Resources
The Reading Agency’s October booklist – Poetry
National Poetry Day (5 October) is a day to share, read and even write poetry. To celebrate, we’ve put together some of our favourite poetry picks. You can buy the books from Bookshop.org. Looking to share the magic of reading with young readers? Join us on 29 November at 10am where award-winning poet Joshua Seigal will be sharing the magic of poetry in a free digital workshop. Perfect for KS2 students. Book your place here We would love to hear what books you’d recommend for the theme on...
When You Lose it by Roxy and Gay Longworth Extract and Discussion Guide
A reading guide plus extract for When You Lose it by Gay Longworth. About the book Roxy was 13 years old when she was coerced then blackmailed into sending explicit photos, which were spread around her school. The shame led to self-loathing. The blame led to a psychotic breakdown. Roxy started hearing voices. Then she started seeing things… What happens when your teenager starts to lose it, and then you lose each other? What happens when you can’t tell your mother you desperately need help?...
The Reading Agency’s September booklist – STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics)
National Coding Week is an annual event that aims to help adults, young people and children with learning digital skills. National Coding Week will be happening from the 18-24 September so we are celebrating our favourite books that have strong themes to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). You can buy the books from Bookshop.org. We would love to hear what books you’d recommend for the theme on social media using #booklist and tagging @readingagency. You can see our past...
I Know It's You by Susan Lewis - digital resources
Don’t miss the next emotionally gripping thriller from Sunday Times bestseller Susan Lewis! THE STORY… The first chapter of a manuscript arrives on Publisher Marina’s desk. She assumes it’s just another novel by another aspiring writer… THE SECRET… As the chapters arrive one by one, Marina is convinced they are about her past. There’s only one person who can know everything about the scandal, the trial, and the trauma that nearly broke her. THE SILENCE… This is one story that should never be...
Blade Breaker by Victoria Aveyard - digital assets
A DIVIDED REALM MUST RALLY, AN UNSTOPPABLE ENEMY MUST BE DEFEATED, AND THE FATE OF THE WORLD RESTS ON A BLADE’S EDGE. Andry, a former squire, fights for hope amid blood and chaos. Dom, a grieving immortal, strives to fulfill a broken oath. Sorasa, an outcast assassin, faces her past when it returns with sharpened teeth. Valtik, an old sorceress, summons a mighty power. And Corayne, a pirate’s daughter with an ancient magic in her blood, steps closer to becoming the hero she’s destined to...
Publisher Spotlight: Vintage Crime
Vintage Crime would like to introduce you to your next crime fiction obsession! We are giving away packs of six thrilling murder mysteries, from bestselling and award-winning crime authors including Jo Nesbo, Susan Hill, Denise Mina and Abir Mukherjee. Each book is the first in a detective series so there’s also plenty more to discover once you’ve found your favourite. More information about the books The Various Haunts of Men by Susan Hill (Simon Serrailler series, Book 1) PEOPLE ARE GOING...
Dawnlands by Phillipa Gregory - digital assets
In a divided country, power and loyalty conquer all… Discover the new historical novel from Philippa Gregory, the Number One bestselling author of Tidelands and Dark Tides. A compelling and powerful story of political intrigue and personal ambition, set between the palaces of London, the tidelands of Foulmire and the shores of Barbados. Download the digital pack of assets to help your libraries or reading group enjoy the book. You can read and interview with Phillipa Gregory on our Reading...
The Escape Artist - digital resources
Waterstones Non-Fiction Book of the Month for June 2023 Shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction 2022 A Radio 4 Book of the Week About The Escape Artist Anne Frank. Primo Levi. Oskar Schindler. Rudolf Vrba. In April 1944 nineteen-year-old Rudolf Vrba and fellow inmate Fred Wetzler became the first Jews ever to break out of Auschwitz. Under electrified fences and past armed watchtowers, evading thousands of SS men and slavering dogs, they trekked across marshlands, mountains...
