Western Road, Year 5 Wishlist

An incredible immersive novel in words and pictures by Brian Selznick, a love letter to the natural world. Big Tree follows two tiny sycamore seeds, Louise and Merwin, as they try to save the world while searching for a safe place to grow. In the spirit of such timeless classics as Charlotte's Web, The Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland, Big Tree is a fast-paced epic adventure that takes readers on a mesmerizing journey from the prehistoric age to present day.

He picks fights with girls. The teachers say he has 'serious behaviour problems'. And no one likes him ...

Except Carla, the new school counsellor. She thinks Bradley is sensitive and generous, and she even enjoys his far-fetched stories. Carla knows that Bradley could change, if only he weren't afraid to try.

Sometimes the hardest thing in the world is believing in yourself. A heartwarming story of isolation, bravery and acceptance from the bestselling author of Holes, Louis Sachar.

Beautiful and full of adventure, Escape to the River Sea is Emma Carroll's compelling novel inspired by Eva Ibbotson's bestselling, classic masterpiece, Journey to the River Sea.

The stunning prequel to Abi Elphinstone's mesmerising The Unmapped Chronicles series. Magic, adventure, and a whole new world is waiting to be discovered!

Twelve-year-old Moll Pecksniff wakes one night in the middle of the forest, lured there by a recurring nightmare - the one with the drums and the rattles and the masks. The Dreamsnatcher is waiting. He has already taken her dreams and now he wants her life.

Because Moll is more important than she knows... The Oracle Bones foretold that she and Gryff, a wildcat that has always been by her side, are the only ones who can fight back against the Dreamsnatcher's dark magic. Suddenly everything is at stake, and Moll is drawn into a world full of secrets, magic and adventure.

Moll Pecksniff and her friends are living as outlaws in a secret cave by the sea, desperate to stay hidden from the Shadowmasks. But further along the coast lies the Amulet of Truth, the only thing powerful enough to force the Shadowmasks back and contain their dark magic. So, together with Gryff, the wildcat that?s always by her side, and her best friends Alfie and Sid, Moll must sneak past smugglers, outwit mer creatures and crack secret codes to save the Old Magic.?With more at stake than ever before and the dark magic rising fast, can Moll and her friends stop the Shadowmasks before it?s too late?

Eleven-year-old twins, Fox and Fibber, have been rivals for as long as they can remember. Only one of them will inherit the family fortune and so a race is afoot to save the dwindling Petty-Squabble empire and win the love of their parents. But when the twins are whisked off to Jungledrop, a magical Unmapped Kingdom in charge of conjuring our world's weather, things get wildly out of hand.

Grandpa is dying. He can barely move his hands any more but, stubborn as ever, refuses to stay in hospital. He's determined to finish his last painting,?River Boy, before he goes.

At first Jess can't understand his refusal to let go, but then she too becomes involved in the mysterious painting. And when she meets the river boy himself, she finds she is suddenly caught up in a challenge of her own that she must complete - before it's too late ...

Moon is everything Christine isn't. She's confident, impulsive, artistic . .

. and though they both grew up in the same Chinese-American suburb, Moon is somehow unlike anyone Christine has ever known. But after Moon moves in next door, these unlikely friends are soon best friends, sharing their favorite music videos and painting their toenails when Christine's strict parents aren't around.

Auggie wants to be an ordinary ten year old and he does ordinary things - eating ice cream, playing on his Xbox. He feels ordinary, inside. But ordinary kids don't make other ordinary kids run away screaming in playgrounds. Ordinary kids aren't stared at wherever they go. Born with a terrible facial abnormality, Auggie has been home-schooled by his parents his whole life. Now, for the first time, he's being sent to a real school - and he's dreading it. All he wants is to be accepted - but can he convince his new classmates that he's just like them, underneath it all?

Wonder is a funny, frank and astonishingly moving debut book to read in one sitting, pass on to others, and remember long after the final page.

A brilliant story of love and courage' Wall Street JournalWhen Silas Bird wakes in the dead of night, he watches powerlessly as three strangers take his father away. Silas is left shaken, scared and alone, except for the presence of his companion, Mittenwool .

. . who happens to be a ghost.

Wonder tells the story of Auggie Pullman: an ordinary boy with an extraordinary face, whose first year at school changed the lives and the perspectives of everyone around him.

Auggie & Me is a new side to the Wonder story: three new chapters from three different characters - bully Julian, oldest friend Christopher and classmate Charlotte - giving an insight into how Auggie has touched their own lives. Thought-provoking, surprising, infuriating, heartbreaking and heartwarming, Auggie & Me?is a must-read collection by R.J. Palacio for the thousands of readers who loved Wonder.

