Resources
The Witching Stone by Danny Weston - Digital Pack
UCLan Publishing have created a spooktacular digital pack of videos and discussion points to help you and your pupils enjoy the new YA coming of age horror story from Danny Weston. For Alfie Travers, a summer away from his now ex-girlfriend can not come quick enough, even if it means tagging along on his dad’s dull work trip to the village of Woodplumpton, Preston. Shortly after arrival, Alfie strolls off to see what the place has to offer. Not much, it seems… until he chances upon a girl...
December 2020 Children's and Young People booklist - Books of the Year
It’s been another year of fantastic books and we’re delighted to present our Books of the Year list for 2020 for children and young people. Our staff have chosen their top recommendations of new books from the year. You can join in with the conversation online using #BooksOfTheYear and tagging us using @readingagency on Twitter and @SummerReadingChallengeUK on Facebook. You can borrow these books from your library or buy a copy for yourself from Bookshop.org.
Gender Swapped Fairy Tales - Lesson Plan
Once upon a time, in the middle of winter, a King sat at a window and sewed. As he sewed and gazed out onto the landscape, he pricked his finger with the needle, and three drops of blood fell onto the snow outside. People have been telling fairy tales to their children for hundreds of years. And for almost as long, people have been rewriting those fairy tales – to help their children imagine a world where they are the heroes. Karrie and Jon were reading their child these stories when they hit...
Honey for You, Honey for Me – Rhymetime digital event pack
Walker Books have created a fantastic digital pack to help you enjoy and share a new rhyming picture book written and illustrated by the incredible duo, Michael Rosen and Chris Riddell! From Children’s Laureates Michael Rosen and Chris Riddell, the bestselling team behind A Great Big Cuddle, comes a first book of nursery rhymes. Flying pigs, wobbling plates of jelly and a giant with a terrible fear of mice: welcome to the topsy-turvy world of nursery rhymes. Inspired by his lifelong...
Celebrating 25 years of Guess How Much I Love You - digital Storytime pack
Celebrating 25 years of Guess How Much I Love You Sometimes when you love someone very, very much, you want to find a way of describing how much you treasure them. But, as Little Nutbrown Hare and Big Nutbrown Hare discover, love is not always an easy thing to measure! Since it’s publication in 1994 children and parents worldwide have cherished the heartwarming tale of Little Nutbrown Hare and Big Nutbrown Hare so much that Sam McBratney’s timeless story, beautifully illustrated by Anita...
Football Superstars - Teachers' Notes, activity sheets and poster
Football Superstars is a series aimed at building a love of reading from a young age, with fun cartoons, inspirational stories, a simple narrative style and a cast of characters chipping in with quotes, jokes and comments. Football Superstars: Ronaldo Rules, Messi Rules, Kane Rules, Mbappé Rules. A brand new visual series of first biographies for ages 5-7 featuring male and female football stars. Perfect to engage emerging readers, especially reluctant readers. Quotable stats and expert tips...
The History of African and Caribbean Communities in Britain by Dr Hakim Adi - Teachers' Notes
Newly updated, The History of African and Caribbean Communities in Britain explores why people came to Britain, the problems they faced and the contributions these communities have made to British society. Brought to life with case studies and rarely published photographs, this is an opportunity to get up close to the experiences and vital impact African and Caribbean people have had in Britain. Meet pioneers such as Olaudah Equiano and Phyllis Wheatley and find out why African and Caribbean...
The Ickabog – Activities & Competition Pack
Meet the Ickabog! Discover a brilliantly original fairy tale about the power of hope and friendship to triumph against all odds, from one of the world’s best storytellers, J.K. Rowling. Download a free Monster Competition Starter Pack to run your very own illustration competition in the classroom! Activity Sheets are also available to download for free, packed full of activities to encourage children ages 7+ to get creative.
November 2020 Children's and Young People booklist - Non-fiction
For Non-Fiction November, we have created a list filled with the best non-fiction for children and young people. There are memoirs, essay collections and books with great advice. You can join in with the conversation online using #NonFictionBooklist and tagging us using @readingagency on Twitter and @SummerReadingChallengeUK on Facebook.