National Crime Reading Month with Faber
Faber is one of the world’s great independent publishing houses. Since they were founded in 1929, they have sought to find the very best writers and they are proud to publish the foremost voices in fiction, non-fiction, poetry, drama, film and children’s books. In 2022, Faber won Crime and Mystery publisher of the year at the CWA Daggers. To celebrate this year’s National Crime Reading Month, they’re highlighting ten titles from their extensive crime list, including some exciting new releases...
The Great Read/Write Together
This resource pack will help you to celebrate the Great Read/Write Together, as part of the Great Get Together (23-25 June), an initiative run by the Jo Cox Foundation.
The Big Eurovision Read Bilingual (Welsh) Resources
This year, the UK is hosting this year’s Eurovision Song Contest on behalf of last year’s winners, Ukraine. The Contest will be held in Liverpool on Saturday, 13 May. Partnering with BBC Arts, The Reading Agency is joining the party and celebrating the proven power of reading and the power of music, in a reading for pleasure campaign called the Big Eurovision Read. Download your resource pack including a bilingual communications toolkit and poster, an activity toolkit, and social media assets.
The Big Eurovision Read Resource Pack
This year, the UK is hosting this year’s Eurovision Song Contest on behalf of last year’s winners, Ukraine. The Contest will be held in Liverpool on Saturday, 13 May. Partnering with BBC Arts, The Reading Agency is joining the party and celebrating the proven power of reading and the power of music, in a reading for pleasure campaign called the Big Eurovision Read. Download your resource pack including a communications toolkit, an activity toolkit, a poster and social media assets. For...
The Little Venice Bookshop - digital resources
This spring journey to Venice and lose yourself in a heart-warming romance from the bestselling author and book group favourite, Rebecca Raisin. We have a selection of social media assets and digital resources to download for your library. About the book: A bundle of mysterious letters. A trip to Venice. A journey she’ll never forget. When Luna loses her beloved mother, she’s bereft: her mother was her only family, and without her Luna feels rootless. Then the chance discovery of a collection...
It's OK To Be Angry About Capitalism by Bernie Sanders - digital assets and event livestream
It’s OK to be angry about capitalism. It’s OK to want something better. Bernie Sanders takes on the 1% and speaks blunt truths about a system that is fuelled by uncontrolled greed, and rigged against ordinary people. Where a handful of oligarchs have never had it so good, with more money than they could spend in a thousand lifetimes, and the vast majority struggle to survive. Where a decent standard of living for all seems like an impossible dream. It’s OK To Be Angry About Capitalism...
Maame by Jessica George Reading Guide
Maame is an unforgettable coming-of-age story about finally becoming the heroine of your own life. Here are some reading group questions to help enhance your discussion.
You Can Run - Social media assets
Discover the thrilling world of Trevor Wood. An exhilarating standalone thriller from the acclaimed author of The Man on the Street. It wasn’t her dad they were after. It was her. Ruby Winter is surprised when her reclusive father invites a stranger into their house. She eavesdrops on their conversation and is alarmed when she hears a fight break out. She dashes into the kitchen to save her dad but the stranger’s the one lying on the floor in a pool of blood. Her dad urges her to pack a bag....
The Corpse Flower - Social Media Assets
Swift Press is thrilled to introduce new readers to the internationally bestselling author Anne Mette Hancock. We’re offering library POS packs for the first book in her gripping Kaldan and Schäfer series, The Corpse Flower. New in paperback this January 2023. About the book The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo meets Sharp Objects in this internationally bestselling thriller, for fans of Jo Nesbo and Henning Mankell. Danish journalist Heloise Kaldan is in the middle of a nightmare. One of her...
Gecko Press - publisher spotlight
Gecko Press is an independent, small-by-choice, publisher of children’s books translated from books by some of the best writers and illustrators in the world since 2004. We choose books excellent in story, illustration and design, with a strong heart factor, and that can be read hundreds of times. Based in New Zealand, we are by nature an international business, both in what we publish and where we sell our books. Gecko Press has been represented in the UK by Bounce Sales & Marketing for...