Catrina and her family are moving to the coast of Northern California because her little sister, Maya, is sick. Cat isn't happy about leaving her friends for Bahia de la Luna, but Maya has cystic fibrosis and will benefit from the cool, salty air that blows in from the sea. As the girls explore their new home, a neighbour lets them in on a secret: There are ghosts in Bahia de la Luna.

Maya is determined to meet one, but Cat wants nothing to do with them. As the time of year when ghosts reunite with their loved ones approaches, Cat must figure out how to put aside her fears for her sister's sake -- and her own. Raina Telgemeier has masterfully created a moving and insightful story about the power of family and friendship, and how it gives us the courage to do what we never thought possible.

The companion to Raina Telgemeier's bestselling graphic memoir, SMILE. Raina can't wait to be a big sister, but once Amara is born she realizes things won't be quite what she had expected...or hoped. Despite Amara's cuteness, she is a cranky, grouchy baby and mostly prefers to play by herself.

Their relationship doesn't improve much over the years but when a baby brother enters the picture and their parents' relationship starts to struggle, they realize they must figure out how to get along. They are sisters, after all.

A true story from Raina Telgemeier, the #1 New York Times bestselling, multiple award-winning author of Smile, Sisters, Drama, and Ghosts! Raina wakes up one night with a terrible upset stomach. Her mom has one, too, so it's probably just a bug. Raina eventually returns to school, where she's dealing with the usual highs and lows: friends, not-friends, and classmates who think the school year is just one long gross-out session.

It soon becomes clear that Raina's tummy trouble isn't going away... and it coincides with her worries about food, school, and changing friendships. What's going on? Raina Telgemeier once again brings us a thoughtful, charming, and funny true story about growing up and gathering the courage to face - and conquer - her fears.

Rich, complex, affecting and beautiful, Wonderstruck is a staggering achievement from a uniquely gifted artist. In this groundbreaking tour de force, Caldecott Medalist and bookmaking pioneer Brian Selznick sails into uncharted territory and takes readers on an awe-inspiring journey.

In The Marvels, Selznick crafts another remarkable artistic and bookmaking achievement that weaves together two seemingly unrelated stories - one in words, the other in pictures - with spellbinding synergy. "The illustrations take you by the hand, and they don't let go" - The Guardian The illustrated story begins in 1766 with Billy Marvel, the lone survivor of a shipwreck, and charts the adventures of his family of actors over five generations. The prose story opens in 1990 and follows Joseph, who has run away from school to an estranged uncle's puzzling house in London, where he, along with the reader, must piece together many mysteries.

Imagine your misfortune if, like Stanley Yelnats, you found yourself the victim of a miscarriage of justice and interned in Camp Green Lake Correctional Institute. How would you survive? Thoughtfully Louis Sachar has learnt his knowledge and expertise to the subject and created this wonderful, quirky, and utterly essential guide to toughing it out in the Texan desert. Spiced with lots of information about the characters in "Holes", as well as lots of do's and don'ts for survival, this is an essential book for all those hundreds of thousands of "Holes'" fans.

Classic tales by Laura Ingalls Wilder about life on the frontier and America’s best-loved pioneer family. The sun-kissed prairie stretches out around the Ingalls family, smiling its welcome after their long, hard journey across America. But looks can be deceiving and they soon find that they must share the land with wild bears and Indians.

Find out what birds do in each season, learn about birdsong, beaks, nests and eggs, the science of flight, migration, what to grow to attract different birds to your garden and what foods to put out on your bird table. Learn about different ways of recording what you see and about birds in literature. There are sections on birds of prey and corvids too.

Zoom in to watch a hummingbird drink nectar; watch a pea shoot appear; see a little snail as he comes come out to drink. With charming text and real science, see nature up close and let it stop you in your tracks, so that you can truly find joy in the present moment.

Take an unforgettable tour around the world to meet the creatures that share our city spaces – from bears to bats, penguins to opossums – and learn about how they have adapted and thrived

Discover 15 plants and fungi with heroic powers, then learn how to grow them. Meet their surprising relatives (the tasty tomato is a cousin of deadly nightshade!) and unearth their interesting histories (lettuce was the first vegetable to be grown in space!). Then follow step-by-step instructions to grow and care for each one, whether you have a big backyard garden or a sunny windowsill.

A timeless treasury of more than 100 stories from the incredible kingdom of plants, told by author and nature expert Ben Hoare. Plants are found almost everywhere on Earth, but to many people, their lives are a mystery. Learn how seagrass flowers underwater, how the Venus flytrap counts to make sure it catches its prey, and why some tulips used to cost more than a house! This fascinating book for kids explores the vast plant kingdom and explains how plants work, as well as the weird and wonderful relationships they have with animals.

Take a colourful and comical tour through our galaxy and beyond with this fun new comic collection from Mike Barfield and Jess Bradley. Discover the poisonous clouds of Venus, the rings of Saturn and the raging storm on Jupiter. Venture inside nebulae, black holes, supernovas and far-flung galaxies.

