Pereira • One Sweet Song by Jyoti Rajan Gopan & Sonia Sánchez* • Maya and Marley and the Great Big Tidy-Up by Laura Henry-Allen MBE & Yabaewah Scott *AD-PR Product

I think today is a good day to share this. A book about corruption, control and forced compliance. The impacts of a government that values uniformity and stamps out individualism. 📚The Ministry of Manners ✏️David Solomons 🎨Hazem Asif [AD-PR Product] Meet Alfie & Margot, siblings who live in a dystopian future. In their world politeness is forced. With the repercussions of being silenced. It is an oppressive world, with a huge imbalance of power between the people and their Ministry of Manners. Margot is a naturally curious child, one who struggles to comply and seeks out connection to resistance group, the Unsilenced. One moment changes everything and she is taken to a facility to be reformed into the model Citizen. I think we can all guess the Ministry's aims with that one! Her brother uses this as a spark to start his own resistance, with the invitation of a new friend he seeks out to make positive change. As worms his way deeper into the resistance, he uncovers more of his fathers work with the Ministry, the depths of technological oversight and bold plan to challenge it all. ✨️This book is both a message and a warning. It would have been nice to hear a little more on the motives of the Ministry of Manners, but with an book ending left open... 📚I and fully intending in bringing this to our home ed book club that I run, so it can be read alongside our children and discussed together. In the images above youll find some ideas for getting started with using the book yourself to bridge discussion and think deeper - definitely get it on your readaloud list!!

Nests, webs, dams and more. Today we're talking all about animal homes. Great for adding into nature study and science topics - I know it gets repetitive with these posts but... To avoid any doubt, I have read them all. They are genuine recommendations from our home. Books we've read, enjoyed and now sharing here! So any questions on any of them, let me know! There's a mix of nonfiction picture books and childrens nature nonfiction books too. 📚Animal Homes Book List📚 • I'm Building a Nest by Saskia Gwinn & Adam Ming* • Piet Finds A Homw by Carina Wohlleben, Peter Wohlleben & Rachel Qiuqi* • The Secret World of Spider Webs by Jan Beccaloni & Namasri Niumim • Finding Home by Mike Unwin & Jenni Desmond* • Willow the Wildcat by Lynne Rickards & Kirsteen Harris-Jones • Habitats by Hannah Pang & Isobel Lundie* • The Bumblebee Garden by Dawn Casey & Stella Lim • Amazing Animal Homes by Chris Packham & Jason Cockcroft • When the Storks Came Home by Isabella Tree & Alexandra Finkledey • A Nest is Noisy by Dianna Butt's Aston & Sylvia Long • What Goes on Inside a Beaver Pond? by Becky Cushing Gop & Carrie Shryock *AD-PR Product

Because what even is a "boys book" anyway? Princesses? Pirates? Pirhanas? Puppies? Ok so we've addressed gendering books, albeit very briefly, let's talk about these brilliant books! [AD-PR Product] 📚Time to Explore Big Machines ✏️Andrea Mills 🎨Diego Vaisberg 📚Time to Explore Dinosaurs ✏️Andrea Mills 🎨Tania García Bright, bold and colourful these books make quite the pair for fact-loving kids. They're not toooo long or wordy, making the perfect bridge between a nonfiction picture book and a classic nonfiction book - so yes I think you'd manage these as a bedtime story. The big machines one offers an insight into not just construction vehicles, but how they work cohesively to build a house - teamwork, vehicles and the wider picture! The Dinosaurs one benefits from drawing size comparisons, combining with fun facts and fantastic illustrations to give a book you want want to put down - whatever your gender! And let's not forget those big fold out pages!

Because I know you walk among us, welcome to my fellow lovers of childrens reference book series. [AD-PR Product] Today we have a fast growing series that covers a huge variety of topics, great for linking in with learning and answering the endless streams of curious questions. These ones are particularly child friendly, there's no huge blocks of intimidating text. Its digestible, clearly explained and has lots of photos and diagrams to visualise learning. They'd make great additions to school libraries, home educator book collections.