Winchelsea by Alex Preston - digital assets and display competition
AS READ ON BBC RADIO 4 A SPECTATOR BEST OF THE YEAR – AS CHOSEN BY REVIEWERS In eighteenth-century Sussex, a young girl seeks revenge for the death of her father – an intoxicating historical novel that explores Southern England’s smuggling past. The year is 1742. Goody Brown, saved from drowning and adopted when just a babe, has grown up happily in the smuggling town of Winchelsea. But when she turns sixteen, her father is murdered by men he thought were friends. In a town where lawlessness...
Trying Times for Sebastian Scattergood by Keith Rylands-Bolton - digital pack
Set in a small village in the Lincolnshire Wolds, Trying Times for Sebastian Scattergood is a chronicle of a horrendous year, narrated by an earnest and pompous man who lacks any sense of self-irony. Part disaster diary, part social satire, it is a novel of literary fiction which is both humorous and moving in equal measure. The digital pack includes: • Downloadable/printable letters from Sebastian to the reader • Downloadable selection of photos of the author that are relevant to the book,...
Henry Eliot's Book of Bookish Lists - digital asset pack
Who had birds called Death, Wigs and Spinach? How do you spell the noise of a door slamming? Whose working title was The Chronic Argonauts? Henry Eliot – author, editor and insatiable bookworm – has ransacked the libraries and archives of world literature, compiling hundreds of bookish lists. This eclectic gallimaufry showcases his favourites: we witness the tragic ends of the Ancient Greek tragedians, learn the name of George Orwell’s pet cockerel and rummage through Joan Didion’s travelling...
'Foster' and 'Small Things Like These' Reading Group Guides
A Reading Guide to ‘Foster’ and ‘Small Things Like These’ (shortlisted for The Booker Prize 2022) by Claire Keegan.
Someday, Maybe by Onyi Nwabineli - reading guide
Stunningly honest and bursting with wit, Someday Maybe is the story of grief and resilience that you won’t be able to stop talking about. Eve is left heartbroken by her husband’s unexpected death, but everyone around her – her friends, her boisterous British-Nigerian family, her toxic mother-in-law – seems to be pushing her to move on. Unable to face the future, Eve begins looking back, delving through the history of her marriage in an attempt to understand where it went wrong. So begins an...
The Trees Reading Group Guide - The Booker Prize 2022
A Reading Guide to ‘The Trees’ by Percival Everett, shortlisted for The Booker Prize 2022. Includes information about the book, the author, what the Booker judges said and questions and discussion points.
Small Things Like These Reading Group Guide - The Booker Prize 2022
A Reading Guide to ‘Small Things Like These’ by Claire Keegan, shortlisted for The Booker Prize 2022. Includes information about the book, the author, what the Booker judges said and questions and discussion points.
The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida Reading Group Guide - The Booker Prize 2022
A Reading Guide to ‘The Seven Moons of Maali Almedia’ by Shehan Karunatilaka, shortlisted for The Booker Prize 2022. Includes information about the book, the author, what the Booker judges said and questions and discussion points.
Oh William! Reading Group Guide - The Booker Prize 2022
A Reading Guide to ‘Oh William!’ by Elizabeth Strout, shortlisted for The Booker Prize 2022. Includes information about the book, the author, what the Booker judges said and questions and discussion points.
Glory Reading Group Guide - The Booker Prize 2022
A Reading Guide to ‘Glory’ by NoViolet Bulawayo, shortlisted for The Booker Prize 2022. Includes information about the book, the author, what the Booker judges said and questions and discussion points.
Icebreaker questions
You’ve read your book and come together with your group to discuss it, but where do you begin? Sometimes it can be difficult to know what to talk about first, so these handy questions will help to break the ice and get the conversation flowing. Looking to start a reading group? You can also download our How to start a reading group guide, and a social media guide to show how you can share your reading with others online.
Yearbook 2022 booklist
The results are in! To celebrate National Reading Group Day, we asked you for your recommendations for our 2022 Yearbook – the books that have made your group laugh, cry debate and more over the past year. We loved reading your recommendations and had a hard time selecting which books to put on our list. We hope that you enjoy them!