Discover 100 of the planet’s most magical islands – their wildlife, trees, diversity, people, treasures, and more – in this beautifully illustrated book. From islands that have been taken over by animals to disappearing islands, islands made of shells, artificial islands, and even islands that were once prison colonies, Amazing Islands is a whirlwind tour of some of the smallest land masses in the world. Discover the Galapagos islands, home of giant tortoises, penguins, boobies of all colours.

A colourful and comical tour through history from cartoonists Mike Barfield and Jess Bradley. The hilarious minds behind A Day in the Life of a Poo, a Gnu and You have teamed up once again – this time to give a taste of the daily lives of the people, animals and objects who made history. Featuring a day in the life of early humans as they paint mammoths on the walls of a cave, a fierce gladiator battling in the Colosseum and the first woman in space.

Explore spectacular visual timelines that tell the story of science, from fossils to quantum physics, and discover exactly how science has changed the world – one discovery at a time. Timelines of Science takes you on an astonishing journey through history, showing how dedication, disasters, and eureka moments have brought us antibiotics, electricity, space exploration, and so much more!Packed with fascinating facts, amazing images, and some seriously staggering science,

Sensational Sharks is the first book of a brand-new picture-book series from Professor Tim Flannery, one of the world's leading scientists, explorers and conservationists, and his daughter Emma Flannery. It deep-dives into some of the most beloved and surprising creatures around the world! Have you ever heard about the cookie-cutter shark, which bites out cookie-shaped morsels of flesh from much larger animals than itself? Or the goblin shark, which was thought to have become extinct 100 million years ago until a living specimen was discovered in 1898? And did you know that the whale shark has jaws the size of a 12-year-old child? Come along on an exciting expedition with the world-renowned scientist and explorer Tim Flannery and his daughter Emma, as they spotlight some of the world's weirdest and most fascinating creatures.

Discover a magnificent menagerie of monsters that lurk deep down in our oceans – from sharks that can live for 500 years, to fish with teeth so long they can’t close their mouths. Find out about anglerfish, giant squid, goblin sharks, coffinfish, barreleyes and many, many more amazing creatures in this stunningly illustrated gift book that will delight, surprise and inspire on every page.

Male lions are often referred to as the “Kings of the Jungle” because they are thought to be the strongest, bravest, and fiercest animals in the world. This is a myth. In fact, it’s the lionesses that are out hunting together and taking down large animals to feed their entire pack, including the males!

In this illustrated animal book, filled with fun facts and incredible artwork from Kimberlie Clinthorne-Wong, readers will be inspired by other examples of girls getting it done.

As we delve into the magical realm that is our universe at night we discover what makes it so extraordinary…from moonbows to shooting stars and from the polar night to the northern lights. Experience how different habitats from the city to the ocean, come alive when the sun sets. Meet animals that make their own elaborate beds and others that sleep while swimming or flying.

Explore the history of human sleep across the globe and dive into a world of dreams…

Shark fans will quickly become shark experts with this informative, inventive and entertaining take on an animal book! Do you know all there is to know about sharks? They’re all giant, cold-blooded creatures that enjoy eating humans, right? Well, this book is here to show you that you’re WRONG! But don’t worry, But don’t worry, even the experts can’t be right all the time . . .

Produced with the Natural History Museum, this book brings you closer to the wildlife that’s hard to reach – to the animals and plants in the skies, deep underwater, on clifftops, in caves and underground. Find out how plants and animals adapted to these environments and about wildlife from long ago. Filled with stylish linocut prints of wildlife, this is a book you will admire for its beauty as well as for the fascinating information inside.

Take a trip around the world to discover the busy animals active during the day, and the magical creatures that come out at night in twelve unique habitats in this extensive exploration of the natural world. This book’s fun flip-book format gives readers two books in one. Beginning with the daytime, children can explore the biodiversity of a huge range of landscapes.

Readers can then flip the book and arrive at extraordinary night-time scenes where the hidden, rarely seen creaturesof the night come out to play in the same landscapes, all for children to uncover.

An informative and inclusive children’s guide to neurodiversity for those not in the know and to inspire children who are neurodivergent. Our brains are unique in the way they function, work, and think. Neurodiversity is still a relatively ‘new’ concept that can be tricky to understand, but this book is here to help! This inspirational book written by neurodiverse author Louise Gooding challenges misconceptions and shows how neurodivergent brains work a little differently.

Uncover the Earth’s inner secrets as you explore the world’s most magnificent volcanoes and earthquakes like never before. Become an eyewitness to the world’s most explosive volcanoes and powerful earthquakes with this picture-led guide that will take you on a visual tour of the hotspots of the world. Explore everything you need to know about the Earth’s most extraordinary natural forces – from active volcanoes, including Kilanea in Hawaii and Etna in Italy, to devastating earthquakes that have hit San Francisco and Japan.