Reading Guide for The Secret Garden
The Secret Garden, a Sky original tells the story of Mary Lennox (Dixie Egerickx – Genius, The Little Stranger), a 10-year-old girl sent to live with her uncle Archibald Craven (Colin Firth), under the watchful eye of Mrs. Medlock (Julie Walters) with only the household maid, Martha (Isis Davis) for company. The film is set in 1940s England at Misselthwaite Manor, a remote country estate deep in the Yorkshire moors. Mary begins to uncover many family secrets, particularly after chancing upon...
Awesomely Austen - Book Club Pack
Meet your new favourite heroines – they’re bold, brilliant and totally awesome! Fresh, funny and accessible retellings of Jane Austen’s classic stories, with witty black and white illustrations throughout. The perfect way to discover Austen for the first time, this bright and bold collection features some of the most inspiring and famous heroines in English literature. For readers aged eight and up. Awesomely Austen: Pride & Prejudice written by Katherine Woodfine and illustrated by...
A Clock of Stars: The Shadow Moth by Francesca Gibbons and illustrated by Chris Riddell - a digital pack
It’s time to enter a magical new world. Imogen should be nice to her little sister Marie. She should be nice to her mum’s boyfriend too. And she certainly shouldn’t follow a strange silver moth through a door in a tree. But then… who does what they’re told? Followed by Marie, Imogen finds herself falling into a magical kingdom where the two sisters are swept up in a thrilling race against time. Moving fast to escape the monsters that come out after dark, and longing to return home, they find...
The Kid Who Came From Space by Ross Welford - Teachers' Notes
The stunning new 10+ story from the bestselling and award-winning author of TIME TRAVELLING WITH A HAMSTER, for anyone who loved the humour of WALL-E, the action of STAR WARS and the deeply touching emotion of ET. A small village in the wilds of Northumberland is rocked by the disappearance of twelve-year-old Tammy. Only her twin brother, Ethan, knows she is safe – and the extraordinary truth of where she is. It is a secret he must keep, or risk never seeing her again. But that doesn’t mean...
Social media assets for Lowborn by Kerry Hudson + creative writing guide
Download this free digital pack containing ready-to-use social media assets, an extract from the book and a guide to creative writing written by the author, Kerry Hudson.
The Reading Agency's toolkit for hosting online events
As events continue to move to online formats, we have created a toolkit to support libraries and other organisations to host their own author Q&As, panel discussions and readings. If you have any questions or would like further information and support, please get in touch with zoe.sadler@readingagency.org.uk.
Halloween characters pack from Oxford Children’s Books - digital resources
Oxford University Press have a wickedly witchy set of digital resources for you to download and use this Halloween. Click on the links below to download the resources: - Super Happy Magic Forest: Slug of Doom activity sheet (2+) - Mirabelle Gets Up to Mischief potions activity sheet (5+) - The Last Spell Breather magical spells activity sheet (7+) - Victoria Stitch: Bad and Glittering Reading notes (9+) We would love to see photos of your wickedly witchy fun. You can do this by using...
There’s a Rang-tan in My Bedroom - digital pack
There’s a Rang-Tan in My Bedroom is based on the Greenpeace film that became a viral sensation, about a little girl who discovers a mischievous orangutan on the loose in her bedroom, and she can’t understand why it keeps shouting OOO! at her shampoo and her chocolate. But when Rang-tan explains that there are humans running wild in her rainforest, burning down trees so they can grow palm oil to put in products, the little girl knows what she has to do: help save the orangutans! Published in...
October 2020 Children's and Young People booklist - Powerful Poetry
The fantastic National Poetry Day shines a spotlight on how much fun and important poetry is. We have created a booklist with some of our favourite rhyming picture books, poetry collections and books written in verse. You can join in with the conversation online using #PowerfulPoetryBooklist and tagging us using @readingagency on Twitter and @SummerReadingChallengeUK on Facebook.
The Castle of Tangled Magic read-along with Sophie Anderson - resources and videos
Want to read-along The Castle of Tangled Magic with the author? Sophie Anderson is running a fairy-tale read-along. Simply download the following resource pack, and head to https://bit.ly/TMreadalong to take part. Sophie’s read-along features author videos, discussion points, activities, and competition prizes – for classrooms, libraries, and all the readers at home. Let us know if you’re joining in @Usborne @Sophieinspace #TheCastleofTangledMagic to win display materials for your...
How to run a virtual reading group with children and young people
Are you wondering how your reading group can continue to meet, even while you’re social distancing? With restricted access to public and school libraries many children and families at home are looking for activities to keep children entertained. We know that books are so important to provide comfort, solace and escapism as well as fun. Virtual reading groups can help children with their confidence through talking about books, and to encourage them to read more widely. In this resource we...
October 2020 Children's and Young People booklist - Brilliant books by black authors and illustrators
As October is Black History Month, we have created a booklist of 65 brilliant books created by black authors and illustrators. There is something for everyone with fantastic poetry, graphic novels, fiction and non-fiction titles. You can join in with the conversation online using #BrilliantBooksBooklist and tagging us using @readingagency on Twitter and @SummerReadingChallengeUK on Facebook.
Zombierella - exclusive Libraries Week poster
CELEBRATE LIBRARIES WEEK WITH FAIRY TALES GONE BAD! Crawl out of the grave and step into your mushroom carriage for Zombierella: Fairy Tales Gone Bad, a haunting and humorous adventure of an undead girl searching for her happily ever after. Described by Malorie Blackman as “quirky and original”, this is the first in a funny, deliciously dark, three-part series of twisted classics, written in verse by award-winning poet Joseph Coelho and illustrated by Freya Hartas. Join in the celebrations...
Celebrate Coding Week with Agent Asha - digital pack
Walker Books would love to join you in celebrating Coding Week with a special offer for libraries nationwide. Computer code just got dangerous in this new action-packed spy adventure series from Sophie Deen “This rip-roaring secret agent caper for seven-plus is full of algorithms, debugging – broken down and engagingly explained – and fart jokes.” Guardian Asha Joshi has the perfect excuse not to finish her homework. She’s just been recruited to join the top-secret Children’s Spy Agency. Her...
Zombierella digital pack from Walker Books
And she died happily ever after… Crawl out of the grave and step into your mushroom carriage for Zombierella: Fairytales Gone Bad, the first in a funny, deliciously dark, three-part series of twisted classics, written in verse by award-winning poet Joseph Coelho and illustrated by Freya Hartas. A yellow moon hangs in a satin sky the night Cinderella, barefoot and in hand-me-downs, slips at the top of the stairs … and dies. But not for long. The Shadow of Death arrives to breathe life back...
How Much of These Hills Is Gold - Readers' Guide
In July 2020 the Booker Prize revealed the longlist for the 2020 prize. You can download a Readers’ Guide for longlisted title How Much of These Hills Is Gold by C Pam Zhang by clicking below.
Love and Other Thought Experiments - Readers' Guide
In July 2020 the Booker Prize revealed the longlist for the 2020 prize. You can download a Readers’ Guide for longlisted title Love and Other Thought Experiments by Sophie Ward by clicking below.
Shuggie Bain - Readers' Guide
In July 2020 the Booker Prize revealed the longlist for the 2020 prize. You can download a Readers’ Guide for longlisted title Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart by clicking below.
Redhead by the Side of the Road - Readers' Guide
In July 2020 the Booker Prize revealed the longlist for the 2020 prize. You can download a Readers’ Guide for longlisted title Redhead by the Side of the Road by Anne Tyler by clicking below.
Real Life - Readers' Guide
In July 2020 the Booker Prize revealed the longlist for the 2020 prize. You can download a Readers’ Guide for longlisted title Real Life by Brandon Taylor by clicking below.
Such a Fun Age - Readers' Guide
In July 2020 the Booker Prize revealed the longlist for the 2020 prize. You can download a Readers’ Guide for longlisted title Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid by clicking below.