Become an eyewitness to the world of Nordic raiders and traders and learn all about the culture and history of Vikings. This picture-led guide will take you on a visual tour of the history and culture of these daring Norse adventurers. Children can learn all about the Vikings’ incredible ships and conquests, as well as their intriguing culture, religions, and home life.

Packed with stunning photography, Eyewitness Planets explores Earth’s neighbourhood, space and the Solar System. Become an eyewitness to the fascinating world of outer space, in this picture-led reference guide that will take you on a visual tour of Earth and its neighbourhood with this spectacular planetary guide. Children will be mesmerised by this eyewitness view from Mercury to Neptune, of the rocky planets, gas giants, dwarf planets, asteroids, comets, and other bodies that make up our Solar System.

Mountains exist on every continent and in almost every country. But did you know that the longest mountain range on the planet exists deep beneath our ocean’s surface? Or that some of the most marvellous mountains are on other planets and moons? This book takes readers on an adventure, exploring some of the planet’s most iconic mountains and hostile landscapes, as well as the animals and plants that call mountains their home.

Looking up at the sky on a clear night, you might see shining stars, a bright moon and mysterious coloured dots but there many more secrets hiding out in space. The Solar System takes readers on a journey from the Earth’s surface, through the atmosphere and out into space as you travel from centre of the universe to discover the stars, planets, moons and comets that call our solar system home.

Volcanoes have changed the face of our planet. It’s thanks to volcanoes that we have land on which to live, but did you know that the majority of eruptions happen out of sight, along the sea floor? Or that volcanoes exist on other planets and moons? This book takes readers on an epic adventure, exploring some of Earth’s most volatile volcanoes, historic eruptions, as well as the resilient creatures that call volcanoes their home.

It is said that you cannot step in the same river twice because these amazing bodies of water are constantly moving and changing. Rivers are found all over the world and can flow all year round or seasonally but they are always important. Rivers looks at how these amazing waterways develop, change and shape the landscape around us. It celebrates these changing and adapting habitats for plants and animals and explores how important rivers are to human life.

Thirteen-year-old Skandar Smith has only ever wanted to be a unicorn rider. To be one of the lucky few selected to hatch a unicorn. To bond with it for life; to train together and race for glory; to be a hero.

But just as Skandar’s dream is about to come true, things start to take a more dangerous turn than he could ever have imagined. A dark and twisted enemy has stolen the Island’s most powerful unicorn – and as the threat grows ever closer, Skandar discovers a secret that could blow apart his world forever . .

andar Smith has achieved his dream to train as a unicorn rider. But as Skandar and his friends enter their second year at the Eyrie, a new threat arises. Immortal wild unicorns are somehow being killed, a prophecy warns of terrible danger, and elemental destruction begins to ravage the Island.

Meanwhile, Skandar?s sister, Kenna, longs to join him ? and Skandar is determined to help her, no matter what. As the storm gathers, can Skandar discover how to stop the Island tearing itself apart ? before it?s too late for them all?

Did you know that penguins can hold their breath for over half an hour? Or that they can swim four times faster than an Olympic swimmer? And they don’t just live in icy Antarctica! You can find them on sandy beaches in South Africa and other more tropical locations too. Dive into this fascinating illustrated guide to our feathered friends, the penguins. From the tiny fairy penguin that is no bigger than a ruler, to the emperor penguin that is over a metre tall, find out where they live, what they eat and how we can protect them.

Owen Davey’s dynamic art and witty informational tidbits shine a light on the toughest bugs in the insect world: those brawny beetles!

Did you know that bears have existed longer than modern day humans? Or that polar bears aren’t actually white? Immerse yourself in the beautifully illustrated guide to some of the world’s most powerful mammals, full of facts about bears, their habits and where to find them.

Did you know that crocodiles can live to be over 100 years old, and can climb trees to sunbathe? They can even sense the vibrations from a single drop of water falling from the mouth of a drinking wildebeest over twenty metres away. Sink your teeth into this fascinating illustrated guide to the largest reptiles on Earth, full of juicy facts on crocodile behaviour, biology and myth, and packed with details on how we can live with and protect our scaly companions.

Ever wondered what monkeys are and what makes them so special?

Owen Davey returns with a new addition to his About Animals series, this time digging into the wondrous world of frogs! Did you know that there are over 4,000 known species of frog? Some are bigger than your dinner plate, while others are small enough to sit on your fingernail, and in between is about every colour and size you can imagine! Leap into this fascinating illustrated guide to the most diverse amphibians in the world, from the lumbering common toad to the beautiful but deadly poison dart frog.

Did you know that an octopus has three hearts? And that they are particularly intelligent, with some being known to use tools?